Candle Table Decorations

Now we are on to the table decorations - I wanted them to be elegant but still fit in with our casual party setting. I also love putting pictures on candles and I couldn't wait for everyone to see my parent's wedding photo.

The details:

For the candles, I created a simple "40" using shrinky dinks and then colored itt with a red stamp pad. The trick is to mold the shrinky dink to a glass right when you take it out of the oven so it holds to the candle better. Then I simply attached it with mini glue dots. 

 

For the candle holder I found these wonderful heart shaped glass bowls at the Dollar Tree - with some vinyl and some red gems they turned out fantastic.

I used the Elegant Cakes font as well as the "anniversary" phrase  - which I think is so lovely with all the scrolls - and much easier to cut out in vinyl than in paper. I laid out the phrases as I wanted them on the Gypsy, grouped them, and then re-sized them to be under two inches to fit on the side of the glass bowl.

I think finally you are ready to see how everything looked at the party!

I hope these have inspired you for your next anniversary occasion, and remember next week I will show you how I took the leftover popcorn boxes and re-purposed them for another baseball picnic!

Simple "40" Favors

Well of course I couldn't let there be just one type of favor at the party, could I?? So if you take another look at yesterday's picture, there were a few sweet treats in there for the guests with a sweet tooth. I had to keep them simple as well - since I was running out of time!

The details:
I found some red cherry gummy slices at the grocery store - so to make this favor, I put two in a bag, cut out a blackout shape at 4 inches from Elegant Edges and added my welded "40" from Elegant Cakes. I believe I didn't mention in my last post that I used red vinyl for all the "40"s on my favors. It cuts beautifully and I don't have to worry about adhesive  - it works as your own quick sticker!

I also filled these clear plastic tubes with red and white M and Ms. I have been obsessed with them ever since I saw them on the Circle blog , and I was fortunate enough to find them at CKC Buffalo (although I have seen them at ACMoore too!). These were a huge hit with the kids.

I simply added a white vinyl belly band and added a "40" in the center. I did change it up a little and I used the zero from Wall Decor and More because I wanted to have the scrolly tail on the end. They were so easy to throw together and I am dying to find more of these at a great price! If you come across a super deal - we could be new BFFs!

Up next will be the table decorations, more red and more vinyl , but that probably doesn't surprise you by now!



Fortieth Anniversary Extravaganza

I have a few posts for you this week - it was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary this year - and so I had a lot of fun creating table decorations and favors. Forty years is the Ruby Anniversary - which means a lot of red and white ahead! They are season ticket holders of the local minor league baseball so we had it at the ballpark under the party tent - they really enjoyed themselves and it was the perfect laid back party!

The details:
The focus of today's post is going to be the popcorn boxes, which are cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More.

These were cut at a 6.50 inches which I rotated by 80 degrees on the Gypsy. By doing this I could fit one box on one piece of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. Then by trimming the paper 1/2 inch I was able to put 3 sheets on one 12x24 mat and cut them out 3 at a time. Since I was making 30 of them, this was an important detail.

The popcorn box has no layers, and when I cut it out in plain red they really didn't do anything for me. I really wanted to add the white border and it was not going to be productive to cut out each box twice just for that. Instead I put the popcorn box on one layer and then designed a border layer using circles and rectangles from George.

By repeating this pattern I made a pattern for a liner that ultimately resulted in a white border at the top of the box.

The "40" is cut from Elegant Cakes at 1.50 inches while the scallop is from Mini Monograms at 2.50 inches. I filled them with bags of peanuts and homemade cinnamon sugar popcorn. They were a great success and the peanuts went much faster than I expected. Don't worry though - I took care of all that extra popcorn.

In the end, I had made way more boxes than I ended needing, but don't worry - I found a great way to re-purpose them - and you should look for a post next week to see how they turned out in their second life. Stay tuned for more red and white!

Dr. Seuss meets Graduation Cards

I am super excited to share these cards with you today. I have done a few Dr. Seuss-related plays and when those students graduated this year I decided to add a Dr. Seuss twist to their grad cards. You can see my other graduation cards here; I followed the same recipe for an easel card and just changed the front of the card.

The details:

I began with a circle using George sized at 2.82 inches. The font I used is Cutting Up, which is very Seuss friendly and just the right style. I arranged the "Thing 1" on the circle and then cut it out with white paper. The letters ended up being .68 inches while the numbers were 1.20 inches. I cut a larger circle in black  at 3.20 inches which gave me the black letters and outside border.

I cut the grad hat from Locker Talk in turquoise at 1.50 inches with a white tassel and added a gem brad. For the year I used the Elegant Cakes font with the shadow layer at 1 inch. The inside of the card was done with a Studio G stamp and a Martha Stewart punch for the corners.

I was so pleased with the way that these came out. As soon as I can find red shirts in a toddler size, I want to make "Thing" matching shirts for a friend who has twins. And while I keep my fingers crossed for that Dr. Seuss Cartridge I will continue to make do with what I have!

Graduation Card and Pillowbox

I have a quick graduation gift set for you today - I have so many graduation parties this year I may need a second job just to support them all! I absolutely love easel cards and this is a card design I came up with last year - it was the first card design I really loved and it is still my favorite!

The details:

The card size is 4 1/2 inches by 6 inches. To create the easel card I took a strip of 4 1/2 by 12 inch paper and scored it at 3 and 6 inches. This gives you your easel backing.  Then I added a 4 1/2 by 6 inch restangle on top of the scoring (adhered to the bottom part of the easel backing) which means it can then be propped up by the inside (the white 3 by 4 inch rectangle). I guess that is not really very clear without pictures - but I do know there are directions for easel cards out there.

The grad cap is from Locker Talk - cut at  2.5 inches and the pop dotted on the front. I added a brad to tassel to make it look more like a real cap. The 2011 is cut from Elegant Cakes which has some great fonts on it - cut at 1.10 inches and welded together. I embossed the mat with my stars Cuttlebug folder. For the inside I used a MS corner punch and a Studio G stamp.

For the pillowbox I used Wrap It Up and cut it at 7.5 inches which is a good size to fit most gift cards. I did hide the contour of the front - which has a cut out of a diploma - mostly because I am not a fan of the outline shape - I would rather have something dimensional. Which is why I cut the diploma out separately at 1.50 inches but with only the first layer. (I wish somone would tell PC the colors they use in the new handbooks for layers are NOT inspiring.) I also did some "Cricut surgery" and snipped off the bow part of the cut so I could use some pretty twine instead. I used some mini glue dots to attach it to the front and the same Studio G Stamp.

Here are some of the cards I made last year with different school colors to give you an idea of how you can change it up a bit. The main difference is I used Plantin Schoolbook for the font.

Happy Graduation Season!