More Creative Gift Wrap

After my last post, I remembered another time I needed to get creative in my gift wrapping.  My grandson was having his first birthday party.  I had bought him a very large stuffed animal and I did not have a box large enough.  I looked around my house and found a plastic toy chest I no longer needed.  Since his party theme was Super Wings, I just added some wings and a few details.  I love that the natural shape of the chest looks like a smile!  

***********

I was asked to make some boxes for decorations at the party, so this was what I came up with.  The "suitcase" was something I had created as a craft for VBS.  I just wrapped a box in kraft paper and used duct tape for the straps and handle.  Either of these would have also been good for gift wrap, but they were just decorations.

On the back of the boxes I used various birthday stamps to resemble postmarks/shipping stamps.

**********

Keeping with the theme, here is the card I made.  I made some cloud stencils and stenciled the envelope.

 

Creative Gift Wrap

 What do you do when you don't have any wrapping paper and you are too lazy to go to the store?  You get creative, of course!  I needed to wrap gifts for a brother and sister birthday party.  I looked around to see what materials I had available and then just let the shape of the gift dictate what I did.  (The paper for both was bulletin board paper.)

This top gift was such an odd shape.  Instead of trying to wrap that handle part, I decided it looked like a nose, so I just went with it.

*******

This box I thought was shaped like a truck or bus.  Since she would soon be starting pre-k, I decided a school bus would be appropriate.  The number 4 represented her age at the time.

I was pleased with the final results, and they were a big hit at the party.  I also had a great time making them.  Sometimes it's a good thing when you have to think outside the (gift) box.

It came ... and went ... months ago

It took me long enough to post them, but here are the pictures of our VBS set this past summer referred to in my last post HERE.  We did the "Shipwrecked" theme.  I'm posting this the middle of winter.  I guess I'm dreaming of warmer weather.  (Click on the pictures for a closer look.)

 

 

 Here is one view of the main stage.  This is the first year we have purchased the backdrop.  That was really helpful.

 

 

 

A closer look at the hut.  It was constructed using cardboard tubes (from carpet rolls) for the uprights, real bamboo for the cross bars and rafters, cardboard for the roof and covered with grass skirts from the Dollar Tree.

  

 

 

 Here is a close up of one of the palm trees.  We made these also from empty carpet tubes covered in brown paper scrunched up.  The leaves were made from green bulletin board paper with a wire taped down in the middle for shaping.  We used brown balloons for coconuts.  We got most of our ideas from other churches.  So grateful for all the help!

 

 

 

Just some more props.  (I see Wilson!)

 

 

 

 I think this says it all.

 

 

 

Looking back the other direction.

 

 

 

More palm trees and our sloth.  I had a lot of fun moving the props around each night.  The treasure chest was used for the children to drop their offerings in.

 

 

 

 This was about mid-week and the balloons were starting to lose air. 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes a while to make these sets, but I really enjoy doing it!  I had a great team helping and really appreciated everyone's hard work.

 

Yee Haw! It's a Western Theme Party!

Since I'm not doing much crafting these days, I just keep digging up past projects.  This was my table for our ladies tea at church back in 2012.  I was pleased with how it turned out.

 

This is before I added all the details. 

 

After adding more accessories.  It was probably a little too cluttered/busy for some people's taste, but I liked it.  😊

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a close up of one of the table settings.  I made the placemats from old blue jeans.  For the plates, I started with a clear glass plate and put the design on using reverse decoupage.  Working from the backside (in reverse layering), I first put the cowboy themed cutouts which were made using my Slice machine and the Happy Trails design card.  The faux leather look was created by ripping kraft paper into small pieces and inking the edges of each piece, then overlapping the pieces until the area was completely covered.  For the final layer I used bandana fabric.  Each of the layers was adhered using Mod Podge.  I added a couple of extra coats to finish it off.

 

 

 

 

These two pictures show some of the details.  I was excited to find the cactus glasses at the Dollar Tree.  I personalized each one using vinyl.  I also added vinyl cutouts to each of the coffee mugs.  The tiny cowboy boots are keychains.  I used bandanas for napkins.  The little pails were from Logan's Roadhouse.  (I saved them from their little bucket desserts.)  I filled them with peanuts.

 

 

 

As you can see, I used a camping lantern and rope on top of two pieces of burlap (a light piece over a dark piece) as the centerpiece.  I added the small lanterns and cacti and then scattered small stones and cowboy themed cutouts.

 

 

 

Here is a better shot of the cactus glass.  I added the small cowboy hat and some jute for rope.  If you look closely you can see the wagon wheel coaster under the glass.

 

I sent my guests home with their whole table setting -- cowboy hat, plate, placemat, cactus glass, bandana napkin, bucket of peanuts, and cowboy boot keychain -- everything except the coffee mugs and silverware.

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially one of my guests who is from Texas.  😊

 

Thanksgiving Teepees

I host Thanksgiving each year and I like to have a fun activity available to anyone who would like to participate.  Last year I found a teepee printable on the Made With Happy blog.  I thought the kids and some of the adults would enjoy it.  I was pleasantly surprised at the participation, especially from one of the newest members of the family, my youngest sister's husband.  He is very creative and seems to be good at everything!  He took the teepee to new levels (literally).  Here are some of the creations:

 

My creative granddaughter's teepee

 

 

This one was done by one of my crazy nephews.

 

 

Not sure who did this one, but I like it.

 

 

My sister's family compound/reservation, including the royal palace complete with a hot tub and an outhouse.

 

 

Here's a close up.

 

 

Somebody burned the turkey!

 

 

My patriotic nephew's version

 

Not sure what we'll do this year.  I'm still trying to decide.  Hope we have as much fun as last year!

90th Birthday Party

My mother-in-law just celebrated her 90th year here on Earth.  We were thrilled to celebrate with her and throw her a party.  As usual, things didn't go exactly as planned and I didn't make half the decorations I had hoped to, but nobody knew that except me (and maybe anybody who saw my Pinterest board).  I made her a photo book with pictures from all throughout her lifetime.  I had it printed at Costco and used it as a guest book.  Compiling and organizing all the photos took many more hours than I care to count, so that set me way behind for the party decorations.  I've learned to just let it go and it will be fine.  The important thing is that we all had a wonderful time and she can't stop talking about it.

 

 

 This was the bulletin board I did with lots of pictures of her and her family and friends.  I'm (unofficially) in charge of bulletin boards at my church (where we had the party) and this one was due for a change, which worked out great for me.  I did this for the party and then changed it out for our Homecoming celebration the next day.  I cut out the Happy Birthday balloons and the big 90 on my Silhouette machine.  You can't tell from the picture, but the letters and numbers were cut from white glitter cardstock and the balloons were cut from three different teal cardstocks (one was embossed).  I really like how they turned out.  I wish I had gotten better photos, but we were really pushed for time just to get things set up before the guest of honor arrived.

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the Happy Birthday balloon banner.

 

 

 

It took me forever to decide on what I wanted to use for centerpieces.  (I needed ten.)  I knew I wanted to use something with photos, but I had trouble choosing exactly what.  Lack of time finally made the decision for me so I made these lanterns since I thought they would be quick.  They would have been but I had to battle with both my printer and my Silhouette machine.  Also, I wanted to be able to possibly use these again in the future, so I assembled them using repositionable glue so I could store them flat.  It worked pretty well, but it slowed things down some.  The cut file was from SVG Cuts Tiki Party set (found HERE).  I wanted it larger than I could fit on the page, so I had to make some adjustments to the file before cutting.  Inspired by a few different ideas on Pinterest, I printed on vellum two different photos and alternated with text panels for each lantern.  I also cut lots of 90 confetti and spread around everywhere.

 

 

 

 Of course I had to make a crown for the party princess.  She wore it proudly during the entire party.  The cut file was a freebie by Bird's Cards.  I adjusted the file to fit an adult and cut it from silver glitter cardstock.

 

 

 

 This was also inspired by Pinterest (both the punch and the Fountain of Youth sign).  I love Pinterest!

 

 

 

 Costco made the cake, but I added the 90.  I had to guess at what size to cut it since we didn't pick up the cake until right before the party, and I almost made it too big.  I cut it from glitter cardstock and mounted it on clear plastic.

 

 

 

Here is the gift table.  (She requested no gifts, but she is just too loved.)  I had one of my helpers scatter more photos and 90 confetti.

 

 

 

 I take no credit for this.  My helpers did a beautiful job with the food table. 

 

 

 

 Dessert Table

 

 

 

I picked out some of the most interesting-looking/funny photos and placed one at each table for a game.  I asked the guests at each table to work together to make up a story about their photo.  Some tables had one or two sentence stories and others had two or three pages!  LOL 

 

Spring Explosion Box

Here are some close-ups of the explosion box mentioned in this post.  It has been so long ago I don't remember many details, but if anyone really cares you are welcome to ask and I'll try to answer any questions.  You can't see it very well in the picture, but the line of green beads is supposed to be a caterpillar. 

Then when you open the box, a butterfly emerges.

This picture shows a little of the detail.  You can barely tell that the corners are punched/embossed.  Each of the boxes I made had different butterfly stickers added.  This one probably was the one I liked least, so I kept it for myself.