Every Princess Needs a Crown (Part 3)

I find something special in making a birthday hat. Besides the cake, the decorations, and the outfit it's the most important part of the party :)  And this one had to be special.  There is definitely a challenge in merging a crown with a party hat.  It has to be pretty, functional and royal.  First, I picked the paper for the hat which was a beautiful shimmering pattern that screamed royal. Next, I literally dismantled a crown and merged it with the hat. The hat would make it functional and stay put on her head throughout the party, important for an active 7 year old.  Last, I added tulle draping from the top to give it a touch of fantasy.

I just love, love, love this hat. I seriously thought of keeping it myself.  In the end I handed it over to the Birthday girl.  Her face and expression was payment enough for all the work it took to create this one-of-a-kind hat.

The Princesses-In-Waiting, also known as, party guest also needed their own hats.  I wanted them to be similar to the Birthday girl's hat, so I made paper replicates of her hat. And as a bonus since the parents were looking for craft project  to do at the party, I delivered them dismantled.  The girls loved picking out their favorite colors and putting together a princess hat fit for them. I think I may have to do a Tutorial on this one, so the Princess Saga continues!

Every Princess Accessorizes (Part 2)

Besides the banner, the parents asked me to provide a couple of other decorations for the Princess  party to make it a Happy Ever After.  Namely, cupcake toppers and wall cutouts. No problem, I already had a design in mind. Out came the glitter paper and jewels because you can’t accessorize a Princess party without them.  These little guys fit the theme perfectly.

Next, they let me know they were completely bored with the ‘run of the mill’ party favors and asked if I had anything unique I could put together. Of course I did and I crazy was excited to make these.  You would think they were for me. I did make an extra one for Little Miss Papercuts because she just loves bags.  These little tutu bags are just so much cool and perfect for a Princess or Ballerina party.  All the little princesses were delighted to take these home filled with goodies.

Every Girl Wants To Be A Princess (Part 1)

Or at least have a party like one. Which is why I enjoyed this project so much.  That and the parents didn't have a set vision, so I got a chance to flex my creative side more. They knew they wanted it to be Princess but more fantasy less Disney. They simply requested I chose a color scheme and create a Banner, Hats, Cupcake Toppers and Favor bag.  What a large order to have creative control over and what trust these parents had in me. I did not want to disappoint, so I put forth everything I could think of. For the color scheme, I decided to go with Teal, Purple and of course Pink because you can't do princess with Pink!

For the Banner, I wanted go pretty meets fantasy. I picked up some awesome fantasy patterned paper as well as some glittered paper.  You have to have glitter, it is essential as pink.  I, also, wanted to do a different shape for the banner rather than traditional circle and square.  So I went with a scalloped diamond to give it a regal theme.  I think it came out adorably and the mom was thrilled.

Since the parents requested a tall order, I'm going to break this out into several post so stay tuned.

The Prodigal Paper Cutter Returns!

Let me just apologize to my "few" loyal readers, I have had a lot going on over in here in PaperCuts land. Some exciting news about the PaperCuts family but I'm not ready to reveal yet. I know such a tease but I do have something to show today.  Even though, you haven't heard from me, I have been working. So I thought I would show you what I have been up to.
PaperCuts has recently broken into the corporate world!  I was asked to create a banner and large number of centerpieces for a Retirement Party for Engineer retiring after a very long  and successful career. I was told he was a simple man but loved Notre Dame.

For the Banner, I went with simple football lettering with the famous gold and blue Notre Dame is known for.






The centerpieces followed the same gold and blue theme.  Since they didn't want to go with the traditional flowers route, I decided to fill the blue vases with paper Pompoms and adorn each one with farewell sayings.

Everything came out cute and simple.  The company was pleased with the decorations and I got to try something fun and different.

Pinterest Craft: Holiday Card Album

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Feliz Navidad, and  Happy New Year!  I hope you had a great holiday. Now that it's over what do you with the aftermath. I can't help with the clean up but I can suggest a great "after" holiday craft.  Yes, there is still some fun after the holidays. Like me, I am sure you received some lovely Holiday cards, namely the pictures cards. I love picture cards but I am always at a loss as to what to do with them after Christmas. You don't want to toss them but they really aren't frameable.  So I would just put them in a box to sit in the closet.  Then, I saw this on Pinterest and just had to try it!  This was a super quick and easy project and I just love how it came out.

I organized my old picture cards by year.

Once I had the order down, I punched holes thru it with my Zutter. You can, also, you use a hole punch.

Then I simply binded them with wire.  You can also use binding rings from your local office supply store.

And TA DA!!! You have a picture album of all your family and friends!

Christmas Craft: Yarn Wreath

I think is make be my all time favorite project. I know, I say that all the time but seriously I love it.  Anyone in the craft world knows Yarn Wreaths are all the rage. Just about everyone I know has either purchased one thru etsy or made there own. I, of course loving a challenged, decided to make my own. There are so many tutorials out there to choose from. I kinda did my own thing and I think it came out sooo stinking cute!

Yarn Wreath Tutorial

I picked a shimmery gold yarn to wrap my wreath. I did about 2 wraps to cover all the white space. Then I used a sparkly gray yarn to make the Y pattern. (I may have to do a tutorial on how to create it as I think is cooler than the X pattern which is so popular.)

Next, I adorned the wreath with shimmery twigs and beads which I purchased from Joanns. And used the remaining lace to create a bow at the top to loop on to the wreath hook.

Lastly, for the flowers, I used white felt, grey lace and silver silk fabric to create two different flower patterns. (There are so many different patterns out there but I really loved How Joyful tutorial on how to make felt flowers. I am able to edit her design to come up with a unique look.) I used extra long needles to attach the flowers to the wreath but you can use a glue  gun also.

 Now just hang it on your door! Sit back and enjoy the compliments from your neighbors.

Christmas Crafts: Picture in a Ball!!

With Christmas around the corner I wanted show you some of my own craft projects. It's not Christmas without ornaments and a little snow right!?! I made this little gem as part of the Trim the Tree Event at Brookfield Zoo, which my favorite natural light photographer Gina Cristine invited Little Ms PaperCuts and I too. For the tree, she asked us to use our favorite Gina Cristine photo to create an ornament to be hung at the celebration. This was hard because she took so many gorgeous photos of Little Ms PaperCuts. I settled on two of my all time favorites which I thought would compliment my ornament idea.  

 

  To create the ornament, I did the following:

1. Purchased a clear acrylic ornament, a bag fake snow, a glittered snowflake, and pink ribbon from Michaels.
2. Then simply cut out two photos to fit the center of the snowflake and then adhered the photos to each side of the snowflake.
3. I put a handful of snow into each halve of the ornament, placed the snowflake into the center and closed the ornament.
4. In order to ensure the ornament stays closed, I used double sided tape to apply pink ribbon along the opening of the ornament.
5. Tied a bow on the top and volia!

I would love to see any ornaments you have made for the holiday season, feel free to send them over!