Blessed Favor

This summer has been full of events for PaperCuts, shockingly not all birthday parties. Not that I don’t love a good birthday design but it’s nice to flex our range.  A good friend and client contacted me about her baby boy’s baptism a while back. She had a great idea of making an important part of her baby’s blessing into favors for the guest AND knocking out some sitting issues also. Her only issue was how to implement it. 

I loved the idea and quickly ran with the idea.  Since part of the Greek Orthodox blessing involved oil, she wanted to give each attending family their own bottle of oil to take home. To take it further since Greeks do it big (we have all seen the movie) she had a ton of family coming and needed to put together a seating arrangement for the banquet afterwards.  

Our plan was to take the design used on the baptism invitation and design labels for the oil favors that also doubled as the seating cards. It came together so much better than we could have imagined. We even managed to include Jordan Almonds in the favor as they are a staple in Greek events. 

The baptism was beautiful, the guest loved their oil and everyone knew exactly were to seat. A perfect event!

Ribbon and Bows

I love how PaperCuts has been crossing state line lately!! This order came all the way from California.  A sweet lady requested a birthday banner for a little girl’s birthday party. The theme was ribbon and bows to which the customer had already fallen in love with a certain banner.  Since she couldn’t buy that banner, she wanted me to make something similar with some changes for the birthday girl.  I loved the colors she requested and the pure sweetness of this design.

Here comes the……wedding invitations?

Where O’ where has PaperCuts been?!?!  Apparently, I am not the world’s best blogger sorry to say but I have been working hard all summer.  This summer has been full of weddings, showers, baptism and of course birthday parties.  So there has been a lot of paper to cut. 

One of the biggest events has been a wedding which I eagerly designed and produced wedding invites for. What a job that was but how much did I love the results.  The bride was a family member who wasn’t sure what she wanted except that the invites be purple and silver.  After, torturing her with several rounds of “what do you like”, we settled on a glittery pocket design.  I drafted a sample for her approval and once she gave me the ‘ok’, I set to work creating these works of art.

Awww, made me want to go back and redesign my wedding invites. Mr PaperCuts quickly nixed that idea though, booooo.

Guess Whooo Is Having a Baby

That's the theme of a Baby Shower one of my returning customers is throwing. She was sweet enough to ask me to come up with a banner and centerpieces for this little shindig.  Since my little miss papercut's first birthday was a Owl theme, anything owl related has a special place in my heart.

I made this adorable "Baby Girl" Banner based on the color scheme she gave me.  I threw in the little tree as a cute tie into the playful theme.

In addition to the banner, she also wanted centerpieces that would allow for ballons to be attached. This meant we need something heavy enough to weight it down but still be able to remain on the table as a centerpiece. So I created 8" Owl balls with tiny hooks hidden on the top of the head to attach the ballons.  I just love these little guys.

Third "Princess" Edition: Stepping out of the "paper" box

So to end my Princess-themed posting, I promised I would give a tutorial on how to create the Princess-in-waiting hats. This is a really quick and easy  project to do at a party or on a lazy Saturday with your little Princess. *Please ignore the constantly changing colors, I didn’t have time recreate the project so I constructed this tutorial using the pictures I already had.

For this project you will need:  a cone hat, crown cut out, small strip of tulle, scissors and double sided tape or a stapler.

Step 1: Cut the tip off the top of your cone hat. Don’t make the hole to big or you will have a hard time keeping your tulle inside. Pull one end of your tulle thru the hole and tie a knot on the inside to keep it in place. I use tape to make the end of tulle easier to push thru the hole.

Step 2: Cut out your crown in any color you choose. You can also decorate it with glitter, stickers or jewels. Tape or staple the cut out on to the front of your hat.

And TA DA instant Princess Hat!!

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.