We were featured!!!

Well Little Miss Papercuts was featured on Apartment Therapy!! Apparently, her Rainbow birthday caught the eye of one of the editors. They approached me back in August about featuring her party. I sent over the pictures and then completely forgot ( I was little busy :p ). 

I got an email the other day letting me know that her party was being posted. I am so proud, especially since I was under order from the doctor to "take it easy" and couldn't do her party they way I really wanted. But none the less it was a great party and other agreed. So go over and check it out!!!

What you all have been waiting for... Introducing

Hi!!! I'm back... well sort of.... I haven't been doing any cutting recently but I have been very busy. Papercuts expanding by 2 little feet has been challenging but blissfully fulfilling. Our little blessing made HIS entrance a bit early!! Yes, our surprise baby was a BOY! Mr Papercuts is very proud, Little Miss PaperCuts is taking big sister duties very seriously and I am just in awe of my amazing little family.

So without further ado.. Introducing Little Mister Papercuts

Meow…Hello Kitty Style

I knew there would come a day when someone wanted a Hello Kitty hat. Well that day finally came with specific instructions. It was to include the kiddos name, age, hello kitty (of course) be simple yet playful.  I was stumped on this hat for a second until I found those awesome pleats. They were just adorable and screamed Hello Kitty.  This hat just came together just beautifully after that.  I must, as usual, it’s one of my favorites.

Music to my ears

Wow, this has to be the most honored I have felt since I started this little endeavor. One of my repeat customers asked me to create a birthday hat for a party that happened 2 years ago!!! I have made Fiona’s birthday hat for her 2^nd and 3^rd birthday.  Now, her mother would like to place all her hats on display in her room, so she asked me to create a hat from her 1^st birthday.  My hats are becoming collector items!! That’s pretty cool, in my humble opinion.  The theme was music and had a color scheme of red, blue and yellow. Since this was so special I took the time to graphically design the paper print on the hat.  I hope I memorialized her 1^st birthday properly.

You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

This was one tasty party!  Apparently it was held at an actual ice cream parlor and the kiddos had a blast but who wouldn’t.  Little Fiona turned 3 and for this party not only did her mom want a hat but a oversize ice cream sign to greet the guest as they arrived.  The hat was a no-brainer since I love ice cream, but then again who doesn’t? The color scheme was strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. I figured I should take those colors as literal as possible.

Now a 2 foot ice cream cone was little bit more challenging.  I needed to make sure the words fit properly and the cone look realistic as possible.  What do you think, does you make you nostalgic for a old school ice cream cone?

 

Re-Crafting: Centerpieces to Wedding Flowers

I’m all for saving money, reducing my foot print, recycling crafts whatever you want to call it.  Since I had an abundances of flowers left over from the bridal shower, I offered to re-craft the flowers into bouquets and boutonnieres for her bridal party. These were the original flowers.

 Some were skeptical, heck I was a bit skeptical but with the help of bouquet holders I was able to take the silk flowers from the shower and make these. I must say they came out quite lovely and saved us a hefty chunk of change. 

So what did we learn from this?  Before you go out spend unnecessary money only to discard something off to the side after your event, see if you can re-craft it!!!

Dora and Friends

Da, da, da doraaaaa the explorerrrr….. Come on any of you with children know this song. With my toddler, I hear this tune all day long.  It it now engrained in my head, so an order for Dora hat was no problem.  What I loved was that party was being held at a pet store!! How fun and so appropriate as all of Dora friends are animals. Mixing the animal theme with Dora was slightly more challenging then I expecting but I think I found a great middle ground by mixing animal print with Dora.  

Stepping out of the "paper" box: Favors and Centerpieces

Since I have been heavily involved in wedding planning it only appropriate that the next edition of ‘Out of the paper box’ be wedding related. Deciding on the perfect favors for a Bridal shower is always a challenge. There is so much to choose from one can suffer from sensory over load.  And to find something that matched the brides color scheme will just drive you mad. Thank god for crafts, it makes anything possible. Votive candles seemed like a good choice of favors since it could used over and over again but nothing fit our theme.  Luckily I had vision and a glue gun.  Taking some fancy ribbon and a jewel will take simple votive and make it some sophisticated and chic, not to mention save you a ton of money. 

Bonus, this edition also has a second tip!!  During a random night trip to Michaels, I found a major score…. Hurricane vases 2 for $4!!!  I felt like a thief walking out the door with 8 vases for less than $20. Now to put them to good use, I realized with a little sprucing up they would be perfect centerpieces for a bridal shower.  I took the pattern used on the bridal shower invitation and printed out on vellum paper.  Glued it to the outside of each vase and wrapped the ends with ribbon to give it a finished look. Volia high end vases for $2!  I filled each vase with some silk flowers and had the perfect centerpieces for the bridal shower.

Come to the end of the rainbow

Little Miss PaperCuts has grown up and is going off to college. Ok no seriously, she is just turning 3 but it feels like time is flying so fast that will be the next thing to happen. I am feel so many emotions happy, proud, sad, sentimental but most of all I feel like it time to celebrate. Especially since this is her last birthday as an only child……. YUP!! I am finally coming out the closet (though very very late) PaperCuts is expanding by two little baby feet. We are expecting a little Miss or Mr PaperCut in a few week. Sorry it took me so long announce but pregnancy flies when you are cutting paper.  Here is the announcement I shared with our family.

So back to Little Miss PaperCuts birthday party.  The theme is Rainbows! She saw an episode of Dora with a Rainbow party and just kept talking about rainbows so I thought it would be perfect. It took me a lot of time to put together the perfect party and it had to have the perfect invite. After hours of pouring over some great designs on the internet and my brain, I put together this little hybrid.  Isn’t it the cutest!!

Soon To Be Mrs

Back to my lovely bride.  Since she happened to be family, I was able to contribute to a lot to her wedding. Her bridal shower being one of my key areas.  Banners are always fun to make so I thought would make one for the guest to see when they came in.  I wanted to do something reminiscent of her wedding invitations that reminded everyone of who she would soon be.  The bride-to-be was quite pleased and even took the banner home.  Mission accomplished.

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.

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!