Tutorial: Large Tissue Pom-Poms July 9, 2011

About a year ago I saw tissue pom-poms for the first time on the Martha Stewart website. Sometimes people call them paper flowers and you can totally see why. Don’t they look like enormous dahlias?  I thought they looked beautiful and are a great alternative to paper lanterns for party decorations. Isn’t this beautiful:

Martha Stewart

I have decided to make a more detailed tutorial because there are a couple tricks to getting perfect, full pom-pons. The two most important would be to use good quality tissue paper. I once helped a neighbor make large pom-pons and she’d brought her tissue paper at T J Maxx. It was very thin paper and the final pom-pons drooped. For these pom-poms, I used tissue paper from American Greetings and it worked great. Each pack contains 9 sheets. If you want even fuller pom-poms you will need to use 12 to 16 sheets all together.

You will need:

packets of tissue paper

alligator clips

monofilament (fishing line)

floral wire

scissors

supplies for the pom-poms

 

1. Carefully open the packet of tissue paper and unfold it. Keep the tissue paper stacked neatly. Use an alligator clip to keep the tissue paper stacked. This really helps to  keep the paper neat and in place. I like to put two alligator clips at the front of the paper (where I will be folding) and one on each side.

Attach alligator clip

2. Start folding the tissue paper. Use an accordion fold about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. The important part here is keeping the fold consistent.

Fold the tissue paper

Accordion fold

 

3. Keep folding until you reach the end of the paper. Now, you’ll have a rectangular accordion. The last fold may be a lot shorter than the rest of the folds and that is ok.

Final fold

4. Cut your floral wire so that it measures 18 inches. Fold it in half. The wire may not be completely straight and neat. Again, don’t worry about that, because no-one will see it when the pom-poms are finished. Now, you need to loop the floral wire around the middle of your tissue paper. I like to loop the wire twice and then twist it at the top.

Fold the floral wire in half

 

Twist the wire around the paper

5. The next step is to cut the ends of the tissue paper. You can either cut the ends into triangles (for a Dahlia look) or scalloped (for a softer look). It is very hard to cut through all the layers of tissue paper at once. What I do is cut in stages- I cut half of them and then do the other half, doing my best to get a clean cut. Use good quality, heavy, sharp scissors!

Cut half the tissue paper

Cut ends into triangle

6. Start carefully separating each layer by gently pulling it upwards and out. Pull away from the center. Do this very slowly and gently because you do not want to rip the delicate tissue paper.

Separate the layers

Be very careful to not tear the paper

 

Pull layers away from the center

 

Continue separating layers

 

7. Once you’ve separated all the layers on one side, continue to do the other side.

Do the other side

completed pom-pom

8. Once the layers have all been separated, you have a completed pom-pom and you are ready to hang it. Cut your fishing line to whatever length you want and knot it on the floral wire that is in the center of your pom-pom. To hang these, you can tie the monofilament around a dress maker’s pin (sewing pins that have a flat top) and push these into the ceiling. This method leaves the tinniest hole that no-one is going to notice once the pin is removed. The great thing about using fishing wire to hang your pom-poms is that they look like they are floating. No-one will see the wire.

Tissue pom-poms

Of course, if you don’t have the time or the energy to make these yourself then you can order the pom-poms online from various Etsy sellers. They will ship the pom-pons to you, ready for you to separate the layers! This is a great option, especially if you are having a hard time finding tissue paper in the color you want or if you want a rainbow effect, such as the one below from PomLove.

Rainbow pom-pom

 

 

Tutorial: Ribbon Wand Party Favors June 2, 2011

Ribbon wands are really fun- my three year old loves moving the wand up and down and watching the ribbons twirl. She is completely fascinated by them and when ever her friends come over, they want to play with her collection of ribbon wands, too. So, here’s a tutorial. These are so easy to make! Of course, if you don’t feel too crafty then you can check out the ribbon wands in my Etsy store. I have some ready-made and ready to ship otherwise, you can order a custom set with any colors you choose!

You will need: 

grosgrain ribbon in red, white and blue, cut into 36 inch strands

(the blue used in this tutorial is called Capri)

hot glue gun

12 inch wooden dowel rod

 

 

1. Put a little spot of hot glue on the end of the blue ribbon strand (approximately 1 inch from the tip of the ribbon).

Spot of hot glue

2. Place the red ribbon directly on top and press down firmly to adhere.

Start to stack ribbon

3. Put a little spot of hot glue on the end of the red ribbon strand (approximately 1 inch from the tip of the ribbon) and top with the white ribbon.

More glue

In this way, the red ribbon is sandwiched between the blue and the white ribbon.

4. Loop the ribbon as though you are going to tie it. Then, slide your dowel rod in the middle of the loop.

Loop ribbon for form a knot

Get ready to knot

5. Put a dab of hot glue on the dowel rod, approximately 1 inch from the tip.

Dab hot glue on dowel rod

6. Now tighten your ribbon loop so that it is knotted on the hot glue.

Tighten the loop/knot

 

Completed wand

 

Safety note: For children under the age of 4, I use ribbon that is 12 inches long. The long strands of ribbon could be a strangling hazard for little kids so make sure they are being supervised!

 

Dress by Mels Marvelous Designs

 

Pillowcase dress

Ribbon wands

Thank you to Mels Marvelous Designs for supply the beautiful patriotic pillowcase dress for this photo shoot! Check out her Etsy store!

Also, don’t forget to become a fan of A Party Studio on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/apartystudio

Tutorial: Hand-tied banner May 17, 2011

I love the look of the hand-tied banner and I love that it can be so versatile! You can print the letters on squares or circles, make these big or small to determine the length of your banner, use lots of ribbon colors, etc. The digital happy birthday banners in my shop are very popular and I think that is because they add a lot of impact to the party decorations.

Here is a step-by-step guide to show you how to put these banners together. For this tutorial I have used the banner from the Sailboat collection to spell out the name Asher. A name can be added to any of the digital collections for an additional $5 (up to 10 letters).  The grosgrain ribbon is orange, spring moss (green), blue and lemonade.

The first thing you’ll want to do is get your supplies together:

Paper slicer

Black card stock

3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon

Good quality scissors

Adhesive (photo splits)

Printed banner sheets

Cutting mat or ruler

Hole punch

If you want rounded corners then it helps to have a corner-round punch. This isn’t essential though. The banner looks great with 90 degree corners or you could always do the rounded corners by hand using your scissors.

Tools you'll need

Cut your grosgrain ribbon to 8 3/4 inches. If you plan on using the banner for years to come, then you’ll want to treat the ends of your ribbon to prevent them from fraying- either pick up some Fray Check at the craft store or burn the ends.

Cut the ribbon to 8 3/4 inches

When you print your banner sheets, it is important to have your printer set to high/good quality (not draft!) and also use bright white heavy paper. I like to use 110 lb card stock. This is available at office supply stores such as Staples or Office Depot.
Use your paper slicer to cut the printed sheets into squares.

Cut into squares

Square letters

Once you’ve cut all the letters into squares, you can round the corners. Of course, this is totally optional and depends on the look you are wanting!

Use punch to round the corners

Choose square or 90 degree corners

Rounded corners

The next step is to cut your black card stock into 5 1/2 inch squares. You’ll be backing the letter squares onto this card stock. It is important to back to the letter squares so that your banner will be sturdy. If you rounded the corners for your letter squares then you’ll want to do this again for the black card stock squares.

Black card stock squares

Apply adhesive to the back of the letter squares. When you stick the letter square on your black square, make sure it is in the center so that you have a nice even border all the way around.

Apply adhesive

Stick letter in the center

Back all the letters

Now you are ready to punch holes in the corners of the squares. Make sure the holes on each side are uniform- you want the holes to be the same distance from the top of the card stock and from the sides. I like to spend a couple minutes making a hole template.

Make hole template

Once you’ve made your template, you need to mark where your left and right holes are going to be located. Do this by marking the letter squares on each side as show in the photos.

Hole template

Mark left hole mark

Move template to the right

Mark right hole

Punch holes

Now that all your holes are punch, you can start the fun part- pulling the ribbon between the holes of two adjoining letters and knotting the ribbon!

Thread ribbon through holes

Knot ribbon

When you knot the ribbon, make sure it is not too tight or that the letter square are overlapping. You need the knots to be somewhat loose so that you can fold your finished banner.

Continue to tie all the ribbon together.

Tie all the ribbon

When you get to the end letters (in this case, a sailboat and the letter R), you want your ribbon to be longer. The length of this ribbon will depend on what you’ll be tying the ribbon to. The banners I make have between 24 and 30 inches of ribbon at the ends.

End ribbon

Tie ribbon to the letter square

Et voila! Your banner is finished and ready to display!

Finished banner

When you are not using the banner, you can fold it (like an accordion) and use the long end ribbons to hold it together.

Fold banner when not in use

If you are feeling less than crafty then check out the ready-to-ship banners that I have in the store or contact me and I can print, cut, back, glue and hand-tie one of the digital banners for you!

Tutorial: Personalized Candy Bar Wrapper April 25, 2011

Things you’ll need:

Print out wrapper*. Be sure to use bright white heavy paper

Bars of chocolate (1.55 oz)

Paper cutter

Adhesive such as a glue stick or photo tabs

Stylus (useful but not essential)

The things you'll need

*I can make personalized chocolate bar wrappers to match any of the invites in my Etsy store or I can make a design for you from scratch. You think of the theme and colors and I’ll create it! For this tutorial, I used the Sailboat wrapper.

Step 1: cut the paper on the grey line. Use a paper cutter to ensure a straight neat edge.

Cut the wrapper on grey line

Step 2: fold on the black line at the top of the illustration. Use the flat end of the stylus to sharpen the crease of the fold.

Fold on top black line

Use stylus to crease sharp crease

Step 3: fold on the bottom black line. These are the only two folds you’ll need to make. Again, use the stylus to get a nice crease.

Fold on bottom black line

Use stylus

Folded wrapper

Step 4: slip the chocolate bar behind the wrapper.

Insert bar

Insert bar to wrap

Step 5: turn the wrapper and the chocolate bar over so that you can apply adhesive to the back of the wrapper. I like to use a glue stick for this.

Turn over

Apply adhesive

Fold wrapper on itself

If you are using a glue stick then you’ll need to press very firmly for a few seconds to make sure it sticks.

Press firmly

Et voila! Cute personalized chocolate bar wrappers– the perfect party favor! These are a huge hit every time I throw a party- adults love them, as do the kids. Plus, the personalization mean that these wrappers make fabulous keepsakes. When you do these every birthday, you can create a fun way to track milestones.

Personalized chocolate bar

Custom party favor

Check out the other personalized chocolate wrappers that I have made in years past for my daughter’s birthday parties!

Tutorial: making an Etsy treasury (Part 2) April 4, 2011

Ok, so here are the screen shot in case yesterday’s tutorial wasn’t quite detailed enough for you!!! You can bookmark this link and you’ll be able to skip the first three steps 🙂

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/new

Step 1: go to the Etsy homepage

Etsy homepage

Step 2: bottom left, click on ‘treasury‘ (under ways to shop)

Ways to shop

Step 3: on the right click on ‘create a list‘ (under curator tools)

Create a list

Curator tools

Step 4: you’ll have 16 squares to fill. Just copy and paste the item URL

Fill in the spaces

Item URL

The URL is the Uniform Resource Locator but for us who are not fluent in techno-speak, it is the website address thingy-me-bob in the top bar. Make sense? It is made up of the domain name, backslash and the file name and starts with http://

For example: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69407150/12-mini-ribbon-flag-cupcake-toppers-in

Well, that is it folks… how to make a treasury in 4 easy steps! Or, one step if you go straight to the create a treasury page on Etsy! Hope you have fun and make some creative treasuries. Hope your treasuries end up on the Etsy front page- how cool would that be?

Don’t forget to add TAGS to your treasury. Think about the items you’ve used, the colors, the textures, the theme, etc. Is the collection full of vintage or handmade items? Tags help people find your treasury!

Once you feel really proficient with the treasury making or just need a challenge, then check out the Team Discover homepage and enter their weekly treasury challenge! Here is a treasury I made for one of their competitions a few weeks back:

Butterflies and flowers

And, here’s one more example of a treasury challenge entry. Notice that two of the items are the same (the butterfly pendents).

Fly away!

ENJOY! And share your treasuries 🙂

Tutorial: making an Etsy treasury April 3, 2011

Question:

What is a treasury?

Answer:

An ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery!

Etsy treasuries are so much fun to look at and also to make. In my free time (ha ha ha- that is a bit of a joke nowadays- what free time!!!), I love surfing through the website and creating a beautiful treasury. Here is a glimpse of my most recent one, called All Tangled. You can check out the complete treasury– with all 16 items- on Etsy!

Viola hair pins

Handmade scarf

Painting

Funky shoes

Baby’s hat

Cool rug

Top hat

Yellow dress

Purple clutch

HOW TO MAKE A TREASURY ON ETSY:

Go to the Etsy homepage.
Bottom left, click on ‘treasury‘ (under ways to shop)
On the right click on ‘create a list‘ (under curator tools)
You’ll have 16 squares to fill. Just copy and paste the item URLs.

Really, really good treasuries end up on the Etsy front page (FP). Good treasuries should:

• have all the tags completed
• use beautiful pictures
• have a theme (could be color, holiday, specific item, etc)
• use a catchy title
• check back on your treasury in case you end up with open spots
• post your treasury on Facebook, Stumble Upon, etc and let all your friends know about it!

Tutorial: The Loopy Hair Bow March 15, 2011

You will need:

3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon: FIVE strands that measure 8 inches and FOUR strands that measure 6 inches. You can mix and match the ribbon- they can be all one color or lots of colors! Be creative with your ribbons and have fun with it. The total amount of ribbon is 64 inches.

Fray Check

Needle and thread

2x double prong alligator clip (one lined, the other unlined). One will be use for the bow and the other is a tool you’ll use.

Hot glue gun

Embellishment such as a button or rhinestone for the center of the bow

 

 

Step 1

Select your ribbon. I have used red saddlestitch, white with red saddlestitch and red with Swiss dots.

3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon

Step2

Cut your ribbon and treat all ends with Fray Check to prevent fraying.

For a double layer medium sized loopy bow, you will need five strands that measure 8 inches and four strands that measure 6 inches. Your finished bow will measure approximately 3 1/2 inches.

Cut and treat ribbon

Step 3

Stack the five strands that measure 8 inches then fold over in the center. Make sure your Swiss dots are facing towards each other as shown in the photo. Put your needle in the center of the fold. Do not pull the needle all the way through! You need to stop when the ribbon is approximately half way on to the needle.

Stack and fold

Step 4

Fan the ribbon taking care to keep the strands evenly spaced out. Take your time with this to get the ribbon exactly where you want it. It helps to hold the bottom of the needle with your dominant hand and then slowly move the strands around. Then, use a double prong alligator clip to keep the strands in place. Do not remove the needle.

Fan ribbon

Step 5

Start folding each strand. Take the end of each strand and turn it upside down before placing it on the head of the needle. This is called an inside-out fold and will give you nice loops. There are other ways to do the loops- the important thing is to be consistent and each loop has to be made the same way.

Inside-Out fold

Side view of fold

Start folding

Step 6

One you have done all the strands, you’ll have a pretty flower shape. Use your needle and thread to sew the center securely. Usually I have to pull the needle through about 4 to 5 times. Then, cast off.

Sew the center

Step 7

Repeat the above steps with the shorter threads of ribbon.  You’ll notice that it is easier to fan out the ribbon when you only use 4 strands.

Repeat for shorter strands

Step 8

You now have two loopy flowers.

Two loopy flower layers

Step 9

You can either sew the top layer onto the larger bottom layer or use hot glue. I have used both methods and after breaking several needles, I have become a huge fan of the hot glue method! Once the layers are stacked, add the embellishment to the center using hot glue and attach the bow to a partially lined hair clip using hot glue. I like to put the bow upside down, apply the glue to the top of the clip and then turn the clip upside down and press it onto the bow. Make sure you hold for 10 seconds so that it is secure.

Stack layers and add embellishment

Here are some finished bows. I love playing with different colors and using lots of different ribbons. With regards to printed ribbon, I prefer very simple- Swiss dots, saddlestitch or stripes- but that is a personal preference. You’ll quickly develop your own style!

Gold and purple loopy bow

Multi-colored loopy bow

Yellow and green loopy bow

Back of loopy bow

To do a  third layer, you will need SIX 9 inch strands of ribbon.

I used a simple white button for this bow but this is where you can get even more creative. A wonderful source for custom made embellishments is Green Meadow Clay.  Christene makes amazing polymer clay centers for hair bows. This is a wonderful way to tie in the hair accessory with the outfit or the theme of the party dress!

Wouldn’t this ladybug that she made look really cute in the above bow?

Green Meadow Clay