Bridal Shower Photo Booth

Posted on July 25, 2016 by jewelsathome

I mentioned that Nicola recently hosted a bridal shower for one of our friends from work, and I helped out with some decorations. Over the past few years, I have gathered the elements for a DIY photo booth, including props, a tripod, and a Canon SELPHY Photo Printer.

In the past, I’ve adapted the backdrops and props for Christmas, a retirement party, and a Star Wars birthday party. This latest theme would be great for a wedding as well as a bridal shower. Want to do this yourself, here’s what you will need:

Backdrop. I hung a graphic striped shower curtain and then added these giant paper flowers.

2. Seating. I used a piano bench

3. Display. It is so fun to display and enjoy the photos during the party, before everyone takes theirs home. I hung some pom-pom trim on the fence and added some paper rosettes and clothespins covered in scrapbook paper to make a pretty gallery.

Here we are, smiling at the end of a beautiful afternoon with friends!

Say cheese!

“Jewels”

Giant Paper Flowers!!!

Posted on July 11, 2016 by jewelsathome

Oh, I honestly love any project that involves paper!

For a friend’s bridal shower, I offered to set up a photo booth and make some other decorations, which was the perfect excuse to try making these giant paper flowers.

Materials:

12×12 Cardstock – I used 3-4 sheets for the outer petals and one more sheet for the inner petals on each flower; you can cut two leaves from a sheet of green cardstock
Muffin cups for the centers
Cardboard for the backing
Tacky glue or hot glue

Instructions:

I started with this template and tutorial for giant paper roses
Because my cardstock was 12×12, I used the template to cut one each of sizes 1, 2, and 3 out of each sheet of cardstock. I made a smaller size 4 and used that to cut out the inner color
I varied the tips of the petals to get some variety (the pink-red and purple flowers follow the template; the blue has pointed petals, and the yellow and pink-yellow flowers have heart-shaped petals)

Here are some close-ups of the flowers:

They look really impressive grouped together:

And while I was taking pictures, it was so cute that Finn came over to smell the flowers!

Here’s how the flowers looked in our photo booth. The backdrop is a striped shower curtain.

Any ideas of where to put the flowers until our next event?

“Jewels”

DIY Gold-Painted Vases

Posted on July 10, 2016 by jewelsathome

One of my favorite partners in craft-crime recently hosted a bridal shower for one of our coworkers, and I offered to make some decorations. First, I made giant paper flowers for a photo backdrop, and next up were these gold-painted vases.

Materials:

Empty glass jars (pasta sauce, peanut butter, mustard, etc.)
Goo gone
Painters tape
Gold spray paint

Instructions:

Clean your jars thoroughly. I peel my labels as much as I can and then use Goo gone to remove the adhesive. Then, I run them through the dishwasher.
Mask off the area you don’t want to paint. I did a few variations: simple horizontal stripes, uneven edges (tape some torn paper around the vase), elastic bands, and geometric angles. You could get creative with round stickers for polka dots, etc.
Spray with gold spray paint and ta-da!

DIY gold-painted vases | Jewels at Home

I love how this textured jar turned out. I think it was a sauerkraut jar.

At the shower, I grouped vases together, so these small arrangements made a big impact.

From “trash” to treasures!

I gave most of the vases away as party favors, so the is the only picture I have of one of the diagonal geometric designs (far right).

Of course, now I am seeing beauty throughout my pantry and already have plans for another set of vases!

“Jewels”

“I Love You” Collage

Posted on April 5, 2016 by jewelsathome

Here’s a fun DIY art project that you can customize so many ways. I added names to ours.

And for my sister-in-law’s wedding, I put the bride and groom and their wedding date:

You can get creative and use not just letters but pictures of objects or patterns. Can you spot the keys I used for the letter “I” or the clock for the letter “o”? Depending on the space, I switched up the wording. Variations include:

I love you
Love you
Love
I love u
etc.

What other ways would you customize this?

“Jewels”

Kids’ Upcycled Easter Garland

Posted on March 11, 2016 by jewelsathome

We had a great time celebrating Easter with my sister’s family last year. I had wanted to make a garland with the kids, and a stack of drawings was the perfect starting point! Why leave all those creations hidden in a pile when we could hang them up to enjoy?

Kids' Upcycled Easter Garland | Jewels at Home

I made two templates out of cardboard: an egg and a bunny face. With older kids, you could add more shapes, but our three- and four- year olds barely managed with the egg, so this was perfect for us.

J and his cousins chose drawings and created some new ones. We traced the shapes and then cut them out. I made two small vertical slits at the top of each egg or bunny, and we threaded some ribbon through.

It was great to see these preschoolers practicing their fine motor skills and helping each other to put together our Easter decorations.

Kids' Upcycled Easter Garland | Jewels at Home

Hoppy Easter!

“Jewels”

Star Wars Birthday Photo Booth

Posted on February 20, 2016 by jewelsathome

Our photo booth that made its first appearance at our Mad Men party a few years ago is becoming a staple at our parties.

I started with an iPad for the camera, backdrops, and props. As time has gone on, we have added more backdrops and props, as well as a tripod and a Canon SELPHY Photo Printer for instant gratification!

For L’s birthday this year, we decorated with a Star Wars theme – like everyone else, we were all just a little excited about The Force Awakens!

I found some printable Cut-out masks for props:

As a party favor, I decorated simple picture frames for the kids, so they could display the photos from the booth. For this project, I used

6″x4″ Acrylic Picture Frames
dimensional paint to personalize the frames

Add some Star Wars stickers, and the kids were able to bring home some very special souvenirs!

I’m looking forward to trying out more fun themes at parties to come! What ideas do you have?

“Jewels”

Playing with Paper: Custom Greeting Cards

Posted on February 9, 2016 by jewelsathome

Here’s a short post where the pictures speak for themselves. I love playing around with pretty papers, and I put these together recently as a gift for a friend.

I used the same basic idea I shared in this post on quick DIY cards, but I varied the papers and added some fun washi tape as well. The other addition to these cards was using a corner rounder to add some interest. Still a straightforward project, and I love how each card turned out so unique!

“Jewels”

Custom Color Block Curtains for the Living Room

Posted on February 6, 2016 by jewelsathome

I recently decided to change out our living room drapes. Or, more accurately, I wanted to change my drapes for a long time and recently finally got around to it! The result of this overly drawn-out process is these custom … Continue reading →

DIY Padded Laptop Sleeve in Graphic Modern Fabric

Posted on January 7, 2016 by jewelsathome

Happy New Year!

I am feel super-stoked about work this year. I have my long-time work “family,” and we have added some strong new staff as well. We are moving to new offices, and I am part of building a new clinic, which is a bit daunting but mostly exciting. To help kick off the new year at work, I decided to make myself a cute laptop sleeve.

I was inspired by this pattern from Mandi at A Beautiful Mess. I made a few adaptations, like a velcro closure, a sewn-in name tag, and a rectangular flap.

To make your laptop sleeve, you’ll need

half yard of outer fabric – I used this graphic modern print
half yard of inner fabric – I used dark red faux suede for extra protection
quilt batting
velcro
scrap fabric for label and reinforcement
bias binding – mine matches the red on the inside

Start by cutting rectangles out of all three materials. For the width, the fabric should be 1 3/4 inches wider than your laptop on either side. For the length, wrap the fabric around your laptop and add about 6 inches for the flap. I’m lucky the print on my fabric worked out perfectly to line up… I mean I carefully planned and lined up the pattern on my fabric!

I made a label out of scrap muslin and put my name and contact information on it, in case I should ever be so unfortunate as to lose my laptop by fortunate enough to have someone host find it… I sewed this onto the lining fabric, as show below.

DIY Padded Laptop Sleeve in Modern Graphic Fabric | Jewels at Home

Next, I laid all three layers together and pinned them to keep them in place. I sewed quilting lines through all three fabrics for most of the sleeve, but I did want to sew across my name tag, so for the top section, I used some scrap fabric for backing and just sewed the outside fabric and batting to the scrap fabric, also shown below (folded over).

DIY Padded Laptop Sleeve in Modern Graphic Fabric | Jewels at Home

Next, I added the velcro. For the velcro on the body of the bag, I sewed all the way through, since the velcro is on the outside fabric, and I didn’t mind having stitching on the inside. However, for the velcro on the inside of the flap, I didn’t want the stitching to show on the outside, so I used more scrap fabric for backing, and I sewed the velcro to the inside fabric, batting, and scrap fabric, as shown below.

You can see the sleeve taking shape now! I finished one short end of the rectangle with bias binding (shown bel0w) and folded the entire piece to make the sleeve and trimmed some excess from the sides for a snug fit. I pinned the fabric in place to form the shape of the sleeve.

DIY Padded Laptop Sleeve in Modern Graphic Fabric | Jewels at Home

I sewed the sides together with a zig zag stitch and then added bias binding to the sides of the sleeve and top of the flap. DIY Padded Laptop Sleeve in Modern Graphic Fabric | Jewels at Home
This was a pretty quick and easy project, and I love how it turned out. I think Steve is eyeing the laptop sleeve, and I offered to make one for him, but he does work from home most days and so he has turned me down so far…

Here are some pictures of the finished product!

Looking forward to many adventures both at work and “at home” in 2016!

“Jewels”

Paper and Washi Tape Globe Ornaments

Posted on December 5, 2015 by jewelsathome

My passion for pretty papers goes way back, but I confess that when washi tape first became popular, I didn’t immediately fall in love – it’s not too late, though! I had so much fun combining patterns and colors to make these pretty ornaments. These lovely decorations are quick to make, and I will be bringing this project to work for our holiday party. I also made a personalized version of these ornaments with kids’ names inside.

To make these ornaments, I used

Clear Plastic Ball Ornaments
2.25-Inch Circle Paper Punch
Scrapbook paper. This is a great project for using small leftover pieces of paper
Washi tape and other embellishments
Glue stick
Ribbon for hanging

The process is very simple: