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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

DIY Party Decorations Part 1 - Darling Decorations

I have been trying to blog properly for weeks, but after my hard drive crashed and I had to reload my photo library of over 150000 photos, it just doesn't seem to want to happen. So, in the meantime I thought it might be fun to share some of the awesome party craft items I have found while being sucked into numerous Pinterest holes that I just love finding myself in.

I am always trying to make my parties as elaborate as possible, using as little money as possible, because let's face it, we would all rather be spending money on presents & food (or bills & rent).

So here are a few awesome ideas I have found on Pinterest - feel free to follow me on Pinterest, I am always adding new pins as I find them. Each has a link that was given to me through Pinterest. As I found them all on Pinterest, I haven't had a chance to look at them all in detail. Some may not have tutorials, but the ideas are there nonetheless. All credit for these creations goes to the original posters. Please forgive me for not labelling them all individually.


Easy Peasy Garlands
These are all great ideas for super easy yet effective ways to make garlands. You could do all of the same, or a combo of a few. Great idea for excess ribbon, or just some offcuts of fabric that you cut up into strips. 



More String Balls
These are sooo cute, I came across them recently while looking for Easter crafts. I am in love with the idea and have been brainstorming ideas of how I could make them different. I love the egg shape for Easter, but I don't actually decorate my house for Easter, although I might as Rylan gets older or if there are more children around. I thought that if you wanted a perfectly round one, you could use the water balloon and just cover half with just enough string that it will hold its shape, then do another half and then stick them together and wrap more string around the whole lot to secure it. I don't know whether this will work, but its an idea. I also thought that you could really line the outside of any bowl or container with cling wrap and do the same thing to make a bowl for a centre piece. I can't vouch for how sturdy that would be as I haven't made any myself, but if I ever do, I will post a blog about it.


Baby's Breath Poms
This is beautiful. I am not a huge baby's breath kinda person, other than wearing it in my hair at 3 years old when I was a flower girl in the 80s, but to be completely honest, I think this is the nicest display I've ever seen. I think this would be beautiful for a wedding. Doesn't look difficult and is very whimsical. 



Tissue Paper Flowers
I'll write about these two together, although the top includes tule, and the bottom is just tissue. I personally make tissue paper flowers for almost every party I do. They are so versatile and so easy and so cheap. You can make them hang from the roof, or you can turn them into a flower arrangement. Sooooooo cute. I love mixing the colours up, mixing up the sizes. You can jagger the edges or round them off depending on the look you want. A definite staple party decoration in my book. Not to mention that you can make them huge, and they really fill a space. 


Coloured Rice
Oh My God!!! I am so in love with this idea. I am really seriously considering making a big batch in all different colours and keeping them at hand to use whenever I want. You could use this for sooooo many things. You could scatter them instead of buying those confetti - and they will easily vacuum up for a good clean up. I wouldn't recommend scattering on an outside table because I think they are bad for birds. If you were having an indoor wedding and were allowed to throw rice, how beautiful would multicoloured rice be? Again, not for outdoors.

Other uses would be filling jars with and using as a stand for lollipops or cakepops. I'm sure there are other things you could do with them. I would love to hear your ideas!


Soda Bottle Curtain
This is soooooooooo pretty and so surprising that it is the bottom of soft drink or soda bottles! I am really impressed by this idea. There are a few tutorials floating around about tinting mason jars, and I think that if you could be bothered, you could tint this to be any colour you wanted, or multicoloured if you so desire.

Upon checking all my links to make sure they aren't just to google images, I have discovered that these are made to order, so no tutorial. Still an inspiring idea.


Paint Chip Garland
I found a list of 50 things you can do with paint chip samples recently, and to be honest, I don't know if this was one of them, but it should have been if it wasnt. I love this idea, and the best part is that paint chips are free - at least in Australia they are. This is a great way of getting lots of different coloured card without spending a lot of money. All u need is a punch & string - or if you don't have a punch, nothing stopping you from cutting them out by hand.


Glitter Lantern
This is a great idea. If you were having a fairy party, or a disco party. you could do them in any colour and they do not look difficult at all. I have a love hate relationship with glitter, I get a bit obsessive compulsive around it if I think its on me, but I love looking at it so much, sometimes I just gotta have it. Depending on how fiddly these were mess wise, they may need to be for an outside party. 


Yarn Pompom Garland
I thought these would be good for a Dr Seuss party - they are wool pompoms.

Scalloped Lanterns

Paper Scalloped Lanterns
These are really pretty. You could make them with a gradient from light to dark if you wanted, you could make them multicoloured, or two toned or three toned, ahhh, the list goes on. I am not sure how they are made, but they don't look hard, maybe a little time consuming, but if you're so inclined then go for it. You could use this technique for covering a pinata also.


Flower Garland
So pretty, even for a little girls bedroom. They look like they might be fabric, but if they are there isn't any reason you couldn't do it with paper. Like a giant necklace, gorgeous.

Please note - Unfortunately, the link in Pinterest for this one didn't go anywhere, so I don't have anyone to credit, or any instructions. If you know where this came from, PLEASE let me know - sugarblossommeagan@gmail.com and I will link it straight away.


Wax Paper Crayon Hearts
This is a great idea, and I think could be done with any shape, although because they are thin (i think) you might need to stick with basic shapes like circles or squares. Stars would look good, but would depend on if they kept their shape when hung. No reason why you couldn't turn these into a garland. I just love them. Wax paper & crayons I believe - don't quote me on that. Like I said, I haven't looked into them in detail.


Paper Butterflies
These are sooo sweet I love them. Would make a great curtain or garland. Not sure on how they are made, but how beautiful would a giant one be? They would make a good mobile for a nursery also. 

Paper Streamer Sun & Rainbows
Love love LOVE. Paper plate & streamers. Simple and sooo effective.


Flower Balloons
The Pinterest comment boasted simple to make. They are cute, as hell. I think balloons are awesome, but so often they are difficult to display in such a way that is attractive and not tacky. This is a great suggestion. I can imagine them attached to a big green stick and stuck in the ground with a cut out cardboard leaf. 


Felt Ball Garland
I have never worked with felt, but these look very cute, and would also be good in a bedroom as decoration.


Crepe Paper Garland/Streamers
This one seems a little obvious, but to be honest, I haven't thought of doing this in the last few parties that I have thrown. I remember doing these at school maybe, or for my childhood parties, but just haven't seen this idea in a while. Sooo cute, and colour coordinated would look just beautiful. All it is is crepe paper & twisting.


Ice-Cream Balloons
And finally, I had to share this as I thought it was BRILLIANT. I assume the cone is either paper or card, but such an innovative and simple idea. Whoever thought of this deserves major cudos. 


There are many many many more ideas and so I have decided to split them up into 4 different blogs. These are just decorations, so there are lighting, centre pieces and dessert table enhancements to come.

Hope you enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I love rainbow rice! I remember the first time I saw coloured rice was in little shop selling Mexican clothing and accessories. All their jewellery was displayed on big flat dishes of different coloured rice. It looked amazing!

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