Monday, September 29, 2014

FIRETRUCK THEMED PARTY CENTERPIECE

Hi, today I'm posting about party centerpieces that I made for my godson, Jesus, that turned 3 years old recently.  The party theme was Firetrucks.  He LOVES Firetrucks!  So, how to create centerpieces around a firetruck theme....this is what I came up with, and made 14 centerpieces, this is how I made them....I used the following;

14  squares of Styrofoam (cut to desired size) these were 2 inches thick and 6 inches square
14  squares of pine lumber (cut to desired size) these were 2 inches thick and 6 inches square (optional)*
14  Number "3" Styrofoam shapes
1 roll yellow duct tape
1 roll red duct tape
2 packages of yellow tissue paper
2 packages of red tissue paper
1 package of red Holographic cellophane
14 large individually packaged lollipops
1 package red fine glitter
white glue
1 package U Floral pins (i found these at Hobby Lobby)
28 large Popsicle sticks
1 package wood skewers
Hot glue gun and glue sticks 
Themed graphics and text (I used my computer for this)

My hubby had some white pine lumber in his workshop and I had him cut 14 six by six inch squares, he did the same with the Styrofoam.
I hot glued the Styrofoam squares onto the wood squares, then took the duct taped and wrapped the yellow duct tape around each of the wood squares and then the red duct tape around the Styrofoam squares, I had to over lap a bit of the red tape over the yellow tape. *The wood base is mainly for weight, the party was outdoors and the centerpieces will stay in place on the tables even on a windy day, for indoor parties you do not have to add the wood base.
I cut the yellow and red tissue paper into 4x4 inch squares, about 24 yellow, about 15 red and 4 Holographic red for each centerpiece.  I pinched and gathered each tissue square in the center of the square and using the U floral pins I pinned two tissue squares at a time into the top inside edge of the Styrofoam all around, then did the same with the red tissue within the yellow square until it was nice and full.  I added a Holographic square the same way in the center of each centerpiece side and one in the top center.
I inserted wood skewers into and painted the "3"'s and waited for them to dry, then I brushed white glue on both sides and dipped them in the red glitter to coat.
I made the graphics on my computer and printed them on white card stock, cut them out and used just a bit of glue to secure them back to back, since they were going to be seen from both sides, then laminated them.  I made a small opening at the bottom of each one and inserted a large Popsicle stick and inserted the other end of the Popsicle stick into the Styrofoam with a bit of hot glue to secure, first making sure where exactly I wanted to place them, did the same with the "3"'s.  Then I inserted the large lollipop behind the number 3, but those were not glued down.
These were so cute and you can use whatever colors you'd like and decorate for any themed party! 
I hope I covered everything, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment.






Wednesday, September 3, 2014

MORE RESIN PENDANTS

These pendants are 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square



The Owl paperweight is 4" x 2" and the coaster is 4 inches big
I'm having so much fun making these but there is a little problem with the resin not curing as hard as it should.  It seems that the humidity in this area is so high that it affects the curing process a little.  I'm going to have to do more research on that.  But, they are still pretty and wearable.
In the pictures you can see the cute pendants, an Owl paperweight I also made (love it) and my first drink coaster, I used puffy vinyl stickers on both and glitter (of course). The little characters in the pendants are buttons with the shanks removed. 
The coaster cured very well and is very hard, I guess the humidity wasn't so bad that day.
If you have any questions, please feel free to use the comments section, and I will try my best to give you an answer.