15 Minutes...

Come and visit me over at Life In Grace

I am participating in the

12 days of handmade Christmas

Embellished Dishtowel Tutorials...

Y'all go check them out!!

Move over Martha!! A party and a tutorial...

My niece, Ashlyn, had her tenth birthday party this weekend and wanted me to help decorate for it. I took what she said she wanted, pink and black polka dots, and ran with it.

I took this picture and modified it. I love the Wal-Martha tissue paper flowers and did buy a kit on clearance, but the colors did not go with our theme.

Here is the Birthday Girl herself. Happy Birthday, Ashlyn!!

Here is the table all ready for Ashlyn's friends. My sister in law was having the girls make and decorate the cupcakes so we set the sprinkles out on the table. Now, if this party had been at my house for my girl, we would have put those sprinkles in a glass cheese shaker or something. I used a Wal-Martha scalloped circle punch{bought on clearance thankyouverymuch} for the confetti on the table.

Ten candles...Black and white polka dot napkins from Target complement the theme.

A shot of the tissue paper flowers and garland I made. Scroll down for a tutorial...

Ashlyn and I came up with the idea for the girls to tie fabric strips onto flip flops. Cory and I tore fabric strips the night before and got everything all put into these cute polka dot goody bags. The girls also got glow bracelets and nail polish.

I made the banner for Ashlyn's present from us, but it will also look great when her parents redo her room for her. She wants it hot pink with black polka dots and I get to help!!

Here Lilly is helping me make the garland that was hanging with the tissue paper flowers. I used that same Wal-Martha punch and glue sticked those paper cut outs to thin satin ribbon.

Just sandwich the ribbon in between the circles.

Now onto the tissue paper flower tutorial...

You will need tissue paper. Several packs. Pipe cleaners. Fishing line to hang.

To make a large flower you will use all 8 or 10 sheets of tissue paper, whatever comes in your pack.

Fold it accordion style, like a fan. Back and forth.

You can see the folds, just keep going back and forth until you reach the end.

Once you get it folded, you will want to cut the ends. You can either round the corners or cut the corners off, making a pointy end. I did a little of both.

Here is a round edge.

Don'tcha just love it when the lights come on??

Okay, so here you are going to fold it in half lengthwise.

You will then cut the corners. Do not leave out this step. It will result in a flower that is very hard to open. I found this step missing from most of the directions I found.

Here is what it will look like opened back up.

Here is where you will take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around the middle. If you are making smaller flowers, you can cut the pipe cleaner in half. You will also want to make a loop with the ends of the pipe cleaner to make for easier hanging.

Now you will just open the fan up and start pulling the papers apart.

Just pull the single layers apart carefully, working toward the center.

Repeat on the other side.

There you have a pretty tissue paper flower!!

If you want to make a smaller flower, just cut the paper in half and use half the amount of papers. Like, if its a pack of ten, use five sheets.

To hang the flowers like I did in the top photo, get a dowel rod and screw two eye hooks into the top, string fishing line through the hooks and just tie on the flowers with fishing line. You can hang it from the ceiling with teacup hooks, or like we did using pushpins since it was temporarily in the kitchen.

One thing I would also recommend is to paint your dowel rod white. That way it will not show as much in case you don't cover it well.

Hope y'all like it!! I would love to know if you replicate this look!! Let me know if y'all have any questions.

Name banner tutorial...

I made a banner for Jackson's Summer Swap partner. I thought he could hang it in his room somewhere. That and his mom already made him some pennant banners.

So...would you like to know how I did it?? You will need to gather up some supplies...fabric-you don't need much{I used sleeves from a men's button up shirt for two of the letters}, an iron on interfacing-a half a yard ought to do for a six letter name, and twine. You will also need an iron, ironing board and a sewing machine. That goes without saying, doesn't it??

First, you will need to go to word and open a new document. Type in the name you want to use and choose a font. For this one, Arial in size 500 was used{right, Jen??}. She's my little enabler!! Hahaha!! Anyhow, get your letters printed out and you are ready to start.

You will need to cut each letter out.

I tore a strip of fabric to a rectangular shape-you are going to fold it over at the top, wrong sides facing together. Cut off the excess. You might want to iron those rectangles of fabric once you have them cut.

You will then take your rectangles of fabric and lay them on your interfacing, wrong side facing the adhesive side of you interfacing. I cut the pieces to size, then layed a towel{I used a flour sack towel} on top of the fabric and ironed it on. The interfacing will have directions.

Once all the fabric has been adhered to the interfacing, I folded them in half, wrong sides facing.

Then, I took a letter, put the top part of the letter on the fold, and cut the letter shape out. Repeat with all the letters.

I then put the twine inside the fold and pinned the fabric together. Oh, one step I did forget to mention...once you have all your letters cut out, lay them out and decide how much twine you want. I would leave at least ten inches on both sides for tying purposes.

I just sewed around the outside. I did not sew the top edge, because it is folded over. I did, however, make sure to sew on top of the twine covered part to hold it in place. Does that make sense to you?? Repeat with all the other letters.

Voila!! There you have a cute, personalized banner!!

Here is a close-up of the first few letters...

A few other letters. I will say, that I might use a heavier interfacing on letters like the E.

I would love to know if you make a banner from this tutorial.

Happy Tuesday!!

Questions and Answers and Regrets

Hello again!! I have had a few questions about the tassels and decided to answer them in a post.
Why two different types of glue?
I used the Allene's to roll the trim at my mom's suggestion so I don't burn my fingers on hot glue. How's that for an answer?? Someone did mention that hot glue loosens over time. I don't know what the "professional tasseliers" use so we will see how it holds up. I am open to suggestions...

What type of fringe is it that I used?
The main trim is a rope-like trim that I got from a yard sale. I noticed that it was like $10 a yard at Hobby Lobby. Yikes!! I would definitely look for their sales. The brown trim was maybe called eyelash fringe. You could click on the picture of the tassels to get a better look. HL has such a big selection to choose from. I would just go there and see what you like best.

Where did the toppers come from and did the bird topper come with a hook?
I actually got my toppers from one of my local antique shops. The bird came from HL originally, I found out I was taken on that one!! I paid a dollar more than the original HL price and it was probably on sale there!! Oh well, the birdie sure is cute. No, it did not come with a hook. I am going to look online to see if I can find some that do come with hooks. I don't know where others get their little birdies with hooks. You could use Christmas ornaments too. Now would be a great time to start looking for ones with good tassel potential.

Hope that answered everyone's questions.

An another non tassel related note...I went to a funeral today. I used to be good friends with the lady that passed away. I haven't spoken with her in quiet a few years because I felt like she betrayed me. That is one thing I don't like. In some ways I thought she got sick because it was her punishment. I know that is not true though. I didn't think it would bother me if she got better or not. I regret that I did not reconcile with her. There is a reason that the Bible says do not let the sun go down on your anger. It is better to swallow your pride than to hold a grudge. I am now learning this. Too late. Carol used to make me laugh at work. Everyday. I think it was her life's mission. She used to call me Elsie. My name is not Elsie, its Elise. She used to write it L.C. It would make me laugh. I would even get Carol to repeat the joke she just told so I could laugh some more. I urge you to forgive the people you feel wronged you. I wish I could have had the time back now. Please pray for her family. She left behind a husband, a daughter and two grandgirls.
Sorry to end on this note tonight, I had to say what was on my heart.

Tassel Tutorial Tuesday

Okay, let me just preface this by saying how under-qualified I am to give a tutorial. I am doing this because I have had several requests for a how-to and I am generous with my knowledge. The tassel above is Amy's. I told her how to do it and I took pictures along the way. If there are any gaps in my directions or you are confused about a certain part, please let me know.

First, you need to gather all your supplies: a topper, various fringes, ribbon, fabric glue(I used Allene's), and a hot glue gun. I would do this first part at a store to see how much of the body or main fringe that you need. I just rolled it a bit and held it to the bottom of my topper to see how much I needed. Then you just cut the amount you need.

Roll the main fringe and glue as you go along.

Roll and glue, roll and glue...

When you are finished with that step, sit it to the side a bit to 'set-up' or let the glue dry.

Then take your hot glue gun and squeeze the glue onto the top of the rolled fringe.

Hold to the bottom of the topper.

The next part is optional. If you want to add ribbon loops, then glue one side of the ribbon and bring the other side up, forming a loop and glue it to the first part of the ribbon.

Press the ribbon with the hot glue gun to avoid burning your fingers. *This part was Amy's idea, you don't want to know what I did with the ribbon. She definitely saved y'all a few steps!!

Take your next trim and hot glue around the top of the tassel part, covering where you glued the ribbon loops. You can do as much or as little here. Its up to your personal preference.


Tie a ribbon at the top and you are ready to hang!! See how cute Amy's tassel looks on her kitchen hutch. You can use almost anything for the topper. I think it would be easiest to use something that you can loop ribbon thru or tie onto, like our pear. Additionally, I think if you found something that did not have a loop, you might could drill a hole in it then tie your ribbon on. I think I am going to get my husband to drill a small hole into my birdie and glue a small eye hook in it.

I hope this helps!! Let me know if you make a tassel, I would love to come visit and see your handiwork. Happy Tasseling!!
Elise