It's a Saturday bonus post! I'm sharing with you then contents of a post that I prepared for my friend Natalie Bradley. Natalie is the owner of Natalie Bradley Events, an event planning and design company based in Athens, Georgia. Below is what is on Natalie's site...enjoy!
Are you getting ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve at home? Whether you are gathering with a big group of friends, a few family members, or simply with a very special someone, a little DIY paper crafting can make the evening and any photos you snap extra fun! I’m Kerry Willard Bray of Peonies and Paper Chains and I delighted to be here today sharing some ideas with you!
A banner is a great way to get started…
You can choose any saying you want -- Happy New Year, Celebrate, Hello 2014, Party Like It’s 1999 -- whatever works for you. The beauty of DIY is that it can be anything you want it to be!
Each flag or pennant on this banner is one-quarter of an 8-1/2” x 11” piece of card stock and the ends were cut with scissors. The letters were made using ½” wide strips of Silver Glimmer Paper. You lightly draw the letters onto the cardstock, cut down the glimmer paper to the desired size, and adhere. My adhesive of choice? Multi-Purpose Glue.
Did you notice that the banner is in two pieces? With a long phrase, it is often important to create two banners otherwise it will take up a terribly long expanse of wall! The “happy” alone is about 20” from end to end and the “new year” is another 32” or so. I can’t imagine hanging up a 52” long banner…how about you?
There was another reason I broke the banner in two and that is because I want to use the banner as a backdrop for a homemade New Year’s “photo booth”. With banner in hand, all you need to do is make and/or gather up props. Here’s what I pulled together for our “photo booth”:

A boa, a bow tie, a mustache, bright red kissing lips, some glasses, and a paper crown! You could have multiples of these items for guests to choose from at the gathering. The instructional sign can get things rolling with a larger group, although as soon as one group takes some pics, plenty of other people will surely join in the fun!


I’m sure you spotted all those silver and blue circles – they are another quick and easy DIY project for you! All you have to do is take a couple pieces of cardstock and some glimmer paper and punch out circles of various sizes. That’s it! Scatter the circles on your table tops as large scale confetti.

If you have little ones in your house, you can put the circles with their craft supplies following the festivities. The little ones will find a way to re-purpose the circles on one of their projects!
Hope you enjoyed these ideas and are inspired to create something special for your New Year’s celebration!

P.S. Want to know the secret behind the pennant shape? Create a template and use it to mark each piece before cutting!
To make the template, I used a 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” piece of cardstock (same size as each flag), but you could go with a smaller height if you wanted. It was scored 1-1/4” from the bottom and scored it at the mid-point (2-1/8”). Lines were drawn from where the score lines met out to the bottom corners and then the triangle was cut out. The somewhat rudimentary sketch shows what was done for those of you who want a visual:

Use either the triangle or the “double points” as your template for marking the banner pieces.
SUPPLIES USED (All from Stampin’ Up!)
- Banner: Coastal Cabana card stock; Silver Glimmer Paper; ½” Seam Binding Ribbon in Pool Party; Multipurpose Liquid Glue
- Photo Props: Early Espresso card stock; Silver Glimmer Paper; Gift Bow Bigz L Die (available only until January 2, 2014); Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
- Confetti: Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay card stock; Silver Glimmer Paper; ¾”, 1-1/4” and 2-1/2” Circle punches