Peonies and Paper Chains

Stamp Review Crew: Zoo Babies Edition

 

 

Welcome to the Stamp Review Crew: Zoo Babies blog hop! So excited to be sharing ideas for the Zoo Babies stamp set...it is such a sweet little collection of animals that you can find at many zoos! Whether you've just come over from Dawn Tidd's Tiddbits by Dawn blog or are just starting here, I hope you'll take the time to hop on through to see all of the creations!

Today's hop gave me a fabulous opportunity to put together idea's for Britt's upcoming birthday! It is in May and she'll be celebrating with her preschool friends. I decided to use Zoo Babies to create a set of party pieces -- cupcake toppers, festive napkins, and juice box embellishments -- for a fun, festive celebration! 

Thankfully the girls and I baked some cupcakes one night this past week that I could use for a little staging!

For the cupcake toppers you need card stock circles (1-3/8" and 1-3/4"), toothpicks, Sticky Strip, and Stampin' Dimensionals. The stamped Zoo Babies images make these adorable without a whole lot of fuss!

A little stamping is all you need to for the napkins! I stamped 5 each of 4 different Zoo Babies images -- giraffe, alligator, rhinoceros, and elephant. However, the more I think about it, I definitely should stamp some more for the pre-school set!

The rhino with the bit of white twine is a juice box embellishment. Initially I planned to tie these onto some paper straws, however, I realized that juice boxes were likely a better choice than open cup beverages.

This image gives a better look at the juice box. This is simply a band of card stock in Coastal Cabana that has been attached to the box with Sticky Strip. I did use a bone folder to loosen up to the fibers of the card stock before adhering -- definitely an important step! For the final products I will actually be cutting wider strips of card stock to better cover the full height of the box sides.

Had to include this image of Brooklyn holding the cupcake topper! She has asked that we make some of these for her doll and make sure that we celebrate her doll's birthday on the same day that we celebrate her sister's birthday!

Hope you that you are feeling inspired to pull out this set and to get creating! I had lots of fun creating these party pieces and can't wait to get production underway for Britt's big day! 

Be sure to hop along to visit Betty Traciak and the other Stamp Review Crew members for more Zoo Babies ideas!

                                        

 
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Stamp Review Crew Line Up for the Zoo Babies Hop: 

1.  Ann Schach  
2. Shana Gaff  
3. Debra Burgin  
4. Bronwyn Eastley   
5. Yapha Mason  
6. Dawn Tidd   
   
7. Kerry Willard Bray  -- YOU ARE HERE! 
8. Betty Traciak 
9. Tanya Boser    
10. Rochelle Blok  
11. Heidi Baks  
12. Linda Callahan  
13. Martha Inchley  
14. Wendy Weixler

Five on Friday: Five Things to Love...

about the Celebration Add-On Kits!

These kits are designed to work with the Celebration Basic Kit that I shared with you earlier this week.

Here are the things I love and I suspect you will too:

1. Two great color choices

Bermuda Bay

 

Calypso Coral

 

2. The super cool circle garland -- it comes all sewn together for you and is ready to hang!

 

3. The very cool giant tassles you can make from the kit --- mine were spritzed with Bermuda Bay before I cut and assembled.

 

4. All the other elements of the Add-on kit:

■ 2 sheets of die-cut accents, 1 sheet ea. 12" x 12" and 7" x 12"
■ 12 sheets of 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper
■ Stampin’ Spritzer for coloring streamers (use with Classic Stampin’ Ink Refills, sold separately)

 

5. The fact that you could easily use these kit elements on their own for a whole slew of other projects even if you did not purchase the banner!

 

Here are some other images for you and you'll notice I had fun hanging the circle garland in several ways (it is a full 12 feet long).

 

 

 

My husband's birthday is this month so we will be leaving the banner up all month long to mark the occassion!

 

See my original post about the Celebration Basics Kit here.

 

And, if you are now convinced that this kit is must have, order it here!

 

You've had 5 posts filled with Stampin' Up! kits and I'm not done yet...stay tuned for more these next few days! 

 

Thanks so much for visiting!  Have a wonderful day!

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Order your Celebration Basics Kit here.

Sneak Peek: Spiral Flower Originals Die

Would you like to be able to quickly and easily make 3-D flowers to place on packages, pictures frames, and more? The Occasions catalog that goes live on January 3 has just the product for you! It is the Spiral Flower Originals Die and you can make a beautiful flower in just a couple minutes! It is so easy to do.

I'll be sharing a tutorial later this week with the full details on how I created the flower chain shown above....make sure you are signed-up for blog updates so that you don't miss out!

What do you think of it in combination with the paper chain? My girls love it and are very happy to have this on their door.

Did you catch yesterday's bonus post with some DIY ideas for New Year's Eve? See it here and be sure to visit my friend Natalie Bradley -- the post was originally created for her readers to enjoy. Natalie is the owner of Natalie Bradley Events, an event planning and design company based in Athens, GA...I love seeing photos of the events she has planned and I am sure you will too!

It has been a hectic week for many people and you may have missed my post from December 26. It includes a free tutorial for creating beautiful framed art featuring Designer Series Paper. See the post here. 

Hope you'll be inspired to create something today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Like what you see? Sign-up for blog updates so you won't miss a thing!

Order your paper crafting supplies here.

 

Get Ready for New Year's Eve!

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

 

Sneak Peek: Stampin' Up! Scalloped Tag Topper Punch

Here's a little treat holder idea to get your ideas churning! It was created using the Love You More stamp set (available only until January 27, 2014) and the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch that is available as of January 3! 

Such a simple treat holder to make -- 1-7/8" x 8-1/2", Scallped Tag Topper punch on both ends and then scored in two spots to make the flat bottom. Easy, easy, easy! 

What treat would you place in a little holder like this? 

Click here to order your paper crafting supplies today!

Hope you'll be inspired to create something today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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