Baby shower: Handmade paper banners

I love love making paper banners for parties. They make a space look festive and although they are inexpensive and easy to make, they don't look cheap. I made two different banners for the baby shower I featured last week... here's how I made them!

Banner #1

I wanted this banner to be durable enough to re-use in the baby's nursery, so I made it with thick patterned card stock, sewing it to a length of grossgrain ribbon.

I cut 12" x 12" sheets of patterned scrapbook card stock into six equal 4" x 6" pieces. I used double-sided card stock so the banner would be pretty both from the front and the back. This also doubles the number of prints in the mix! (Just make sure you like both sides, if you're aiming for a two-sided banner.)

After all the pieces were cut, I took the length of ribbon, lined the top of the papers along the edge of the ribbon and sewed as straight as possible down the center of the ribbon. This is a lot like this other paper garland I made, but the cards are flat and not folded.

It's a good idea to leave a long (1-2 foot) leader of ribbon at each end so that you'll be able to tie the banner onto something. You can always cut it off if you don't need it, but it's good to have the flexibility.

Banner #2

Unlike banner #1 above, I didn't expect this one to be reused in any way, so I used a ton of scraps and supplemented with a few whole sheets of card stock. This is a great way to use up all those long skinny pieces. 

I combined many different shades of green (mostly yellowy greens), but I think they all look great together.

I cut a large amount of strips of all sizes, though I think the longest strips here were about 8.5" long. You could certainly do this with a uniform size, but having everything random and varied gives the banner a more interesting look. Plus you don't need to be worried about being precise at all.

After all the strips were cut, I put them through the sewing machine, one by one, sewing more or less down the centers, leaving a small gap in between each piece. The thread is strong enough to hold it together and because it's just a thin thread, the strips fall side to side and create a wonderful messy effect. I will warn you that I ended up having to hang this from a nail in the wall, rather than tacked up with tape. I guess it was just a little too heavy for tape.

This banner took about two hours to make from start to finish, but I made it way way too long. I probably could have made it half the length it was, so a shorter length would definitely take less time to complete.

Check out my Party Ideas section for more paper banners and other party decorations!

Baby Shower: Swaddled peg doll babies

This idea came to me like most good ideas do: in an instant and clear as can be. 

For last week's baby shower, I knew I wanted simple vases of flowers for centerpieces, but needed a little something extra.These swaddled peg doll babies are cute and babyish, but still simple and modern. They were just the touch the flowers needed.

I started by painting peg dolls (the same ones like I used here). They are available at craft stores for just a dollar or two a pack. You could also leave them the natural or spray them with a clear sealer to bring out the woodgrain.

I left mine faceless. (Actually, I tried drawing some simple eyes and they looked pretty wacko, so I painted over the faces and left them blank.)

Then it was time to get those babies dressed! I cut some thin cotton fabric into squares approximately twice the height of the peg dolls. I folded all the edges in and pressed them with an iron. This is just so the raw edges of the fabric would be hidden.

Then I swaddled the peg doll just like you might swaddle a real baby. For those unfamiliar with the process, you:

1. Fold the top corner of the fabric down and put the baby in
2. Fold over one side
3. Fold up the bottom
4. Fold over the other side and tuck in.

Except instead of tucking, I used hot glue to tack every step in place. I used very very small dabs of glue, hardly pressing the hot glue gun trigger at all.

For the first one, I was very concerned about getting it swaddled tight and correct and when that was done, I reminded myself that this was, in fact, not a real baby and didn't need to be swaddled properly and granted myself some artistic license. I don't think any of them are exactly the same, but that was more by accident than by design.

These weren't difficult to make, but they didn't go as quick as I might have liked. I wouldn't sign myself to make hundreds of these or anything; a handful was enough for me.

Then it was time to create some sort of pick to stick these babies in the vases. I found this floral wire at the dollar store. (It's also available at craft stores, but this smaller package was all I needed.) This wire is very soft and easy to bend, but it holds its shape well.

I cut small lengths with a scissors, then I simply wrapped one end around the peg doll baby.

Yep, that's it! Stick in the flower arrangement and done!

Modern green baby shower: Handmade details

Over the weekend, I helped host a baby shower for my friend and former college roommate, Kim. And you know me, I can't pass up an opportunity like this to create fun baby party stuff.

The shower was held at the Tavern of Fine Arts in St. Louis (Kim's husband is part-owner). It's an amazing gallery-like space, so I didn't have to do too much to dress it up. But I did try to incorporate things that could also do double duty as decorations for baby's nursery.

I will have additional posts about a couple of the details for some of these things up next week, but if there is anything you want to see specifically, please leave a note in the comments!

OK, I'm going to shut up now and let the pictures do the talking.

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Related posts:
Handmade paper banners
Swaddled peg doll babies

Oh boy! It's a baby shower!

Over the weekend, my sister-in-law Laura and I gave a baby shower for our sister-in-law Jill. We were going for festive and fun. There were also some elephants involved, but all in all, not too themey.

We made the invitations with some papers my mom had on hand, but she only had a small amount of each pattern. If I had thought ahead a little, we could have used the same papers in the invites and then at the party, but I didn't. Either way, I think they turned out colorful and fun. And everything didn't end up being so matchy matchy, which is a good thing.

The elephants were made with a Martha Stewart Crafts paper punch. I love how their little ears pop out.

I like decorations that can be reused or repurposed, and nothing says "baby" like tiny onesies, so we hung a clothesline full of onesies and sleepers. I collected these up over a few months shopping the clearance racks. I paid less than $10 for all of them. Little boys' clothes seem to be more plentiful than girls' clothes on the clearance racks for some reason.

For the big table, I laid out a colorful bamboo runner (actually, it was just three placemats set end to end) and made these stand-up cards from pretty paper, spelling out "hello baby." Originally I wanted to do a banner of some sort, but thought this was a good alternative.

For the extra tables, I did something a little simpler: just some flowers and a paper elephant cutout for each. Aren't those lillies beautiful? Trader Joe's, $5! Seriously, they have the best (and cheapest!) flowers. We split a large bouquet between two vases, but they still look so full.

I'm a fan of edible favors; everyone generally has enough "stuff." I saw this idea to make larger versions of iced animal cookies, and thought it would be super cute and fun. We changed from pink and white to blue and white, but I think the idea still carries over.

We ended up using an elephant and a hippo (you may not be able to tell that's a hippo, but it is. And he's got a cute smile.)

I had never made cut out cookies before, so Laura did all of the cutting. We decorated with blue and white royal icing and rainbow sprinkles. I love these cookies so much!

The cake was decorated by Laura's husband, Mike. He's kind of the official family cake decorator. Laura always orders a plain frosted cake from a local bakery and then Mike comes up with a design.

This is not my house, by the way. Laura was nice enough to host at her lovely home.

Overall, I think the shower was a success. Now we just have to wait to meet baby!