Showing posts with label blog party. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

blog party love garland


If you couldn't make it to our crafty meet & greet, here is the tutorial for the LOVE garland we made. This would be cute out of so many different papers and colors! We do have one kit available in Mandy's Etsy shop that includes everything you need to make it (except glue).

Love Garland Tutorial

Supplies:
*4 hearts cut from sheet music or patterned paper
*Two 3/4" wide strips cut from a page out of a book
*5" pieces of red tulle or ribbon
*Two 12" pieces of baker's twine, crochet thread, or ribbon
*Crocheted heart
*Die cut or hand cut letters: L, V, E (we used red glitter paper, but any paper would work!)
*2" circle, punched from same paper as letters
*Glue dots
*Liquid craft or scrapbooking glue
*1/4" and 1/16" hole punches
*1 " circle punch
*Stickles red glitter glue or other glitter (optional)

1. Die cut or hand cut four hearts from sheet music. We found a book of vintage-looking sheet music for $1.00 at the thrift store. There are also several lines of scrapbooking paper that looks like pretty sheet music (try October Afternoon or American Craft's new "Deary Lizzy" line--she has pink and white sheet music!). I cut these hearts using the die cut center at my local scrapbook store, Lasting Memories. Punch holes in each near the top so you can tie them together later. We used a 1/4" punch for the inner circles, and a little bitty 1/16" punch for the two outside edges so the hole would be just right for our baker's twine.


2. Cut a page from a book (look for an old book while you're at the thrift store!). Trim off all the margins so you have a full sheet of only text. Cut two strips that are 3/4" wide.


3. Fold your strips accordion-style. I told our crafters to make their first fold at about 1.5 lines of text, but it might depend on how big your text is. Basically you don't want your folds too big or your fan will be too tall.




4. Using liquid glue, glue your accordion strips together, end-to-end, to make a ring.


5. Holding a fold on each side of your ring, use a flat surface to flatten your ring into a little round fan.



6. Punch two 1" circles from the margins of your book page. Apply liquid glue and glue the circle in the middle of your flat fan. Hold 30-60 seconds to make sure it is pretty dry and will hold your shape. Turn the fan over and do the same with another circle on the back.


7. Use glue dots to apply your crocheted heart to the middle of the fan.


8. Punch a 2" circle from the same paper you cut your letters out of. Glue your heart/fan combo on top. This will be your "O".



9. Die cut or hand cut letters L, V, and E. I used the Slice machine and the Vintage Findings design card for our letters.


10. While making this tutorial, Stacy decided she wanted to dress her hearts up a bit. She applied a thin line of red Stickles glitter glue around the edges of her hearts and let them dry. Optional, but super cute!


11. Glue your L, V, and E on your hearts. Spell LOVE and tie your hearts together using your tulle or ribbon. Tie your baker's twine or thread to the outside hearts for hanging.


That's it! Happy Valentine's Day! I hung mine at the top of a mirror in my family room, and it may just stay there all year long!

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Monday, February 8, 2010

our first-ever blog party

What do you get when you take 40 local crafters, a table full of yummy treats, and a fun craft project? Well a Little Birdie Secrets blog party, of course! We had SO much fun at our party last week. Thank you to all those who joined us! It was great to meet so many of our readers and get crafty with them in person. If you missed it, don't worry! We will definitely be doing this again soon.



Amanda and her friends joined us all the way from Ventura, CA!


What a fun girls night out!


Our friend Kayleen manned the sign-in table. What a sweetie!


And then there was the food. . .


Stacy made these cupcakes and frosted them with a non-dairy frosting mix. It was light and airy, so you could still enjoy the cupcake. So yummy!


Sometimes we cheat. These cream puffs are from Costco. But they're delicious and look so pretty with a few strawberries.


I got the idea for these brownie bites from Betty Crocker. Make a pan (or two) of brownies (fudge style, not cake-like), let them cool, and cut them out with a heart cookie cutter. Then melt a scoop of chocolate frosting in the microwave for about 10 seconds (or less--don't let it boil). Spoon it over the hearts. I had mine laid out on wax paper to help with clean-up. Before the frosting sets, add sprinkles. For the pink drizzle, I mixed some red food coloring into some vanilla frosting and warmed it like the chocolate frosting, then drizzled it over with a spoon. Easy-peasy!


We had lots of requests for the punch recipe, so here you go. This is great for parties or showers, but you can also half it for a smaller get together. There are several variations on this recipe, but this is my fave.

Wonderful Punch

1-12 oz. can frozen orange juice
1-12 oz. can frozen lemonade
3 c. sugar
4 c. water
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. almond extract
2-2 liter bottles of lemon-lime soda

Mix all ingredients except soda in a large punch bowl. Stir until frozen juices are melted and sugar is dissolved. Slowly add soda (it will fizz). Serve cold.



Thank you to Lasting Memories for hosting our fun night. Jennifer was so generous to let us take over the store, and Kim and Annette worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. And thank you again to all of you who joined us--we love our new friends!

Love, Jessica, Mandy, & Stacy

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Monday, January 18, 2010

first-ever meet & greet!

We're so excited to announce the details of our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets blog party in Western Washington!



Who: Everyone within driving distance of Lynnwood, WA--we want to meet as many of our readers as we can!

When: Thursday, February 4th, 6:00-8:00pm

Where: Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood (20 min. North of Seattle)

What: The evening's activities will include craft and blog talk with Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, a fun Valentine's garland project, sweet treats, plus lots of giveaways from the Birdies and our sponsors!

Love Garland craft project - $5 (just to cover our costs!)

The party will go from from 6-8, so drop in whenever you can! We'll start the craft project at 6:30, but you can always finish it at home if you get there later or have to leave early. The garland kit is $5 (payable in advance only via the PayPal button on our sidebar) and includes all the pieces to complete your garland. We'll provide the tutorial LIVE and in person!

Everyone who promises to blog about the event when they get home will get a special thank-you gift that night, so don't forget your camera!

We would like to know how many people to plan for, so please RSVP by Tuesday, February 2nd to littlebirdieclasses@gmail.com. Include your name, city, and whether or not you want to get crafty with us. If you would like to participate in Love garland craft project, please also submit your payment of $5 to PayPal via our "Buy Now" button on the sidebar by February 2nd. You are welcome to purchase multiple kits, but we will not be able to ship them, so you must come to the party to pick them up (how's that for a bribe)!

For all our lovely readers who can't make it to our little soiree, we'll provide a tutorial after the party for the Love garland. We're may also decide to sell kits for the garland on Etsy if there is any interest, so leave us a comment if you can't come to the party but would be interested in buying a kit.

We love how blogging creates a virtual community amongst crafters, and we're looking forward to extending that sense of community to our real life neighbors! Hope to see you there!

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

save the date!

The Pacific Northwest is a hot-spot for crafting. What else are we going to do when we're stuck inside 9 months out of the year? We sew, quilt, make cards, scrapbook, make jewelry and home decor. . .you get the idea. We know we have a lot of local Western Washington readers who love to craft, so we thought it was time that local crafters unite!

Save the date, because we're hosting our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets Blog Party on Thursday, February 4th! Join us, Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, at Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood, WA for yummy treats, a fun craft project, blogging advice, prizes, and more!

More info will be coming soon, so watch the blog and tell your friends! Can't wait to meet you all!

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