Monster What???

Have you heard of Monster High? Until a week ago, I had not. Being the mother of a 6 year old boy, this was outside of my knowledge base but apparently is all the rage with preteen girls. If you happen to have no idea what I'm talking about, allow me to give you the official "411".

According to Wikipedia, Monster High is "a fashion doll franchise created by Mattel in July 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, and thriller fiction therefore distinguishing them from most fashion dolls".  Who knew?  Certainly not I...LOL!

Anyway, my best customer was in need of a gift for a family member and this happens to be the party theme. She found exactly what she wanted from a party featured on Catch My Party.  She sent me the link and I was on my way.  Here is my version of the Monster High party centerpiece.

Image backed on foam core board

The image was blown up to fit an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  I cut it out and traced it on foam core board.  Using a straight razor I cut the shape out of the board then glued on the image.

Blingy!

I wanted to add a little something to it and what better than a little bling, right?  Every girl, even girl skeletons, like a jewel or two. {smile}

The original version looked like it was filled with tulle but my customer chose tissue paper and though I was a bit apprehensive at first, it turned out to be the perfect accent to it.

I found the base in the dollar bin section of Target.  I had the ribbon on hand and used my Silhouette machine to create the center.

So what do you think?  We think it turned out great and just in time to get in the mail before the party.  Another party score!

The Doc Is In!

My best customer has once again asked that I stretch my crafting ability to help with her daughter's 5th birthday party.  This year's theme -- Doc McStuffins.  Now let me tell ya, I love this show personally but my little guy will only watch it when there is "nothing else good on" {the words that come out of that boy...lol}.  So I was excited to help make her little girls' dreams come true with some very cute centerpieces.

The Doc Is In...let's party!

After searching the internet, she found centerpieces that she loved but didn't love the price.  She immediately emailed me the picture and asked if I could do something similar.  Because she is totally okay with my creative license when doing work for her {which I love!},  I was able to use the photo as a starting point to create something that was functional and that she would be proud to display.

I started off the project with the intent to try and get these centerpieces as close to the original inspiration as possible, so when I saw these great buckets in the dollar bin section of Target I was excited.  They were a great size but the wrong color -- nothing a can of spray paint wouldn't fix.

$1 bucket from Target

Sprayed with white primer

Spray painted hot pink

Now for the images.  My customer wanted the centerpieces to look the same from both the front and the back.  She was able to find free images online that we used so the next step was to create each one in mirror image -- the most important step for making them back-to-back.  I don't have Photoshop and wasn't sure how we were going to do this but she was determined and found a way to do this herself {girl power!}.  I took the images to the UPS store to have them enlarged.  The plan was to make the images fill an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper but that proved to be more difficult than either I or the young man at the store thought it would be.  In the end, I had to settle on them being as big as he could make them {which wasn't very large} and that meant I would have to rethink how these centerpieces would be done.

Enlarged image - cut out

Traced on foam core board then cut out with a straight razor.
Each image was then glued front/back to the board.

Since the images were smaller than expected, I needed to find a smaller container.  Target to the rescue again!  After saying a little prayer, I walked in and what did I see in the dollar bin section but a stack of these beautiful white containers.  It was like I heard a choir of angels singing 'hallelujah'...LOL!

$1 container from Target

Using my Silhouette machine, I cut the shapes needed to decorate the smaller container.

Hot pink oval glued to each side

Number five

Adding polka dots

Fifteen minutes and front/back is complete

Sides completed -- total time approx. one hour

When I placed the containers together one on top of the other, I didn't like how 'unfinished' the bottom container looked.  So I decided to make something simple to go around the bottom of each one.

Cut strips of tissue paper in hot pink and purple.  Using hot pink ribbon
I glued the strips on in an overlapping fashion to create a "skirt" for
the bottom of each larger container.

Measured 1 1/2 inches from the bottom and glued the ribbon around the bottom.

At this point in the process I was under the gun.  I was working on three different projects simultaneously and I didn't have the time to document the way I wanted to -- most of this project {and at least one of the others} was done very late at night.

So let me tell you how I wrapped it all up. Using glue {and a three pound weight}, I attached the small white container to the larger one.  I cut off about an inch of the tissue paper and made small slits in each section to give it a "fringe" look at the bottom.  I cut out the name on my Silhouette and glued them on the larger containers {both front and back}.  I attached each image to the base using thin purple craft sticks and inserted them into a cut piece of styrofoam that I purchased from the dollar store.  To finish them off, I took the same hot pink ribbon and glued it over top of the fringed piece at the bottom and filled each container with tissue paper and VOILA...sweet and charming centerpieces!

Lambie

Stuffy

Doc McStuffins

NOTE: Apologies for the poor individual photos.  I was in a hurry to deliver these and realized I hadn't taken pics.  I took several and these were the best.  Must remember to look at the settings on my camera before taking pics...oy vey!

I love helping others make memories.  Happy 5th Birthday Miss Corrine!!!

Where we like to party!