New Year's Eve Party Favors - Crackers & Blowers

Pin It Now! Who's in the mood to celebrate?  Has it been a banner year for you, or are you glad to see the new one coming?  Either way, you really ought to have some festive party favors to wave bye to the old or ring in the new.

Here are some easy favors.  I made these for my church friends and some family that I'll be celebrating with.

The party blowers are too cute, and were easy to make. And YES! They do curl back up when you blow them out!  Yay!  I learned to make them from good ol' Martha Stewart here.  I used her measurements.  But I did a few things differently which are:

* I used  paper straws purchased at Target dollar spot.  Didn't cover them with vellum as they suggest.  I wrapped mine with washi tape.  The glittered ones are first wrapped with Sticky Strip, then rolled in glitter.  (You probably don't want to blow on these.  I don't personally mind glitter lips, but that's just me.)

* I used washi tape instead of clear scotch tape to adhere the patterned paper into the long strip.

*  I used Sticky Strip to insert the straw into the paper curl.  NO drying time!

One great tip I learned was to keep them rubber banded tightly curled for 24 hours.  They'll definitely keep their curl better.  I used the tiny Rainbow Loom bands, and they looked kind of cute while I waited.

Then the party crackers!  I love these, they turned out rather elegant.  They'd make a nice 50, 60, etc. birthday party, man's party, or wedding favor. 

Want some measurements?

Inside roll of Typeset Specialty DSP 3-1/4" x 3-3/4"

Outer ring of DSP: 1-1/2" x 4"

Tissue paper - plain white. 10" x 3-3/4"

Fringe cut the edges with fringe scissors.

Ribbon trim 4"

Baker's twine 3" each side

The tag was cut from the circle flip card Framelits set, and the "Happy New Year" comes from retired Christmas Messages which is still available as a digital download!

Have a wonderful, safe, blessed New Year's.  I hope you're surrounded by people you love!

Pinterest Party!

Pin It Now! Recently a bunch of crafty friends and I got together for a Pinterest party!  You've heard of Pinterest, of course?  Well, the only rule was that each partier had to either make a craft or a reciped she'd pinned, and prep the supplies for each of us to make one if she chose a craft.

The result was really amazing and fun!  And what's uncanny is that every one that made a craft chose to make a Christmas ornament. Totally unplanned, like matching outfits!

Here are our creations, with links to the original pin if I could find it...

Mine is a vintage book page ornament.  It's a 1/8 scale of a wreath I found here.

 JoAnn did so much!  She hosted the party, and here is the project she prepped for each of us. A really cute paper loop ornament.  You could make this in various sizes and use up lots of that paper you're hoarding ;)  Here's the link to the pin.

Danyelle's fabulous over-the-top ornament!  She created this one on her own, but I plan to pin it as soon as she blogs about it.  Stampin' Up! Supplies.  She started with die cut chipboard, layered Core'dinations cardstock, sanded, and added a layer of die cut window and more layers of beautiful inked images.  I really enjoyed making this, it's a real WOW piece!

 Who hasn't seen these super cute clear ornaments stuffed with paper curls, and said, "I'm going to make that!"  Well, we finally did.  We made some with sheet music CS and some with vintagey Anna Griffin paper.

 Below is the Anna Griffin paper curl version.  We glittered the sides of each curl, as well as the ornament top.  Lush!

Check out these newspaper Christmas trees used as party decor!  The link to the pin is here.
JoAnn patiently glittered every edge, so they sparkled like snow.

I'm dying here!  This starlight mint party tray was SO gorgeous!  It's pretty easy to make, super cheap, and wow, is it a conversation piece!

Danyelle of Hangnailz N Papercutz blog made these Martha Stewart Mini Peach Pies, and they are to die for.  Truly a life altering experience!  Handmade crust, delicious thick crumble atop fresh peach filling.  And then she made these little stamped stakes that are mini forks for eating your pie right away.  As they say....Yes, Please!

And then Wendy's cute Bugles Santa Hats were an adorable and tasty little treat that are easy to eat by the handful. I have copycatted this recipe twice already, including for my mason jar Christmas gifts here, where you can find out how they're made.

Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread, from Darlene, JoAnn's mom.  How did I not get butter and cheese all over my projects?

My food contribution was Meatball Sub Casserole.  Don't look, just doing so will give you another chin.

Here are some of the gals, busy at work.  I treasure this time with my friends, we had a blast!  I drove 500 miles to be with them, and would do it again tomorrow :)   Hope you have gleaned some Pinspiration!  Please leave me a link in the comments if you try any of the projects, or if you have had a Pinterest party of your own!

Have a blessed and creative day!
Erika