Thursday, May 20, 2010

Party Placecards

I really don't know what to call them, but these are the place card stands that I made for our SodaPop Party last week. 
Completely disregard my not-so-pretty handwriting.  The stands really added spunk to the table.  I loved them so much, I used them the next night too.  We had a Spring Fling concert we had at our church.  15+ ladies brought desserts, quite the spread!  I thought it would be cute to have the desserts labeled, then refreshments wouldn't be quite the guessing game it usually ends up.
I cut the centers out of wood.  I actually cut 2 sizes of circles and one size of this flowery shape.  Madison painted them with this chalkboard paint.  I half-way considered dry erase paint (yes, they sell it), but it was $20 for a can and the chalk board paint was only $9.
I ruffled the scraps from my birthday banner (what was left of 1/4yd) and ended up with enough ruffled fabric for two flowers out of each print.  I made the mistake of cutting it 2 1/2 inches wide.  That is how wide it is in this picture.  I ruffled the fabric with my ruffler foot-Gotta Love It!!!
Upon examination, as usual, I decided I did it wrong.  You really only need to cut it about 1 1/2 inches, maybe 2" if you are not that exact with the glue gun.  To fix it, I grabbed my rotary cutter that is a pinking sheer... 
and cut off about an inch all the way around the ruffle.
That is how I ended up with this...
Here is a picture of the stands.
I cut a circle for the bottom and a square for the top out of 1" pine.  When I drilled the holes for the dowels, I made sure not to drill them right in the center.  I figured the flower part would be slightly heavy and would need the dowels to be slightly to the back to make them a little more stable.  I knew I would find a use for that LAME physics class from college!  I cut the dowels at 3 different lengths to help add variety to the table.  I also put a couple on cloths pins so they could just be pinned to the bowls. In this picture you can see how I hot glued the ruffle to the back of the shape.  The plan was to put velcro on the square of the stand and on the back of the chalkboard piece.  That way I could re-use the stands, even if my party colors change. 
I thought for a while about what the average crafter, ones without a scroll saw to cut wood, could do to make these.
  I have seen several ladies making crafts out of the old juice concentrate lids.  Those or canning jar lids would be the perfect size for the chalkboard piece.  Just paint them up like I did the wood.  As for the stands, you can hot glue the chalkboard piece directly to the dowel and simply shove that into a cup or small terra cotta pot full of rice or dried beans.  Simply cover the rice or beans with a piece of tissue paper to hide your secrets.  Those floral marbles would be pretty and work also without requiring the hiding.  The clothes pins would also work really well with no need for a saw. 
If you get tired of writing, or simply too stressed out writing your stuff on the face, print it out and tape 'er on there. These stands are so versatile you can use them for just about any occasion.  Like what?  Well, girl birthdays, boy birthdays, every holiday, Sunday dinners, Bunco, baby showers, patio parties, school supplies in your classroom, office supplies at work....Once you have one set, you will definitely need another :0)
This project was featured HERE:
This project was linked to:


The Girl CreativeMaking
Sumo Sweet Stuff Keeping It Simple
The DIY Show Off


9 comments:

  1. LOVE this idea! I love that they can be used over and over again. Too fun!

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  2. sooooooooo very cute & creative! I'm bookmarking this one!

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  3. Love your blog!! Following you from the FF!!!

    www.maemommy.blogspot.com

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  4. These are really cute! I am into "chalkboard" stuff myself... the post right before you on Make It Monday

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  5. Those are so fun!! You are very talented and creative!

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  6. So adorable! What a fabulous idea:)

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  7. Those are really cool!! I'm linking up soon at Dollar Store Crafts.

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  8. Great idea! I'm now a follower:) I'm hosting a crafter info exchange called CraftShare & one of the topics will be chalkboard paint projects & would love for you to add this when the time comes. You can find more info here: http://sewcando.blogspot.com/p/craftshare.html

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