Water Colored Placemats: Tutorial

I like to decorate with useful things...things you can make, eat or will be of use at a later date. I made this little placemat for Carson's birthday party last year. The theme was "Under the Sea/Mermaid"

And I made them again this year...sticking to the Princess/Dress up theme.

I got the idea when a friend of mine made me water colored gift tags. I knew I wanted to make placemats for her party, but wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate them. I married the two ideas and got water colored placemats!

It is a fairly quick and cost effective party decoration and favor. I had all of the scrapbook paper on hand as well most of the other materials. The only thing I had to buy were the letter stickers and pay to have them laminated. If you are interested in making them for your child's next party...here is how you do it!

Materials: Water color paints, scrapbook paper, letter stickers, glue stick, coloring pages from the Internet, scissors, computer, printer and a place where you can laminate. I laminated them at our local teacher store (Lakesore Learning Center). It cost me $6 to laminate 28 placemats.

1) Google a coloring sheet of your choice. I googled "Prince Coloring Sheet" and ended up using a frog prince and I also googled "Princess Coloring Sheet."

2) Print out your coloring sheet. I just printed them out on regular paper, but water color paper would look even better. My printer is super sensitive to printing paper with different textures and weights.

3) Water colors your pictures and let them dry.

4) Cut them out and set aside.

5) Use 1 piece of scrapbook paper for the placemat itself and a half of a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper for the matting in the middle. Glue the two together.

6) Glue the watercolor picture to the placemat.

7) Add the child's name with your letter stickers.

Lastly, laminate them for durability...

And Enjoy...

Linking up with...

Rufflelier: A Tutorial

The Rufflelier is perfect for a little girl's room, playroom or for an outside tea party! It is so easy, inexpensive and quick to make. I think it took me 15 minutes to put together.

Supplies: poster board, coordinating fabrics (you will need a total of 8 x 60 inches of fabric for all 4 pieces), hot glue gun, thread, 4 pearl strands 23-25 inches in length (I used some necklaces that had broken) sewing machine, stapler, pencil

Cut two pieces of poster board that will total 8 x 42 inches (two pieces 8 x 21 inches). I allowed for a one inch overlap on each side. Staple the two pieces together. You will have a circle that is the "skeleton" for your rufflelier.

Cut strips of fabric totaling 2 x 60 inches. I was using a fat quarter so I cut 3 strips. Repeat 3 times with the same fabric or coordinating fabric. If you want a tighter ruffle make your strips longer (2 x 80).

Sew rights sides together so you now have one long strip 2 x 60 inches in length. Repeat for the other strips. I left my strips "raw" on the edges, but you could serge them or hem them. If you want to hem them you would want to allow for a wider strip. instead of 2 inches you might do 2 1/2 inches.

Now sew a gathering stitch down the middle of the stip. Your machine should ruffle it a little.

Repeat for the other strips. Pull the ruffle until it's gathered to your liking. Not too much or it will be too short:)

You are ready to glue on your ruffles. I laid them out like I wanted time before I glued them onto the poster board.

Glue, glue, glue and glue

Now for the pearls...Mark with your pencil 4 dots 10 inches apart and about 1/2 inch from the top. The ruffle will cover the hole. You can use a hole punch if it's not too large. I couldn't find my hole punch so I just used my scissors and twisted them back and forth until I had the hole size that I wanted. Then I stuck one pearl from the strand into the hole and reinforced it using the hot glue gun. I connected the pearls by interlocking them with one another. I like how I had a little extra at the end to hang over.

Lastly I attached a string to the pearls to hang from the tree.

Hang it and LOVE it!

Those you love will love it too! It was a great addition to our tRuffles and tEa party.

If you have any questions please email me. I would love to see your versions!

sarahmlboyd (at) yahoo (dot) com