Category

Party DIYs

Category
DIY Table Runner Project - Perfect project to do with your kids! - A Well Crafted Party
A Well Crafted Home

DIY Table Runner for Thanksgiving Table

3 Comments A Well Crafted Home

I have been looking for ways to incorporate my son into my hobbies (aka parties) so that we are spending more time together and so that I nurture his creativity. We had a ton of fun together creating the paintings for our Halloween party. When thinking about how I was going to decorate the Thanksgiving table this year I wanted to work on something together that would give him a little ownership to the meal and table. A little paper and paint and we had a plan– a DIY Table Runner! Paper table runners are a great way to set the holiday table because you don’t really have to worry about spills ruining your good linens. Kids can draw on the runner when bored and waiting for the rest of the party to finish their food. It is just a win win.

Involve your kiddo in decorating the holiday table with this easy DIY watercolor table runner. - A Well Crafted Party

DIY Table Runner with Watercolor Paints & Paper

I have a pretty good selection of every day craft supplies in my house. However, the one supply that I like to keep in stock that may not be in the average household is a large roll of butcher paper. I currently have a large roll of white paper and a large roll of black paper. I often find a use for large paper rolls whether it be a craft project or a last minute wrapping need. Below is a short list of supplies that I used when my son and I created this watercolor DIY table runner.

Supplies:

(Links below are affiliate links to products I use and would suggest!)

DIY Table Runner Project - Perfect project to do with your kids! - A Well Crafted Party

 

Directions:

This was such an easy project and it really didn’t take too much time or effort. Use the steps below to create your own DIY Table Runner.

  1. Cut paper to length of table or desired length/width (you could also make great little place mats or wrapping paper with this same method!)
  2. Decide on a color scheme for this project. If you choose a lot of different colors then you are likely to get a pretty muddy mess. I like to choose colors that are shade variations. This project we took blue, green, white, and black paints to create different shades of blue-green. NOTE: Test out your desired color scheme on a scrap piece of paper so that you don’t have to waste the larger sheet if you don’t like the final look.
  3. Paint in varying directions in large swatches. We really wanted the runner to look organic and a tad messy. This makes this project great for kids as it doesn’t require a lot of precision. Vary the amount of water on your brush to mix up the water color look with a bolder dry brush effect. My son really could have done this whole thing by himself with just me guiding him on when to switch colors so that they didn’t clump up all in one area.
  4. Once you have the amount of coverage that you like let the paper dry. Water colors dry extremely fast. I think ours took about 10 minutes to dry once completed.
  5. Fold the sides of the paper under for a seamless look.
  6. DONE! Set your table and enjoy!

 

DIY Table Runner Project - Perfect project to do with your kids! - A Well Crafted Party

 

What else could you use this method of painting for in your home?

by
Keep Reading
A Well Crafted Party

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume with Deseret Industries

4 Comments A Well Crafted Party

This Halloween DIY post is sponsored by Deseret Industries. Portland’s Deseret Industries Thrift Store and Donation Center is located on SE 82nd Street six days-a-week. I created my Felicity Smoak costume out of materials from my closet, the craft store, and items thrifted from Deseret Industries. All opinions are my own. To learn more about my posting policies regarding sponsored posts please visit my policies page. As always, thank you for reading more about the companies that help support this blog. 

Can you believe that Halloween is just around the corner? I feel like the month has flown by and suddenly the holidays are here! Over the past eight years my husband and I have hosted a Halloween party. Some years the parties are more elaborate than others, but it is always one of my favorite parties to plan each and every year. This year’s theme is Comic Books and I’m having a blast coming up with decoration and costume ideas for the party. I’ll be sharing several projects between now and Halloween. So, check back for all the comic book party ideas which will work for Halloween parties or really any comic book themed event year-round.

I knew I wanted to be Felicity Smoak for this year’s comic book Halloween party. I basically live in a pony tail and glasses and am always glued to my screen so I pretty much fit the bill. My husband is going to go as the Green Arrow. My oldest son is going as The Flash. My youngest as Roy Harper/Arsenal/Red Arrow. Our little cast of comic book characters required a hodge podge of different items to create our looks. The Flash costume (affiliate link) was affordable and easy to find via Amazon but, the rest of the costumes I created using a combination of purchases from Amazon, the craft store, my closet, and our local Deseret Industries thrift store.

Halloween Prep - Cell shading my comic book themed costume

My visit to Deseret Industries Thrift Store in Portland was fruitful! I have been surprised in the past at how expensive thrifting in Portland is (being trendy and all) but at Deseret Industries I was happy to see the pricing be more in line with what thrift stores in my past have been like. I was able to get several comic books, comic-book themed masks, and clothing items to use for costumes all for less than $50. In my haul I grabbed a couple of business attire type items to see which would work the best for the Felicity Smoak costume.

I love thrifting for costume elements. However, if I hadn’t gone in looking to MAKE my costumes I would have been fine to find a pretty wide selection of Halloween gear. There were several racks of Halloween costumes and accessories in the store.

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume

 

Attire: I ended up working with the blue shirt (looks purple above due to poor lighting as I worked on my costume at midnight!) and black pencil skirt to create the look. I then used a black paint marker to cel shade the shirt so it looked more like a drawing.

Tips for Cel Shading a shirt: In order to cel shade the shirt I first ironed out all the wrinkles. I then went through and outlined all of the seams in the shirt. This gives a good general outline that you would see in any comic. The hard part, of course, is creating the shadows that you would see when someone wears the shirt. I looked pretty hilarious as I was wearing the shirt and shading in the natural creases as I was wearing it! Once it was all said and done however I was pleased with the results!

 

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume

 

Accessories: I paired it with a handmade name badge utilizing a comic book picture of Felicity Smoak and an old lanyard and badge holder I had from a previous work conference. I finished off my look with a blonde wig put in a pony tail and a tablet.

 

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume - A Well Crafted Party

 

Makeup: I wear business attire most days and didn’t want to just wear my hair in a pony tail and have on pink lipstick. It wouldn’t really get across the idea that I was the Felicity Smoak comic book character. So, I continued my fun with cel shading and did comic book inspired makeup. I shaded in my eyebrows and the edges of my face. I also created the comic book dot look with white paint. (Check out this tutorial for tips on creating this Felicity Smoak make-up look!)

 

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume

 

The kiddo and I had so much fun taking photos dressed up for Halloween. I can’t wait to break out the costume again for our Halloween party and see it all combined with other members of our little comic book crew!

 

DIY Felicity Smoak Costume - A Well Crafted Party DIY Felicity Smoak Costume - A Well Crafted Party DIY Felicity Smoak Costume - A Well Crafted Party

 

What are you wearing for Halloween this year? There is still time to pick up last minute items!

 

About Desert Industries: Deseret Industries is a national non-profit thrift store that provides employment, sponsors refugees and offers vocational and professional training for its associates. The stores collect inventory from individual local donations, enabling associates to process and recycle that inventory to fit others’ needs — a circular strategy of service and learning that benefits the entire community. For more information, visit www.deseretindustries.org

 

Check out other Halloween Posts from A Well Crafted Party here!

by
Keep Reading
DIY Black and White Photo Backdrop
A Well Crafted Party

Photo Memory Black and White Photo Booth Backdrop

2 Comments A Well Crafted Party

Photo booths are all the rage right now for a very good reason… they get people up and interacting, they provide great memories from the event, and well, they are just plain fun. I wanted to incorporate a photo booth in our 10th Anniversary Party and I also wanted to somehow include photos of our friends and family from over the past ten years. I contemplated a variety of different ways to do those items seperately before realizing that I should just combine the two which is how this photo memory black and white photo booth backdrop was born. Getting it put together was quite a feat and there are things that I didn’t like about the finished project which I’ll add in my tips below to avoid those issues. Overall, the photo memory backdrop and photo booth ended up being one of my favorite projects from the day. A big shoutout to Mary Boyden Photography for all of the event images.

DIY Photo Memory Black and White Photo Booth Backdrop

When designing this backdrop I knew that I would want to have a few things right off the bat:

  1. An impressive sized backdrop featuring images from over the past 10 years.
  2. Black and white images that would end up being a fun photo backdrop.

I debated a couple of different ways to create this backdrop.  My first thought was to use a few photos blown up and printed as engineering prints for a big bold backdrop. I decided against this option because I wanted to use photos of our guests and us and there were just too many to narrow it down to just a few larger images. My second thought was to use a ton of images printed as 4X6 images in black and white. Because it was going to be photographed I wanted it to not have a big shine factor so I knew I wanted matte prints. I guess I could have gotten 5X7 images or 8X10 images but the cost of that seemed to be a lot more than the 4X6 prints. Finally, I decided to put a white border around each of the prints so that there was some uniformity and white space in the backdrop.

DIY Black and White Photo Backdrop

DIY Black and White Photo Backdrop

 

Putting the backdrop together took some time, patience, and a big open space on the floor. The backdrop was approximately 10 feet across and 7 feet tall. I did the math and found that I needed approximately 420 4X6 images to create my backdrop. I purchased the images using Shutterfly. I saved a ton of money using coupons and ended up spending approximately $35 on the whole thing. If you paid full prize at Shutterfly it would only cost around $63 (before shipping) which is amazing for a project this large. (Note: This post is not sponsored in any way… just sharing the company I used for this project.)

by
Keep Reading
Load More