A Craft Party

With the new obsession with Pinterest and other craft sites, I decided to theme our July monthly dinner around crafts.  At our June dinner, we all drew a name, and everyone's "assignment" was to make a craft for that person and bring it to our July dinner.  I wasn't sure how it would really turn out, but it was AMAZING!!  We had a great time unwrapping our gifts and I am definitely going to recreate some of the great crafts the girls made!

Decor:  At the front door, I set out my sewing machine with a random scrap of fabric and a quick "Sew Glad You're Here" sign.  I used sewing pins to attach the sign.  My original plan was to sew letters onto the green fabric to say "Welcome", but I ran out of time.

I set my table with a white tablecloth and a large brown paper runner made with craft paper.  I bought the paper at Joanns for $2.99.  I put various craft supplies I already owned along the runner to add to the theme - yarn, crochet needles, stamps, punches, markers, etc.  At a kids party, the guests could decorate the table with stamps or write messages with the markers if they wanted. In the very center of the table, I used a wooden cross stitch frame with cross stitch fabric. I printed out the Craft Party title on my computer and attached it to the frame with a sewing needle. To add a craft to the plates (and to save me time on doing dishes after the party!), I used paper plates and punched 13 holes around the edges.  I just wove ribbon through and tied a bow at the bottom.  Easy and super cute.  This is a great idea if you are bringing a dish to a party and don't want to worry about bringing the plate home, but want it to be festive.

As a name card, I cross stitched each guest's initial and backed it in scrapbook paper.  I cut a skewer to use in between the two pieces of card stock and dropped it into a spool of thread.

As a second name card (since I had a few guests with the same initial), I also added a photo of each guest on the place mat.  I took a piece of construction paper and used a craft punch to make the edges look cute.  Then just printed a photo of the guest and attached it using photo corners.  I used this same craft punch with scrapbook paper to create the napkin rings.

Menu:  Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the food, but the menu was simple and tasty.

Oh "Sew" Good Chicken

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

"Collage" of Vegetables

and

for dessert

"Tarts" and Crafts

(individual pie shells filled with pudding and topped with whipped cream and strawberries)

The chicken was a recipe found on The Enchanted Cook for Parmesan Crusted Chicken. It is super easy with only 4 ingredients!!

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup Hellmann's or Best Food's Real Mayonnaise

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 1/4 lbs. total weight or about 5 ounces per breast

4 teaspoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

Directions:

Place mayo and cheese in a small bowl and mix. Then lay chicken breasts on baking sheet and spread mayo mixture evenly atop each. Sprinkle bread crumbs atop each.  Place in a 425 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and juices run clear.  Season with a dash of pepper and sea salt, if desired.

Favor:  My orginal plan for a favor was to give a friendship bracelet or a DYI friendship bracelet kit with a tag that read "Thanks for crafting such great friendships over the years!" or something like that. Unfortunately, I ran out of time for this.  Plus, I decided we were all getting a handmade craft anyway, so we didn't need it.

I did want to share with you the great items that the girls made as their crafts.  I tried to include links or craft information when I could.  If you have specific questions, comment below and I will ask the maker and get back to you with the answer.

For my craft, I made a cute purse.  I do not sew, so this was an adventure for me, but it only took me one day and was not too hard.  The entire purse cost me $12 to make.  I found the instructions and pattern (free) on Made by RAE.  The only change I made to the directions were that I lined the entire purse with interfacing to give it more stability/stiffness.  My mom is amazing at sewing, and this was her suggestion. I am planning to make one of these for myself, and will definitely do this again.  I didn't buy fusible interfacing for this bag, and I will for future bags (saves a bunch of time).

The gift I received was an herb garden.  The jars are filled with soil as well as small rocks.  The rocks are suppose to help if you accidentally over water (which I tend to do often).  The chalkboard paint will be great if I change herbs at a later date! The directions for this craft was found on Camille Styles.  I can't wait to hang this!

Another friend is a wine-lover, so the craft she received was these super cute wine charms!  The blog with directions, My Chic Life,  makes them with letters, but since you never know who is going to come over, my friend decided to use jewels instead.  I love them!  I also love how she styled them around the wine bottle instead of just tossing them in a box.  Adding this to my "to make" list.

A collection of scrapbooked cards was another great gift.  There were 12 handmade cards with everything from birthday to just generic. It is always nice to have cards on hand to avoid last minute trips to the store, so this was a great gift.

Another friend made this wall art with canvas, wooden letters/words, and spray paint.  I think this would make a great wedding gift or you could spell out a baby's first, middle, and last name for a cute baby shower gift.  My friend found the directions for this project on Inspiration for Moms.  She made three of them with the words: Live, Dream, and Believe, and added ribbon to the top for hanging.

Check out these fun tile coasters made for our friend who is an English teacher and avid reader.  Some of the titles were books she teaches as well as books she's talked about at our dinners in the past.  These are easy to make.  My friend's YouTube video will show you exactly how to make them with photos, but book covers (or music album covers if you have a friend really into music) are made the same way.  

This silly photo was the gift for our friend who loves the Los Angeles King's hockey team. The maker used Photoshop to put the recipient's favorite hockey player, Mike, into the photo!  We got quite a laugh out of this craft!

This quote is perfect for our friend and her household.  The maker designed the layout/font that she wanted and printed it on photo paper.  She then used Mod Podge to adhere it to a piece of 8 1/2" by 11" piece of wood.  She added another layer of Mod Podge as a gloss on the front. I am going to try something like this for my house.

These fun canvas prints were made by our photographer friend.  She took recent photos she had taken of the gift recipient's daughters and crafted them onto canvas with a little Mod Podge.  The tutorial for this project was from My Sassy Pepper.  The photos are darling (her kiddos are super cute and photogenic), but the edge effect on the canvas makes it even better.  I think these would be great gifts for grandparents.  Adding this craft to my "to make" list too!

And lastly, this awesome wine cork board (with two scrapbooked tags).  Just make sure you have enough corks.  This one used 50!!  The metal scrapbook letters on the side are the initials of the recipient and her family.  I found the directions for a similar board on Simply Emily if you are interested in making one.

 This was another great party and theme with the girls. Hope you were inspired to make some of these crafts or throw a craft party yourself!!