Casino Party Decorations

To say things have been a little crazy would be a HUGE understatement! I really had NO idea having a senior in high school would be SO time consuming!  But with my oldest getting ready to walk across that stage (with honors) this Friday I feel like things are slowing down just a little.

I had the opportunity to serve on several project prom committees this year. I was in charge of decorations for project prom and thank goodness had two awesome women help me out with this! The theme was Rollin' Out Vegas Style. (Casino)

We created some very cute and inexpensive decorations I wanted to share. 

Dollar Store Candle Holder

This is a square candle holder from the dollar store. We simply hot glued the cards on all sides .(It peels right off when you're finished so you are not committed to this forever.) Tied a piece of black tulle around it, used some red metallic filler and placed an led votive inside. We made about 8 of these and they were on the booths of the venue. 

RePurposed Margarita Glass

On the right we painted a cardboard square black and hot glued donated Mardi Gras beads around the cardboard. We then fanned out and glued down several cards. The margarita glasses (which I was going to throw out) were secured with E6000. We filled the glasses with dice and scattered poker chips around. We made about 8 of these and switched up the colors of the cardboard and beads.

Dice

It doesn't get much easier than this! For the dice we used plain white square boxes purchased at a craft store and glued circles on them. We grouped them all in two's and had about 5 sets of them.

The above centerpiece is actually a balloon holder which you can find at any craft, dollar or party store. We hot glued poker chips and dice around the base. We hot glued cards together and secured with hot glue to a dowel. We then covered the portion where the dowel meets the cards with a poker chip. We stapled playing cards on some of the lower portions of the holder then scattered cards around the centerpiece. We made 8 of these as well.

UpCycled Kitchen Table

 I began my search for a new kitchen table several weeks ago.  Searching craigslist, facebook, ebay and thrift stores.  It took a while but I KNEW I would find what I was looking for at a decent price! 

We have six people in our immediate family, but having 3 teenagers we rarely all six have dinner together! My butcher block table, that I LOVE and WILL NEVER part with, seats 6-8 but takes up a TON of space in my kitchen.  (It is now a homework table in my game room.) I wanted a small round drop leaf OR small round table with a leaf.  This way we could seat 4 comfortably and add the leaf to accommodate 6 when necessary.

Of course, I could have gone to ANY furniture store and bought exactly what I described but so can everyone else.  There is a story behind everything in my home and I like it that way!  

I found my table on craigslist for $60 and since I already had stain, paint, brushes etc my only expense was the table.

Below is the table before without the leaf in.  There was some nice damage to the top and it looked like a hungry dog got a hold of the legs!

Kitchen Table Before

I began by taking everything apart and sanding...all of it!  I originally thought I wanted to stain the entire table ebony.  After one coat of ebony stain I was thinking that was way too much black!  

Then I decided to continue on the top with another coat of black stain but decided to mix up some white chalk paint for the base.

After applying two coats of chalk paint I  lightly sanded the edges where normal wear would be.  This turned out GREAT since I had a coat of black stain underneath the chalk paint!

After one coat of polyurethane on the top I lightly sanded so it didn't look so "perfect".  I then finished the whole thing off with two more coats of polyurethane on the entire piece.

My "new" table!...

Finished Table with Leaf In

Finished Table

UpCycled Dictionary Dresser

One of my passions is upcycling (Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.) I like to call it my therapy! I have completed several projects over the past year and now with homecoming behind us hopefully I can post a few!

I am not very good at creating "how to's" or "tutorials" but hopefully you can gain inspiration from some of my projects. I will be adding tips, tricks and information on products I love along the way. Last but not least I am NOT a photographer. (Just had to throw that out there in case you didn't notice!)

My latest project was a dresser I upcycled for my daughter who will be leaving for college in a few months and will be majoring in English. Being in need of extra storage at the time I inherited this dresser about eight years ago from a friend who had no need for it.  It is solid wood and very well built just not very attractive.

Dresser Before

UpCycle Dictionary Dresser I began by sanding and cleaning well.  (And removing those gorgeous drawer pulls!)  I then used two coats of flat black paint only on the base of the dresser. 

I have on old dictionary my dad used when he was in school so I tore the pages out and decoupaged them on the drawer fronts. Once everything was dry I used a product, on the entire piece, I came across at the home improvement store. Rust-oleum Ultimate Polyurethane in Matte Finish. LOVE IT!!! So I used two coats of that.

Then added black metal drawer pulls. Once completed I did not like how the bottom four drawers seemed to "run together" there is nothing dividing them like the top drawer.  So I glued on a piece of grosgrain ribbon at the bottom of the middle drawers.

Close up of one of the drawers

And the finished product!

Dictionary Dresser After

Up Cycle

Sophomore Mum-Two School Mum

Sophomore Mum

Now for the mum I made for my sophomore. Again she is a "girly girl" so we had to add some different ribbon and this year she wanted leopard print. She is still dating a boy from another school so we went with half his colors and half hers.

Sophomore Mum Topper

For the topper she wanted her initial so we painted it red and glued on rhinestones. All of the picks (including peacock feathers) came from the Christmas section at the craft store. We alternated red (her color) and blue(his color) tulle around the flower and accented it with leopard print ribbon.

Streamers

For the streamers one side is hers and the others is his. We added small leopard print bows to the streamers and made bows from volleyball and baseball ribbon on either side. The red boa came from the dollar store and I used silver christmas garland on his side and attached some snapshots to it.

Finished Two School Mum

SENIOR MUM-Homecoming Time AGAIN!!

Senior Mum

Mums and Garter are completed and TODAY is the DAY!! I think I will start by posting my Senior Mum. Cannot believe this is the last time I will make my oldest a mum. I was fine until I was cleaning up all my mum stuff the other day and found some leftover "Class of 2014" ribbon. Yes, I started balling. It finally hit me, I just completed my last mum for her.

Finished Senior Mum

Senior Mum Topper

I used white tulle around the outside, thick gold ribbon for the loops and smaller gold ribbon for the strips. The picture is just a snapshot from Prom last year printed in black & white off my laser printer. The white picks came from the wedding area at the craft store, the gold picks from Christmas section and the hearts from the homecoming section. I "dressed up" the standard plastic senior charm with rhinestones and gold stars. The "C W" were already sparkle white from the craft store.

Senior Mum Streamers

Now for the streamers...This is where I really tried to personalize it!  She has been in newspaper for all four years so for the names I used chip board newsprint letters I found at the craft store. One of their favorite places is the zoo so above the names I have their favorite animal. The small "beach items" on the right are to remind her of Spring Break last year when he asked her to prom.  Of course more black and white pictures. The garland is Christmas garland I found at dollar tree!

And Lights

And yes, I had to add lights! Just used two strands of the LED lights, one on each side. I wrapped the lights around the garland and glued the on off switch to the hanger loop on either side  so she could easily reach the switch.

Two School Garter

Now for the Garter I made for my daughters boyfriend who goes to a different school than her. Notice his garter is similar to her mum only not "girly". :) I decided to do the points around the flower in one color from each school. (Thank goodness they had two colors that worked together!)

He loves baseball so the bear is holding a baseball. Notice I DID get a little zebra on his garter but it is blue and very minimal.

MORE MUMS!!!

We are approaching Homecoming Season AGAIN and I never finished posting my mums from last year! Adding them now and maybe it will give all of us some ideas before we get too close to homecoming!

Two School Mum

The mum pictured above is my daughters mum last year. (Freshman) She and her boyfriend attend different schools so his mom and I decided I would make one mum and one garter and they would wear them to both games. This one turned out to be a HUGE hit! She has the red and gold side and his is the blue and white. She is a "girly girl" so we incorporated the zebra. Again the boas were from the dollar store. The red squiggly at the top from floral department and the zebra flowers from the scrapbooking section of the hobby store. 

REMEMBER search ALL sections of the hobby/craft store! There are SO many more items you can use on mums besides what's just in the mum section.  

ONE MORE TIP-make multiple trips to the hobby/craft store! DO NOT try and buy everything in one trip! The sales run in cycles so when ribbon goes on sale 50% off buy your ribbon. Want something from the scrapbooking section for the mum? Wait until scrapbooking items go on sell and so on.

Topper

Above is the topper for her mum. It is the standard bear from the hobby/craft store. The small tiara found in the party favor section at Walmart. (YES I look EVERYWHERE!)