It's a Party and You're Invited!

You are cordially invited to attend a cyber party of the bloggers on the eve of the fresh beginning. This New Years Eve celebration, hosted by ring leader Boxer, offers an evening of great company, great drinks and food, fashion, games, events and fabulous prizes....and its all for a good cause with money earned by playing going to charity. At this party you can have drinks with your friends without facing a gauntlet of law enforcement on the way home and you will definitely find a good parking place. Plus, you'll avoid contact with carriers of holiday cold and flu cooties. And you can wear whatever you want.

Koby say she wanna go.

Every blogger in the Ring of Boxer is posting their own New Year's Eve celebration to link back with the host Boxer. When you visit these blogs you might find great recipes, astonishing photographs, jokes, quizzes and contests, open bars and on this blog, an art activity. This is something I know Boxer wants to learn.

Oh hell no. another garland?

 

You need to find two free hours and these supplies: a glue gun, or "Zots" those pre-fab glue dots on a roll. You also need scissors, some kind of string or heavy thread like embroidery floss, a bone or tool to use to crease paper, a stapler and a selection of decorative papers. If you have left over Christmas wrap this is a good way to use it. You also need to print the PDF below of the letters that spell Happy New Year and the rabbits that divide the words. (2011 is the year of the Rabbit)

Happy New Year

Cut all the letters out and fold them in half on the gray line. Now prep the other papers by folding a two inch strip into one inch and cut them into sections to make filler on either side of the letters. I used some patterned paper that i thought would look good with black and white and some gold cardstock. Other great options are kraft paper or even printing the PDF twice so your garland is all "happy new year". Really tricking it out might include printing small photos of your family or friends or chickens and incorporating them into the design.

Use something hard (like a folding bone or barware) to make really good creases on your folded paper so that they hang on the string straight. Now for the stars or flowers - the part Boxer wants to learn. Cut a perfect square. I will cut two 5" squares and two 4" squares for my garland.

• Fold the square in half both ways so that when you open it up you see four even squares
• Now fold the outer edge in so that it aligns with the middle fold.
• Fold the outer edge in again. Flip the paper around and do the same thing on the other side.
• Open the paper up and you will find 8 even sections to fold back and forth like an accordion with the decoration part facing out.
• Staple the accordion on the middle fold going the other way.

• Now take the stapled accordion and make sure the open part is facing to your right.
• From the corner of the folded edge cut at a diagonal toward the staple and stop about a half inch before you reach it.
• If you want a flower make the cut curved (as shown); for a star, cut a straight line

Open the star/flower up and glue the two sides together. This works best with a glue gun. If you are in a pinch, you can use a stapler or a Zot. It doesnt work with regular glue because the paper is being bent in a way it will work against. Now take the other squares you cut and make some more stars.

Now that you've made all the elements, you are ready to string the garland. Tie a loop at the end of the string and begin with a few of the folded squares. Open them up and give them a little zig-zag of glue that goes across the fold. Then take the hot gluey piece and fit the fold right on the string. Press it down good to make sure it doesnt slide along the string. When you get ready to add a star/flower, cut the string so that you can glue the end into the crease of one of the petals as shown above. Continue on the other side with the string glued to a petal fold. Make sure you have it on the exact opposite side or it won't hang right. Now just decide on how long you want it to be and string the garland so the "happy new year" part is situated in the middle. I usually make mine about 6' long which is good for fireplace mantles, windows, stairwells and pianos.

The garlands look good incorporated into your left-over Christmas decorations and on your tree. I have some stretched across an arched doorway between two rooms. Or you can just lay them out on a table.

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Now for the charity part. For every blogger that makes this garland, or any other hand crafted decoration that reads "Happy New Year" and posts a photograph of it on their blog, I will give $10 to my charity which is called "Heather". You must come to this blog and leave a message that says you posted this crafty project in order to win. We all know many good and well known charities that we could donate to. But I am often frustrated by the administrative costs and the slow trickle down to the ones that most need help. In this case, I am familiar with my charity and can give the money directly to her. Who is Heather? She is the assistant to the Director of the Arts Center of Blue Ridge. She is young and single and she is foster parenting four children ranging from 14 to infants on her modest salary. When I found out she was doing this during an event this fall I was blown away by her selflessness and sweet natured attitude toward the hardship of it, because the stipend she gets from the state for the childrens' care is a joke. I plan to give Heather a minimum in case you all peter out on me and make nothing - but if you DO make something, Heather will get more. So mix yourself a cocktail if it helps, put on some music, get a snack and sit down to a crafty New Year's Eve eve.

*bonus: first person to find Coco in this post will win a photoshop tribute to appear on this blog New Years Eve.