Favorite Things Party- Prize #2

As I shared in my last post, I needed prizes for my party games and wanted to share my FAVORITE crafts with my party guests. Since I love making wreaths and had many friends express interest in them in the past, I decided to make 3 for the prizes. This is wreath #2:

I used a real foam wreath form for this one (only $5.99 at Michael's, I believe)- makes a world of difference! I wrapped it in white cotton yarn, but unfortunately ran out with 1/4 of the wreath to go! It turned into a happy little accident because I ended up having a variegated cotton yarn that changed from white to teal to lime green in the same white and same texture as my original yarn was. I just started where I left off with the teal and then ended by spreading the green over the white that I began with. 

I already knew I was going to do felt hearts from the beginning, but didn't plan on having the colored yarn too. I cut my own heart free-hand on the felt and used a contrasting white thread to sew them up. Each heart is stuffed with the felt scraps left over from the heart. No need to waste! I glued the hearts on with hot glue, but felt I needed one more thing to tie it all together. So, I pulled out some little wooden letters to spell out the word "love". I painted them black and glued them on too. 

If I did it again, I'd shift the "love" and the hearts upward to the right so that the word doesn't overlap any of the green yarn. I think it would've been perfectly balanced that way. Still, I'm happy with the outcome! Not exactly what I originally planned, but that's the fun in making wreaths. The tend to change as you go along!

Here are some close up's of the details:

I owned all of the supplies (except for the wreath form) to begin with, so my total cost was only $5.99!

What do you think?

Favorite Things Party- Prize #1

My Favorite Things Party is just 8 days away! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself! I've been working every free moment (which isn't much with a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old) to get everything done for it. There's so much I can't wait to share, but, so far, much of it is still in the prep stages- not much to actually show in pictures. However, I have several prizes for the games that I've completed and would love to show off!

We are playing two games at my party. The first is Bunko, which I shared in this post. There are 3 prizes for Bunko including one for most wins, one for most losses, and one for most Bunko's. The other game is similar to one played at baby showers where each guest receives an object upon entering the party (in my case, it's a penny). There is a forbidden word that guests are not allowed to say. It's one that's super common (like "baby" at showers) so that everyone is always on their toes. My word will be "favorite". I mean, how in the world are you supposed to share about your favorite object at a Favorite Things Party without saying the word "favorite"?! And, if you are caught saying the forbidden word, the person who catches you gets your object penny. The person with the most pennies wins a prize at the end of the party. It's a game that goes on for most of the party to allow people time to forget they are playing and slip up. Plus, the longer the game goes, the more likely that someone accumulates a significant number of pennies.

So, in having those 2 games, there are 4 prizes total. I was struggling at the beginning of my party planning to decide what "favorite thing" I wanted to bring to the party. I thought of all sorts of crafts I love to do, but couldn't narrow it down to just one. So I changed courses and decided to share my favorite crafts as prizes instead. Then I could do as many as I wanted, all different styles, and (hopefully) my guests would love their prizes. In fact, I ended up making 8 prizes total (2 for each winner) because I just couldn't quit!

Back in October, I helped out a friend by hosting a PartyLite party at my house. Normally, you just open up your house and allow the consultant to share their products, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity have creative food, favors, and prizes (all for another post someday). Anyway, long story short, I made 3 wreaths (my first ones) for door prizes that my guests fell in love with. Many were disappointed that they didn't win. And since I enjoy making them, I decided to make a few for the prizes at my Favorite Things Party. I wanted them to each coordinate with the color and theme of the party, yet be versatile enough to go in most people's homes.

This is the first one:

For this wreath, I used foam pipe insulation (a tip I learned from Pinterest). However, the tip doesn't really help when you discover that the insulation is all wonky and doesn't work right! It doesn't help to save money on a wreath form when the wreath turns out all cattywampus. So, I decided to stuff the insulation with tissue paper to help it have some substance to it. When compared to the real foam wreath forms, though, I hate this kind. The real stuff is just a million times better- heavier, harder, and perfectly round. By appearances, there is little to no difference, but once you pick it up, you can see the quality difference.

Anyway, I wrapped this one in gray yarn. I added blue, pink, and green pinwheels (you'll see LOTS and LOTS of more pinwheels soon!) with hot glue and made a few criss-crosses with coordinating yarn with glue in the back to hold them in place.

I wasn't sure at first how much I liked it, but I've grown to really like it. And, when my best friend saw it, she loved it right away. So, I'm hoping my guests feel the same!

Here are some close up's of the details:

I already had the pipe insulation from a previous wreath, but it normally is less than $1.50 for 6 feet of insulation. I also had the tissue paper, the yarn, the hot glue, and the paper and brads for the pinwheels. This made this wreath completely free! Even if you bought all of the supplies from the start, though, the whole cost would be less than $5 to complete.

What do you think?