when i think of summer, i think “party time”!

we love having casual  impromptu get-togethers with friends where we can just throw some food on the grill, relax & have some refreshing drinks while the kids play.

we have a a white over-hang trellis in front of our house that always looks rather plain & i’m always trying to think of easy ways to dress it up.

a few months ago we were at a mexican restaurant and they had these pretty hanging banners all-around. they looked like intricate drawings cut out of tissue paper. i asked the owner where she got these pretty garlands & she said they were called “papel picado”. i have since found these pretty garlands in staionary shops & in etsy shops, but today i’m goingto show you how easy it is to make them out of your kenner road kits with only a few simple steps & supplies!

all i used was the pretty “lace paper” by basic grey from the july  “blue ribbon” add-on kit, some ric-rac, my trusty paper cutter & staples.

1. cut your paper into long strips (mine were about 6″x 1  1/2 “)

2. fold the paper in half (i wanted the white side showing, so i folded it right sides facing) & just staple at the top.

that’s it! how easy is that?

i embellished mine with a few punched-out butterflies just stapled on, but you could also use other embellishments like buttons or flowers.

another idea would be to use different types of paper & patterns to get a more “collagy” look.

if you’re not a fan of the staples, you could just use glue in between the folded edged or even sew.

it would also be pretty to cut the free edges into triangles or use decorative-edged scissors. the skies the limit!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 7:29 pm by lisa and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.