Craft Night

What’s a girl to do when she’s hopping to get crafty?  Why, invite some fun gal pals to join her, of course!  This past week I invited three of my “teacher” friends (although at this point we are definitely friends connected by more than just our jobs) over for some tasty treats and crafts.  While I love being a mom to a rambunctious boy, I also love being a giddy girl, and that’s what this night was all about. 

We started off the evening by munching on peanut butter pretzel truffles, banana pudding topped with salted caramel (delish), popcorn, hummus with carrots and those amazing homemade chips from Whole Foods, along with blackberry Izzies (which I  think make any occasion feel a tad snazzier). 

Believe me when I tell you that I debated and debated over which crafts to do.  There were several ideas that I latched on to, but they involved too many steps—like drying overnight, etc.  I was finally smitten with two ideas, and because I wanted to provide a smidge of choice, along with the opportunity engage in new experiences (I had never used fabric medium or Mod Podge), I decided to bring them both to the table: stenciling tea towels and using Mod Podge to decorate terra cotta pots.  You can check out the online tutorials for tea towels here and flower pots here. 

Having never done either of these crafts before, I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out even better than I had hoped.  The tea towels were especially cute!  Also, although I wasn’t initially convinced that repositionable spray adhesive was necessary for stenciling, it turned out to be the most amazing tool.  I highly recommend using it if you’re planning to stencil anything. 

It was super fun hanging out and playing with all kinds of art supplies—some that we hadn’t used since our elementary art classes!  Everyone had great attitudes about trying new things and putting their own spin on each project, so I count the evening as a definite success.  Check out our creations!

One towels, two ways…

And to fill their pretty pots, my Mister picked up a few flowers for all the girls to take home.  Isn’t he sweet?

A few tips on hosting a craft night:

1.  Spend some serious time researching appropriate crafts.  Pinterest was certainly my advocate as I was searching around for ideas, but I also found great ideas by finding a craft I liked and then going to the original blog.  Once on the blog, I was able to search around for other ideas created by a blogger whose style I liked.  Obviously it’s not necessary to do two different crafts, but it helped to spread out the tools since not everyone needed the same thing at the same time.

2.  Purchase the craft items over time.  By saving up my Michael’s and Hobby Lobby coupons, I was able to save 40-50% on nearly everything.  Oh, and Mod Podge is a dollar cheaper at Hobby Lobby than Michael’s.  : )  For the record, I considered making my own Mod Podge, but having never used it before, I wasn’t willing to risk it.

3.  Think through everything you will need ahead of time.  I really wanted the craft night to be relaxing for everyone, so I tried to make sure I had every base covered.  For example, I had to wash, dry, and iron the tea towels ahead of time.  Even simple things can make a big difference, like having plenty of scissors, paper towels, cardboard for stenciling, and a protective covering for your work surface (I rolled out butcher paper).  

4.  Try corralling all your supplies in one central area.  I was able to use a round two-tier stand in the middle of the table for most of our tools, keeping items in reach of everyone.  By the way, thanks for letting me “steal” your stand, Mom!  : )

5.  Go into the night with the mindset of having fun, first and foremost.  Crafts can be tricky, and sometimes things just simply don’t turn out as well as you hope.  Thankfully, we didn’t run into many snags, but since everyone mainly wanted to just be together and try out new things, it really didn’t matter if the fabric on the pots was a bit wrinkly. 

In the end, this was a great excuse to participate in something out of the everyday norm, and the stenciling bug has definitely bitten me now, so watch out!  There just might be more of that in the Braham fam future… Have you been getting crafty lately?  Do tell!