Class Act

Boy, has this has been a busy weekend! 

Graduation ceremonies were held Friday night.  It was a wonderful ceremony.  Along with all the pomp and circumstance came the laughter, tears, and final farewells.  The Class of 2012 has turned their tassels, tossed their caps, and made memories to last a lifetime.  Congrats to all the seniors graduating this year!!

Graduation was followed the next day with a party for family and friends at our house.  It was great having everyone over to help celebrate this special occasion.   It was also a good excuse to get my craft on!  Let’s take a look, shall we?

My son’s school colors are navy and white which became the color palette for the party.   Silver was added for an accent color. 

As guests came to the front door they were greeted with an update to the front door decor.  Traditional flowers were replaced with graduation items and garland hung around the door frame.

The garland was created by sewing a running stitch through circles created by a scrapbook circle punch.  I must have went punch happy because I still have circles left – this was just a way to try to use them up.  Circle garland was also draped across the front of the flower bucket.  To update the bucket I stuffed it with polyfill and topped it with shredded, crinkled gift fill in blue and white.  A couple of balloon weights with stars were inserted.  I printed out a few items that represented my son and his school that I taped to skewers that were inserted into the polyfill.  

Upon entering the house, guests were greeted by a table where they could leave a message for the graduate as well as see his senior pictures and browse the My Publisher book I created for him.  He had also made the front page of the paper a few days before graduation so the article was framed, draped by his honor cords, and hung on the wall near the table.

My original intent with the My Publisher book was to have guests leave a message on some blank pages I added at the end of the book but the pages were very slick and I worried a pen would smear.  [I still owe a post about the details of the book – hopefully soon.]  Instead I created a wishes jar where guest could write a message on a slip of paper that I will adhere to blank pages later.   The jar was a shatterproof container I picked up at Wal-Mart.  The ribbon and tag were added.   Notice there are more circles?  I told you I went punch happy!  I placed double sided tape on some ribbon left over from the cupcake stand and laid the circles on top.  The tag was created in word and attached with curling ribbon. 

 

I wanted a backdrop to hide some of the normal house stuff in this area.  This one was so fun and easy to make.  Square plates were attached with hot glue to a foam insulation board that I got a Lowe’s.  The insulation board was a little expensive at around $9 but it was super easy for me to handle and cut.  

Once the board was cut to size for the area I place the table in front and marked where they intersected.  This is where I began gluing the plates.  It was pure luck that four plates across was perfect.  I added purchased numbers and hand cut card stock letters with hot glue.  

The drink station was located in a short hallway that leads to the garage.  Again, I wanted to hide normal house items like the garage door.  In this area I was originally going to hang plastic table clothes as a backdrop using an extra shower curtain tension rod I had - except I didn’t remember that I had already used the extra tension rod with a curtain on it for my closet.  No big deal, I thought.  I could just remove the curtain for now then replace it in the closet after the party.  Well….for some reason I couldn’t get the rings off over the rubber ends.  Lucky for me the curtain was white so I left it.  I love happy accidents! 

The banner is an outdoor flag borrowed from a friend that I pinned across the top to the curtain.  Using a silver plastic table cloth cut in half, I draped it around the curtain hooks to hide the hooks and the tension bar.  A couple of purchased swirl decoration were added.   The table held two plastic drink dispensers containing sweet tea and cherry limeade.  Extra cherries and limes are in the bowls. 

The food table, which was shown as a sneak peek here, looks much better filled with food.  My son decided on typical teenage boy food for the menu - pizza and chicken fingers – which meant no cooking for me!  I didn’t want to just put pizza boxes on the table so I created tiered platters for the food.  At the Dollar Tree I purchased several platters of the same size as well as bowls of various heights.  Each bowl was hot glued to the platter to create the tiers.  Condiments for the chicken fingers were put into squeeze bottles and labels added.

The Congrats banner was printed on cardstock and each letter cut out with an exacto knife.  After punching holes in the corners each letter was strung on curling ribbon.  These letters were created in Word and there are two per page.  Each sheet was cut in half.  The idea behind cutting out the letters was to allow the color of the tablecloth to show through.  

Because my house is on the smaller end (~1,300 sq. feet) there’s not a lot of room to set up food tables and have room for people to sit and eat.  Which meant this table was set up between two rooms.  Again I wanted a backdrop but I didn’t need anything that would block the light or the conversation between rooms.  Each small piece of wall behind the table had a white and a silver tablecloth draped down it.  I flipped the end of each tablecloth over a doubled up piece of curling ribbon that was stapled to the wall.  A couple more swirl decorations were added.  The opening between each wall was filled with fishing line to which circles in two sizes as well as some purchased graduation cap cutouts were added.  

Well, that’s it for the decorations.  I enjoyed spending the time creating these items for this celebration of my son’s achievements.  I hope that you find something here that sparks the creative juices for your own celebration!

Linking up at:  The Grant Life - I Heart Naptime - Nifty Thrifty Things - Serendipity & Spice - You Are Talking Too Much- I Should be Mopping the Floor - Our Delightful Home -