SHAPE N' TAPE IS LIKE A SHEET OF WASHI TAPE

You know by now that I like to share my sources for great goodies and I am also a bit nuts about washi tape. I love all the cute patterns and designs you can get. When I found out about these Shape N' Tape sheets by Lifestyle Crafts, I just went bananas. I needed all the colors STAT.  Each package comes with 5 sheets of coordinating colors, each a full 6" by 12". Can you imagine the possibilities for this? I just love the patterns! Large sizes of paper tape? Brilliant and so, so overdue in the craft world, don't you think?

The picture is of the grey, gold and red packs. Can those little stars get anymore awesome? they remind me of a wallpaper that was on the ceiling in Domino. Now my only problem is deciding what to make with all of them. What would you make? Try it at 20% off with coupon code "HANK."

I am a Lifestyle Crafts Affiliate and I get to try stuff for free and get a commission on sales, it helps pay for craft supplies. All opinions are mine.

DIY BLOSSOM GARLAND

Spring is almost here and to celebrate LIFESTYLE CRAFTS has new BLOSSOM dies. They are screaming spring.  I have always wanted to try my hand at making crepe paper flowers and thought the BLOOM and LEAF die would make my life easier. I was right. It was incredibly simple, no scissors involved.  The best part about using the dies was that my flower petals and leaves were perfectly shaped, which is great because I can never cut anything the same size twice. 

Using a full sheet crepe paper, you can find some here, and unfold 4 times and cut off that piece.  Refold the cut section on the fold lines to create 4 layers. Place the BLOOM die on the cutting platform and lay the crepe paper on top. Place the cutting mat on top of all of this, and run it through your EPIC 6. If you place your crepe paper wisely, you can cut multiple sets out of the small section of crepe paper. I repeated the process with my LEAF die. Once I had a bunch of petals and leaves, I carefully separated each of the four layers.

Use a single glue dot to layer the flower petals, alternating the placement of the petals. Place one glue dot on the back of a leaf and add two more leaves to cover. Center another glue dot to the top of the set of three leaves and attach your twine or jute rope to the top.  Add a glue dot to the bottom of your flower and press down on top of the jute rope and leaves.  Using your fingers, gently pull and shape the flower petals and leaves. Repeat as much as you like to create a garland or back drop. These would also be pretty as corsages or atop gifts.

If you would like to try this, don't forget to use my coupon code "HANK" and you will get 20% off! Yes, I am an affiliate, which means LIFESTYLE CRAFTS sends me free supplies such as dies and plates, I do make a small commision on any purchase you make with the promo code. All opinions are mine.

DIY BIRTHDAY SONG BANNER

So, like I've said before, tools can make your life incredibly easy.  For example, a sewing machine can make very light work of paper garlands or fabric bunting. All you need is a straight stitch. I am going to say the same thing about the L Letterpress machine (that I won HERE). I was given the CELEBRATE dies by Lifestyle Crafts for free to try and I think I am in love. I mentioned making your own birthday banners HERE, using those individual letters you can get at the party shop. Well, my MIL is having a birthday this weekend and I wanted to use my new dies to make this Birthday Song Banner.

These dies are awesome, but I had no spacers for between the words.  Which worked fine for the cake banner (farrther down) where I threaded the twine through to hang the letters.

But for my big banner, I just made some.  I picked all the letters that had a straight shot to the other side: "A", "I", "J", "L", "T", "Z", "!", and I trimmed them into straight spacer bars. Easy peasy, problem solved. 

Also, a hint for organizing your letters for sufficient cuts. write out your phrase.  As you lay out your letters, underline each letter as you lay it down.  If you come across a second instance of the letter, don't underline it, but write it on a new line. Continue until you have all your letters. This was especially helpful for this long banner.

I set my banner up in four lines, to be the backdrop to my dessert table, you could certainly do one long banner and hang phrases across the room.   To cover my pushpins, I cut out circles from honeycomb paper sheets and folded them in half against the visible line marks. They are hard to see in the picture, but you can tell in person, I promise.

I just wanted to share the how tos (and tease you a bit) for the party we're having on Saturday.  If you follow me on instagram (Jenny Batt @hankandhunt) you have seen the other fun thing I figured out how to do.  I'm loving instagram but have no idea what I am doing yet, ie how do I link to my stream here on the blog? Does anyone know? I love instagram because I can show you what I'm working on without having to make a real post.  So follow me there (find me via twitter) and let's have some fun.

Of course, I will have a few fully decorated shots, once all the food and decor are up. 

Disclosure: Yep, I won the letterpress machine and I am an affiliate for Lifestyle Crafts, which means they give me products to try for free, but you get a 20% off discount if you use my code "HANK" and yes, I do get a commission, but it's a win-win.  Besides, my momma taught me if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. So, I only write about stuff I like. Honest.  I was not compensated for writing this post.