Sunday, December 30, 2012

How to make elf shoes.

Not really too hard to make.

I used an old pair of sandals so the bottom
sole would be waterproof and firm.

Then I cut out the shoe shape from green
vinyl fabric matching the width of the
shoe with the sandal.

I put the right sides of the vinyl together and stitched all 
around leaving the bottom open.

Then I turned the vinyl right side out.
I folded over the bottom of the vinyl about 1/4" and then
used a heavy carpet thread and a strong sewing
needle to hand stitch it to the shoe.

Then I hot glued upholstery gimp trim around
and on top of the stitching.

Then I stuffed the curvy toe of the shoe so 
it would stay upright.


I sewed a bell to each tip and hot glued fluffy fur
around the top.
  
Voila! Sturdy waterproof and durable
elf shoes that were comfortable to wear.

The lovely gold frame design in the top picture was  
compliments of a fellow blogger in France.
http://elfeerique.blogspot.fr/2012/12/mes-ptits-templates-n3-cadeau.html

Friday, December 28, 2012

PEACE. LOVE. LIFE. (party decorations)

Peace.
Love.
And the Important Things in Life.

This is just a wonderful theme. It's so versatile and can
be so personalized to fit the party person.

Here's some ideas from this year.

Coincidentally one was for "HALLE" and
one was for "HALEY".


FOR HALLE:
Here's the logo created by Laura at Party Perfect for 
HALLE in grunge-style lettering.

We made the centerpieces.

Here's the table centerpiece for 
Peace, Love, Laugh.
Peace, Love, Trust.
Peace, Love, Harmony.
You get the idea?
Peace, Love, Adventure.


Each placecard matched a 
centerpiece design.

Here's a bunch of the designs.

www.marlyssandstacey.com

Peace, Love, Out. 
(until next time)




Saturday, November 3, 2012

NY Broadway Theater Playbill Party Decorations

Broadway is such a great party theme.
We've done it for boys and girls both.

We've started with placecards.
Then done Welcome Signs.

And moved into the room with
centerpieces....both low on 
the table and elevated up on a pole.
(Notice that we added the Bar Mitzvah
girls face into the design above and in the one 
below there is a picture from the actual
play the Bat Mitzvah boy was in.)


Or...here's a broadway stage with an working foamcore
kleig light that runs from 2 AA batteries and a golden
envelope with the 'winner' for the table name card.

We've done large DJ signs.
This was one of my favorites.
It was 4ft. x 8ft.

We've also made a kids area sign with 
a Broadway theme.

And....of course, a Sign In Board.

And a Gift Card Box.

This is a theme we always have fun with
and enjoy the end results.




Monday, October 15, 2012

SIGN IN BOARDS for Parties.

One thing we do often make are Sign In Boards.


I think they make a wonderful party props to set
the tone of the party and let people in on the theme
of the night and highlight that special person.


They also are a great spot to grab a picture.
(This happens to be my Eagle Scout grandson Ryan.)


 It really isn't so much about the signatures or
the messages. The messages left are usually the same
as people have already told you in person...like "great job!" or
"Happy Birthday" or "Mazel Tov" or "proud of you".


But it does gives folks another opportunity to congratulate and
also see that you have taken the time to have something
fun and interesting to make the party personal and lively.

I often hear...."But what will I do with it after
the party? I might get a memory book instead because it's easier
to keep." 

Well, memory books are fine. I like them. We also make them.
(You can view a blog post I made about them here.)

But, personally, I like Sign In Boards better.They are BIGGER.
Big things at a party just have more impact and pizzazz.
That's just a fact. They are more memorable. 
That's why you're getting a Sign In Board. 
To have something cool at the party. 
You wouldn't be having a Sign In Board if you weren't having a party. 
So don't worry about later. 
Take a picture of the board and save that.
You don't have to save the board forever and ever.

Another good thing about a Sign In Board is that it's standing
right there at your eye level when you walk into the party.
You really can't miss them. You CAN miss a book.

I hear often that not that many people signed the book.
Maybe they did miss it. Or...maybe they didn't.
A book is intimidating. Writing in a book means you should
comes up with something clever on the level of what 
J.K. Rowling would write in a book. Most people aren't prepared
for that much pressure. They are there to PAR-TAY or celebrate.... not
be profound and clever in writing something beautiful in 
a book that will be kept (hopefully) forever and read and
reflected upon the words left there. Oh dear...such pressure!
Where's the Sign In Board???? 






You can view more Sign In Boards on
our website.





Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Life before Google



I have all these artwork resource books I used before Google 
and all their wonderful images came out. 

Yes. 
I've been doing party decor artwork that long! 

I remember the 'olden days'.

They use to be called 'morgue' files and my files
spilled over even into 2 tall file cabinets of pages 
I had torn out from magazines that I kept in labeled folders...
just for inspiration or to place on my overhead projector 
and to help me draw up designs.
That was before I even had a computer.
OMG...times are so much better now!
I LOVE my computers....both of them and my ipad 
and my iphone. I'm in 2012 with both feet!


But...It pains me to even think about throwing out these books.


Ahhhhhh...do I have to???


Well...I've decided I don't have to do it today.
But some day soon.



THIS is what I need in front of my house.
Or at least in my town.
http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/index.html

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

That darn ipad. I love it but it has it's limitations.

It makes me crazy that the ipad doesn't
support Adobe flash. 

It makes me especially crazy that our
 website Photo Gallery section is
generated by Flash so it gives folks this
error message...and me included....when
I'm on my ipad.


The pictures are available on regular computers
that have Adobe Flash installed to work with
their SPECIFIC browser.

But sometimes it won't work with Safari even
though it works with Google Chrome on my
home computer.

I experimented with other options for the website for
all the ipad users and finally
just decided to add more pictures into the
body of our website and forget about the
flash Photo Gallery updates for now.
The iphone and ipad users are taking over the world
and Apple is forcing you to go in the direction it
wants you to head whether you like it or not.
And...I have to admit..limitations or not, I'm
a huge ipad and Apple fan.

Here's the latest picture I added to
the CENTERPIECE page of our
www.partydecorationsbymarlyss.com
website.



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Winter's Coming so Tropical Beach Parties will be in.

Nothing like having a beach party in the winter.
Makes perfect sense to me.

If you can't be there, pretend to be there.

We've definitely done more beach themes in the
winter time than in the summer. But not always.

Here's some fun BEACH THEME ideas we've done.

Sign In Boards are popular.



Catch a Wave on a surfboard SIGN IN BOARD made
from foamcore with layered glittered letters.


Note that these two surfboard sign in boards
were done in October and January. See?

Looking for placecards or a 3D lifeguard
chair to display? Check out this blog
post I made here.

Now I know you don't want to think about it...but
there are sharks at the beach. We even made 
paper mache shark heads as centerpieces one time.

I can't say it was one of the strangest things I've
been asked to make but it's on the list of unusual.
But we had fun making them.

Camp plays friendly with a beach and water theme.

That's what good about a beach theme. 
Everyone loves the beach and it can be 
incorporated with camp or travel or tropical islands
even if you are in the middle of winter.



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Funky Lighted MITZVAH BAR sign

I read somewhere..or they tried to teach it
to me when I took some college graphic design
classes, that you shouldn't mix more than 2 different
font styles in one design piece.

Fail.

I disregarded that like I disregard what I KNOW a 
teacher tried to tell me in a graphic design college class: 
You never point things directly to a corner in a graphic design. 
You always miss the exact corner on purpose. 

Well I remembered that while I was in 
his class but afterwards....well....I can't 
stay I always followed that rule because it 
made no sense to me.

Same with the font rule.

I used Beetle for Joey.
I used Inspiration for Mitzvah Bar.
I used Arial for OPEN.

Fail??

I hope some 'rule enforcer' doesn't send
me an email and tell me I broke a rule.

I like this funky sign.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Wedding Gift Card Box with paper flowers and pearls

Here's a "Marlyss & Stacey" version of a 
Bridal Dress we made from foam core 
(because that's what we do) for
a WEDDING GIFT CARD BOX. 

We decorated it with
paper flowers and pearls and
customized it with the 
bride and groom's name.

We had such fun creating all 
the paper flowers....especially the roses.
I liked ALL the different varieties of
flowers we came up with but the
rose was my favorite.

Here's the finished dress and
a picture of the 
gift card slot for the bride and
groom's gift cards that they
will receive at the wedding reception.

This wedding gift card box is available
TO RENT if you are in Michigan. We'll change the
names at the top to any names.

Just email us at: marlyss@mac.com

Sunday, June 17, 2012

iPod Dancers make great centerpieces

iPod dancers just say FUN, don't they?
These were 4 feet tall and went on a 
large 8 foot D.J. sign. 

They had battery operated light wires for
the iPod cords that really glowed. 

They were two layers with black foam core on blue layer.
But they could be any color on the background.
Pink or lime green would really pop!

We've also made them smaller and
with a plain white cord that was
not illuminated. 
But still so cute and perfect for
a table centerpiece.
Lots of different poses!


My internet friend BJ Boyd sent me this
next picture of how she displayed the 
dancing figures we sent to her with a 
real outfit and she put the iPod and wire in
and added the cool necklace touch.

There are so many possibilities left to try.

We're ready to try some different figures and
in different colors.

Just call us with your ideas if you are having
a dance themed party or iPod party.

We're ready to expand the thought!!

marlyss@mac.com