Beautifully Exquisite Experiences: Graduation Garland and other Goodies

A few weeks ago I shared some photos I edited on PicMonkey for my son's graduation. Today I have some photos of the decorations that I made for his party. This is a long one folks - but I hope it's worth it.

We had the party at Cartwright's Ranch House in Denton. It has a country feel so I didn't hesitate to use some of that muslin and burlap I had laying around the house. Here is a photo of one of the pennants I made for a K-12 bunting.

For this pennant I made a card stock template, and place it on top of a folded strip of muslin. Pinking shears left a nice edge that would not unravel. I sewed along the sides and bottom leaving an opening at the top of each side to run a piece of twine through for hanging. Next a bulldog clip was sewn by hand and tied with a bow. I decided to use the clips so that after graduation, this bunting can be used for anything.

For today they nicely hold first day of school photos K- 12! Burlap bows tied the ends. I wish I had a photo of the entire bunting, but I was caught up in the excitement of the day and this is the best I can do for now.

Each pennant has a photo with a rosette (Tim Holtz mini rosette die) and a stamped letter or number, reflecting the school year it was taken.

The little ties ensured that the pennants didn't smush together. Smush is a word, right?

Next we had about ten of these little burlap wrapped jars that featured photos of the graduate throughout his years in school.

Each centerpiece held four photo and a little rosetter with 2012 in the center.

The jars were combined with framed senior photos on one large table. I loved having all the guets around several tables pushed together into one big square. Everyone could see and talk to everyone else.

Now on to the favors. For me it is very important to me to thank guests who have taken the time to celebrate special occasions with us, I wanted the favors to have a photo of Joshua that could be kept seperate from the gift and I also wanted to do one gift per family.

Mason jars filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies, fit those requirements nicely. And...YUM! For these little treats a muslin ruffle was sewn to a gingham ribbon and tied around the neck of each jar.

Photos were attached to magnet sheets and then cut into circles with my Sizzix Big Shot . It was so great because they stuck to the top of the jar, but could be thrown on the fridge later.

A little tag thanked the guests for coming.

It was a wonderful party! One last photo that really has nothing to do with crafting, sewing, decorating, or crocheting...Here is a picture of me and my boys just afer graduation. I'm thinking I may need to hire a photographer to follow us around for college grad ceremonies :) We didn't get one picture of the four of us all day, Yikes!