A new DIY tutorial video is up on my YouTube channel - surprise balls! They’re an old school party favor and incredibly easy to assemble! Check out my Surprise Balls Pinterest Board for inspiration: http://pinterest.com/robertm/surprise…
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and never miss an upcoming episode! http://bit.ly/CraftedWithRobert
Surprise Ball Party Favors
Materials:
Crepe Paper Streamers (various colors)
Crepe Paper Folds (optional)
8 — 10 Small Trinkets/Prizes
Tape
Glue
Ribbon (optional)
Tools:
Scissors
Directions:
1. Unroll 2-3 arm lengths of crepe paper streamer. Begin with the largest of the trinkets and begin wrapping it with the streamer. Once the trinket is completely wrapped, tape the end.
2. Continuing wrapping with a new color crepe paper streamer, slowing forming a ball shape. Add additional trinkets and change streamer colors as you’d like, building up the ball until it is approximately the size of a baseball.
3. When all of the trinkets have been wrapped into the ball, add 2 — 3 additional layers/colors of streamers. When applying these final layers gently adding tension as you wrap, stretching the crepe paper and creating a smoother outer surface.
4. You can stop at this point or optionally wrap the exterior with strips of 1” wide strips cut from crepe paper folds, which tends to be a finer quality giving a nice finish to the surprise balls.
5. The surprise balls can be decorated in a variety of ways:
• Leave them a solid color and wrap bow around them with satin ribbon.
• Create a pattern of overlapping stripes with strips cut from various color crepe paper.
• Decorate the exterior to look like a person, animal or object
6. Consider adding a cleverly worded tag to your finished surprise ball, directing the recipient to unravel it and find the goodies inside!
Helpful Tips:
• Keep your surprise ball trinkets small! And it’s helpful to have a few flat items to wrap into the last few layers of the ball. For extra fun, add confetti as you wrap the ball!
• Depending on the size and variety of goodies you wrap into your surprise ball, it is very unlikely that you will end up with a perfectly spherical ball…and that’s ok! Gently stretching the crepe paper as you apply the final layers will help create a smoother surface, but extra lumpy surprise balls can always be disguised with a bow!
• Surprise balls make fun party favors and can also double as place cards when you add a tag. Consider coordinating the colors and contents of your surprise balls to the theme of your party/event.
I’m so excited to share that I’ll be teaching at French General again this summer! Join me on Saturday, July 13th from 11 to 3pm as we create Crepe Paper Botanicals. This workshop with focus on the construction and creation of larger scale flora (versus the diminutive violet bouquets we created in the last FG class) - specifically you’ll learn how to recreate dyanthus caryophyllus or carnation blooms and buds with gorgeous German crepe paper. I’ll also show you how to create custom mounts for your flowers reminiscent of vintage botanical teaching charts - complete with tea-stained name plates. (Check out my Botany Pinterest board for inspiration!)
Workshop sizes are limited, so reserve your seat now by clicking on the ‘workshops’ tab at FrenchGeneral.com or call the store directly at 323.668.0488! French General is located at 2009 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90039. For those of you who have not been to FG before, the space is amazing - you’re in for a treat! Look forward to seeing you there!
For the past several months I’ve been experimenting with mobile construction - specifically mobiles inspired by the Finnish himmeli. Traditionally, these geometric mobiles have been constructed of rye or wheat straw and suspended above dining room or kitchen tables all across Finland during harvest season. The challenge I presented myself was recreating this old school craft in modern materials and configurations.
This past month, I collaborated with my friend and talented designer Cathy Callahan to create a window installation filled with my mobiles in bright neon hues for a new local store called Bucks & Does. They’re located at 3906 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90029 and filled with a lovely selection of mens and womens clothing and accessories. The above images were my less than stellar attempt at photographing these constantly rotating beauties in a bright LA storefront window. However, should you be in my Silverlake neighborhood - they look fantastic in person!
AND for those of you curious about how these mobiles were constructed, I’ll be doing a DIY tutorial on my YouTube channel, Crafted with Robert, later this summer - stay tuned!
Hurrah! A new DIY tutorial video - and just in time for Mother’s Day! These air plant terrariums are SO incredibly simple to assemble and care for. If you can put flowers in a vase, you can create an air plant terrarium - and I guarantee they’ll last longer! SUBSCRIBE To my YouTube channel! http://bit.ly/CraftedWithRobert
Materials:
Small Stones/Rocks
Air Plants
Glass Container
Preserved Moss
Decorative Elements (optional)
Directions:
1. Begin with a thoroughly cleaned container and then create a layer of rocks in the bottom.
2. Arrange preserved moss and decorative elements.
3. Insert air plants.
Helpful Tips:
• The proper name for air plants is tillandsia. Tillandsia are epiphytes and need no soil because water and nutrients are absorbed through the leaves. The roots are used as anchors only.
• Mist plants once a week. Position in indirect sunlight.
• Air plants can be purchased at many local nurseries or online: http://www.airplant.com/, http://airplantcity.com/, http://www.airplantshop.com/
Silly side note! This was the very first video we shot in conjunction with Kin Community for my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/craftedwithrobert. The nerves were a little evident - I was so used to producing video, being in front of the camera was entirely different beast! That being said my brilliant producer Beth at KinCommunity and her crackerjack team of editors made it look lovely. We shoot a five more projects next week and I’m feeling a little more confident and camera ready! Lol! Stay tuned for more great projects. xo
Excited about tomorrow’s release of my next DIY video tutorial: Tie-Dyed Eggs! It’s a fun, simple and virtually mess-free way to decorate Easter eggs. I compiled a Pinterest board to show you examples of ways others have tacked this project, see it here: http://pinterest.com/robertm/tie-dyed-eggs/
I am thrilled to share that I’ll be teaching an upcoming workshop at the amazing French General store in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 20th! Learn essential crepe paper flower skills and create a charming bouquet of viola flowers.
For those of you not familiar with French General, you’re in for a treat! The crafty wonderland of artist and designer Kaari Meng is tucked away in LA’s Silverlake neighborhood and packed with amazing vintage craft supplies, Kaari’s own line of fabric & trim, and total charm overload: https://www.frenchgeneral.com/
A sneak peek! Exciting news to follow…
I know many of you have noticed that Kin Community has not been uploading videos at the same rapid-fire rate as last year, and may be curious as to why. Here’s Beth with a channel update.
Looking for an easy and thoughtful way to document your family’s adventures throughout the year? Consider my family time capsule project!
Digging through project archives this week I came across this handsome feathered friend, a baby shower centerpiece I crafted from crepe paper.
The Christmas tree and holiday decorations have only been down a few weeks but already I miss that extra bit of indoor greenery. So a trip to the LA Flower Mart had me assembling a sweet and simple lemon leaf wreath for above the mantle. An outing to the California Cactus Center in Pasadena led to a series of air plant terrariums to be featured on an upcoming Kin Community DIY video!
