Make it Rain
Hello Neighborinos,
Ok so I am a little late this month, I blame mostly a new job and friends visiting, but for the purposes of this post, I blame weddings. I have had a rash of friends get engaged recently. While my dream has always been to get married in Reno by a loved one dressed as an Elvis impersonator, I realize my friends are a little more Peggy Sue Got Married and a little less Raising Arizona.
Most of my modern brides have online registries that ship directly to their houses (honestly a godsend), but I feel weird showing up to events without something, so my take is to always bring a card and I thought today I would share one of my favorite crafts to spice up a card: make your own confetti.
I love confetti, but many of the confettos on the market contain microplastics. Making your own confetti can help the planet. You can use either dried leaves or tissue paper. Both are compostable and while dried leaves are the most eco-friendly, it isn’t fall so this time I will be using tissue paper.
Grab your tissue paper. These are the colors I had right now, all are repurposed, so I feel good that they are getting a second or third life. They aren’t the most bridal, so I might buy or save more in the future.
You will also need a hole punch. I start by folding the paper over a couple of times. This makes it go faster, but also makes it easier as the paper is less slippery when it’s doubled over.
Start by making holes in your paper and repeat the process until you have the desired amount. I usually bring out a bowl so I can periodically empty the hole punch trap and see how much I have as I go.
You can choose to pour the confetti mix right into an envelope, but I have found that the fun of the confetti is offset by having to pick it up when you didn’t expect it. I usually add it to a bag. I do have to acknowledge that the bag does offset the eco-friendliness of this craft, but you can make multiple bags out of one, which helps me rationalize it.
Grab a plastic bag and put it on a surface that can take some heat, most cutting boards will work, but I am using the back of a cookie sheet. Take a knife and carefully heat the blade. I do this by turning on the stove and running the blade of the knife through the frames for about 10 seconds. You can also use a lighter. The key is not to do it for too long, you certainly do not need more than 15 seconds at the high end.
Then run the knife in a straight line through the bag. The heat will seal the plastic making two new closed-off bags.
I then add my confetti to the bag and add a little label with some leftover sticker paper I had from another project.
Now all you have to do is stick it in with your heartfelt card and you are done.
I hope everyone has a lovely wedding season and card-giving season in general.
My PSA this week is just to please get vaccinated. I really believe most of the people who read this already have, but with rates going up again, it’s so important to keep yourself and others safe. It’s never been easier and you can get all the info you need here.
As always stay safe and stay crafting.