Centerpieces and a Few Scraps of Paper

Good morning and welcome into the Green House on the Hill.  Today I am playing with scraps of paper.  Anyone who has been papercrafting for a while struggles with what to do with those little scraps of paper that are left over from a project.  I can never decide whether I should hang on to something, or just get rid of it.  I usually opt for the former ... so I have lots of scraps of paper hanging around.

Last weekend, my older girls had a swim team banquet.  The team decided to spice it up with a centerpiece contest. I asked my daughter, Grace to help me out.  Together we turned some scraps of paper, a few bamboo skewers, glass containers gathered from around the house, glass beads and lots of hot glue into a little water scene.

We had a banner that read "Swim like a Fish" to keep with a swimming theme.  This was my take on a fish. 

We determined that I am very good at detail, but my idea of a fish might not be so accurate.  Yes, I hot glued individual scales to the fish.  Grace gave me the award for most time consuming fish.

Grace, on the other hand, has a great eye.  She sat right down and drew a fish from memory.  No erasing involved.  I, in turn, awarded her the prize for most realistic interpretation of a fish!

In case you are wondering how we got our fish to stand, we hot glued bamboo skewers to the fish and then onto a glass bead.  It takes a little patience, since you can't just pile the hot glue on in one step.  Through trial and error, we found that holding the skewer in place with one hand and then slowly layering the hot glue on, worked best.  Once the glue was dry, we buried the glued stone under more glass stones in the glass container. 

We didn't win any awards at the banquet, but now we have a very pretty table scape that we can enjoy for some time to come!  And when we get tired of it, since it was made from scraps, we can let it go!  I hope I have inspired you to see what you can do with a few scraps of paper!

Thanks for stopping into the Green House on the Hill.  Don't forget that I will be drawing a name on Friday evening from all of the comments that I receive on Monday's post, for a copy of the March/April issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  So don't forget to leave a comment on that post.