Marilyn Gossett Designs: ALOHA! PARTY TIME!

Happy Sunday,

Hope you are enjoying your summer days. Lots of us are going on vacations and Hawaii happens to be a favorite vacation spot! Many of my friends will be going there and for those of us that stay at home, decorating for a special event or party with festive, colorful decorations can be lots of fun and set the theme or mood. For those of us who are crafty....making the decorations are half of the fun, enjoying and anticipating the fun that is to come. I am showing a grouping of decorations and useful items that I made with an islands theme. Years ago I designed and authored several books using simple little Woodsie shapes that are easily found in your local craft store. Forster makes these little wood shapes....lots of us have referred to the craft sticks as tongue depressors or ice cream spoons. Yes, those are the items that I am talking about! They also make shapes in different sizes and I have found them to bring hours of entertainment, putting them together like puzzle pieces to make different designs. I am featuring the island theme today, and like always, I am happy to share more information with you if you ask, but in the interest of space and possibly boring people to tears I am going to share mostly pictures today for inspiration and interest. I will always share more instruction if you ask!

Decorative Straw Holder

Supplies: *wooden bag (purchased at Michaels Crafts for about $l.00), *Woodsies by Forster, in various shapes and sizes, also craft sticks by Forster.... *Acrylic Paint, *wood glue or *craft glue, *spring action clothes pins (for holding the pieces together while the glue dries), *paintbrushes, *water bucket, *paper towels, *paper plates, *scissors (utility) for cutting wood pieces. The supplies I have listed will work on all of the project I will be posting. I will give a just a little instruction before I sign off today.

Hibiscus flowers, Flip Flops and various Crustaceans......
glue a small spring clothespin on the back and they become
"Clip-on" Decorations!

This "Favor Bag" contains Candied Pineapple and
the Recipe is attached to the front of the gift bag.
I found this recipe online.....
A Hibiscus clip is added for decoration and another cool Favor.

Decorate a little party container....or add "Clips to these cute Crustaceans!

Here are some little Palm Tree Place card Holders....
Glue another piece of wood to the backside to make a slot
for the place card........

Here is a cute little sign you can make for the door!
The base is a star made by Lara's Crafts that can be found
in the craft wood section of the craft store. The Hibiscus Flower Clips
can be used to close the chips bag, put on a gift, clip to someones collar..
decorate the chip bowl...you decide! Hope you got some inspiration today
or at least enjoyed looking at these colorful creations!

Hula Girls and a jazzy Flamingo - Decorations

As most of you know, I am the Creative Consultant for a brand spankin' new product called CraZy TACKz! These are a tack with a hook! Can you think of some handy uses? Let me tell you, there are MANY uses for this handy little tack! They work great in dry wall and leave a teeny-tiny hole. They can hold up to 3 lbs in dry wall, more in wood! I will include a close-up before I sign off. Check out some of the past Blog posts for some creative ideas!