Manny helps with the cricut

Manny checking out the action

I have a project that I have been working on.  My niece is graduating this month and she and her mom, my sister, have been making party plans.  They have decided to have cupcakes instead of a decorated sheet cake and we have been looking at the cute cupcake wrappers.

My daughter has a cricut, so we had been thinking that we could make our own wrappers in colors that would coordinate with the party theme colors.  A while back she ordered a cartridge for the cricut and when she was home at Easter she cut out a sample.  My thoughts were that she would be home to cut the wrappers or at least get everything set up so that after the first ones were cut I could finish the rest of them. 

That was not to be.  My daughter lives on the other side of the state and the cricut machine and the party are on my side of the state.  There is something to be said about moving out of your comfort zone and learning something new.  I now know how to use the cricut.  I can change the cutting blade and I downloaded computer software and now can run the cricut from my PC instead of fighting with the itty-bitty print on those flexible keyboards that come with the cartridges.  

150 cupcake wrappers later I feel like a pro.  I used the new software to 'weld' together the letters of  my niece's name and 2014 to make little bits from the paper scraps that can be scattered across the burlap table runner that my sister has planned should she choose to use them.   

My other crafty project for her party was to make tissue paper pompoms to suspend from her ceiling.  I followed a tutorial from Pinterest and they couldn't be easier.  The party is tomorrow and I will try to get some pictures of the finished products.