Ideas to Inspire with Kiwi Lane and Teresa Collins

Happy Wednesday!  It's my turn on the Kiwi Lane blog with an Idea to Inspire and here's what I came up with:

This month I was able to work with Teresa Collins' new Memorabilia collection. And can I tell you how much fun it was?!  I love the neutral grays and tans, with the bits of chalkboard elements, paired with the pops of blue.  When I looked at this collection alongside the featured templates this month (Nature, Abbie Road and Tiny Shapes), I though it would be fun to make some place cards and napkin rings for my Thanksgiving table.  I know that neutrals and blue are not the usual color choices for a fall table setting, but I knew it would be fun and different. 

So I have a little bit of a confession- I never seem to have enough time to do cutesy decorating in my house.  Yes, it's true.  I'm a paper crafter, yet I don't decorate my home with cute paper crafty things.  I just always seem to run out of time!  I should say I USED to run out of time- because now, with the Kiwi Lane templates, I can whip out quick and cute seasonal decorations in no time!  It took me about 7 minutes to make the napkin ring (seriously- I timed it!) and a little bit longer to do the place card (there's stitching and more pieces, so it takes a few more minutes- but not much!).  Here's what they look like:  

Of course, you would make a place card and a napkin ring for each person at your table- I was trying to figure out how long each one took to make, so I started with one.  Now that I know how little time they take, I'll finish making the rest for our Thanksgiving table!

For the place card, I used a 4" x 5" card base.  Then I cut a 3 3/4" x 4 3/4" piece of patterned paper, stitched around it, stamped a border just inside the stitching, and distressed the edge.  Then I cut a ring out of a pewter colored metallic card stock, using the Rings 2 template.  I stitched around the ring and distressed the edges.  Then I cut out some leaves (Nature 1 and Tiny Nature 1T and 4T) from patterned papers and glitter paper, inked the edges and played with them until I liked the arrangement.  For the oval (Tiny Shapes 8T) under the name, I made a little pouch with patterned paper layered with vellum and sewn together with some sequins between the layers.  To finish the place card, I used gold glitter Thickers from American Crafts.  I added a few sequins and was done!  It took me about 15 minutes to make the card, once I had chosen my papers and pulled out my supplies.  Here's a closer look:  

For the napkin ring, I cut a 2" x 6" piece of yellow cardstock, then cut a strip of patterned paper using the Happy Trails 1A template.  I inked the edges, adhered the patterned paper to the card stock and stapled the ends to form a ring.  I cut two leaves (Tiny Nature 1T, 4T), inked the edges and adhered to the ring.  I used some washi tape and some twine to make a bow to accent the leaves.  Super fast, super easy!  

I hope you liked my place card and napkin ring!  I sure enjoyed using the Teresa Collins Memorabilia collection- and I can't wait to finish making the rest of my table decor for Thanksgiving!  And don't forget- if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving where you are, you can use my ideas for a jumping off point for your own craftiness.  The place card would make a beautiful notecard- just switch the name for a greeting!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!