Graduation Party Challenge at Decorate To Celebrate!! Reach for the Stars... :)

Hey, everyone!!  I'd like to say WELCOME to some new faces and friends that have been popping in here at Love To Crop!!  I just LOVE to hear that you've visited...  I hope you'll stop by often and pick up some inspiration and ideas for your creative moments!!  :)

Yesterday was the start of another NEW challenge over at Decorate To Celebrate!!  Of course, I've been running behind on everything lately...  With the blogger auto-update, I lost a number of scheduled posts (GAH!), so I decided it's time to start fresh...  I'll gradually get some of those projects and posts reloaded and added for ya, so stick around or come on back!!  :)  Anywhoooo....

The theme for the DTC Challenge is "GRADUATION PARTY" -- Woot! Woot!  Do you have someone graduating from high school this year?  How about college?  Or pre-school?  Kindergarten?  Well, we want to see how YOU celebrate YOUR graduation events!!  Hey, even if you want to throw a party for the puppy graduating from Obedience Class or some other graduation achievement, well... We still want to see it!!  :)

As many of you know, both of my kiddos have graduated high school...  And as of today, The-Boy-Child has finished his Sophomore year of college, and The-Girl-Child has finished her Freshman year of college!!  WOW!!  I'm excited to have them both home for the summer -- Even though they will both have LOTS of activities, I'm sure we'll get to squeeze in a few Monday-Movie-Nights, Free-Shirt-Fridays with the Pirates, and All-You-Can-Eat Pierogie Nights (yay, Mrs. T's!!)...  In honor of their past graduations, I decided to look toward the FUTURE and make up some goodies that would be perfect for ANY graduation!!  :)  I hope you enjoy my "Reach for the Stars" Graduation Party Decorations...

I started off by cutting a TON of stars (found on the Plantin SchoolBook Cricut Cartridge -- base and shadow feature)...  I stamped the sentiment "Reach for the Stars" on each of the white stars (cut at approximately 2.5") with SU! Tempting Turquoise ink...  This is one of the sentiments found on the K Andrew Designs "Of Mice and Lil Men" Stamp Art Sets...  Isn't that just PERFECT???  I sponge-inked all of the white stars with Stampin' Up!'s "Summer Sun" ink before layering them onto the blue shadow cut...

I attached each star (or cluster of stars) to a looooooong spiral wire (to make these, I simply cut a length of floral wire and wrapped it around a pencil).  I attached a cardstock circle to the base of the wire so that they could stand freely in these little white buckets perfect for little snacks on each table (I'm thinking nuts or M&Ms....).

I used the same star clusters to create these decorative water bottles...  I simply added a strip of 1.5" paper over the existing label on the bottle, then punched stars into a 3/4" white strip distressed with the same "Summer Sun" ink before securing one end of the spiral wire under the strip...

Using the same concept as the water bottles, I added a little flair to this simple napkin holder I picked up at the Dollar Store -- I'm actually thinking this might grace my kitchen table for a bit -- I mean, shouldn't we reach for the stars EVERY day???  Nothing like having that little reminder each and every time I need to wipe my fingers, right???  :)

I made plenty of extra stars -- These can be used as cupcake toppers...  Or they could be added to those balloon weights that my family seems to collect for every party and get together...  I could also easily add these to placecards or picture frames or a number of other goodies in keeping with the theme...   What would YOU use them for???

I'm really excited about these... And I'm excited to see what YOU might make for YOUR upcoming graduation events!!  :)  To link up your Graduation Party projects, be sure to CLICK HERE...  You'll also want to check out all of my Design Team Sister's projects -- They are all AWESOME!!  :)

Thanks again for visiting!!  I hope you've enjoyed your visit and will stop by again soon!!  If you'd like to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you...  Be sure to let me know if you have a blog too -- That way I can check out what YOU'VE been up to!!  :)

Until next time,