Guest Blogger & Thanksgiving Place Cards

Happy Monday Bella fans! Hope you're weekend was wonderful. I am so excited to introduce you to a very new friend of mine, Lolly Chessie. Lolly is a crafty girl who loves anything to do with making pretty things and I'm so thrilled that she accepted my invitation to be a guest here today! After sending Lolly a package of Bella products and gave her creative freedom....she came up with these ADORABLE place cards for your Fall table assignments! Today's she's going to teach you, step-by-step how to create them all by yourself!

Hi everyone! My name is Lolly Chessie and I am thrilled to be a guest designer today for Bella Blvd! Using several papers from the One Fall Day collection, I'm going to be making some sweet little place cards that you can use on your fall table! Let's get started!Step 1: Using a long skewer or pair of tweezers, peel off the top layer from a piece of cardboard.

Cut the cardboard into 2.75 x 5.5 inch pieces. Round the corners with a corner rounder.

Step 2: Cut the strips of paper roughly 1 inch longer and wider than the size you will end up with (in this case we are making 2.75 x 5.5 inch labels). I used a piece of kraft cardstock and the "Needle in A Haystack" pattern as my base.

Using your favorite nested labels dies (I used Spellbinders Labels #4) use removable double-sided tape to place the die where you want it on the paper. The tape helps keep the die from sliding around and keeps your pattern lined up the way you want it!
Your paper strips should look something like this once you have made the die cuts!

Line the 2 pieces up so the green piece peeks out through the kraft cardstock piece like a little window! Use your removable double-sided tape to keep the pieces together.

Next, mark where you want the edges and sides of your place card to be and... ...cut the 2 pieces together to the dimensions you have marked.

Step 3: Using a nice brown ink (I used Distress Ink in Walnut Stain), ink the outside edges of the kraft cardstock piece and the inside edges of the "Needle in a Haystack" patterned piece.

Step 4: Using a rolling adhesive, glue the 2 pieces together.

Using a wet adhesive (I like Scrap Dots from Helmar), glue the sandwiched paper pieces to the cardboard piece. Using Scrap Dots will give you a good bond and add a little extra dimension to your window!

Step 5: Cut out leaf shapes (2 of each) using leaf dies OR you can cut out and trace the 3 leaves that are on the "Cute Cuts" piece of paper (that's what I did)! The Bella Blvd papers I used for these leaves are: "Just Leafy" (the B-side), "Borders N' Blocks" (the B-side), and "Country Fields" (also the B-side).

Step 6: Ink the edges of the leaves (I used my Walnut Stain Distress Ink again) and then sew two of a kind together (right down the middle)!

Once you have them sewn together carefully rumple the edges and pull them apart a little. This will give you a nice dimensional leaf shape!

Glue the leaf shapes to the front of your place card. You will want to use something like hot glue to do this as they will want to pull away from the card because of their dimension. The hot glue will give you an instant bond so you don't wait for anything to dry!

Step 7: Cut out several leaves from the "Country Fields" pattern paper and ink the edges (I used Walnust Stain Distress ink again!)

Layer and glue two trees to each place card! You can use a dimensional adhesive on the top tree to make it stand out a little!

Step 8: Choose three coordinating buttons in various sizes and tie twisted jute twine through each one. Glue the buttons to the front of the little place cards.

Step 9: Cut a 3 x 4.5 inch piece of cardstock and make 4 score lines every half inch lengthwise.

Fold along the score lines and run a strip of glue down the last fold on the right side.

When folded and glued your piece should look something like this.

Glue the long side of folded piece to the back of your place cards (with the folded triangle towards the top of the card). This will raise your place cards up at a little angle so they are not sitting flat on the table. If you want them to be higher, simply make the score marks at bigger intervals (say 3/4 to 1 inch) and increase the width of the piece of paper you are using.

Step 10: Using a hot glue gun, run a line of thick jute twine along the outside of each card!

Ta da! You are all finished! You can now spell out the name of your guests and each will have a special place card at your beautifully decorated fall table! These sweet little cards can also be used as name cards for your pot luck meals! Simply use the next size down in the nested labels dies and write the name of each dish on the little cards you can cut out. You can use removable adhesive so these cards can be used again and again. 

Thanks for having me as a guest! I hope you enjoyed this project!

Comments

[LollyChops]

Thanks so much for having me as a guest! I had fun making these sweet little cards! Bella Papers are just the best!

HUGS!

[Cassie]

Lolly is so amazing!!!
I love her blog!!
Thank you for sharing this fabulous project!
=)

[Becky Williams]

so cute!

[lan]

Cute project! I love it.

[Kerryn Fry (Australia)]

Amazing project, thanks for sharing it.

[Erika M]

Just too fabulous!

[AnnaMarie]

Wow, those are super adorable. I love the corrugated cardboard look! I just found your blog, Lolly, yesterday on a blog hop, and now here you are on Bella! You rock!

[MelanieJ]

W.O.W. this is an amazing project! Thanks for sharing :)

[air jordans]

Thank you share with us your idea.our idea is good, I have nothing to say

[Laura G.]

Congratulations ladies! Fabulous projects!