Class of 2016 - Mardi Gras Style

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler – “Let the good times roll”

Living in south Louisiana it was no surprise to have Mardi Gras chosen as our theme for my daughter’s High School Graduation earlier this month.
I was in charge of creating 30 table centerpieces for some of the graduates’ after party.
While the center piece design didn’t incorporate too much of my beloved paper crafting, I did manage to squeeze in some fleur-de-lis name markers and a few other paper accessories I used on our table.

No detailed instructions are necessary to re-create the centerpieces but below is a list of materials used: peacock plumes, tulle, Mardi Gras masks, balloons, ting-ting, die-cut fleur-de-lis, hot glue, floral wire floral tape, floral sticks and lots of ribbon! I put sand in the glass vases for weight and placed each vase on a lighted base for a beautiful effect when the lights were dimmed at the party.

I hand-calligraphed each person’s name and 2K16 in white ink on the black cut-outs. These were affixed to the ribbons using glue dots from Cut Card Stock.

Because my daughter has a slight obsession with cake balls, I decided (on the day of graduation!) to make some for her table. I adorned the cake balls with quick and easy monogram flags. I cut Basis Black 80lb card stock which is ON SALE NOW at Cut Card Stock.com strips measuring 1″ x 4.25″. I folded each strip in half and cut a small triangle off the end of folded paper. I then calligraphed her monogram on one side and 2K16 on the other using white ink. Cut Card Stock has a nice white gel pen for the novice calligrapher. Next, I broke wooden skewers in half and applied double-stick tape to the inside of the opened paper flags. I folded them around the skewer and pressed tightly around the stick. Voile’! Making the cake balls were much more complicated!!!!

The last paper item I made in preparation for the graduation celebration was a singable matte to later frame for my daughter. Because their senior yearbooks won’t be available until this fall, I wanted her close friends to have something to sign while they were all together this one last time.

Again, this was a simple project which required minimal time and virtually no creative skills to make. I simply cut a nice, thick paper as is available from Cut Card Stock Oversize collection into 11″ X 14″. (I chose this size because it can be framed with a ready-made frame.) I layered a background decorative paper (I used a scrap of hand-marbled paper from a previous project) and affixed my daughter’s photo on top of that. I centered the layered pieces and secured with double-sided tape. I wrote her name and year of graduation under the photo and brought a few nice black pens to the party for signatures.

No Mardi Gras/Graduation Gala is complete without floats!!!! Below is a photo of one of the floats (containing “fat heads” of each graduate) which adorned the venue’s stage. The fat-heads were removable and made nice party favors for the kids after the big celebration. The party (and decorations) was a huge success and the perfect way to honor the young women and men from DTHS Class of 2016. Forever a Griffin!

Thank you for celebrating with me and I hope to hear from you about your event decorations and paper crafts! Please visit my website at www.dellacarta.com and FB page to see more of my work.

Kathryn Podorsky