Free Printable Oscar Party Invitations + DIY Gold Glitter Envelopes

Most award shows are hit and miss for me, but I LOVE watching the Academy Awards.  From analyzing the dresses, makeup, and hair hits and misses on the red carpet, to rating how funny the host is that year, to guessing who and what movies will win, I love it all!

If you love it all, too, then you're in luck!!  This week on Make Life Lovely it's all about the Academy Awards.  I've got tons in store for you this week, including free printable Oscar party invitations, fabulous food ideas, free printable ballots, easy Oscar party decoration ideas, and a complete Oscar party table spread using some amazing finds from World Market.  I can barely contain my excitement!

I designed some lovely free printable ticket invitations for you to download, print, and give!  Whether you enjoy a casual get together with friends and family, or love throwing a lavish party for the occasion, these invitations are perfect!  There are four invitations per page.  I print mine at the office supply store so I don't use up all my black printer ink!

These invitations are part of my Oscar Party I created with World Market.

Download Free Printable Oscar Invitations

(These invitations are for personal use only, and are available for free for all followers of Make Life Lovely.)

The only way to make these invitations even better would be to add some gold glitter, so I made some easy gold glitter envelopes that take these invitations over the top!  If you want to add a little glitz and glam to your invitations and party, you have got to try making these!  

And did I mention that each envelope literally will take you one minute to make?  I used an awesome tool called the Envelope Punch Board, made by We R Memory Keepers.  I saw it in action at CHA last month, and just fell in love with it.  It's a simple yet powerful tool that helps you easily and quickly make envelopes.  Here's how…

DIY Gold Glitter Envelopes:

• Gold glitter paper (I found mine at Michaels)
• We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board
• Paper cutter or scissors and ruler
• Adhesive

1.  Measure your card size, and look on the punch board to see what size to cut your paper.  Cut your paper to the correct size.  My Oscar invitations are 4" x 5," so I cut my paper to a 7.5" x 7.5" square.

2.  Look where it says "score line" next to the paper size on the punch board.  

Line up the left edge of paper to the score line measurement.  Punch down to create a notch in your paper, and use the scoring tool to score the paper (which will make it easy to fold).

3.  Turn the paper counterclockwise by 90 degrees, and line up the score line to the blue score guide.  Punch and score.  Repeat on all sides.  

Round all of the corners using the reverse punch, which is the back side of the punch that you already used.  Fold and glue.

Isn't it beautiful?  

Wouldn't you love getting one of these beauties in the mail?  Your first envelope will take a couple minutes to make, but after that you can make an envelope in one minute, which is very cool.

You can also download these free printable Oscar ballots for your get-together or party as well!  Just check off your top picks on the ballot before the show, and see how many you got right.  You can also turn it into a contest and have an award for the winner if you'd like.

These tuxedo chocolate covered almonds go perfectly with the the Oscar theme, as do these gold film reel cupcakes that use store-bought cupcakes and are SO easy to put together!

You can see all my party ideas for the Oscars viewing party I created for World Market to get more ideas for your party, too!  Happy planning!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Disclaimer:  I was given an Envelope Punch Board.  As always, all opinions are 100% mine!

Sharing here:  Show and Tell

DIY Painted Drawstring Valentine Bags

I have always had a thing for cute little muslin drawstring bags.  I have them in all different sizes, and love coming up with creative ways to use them!  They are perfect for party favors or for tucking small gifts inside.

Recently I was able to attend CHA for the first time (my dream come true!), and I was given a sample of muslin and burlap bags from SRM, a company that sells fabric bags, clear containers, and stickers.  I wanted to create some little valentine bags, and decided to get creative with some of the fun supplies that I was given from the awesome companies that I met with during the blogger networking party at CHA… more on that later this week!  I decided to stick with black, white, gold, and a little bit of red for my bags, but you can use any color and create any designs that you like!

DIY Painted Drawstring Valentine Gift Bags:

You'll Need:

• Muslin and/or burlap bags
• Paint (I used Plaid Folk Art Chalkboard Paint and gold paint- not pictured)
• Paintbrush
• Glitter (I used Tulip Fashion Glitter)
• Painter's tape
• Piece of cardboard (not pictured)

1.  Place a piece of cardboard inside the bag that you will be painting, so that the paint won't bleed through to the other side.  

Place the painter's tape on one side of your bag to create stripes.  Paint the area in between the painter's tape to create stripes on the bag.  I used chalkboard paint because I had originally wanted to write names on the outside of the bags on the chalkboard stripes, but then I changed my mind.  Let the paint dry completely.

2.  Once dry, slowly remove the painter's tape to reveal the painted stripes.  I love this part! ;)  For the next part, you can choose to draw a heart in the middle of your bag lightly with a pencil freehand (like I did), or trace around a heart shape if you're not quite sure of your drawing skills.  

3.  Carefully paint in your heart.  You have a few options here- you can paint with a metallic gold paint (or any other color) like I did on my first bag.  

You can also use an adhesive and glitter, like I did on my second bag with the red heart.  Tulip Fashion Glitter worked well, because it is meant to adhere to fabric and the glitter is supposed to stay on after multiple washing.  Just follow the directions on the box.

For my third bag I painted the whole thing black, and then painted in the word "love" with gold paint.  I LOVE the way this one turned out!  Next time if I were to paint the whole thing I would do it on the muslin, not the burlap, because it makes the burlap a little trickier to close at the top, but I just adore this look.  It's easier to close the other bags, too, if you leave the top drawstring section unpainted.

Now that I have my cute little bags, I just have to figure out what I'm going to be putting inside them!

For more Valentine's Day projects, check out my free printable pirate Valentines… just add gold chocolate coins!

Or for the man in your life, I share how to open up store bought fortune cookies, take out the old fortunes, print out new romantic fortunes, and put them back inside the cookie and seal it all back up without him having a CLUE!  Easy tutorial can be found here.

Spruce up your couch with this easy DIY heart pillow!  So easy to make, even for a beginning sewer!

What's your favorite Valentine's Day project or craft?  I'd love to hear, just leave me a comment below! Happy crafting!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

DIY Disney FROZEN Gift Basket

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.  #FrozenFun

Have you seen Disney's FROZEN yet?  If you haven't, you have GOT to go!  We took our kids to see FROZEN the day it came to theaters (our usual routine for new Disney movies), and we all LOVED the movie and the amazing songs that were sung.  Of course after seeing the movie my kids wanted the beautiful dolls and FROZEN toys to play with, so I decided to put together a fun gift basket to put under the Christmas tree that they are sure to love!

I love putting together gift baskets because you can tailor everything to the person you are giving the gift too.  In this case, I wanted everything to be FROZEN related, so that meant Disney FROZEN toys, snow, and snowflakes.  I picked up lots of adorable FROZEN toys at Walmart.  They had a great selection of toys that I know my kids will love to see under the tree on Christmas morning!

The Musical Magic Anna and Elsa dolls are the ones I am the most excited about, because if you press their hands they light up and sing a song from the movie.  So cute!  I'm giving one to each of my daughters, since they are sisters like Anna and Elsa.

I just couldn't give my girls a FROZEN gift basket and not include loveable Kristoff!

I like this set of toys because all of the main characters are in the box, including Olaf, Sven, and Hans. This set will keep my five-year-old occupied for hours!

And last but not least, I included this set with Anna, Elsa, and Olaf that I know they'll love.

There were lots of other FROZEN toys, too, to choose from at Walmart that I might have to go back for ;)

I also bought a big basket, some sparkly snowflake ornaments, white batting, and then gathered some white spray paint, clear glitter, and snowflake ribbon that I already had.  The basket I bought was the perfect size for the toys, but not the perfect color.  It was a light grayish color.

I wanted the basket to be white and sparkly like snow, so I gave it a few coats of white spray paint, and then added clear sparkly glitter to the whole outside of the basket.

I then sprayed it with a clear sealer to make sure that the glitter stayed on the basket and not all over my floor.

After the basket had dried, I added almost a whole bag of batting to the inside to fill the basket up and to look like a blanket of snow.  Then I added the toys in, bigger boxes in the back, shorter boxes up front.

I tied a bow around the front of the basket with some pretty snowflake ribbon, and then added a glittery snowflake ornament to the front of the bow to add some more shine and to further enhance the FROZEN theme.

I cut the strings of a few more snowflake ornaments, and tucked them into the toys and the "snow" in the gift basket.

Isn't it pretty?  I had planned on wrapping the whole gift basket inside some clear cellophane and tying a big bow on top, but I didn't want to take away from the sparkle and shine of the basket and the snowflakes inside, plus this way my kids will be able to see the toys better before digging in and opening up their new toys!

While shopping for your FROZEN toys at Walmart, be sure to stop in at the Subway inside select Walmart locations like we did.  My little shopping buddy and I worked up an appetite with all that shopping!

If you buy a Fresh Fit Kids Meal, then the meal will come in a cute reusable FROZEN bag (through January 6th) with exclusive collectible designs and an exclusive FROZEN key chain.  Subway Walmart locations are the ONLY place you can get the FROZEN key chain when you buy a Fresh Fit Kids Meal.  My Walmart Subway was out of key chains, but we still got the cute reusable bag and a FROZEN puzzle.

I can't wait to see the look on my kids' faces when they see their FROZEN gift basket filled with toys from their new favorite movie!  I'm thinking I need to buy the soundtrack, too, and add it to the basket.... maybe with a tag that says "To Mom" on it?  ;)

xo, Laura

Gold Glittered Feather Thanksgiving Name Cards

I have fallen head over heels in love with all of the the gold-dipped feathers that I have seen on Pinterest.  Plain, ordinary craft feathers are transformed into chic, sophisticated little works of art with just the addition of some shiny gold paint.

I thought to myself that if gold-dipping the tips of feathers looks so great, why not paint the whole feather gold, and add some sparkly gold glitter to the top?  If some gold is great then a lot of gold would be spectacular, right?

To create these beautiful gold glittered feathers, all I did was paint the feathers gold with a paintbrush and Martha Stewart gold metallic craft paint.  Immediately after painting each feather, I sprinkled some gold glitter all over the top (Martha Stewart brand again), and then gently shook the feathers so remove the excess glitter.

Let dry, and voila!  Super easy and extremely cheap glittered gold feathers, perfect for the Thanksgiving table!  I added a little tag with names to them, and will use them as name cards on Thanksgiving.

As with most projects involving glitter, the glitter does tend to leave a little trail everywhere it goes.  BUT, I have a solution!  In past glitter projects, I have sprayed Krylon's Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze over the top of my dried projects to seal them, and it has worked perfectly to stop the glitter trail.  It seals in the glitter, and yet still lets the sparkly brillliance shine through!

If you liked this, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Happy glittering!

xo, Laura

DIY Glitter Heels

I have always wanted a pair of sexy, shimmery, gold high heels, but my practical side has resisted buying them, telling myself that I wouldn't wear them enough to justify the purchase, and opting instead for shoes that I could wear with more outfits.

Being the girl that I am, I decided to make my own DIY pair of gold glitter heels from an old pair of shoes I bought for my sister's wedding a few years ago.  I was ready to toss these babies, but decided to give them one last chance.

And I'm so glad that I did!  With just a little Mod Podge and some gold glitter, I transformed my tired black peep toe heels into a shimmery shiny work of art that I can't wait to wear out on a hot date with my honey!

Would you like your own sparkly pair of glitter heels?  I basically used the same technique that I shared on my how to glitter anything post and when making my glitter letters.  

Supplies:

• Pair of shoes
• Mod Podge (I used matte)
• Glitter (I used Martha Stewart and Recollections from Michaels)
• Paintbrush
• Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze

You can place newspaper, foil, tape, etc. anywhere that you like on the shoe to block any drips, spills, etc.  I chose not to do this- much faster and easier!

Step 1: Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge onto your shoes, one section at a time.  

Step 2:  Liberally sprinkle fine glitter onto the Mod Podge, and gently tap or shake shoe to remove the excess glitter.  

Step 3:  Repeat until entire show is covered.  You may do additional coats once the first cut is dry if necessary.  I did two coats, which was the perfect amount of coverage!

After a couple hours I went back outside and sprayed the completed shoes with the Krylon Triple-Thick Clear Glaze, just to make sure that I wasn't leaving a glitter trail everywhere I went.  Worked perfectly!  If you didn't have the Krylon spray, you could probably just do another coat or two of plain Mod Podge over the top of the shoes to seal in the glitter.

The before and after... what a transformation!  And this photo was after only one coat of glitter.

And helllllllooooooo sexy heel!  My tired sad black shoes are now screaming for attention after two coats of shimmery gold glitter.

You really should try resurrecting a pair of your old shoes!  It was fun and easy, and looks great.

You can check out my glitter letters and glitter heart for more sparkly fun!

Tune in next week where I show you how to glitter a kids' pair of canvas shoes too!

xo, Laura

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

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