DIY Paper Banner Cake Topper

With the new baby, the birthday shin-digs around here have been uber simple... My daughter and I made this cake topper together for her cake, while the cake was baking!  Yup, it's THAT simple.  Here's how we made it...

We found the paper we wanted to use; and we ended up using the cover of a 12x12 paper pack.  I loved the tiny prints, and the squares were the perfect size (some even pre-glittered)... allowing me to get a wide variety of triangles while only using one piece of paper.  Well... technically I didn't even use up any of the paper, since it was the cover, which is even more awesome!  :)

I cut out the strips, which were 2 inches wide using my fiskars sliding cutter (can't think of the actual term for that cutter??)...

And scored them down the back center with my score blade, allowing for easier folding...

While the strip was folded, I then used my scissors to cut out triangles like this: 

The top end being at the fold.  My triangles were 1 inch tall.  The nice thing about folding the triangles like this, is it makes the banner two-sided without using two sided paper, it's also easier to attach them to twine.

Then I used my glue dots: a medium one on the fold and a small one at the point, so it wouldn't pop open...

And placed the fold line onto some cute pink and white twine, and simply folded it over into place.

After getting the length and pattern I wanted, I tied the ends onto some wooden skewers...

And you're done!  Some of my squares already had glitter on them, but you can further embellish your banner with glitter or whatever else you can think of!  There is one down-side to having  a two-sided banner though... if you have a preference of what the "front" should be, be sure to double check you're actually photographing that side, before you take all the photos...  I didn't realize I was photographing the "wrong" side of the banner until after the birthday was over and I uploaded the photos onto my computer.  UGH!  I'm sure no one would've ever noticed but myself, but I know every time I look at these pictures in the future I'm always going to think that.  Dang it.  LOL.  Oh well.  (The photo above, before it's on the cake was my favorite side of the banner, notice the cute thick striped triangles, vs the plain blue ones on the photos below)    I saved the banner, so if I ever reuse it, I'll be sure to get it right next time... and then I guess it will kind of be like two different banners anyway??  (trying to find the positive in my OCD glitch here)  haha!

 The Birthday Girl was super happy with it anyway...

Stained Bar Stools

I've been in desperate need of some new bar stools for a while...

See what I mean?  The light blonde wood completely clashed with my kitchen, and these bar stools... well they were a bit pretty run down.  We obviously could care less for them seeing how we used them for paint projects (see far right bar stool) and stepping stools on a regular basis.  The funny thing is, they bugged Mr. B more than they ever did me.  He usually could care less about such things, but for some reason, he brought up how ugly those stools were quite regularly.  LOL.  I didn't want to just go buy another set of cheap stools though, so I kept my eye out for a good deal on some sturdy, good looking ones.  I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for, other than I wanted them to have a back on them.  (for the kids, and I loved the look of them)

I was hoping to find some that I wouldn't have to do any work to, but then I came across a sale at Four Sisters Furniture.  They sell unfinished quality wood furniture.  I decided to go ahead and snag them up.  They really are a great quality, solid wood stool!

I kept hopping back and fourth between staining them, or painting them.  So many options... if I went with paint, would I do a fun color, or stick with white?  Painting them was my first choice until I came across these pretty things from Kris Krafting...

I loved her bar stools!  And a classic stain I can live with for a long time, whereas if I had painted them a fun, trendy color, I think I might of got sick of them after a while.  So I went with her stain.  I followed her tutorial, just did a few things differently... like I used the dark walnut stain I already had on hand (and I didn't water it down), and a different brand of polyurethane spray.  But other than that, I followed her tutorial.

Here were the chairs in the middle of staining...

And here they are all finished...  We got three stools, but they were pretty cramped at the island, so we used the third for the high chair.  (you can see it in the top right corner in the photo below)

 I love the way they turned out!  I think mine are a little darker than Kris's, as I didn't water down my dark walnut stain, but I think they go really well with my floors and cabinets.  They look like a perfectly weathered wood.  :)

Here is the stain I used...

 and the polyurethane I used...  I did have to do a light sanding with a find grit sand paper once they were completely dried... they were a bit rough... I think it's because I did these outside in the HOT heat, and slight breeze... it was drying really fast.

I'm SO glad to finally have some pretty bar stools in my kitchen!

I want to use the same stain on my dining table... it also has the blonde wood (yet the table doesn't bother Mr. B at all, but it drives me nuts!)  LOL.  We're quite the pair. ;)   I don't know when I'll get around to finishing the table though... just these stools alone were quite time consuming.  Perhaps after school starts and it's not so insanely hot.  :)