The Shrinking Violets’ clever party decorations

Sorry, folks. We’re having trouble with the slideshow feature. You can see the photos here .

Last week, I wrote about The Shrinking Violets Society’s first birthday bash , which was held Saturday night. I popped in to take some photos for an article about the Violets that will run in the Down to Earth newspaper insert this Saturday.

Being the craftoholic that I am, I couldn’t help but snap a few shots of the darling—and earth-friendly—party decorations members of the group had made from old junk mail and other trash. I especially loved the big pompom garland they created from old sewing patterns. Why haven’t I thought of that? There are times when I’m buried under sheets of unwanted sewing patterns.

You can follow an old tutorial of mine for making tissue paper flowers to achieve the same look. Just use sewing patterns (or some other thin, lightweight paper you no longer need) instead of colored tissue paper. Pair the pompoms with circles cut from old magazines and junk mail, string it together with yarn bought from a secondhand store, and you have yourself some green (and cheap!) party decorations you can use again and again.

Thanks for the inspiration, Violets.