Baptism Pinwheel Crosses

 Back to the posts about sweet Peyton's baptism lunch...one of my most favorite projects was the pinwheel crosses that were on each side of the banner.  Remember the pink crosses that Steve built for Addy's baptism?  I loved the way they balanced the table, so I really wanted to do crosses again for Peyton's baptism.  I thought about painting the crosses a different color, but ultimately decided to make new crosses...from pinwheels!

This was my first time making pinwheels & I have to say, I loved it.  You have to be pretty precise which I didn't think I would be very good at, but my dear friend Ashley is very neat & has some excellent tools that she helped me use to make these awesome pinwheels.  

 First things first, I found a pack of scrapbook paper that I loved with pinks & golds.  I found a beautiful pack at Michael's & used a 40% coupon.  It had so many beautiful pages.

 First step, we used a paper trimmer that Ashley had so that the lines would be super straight.  If you don't have a paper trimmer & you cut super straight lines, feel free to use scissors.  I am a little bit of a mess, so this worked great for me.  We started with a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper & cut it in half, then cut each halve in half again.  So we got 4 small sheets out of each page.  We only used 3 out of the 4 sheets to make each pinwheel.  

We took each of the small sheets & used a scoring board to make straight even lines down in 1/2 inch increments.  This was my first time using a scoring board.  Have you ever used one?  They are incredible.  They made this project so easy.  This is like the one we used. 

You can decide the different increments you wish to make the lines & then use the tool to make the straight lines.  Once we made the 1/2 inch lines, we used those lines to fold the paper evenly.  It was folded to look like an accordion.

  Then we folded each of those pages in half.  

  This picture above shows 1 of the small squares folded like an accordion and then folded again in half to make part of the pinwheel.  

We used 3 of the small squares to make each pinwheel.  We used clear tape on the back of each pinwheel to attach the different sections to each other & to keep the wheel tight. 

 After each pinwheel was taped completely, we put just a dot of hot glue from a glue gun in the center of the wheel to keep it all together.  Here is a cluster of finished pinwheels.  

Next, we decided on the pattern that we wanted to use with the pinwheels.  We took a piece of cardboard from a leftover box & glued the pinwheels to the box & to each other.  This is what the front looked like.  

 After glue had dried, we flipped it over & cut around the backs of the pinwheels to get rid of the excess cardboard so you couldn't see anything from the front, but it would still be stable.  

This is what the finished product hung up looked like.  I used the same clear line that I use on all of my banners to attach the crosses to the ceiling.  I loved the finish project.  A big thank you to my sweet friend Ashley for all of her help!  And having a friend while crafting makes things so much more fun anyway. : ) 

Main Baptism Party Post
Pinwheel Cross Post
Baptism Banner Post
Southern Ham Delights

Easter bunny cupcakes

I will get back to the rest of Peyton's Baptism in the next post, but I wanted to take a timeout to talk about Easter. Last weekend we had an Easter Egg dying party & an Easter Egg Hunt for the girls & their friends.  The kids were all around the age of 3 & had a great time dying eggs, but really LOVED the Easter Egg Hunt.  

These are the highlights from last Easter... the flower cupcakes, chick cupcakes & butterscotch "nests".

This year, I made the "nests" again, but instead of the flower cupcakes (which are still some of my favorite cupcakes ever), I made Easter bunny cupcakes.  

 These are super easy.  I started with yellow cake mix & made cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

 For some reason I always have a bag of regular sized marshmallows in my pantry.  It may be my obsession with smores. ; )  Anway, much like the flower cupcakes, I took the marshmallows & cut them in half diagonally.

 I missed a picture of this, but after cutting them in half, I tossed them in pink crystallized sugar.  Cutting them in half makes the cut half sticky & all of the sugar sticks to it.  Then you just stick them on the cupcake to look like bunny ears.

 Then you just take jelly beans (or a different kind of candy if you prefer, I really like the Starburst jelly beans over the regular flavored ones) & you just make little eyes & a nose.

 The rest of the table had the crosses & branches from Peyton's Baptism as decorations.  Aside from the cupcakes & the nests, we had other cupcakes that Addy & her bf Griff had decorated the night before with LOTS of sprinkles & crystallized sugar . We also had some strawberries & grapes.  You know, to keep it healthy. ; )  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!  Happy Weekend!

 As a P.S. here are some of the Easter eggs that the kids dyed & decorated.  : )