Shop Scissors Blog

Junior Splat Scissors: Colorful Crafty Fun

This summer introduce a little color and imagination into playtime with these Junior Splat Scissors. The paint splatter pattern is fun and bright, bringing a smile to parent and child alike. They come in three different paint splatter patterns, so your child can pick his/her favorite (friendly to little girls and boys). The stainless steel blades sport a blunt tip, making them safe and durable for ages as young as six. The finger bows also sport a ribbed grip, giving little hands something to stabilize against as they learn essential motor skills. Crafts have never been this fun!  Try the Junior Splat Scissors next playtime and see what all the moms are raving about.

DIY Wedding Reception

When putting together a wedding, one must never forget about the party after the ceremony. Decorating for a wedding reception could be the best part of planning for that special day. Themes can be incorporated, lighting can be played with, and gifts get to be made! Just make sure you have a handy pair of scissors available for trimming table clothes. ShopScissors recommends the Featherlite Shears, which are just as lightweight as the title sounds. They also sport stainless blades for multipurpose use, so plan on using these in the kitchen and at the office. These are perfect for the bride with a budget.

DIY Wedding: Scrapbook of Memories

The day of your wedding is something you should never forget. Some would say that's the definition of making a scrapbook: a compilation of tokens and pictures dedicated to a time you will want to remember for the rest of your life. When the thank you cards have been mailed out, and the gifts have been filed away, you know you will still sneak into the back of your closet, pull out the dress and dream of that happy night when you and your loved one exchanged vows of forever in front of friends and family. Why not make reminiscence a little more easy? Make a scrapbook.

Here's what you will need:

• A wedding themed scrapbook
• Save the dates
• Invitations
• A napkin from the ceremony
• Ribbons from centerpieces
• A scrap from your dress
• Flower petals from your bouquets
• A list of your something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
• Pictures of every step of your wedding process from engagement to honeymoon
• Decorative paper (perhaps keep the color scheme from your wedding)
• Stickers and jewels (and other embellishments)
• Wrapping paper cutters

Gather together all of your materials. The first page of your wedding memories scrapbook should be your favorite picture of the bride and groom. Take your decorative paper and, using your wrapping paper cutters, cut out a frame to form the border around the picture. Keep doing this making the frame consecutively wider. Add your embellishments and your own creative touch. There are literally thousands of different possibilities for wedding layouts, going to your local craft store will help you get some inspiration.  For the rest of the scrapbook, use mementos from your wedding (the save the dates, a swatch from your dress, a swatch from his tie) to embellish and accent pictures from the whole thing (you can start as early as engagement photos). Ideas for pages include:

• Engagement photos
• Bachelor/ Bachelorette party
• Rehearsal Dinner
• Both parties getting ready for ceremony
• The wedding ceremony (of course)
• Portraits
• Bouquet and Garter toss
• Cake
• Dancing
• Honeymoon

DIY Wedding: Centerpieces

My favorite theme for a wedding reception is a tea party. It's flexible, easy, cheap, and yields a gorgeous turnout. So for table centerpieces, ShopScissors recommends gathering the following supplies:

• Two-three tiered tea tray (one for each table)
• Tea pots (one per table)
• Tea cups and saucers (one per guest at each table)
• Flowers (one that match the decor of your reception, or bouquet)
• Candles (tea lights, votives, and one pillar should do the trick)
• Sachet Bags (filled with tea)
• Ribbon (complimentary to your colors)
• Titanium Bonded Kitchen Snips

With all of these supplies, the rest is really up to you. Be creative with how you arrange the tea pot. Use the flowers pouring out of the tea pots spout, or in its well, put a pillar candle inside the tea pot, and put the votives or tea lights inside each tea cup, with flowers or flower petals staggered throughout the piece. Use your Scissors to curl ribbon, or bind it around the tea pots for added decoration.

The set up for this should be relatively quick the morning of the wedding. I would start prepping the centerpieces about a week before, and adding the flowers day of the ceremony (to keep freshness).

Flower Girl's Basket: DIY Wedding Series cont. . .

Sometimes the flower child is the pinnacle of a wedding ceremony. The congregation "oo's" and "awe's" as the cute little girl or boy slowly walks down the aisle, throwing flowers everywhere. I was once at a wedding where this adorable little girl (she must have been about four) took 5 minutes walking down the aisle, placing a single rose petal on either side of her. Just when we thought she would never get to the altar, she grinned  and dumped the rest of the rose petals down where the groom was standing and ran into her mother's arms (who was a bridesmaid). We all laughed and enjoy telling her the story every holiday.

So for the bride, who is putting together a wedding by herself, try out this easy do it yourself flower child basket. If you want to make things a little more fun for all parties considered, invite the flower girl over to help decorate her own basket, just provide her with a pair of kid friendly scissors, and all the items necessary for creating a basket.

For this project you will need:

• A decorative basket
• Ribbon
• Wrap and Ribbon Shears
• Flowers that match your wedding theme
• Rubber bands
• Florist's Tape

 

 

DIY Wedding Series: Wedding Invitations

One of the first things that come to mind when planning a wedding is sending out invitations. It wouldn't be much of a party without guests, so the invitations have to be clear, and creative.  You could decide to have a professional put them together complete with a keepsake box, precious multilayered invitations, R.S.V.P cards, and a hefty bill. Or you could take matters into your own hands by creating your own wedding invitations.

Start invitations early, as soon as you know the venue. Go to your local craft store or flea market often and keep your eyes peeled for bogo sales and clearances. Whatever the deal take advantage, without sacrificing quality.  When shopping for supplies, I suggest getting a good pair of scissors (for curling and cutting) as well as a pair of rotary cutters. They are inexpensive, but apply a really rick texture to the edge of paper, making them look elegant and unique. The blade is made with titanium bonded blades, making them 3x harder then stainless steel-guaranteed to last a lifetime.

 

 

DIY Wedding Series: Create your own bouquet

Let's face it ladies, times are tough, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice the gorgeous details of your special day because of budget. Just take matters into your own hands. This blog entry marks the beginning of a DIY series with money saving tips to creating a beautiful wedding. Let's start with how to create your own bouquet.

First and foremost, you may want to bypass the florist. They may have an excellent selection and genuine product knowledge, but their prices may be a little too inflated for the penny pinching bride.  Instead go to your local department store's home and garden section a few days before the wedding. They are known for sales and prices (and even help you load your car with all the fragrant flowers).

Ok, so you have the flowers ( about 30-60 for each bouquet should be enough, unless you desire less). Here a few more things you will need:

• Bucket
• Spray Bottle
• Paper Towels
• Floral Shears
• Floral Tape
• Accent items like ribbon, tulle, or string

Start the day before your wedding. The first step is to get the flowers ready. Fill the bucket and your sink with cool water and plunge the stems under the water in the sink, cutting them at an angle about 1" from the end. Place each flower into the bucket to absorb water while you work with them.

Now it's time to build your bouquet. Starting with the main flower in the center, build outward in a clockwise direction to form the dome. If you need a guide as to how many flowers to use, apply the law of eights: each bouquet should be in multiples of each, with at least 8 type of one flower to make up the dome. If you want a smaller bouquet, just split it according to the multiples of 8: so 4, 3, or 2 sets of each flower.

When you have the arrangement finished, bind each bouquet with the florist tape. Make sure it isn't too close to the dome, otherwise the stems will fold. Now cover the florist tape with ribbon, tulle or whatever accent you choose (tip: make sure the accent color is complimentary to your main flower's color, but one still fits within your color scheme).

The last step is to trim the bouquets up using your floral shears (if needed or desired) and place them in the bucket or a glass of water. After all the bouquets are finished simply place in a refrigerator and mist with spray bottle before you go to bed, and then again in the morning of the wedding.

Enjoy your special day, and congratulations from ShopScissors.com

Shorten a Prom Dress 1, 2, 3

So you bought this beautiful floor length dress for prom. The price was right, it fits right, and it even matches your boyfriend's tuxedo just right. Then you find out that all the other girls at school (including your friends) are wearing shorter, knee length dresses. Don't despair, don't even think about taking that gorgeous dress back, just shorten the length a bit. Here's how you can in 3 short steps:

1. Put the dress on while you are sitting down and pinch where you want the desired length to be and pin. Make sure the bunched fabric is about 1/4" for sewing purposes.Take the dress off and continue to pin around in a straight line.

2. Next take a pair of hemming shears and cut the fabric below your pin line.

3. This last parts easy, just run a double stitch carefully along the hem, trim any excess fabric underneath and enjoy your new shorter prom dress!

Prom Season for the Florist: Corsage Snips

It's an old tradition but a good one: every couple should have a corsage and matching boutonniere before they go off to prom. I remember my date and I had to stand in front of the door while I pinned the beautiful red roses to his lapelle, and he slipped the similar red rose corsage around my wrist while our parents snapped pictures and yelled at us to "smile!" or "look at the camera!". The corsage was a fond memory of many that night, but this story is not about my prom experience. It's about the making of the corsage.

Corsages usually have an odd number of flowers in them, they add to the design and create a layered appearance (you don't want the corsage to be bunched up and clunky on your wrist), mine had three red roses. Once you have them arranged in the directions you want, take a pair of Corsage Snips and trim them up to size (make sure you cut at an angle, so the flowers stay fresh the rest of the night). After adding some baby's breath or pearls, take some floral tape and bind them all together nice and tight (don't want a droopy corsage now do you?). Next take some florists glu and apply the elastic to the corsage.