Mardi Gras Parade Blog Hop

Welcome to our Mardi Gras parade. I must warn you though while you may enjoy jumping up to catch beads, doubloons, cups, stuffed animals--whatever! Please yell at the float riders "Throw me something, Mister!" Bring a large, sturdy plastic or cloth bag to hold all the treasure you'll be catching - if you try to put all of your beads around your neck, you'll have a hard time standing up straight! Be prepared: some people get so overcome with excitement they will occasionally jump in front of you to grab what a rider has thrown to you. Don't get into a tug-o-war....there are many more floats on the way! If you're from far away, some visitors hold up a sign saying where they are from.. our local riders love to see people from far away have a good time and will throw to them to make sure they do!


The colors of Mardi Gras are: Purple which reprsents justice; Green which represents faith; and Gold which represents power.Mardi Gras is always held the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is music, parades, picnics, floats, excitement ... and one big holiday in New Orleans! Everyone is wearing purple, green, and gold; and adorned with long beads caught from the beautiful floats. They sit on the ground throwing balls, playing music, having a picnic, and watching the crowds walk by between parades.


Instead of beads, coconuts (which apparently is the most prized throw from floats) and other baubles, we have a great sponsor:

• $15 Gift Card for Treasure Box Designs (http://www.treasureboxdesigns.com/). They are asking you to stop by their blog and checking out their Guest Designer projects and leaving a comment at http://treasureboxdesigns.blogspot.com/. They are a part of the parade route!
• $50 Gift card from Anita Meadows Cannon

Sew, sit back with your beverage of choice, just keep in mind the police will be in full force watching for drunken lewdness as this is a family event! Feel free to watch in costume, as this is a festive hop!! If you have arrived from Rachelle-http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com on the parade route, then you are sitting at the best seat in the house! If you have just happened to be visiting me today, don't get me wrong as I always love visitors, I would love for you to start at the beginning of our parade route at Lynne, your hostess (along with Kimberly), at http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/.

When I think of Mardi Gras, I think of the wonderful masquerade masques and the parades.  Someday I hope to go to New Orleans and join in on the fun, however, until then, I will just enjoy my homemade Mardi Gras mask.

I used a free SVG cut from Paper Yoga and cut it out with my good Stampin’ Up yellow and purple paper.  I chose this paper because Stampin’ Up paper is good and heavy and I knew it would withstand the weight of the glitter, sequins, and feathers.

Once I cut out the masks, I got busy gluing on all my sequins.  I tried many methods of gluing before I found one that worked best.  I tried tweezers, but as luck would have it, the sequins kept popping out of the tweezers.  So, I ended up using toothpicks.  

Using white glue (Allene’s Super Hold) I used to tooth pick to lay the glue down on the yellow portion of the mask.  I wanted to be sure to get enough glue, but not too much to soak the paper.  I then used one of my toothpicks and barely dipped the tip in the glue.  I then used that tipped pick to pick up the sequins and lay them down on the mask.   The process went really fast once I found a technique that worked well. 

One the top layer was dry, I moved on the next step.  Adding the feathers.  I looked at so many masks online, and saw most of them had feathers of some sort or another.  I knew I wanted feather, but I knew I didn’t want as many as I had seen online.  So, I compromised and added feathers only on the sides of my mask.  I thought green and yellow would be perfect to highlight the colors in the sequins.   Now, I wait as these need to dry as well.

While I was waiting for the feathers to dry, I moved into the final step, adding the glitter to the bottom layer of the mask.  This was a super fast and easy process.  I watch a Hero Arts video that showed us how to use your Xyron to help make glittering a fast and easy process.  So, I ran my mask through my 5” Xyron machine (had to turn the mask upside down) and added the sticky to the whole mask.  I then laid down the glitter.  I simply opened the purple glitter and poured the bottle out on the mask.  I used a craft stick to push the glitter from one end of the mask to the other end, fully covering the entire layer. 

Using my hot glue gun, I added a bead of hot glue on the reverse side of the sequin layered mask being careful to get around the eyes and the tips.  I then carefully laid the top layer down on top of the bottom layer.  Added pressure so the two layers would securely adhere.  I finished off the mask with a bamboo stick (a shish-ka-bob stick) for a holder.

I am now ready for my first Mardi Gras parade.  Who would like to join me?  

Hope enjoyed my float in the parade. To continue on the parade route, Your next stop is Inga Klaus ~ http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com/ . I would love for you to throw me your comments as to my tribute to Mardi Gras!


Here are the parade participants!


Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com
Edwina ~ http://edwinascreations.blogspot.com/
Rachelle-http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com
Kimberly Pate ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com
Inga Klaus ~ http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com/
Kari - http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/
Dena - http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Gill - http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com
Haidee-http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/
Janet S - http://www.ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
Letillia S.- http://www.divaof5.blogspot.com/
Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
Lisa Woodward ~  http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com/
Rhonda - http://craftingwithblue.blogspot.com
Anita`  http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com
 Katie ~ http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com
Theresa -  http://scrappinginheels.blogspot.com
Susan - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
Laura- www.lauraleesdream.blogspot.com
Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com
Angela-http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com