What Happened When I Threw A Pinterest House Party

I never thought I'd be saying I partied all weekend, but last weekend I totally did!  Craft-style, that is.  And it was fabulous.  As I mentioned previously, Michaels Stores asked if I'd help host an in-store "party" to celebrate their new Pinterest-inspired events last weekend.  I did a bit of hands-on crafting with my fellow shoppers and got to scope out their new Pinterest-themed displays.  I even got called a crafting blog celebrity over the PA, so that was pretty special!  They also asked me to host my own Pinterest Party, with friends, at home. Today I'm sharing a peek at my house party and the fun project we did that was perfect for the coming holiday season: Custom Cork Coasters Sets.

We used my dining room as our crafting area.  Michaels sent me some customized party supplies & stickers to theme it Pinterest-style and a store gift card, which I used to buy the crafting supplies for our project.  Here's a little pre-party pic of our set-up:



For our party project, I'd found this idea on Pinterest for making stenciled cork coasters (the source of the tutorial is the very stylish French Country Cottage):



I thought this would make a great DIY holiday gift, especially since it wouldn't require any complicated crafting skills.  I got an assortment of paints and accent items at Michaels to decorate them...

 
as well as the 12x12 cork tiles to cut down as the tutorial recommended.  These were ideal since they gave us plenty of coasters so everyone could make a few sets to take home.  I also added an assortment of decoupage papers & finishes, so we would have more coaster decorating options.



We cut up the tiles into 4x4 squares.  And by we, I mean my sweet husband who also played ring master/babysitter to 6 kids so we could snack & craft uninterrupted.  Is that true love or what?! But we did punch out all our own stencils and pick color schemes, so we weren't totally slacking;)

Everyone got serious when it came down to painting.  These were women on a mission.

We used a bunch of different paint colors: some bright Christmas shades, a few cool metallics and some non-seasonal shades too, just to switch things up.

Some crafters painted the whole coaster first with a background color and then added stencils or paper shapes.  I did a few stenciled and a few decoupage papered. 

Then we sealed them with decoupage - the matte & glitter finishes were the go-to choices.

The time went by so fast!  We all had a great time crafting, chatting & sharing ideas.  Everyone made something they could use themselves or give as a gift, so it was as practical as it was fun. Every crafter had a different take too and even those that though they were the least crafty did a fantastic job:

When they dried we tied them up with ribbons & baker's twine and added some jingle bells as gift-y accents. This was one of the sets my friend Lindsay of Youngstown Bread did:

Crafting really is more fun when you do it with others, so I'm really glad to have had the opportunity to treat my favorite ladies to a crafty soiree.  Best of all, we ended up with some lovely creations:

A big thank you to Michaels Stores for helping me put together such a fun & memorable party and having me take part in their #MPinterestParty too!

I was not financially compensated for this post.  I received party supplies and a gift card from Michaels Stores.  The opinions are completely my own, based on my experience.