I made stuff!: star garlands (+ OTM & Ana Alic)

Gather 'round, kiddies! Today I am going to tell you how to make an adorable star garland. You can use it to decorate your room, or your friend's room, or even a tree or something--I dunno. I'm just here to show you how to make it. Heck if I know what you should do with it when you're finished.

Right. So first you need to gather your star garland making tools. That is step one. The tools you need are: paper, a star punch, thread and a needle.

How to Make Confetti.

I was making some confetti the other day, and I thought to myself, "Hey, Siân. How are you today? Swell? Oh, that's fantastic. You're looking rather fetching, I must say. Oh, you are most welcome. Hm? Oh, right. Well, I was just thinking, confetti is sort of awesome. And here you are creating confetti; you are creating awesome. You are like a mighty god of paper related awesome. And with such a power comes great responsibility. You must share it with the world. Go forth and spread the word of confetti. Also, go get yourself a Blizzard--you deserve it."

So, here I am. Shall we begin?

Confetti is very easy to make, but somewhat time consuming, especially when made all by your lonesome. Follow these easy instructions for optimal confetti-making goodness.

Step One: Gather your paper. You can use whatever sort of paper your little heart desires. I used some wrapping paper because I figured it would be light (a good quality for confetti to have, as it will float around in the air a lot better after having been thrown), and since it is double sided, I get two colours with all the effort of cutting one. It's like a confetti double rainbow.

things to know about puffins

Now, when you go to Newfoundland, just as when you go to any sort of tourist-y place, you are bound to come across a gift store or five. Gift stores are great because they give you a basic idea of what that particular place is all about.

Sometimes (okay, all the time) it might be stereotypical. But do your friends really want you to bring home some sort of overly "unique" gift from, say, New York City. The sort of gift where you can't tell where it's from? And your friend has to ask, "Hey, where is this gift from? I can't tell because there is nothing identifying about it. Maybe you just bought this at the mall or something. You know what, just take it back. And also, I don't think I really want to go to that movie with you tonight anymore. And give me back my shirt, the one you borrowed last week."

Heck no. They want a Statue of Liberty balancing on an apple in the middle of Times Square and there's a button and when you push the button, that Alicia Keys/Jay-Z song starts playing.

And if that's not New York enough, there's always those I <3 NY t-shirts.

Where was I?

Newfoundland. Right.

Well, when you go into a Newfoundland gifty store you are bombarded with the following images:

fishing boats
Newfoundland dogs
puffins
colourful houses

And you know what? It's all bollocks. Because my cousin is a real Newfie, and she doesn't live in a colourful house. Okay, well, actually it's red. But, she doesn't have a Newfoundland dog, nor does she own a fishing boat. In fact, she thinks boats are boring. And, to top it all off, she's never even seen a puffin before.

That's a crying shame, that is.

But I like puffins. I think they're rad.

Today I learned that there are three kinds of puffins. The Atlantic Puffin hangs out along the east coast and the two other kinds live out on the west coast. It is often called "sea parrot" or "clown of the ocean". But they do not talk. Or make balloon animals.

And then I got kind of bored reading about them on Wikipedia. But here's some stuff with puffins on it.

Oh, and also, on a napkin, I was told that "awful nice" is a Newfie kind of phrase. And I say that all the time! Look how Newfie I am.