Did someone say Luau?

I have been on a secret mission and that is to decorate a gymnasium for my daughter's elementary graduation. Normally the decor is traditional, school colors, and a mascot of sorts is involved but the chairwoman wanted to get a little crazy and shake things up this year! The chair woman who shall remain nameless approached me and asked if I would do the honors and decorate this fortuitous domain of giganticness, is that a word?!haha

Please note the size of this baby! It's huge and I love a good challenge but this is going to be a whopper of a job. The biggest challenge is to be able to decorate an area of this size in two hours. Due to many restrictions and commitments with this gym, I am allotted two hours prior to the grad ceremony to decorate.. Well I'll be !

What to do? So I figured , I might as well get to planning and figure out what it is that I exactly have gotten myself into! I best assumed that if I construct props, I would be better off and rightfully so! So many ideas came to mind......

The thought of filling this entire area can be intimidating but I love a good challenge. So here we go! I first thought Totem poles! Now what's a Luau without totem poles? But how to construct these behemoth of beasts!

Ahhh, yes, of course barrels...BIG Barrels...but from where? Oh yes of course! The car wash....where else, right? When I approached the Manager, he laughed at first but then scratched his head and said he thought it was a good cause and put me to the top list.....yes, believe it or not,.... he had a waiting list for these things!

So of course the crepe paper is not an obstacle but these babies are pretty big and cost can become a factor. I decided it was in my best interest to use brown Kraft paper to cover them.

And then to the sewing...I sewed, and I sewed, I sewed more and more! I worked my crepe paper magic. It was fantastic!!!

My first totem pole was done!!!

Now how would you like for this bad boy to visit you in your dreams!!

Pretty cool, huh? Well I have been hard at work and have created a buddy for him and some other glorious Luau fanfare. I will post those before the big day which by the way is Tuesday, June 2. I will post pics of the whole event! It should be fab! Just remember all the creations are hand made and from crepe of course! I wouldn't have it any other way!

See you soon!