Decorations for the 8th grade dinner dance with a Under The Stars theme. The beautiful handmade party decoration & celebrating the milestone.

"DIY New York Skyline/Broadway Stage Design" New York Skyline/Broadway Stage Design WHY I DID THIS: Our church was doing a "Night On Broadway" event and I was asked to dress the stage with little time and a small budget. I took on the challenge. WHAT I DID: Circumstances, as they were, gave me less than two weeks to plan and carry out this project so I needed to keep it simple. I began by looking online for images of "Broadway", "New York", or "New York Theater". The plan I came up with involved a large Broadway marquee style sign with "lights" all the way around and the New York City Skyline. I knew these were going to require a LOT of cardboard. Fortunately, I knew a local place where I could get an abundance of cardboard for free! FREE CARDBOARD HINT: Check with furniture and lighting stores. Often times, they are willing to let you have what you want since they typically just dispose of it in one way or another anyway. Be aware that it is typical for cardboard to be available on a first come, first served basis. So, if they are willing, find out when their shipments come in and go get your cardboard! I also thought about trying to include a Central Park feel since I had a bunch of fake Christmas trees left over from a wedding reception I'd done. I thought they might work well to help fill the stage. Lamp posts in Central park along with the trees sounded cool but I knew with the limited budget I had I couldn't afford to rent them like I had for the wedding reception. Instead, I asked around to see if others might have something I could borrow. Nothing was available so I ended up making them. THE MAIN BACKDROP (scrim): "DIY SCRIM" See my post at: http://jillscreativeumbrella.blogspot.com/2013/11/for-stage-diy-scrim.html THE BROADWAY SIGN: See my post at: http://jillscreativeumbrella.blogspot.com/2013/11/for-stage-broadway-sign.html NEW YORK SKYLINE: See my post at: http://jillscreativeumbrella.blogspot.com/2013/11/for-stage-new-york-skyline.html BACK LIGHTING THE SKYLINE: I used cylindrical touch lamps for lighting behind the skyline - doubling as weights to help the skyline stay vertical. The touch lamps I used had low, medium, and high settings for brightness. I used red, yellow and blue colored light bulbs in the lamps to create the look of the sun setting on New York. Light placement from left to right went as follows: Red at high, Yellow at high, Red at medium, Yellow at medium, Blue at high - the blue being under the moon. LAMP POSTS: See my post at: http://jillscreativeumbrella.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html THE MOON: The moon was made by cutting a giant circle of cardboard then covering it with white paper. (see my post CARDBOARD CREATIONS - PERFECT CIRCLES - coming soon) I used a large roll of craft/butcher paper. The roll of paper wasn't wide enough so I had to use two pieces seamed together to cover the entire circle. I taped on the backside of the paper since I would not be painting this piece and didn't want the tape to be reflected in the light and seen by the audience. I simply wrapped the excess paper around the edge of the circle and taped it to the back. The detail features in the moon were simply drawn in with pencil leaving them subtle. I tried to shine a black light directly on the moon from the stage wing, but I didn't have a very strong light so the effect ended up being lost. THE REST OF THE STAGE - THE FILL: Christmas trees - I used six, three on each side nestled with the lamp posts. I used boxes and other things I had to stand the trees on to get the height variations. Then I hid the bases by covering them with black and green fabric that would blend into the set. Park Bench - Borrowed. It was the perfect thing for this set. I am always grateful for those willing to share. I am grateful for opportunities to use my creativity. -Jill