The Picnic that Never Happened

A while ago we went to an outdoor dinner with a group of friends.  We all brought parts of the meal, and I was responsible for the decor.  I decided to use paper that I had at home to create place mats and candle holders.  I was rather pleased with the outcome.  (*)

But the weather did not play it's part, and the wind howled.  We had to pin everything down while we ate and at least one of us was planted with a flying plateful of a neighbour's liver pate - thanks to a cheeky gust of wind.

So - actually the picnic did happen, but the decor didn't.  It stayed packed safely away from the elements.

I did use the handmade paper decor at a family dinner later, but I didn't get any of the lovely early evening, candle-lit dinner by the seaside pics I was hoping for :-)

Place Mats

I decided to base the place mats on a hexagonal shape.  I was reminded that a hexagon is a polygon with six sides, which  I could create by placing 6 equilateral triangles together.  (You can get an idea of this when you see the folds on the place mats)

I took some leaves from the garden, placed them on my triangle and used them to make a decorative edge.

This is the pattern I created (and which you can copy and print out if you would like to make one too):

 

I took a square of recycled paper (peel off backing from vinyl stickers), folded it in half, and then into thirds again.  I used the pattern to guide my folds.  I then cut through the six layers of paper, and unfolded it to form the leafy hexagon. 

Place Mat Cutting Diagram

I enlarged the pattern slightly and repeated the process with some thin green paper.  I glued this layer underneath the white layer

Candle Holder

I made the candle holders from the same recycled white paper with sprigs cut out from the green paper.  I used a rectangular piece of paper.  I trimmed the top edge with pinking shears.  A cut Vs into the base, which could be folded up to form the base of the candle holder.  I made a cut on opposite sides close to each end that could be slotted together to form the round holder.   This diagram will give you an idea of how I did it:

Paper Candle Pattern

 Some random interesting hexagonal facts -

• A beehive is full of hexagonal honeycombs
• The Allen Key I use on my over locker to change needles has a hexagonal shaped head, and that is why it is also known as a Hex Key

 *Beautiful mini card and envelop in the top picture - one of many free down loadable prints from the amazing Happiness Is blog.  Subscribe to the monthly newsletter!