I came to love OA products even more when I went to the OA Warehouse Sale last fall and met some of their employees. They are wonderful people and they live in Minnesota, which makes them even more awesome! Yes, I am a fellow Minnesotan, which you may have guessed already or read in my introduction on the blog last Friday.
I am a big die-cutting fan too, so you can expect to see me incorporating die-cuts (particularly SVGs) in my projects. Die-cuts create so many possibilities with paper, as you will see with my project today. With the exception of wooden dowels used for support, it is entirely constructed of paper!
I primarily used OA’s Midway collection to create the Ferris wheel (SVGs from the Summer Street Carnival collection at SVG Cuts) and the base it is standing on. I used bits of other collections as well – Witch Hazel (wheel), Cakewalk (twine), and Sidewalks (buttons). You can fill the carts on the Ferris wheel with treats and/or plastic toys, and you can embellish it so many different ways. It is a great center piece for a carnival themed birthday party! Disclaimer – the Ferris wheel does take patience to assemble. The great news is that there is a video tutorial here that shows you how to put it together.
When I am tackling a big project like this, I start by cutting out all of the SVGs that need to be assembled.
Tip: Use lightweight cardboard for the base of the Ferris wheel. This creates a sturdier base.
Tip: Cut each of the carts out twice – once with the Midway paper and once with a solid-color coordinating cardstock. Then glue them together prior to assembly. This will allow you to put heavier treats in the carts and it makes the patterned papers really stand out.
Next is assembly time!
Tip: Use Spray Adhesive to glue the wheel together – it is faster and easier to reposition before it dries.
And more assembly!
Now for the embellishments!
I created a fun star embellishment on the face of the wheel! To create this embellishment, you will need the Midway brads, Sew Fun Banners, and Label Stickers, a 1-1/8” circle punch, foam dimensional stickers and decorative star pins. Start by taking one of the circle banners and poke a hole in the center of it.
Then put a Midway brad in the center (I liked the red star one) and apply one layer of foam stickers to the back of the banner circle.
Next, add the 1-1/8” circle punch to the back of the banner circle. Apply two layers of foam stickers to the back of the circle punch. To finish the layered circle, add the label sticker to the back (I liked the gray star-like one).
To finish off the embellishment, add star pins by pushing them into the foam stickers inside the layered circle. I added a rhinestone circle-shaped sticker that I had lying around too.
I used buttons from the Sidewalks collection on the ends of each wooden dowel on the wheel. I added rhinestones to the center of each button for some bling (adds to the glitzy feel many Ferris wheels have).
I chose to embellish the right side of the wheel base with stickers from the 12” x 12” sticker sheet in the Midway collection and I added a star pin too.
Who wants some cotton candy! I do! I put mini cotton candy bags into the carts. I used 4” x 3” bags, cotton candy, and twine from the Cakewalk collection to assemble these. Yes, I ate some of the cotton candy during assembly!
Lastly, I created a base for the Ferris wheel using a corrugated box (It is the one I got from OA filled with goodies and it is the standard scrapbooking paper box size). The first thing I did was take extra tape off the box and cut off the 4 top pieces of the box using a utility knife.
Next, I cut 4 sheets of the Midway paper so they were 11x11 and would fit perfectly together on my box. Then I started at the center of the box and taped down the sheets of paper as shown below. Don’t worry about the tape showing, you can always cover it up, as I will show you. To make it look like a wrapped gift box, I folded the paper in the corners as shown below. Don’t worry about the tape showing, you can always cover it up if you don’t like it showing.
When done adding the 4 sheets of paper, the box looks like this.
Next, I cut two strips of the Midway patterned paper to cover up one of the taped areas on top. You can use any paper you like.
Then I added some ribbon and a bow to cover up the tape line running horizontally.
There are so many different ways to embellish this paper Ferris Wheel. You could add your own unique take - use flair, Midway miscellany, and/or goodies from other collections!
To share in my excitement as the Guest Designer this month, I have a surprise for you! The box I made for the base of the Ferris Wheel has some goodies inside! Stop by my blog http://www.thepaperretreat.blogspot.com, to see what is inside and to enter to win the goodies inside! I hope you stop by my blog and celebrate with me!
Melanie
(For more from Guest Designer Melanie Fink, check out the OA blog every Friday during the month of April!)










