Mardi Gras Mask Centerpieces – The Finished Products

My fiance and I spent last night at the mardi gras themed banquet – the event that I was asked to make centerpieces for on a tight budget and put together in my post, DIY Mardi Gras Party Decor – Under $50. I decided to take a couple pics to show you what the tables looked like as finished products on the table. One thing I changed from my last post about Mardi Gras masks was the rod. I originally was using thick plastic drinking straws from the dollar store. They were great and perfect for a hand held mask, but since these masks were going to be used as centerpieces, the stems needed to be more sturdy (I realized this when one of the vases toppled over on it’s own the night before the event!). For a last minute quick fix, I went to Lowe’s to purchase some 1/4″ wooden dowels (6 for only 98 cents each!). My fiance helped by cutting the dowels in half so I had enough for my 12 masks. I painted them black and the next morning I attached the dried black wooden rods to the back of the masks using black duct tape (so it all blended in, since the back of the masks were black). And voila! The masks stayed upright in their vases all night and guests took their centerpieces home.

Don’t forget to use Mardi Gras Outlet for your cheap mardi gras crafting supplies and decorations. With a creative eye and some patience you can put together masks like these for your event for a nominal amount of money.

The camera phone picture of us is a little fuzzy but this is us at the event last night 🙂

This is another photo below taken by a friend at the event, not on the camera phone so it came out a little better!

DIY: Mardi Gras Feather Mask – Cheap and Quick

In my previous post DIY Mardi Gras Party Decor – Under $50, I showed you an overview on how you can make your own masks and assemble your own centerpieces and decorations for your mardi gras party without spending a lot of money.

I decided to give you a step by step guide on how to make a feather mask. This one took me less than 15 minutes and cost about $2. If you have more time, patience, and want to make a really fancy mask, you can simply follow these basic steps and add on to it as you wish.

For this tutorial, this what you will need:

1. Cardstock (pick a mardi gras color like purple or green)

2. Project board (black)

3. Feathers

4. X-acto knife

5. Glue

6. Pencil

How to Make Your Own Mardi Gras Mask:

1. Choose 1 sheet of card stock and line it up with your black piece of project board.

2. Sketch free hand with pencil the shape of the mask you want, including the eyes. Go over it with marker to define exactly where you want to cut.

3. Cut out the eye holes with an x-acto knife. Press firmly so you go through the card stock and cut through the project board. Don’t worry if you have a frayed edges! It will all be covered with feathers in the end.

4. Now you should have 2 separate cutouts of your mask shape – 1 on colored card stock and the other on the black project board. Add glue along the perimeter of the project board mask and outline the eyes with glue as well. Adhere the purple mask onto the black one.

5. Add glue and start adding your feathers. Start by making a layer of feathers encircling the eye-holes of the mask. Then layer the feathers in any design you want, using glue to secure them.

And then before you know it…in only a few minutes, you will have finished your own handmade Mardi Gras feather mask!

This is what the back of your mask will look like. You can add elastic string (sacrifice a hair elastic) to make the mask wearable or glue a rod (plastic straw covered with black paper or a pipe cleaner) to make it handheld.

If you really have patience, and have the time to purchase some really nice looking feathers, you can add sequins around the rims of the eye holes – giving them more definition and making it look more pulled together. You can add extra pieces of card stock to the top of the mask to add height and allow for more feathers. With some extra time, you can put together a mask like the one I made below. I used feathers that I actually already had and pulled out the mardi gras colors. I also found a nice peacock one to go right in the middle. Feel free to get creative and make the mask your own! Happy Crafting! 🙂