50th Birthday Party

My husband celebrated the BIG 5-0 a week before Christmas. He's not one for surprise parties, but I couldn't let the day go by as a normal birthday, so we had a little surprise party with just our family of four. He worked that day, giving us time to decorate, but got off a little early. We waited in the dining room and when he came in, we jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!" He WAS surprised and genuinely loved it.
  

I found that black and white chevron wrapping paper for 50% off in the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby! That paper doesn't look very Christmas-y to me, does it to you?

My goal was to have 50 presents for him to open, but, being the week before Christmas, I had a hard time with that! So I settled for 25 presents, making him feel younger ;)

Can you believe that is actually 50 kisses in that cup? It is!

50 sucks! I made all the centerpiece sticks with my Silhouette Cameo.

The banner was a Silhouette file.

We added the balloons shortly before he got home so they wouldn't go flat too soon.

And...my favorite thing. I agonized for hours --days!-- on what to put on the cake when suddenly a lightbulb went off.  It was so simple! I made a devil's food cake (because being 50 is...you know...haha!).  Records have always been his favorite form of music and he has been regrowing his collection lately.  I cut a black sugar sheet using my Silhouette Cameo in the shape of a record with the word "ROCKS" cut out.  I used a light up color changing "50" candle holder in the center.

It was a fun birthday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I realize I skipped right over Christmas. I made a few things, just nothing I was totally thrilled with! I don't usually do much crafting or decorating for Valentine's Day but I was inspired by some things I saw and decided to give it a whirl.

I bought a really cute Valentine's Day paper pad at Hobby Lobby, and this card was the first thing I made using it.

I originally made it with the intention of sending it to a friend, but later made another one I liked much better and sent it instead.  I just realized that I didn't take a picture of that one.  Boo :'(  Then I saw a video on youtube of someone making a LOVE banner and thought it was so cute that I would use my pretty paper to make one too.  I just "LOVE" the way it turned out!

I was in JoAnn's and saw a chalkboard wallhanging that looked simple enough to make so I had my daughter take a picture of it.  When I was out again sometime later, I thought about that chalkboard and bought a little one at AC Moore to recreate the one I saw at JoAnn's.  I started working on it before looking at the photo again (my daughter was at school and I had forgotten to have her send me the photo.)  The top is the one from JoAnn's and the bottom one (Love One another) is the one I made.

Totally nailed that recreation, don't you think? Maybe I'm not actually as plagiaristic as I think I am! Ha!

My Silhouette Challenge group on Facebook has a themed monthly challenge that I try to participate in. This month's theme was Print and Cut, with a bonus of using hearts.  I wanted to do a little something for my daughter's piano teacher so I made a candy holder and some print and cut stickers for the bottom of Hershey kisses.  I also made a post-it notepad holder and added it with the candy. Cute!

But my favorite thing of all was the card I made for my husband!

The coffee cup was a print and cut from the Silhouette store, so as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use it for the Silhouette Challenge. The phrase originally said "I love you more than CHOCOLATE" but I changed it by cropping the word coffee out of another phrase and replacing chocolate.  I just really love how this turned out!!

One more - I also made my husband a Sharpie mug. I wasn't going to add it here because it didn't turn out very well, but when I opened one of the gifts from him, well, the picture says a thousand words :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

It all started with a wreath...

When my friend called me in early May, stressed out about the graduation party she was planning for her daughter, I had no intention of offering to help. It was the day before my birthday, I was trying to finish up my library duties at my kids' school, and I had plenty of other projects in the works.  She mentioned that her daughter wanted a "wreath with a graduation hat in the center," something she had seen on Pinterest.  I hung up the phone and instead of getting on the treadmill like I had planned, I found myself on Pinterest, searching "graduation wreaths."  I could at least possibly make a wreath.  A short while later, she texted me and asked (begged? LOL) me to be her "decorator." How could I say no? We went shopping for supplies and the ideas began to take shape.

Her party theme was "elegant" and her colors were royal blue and silver, which made NO sense to me since our school colors are red and white! But it turned out to be a lovely choice. We decided to add a touch of red here and there and that really made things pop. The wreath is deco mesh and the decorations were made with my Silhouette Cameo using blue and silver glitter paper (I love glitter paper!) and red "shimmer" paper. These cut beautifully in the Silhouette.

I saw this card box in the Silhouette store and just had to make it. My black cardstock was kind of flimsy so I added a piece of cardboard to the bottom to make it a little more sturdy.

We can't have a party without a banner. I used blue and silver shimmer paper and small paper doilies.

 

I wanted it to be 2-sided because there were a lot of hanging options in the room where it could be seen from either side. I hung it on blue satin ribbon, and tied silver ribbon in between each pennant.

 

When I saw these shadowboxes in the Silhouette store, I knew I had to make them too. I thought the red frames were so pretty, and when we decided to add a little red to the party decorations, it was perfect.

The graduate made her mom buy a sash from the Dollar Store that said "Grad Princess." The only problem was that the sash was pink and black and mom hated it! She asked if I could make one that would match the theme. She found a blank sash at a party store, and I ironed on the words with silver sparkle heat transfer vinyl, glued silver ribbon on both sides, and added some "bling" at the bottom.

 

They were planning a photo booth so I bought a cheap wedding arch and talked them into using it for the background.  Deco mesh, blue plastic tablecloths and silver streamers made a simple, but elegant background!

And we can't forget mom! I saw this during one of my internet searches and told her I would make her a shirt too. It was perfectly fitting! I used silver glitter heat transfer vinyl, and rhinestones for the crown.

I wasn't able to attend the party because my daughter's ballet recital was the same night so I didn't get any actual pictures from the party. I heard that everyone had a fantastic time, and mom and grad princess were both happy!


I had a minute for one picture after helping to set up the decorations. :)