Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Sunday, January 23, 2011

No Longer In Control

No, not of my mental faculties ( some would argue that point!). My “baby” turned 18 yesterday. Still in denial that this is possible. I certainly gave no consent for this to happen! But happen it did.

Those of you with younger kids, savor the days when you’re totally in control of the party plans and can actually plan a party! Those of you with adult children, I’m sure you’ll tell me that there will again be a time when you can plan. In the meantime….I’ve learned as the teen years have progressed that the friends take over the planning of the social events like birthdays. Not complaining, he has a fantastic group of friends.

Son actually didn’t want to do too much to celebrate this milestone birthday. He and all his friends are exhausted from doing college apps and getting through first semester finals which will be over next week. Teenagers (most) are also notoriously laid back and last minute about planning social things. But finally,late last week, I got a text from one of his closest friends that there were “plans” . She had arranged for a surprise dinner and coordinated all the details. What a sweetheart! I asked if there were after dinner plans and there weren’t so I offered to host a dessert gathering which was a win win, but it just left me yesterday to get things done while trying to keep this a surprise. So, I  whipped up  a birthday banner…that wasn’t something likely to cause suspicion.

 

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Cut out the letters w/ my Cricut using balloon patterned paper and punched some stars out.

Big surprise that Son is a chocoholic like his parents. As soon as he left the house, baked a cake thanks to Bakerella. A chocolate cake with Reeses peanut butter cups in the cake and on top. YUM!

 

 

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Bakerella’s cake had the sides covered w/ chopped peanut butter cups too but the top is enough let me tell you!

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I also did a “build your own sundae” bar with ice cream, hot fudge, and assorted toppings. Since this all came together last minute, I used whatever I had on hand to decorate. I made a table runner out of brown kraft paper, and cut out HAPPY BIRTHDAY and the number 18 out of some more of the same paper I’d used for the banner.

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You can put colored pencils and people can scribble birthday messages. I of course forgot to do that!

 

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Sundae toppings: strawberries, almonds, mini chocolate chips, coconut , Reeses pieces, chopped peanut butter cups. Black and white votives to make it a little more “mature”.

The surprise went off without a hitch and we survived 10 teens loaded up on sugar. Still haven’t come to grips with having an 18 year old!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Some Cards...

My first crafting love is cardmaking and my addiction is paper. I'm not a paper snob; I love everything from expensive handmade papers (especially Japanese Washi papers) to "ordinary" copy paper. Old paper, new paper, you name it I love it. I get giddy whenever JoAnn's or Michaels has scrapbook paper 4 or 5 for $1 and the cashiers always ask me: "What are you making" and I usually have no idea at the time. I just know that you can't have too much paper.

I'm in intense card mode from about September through December (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... for a list that goes from about  15-20 people for Halloween  to 60 or so for Christmas ). January slows down to a couple of birthdays, then February is Valentine's day and birthdays and the March / April picks back up with Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day etc. with birthdays and other occasions sprinkled in. So Summer is not a big card time for me but I like that because in those other "high production" times, I'm usually using the same papers / colors etc. and while I put love into each card, when you're making multiples it's not the same as making one for a single purpose.

I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas ( I love you Mr. Chocolate!) and that's opened a whole 'nother box of crazy for me. 

Here are a few recent ones:
BIRTHDAY BOY 



 This is a card I made for my Nephew's birthday. I had fun using the "Doodle Charms" cartridge to make the seahorses and just tore ( did I mention I love , love, love tearing paper?) the yellow and white panel mounted on the aqua. The letters are "wave" alphabet stickers I had that spell out BIRTHDAY. And even though he's a boy, I'm addicted to self adhesive rhinestones so those are what I used for the eyes.

FATHER'S DAY


Since we had a rainy Memorial Day weekend, it was a good time to work on some Father's Day cards. I always have a hard time with "guy" cards and only have a couple "guy" stamps,  but I loved this vintage bicycle from The Graphics Fairy and thought it would be good for Father's Day so I imported it into PrintShop ( I have Adobe but I am useless with it) , created the sentiment and printed out using the business card option since I was making multiples. I added a bronzy-brown dot of Stickles glitter glue to the center of each wheel to match the papers.

GRADUATION

This last one is a graduation card I did for a friend's daughter. She's graduating from HS and I liked the idea of discovery so I used my "Graphically Speaking" Cricut Cartridge to make the word jumble, and mounted it onto a panel with some handmade silver scraps ( because we never throw out scraps right!) and blinged it up with some rhinestones. 

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Beyond The Picket Fence