Slumber Party - Grown Up Style

My mom's best friend (and the kids' honorary grandma) just turned 60. My mom, of course, wanted to do something special for her and when she asked for my input the first thing that popped into my head was "slumber party!" :) I admit, there are parts of me that long for those long ago nights of girl talk and junk food. So that's exactly what we did.

The Decor:
-have you seen this table idea? It's making the rounds in blog land, at least on the party circuit and I think it's totally cute - make the table look like a bed by adding a pillow at one end. Simple and effective - right up my alley. We kept the rest of the tablescape pretty simple because we were doing fondu for dinner and didn't want a lot of stuff in the way.
-downstairs we set up our munchies. We had caramel corn and regular popcorn too.
-and a "just for fun" table to help set the mood, with games, movies, and the matching sets of pjs that we used for party favors. (side note - those tissue paper pom poms did not turn out anything like they did on Martha Stewart's site. ugh)

The Party:
-as I said, dinner was cheese fondue and strawberry salad (lettuce, craisins, strawberries, candied pecans and raspberry viniagrette dressing)
-dessert was a raspberry cream thing (no name because Mom got the recipe from a friend who had served it at Bunco) - very light and yummy. It has a graham cracker crust and the filling is mini marshmallows, melted with a bit of milk then mixed with whipped cream (unsweetened) and raspberries.
-we then went downstairs, changed into our party pjs, then sat around talking and doing each other's hair. We also had supplies for manicures and a ton of game options but in the end we just decided to watch a movie. That took us until midnight and at that we were all ready to turn in. (I had sent my dad to my house with the kids and needed to relieve him anyway. Good thing I hadn't left him alone with them all night because I found him sitting up with my little one who was all stuffed up. So I spent another half hour getting him all set up to sleep better)
(mint truffles on the pillows, of course)
-First thing this morning, the kids and I headed back over to my mom's house for breakfast - strawberry/banana crepes MMMMMM.

Know what I'm doing today? NAPPING! :)

Linking to: Weekend Wrap Up Party (Tatertots and Jello)

Valentines Craftiness

My friend, Audrey and I had one of our craft days yesterday - so fun! Just wanted to share :)
After I took the above photo I realized I hadn't put anything in the frame. This is a detail of the final product.

A close up on one of the hearts. We LOVED the glitter! Isn't it great?

And this little baby will be put away until I pull out my spring stuff.


A couple tips I thought I'd point out.
-at the wood place where we bought most of our supplies, Audrey had the prescience of mind to ask them how they got the glitter on their finished products. The trick? Dip the object INTO the glitter (we put wax paper over a cookie sheet and sprinkled the glitter onto it. The wax paper made getting the glitter back into the jar easy) while the last coat of paint is still WET. Then when it's all dry, spray with a clear coat of GLOSSY glaze.
-for any sort of decoration that has a stick and a stand, glue only the TOP to the stick. That way you can remove the base and they'll fit in your storage totes more easily.

I've had a lot of fun working on my little Valentines vignettes today. Still need to find something suitable for those apothecary jars! I'm betting they stay empty for this year and hopefully I can find something on sale for next year.

Gift Box Tutorial

I had a couple of requests for the tutorial on this gift box and since I wanted to make another one anyway...here you go! (because honestly if I knew where to find the original tutorial for this I'd just point in the there right direction)

You will need:
cut from cardboard (cereal boxes worked well)
-4 - 2 1/4" x 5"
-1 - 1" x 5"
cut from patterned paper (any combination of colors/patterns you want)
-1 - 12" x 6" (this is the outside of the box)
-1 - 4 7/8" x 10 1/4" (this is the inside of the box)
-1 - 7" x 7" (this is the box top)
-4 - 6" x 6" (these are the smaller boxes inside)

Step 1: on the back side of the 12" x 6" paper, draw a line along the top 1/2" from edge. Draw another line along the left side 3/4" from edge.

Step 2: use the lines you just drew to start placing the cardboard pieces on the back of the patterned paper, spacing each cardboard piece approx 1/8" apart. Glue the cardboard onto the patterned paper.

Step 3: cut the corners off the patterned paper (as shown)

Step 4: fold all edges of the patterned paper over and adhere to the cardboard

Step 5: cover the back of the patterned paper/cardboard with the 4 7/7" x 20 1/4" piece of paper. Glue down, making sure it's smooth. Fold between each piece of cardboard.

Step 6: Take one of the square pieces of paper and draw diagonal lines from corner to corner (on the back of the paper, obviously)

Step 7: Fold a corner to the center point

Now fold the folded edge to the diagonal line. Crease each fold well. Unfold. Repeat this on each of the corners

You will now have a grid like this.

Step 8: cut along lines as shown, making sure to stop as indicated (sorry this is the hardest part to explain. Hope the photo illustrates it well enough)
Step 9: Take the larger, triangle-shaped piece and fold the point into the center. You will notice that this folds along a crease you already made.

Place the point of the second triangular piece on the center point as well

Step 10: Fold these pieces up to form 2 sides of the box. Now the ends of each piece form little tabs. Fold those tabs in to make the 3rd side of the box.

Step 11: Take the point of the 3rd side and put it on the center mark. You will notice that this completely covers the tabbed side.

Repeat with the remaining side.
Adhere all points into the center and there you have your box!

Step 12:Repeat this process with the rest of the square pieces.

Step 13: Adhere one side of each of the smaller boxes to the back of your cardboard part. (as shown - note the stairstep pattern.)

Fold up the box and add the lid and voila! Now you can embellish any way you like. Fill each little box with goodies and give to someone you love.
Linking to: (7/19/10)