Laura's 14th Birthday Party

Last night was my daughters 14th  birthday party.  Keeping with the theme of ABC Family show, Pretty Little Liars, she invited 3 of her closet friends (who also love the show).  It's was a nice sleepover party where 4 teenage girls had fun, at least I heard them laughing....alot!  I honestly don't know how late they were up other than they went to sleep sometime in the dawn hours....they don't even know how late they were up.  

Keeping with tradition, I made Laura's birthday cake and many of the party decorations.  This year the cake was easy because I just ordered an edible image  from Ebay. 

One of my favorite decorations is the birthday banner I created for Laura.  I had seem a similar design on a magazine and felt it was the right style for this year's birthday party.  It does not show up too good on the photos, but my favorite part was the little crystals hanging of each banner center.

 Every year, I try to create a unique party favor bag.  This year, instead of a bag it was a box.  It's a bakery box I purchased at Michael's.  Since I used the actual text pages from the first Pretty Little Liars book for the birthday banner and candy wrappers, it was only natural I use the text pages on these boxes.  I decoupaged torn pages around the sides.  The box is filled with goodies like chocolate, popcorn, frame, bookmarks, stationery, decoration and pencils with each girl's initial and of course some nail polish. 

 Since Laura is an avid ready, I also like to create bookmarks reflecting the party theme:  Laura picked out most of the images and I created the bookmarks using Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Upcycled Vintage Linens into Dressforms Pincushions & Buttons

As mentioned in my post of June 21, 2011, creating these dress-form pincushions from vintage linens was a project I enjoyed very much.  This project took a life of it's own as I realized I could use every bit of these embroidered vintage linens.  The smaller scraps were given new life by creating small pin cushion using small tart tins and ceramic bowls with the edges covered with German silver glass glitter.  With the even smaller scraps, I was able to make fabric covered buttons of varying sizes.  This truly was an up-cycling project, where nothing was wasted.  Here are the pictures:

Thunderbirds Airshow

Last Wednesday, all four of us headed over to Cheyenne Wyoming for the day.  As part of Frontier Days,  an air show was held.  The  Thunderbirds put on a great show.  We all enjoyed the show, then headed to the base where we spent the rest of the afternoon.  Everyone enjoyed seeing so many type of aircraft, old and new, but perhaps no one more than my little boy Alex.  He loved it!  He has been carrying the miniature planes (his trip souvenir) with him since that day. 

Pretty Little Liars Birthday Party Preparations

It is almost exactly a week ago that the kids and I returned home from our trip to visit our family in El Paso.  Our trip to El Paso has become an annual trip the kids and I are thankful to be able to take every summer.  Our time in Albuquerque with my family was fantastic, we loved the zoo and the botanical gardens.  We all arrived in El Paso, TX  late on July 6th.   While in El Paso we went bowling and saw many movies, including Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows Part 2.   Alex got to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house while we all went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter.  It was a great night I loved sharing with my sister, especially since I am the one who convinced my her to read the books...now, she loves them too!   Laura also loved sharing this experience with her cousins.  We all loved the movie!

We also got to spend time with many friends and extended family members.  As usual, the kids and I have many fond memories of our time in El Paso and Albuquerque.

Now that we are back, it's time to continue working on my daughter's 14th Birthday Party.  This years theme is Pretty Little Liars.  My daughter, Laura, is an avid read who loves this series of books.  She also loves the TV series on ABC Family (an adaptation of the book series).  So, it is not a surprise she chose this as her theme for her birthday sleepover party.  Laura picked out the silhouettes from the cricut cartridge Forever Young and the paper for the dresses.   I am still working on the party favor boxes...once they are ready, I will post a picture of them. 

I still can't believe my little girl is now a young lady.  In a matter of weeks, she will be a 9th grader at Columbine High School.  When did my little girl grow up?

Laura's Birthday Invitation




Hershey Bar Candy Wrappers - Party Favors




Popcorn Wrappers - Party Favors





Popcorn Wrappers -Book Covers --

 Party Favors

 


Picture Frame- Jointly done by Isabel and Laura - Party Favor




Hershey Bar Wrapper - Party Favor



Albuquerque Botanical Gardens & Zoo

The kids and I are finally in El Paso at my sister's house, we all arrived last night.  This morning the house is very quiet  Everyone sleeping in....except for my son Alex.  He is an early riser!  So he and I have been working on his reading skill while everyone else sleeps. 

After arriving in Albuquerque on Tueday early afternoon, we were very happy to see my parents and sister (and her family).  We spent most of the afternoon  in Old Town shopping.  Just as we were leaving for Old Town, Alex lost another baby tooth...he was very happy the tooth fairy found him at the hotel!

Wednesday we spent the day at Albuquerque's Botanical Gardens and Zoo.  Aside from spending time with my family, my favorite part of the day was the flowers and butterflies!  I could of stayed in the butterfly pavillion and skipped the zoo but  that was not an option.  I just loved watching the butterflies fly and land on beautiful flowers.  Here are some highlights:

Our Road Trip to visit our Extended Family

Today, the kids and I are on the road to El Paso, Texas...although tonight we will be spending the night in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The special treat is that my sister (and her family) and my parents will be meeting us in Albuquerque!  We will all spend the day in Albuquerque (Wednesday) then drive to El Paso later that evening.  We have not seen each other in a year, so the kids and I are excited to see them tonight.  

Several years ago, I started a little tradition of giving my sister Gaby a scrapbook for her Birthday.  Her birthday was June 24th.  Every year I create a different style or type of scrapbook.  This year, it's 100% digital.  All the photos were taken during our visit to El Paso last year...July 2010. 

My kids and I are  thankful we have been able to make this annual trip for the last 13 years or so...we have not missed a year!  I am so grateful for my parents and appreciate them more and more each year. I love to see how my kids renew their bonds with their grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncles.  Although we live miles away from them, these two weeks we spend every year are truly priceless to all of us.

This is the digital cover to my sister's album....my parents take center stage since they really are the heart and soul of our family!

Happy 4th of July!

Last night we spent the evening in Denver's City Park.  The Symphony played while the lights on the county building set a beautiful backdrop....then, the fireworks started!  It was beautiful and patriotic.