Thank You For Being A Friend, A Golden Girls' Birthday Party

. . . for my golden-haired 12-year-old. Abby pretty much always has an unusual birthday party  - her "Cozy Party" comes to mind - and it's not unusual for parents to ask me how exactly her party ideas originated. Truthfully, I enjoy the challenge of creating a practical party plan or developing a theme from her ideas. Her parties are always uniquely Abby and so much fun because they're a couple of hours where she can share unusual - or sometimes very ordinary - activities that she loves with her best friends. They have fun celebrating together and I believe that is the heart of any party.

This year, Abby told me that she wanted to have an "old-person party." Turns out what that really meant was that she wanted to play Bingo, wear her favorite cozy cardigan, and play "Just Dance 2019." She also wanted her friends to feel free to dress like the elderly also, if they wanted to.

We thought about it together and realized that an "Oldies" party had a definite 50s vibe that would be pretty misleading and anything with "Elderly" or "Over the Hill" didn't seem to strike the right tone. Enter "Golden Girls."

A quick search of Pinterest revealed we aren't the only ones who find them positively inspirational.

As you know, we have a lot of Hallmark Channel fans in this house and, if you're one too, you may know that "Golden Girls" comes on in the evenings. Luckily, some parts fly right over their heads but My girls have watched enough to realize that the Golden Girls aren't just a group of ladies that are even older than their mom. They're hilarious characters who are feisty, fun and all about friendship! Perfect.

For our Bingo grand prize, I found this darling Sophia Pez. She's a crack-up.

Here are some pictures of the super fun goodie bags - the girls felt very grown up with their party swag. Inside the bag, we put some handmade Golden Girl tees, tissues, socks, "Spare Part" chattering teeth and, of course, some hard candies.

Aren't these socks darling? I love sending home useful items. Thank you, Target. 

Abby's little sister had the idea to include chattering teeth. She's so clever. I found these tiny "spare part" wind up toys at Party City. While not necessarily practical, these were surprisingly fun for all three of my kids. 

We wanted to include butterscotch candies or something similar and, let's be real, Werther's are the best. Period. If I were speaking to my kids, I would say The-Bomb-Dot-Com just to hear them tell me that nobody says that except me. It gets a reaction every time and makes me giggle.

And here's the highlight of the bag for me: matching shirts for all of the girls. As with most projects, they took longer than imagined but they weren't difficult. The design was a sort of mash up of a couple of Golden Girl-inspired tees that I saw - loved the hash tag - along with the "Name Shirt" trend. I've seen everything from Harry Potter characters to Pride & Prejudice. I bought the tees from Joann's (they are the ladies fit which run pretty small) and I used gold iron on vinyl that I cut with my Silhouette. I got a couple of different sizes of the tee. The tissues were part of a cute set of travel tissues with inspirational messages on the packaging.

Here's the actual bags. I used a set of black paper gift bags from Michaels. The "tag" was a sticker from Target's Bullseye's Playground (aka "Dollar Spot") that I had on-hand and I drew the hang-tag "string" using a white gel roller pen (the same that I used on the chalk labels here). The tags say "Thank you for being a friend" as they say in the "Golden Girls'" theme song and Abby used the same line when she penned thank you notes to her friends. I guess one of her friends was mildly offended by the "a friend" designation and asked another friend why it didn't say "Thank you for being a  -  "wonderful," "amazing," "best," etc. - friend"? Ha ha ha! Abby loves ALL of her friends and was just keeping the theme alive.

Thank you . . . for being a WONDERFUL friend (and reader)! Party on!

XOXO,
Hillary

Blanket Ladder

As I prepare to share the beginnings of my coffee table refinishing project - stay tuned - I thought that I'd post the pics of my Very. First. Ever. woodworking project. This heady attempt - and the several months cooling off period that followed - *may* have given me an inflated sense of handiness that prompted me to take on a project that I wasn't really qualified for . . . yet. That's how we learn quickly.

About 9 months ago, my very own mother sent me this Hallmark Channel "Home & Family" segment of a project-gone-right! I was smitten by the relative simplicity and utility of the project - give me all the blankets - and knew that I needed to make one! or two! I've painted small items but I'm going to go ahead and place this blanket ladder in the elevated category of furniture-making. Even with the excellent tutorial, (truly, it is), I had to ask a lot of questions and be a little bit patient with myself. I phoned more than one friend and relative to ask about pretty much every phase - sanding, staining, assembling and sealing. Also, I borrowed tools. 

 This picture illustrates what I learned about my first stain choice: multiple coats will not make it less orange.

 Although not a terrible hue, it wasn't quite the crowd-pleasing color that I was attempting.

 A second trip to Home Depot resulted in this Hail Mary attempt to color-correct my stain by layering a darker stain on top of it (to avoid having to sand and start over). It worked! Although, to be truthful, I didn't have time to start over anyhow.

 Here's the finished project, sprayed with a finishing coat of poly, drying in my garage. Pardon the lighting, there was no daylight remaining.

 Ready for blankets!

But, in the end, I ended up with a project that I was proud of contributing to my Annual Handmade Holiday gift exchange. And, I think, in lieu of a patch, I have earned a Furniture Camp shirt to add to my novelty tee collection. 

Haunted Graham Cracker Houses

Now don't get me wrong. We love ALL kinds of graham cracker houses in our family. Grahams +  frosting + candy is an all around winning combination, but these Haunted Graham Cracker Houses are especially fun and a great tribute to the season of tricks and treats. Chocolate Grahams and marshmallow ghosts make these tiny haunted houses both spooky and sweet. 

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has great graham cracker house assembly instructions here. Hot tip: burnt sugar "glue" is the BEST!

Tombstone Trophy Tutorial

I found these great tombstones in Bullseye's Playground at Target and immediately thought that they would make great (and easy) trophy's for the Annual Halloween Party and Chili Cook-off at my church. It's a really fun event - especially for children - with a costume contest, "trunk-or-treating" (trick-or-treating to various decorated car trunks), a pumpkin carving contest and a chili cook-off. Lots of opportunities to win a trophy! 

Last year, a friend and I made the awards together - and had a lot of fun doing it - but they were very labor-intensive. Since my bestie moved away, I came up with this far simpler idea that can be made in one evening! So, let's gather up some supplies and get crafting.

You'll need: tombstone figures (or another figure with a flat back), Halloween scrapbook paper (I used a 6 x 6 paper pad), foam brush, Mod Podge or glue (I used Mod Podge Matte), scissors, craft knife, chalkboard paper stickers, white Sakura jelly-roll pen. You may also want wax paper or a paper plate to protect your crafting surface and a cutting board or mat to go under your project when you're trimming with a craft knife.

Flip your paper over to the wrong side and trace around the tombstone. Cut it out just inside the line.

Using a paintbrush or foam brush, spread Mod Podge on the wrong side of the paper and the back of the tombstone. Stick them together, smoothing out any wrinkles or bubbles. 

Allow to dry for 10-15 minutes.

Place the tombstone on a cutting board and carefully trim any overhanging paper with a craft knife.

Fill out your chalkboard paper stickers and stick them to your trophy. 

Admire your work! 

"Home and Family" Party

There's something really wonderful about someone who marches to the beat of their own drummer and invites others to join in on the fun. That pretty much sums up Abby and her birthday party philosophy and I have to say that it's been pretty successful. Standard ratios of invites to attendees don't apply and her unique parties generally have a great turnout. Her friends are game for whatever the birthday girl wants to do and this year was no different!

Abby loves to watch Hallmark movies and she especially likes the Hallmark Channel's morning show, "Home & Family." So, for her birthday this year I planned the party to mirror the show format, complete with all of her favorite segments: crafts, pet adoption, health & beauty, gardening, fashion and baking. Here's how we pulled it off.

CRAFT SEGMENT

Upon arrival, her guests decorated gift bags as the "Home and Family" played in the background. It was the perfect sneak peek of what to expect for the next couple of hours. 

PET ADOPTION SEGMENT

Adopting a furry - or not so furry - friend is a big decision. To make it easier, Abby wrote "profiles" to help each Beanie Boo find their perfect forever home. We easily cleared this shelter.

 HEALTH & BEAUTY SEGMENT

For the health and beauty, the girls created sugar scrubs from granulated sugar, coconut oil, vanilla bean and vanilla extract. Then they jarred the scrubs and embellished them with fabric and ribbon.

 Pretty fabric rounds and coordinating ribbons made the scrubs positively gift-able.

GARDENING SEGMENT

Using succulent cuttings from Grandma's garden, a variety of stones and glass marbles, moss and cactus mix potting soil, the girls made these beautiful terrariums.

 FASHION SEGMENT

Keeping the fashion segment fun, the girls had a timed toilet paper fashion challenge. Using only rolls of toilet paper, they raced to complete their dresses before the time ran out.

 BAKING

Using store bought puff pastry sheets as a starting point, these cheese straws were impressive but easy to make and serve.

The party flew by so quickly. I can't wait to see what Abby comes up with next year!