Girl's Weekend

 My daughter, Sheridan, and I enjoyed a girls only weekend in Orange County. For Christmas, she had asked for tickets to see "Wicked". She had already seen it twice before and I had seen it 4 times so clearly, it is one of our faves! I found tickets in Costa Mesa and bought tickets for the 2:00 matinee.

 I had noticed that Timree, an artist in Newport Beach, was teaching a painting class the same weekend of Sleeping Beauty's castle. I thought it would be fun to make a whole weekend out of it. So I booked a hotel across the street from the theater and we spent the night. Sheridan's favorite part was sleeping in a queen sized bed and ordering room service!

 We checked out the next morning and drove about 20 minutes to Timree's studio. What a whimsical and light filled space...such a perfect art studio. Timree was just adorable and greeted all of her students. She has never had a formal art lesson so I loved how she explained all of the brushes and techniques.

 Sheridan and I followed along with her directions and we ended up with some pretty cool paintings! It's very addicting and I know we will be back for more classes!

 On our way back home, we decided to stop at Disneyland to purchase our limited edition ears for the month of February. (These annual passes really come in handy!) We were in for another treat as it happened to be "Dapper Day".

 Park guests dressed as it was in the 1950's when Disneyland first opened. There were almost 15,000  people who participated but I only got a few pictures.

When Sheridan and I got home, she asked when our next girls only weekend will be.

Snowman Holiday Party

 I hosted a Snowman themed holiday party for my daughter's 6th grade class. We were only scheduled for an hour and the teacher wanted them to have a meal and white elephant gift exchange but no crafts. A tall order!

 Fortunately, I got to decorate the room the day before and hang lots of white, blue, red, and green snowflakes.

 I bought these adorable printables from Amanda's Parties To Go on Etsy. I covered glass vases from the Dollar Tree with patterned paper and hot glued cotton balls around the edges. A styrofoam ball held the signs that were hot glued to bamboo skewers and then covered with a striped paper straw.

 I also made these snowman cups with acrylic paint, round craft sponge, orange felt and a Sharpie.

 I got the kids "snowman" hats from Oriental Trading and embellished them with patterned paper strips, printables and mini cupcake paper holders from Dollar Tree.

 The fruit cups were also from Oriental Trading and looked quite festive!

 The kids loved their snowman hats!

 After breakfast, the kids had a white elephant gift exchanged that was quite funny. One boy got stuck with a fashion doll and another with some pink toe socks!

 The kids were treated to an amazing breakfast of french toast from Marstons Restaurant. They were voted California's #1 breakfast by the Food Network. Spoiled kids.

 Next, I had the kids play a game by breaking off into pairs and creating snowmen. The builder would wrap the other student in a roll of toilet paper, and then place the hat, black paper buttons and orange carrot nose on their snowman

 The kids had a great time!

Night Owl Slumber Party

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I posted anything. I'm SO sorry! My mom had open heart surgery in June, she started chemo in August as well as the kids starting school and the Fall got away from me. I have also been working on my daughter's 12th birthday party. She loves the movie "Legends of the Guardians" so it was only natural that we have an owl party. I made owl necklaces for all of the guests as well as custom owl pillows out of  some great designer fabrics such as Heather Bailey. The printables for the party are from Frosting & Ink and were the inspiration for all of the decor.

 Ready to watch the movie "Legend of the Guardians".

 Fabric for the food table curtains is from IKEA as well as the owl picture. I added wooden crates and wood rounds for a natural element.

 Owl cookies for the Midnight Snack are from TS Cookies and they were amazing!

  The centerpieces for the activity table had fresh flowers in mason jars with fabric wraps. I also incorporated homemade yarn pom poms and crocheted flowers for an Anthropologie feel. The lace candle holder is from IKEA and I also used the matching tray for the cake.

 I also swagged doilies and pom poms on burlap poles around the table.

 Even the front door had an owl welcome!

 I made the Devil's Food cake and homemade frosting (recipe from Dear Lillie blog) and used a feather technique with the frosting. I also made the pom pom banner.

 One of the activities was to paint owls on canvas. The girls really loved this and it was fun to watch their creativity.

 Owl backpacks had toothbrushes, toothpaste, tissues, lip balm and sleeping eye masks.

 I got the owl aprons from Oriental Trading Co.

 Transferring M&Ms from one plate to another using straws.

 Swinging a tennis ball in pantyhose 

worn on the head at plastic bottles.

 Moving an Oreo from your forehead to 

your mouth by wiggling your face.

 Even the bathroom had a touch of owl decor!

Since the girls went to sleep at 4:30 am, it was tough to wake them up for breakfast even with the smell of bacon cooking!

 Owl mugs for hot cocoa

 Owl Gallery

 Thank you gifts were Dollar Tree frames wrapped in fabric with a party picture and a hand written thank you 

note from my daughter. Everyone had a wonderful time!

 The party scheduled was chalked by my talented friend, Anna Fry. The girls followed it very closely including waiting until exactly 12:00 to eat the Midnight snack of milk and cookies. They did turn the lights out at 1:00 but watched episodes of Glee and Victorious until 4:30 am :)