Hot Air Balloon Party Decorations

Yesterday  I mentioned that I might do a tutorial on my grandson's birthday party decorations.

My daughter bought some assorted paper lanterns at a discount store. She tied four strings from the frame and attached a trimmed down paper lunch bag for the gondola basket.  She decorated the "basket" with ropes and weights.  Then my SIL helped her suspend the balloons from the ceiling with fishing line.

Actually, I do not have pictures of them being made, but I think you can get the idea, from the pictures provided.

Hot air balloon

Maps decorated the walls

It was a wonderfully encouraging and educational scene, with the mind wondering how it would be to go on an adventure thru the air and around the world.  Fun, easy and intriguing!  

Tomorrow, a couple more ideas for the party!

Have Little Ones? Need party gift?

Last weekend my grandson, Padraic, had a birthday party. All the decorations were about flying around the world in a hot air balloon.  Maps from all over the world adorned the walls as miniature airplanes and a mass of small hot air balloons hung suspended from the high ceiling! (I'll try to get a tutorial of the hot air balloon decorations from my daughter--maybe in tomorrows post!)

Do you have little ones in the home?  Then I know that you have frequent birthday party invitations floating in and out of your hands.  Everyone loves a party!  Ever thought of having a cupboard or drawer where you keep gifts ready for parties?  I do.  There is always that time when you have no time, you are super busy and your child reminds you that "the" party is this afternoon!   That's when you go to the cupboard and unlike 'old mother Hubbard' you do not find it bare! Don't for get to stock it with gift bags and bows! A second idea, for the cupboard, is to use the cupboard contents for times when you need a reward for your own child.  But if you use it in this way, make sure the cupboard is a secret from the kiddos, it just wouldn't do to have them begging for rewards!  :)  Also, the cupboard saves you time and thus saves you money, no more running around to the store and using up all that gasoline for each party!

I've listed a few ideas to begin stocking your cupboard:

Cupcake necklace by Padraic

Triple YoYo Hair barette by PruittCreations

Jumping frog pencil bag by PruittCreations

 By the way, if you visit my shop, check out the marked down/ CLEARANCE  section for tags and cards!

It's a boy!

I have been away with my son and his family waiting for my twenty-sixth grandchild to be born! He's finally here! Although the birth was difficult in a couple of ways, and I won't go into the details, the best thing is that baby is healthy and perfect! He looks a little bluish and red but that will dissipate soon!   I am grateful to God for His provision and grace for a healthy mom and baby!


Son Aaron relaxing with his new son Gideon

 My son's family has a tradition, done with each of their home births--they celebrate the day with a birthday cake!  Here Aaron and his children light the candles!

grands from left to right--Ada, Bella, Roman

And then present the cake, singing Happy Birthday to baby Gideon and his momma, just four hours after the birth.

And, of course I am a very proud grandma! 

Do you have traditions for family occasions?

Mom's 84th Wordless Wednesday!

Me and mom a few years ago!

Today is my mom's birthday!  We are all very pleased to celebrate her 84 years!

Catch Up!

I've been out of the blog habit for a bit because of a ton of family events.  A vacation of sorts!   So here is the recap of my life lately:

My birthday was on the 30th of June and most all of my kids and their families were on hand to celebrate:


Bella Jo helping me blow out my candles!

I didn't get any pictures of our 4th of July Celebration because I was ill.  I went and laid on the couch all afternoon then went home before the fireworks began.  But everyone else had fun with new friends, swimming, BBQ, home made ice cream, and fireworks!

Then the next day we went camping.  All of us!  All of my kids and their families who live in the area and a few friends too!  There were 45 of us!  We had the circle end of the campground to ourselves and had a great time!

DIL Annie and grand Ada.

Plenty of relaxin'.  Plenty of visitin'.  Nice weather!

Swimming at the dock!



Far left corner, Vivi, then Raya, Julilee, Bella, Roman and mom



Even the littles!

And then there was a Hillbilly Golf tournament! Which my SIL won!

SIL Terry and grand Cassandra in the last heat.

Then we topped it off every night with the campfire and s'mores!  Great Fun! (Although the picture is not very clear, but you get the feel of the day.)

It was a great extended holiday!  Now back to the crafting biz!  See you tomorrow!

Owen's B-Day!

It is actually time for my 4th and final post on Creativity, but, I would like to postpone that until tomorrow because I want to share my weekend festivities with you!

One of my grandchildren had his 5th birthday Party yesterday.  Owen is his name.

I had told some of my blog friends the story of Owen shopping with me at the yardage store, a couple of weeks ago.   I wasn't planning on buying him anything when we went to the store.  We were there with his mother to look for yarn and for me to look for a particular fabric that I needed.  When we were looking, Owen found some fabric with his favorite toy on it--Transformers!  He wanted me to buy it!  So I purchase it and told him I would make him a quilt for his birthday, which was only a couple of weeks away.  We went home and he helped me pick thru my fabrics for some matching fabrics to use for the quilt.

Then the next day, he asked his mom if his quilt was done yet!  He kept asking daily; he had no concept of how long it takes to make a quilt!  Here is the quilt with the blue square quilt side and the backing of the transformers fabric:

On the quilt side, in the middle of each block, I stitched the number 5 so he will always remember when he got his quilt!

He finally got his quilt yesterday at his party, and he says that he likes the transformers side of the quilt best!

 P.S.  My hubby, his grandpa, wrote and illustrated a little book just for him, another delight of the day!

Winners and a Birthday!

Today is my second granddaughter's 21st birthday!  Maybe i will share some birthday pictures next week!  I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of her when she was young.  Here she is a cute 6 1/2 years old.  Happy Birthday Kelsie!!!!

Now . . . It's that time!  Time to announce the winners of my latest giveaway, celebrating  the re-opening of my Etsy Design shop! Thanks so much for all your entries!  Thanks for tweeting, commenting and connecting to my blog and facebook page.  I appreciate all of you who visit and read my blog!!! Now for the winners!


Necklace Winner is Daph!



Earring Winner is Cynthia R.



I will contact both of these winners by email. 

Congratulations! 

And according to your comments, these earrings were the favorite:



Terra Cotta Earrings by PruittDesign

 Again!  Thanks to everyone who participated!  Have a great Thursday!!!!! 

WW Little Sister's Birthday

Me and my sister, DeLynn

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Today is my favorite person's birthday! No, it's not one of my kids', it's my husband's birthday! Wasn't he a cute baby?  He is the youngest child and only boy in a family of five children.  Being the youngest, with four older sisters, his dad was careful to teach him to be respectful  to girls and how to be a gentleman.

Yesterday, my daughter-in-law wrote on Facebook: "We are nearing our 7th anniversary and my husband still opens the door for me!"  He learned it from my hubby, who still opens the car door for me after over twenty years of marriage.  My hubby learned from his father, and grandpa Joe would be so proud of the both of them! 

My hubby got his sense of humor and optimism from his dad too!  Everything with him is fun, puns abound and life is enjoyable.  I am blessed!



Hurricane Ridge at Olympic Nat'l Park

Happy Birthday, Honey!



Last Day of the Sale!

Today is the last day of my Birthday and EtsyAnniversary Sale in my Design Shop, but first, I wanted to tell you what I have been working on lately. 

My oldest granddaughter, Colleen, who recently graduated with her bachelors degree, asked me to make her a quilt.  She brought me a huge bag of her old t-shirts.  During her school years she participated in softball,volleyball,  & missions trips; she attended several schools and went to concerts, so she has lots of t-shirts for all of these activities.  I had never made a t-shirt quilt before, so I had to find a way to put my GD's life together in a pleasing design on her quilt. A friend of mine suggested a way to handle it, and I decided to try her way. I am not finished, but it is coming together nicely, I think.  I am house sitting right now, and don't have my camera, but I will try to show a picture in a couple of days on this blog.  I'm excited about it!




Colleen and her mother,Jackie, the birthday girl!

 
Now . . .for the final day of

CELEBRATING . . . . .    50% OFF SALE

Today is my oldest daughters birthday!   She thinks she's getting old, but what does that make me?????!!!Anyway, for the final day of the sale, I am offering anything, yes ANYTHING in my design shop for 50% OFF!  Use coupon code BDA11. 

Remember . . . . this is for today ONLY - November 8th!  Happy Shopping!

Celebration!

It was three years ago in November, that I started my experience on Etsy!  I started with the jewelry that I had been making while hubby studied evenings for his bachelors degree.  I wanted to not bother him, and I wanted to keep busy with something creative, so I started making jewelry.  When I got enough of it for myself -- and everyone in the family too if they wanted it!--I decided to sell it.  My daughter-in-laws told me about Etsy and so that was it!  Three shops later, the rest is history! 

November is also two of my lovely daughter's birthday's --one on the 4th and one on the 8th! 

So, I have decided to . . . . .
CELEBRATE!  ¤¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)(¸.•´ (¸.•`¤~♥ . . .
 
by running a daily special in my Design Shop each day for the first eight days of November.  The sale item will be 1/2 OFF and will be offered on a first come first serve basis!  When it's gone, it's gone for the day!
If you want to follow me on twitter,
http://twitter.com/thepinkgrammy
I will tweet the daily item in the very early morning (between midnight and 6 AM) to let you know what is new!  Should be fun! --(Also, the daily item will appear in the featured section at the top of the page for ONE DAY ONLY!) 

So join the fun--if only to see what is happenin'. 

Here's the item for the first day of November--Novermber 1st ONLY:

Necklace and Earrings set for Autumn

You have any birthdays in November that you are celebrating?   

Thursday Card Making Tutorial

As promised, Thursday is Card Making Day!

Today we will be making a birthday card.  This one will be good for the older person in your life, or, you can make it comical for a younger person.  Start with a purchased card blank or make your own from cardstock (This one has decorated cut edges using a deco scissors.)  Then gather some old photos of your family or whatever you have.  We didn't want to cut up our photos, so I copied them on our printer, for a paper copy that I could cut up. 

With a matching piece of cardstock or card blank, I cut out a simple frame.   Started cutting in the middle of the paper, cutting out the inside of the frame.  Round the corners.

Although I did not, at first decorate my frame, although you could stamp it like this one: (stamped with a Happy Birthday stamp.)

Cut the paper picture to fit the frame and glue to the back of the frame.  For the background of the card, I gathered some wide lace, cutting it and fitting and pasting it to the card. 

I added a simple bow to the top (because I like them) and finished the frame with some hand penciled coloring of scrolls and flowers for the finished product. 

I used this card to send to my mother, on her birthday this week.  She is 83 and I am a few years younger, (but old myself!), so I thought this would be appropriate for the both of us!  I know she will laugh at the insinuated meaning of us both being old!  :)  hee hee! 

Happy Birthday!

Well, today is my birthday!  I can think of nothing else!  Not that there is anything planned in the way of a party, I will see all my family on the 4th.  And then we will party! (I have an exceptionally large family, since we are a blended family.  I had six children and my husband had four. We all get together on the 4th--it's tradition!)

Thought I would post an old picture of me.  This is me on my second wedding day 21 years ago.   I don't look quite the same, sort of grandMAish now, but oh well, that's life!  It's a good life!

Grands are truely Grand!



Birthday Boy!



Yesterday was a full day, as today will be.  A graduation (another today) and a birthday party!  My five year old grandson had a batman birthday party and seven of my grandchildren were there!  Just though I would let you in on the fun.  P.S.  Batman is my grandson!



Stomping balloons for treats!




Batman's baby sister, Ada.




Cousin Vivi, the diva with the hot dog!




Transformer helmet gift! 





Yum!  Batman's curly-top sister.



Hope you enjoyed just a little portion of the party!  Sorry you couldn't sample the cake.

Better by the (two) dozen!

Did I tell you I am a grandmother! My twenty-fourth grandchild arrived this weekend! That's right--#24. But when you have raised 10 kids, that's not too many! Little Ada Margaret arrived late Saturday night -- a home birth. She has a brother and sister. Brother, Roman 4 yrs, sang to her: "Happy Birthday" and brought flowers to mommy and to little Ada.