A Princess Birthday Party

This summer has been full of party planning, and I have loved every bit of it! A good friend of mine requested help for her daughters 6th and 9th birthday party. Yep it was a sister party combo, and I was up for the challenge. Knowing me, I can't just settle for the run of the mill Princess Party.

Welcome to the Princess Party!







 

 

Let's go have a Princess Manicure:

 

After that, we can become princess fashion designers, and design our very own shirts!

 

 

Now it's time for our photo shoot! The Princess Party Photo booth was a success!

 

 



 

It's time for tea, but first, let's sing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Princesses. My friend did a spectacular job on the cake!

Gifts and Favors!

 

It was a fun royal celebration! I can't wait for my next planning adventure!

Vacation Time!

Every once in a while you need a quick get away. A place where you don't have to answer e-mails, you don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn, or worry about the problems of the day. You can sit, relax, and sip some good ole ice tea. We had such a hectic Summer, that it almost got away from us without a vacation. So, we took a quick weekend get away to the island (Galveston Island). It's only about 30 mins from us, but well worth it, for the above reasons. It was a birthday get away, to celebrate our 2 birthdays.

We began our weekend get away on the Historical Galveston Strand. It's a great place for shopping. We got ice cream, and bought an authentic British Officer's Sword. My husband's teaching a young boy's bible study, "The Way of the Warrior." Next weekend, they are having a knighting ceremony to conclude the Bible Study. Thus the need for the British Officer's Sword.

 

 

 

After the Strand, we made our way to Moody Gardens. It had to be at least 10 years since I've been to Moody Gardens. I loved all of the animal additions to the place.

 

The Rain Forest Pyramid:

 

 

 

 

 

The Aquarium Pyramid:

 

 

 

 

The hotel was awesome! They are so family friendly. Jesse got a nifty backpack full of all sorts of fun things, and he ate free the entire time - how cool is that! The view from our hotel room was amazing. They had a fireworks show over the beach, which we chose to watch by the pool. Plus we had free passes to their "Palm Beach," which we took advantage of the next day. We had such a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, we went to Pleasure Pier, the new amusement park that opened on the sea wall. It was so much fun!

 

Overall, we had a pretty fun weekend get-away! Hope you had a great summer. What get aways did you get to take this summer?







Baby's Breath Candle Rings

I have fallen in love with the Baby's Breath Flower (also known as Gypsophila). In the past, I always saw these as filler flowers. You know the cheap flower to fill in the bouquet when you can't afford to fill it with the pretty flowers. Little did I know that by themselves, they look almost heavenly. I love the cloud like appearance they produce when bunched up together within a bouquet. One of the things I love about planning events, is the craft aspect of it. I knew I wanted to make candle rings out of baby's breath for the Royal Bridal Shower, but when I looked on the web for a tutorial, I saw hardly anything. The thing about the baby's breath as oppose to regular flowers used for creating candle rings, is the smallness in size.  After much research on this, I figured out how I was going to make these. Here is how I made them.

Supplies:
Floral Wire
Glue Sticks
Glue Gun
Flowers
Scissors

Description:
Step 1:  Measure the candle. Take the floral wire, create a ring from the wire that measures 2 inches larger than the candle. Glue the wire with the hot glue gun.

Step 2: Take the flowers, cut off the stems, and break off sprigs of flowers, to where they have about a 2 inch stem for gluing.

Step 3: Glue the flowers around the ring until it is filled with flowers.

It is that simple, and I think they turned out lovely. What do you think?

I hope you  have an Acristicraftastic day!

A Royal Bridal Shower

Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;  honor him, for he is your lord. The city of Tyre will come with a gift, people of wealth will seek your favor. All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold.  In embroidered garments she is led to the king;  her virgin companions follow her— those brought to be with her. Led in with joy and gladness,  they enter the palace of the king.
Psalm 45:10-15

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a bridal shower for a dear friend in the choir. She is a special lady, filled with elegance and charm. So, she deserved nothing less than a shower fit for a queen. I love Psalm 45, it is a wedding Psalm, and is filled with inspiration - the inspiration that led to this beautiful shower. The colors chosen to adorn this affair, gold and cream, spoke of royal elegance.

Who would have thought the baby's breath flowers would look so elegant? I had a blast creating the flower rings for the vases. We used flowers and candles for the décor, to give the room an elegant feel. I thought it turned out pretty nice. I love the soft lighting of candles, even in a room with a wall of windows. The mirror tiles gave a nice reflection of the flowers.

As guest entered, they were given the opportunity to sign a cross as the guest book. As there were guests from different aspects of the bride-to-be’s life, name tags were provided. Then of course there was an area for the gifts. The cross guestbook was a huge hit, and the guest of honor couldn't wait to hang it in her home.

Since the shower was in the afternoon, we decided on light finger foods, mainly fruits and vegetables, for the food. The cake, however, was divine.

Normally, I'm not the one to want to have too many games at the showers, but basing the shower off of a biblical theme made the shower games not seem to be as cheesy. The first game we played was to name the couples in the bible. The ladies were given a list of men in the bible, and were to write in the names of their wives. There were a few tricky ones just to make it a little more fun. The winner did pretty good, and got all but one.

The second game was a pass the gift game. The ladies stood in a circle, as I read 1 Corinthians 13. They were to pass the gift each time I said the word "Love." When it was all said and done with the lady with the gift remaining was the winner.


After the games, we ate cake, and opened gifts. As this was mainly a choir bridal shower, there was lots of singing as well. We even had a moment of sharing small advices of how to have a successful marriage, or at least what us old married ladies have learned through being married. All in all it was a spectacular shower. I just know the bride-to-be enjoyed her shower. I can't wait until my next event planning venture...

Little Miss Ladybug's Momma-to-be Photos

I think I'm falling in love with photography. Taking pictures of soon to be momma's is a blast! This little momma is about to have her first girl, and she is naturally beautiful. The camera loved her smiling face. I couldn't help but share a couple of photos. I can't wait to share them at her babyshower, that I'm helping to plan. It will be a wonderful way to decorate the shower for this new ladybug that is about to join us.

Crochet Time

A friend of mine recently had a baby. I love crocheting baby clothes, so what better way to welcome this precious baby, than to crochet a sweet little summer sweater. I think it turned out so adorable, what do you think? I love ribbon used to tie the sweater on, and the pink border gives it a soft feminine touch. I hope she enjoys her new gift. She is such a pretty baby! I can't wait to see her again.

A Night fit for a Queen

Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father's house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him for he is your lord.
Psalm 45:10-11

The other night, I hosted an amazing Ladies Night at my house. I wanted to do something special for the ladies on my care team in the church choir. So, I planned a special night for them, a night fit for a Queen!!!

We started the evening with dinner - spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread.

After dinner, we had Mary Kay facials - thanks to my friend Heather. Check out these beauties!!!

Following our beauty treatments, we jumped into the Word to learn about the preparations Queen Esther took in order to see the King. We then discovered what preparations we should take to see our King.

Overall, it was a fabulous evening. I can't wait until our next get together!!!