Caroline's 6th Paris Birthday!

Caroline asked me for a Paris themed birthday party last year, before she turned five.  Her fascination with Paris started a couple of years ago, when she would spot cell phone towers along the interstate and ask, "Mommy, is that the Eiffel Tower?"  She still asks the same question two years later.  

So, I decided to throw her a Paris themed party for her 6th birthday.  She was so excited.  And she was finally big enough to help me with the crafts.  Her request was an Eiffel Tower on her birthday cake.  I'm sure I could have left it at that, but I decided to make a banner, and one thing led to another...and...

I cut triangular shapes out of some left-over burlap fabric and hot glued them to some twine.  I ordered a pink banner from Oriental Trading and glued the triangles onto my burlap.  I bought these cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby and just hot-glued them onto the pink triangles.

Then I purchased these white pillar candle holders from Pottery Barn.  I found some Paris themed burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby and trimmed my candles with it.  I hot-glued a silk pink peony to the bottom of the candle.  These became the centerpieces for the tables. 

 Then I purchased these HUGE 36 inch balloons from TOMKAT STUDIO and decided to tie them onto the candles.  I thought it was a great idea.  

 Mrs. Charlotte Walker from Springville made the birthday cake.  Caroline requested chocolate.  Her favorite.  

 I wanted to decorate this piece of furniture for the room.  I cut out squares from a piece of burlap ribbon and used a cricut to cut out paper letters from some pink striped paper.  There were pink gum balls (Oriental Trading), strawberry sugar wafers, and strawberry yogurt covered pretzels.

I knew that I wanted Caroline to have an Eiffel Tower at her party, but didn't want to spend a ton of money.  I found this metal picture at Kirklands.  It was grey, and that's just about it.  I glued damask fabric onto the back of it.  Then, Caroline and I painted the clouds and trees.  Then I strung on the lights.  Big improvement.  

 I've known for two years that I wanted to include the Milne poem on her birthday invitation.  They were adorable.

I made this number 6 from a piece of burlap fabric.  It's stuffed with plastic grocery bags.  I used acrylic paint and hung it with some floral wire.  

...and I added this tag.  I called my mother to do the writing because I love her handwriting.

This is the front porch.  The pink poodle was a gift to Caroline before she was born.  

I asked Caroline if she would like to take a painting class for her birthday.  She loves to paint.  Of course, she wanted to paint the Eiffel Tower, so I contacted Wendy Weisskoff of Doodles by Wendy to instruct the girls.  They had so much fun!

And you have to have french fries at a "French" party!

Mikey's first birthday party!  He was not happy as you can tell.  

Caroline also requested a big bowl of punch.  We served it in mason jars with paper straws from TOMKAT STUDIO.

Opening gifts.

The whole group.  What a picture!  

Her finished painting.

With her "Pie."

I hope she had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.  One day she will look back (hopefully!), and see how much she was loved.  

Love you, Caroline!!!  Happy #6!

Joining...

Wow Us Wednesdays!

My precious little-ones...

Hello Again! A few changes. :)

It's been a while since I've posted. Over a year, actually. I've been busy, but have not been good about posting on all of the changes, parties, cooking, and hosting that I've done. Just recently, I added some curtains in the dining room and bought some amazing pillar candle holders from Pottery Barn! They are gorgeous.
 
 I helped host a dinner for the Passover season, and ordered white tulips from Sam's Club for the occasion. They were simple but beautiful. And, yes. You can order flowers from Sam's, and shipping is included! I ordered 100 of these, and they were perfect. By the way, here is why I haven't posted in so long...
 
 I had a handsome baby boy. He weighed 11 lbs. and 9 oz. Yep. That's right. He will be 4 months old this month! Here is another picture of my new dining arrangement...
 And here is the master bedroom. I added white curtains and bedding from Pottery Barn.

I'm still not finished in my bedroom.  The lamps came from Kirklands.  Pottery Barn was selling some that were almost identical.  I saved about $500 by buying these from Kirklands.  I wasn't a fan of the shades, but found burlap shades on clearance for $5 from Kirklands a few months later.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dining Room to Living Room

I decided to swap my dining and living room areas this past weekend. I am loving the change. I get a better view of the creek and the woods in my back-yard now, AND I love cooking in the kitchen and being able to see my daughter playing around the coffee table. I also love that I can see the television from the kitchen as well. Now I get to watch The Young and the Restless while I cook dinner!!!


This is a view of the entire dining area. This is what you see when you walk into the house. I added the quilt yesterday. It was given to me by a very dear friend.




This is the buffet in my foyer.




This is a table in the new dining area.




More Spring flowers in a Southern Living door bucket.




This is the china cabinet that I had painted to match my kitchen cabinets. I am not thrilled with the flowers on top of it. I had pine and berries and pine cones on top of it for Winter, but I'm ready for Spring. I'm thinking that I may need to use tulips. ??




This is a picture of the mantle over my stove. I took my winter decor down, and decided to display two topiaries and a couple of Southern Living lanterns. The plate came from The Columbia in St. Augustine. I love this plate. It is from Spain.



This is the view of the new living room, from the dining area. The photo isn't the best, but it is so cozy. I didn't think I decorated very "country" but now that I look at these pictures...



This is a better picture of the quilt. I stacked my Fitz and Floyd plates on top of my Southern Living cake plate. The antique milk crate came from an estate sale at Destrehan Plantation in Louisiana.




Thanks for stopping by!

I am linking up to:

Senior Portraits

My sister's-in-law sister, is a Senior in Texas and asked me to take her Senior portraits while we were visiting St. Augustine, Florida. Perfect location for taking photos!