Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

My Mom is celebrating her 60th birthday this week and I have had it in my mind for a couple years that I wanted to throw her a surprise party! So last night we had 40 of her closest friends and family at a banquet hall with a band for a great party! If you have ever hosted a surprise party, you know it is nerve racking up to the last second, but once my Mom arrived, the stress was so worth it! She was very surprised and had a great time! It all worked out wonderfully, I don't think it could have gone any better, except if my sister and her family would have been able to make from out of state! So finally, I can post a picture on things I have been working on for the past few months! I started with the invitations in October! I knew I had to have them done before the holidays or my life would have been even more hectic! I used Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and Sky Blue on her card. I bought the Top Secret stamp on eBay. The other images are from Stampin' Ups! Eat Cake stamp set. On the inside I paper clipped a picture of my Mom from when she was in her 20s, its a great picture! I used the "sweet" stamp from the So Very set and the 60 is from Brushstroke Numbers set. For the map to the party, I used Google earth to create an image of the location and printed it in black and white and put an x on the spot. After Christmas I was able to start working on the other stuff for the party. The book on the left is Stampin' Up's on board art journal. I decorated it with Groovy Guava Designer Series paper, Groovy Guava ribbon, Sky Blue Ribbon and Wild Wasabi Ribbon. The flower in the left hand corner was made using my cuttlebug and some flower dies and I attached a clear button in the middle.

I also used my cuttlebug to make the title on the journal: Patti's Sweet 60 for the title. On the inside I stamped Happy Birthday and some various images on the first several pages and I used that for a guest book. I will fill in the rest of the pages with pictures, later. In the middle of the picture are some of the party favors. I bought some little Tins that Wilton makes and cut strips of the Groovy Guava Designer Series Paper to go around them. The top is a piece of Groovy Guava cardstock cut out using the scallop circle punch and then on top of it is just a white piece of card stock. I printed Patti's Sweet 60 1-26-08 on the white card stock using my color printer then punched them out with a circle punch. I used a dimensional to adhere the white to the Groovy Guava. I filled each tin with 60 red hots (my mom loves red hots!) To the right of the party favors is the centerpiece. I took old coffee cans and covered them with Groovy Guava Designer Series paper and Groovy Guava Ribbon. Inside the cans I put a Styrofoam block. I used my cuttlebug again to make the flowers and I attached them to skewers using glue. I made them double sided so even if you were looking from the back, it looks like a flower. Then I printed out a picture of my mom from when she was 3 and on the back is her senior picture. I glued them to a skewer also and then filled the can with some moss. A lot of thought and hard work went into this party, and it was so worth it. My mom was very happy and we all had a great time! Plus, now I can finally share all my goodies with you all!