60 Wishes Memory Book

 My Mom celebrated her 60th birthday two days ago.  I've been brainstorming ideas for making it a special memory for awhile now.  One thing I did was make her a little album with cards.  Originally, I was going to send cards to the family and all her friends...it turns out it took all three months I had given myself to get the cards back from just the family.  I adapted the idea...more on this in a minute....I printed out a letter asking for the person who received it to write a special memory they have of my mom.  I also included a card and a self addressed envelope.  I found a pack of cards at Hobby Lobby I liked.

 To house these letters I made a little book.  I took two pieces of thin cardboard and cut them out to the size of a 5/7 envelope.  I also took some burlap scrapbook 'paper' and covered the front.  I had to hot glue it to keep it to stay on the board.

 On the inside, I glued down two pieces of scrapbook paper.  I punched a hole in the cover/back and each letter.

 I decided to just try to get just the family and a few of her closest friends who don't live here.

For the 'other' friends, I figured most of them would be bringing a card to the luncheon I was hosting, and I am going to hole punch the cards and put these in the same book so she can have a memory of all the people that helped celebrate her 60th...both near and far.  

My Mom's 60th

 This past weekend I held a party to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  It was a no boys allowed sort of event, which means today (her 'real' birthday) the boys will be invited.  I held it at a little tea room in Richardson, Chocolate Angel-the same place I had my 30th.

 They pretty much have all the adorable decorations you could want in the Chantilly room, but....I brought a few of my own b/c that's the kind of girl I am!

 I went through my aunt's old albums and found some old school pictures I copied and printed out.

 I grabbed some flowers.

 And some bottled Dr. Pepper, my Mom's all time favorite drink.  I added a pink straw to jazz it up.

 Even though dessert came with the meal, I decided I wanted a dessert favor as well, so I bought some individual bundt cakes and added a tag, ribbon, flower etc, which I blogged about here.

 The packaging is already cute, but....I feel the need to add ribbon to everything.

 I put them around the tables.

 I am so grateful for the ladies that came out to celebrate with my mom.

 I know they have each been a blessing, and I'm constantly reminded that these are the type of friends I want to have 'when I grow up,' but more importantly, the kind of friend I want to be.

 No doubt, it's not a hardship to be friends with my Mom-her glass is always half full.  I call her unrealistically optimistic.  She's a peace maker...which is good considering I'm her daughter and I do like to battle it out.

 I'm grateful that for 35 of her years, she's been dedicated to being my Mom.

 Happy 60th, Mom!  Here's to 60 more!

Glittered Candle

 I've been working on some details for my Mom's 60th in a few months.  I decided I want to do pinks and golds, but it's no as easy to find gold as I was hoping it would be.  I've been on the hunt for gold candles...yes, I said it's still MONTHS away, but....this is how I roll.  I found some for about 14 dollars, but it wasn't the shape I was looking for....and then I thought....hey, I bet I can make my own.
I bought some candles for a buck at the store and then took some mod podge and glitter and got to work.

 I painted a layer of mod podge and then glittered.

 Once it dried, I painted another layer of mod podge over the glitter-this prevents it from flaking all over the cake....not that I haven't inhaled enough glitter in my life, but some people might protest.

Now on to the next, 6,543 projects I want to do to celebrate Mom.