97th Birthday Party Challenge

So my current project is a very special birthday party for a very special lady: my Granny! It combines a few of my favorite things (cue Julie Andrews singing softly in the background now): parties, party planning, travelling (especially going home) and Granny, who is my favorite of all. The party itself presents a couple of small challenges, plus I am proposing a challenge of my own just to make it even more interesting!
First, the inherent challenges:
1) Granny, as fabulous as she is, is turning 97 years old. She's had 96 birthdays and is not into making a big deal of herself. She is not a fussy or elaborate person at all. She is a very laid-back lady. She is gracious and fun-loving and will love and appreciate anything I put together, but I want to create something that is perfect for her and will not overwhelm or embarrass her.
2) This is the big one! The party will be at the nursing home where Granny lives and will have to fit into their schedule and their routine. Since Granny doesn't get around so well (that seems to happen when you're pushing 100 years old), I'm choosing to have her party at the nursing home so she does not have to go out and about and have trouble getting around. Plus, I want to include all of her new friends that live there. But...I don't know how many people that will entail, their cognitive and physical abilities and limitations, and any other restrictions there may be.
3) Her birthday is July 17 and I will be getting into town late in the day on July 14.

So that's a fun set of challenges to work with, but I'm upping the ante with a challenge of my own--I want to do all the decorations, paper, flowers, favors, etc for $25 or less.
Just for fun, here are the rules I'm setting for myself:
1) The $25 doesn't include the cake or any other food.
2) It's $25 to spend, not the estimated value of the products used (for example: sometimes on TV shows or for magazine articles, they'll use 25 of something that they purchased in a pack of 30, so they'll only count the per-item price of those 25 things in their total)
3) I'm not including sales tax in the $25, but the sales tax in my hometown is 10% and the sales tax where I live is 6.5% or 7%, depending on which city/town you're in.
4) I can use things that I or my dad already own as part of the party.

So there are my rules and my little challenge for myself. I'm going to get details on rules, guidelines, etc from the nursing home today and ask Granny what she wants the theme to be. Right now I'm thinking garden party with butterflies, 50's sock hop or beach bash. Details to come!

A Yay and a Boo

Happy Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as I did. This morning, I have a pretty new layout for my blog (yay!) courtesy of shabbyblogs.com. Super cute and FREE! And they are easy to use for those who are just getting started and figuring this blog thing out. Check it out! So that's my yay and now for the boo...an update (or maybe I should call it a down-date) on the "first big project." Re-doing my office has been postponed until August due to hubby's crazy work schedule in July and my leaving town for a week. Since I need to use the room on a daily basis, we decided against tearing it up until we know we can get it put back together in a short amount of time. So I am on the quest for another project. Any ideas?

Happy 4th of July!

4th of July picnic outfit by amdesign featuring kate spade clutches

Just a quick post. Here's what I am wearing to our 4th of July parties today. Actually, it's an approximation of what I am wearing--the closest I could find pictures of. And the super-cute enamel rings are just for pretend. I wish I had them, but I do not (sigh). Kate Spade has a bunch of really cute jewelry out for the summer, including some with a caning design and some Mayan-inspired pieces. LOVE this!
Happy 4th, y'all!

Baby Bro's Orange and Blue Graduation Party

Baby Brother's graduation party was this past Saturday. Hubby and I went to Chicago for a week and set it up. It was a great time--just a fun, super laid-back backyard get-together with fried chicken, keg beer and old friends. Here are some pictures as we were setting up.
I decided not to do flowers on the tables because 1) while he certainly would have appreciated them, BB's not a big flower guy 2)we needed bug candles on the tables and 3) there were storms in the forecast, so I didn't know how long the party would actually be set up outside and how fast we would have to break it down to get everything in the house. So I did a couple fun, masculine and waterproof decorations, the main ones being 2 18" orange I's in the 2 planters flanking the front entrance of the house. They were my favorite part and what do you know--I didn't take a single picture of them!!! Oh bother. Hopefully, they'll still be in OK shape next time I go up there, so I can take one then. I put big cintronella candles on the tables and small citronella votives in
miniature galvanized tubs on the highboys.


The neighbor loaned us the sweetest tub for wine. It wasn't orange and blue, but was the perfect size and unique and handmade. The galvanized went with the other items I had out. I also wrapped the orange plastic flatware in big white paper napkins and tied them up with orange, blue and white ribbon in a 12" round galvanized tub lined with an orange cloth napkin we had at the house. And...no picture again! That didn't get put out until the dinner was delivered, so I didn't think to take a picture while we were setting up. For the snacks, I put the loose plasticware in cups with some napkins and plates. Here they are--not as exciting as the dinner stuff.



I did a couple very simple arrangements and used a little beargrass, which I don't usually do, to make it look more festive and echo some of the ribbon streamers I used in other places.



I did a little table with cards and pens, asking people to leave words of wisdom for the graduate. Towards the end of the night, his friends left some messages that were...um....less-than-wise.

I did a couple little I's for the back porch. They were in flower containers.

Some crazy-lady Wisconsin and Michigan fans (my cousin and MIL) were trying to change the letters, though :)

My backyard party outfit (and the dog's) by amdesign featuring kate spade clutches

More Polyvore!
Here's my idea for my dream outfit for the party tonight(plus, what the dog would wear). But alas, there will be no brand new cute outfit and fabulous accesories for me, and the doggie isn't even invited to the party, so no outfit for her, either. I'll probably be wearing one of the old standby dresses with some fun jewelry to make it look new and fresh.
Happy Saturday!

I Love Summer

My plans for the summer by amdesign featuring J Crew bags

My idea board for my summer plans!

I Love This

Since I will be away from reliable internet connection, I thought I would compile some polyvore idea boards to post in my absence. Polyvore is a fabulous website that I came across. It allows you to creat these idea boards from tons of images that they have available to search and you can clip some of your own images in, either from your own photos or from some places on the internet. The coolest part to me is, as you mouse over each image, it will tell you where it is from and information on it, like the price. So say you put together a board for a super-cute outdoor party and found the dress and shoes you want to wear, as well as a fab vintage tablecloth. You can include those in your idea board and then refer back to it so you know where to go to buy them! So cool! I love it!