opera party

Guest of Honor/Hostess

 Thought I'd share a few pics from my daughter's 8th grade promotion party a couple of weekends ago. She *hearts* Phantom of the Opera so way back when (before school was even done) she had decided she wanted a theme party. At first it was going to be a Phantom themed party, but in the end we went with a general opera them. 

As the girls arrived we were playing a variety of mostly well known opera music in the background. All the girls were encouraged to wear formals. After the guests were greeted, they received a "playbill" outlining the evening for them (we had lots of stuff for them to do --never a dull moment!)

The first thing they saw as they entered the foyer was this guy (who my daughter insists looks more Leonardio Di Caprio, than Gerard Butler).

The Phantom (inspiration, decoration & victim for "pin the mask on the phantom")

Souvenir Program

 After a few ice-breaking activities, the girls had dinner. A buffet style tea table ("with too many sweet things" I heard later).

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Buffet table

A few of my friends (the moms of our guests) helped me with the finishing touches. I was thrilled that my friend Allison remembered fancy napkin folding from her younger days when she did a stint waitressing at a 5-star restaurant.

Dining table

Group pic

After dinner conversation

Celina checks to see what is coming up next

After good food and good friends, the girls slipped into comfy clothes and spent the rest of the night rocking "Dance Central" on the x-box.

quietly crafting (among other things)

At California Adventure with the kiddoes

So even thought I've been pretty busy this year, it's been a fairly quiet year for me as far as teaching classes. Fact is, other than the classes I've done at my home, I haven't done any other teaching. It wasn't that I haven't wanted to, but before this year even started I knew I had a big, busy spring in store. I guess I've really just been too distracted to throw myself into the throes of class design  & prep (as much as I wanted to).

At CHA Winter Show with Tammy, Genine & Michelle

As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't been on hiatus from my creative/crafty life. Besides attending and working the CHA Winter show in January and the Anaheim Scrapbook Expo in February,  I also kept busy creating projects for Ready, Set, Create ezine so I've been plenty crafty.

Scrapbook Expo Anaheim - Working with PK Glitz

This month I've been busy getting ready to be a vendor at an NSD crop in Orange County (more on that at my other blog).

Getting my vendor table ready for NSD crop

But the Big Thing that has really got my attention is party planning. My son graduates high school in just a little over a month. And in just a couple of weeks after that we are having a graduating party for him. Seems like there is so much (too much) to do in just 8 weeks.

Trying to remember to take it one step at a time. Oh, yeah... and to breathe.

a very crafty week

Well, the week is half over and we have plenty to show for it. Monday and Tuesday were spent with a group of friends putting together a gift album. Most of the crafters in our group had never scrapbooked before, but they jumped in with both feet. We turned out 42 double page 8x8 spreads -- how's that for a productive group? In fact, we over-produced - there were too many to fit into our book so we had to remove 3 of the spreads.

Here are all the layouts spread out on a table:


Wow, that's a whole lotta layouts!

Once the book was done, my attention turned to the party this Saturday. We've been a regular little "candy" making factory! Here's a peek at what we've created:


We still have a few more little things to do before we're completely ready for the party, but we're definitely on our way. So, I can breathe a sigh of relief now and turn my attention to making a "what to pack" list for our vacation next week.

Whew!