a spy birthday party :: part 2

Some fun candids from the party!! I think we had close to 20 1st graders celebrating with us. I’m so glad my mom was here visiting to help wrangle the troops and keep all of the detectives on task with their spy duties ;)

Ava Blu’s been googling and youtubing “James Bond Cakes” for months and was determined to have a cake made with fondant just like they make on Cake Boss.

Thank goodness they actually carry pre-made fondant at Michaels along with all the other additional baking supplies we needed. That cake was the most expensive part of throwing her party. But it was definitely worth it since she had a great time making it and rolling out the fondant.

The kids LOVED the laser obstacle course!! I got the idea from here. Who would of thought you could have so much fun with a ball of pink yarn?!

There was lots of singing and dancing, I pulled together the perfect spy sound track on Spotify, gosh I love that app. And of course there were feet up on the ottoman!?!

Jay broke out his camera and all the spys dressed up in their best disguises and posed.

It was soooo awesome to see all of these girls ready to pose and role play with out feeling the least bit inhibited.

Seven is such a wonderful age. I wish more adults would just relax and embrace the moment the way these girls did. I mean look at how much fun they had!

All in all it was a Great Day and a Birthday that she will always remember!! Which really is what it’s all about :)

a spy birthday party :: part 1

What started out as a glint of an idea for Ava Blu’s 7th Birthday Party quickly grew into something so much more. The idea for her party was heavily inspired by her current infatuation with James Bond, Harriet the Spy, Nancy Drew and pretty much anything spy. A little back story: Every year during the holidays between Thanksgiving and Christmas we break out our collections of James Bond movies and have a movie watching marathon until we get through our entire collection. I guess this year the movies had more of an impression.

So, after a little googling of “James Bond Birthday Cakes” and “Spy Birthday” we found a ton of amazing inspiration like this spy birthday pary, and this party and this one.  Most of the spy birthday parties that I found were for boys but I knew we could easily pull together a girlie spy party.

I try to keep things simple, as I have a lot on my plate these days, but when I couldn’t find a suitable evite theme I just decided to go for printing out actual paper invites instead which got the ball rolling and from there I just couldn’t stop myself. It quickly became our favorite topic of conversation at dinner. What type of spy games did she want to play. Our ‘want list’ soon became way longer then what we could actually accomplish. But it was a great start and so much fun deciding what activates and games we were going to play.

We started off with doing some fingerprinting, creating id badges, and designing and decorate their spy mask disguises.

You can download everything here if you want to create your own girls spy birthday party:

Invite (with fill in the blanks)

Fingerprint Sheets

Spy ID Badges

Notebook Labels (for dective notebooks)

Door Sign

Create Your Own Spy Name (Pick one of each color. I got the idea here and customized it for 7yr girls.)

A Moment in Good Karma :: hanging with the ones you love

 

 A reminder that good karma is always around the bend. 

Even on the rainiest of days.

Keep the good vibes coming, share your good karma moment in the comments for all of us to see. :) 

Link Love

Keeping it short and sweet today by sharing some Link LOVE!!

1. I’m totally enjoying Jen’s FREE Video Summit. It runs until March 8th so there’s still time to join in.
2. How cool that you can brush up on your art history here and here!
3. have been on a mission to find the koala.
4. I recently learned about this place from listen to Leslie over at AHA. It’s a bit more traditional media oriented, but hey sometimes you need to break out of your same old routine.
5. And oh my gosh just today I learned about this creative learning meca!
6. I just started using this card to get my hands on some FREE audiobooks that I’ve been wanting to listen to.
7. And with that card I just started to listen to this while I work.
8. Found this awesome artist owned art store that sells dry pigments. I’ve never used dry pigments before but I definitely want to give it a try.
9. Been digging some old-time string band sound.
10. And have been crazy busy creating and writing for these guys.

Share OUT :: Love Locks

I still have hearts in my eyes even thought valentine’s day feels like it’s already long gone. I mean who doesn’t like the idea of everlasting love? I’ve been fixated by the idea of Love Padlocks. It something that has become super popular in Europe and Asia due to a scene in this Italian book. Now if only the English version of the book was available.

The idea is that Lovers write their names together on a padlock and affix it to a bridge railing, overpass, gate, fence or other similar public place trapping their love and locking their souls together for eternity. Vowing to never separate. Gosh I’m a total sap for this kind of thing.

Picture Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

On My desktop:: a little of this a little of that

It’s been a busy week with a little of this and a little of that. It’s interesting how quickly the week has slipped away from me but yet there were moments when it felt like time was standing still. Our perception of time is such a strange and funny thing. Sometimes having a minute longer is just enough time to finish up and at other times it doesn’t matter how many more minutes you have it will never be enough. Time keeps on ticking and I’m just starting to feel like I’m getting a handle on this year and am starting to get back in my grove.

And speaking of getting back into the grove, I’m hoping to start a weekly creative co-working group with some like minded folks that also live in the SF East Bay. I thought it would be a great way to stay connected and have some company while I worked. For the past two years I had been to be part of an artist & crafter entrepreneurial group that met on a weekly basis but unfortunately over this past summer the group has disbanded. Since then I’ve been seriously missing the comradery. So, if you live in the Bay Area and are interested in being part of something like this drop me a line and lets chat!

share OUT :: Wishing Tree

I recently ran across this article and was totally mesmerized by the pictures. A money tree!! Kind of cool right!!! I grew up with my folks always saying that money doesn’t grow on trees. Guess that not entirely true in this case.

I did a bit more digging and found out that these trees were actually called wishing trees. They are thought to possess special spiritual power. They bring good luck and health to believes that make a votive offering to the nature spirits by hammers a coin into the tree. One wish will be granted for each coin that is knocked into the tree and remains there.

Folks have been visiting these same trees in Scotland, Ireland and England since the 1800’s paying homage and making their wishes leaving these trees with hundreds of ancient and modern day coins embedded in them. 

I find this totally fascinating and an interesting testament to faith.

 Picture Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Share Out :: 2 of my new favorite tools

I just wanted to share with your two of my new favorite web tools :)

I’m totally digging the collage tool over at picmonkey. I’m amazed how easy it was and much faster than using photoshop.

And I recently ran across this really cool browser add-on that will tell you the names of the fonts your favorite web sites are using including the size, weight and style. Pretty cool, huh!?

A Moment in Good Karma :: Quiet Time

 A reminder that good karma is always around the bend. 

Even on the rainiest of days.

Keep the good vibes coming, share your good karma moment in the comments for all of us to see. :) 

Eye Candy for the Soul...Crushing on Karma

 

Here’s some eye candy for your soul. 20 more ways to have a Crush on Karma! We all need a reminder from time to time.

1. Cheer some one up! - We all have a bad day from time to time.
2. Accept without judgement- This is definitely a learned behavior (at least it is for me), but once you start putting it into practice it starts to become second nature.
3. Be spontaneous- Being totally predictably can start to be a bit dull. Sometimes you just have to get out there and “just do it” (Yep- I just quoted Nike!)
4. Pick up the phone and call someone- Get Connected and reach out.  It’s crazy, because I actually use my phone more for checking emails, facebook, instagram and texting more then I actually use it for making phone calls.
5. Take a deep breath and breath- You’ll find it does wonders.
6. Sing!! - When you’re in gridlock traffic, sing your favorite song and smile at the cars beside you. I bet they’ll smile back :)
7. Write “you’re beautiful” on the mirror before you go to bed- I promise you it will bring a smile to your face in the morning when you are brushing your teeth.
8. Tell your kiddo they can do anything they want- And be sure to actually mean it!! (they can tell when you don’t)
9. Do something that scares you- The adrenaline rush will be like no other!! And hay, you might find out that it’s not that scary after all.
10. Someday is not a day of the week- If you’re procrastinating or avoiding doing something ask yourself WHY? Then decide if it’s worth doing and cross it off your list.
11. Buy a cup of coffee for a friend or co-worker- It’s amazing how the smallest gestures can sometimes mean the most.
12. Do something just for fun! - Stop putting the fun stuff off till later, ‘cause you and I both know that later never comes.
13. When flowers are blooming share!- Leave some in your neighbor’s newspaper mailbox or on their front porch.
14. Make someone laugh- And don’t forget to laugh with them. Laughter is a beautiful thing.
15. Spend a whole day unplanned- Rather than rushing around to get somewhere or get something done open yourself up to the world around you.
16. Go green- Join a community garden. It’s a great way to get a greener thumb, learn about your local veggie vanities and make some friend.
17. Pick up trash - Clean up and pitch in. We all have to do our share. 
18. Hold the elevator- I’m sure we’ve all experieced running late and having the elevator door shut on us just as we get there. Stinks doesn’t it. Put your best foot forward and extend a small kindness to others. Next time it might be them holding the door for you.
19. Write a handwritten note- Sometimes an emails just doesn’t cut it. And don’t forget how nice to get something in the mail other then bills and junk.
20. Speak with kindness.- Make every word count! Someone once told my daughter that “Feelings are like puppies, be gentle.” and this has totally stuck with her.