Skip to main content

A Paper Party

This week is definitely taking on its own theme, with all these little notes about paper.  But in the meanwhile, I am cooking up something big for next week, adding trim work to the upstairs hallway, so stay in touch!

Paper is so fun.  I think it's one of the reasons I became a teacher.  I just love playing with all things paper.  I could spend hours in the stationery store.  A few years ago at a conference at Penn State, I visited the bookstore and found all these new "teacher toys" for school:  blank hardbound books, highlighter tape, rainbow paper on rings, and tons of other goodies.  Here is one little notebook I love that sports the logo good thinking!
I'm afraid two of my children have the same addiction, one doesn't stop making paper airplanes and the other just loves paper.  This morning on his WAY OUT THE DOOR, my son stopped to grab a piece of paper out of the printer to MAKE AN AIRPLANE to fly on his way to school.  (I so wish I were ten again!)    Of course in the moment I was like, "Are you kidding me?  Get your lunch, get your backpack and give me that paper!"  My daughter is also a collector of paper.  She will write on any paper and it will be a short list or something that looks like a doodle and if I ask, "Is this okay to throw away?" she always says, "Oh no, I've been looking for that!"  She's got drawers and drawers of paper.  Well, I can relate. 

So when it came time for a friend's birthday, I used simple paper to create a little party.  Now I know that you could use those Cricut cutters and go all out, but this is my simplified version that took about five minutes.

These were a surprise find in Joann Fabric in the Martha Stewart section.  At first I thought I would find some flags to make that I could use for all the birthdays, but the kits were a small fortune. Then something caught my eye - the paper coasters!  They were precut in cute flower shapes, were very sturdy, and had a decorative white border.  All it needed was a white pen and a clever birthday wish!  I wrote b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y g-i-r-l on each of the coasters and simply taped them to a coordinating ribbon.  Viola!  I think the cost was $3-4, as opposed to $14 for the kit. 

The second part of the birthday was the cupcakes, except that my friend doesn't eat flour.  So a cute standby, meringues.  Just use a cupcake paper liner so they fit in the cupcake stand. 
Finally, wrapping paper again.  I wrapped a box of chocolates, which I may start keeping on hand for last minute gifts, in pretty wrapping with an elegant bow.  I'm sorry I don't have the final gift pictured, but I'll show you my wrapping station another day.
Instant party with paper!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Connecting

Often we hear about how important it is to grow, stretch our wings, reach out. I've heard from astrology friends that the planets are aligned in a new way right now and that this is an incredible time to bring new things into our lives. But what? you ask. What am I trying to do, what am I trying to grow toward? The only way to answer that is to be grounded, to be deeply rooted in who we are. Then we'll know where to grow, how to grow, and what we need.  So how do we get there? First, we have to go back to what we wanted as young 20-somethings. What were you dreaming of then? How has your life matched those goals? How has it veered off course? Are there dreams that have been dormant? Just lingering beneath the surface? When we connect back to our truest selves, the ones that existed before kids, before marriage, before time and life took a toll on us, what does that self still yearn for? Going back to our roots, connecting to our inner child, our inner voice will encourage us to...

Seeds

 Last night I ran to Target to get lettuce for Taco Tuesday. It wouldn't be the same if we didn't have tacos and I didn't want to disappoint Charlie. Charlie doesn't even live here right now, but for some reason, it is important to continue these traditions and be able to tell him that we had Tacos on Tuesday.  Anyway, in Target there was a whole display of seed packets, brightly colored, shiny packets, with pictures of everything from Okra to peas to sunflowers to Sweet Williams. I stood there a moment holding my lettuce. The packets were nicely organized and so appealing. The sun in the pictures made the flowers glisten just so. It's hard to believe these little envelopes could contain so much goodness inside.  I know we've heard this analogy before - water that which you want to grow , and plant seeds of kindness, but for some reason last night it struck me differently. Sometimes it's messy. My garden right now is a mess. We removed the old tomato plants...

Extra Layers

 I love this time of year, the After time. Don't get me wrong. I love the holidays too. Having the kids home for weeks and sharing their daily lives again is awesome. I love the decor and the celebrations and the food and even all the preparation in the kitchen and in the stores, collecting and gathering and creating. It's wonderful - the most wonderful time of the year. But what I really appreciate is this After time of year, the time after the grandiose holidays and the days before the spring air begins to breeze in. Winter - the Heart of Winter. The cold wind blows. The sun is low. The days are short. I don't even mind the darkness, it's a good excuse to go to bed early and wrap myself in books and tea and a heating pad. (I can't help it - I'm not young anymore.) And what calls to us is extra layers. Extra blankets on the bed. Extra sweaters and woolen mittens. Thick socks and furry slippers. A cozy wrap, a long scarf. Oatmeal in the morning. A bowl of hot so...