Graduation Tea Party

This is a blast from the past.  My little sister will be graduating high school in just a few weeks, and we are in the process of planning her graduation party.  It will be totally unlike mine - late at night with a dj (Scott Avery for those of you in the Clemson area), moon bounces, and blacklights.  However, it made me think of my graduation tea party, which was a sundress occasion in the afternoon with girls and their mothers, and how I wish I had documented it better.

Photography clearly wasn't my thing back then.  Not to mention, we were still getting everything ready when the first guests arrived.  Luckily, they were close friends of my mother's, so they just went to the kitchen and got to work!  I remember photographing things with my point-and-shoot Nikon digital camera because I didn't know where my dad's DSLR Canon was.  Finally, my dad emerged with his DSLR and took "detail" pictures.  Dad still doesn't have the eye for photography.  I wish we would've taken more pictures... better pictures!

I created the invitations to appear like the tea cups from Magic Kingdom's Mad Tea Party.  This was my own idea, and they were very well-crafted.  Luckily, I still have one invitation today, so I was able to go back and take a few pictures with it.

To make the invitation, I found an image of a tea cup online, and printed that out to create a stencil.  I used textured scrapbook paper in pastel colors.  I printed out the information on the back of the teacup.  Then I cut the tea cup designs through the front color using an exacto knife (which now, in architecture school, is my best friend), gluing the printed piece to the back of the tea cup, filling the void.  So, to say that simply (or not?), instead of creating the squiggles with additive pieces of the secondary color, the squiggles are subtractive of the primary color.

I wish I would've taken pictures of the process, but here are my final invites:



Thank goodness for Photoshop - the original image from two years ago had a terrible yellow color cast.









I wish we would've gotten more (and better!) pictures of this room.



The candy bar was almost a disaster - we had ordered pink and yellow candies online, but somehow they messed up our address and shipped them to the wrong house, then they were sent back to the company. So we had to run to all over town to get whatever pink and yellow candies we could find.













The upstairs, we had snack foods and cake.




And three areas set up for dining (though we only needed two).




















































I really love putting a lot of detail into events. It means a lot to me. However, I don't think most guests really care. That's the annoying thing - to put a lot of preparation into something, only to find that your party guests have little appreciation for your efforts. But I guess if it makes me happy, that's all that really matters.

My Mickey Room

This is actually the works of my mother's creative genius.  She has an act for home decorating.


After years of collecting, might as well put them on display - They toy box was my mom's when she was a little girl. It's also been with my sister and me throughout our entire childhood. We have pictures of the two of us inside this toy box. Mom has made it fit with all of our rooms in the past by repainting and adding a new border. The black and white dottie print is the same wallpaper used to line the room. The bank is actually Rachel's. She collects piggy banks. This piece from our childhood room also shows off our collectables. When we were younger, we positioned our Ty Beanie Babies in here. I believe the intended purpose of the cubbies is for CDs.
We played with this train set when we were little kids. I believe it came from my grandparents' house. As the youngest of seven grandkids, I don't think we were the first to use it.
 The artwork above the bed is DIY, as well. The pants, shoe, glove, and ears are actually plates which Mother mounted on fabric canvases which she framed. She's so creative!
 For a 16th birthday present, I dined with an Imagineer.
Mother made the curtains for the bookcases.
 
 As well as the clock and the artwork. Mickey is my favorite Disney character - would you have guessed?
The stamp collection was a gift from my employer. He had it framed and everything (and it's glass on both sides so you can read the back of the stamps) - How sweet!
 
 My mother snagged this artwork from the high school several years ago. It was decoration for the Miss Landmark "Heroes" theme, in which I dressed as Mickey Mouse and talked about how Walt Disney was my hero.
  Love this room.