Friday, January 23, 2015

GG's 90th

I had the privilege to attend my grandmother's 90th birthday last September in Florida.  I wanted to add a few touches to the celebration to truly reflect her personality and I wanted to honor her and the amazing woman she is to me. 
 
 
Dorothy Mae Williams, Grandma, and now as my daughter lovingly calls her GG (great grandma) turned 90!  My Mom and Aunt Debi hosted a brunch...these are the invitations I designed.  I just love love love the saying I found online, "Life should be measured not by the number of years, but rather by the love shared, the memories made, the joy given and the blessings received".  How true is that??!! I wanted to include the birds from the Bluebirds of Happiness.  Grandma gave me a little glass bluebird before I got married and told me it was the bluebird of happiness.  I know she loves the color blue and birds, so I themed the invites after those little birdies (I even used the bluebird of happiness poem on my wedding invites). 
 
 
 As we were prepping for the party I thought it would be a good idea to create some type of timeline to show how much has happened throughout her life.  What an amazing life and what an amazing history lesson. She has seen so much change throughout her life. While I was typing these decade cards she would share a little bit about what she remembered (for the particular year).  I think her favorite was during the 40s when she had her first job...she loved dancing! I found some Glenn Miller on my phone and she started tapping her feet, so adorable (and what a great memory)!
 
Each decade was cut out and glued onto burlap.  I used embroidery hoops to display the decades because my Grandma loved to sew and I think the hoops make perfect display frames.
 
 
That's my Aunt Debi and my mom with Grandma...yes that's Hayley...and below are some dear friends of my Grandmothers
 I love playing around with mason jars.  I wanted to test out some milk paint and some crochet decals I came across.  I love the decals because my grandmother use to crochet all the time.  Such a talent and I wish I could crochet like she use to.  I guess I should have paid more attention when she was teaching me. 
 
I sanded down the lids and placed in a bleach solution for a few days...great look (I think).  The decals were easy to place, just peel and stick.






I really like how the 90 paper flowers turned out.  This was made out of cupcake liners and paper plates.  Tutorial will be coming soon. 
 


Everyone had such a wonderful time.  There was a little table when people walked in that had a baby picture of Grandma and her graduation picture.  I set up a little nest with a bluebird (grandma), 2 smaller birds (my mom and aunt) and 7 tiny birds (the rest of the gang)...this symbolized that we are all under her wings and she and will forever be momma bird.

love the picture of Beau (my son and the youngest) with Grandma (our matriarch)
Everyone had such a wonderful time and there was so much joy and love celebrating such a fabulous lady.  love you GG!
xoxo Alisha