DIY Cupcake Banner + A Birthday

Hello!  Man what a busy weekend I had, but I got a ton accomplished so I won't complain about that!

I'm sure you all have been exposed to the "banner on cakes" trend.  I've always thought this was the cutest idea but didn't have a reason to make one.  Last week was my sister's birthday and we were planning to get together over the weekend, so this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go.  Simon is an advocate of throwing things away, and I on the other hand am not.  More times than not I end up finding a use for things.  Luckily I keep scrap paper because that's what I ended up using for the banner.  Because I had all items on hand, I came out of pocket 0% (the best!).

I would suggest using a large hole punch for circles, but since I didn't have one I used a candle holder as a template.

I cut out different sized circles and triangles and made curly-q's.  I wanted to make the banner a little different by cutting out different shapes and giving it a graphic feel.

I glued some of the triangles onto the larger circles to make an interesting graphic.  I then punched small holes into each shape and strung them onto a jewelry wire.  You can use whatever you want but this is what I had on hand and I rather enjoyed working with it.

I tied the curly-q's (is there a formal name for these??) to a piece of ribbon in order to hang them from the chandelier.

I tied the banner to two wooden skewers and stuck them onto the sides of two cupcakes.  This is how it turned out!

 

I'm so happy that my sister liked everything!  Here are more pictures from the celebration.

Birthday girl!

Chai Tea Martini---delicious!

My sister requested unique ice cream flavors, so I got Goat Cheese with Red cherries and Brown Butter Almond Brittle by Jenis Splendid Ice Creams.  Both were sooooo good!

 

I made confetti for the table by cutting out circles and hearts with hole punches.

The cupcakes were by Jilly's Cupcakery (the same place we ordered cupcakes from for Mother's Day).  I ordered Salted Caramel and Chocolate Cappuccino.

Happy Birthday to This Guy

I love you.

May events: My 30th Birthday

The next big event in May was my 30th birthday.  I didn't feel depressed turning 30, I was rather excited and thankful.

Here's how it all went down:

Friday
I went to a wine tasting with a friend and we had a great time!  I ended up purchasing two wines, a Sweet Shiraz called Jam Jar and a Sangria by Ed Hardy.

Later that night Simon gave me my gift, though my b'day was two days away.  He figured I would want to use it over the weekend.

I am in love!

Saturday
My family came over and we had a seafood feast!  I ordered a load of crab legs (of course!) from Joe's Crab Shack.  Didn't get any pictures of that...too messy!

My sister brought over cupcakes from a different place, Whimsical Sweets.  There were a lot of us, so there were a lot of cupcakes.

I requested that my Grandma make Mango Margarita's to drink that night, so she did.  My Grandma is a stickler about drinking drinks from the appropriate glass.  I told her that I wanted to drink from my pink cup, and though she'd rather me use a margarita glass she said, "Well it's your birthday".

We played a little Birilli lawn bowling.  I suck, but it was still fun.

I opened gifts.

I also made and played a playlist that consisted of 40 songs that came out in 1982.  Wow, there were so many hits that year!  It was a great night.

Sunday, my b'day
Initially I wanted to go on a bike ride in the morning, but I was too worn out from the night before.  Instead Simon and I went to Flying Biscuit for brunch.  I had the smoked salmon scramble with creamy grits and a biscuit.  They are famous for their biscuits (they come with every meal, even dinner), and their creamy grits are to die for.  No pictures of my food, I was too hungry :)

Did I mention that I am in love with this lens?

Later on we went to the grocery store and got some food to grill.  Well, for Simon to grill.  We then went on an evening bike ride (more details about that bike to come).  After we got home, Simon grilled.  We ate al fresco, listened to Zero 7 and I was in heaven.  I love the outdoors...minus the bugs!

Look at that beautiful sunset that God created.

I drank out of a fancy glass that night.

That was my 30th!

30 Day Photography Challenge

Welcome back from the weekend!  I hope you enjoyed yourselves.  It was the first weekend of no Holiday activities in almost a month!  We took the rest of our decorations down outside and had a nice dinner at Maggiano's for my Dad's birthday.

What about you guys?  Anything fun and/or exciting happen over the weekend?

I just wanted to let you all know that I started a 30 Day Photography Challenge on the 1st, so if you are interested in keeping up with it check out my other blog or click the little banner on the left with the cameras on it. 

Here is one of my photos.  Day 5- from a high angle.

Gulf Shores- iii

As I put this post together, I realize that I miss summer.  Especially now that it's 49 degrees at 11:00 am.  Burr.  I do enjoy the holidays though.  Spending time with family and friends, cooking and baking things from scratch, Christmas decorations, etc.  But right now...at this moment...I want to be able to sit on the patio with a nice cold alcoholic beverage wearing shorts and a tank top and not freeze my butt off.

Anywho, the days spent with my mom and sister in Gulf Shores, AL (here and here if you missed the first two posts) were great.  We didn't sightsee because well...there really wasn't much to see but the ocean which is what we went for anyway.

We were greeted by a bottle of wine from the person that we rented the condo from.

There were some great restaurants, one from which we had a seafood meal on my mom's birthday.  My family LOVES to eat crabs, so when there is a chance to get crabs we jump on it.  I realize the last part of that sentence could be taken out of context, but you know what I mean :)
 

A few random shots (I just realized that my feet are in the next three...weird)...

I loved this backyard!  They have the best of three worlds!  Water, grass and sand.
 

On the ride back home I spotted a few things.  For one, I enjoyed the font on this water tower.  It's reminiscent of the Three's Company days. 

I also spotted these poor cows...I wanted to set them free and they looked like they wanted me to do it, too.

  
The Atlanta skyline...a sign that we were back to reality.

So did you take any fun trips over the summer?  Please share!

Gulf Shores- ii

If you recall before my hiatus I posted about a vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama that I took with my mom and sister.  Well I'm back to continue the picture fest.

I love LOVE love sunrises and sunsets.  The beautiful colors in the sky and an ever-changing design/palette.  I call it God's artwork.  Pair that with a nice beach and you get these:

People were in the water crabbing!  The crabs were that close to the shore.

{I realize this isn't a sunrise or sunset, but I LOVED these trees that were all around}

Stay tuned for part three!