Map Mania... going global {parties}

I love maps... it's kind of the "in" thing right now.... or at least one of the "in" things.  I decorated my classroom with globes and map paper and I am always finding ways to use my maps.

Well, I saw this adorable Airplane party on Pinterest awhile back.  My cousin, Libby, was applying for flight attendant jobs... and I wanted to do a party like this for her when she got her job.  Well, she got the job!  So I got to plan a party...  However, in the mean time, I also wanted to have a dinner for all of the people who had helped babysit, drive carpool, etc. for my preschooler while I worked.  I loved the map stuff so much that I thought I'd find a way to incorporate it for both parties.

I came up with the "extra mile" idea.  This is the invitation I designed.

For the party we had foods that were from different countries around the world.  I used my super cute Pick Your Plum chalk board labels to label the country the food was from.  We put the (American) hot dog and hamburger buns in a vintage suit case.

I cut map paper into 12x12 squares and laminated them for placemats.  I used my cute paper bags from Pick Your Plum to hold the utensils.  The center pieces were either suitcases, globes or brown paper packages wrapped with twine.

For games, I found games from around the world.  I have included printables of the games HERE.  The favorite was "pass the parcel."  In the parcel, I wrapped tiny squirt guns from the dollar store for each kid.  They had a blast!

Then it was time for Libby's party.  We love to have family bbq's in Kanarraville.  In fact, we are renting our grandma's home as a vacation rental.  If interested, visit this site.

Libby found out she was going to be stationed in Chicago and would be moving there.  So, instead of doing a "global" theme, we had Chicago style hot dogs and potluck.

We had the same games and centerpieces, and decor.... despite the gale force winds that kept blowing things off the tables.

 My cousin's garage is the perfect backdrop for parties.

And it works great for pictures of me with my girl cousins:)

 And, of course, I had to serve peanuts... and peanut butter cookies.

thanks for stopping by:)

Granny's Cottage

I've been super busy.... and I'm getting way behind on my scrapbooking:)  Seriously, I'm a year behind and it's killing me!  Here's a little snippet of one of my MAJOR projects.  

My cousin (Libby) and I have taken upon ourselves the project of our Grandma's house.... we call it Granny's Cottage.  We've had a death in our family that has made this house vacant.  We'd love to keep the house, but it's really a money pit.  Our grand plan it to make it a vacation rental.  We've been cleaning, painting and decorating.... it's been a major undertaking.  One of the biggest problems was that the house wasn't kept clean.  Another problem was that when our family painted the house, they were very "efficient" and painted everything one color.  This turquoise room was turquoise... the walls, ceilings, trim, doors, everything... even the hinges and door knobs because, heaven forbid anyone should tape anything (okay, I'm off my soap box).  This is the first bedroom that we feel like is finished.  We have been trying to be as cheap as possible.  So, we've tried to use fabric and things that we already had. 

The back throw pillow with the pompoms was made with fabric my mom had in her stash... I love it!  Libby made the cute orange one with fabric she had in her stash.   My idea for the front pillow was kind of a combination of this pillow and this shirt.  I had the brown fabric only scraps... so I wanted something that used little of that fabric.

What's a cute cheap decorating idea?.... a bunting!  I used my map scraps and my fabric scraps. I got the idea from Dottie Angel.... super cute vintage stuff.

I already had a lot of embroidery hoops on hand from my previous craft room.  They were just sitting in a box, so I pulled them out!  We added a few more so that we could have some of the fabrics we had used in the room.  Always a super cheap and easy way to decorate a room.

This dresser was an awesome vintage find that we already had in Granny's house!  I love it!  I love the worn vintage look and I love the orange handles.  Libby wants to paint it, but I won't let her:)  The top is really quite worn, so I made this cute table runner out of doilies... got the idea here.  I wish I would have taken a better picture of my doily table runner for you:)  Libby had the vintage art from her Grandma's house.  And Libby and I have been collecting the white milk glass from yard sales and DI.  I don't know if we are going to put anything in it or not... I guess I should at least get candles:)

Now, back to my original picture of the whole room.... Don't you love our vintage bed?  This was one of the treasures that was already in Granny's house:)  Libby had the awesome afghan from her grandma.  Libby got the night stand at DI and painted and glazed it.  I found the awesome vintage lamp at a yard sale, of course!  And no night stand for a vintage room is complete without a doily:)  I made the curtain out of an old sheet and a few fabric scraps we had left.  

This has been a rather fun project for us, but very time consuming!  I'll keep posting as we get more rooms finished:)

Map Mania

I have always loved maps... when my hubby and I purchased our first home, we painted our office light blue. I brought my overhead projector home from school and traced a map of the world on the wall then painted it with a tiny paint brush. It was a great summer project for me when I was teaching and didn't have any kids and had plenty of extra time on my hands.... oh those days seem so far away.

Anyway, when I started teaching again, I thought I would decorate my room with globes and maps. (part of the fun of teaching is decorating my classroom). I kept pinning fun projects with maps. My sister in law's sister saw that I was pinning them and gave me a whole box of old maps that she had at her school that someone was throwing away (thanks Kristy).

Once I got my box of maps, I got to work... and I put my aide to work (thanks Rebecca). Our first project was this jar of pinwheels. I got the idea from Elizabeth Street on Etsy. This adorable shop has a lot of cute map crafts. I used this tutorial from Style me Pretty. It even comes with a free template. We shrank and enlarged the template to different sizes so we would have a little variety. Then we put buttons in the middle. I love the way it turned out and it's a super cute addition to my shelf. This picture does not do it justice.

All year I have been collecting large frames at yard sales and painting them different colors. Some I put chicken wire in and some I left empty. But then I saw this idea of a different type of pinwheel on Style me Pretty as well. I loved it and had to make some! We (my aide, Rebecca and I) made them of all different sizes. Rebecca came up with the idea of shaping the edges... which I love! We just put a large circle of patterned paper in the middle. It has totally dressed up the frames and I love it!
Here's a view of my whole wall of frames hanging from the ceiling...
I'm loving the way my room is turning out:) I'm hoping to add a few more projects to my shelves... maybe some fun lamp shades... who knows?