Brooke's Birthday Banner

Well, I know it is long over due, but today I want to share with you a banner that I made for my daughter Brooke's 3rd birthday and at the end of my post are photos from her party.  (If you subscribe to my blog via email you will have to come to my blog to view the photos)

My sweet blogging friend Deborah had made a beautiful banner a while back and I thought it was the prettiest banner I had seen out there in blog land.  Well she was kind enough to share with me how she made it so that I could make one for Brooke's party.  (Thank you Deborah!!)

I made mine very close in design to Deborah's (hey, when it's a good design why mess with it right?) but used the same paper's (DCWV - Nana's Nursery) that I had made her card with.  See her birthday card HERE in case you missed it.

Now when people say it's difficult to photograph a banner, they aren't kidding!!  LOL It was near impossible, but these aren't too bad.  I was standing in a bar stool taking these photos while my husband begged me to let him just do it!!  Pu-lease...he takes horrible pictures!!  LOL

I made the paper medallions and then used Spellbinder's Lacey circles for the centers.  The letters were cut using my Cricuit.  I hardly ever use my Cricuit so I forgot to make note as to which font I used, sorry.  The top of the banner was decorated using Martha Stewarts lace doily punch and I popped them up using foam tape to hide the fact that I stapled the banner to the ribbon.  

Oh and here's a little secret...the banner is not really tied together with the ribbon as it shows.  It's one long continuous ribbon, however I cut small pieces of ribbon and tied them on between the banner panels to make it look as it it were tied together.

Brooke's party has ton's of fun.  I wasn't too thrilled with how her cake came out (I tried someone new) but it tasted great.  You might remember me saying before, I still have all of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the 80's.  I pulled them down from the attic and used them for decorations throughout the party.  I was surprised to see that I still had every pet, hair comb, shoe, etc that came with each doll.  I set up a little Strawberry Shortcake spa in my bathroom and "bathed" them all with baby shampoo.  (After 30 years they were a little dirty, LOL)  They all cleaned up beautifully, however Strawberry Shortcakes red clothing bleed onto her white apron a little.  :(  Now Brooke loves playing with the dolls and the little houses that belonged to Mommy when she was a little girl.   Mommy however is freaking out...she keeps taking their shoes off...I just know she's gonna lose them!!  LOL

  But more excitingly... I got, oops I mean Brooke got the MOST adorable doll house I have EVER seen.  It's called the Critter Cottage townhome (I wanted the Mansion, but Daddy made me be reasonable) and instead of people they have the ca-utest little animal families.  I saw this dollhouse for the first time when we were in New York (FAO Schwarz) and told my husband that she WOULD have that house on her 3rd birthday...she was 9 months old at the time, LOL  It's beautifully detailed and comes with lots of tiny pieces (which I've put away) and even has real lights!!  Can you tell how much I LOVE this thing?!  LOL   All the ladies at the party wanted me to open it right away so WE could all play with it!!  :)

My mom and sister forgot their camera that day so these pictures are for them too!!

Enjoy Mom & Brandie!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!