Celebrating 52 in Chinatown

This layout, about celebrating my 52nd birthday with a food tour in San Francisco's Chinatown, is a great example of why I love challenges so much. I chose practically every element because of the Mixed Manufacturer Layout Challenge from the National Scrapbook Day event at A Cherry on Top. In this challenge, we had to make a page with items from at least ten different manufacturers. And there's a twist - you also have to use one item you can't buy at a craft store. Can you spot that item?  

Celebrating 52 in Chinatown (affiliate link)

If you guessed the dark orange flower, you're right! I made it to coordinate with the two flower stickers. The rest of the items are: 

1. Bazzill - gold cardstock
2. Scenic Route - red patterned papers
3. Echo Park - birthday lion sticker
4. Jillibean Soup - present and 'One Year Older' die cuts
5. BasicGrey - large orange flower sticker
6. PhotoPlay - small yellow flower sticker
7. We R Memory Keepers - gold washi tape
8. Bella Blvd - 'adventure' sticker
9. Me and My Big Ideas - tiny 'love' sticker, 'birthday' sticker, cake sticker, 'Now' sticker
10. American Crafts - numbers

Technically, I also used four more manufacturers. I cut the papers and homemade flower with my Fiskars trimmer and scissors. I colored the homemade flower with Ohuhu markers and I adhered everything with a Tombow tape runner. For the journaling, I used a Zig pen. 

I'm really happy with how this page came out. It has a lot of elements on it, but ultimately it is still my clean and simple style. What a fun challenge!

48th Birthday Celebration

As I mentioned back in January, we celebrated Steve's 48th birthday in beautiful downtown Napa. We had an amazing meal followed by a fantastic time at the festival. This is the layout I made about our celebration. 

Steve's 48th Birthday (affiliate link)

Overall, I like the page but I made a giant mistake when I ordered the photos. Steve and Trevor both appear twice on this page. I'm in one picture. But I didn't consider that having a larger photo of me would make it look like it was my birthday celebration instead of Steve's birthday. Oops. That's a rookie mistake and I should have known better. 

I thought about fixing the problem with giant arrows pointing to Steve, but that ended up looking weird. So I left it. The journaling makes it clear that it's Steve's birthday, even if my photo choice does not. 

Trevor's 17th Birthday

Trevor's 17th birthday fell the day after finals and the end of his 11th grade year. He had a big Scout trip that weekend and then we left for 16 days in New England. With all that was going on, Trevor didn't want to have a party. Instead, he opted to have two friends over for pizza and games. They had a great time and it was just what Trevor wanted. 

17th Birthday (affiliate link)

I only took one picture of Trevor and his friends. I used that, along with pictures of his birthday cheesecake and new t-shirt, to make this page. It was fun using so many different elements in the spaces that would normally be filled with photos.  

Celebrate 51 - Making a Franken Page

I mentioned that two of the seven scrapbook pages I completed on National Scrapbook Day were for challenges at Bash Your Scrapbook Stash. This is one of them. Can you guess what the challenge requirement was? 

Celebrate 51 (affiliate link)

If you guessed that we had to use random scraps to create a background (called a Franken Page) and then use that for a layout, you are correct! It probably wasn't hard to guess, as that's the only element of the page that is out of the ordinary for me. We were expressly forbidden from making a grid, which would have been my natural inclination. Oh, how I love a grid! 

I made this page to document celebrating my 51st birthday with Sheena and Jennifer. My color palette for this page was inspired by the dessert plate. It was easier than I expected to make a haphazard background that I actually liked using nothing but scraps. Here it is before I trimmed the edges to make them even. 

As is almost always the case with challenges, this pushed me outside my comfort zone. But I still found a way to make it work with my style. I could see doing a Franken Page again. 

50th Birthday

One of my scrapbooking pet peeves is that "Best Day Ever!" appears on so many papers, stickers, and stamp sets. How many best days can one person have? I know I'm more literal than the vast majority of scrappers, but I really wish they'd replace most of the "Best Day Ever!" supplies with "Such a Great Day!" or something similar. 

All this to say, if I use "Best Day Ever!" on a page, you know that means something. While my wedding day was the best day of my life, I feel comfortable using such a superlative sticker on the layout about my 50th birthday. It wasn't the BEST day, but it was definitely Top 5. 

 

50th Birthday (affiliate link)

I am in love with how this page turned out. Not only was it one of my Top 5 days, but I think this is one of my Top 5 layouts! Lots of photos and lots of journaling, yet it doesn't feel crowded. I love the fun colors and the smiling alligator and the background paper. This page makes me really happy. 

Sixteenth Birthday

Trevor's 16th birthday fell on a Tuesday during Finals Week, so our celebration was low-key. Donuts for breakfast, school, presents (including the money gift inspired by Guy's Grocery Games), dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant, and homemade grasshopper pie with a candle on it. It was exactly what he wanted. 

Sixteenth Birthday (affiliate link)

For the layout, I used five pictures and one collection kit. The layout came together very quickly since all the papers and embellishments were from a single line. I used a wide border on the black cardstock to help the photos and journaling stand out against the background paper, but now I'm wondering if it would look better if I'd used the same narrow borders there as between the photos. I'm not sure. Doesn't matter - it's in the album and it's time to move on to the next page. 

Money Gift Inspired by Guy's Grocery Games

You might remember a post from a few years ago in which our family played a version of Guy's Grocery Games that we called Trevor's Tasty Tournament. In it, we recreated three of the wacky games that the contestants on the show face. It was a really fun challenge and we had a delicious 3-course meal. We did not include the money round at the end, where the winning contestant races around Flavortown Market finding five grocery items based on clues. But that's exactly what I used to give Trevor money for his 16th birthday. 

On the show, players compete for up to $20,000 in cash by shopping Flavortown Market. Obviously, we weren't giving Trevor that much money and we don't have access to the market. Instead, Trevor unwrapped this: 

I explained that there were 5 clues on the dining room table, each worth 4000 cents (aka, $40). His job was to read a clue out loud, then race into the kitchen and bring back the correct item. 

Here is each card, in case you'd like to test yourself before I give the answers away. 

      

Trevor read the first clue and was back with the Cheerios within seconds. He read the next and returned quickly with the mustard. 

It took him a bit longer to find the cinnamon and he struggled trying to figure out the baking soda. He didn't know the answer to the Mac n Cheese, so he just brought back every blue box he could find. In the end, he earned his 20,000 cents. 

This was so much more fun than just handing him money would have been, and it only took me about 20 minutes of work to design the the clue on PicMonkey and print them out. It was well worth it. It was a lot of fun watching him race around the kitchen in a panic, playing a game he'd watched so many times on TV. 

If you're looking for more creative ways to give cash, check out my Money Gifts page. You'll find over 30 fun ideas. 

Celebrating My 50th in Plymouth, California

After two years of very low-key pandemic birthdays, I was ready to celebrate the heck out of March 12, 2022. Not only was I turning 50, but my birthday fell on a Saturday. I found a beautiful Airbnb in Plymouth, California and invited two of my very favorite people, Jonna and Suzzi, to join the three of us for a weekend of fun. It was incredible. Everything about the trip exceeded my expectations. 

We stayed at the Historic Bunk House at Butler Hill. The bunk house was once the sleeping quarters for dozens of miners working the nearby gold mine, now restored with all the modern conveniences and plenty of historic touches. 

The 3-bedroom 3-bath house had more than enough space for our group of five. 

The large grounds include a lawn, an amphitheater area, water features, and a bar inside a granary.

The back fence is a replica of an old mining town.  

We arrived in Plymouth Friday night and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at the Plymouth Hotel. Definitely get the lumpia and a wood-fired pizza (or three). We spent the rest of the evening chatting and playing games at the house. Well, four of us did. One of us had to write an English essay that was due at midnight. I don't know why, but a lot of Trevor's homework is due on Fridays at midnight. 

On Saturday morning, Jonna, Suzzi, and I took a field trip to Donut Street Cafe. Look at their gorgeous donuts. They all tasted incredible. Lest you think I ate a dozen donuts by myself, let me clarify that I cut every donut into fifths so that we could each try them all. So I only ate 2.4 donuts. 

We dined al fresco. The weather was beautiful and it was a great way to start the day. 

We went back inside where I opened my gifts. 

  

Then we did a murder mystery set at the bunk house back during the mining era. That's one of the neatest things about this Airbnb - you tell them how many people will be there and they set up a murder mystery for you that is perfectly suited to the size of your group. We had so much fun trying to solve the mystery. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that I guessed correctly!

Jonna and Suzzi worked together planning a gift that was absolutely perfect for me: a charcuterie board and a huge assortment of cheeses, meats, fruits, breads, crackers, nuts, and more for me to arrange for lunch. I LOVED it. I had no idea putting together a charcuterie board was that much fun. 

  

Here's a top-down view: 

Again, that was food for five. Despite the fact that I posed with it by myself, that most definitely wasn't a single serving. We didn't even finish everything on the board (despite our best efforts). 

We'd planned to go out to a fancy dinner, but I had so much fun making the charcuterie board that I asked if I could make a different one for dinner. There was so much food left that I hadn't put onto the lunch board that I thought it would be a great challenge to see if I could make something completely different for dinner. I'm skipping ahead a bit, but here's how that one turned out:  

So what did we do in between lunch and dinner? I put together my puzzle, we played games, and we walked through the town of Plymouth. After dinner, we had cake, watched a movie, and played more games. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday. 

We went to sleep way past my bedtime and lost an hour during the night (I'm not a fan of Daylight Savings Time), but we still had plenty of time on Sunday to continue celebrating. I'd requested a late checkout from our hosts, which they were happy to grant. 

I'd also requested their scavenger hunt. Not only do they have that great murder mystery you can do, but they also set up a hunt that takes you around the property and into historic sites in town. So cool! 

We hunted for rocks that spelled out the next clue. 

We visited the site of the original mine and used the sign to find another clue. 

  

We assembled a map and a followed a poem for more clues. 

  

The Dead Fly Diner was not part of the scavenger hunt, but I had to take a photo. I have no words.  

We found a clue by a grave near the Odd Fellows Hall. 

At the end, we found certificates declaring we'd completed the scavenger hunt. What a fun touch!

I loved absolutely everything about our time in Plymouth and specifically at the Historic Bunk House at Butler Hill. If you're looking for a fun weekend trip, definitely check it out. 

Huge thanks to Steve, Trevor, Jonna, and Suzzi for making my 50th birthday one I will never forget. It was absolutely perfect and I am so grateful. 

Edible Numbers with Sprinkles

I have a new silicone number mold that I've been wanting to try out. (Affiliate link here and below). I made a set of chocolate numbers featuring the various sprinkles I had on hand. Each number is approximately 2" tall. Aren't they pretty?!

I'm glad they turned out so well in the end because I had major difficulties getting there. I thought it would work to fill each well in the mold with sprinkles, then pour the chocolate on top. Surely this would result in beautiful, sprinkle-covered numbers, right?  

Nope. Not at all. Total fail. 

Fortunately, I kept at it (skipping the lollipop sticks in case more trials failed, which they did) and eventually hit on a technique that worked perfectly. Read on for what did work. 

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Edible Numbers with Sprinkles

Materials:

• silicone number mold
• cocoa Candy Melts
• precision heat gun
• gold sprinkles
• red, pink, and white sprinkles
• star sprinkles
• silver pearlized sugar sprinkles
• rainbow confetti sprinkles

Steps: 

Melt the candy according to the package directions. Fill the mold with melted candy. Gently drop the mold from a few inches off the table to bring any bubbles to the top. Insert lollipop sticks, if desired. Let the candy set up completely. 

Carefully remove the numbers from the mold and set them on individual pieces of parchment paper. Working with one number at a time, hold the heat gun over the number until the top is shiny. It takes only a second. (If you hold the heat over it for too long, you'll melt the whole number. If that happens, put the melted candy back in the mold and try again.) Apply the sprinkles to the shiny chocolate. Let the candy harden completely while you move on to another number.  

Obviously, you can use whatever sprinkles you want. I tried a bunch of different ones to see what results I could get. I think the most successful are the chunky silver (1), the tiny nonpareils (3), the gold variety (5), and the rainbow stars (6). The jimmies (4 and 9) were fine; I had to trim the excess off the edges after the candy had set, so there's an extra step. While I like the effect, the rainbow confetti (8) was the most challenging to place without actually touching the chocolate. The fine sanding sugar (7) was my least favorite, at least on the chocolate base I used. The color would probably show up much better on a white number.   

So what am I doing with my set of numbers? Most of them will just be a random dessert option for whoever wants them, but I am doing something special with the 5 and the 0 that I made to match it. 

They will go on my birthday cake tomorrow. Yep, I'm celebrating 50 on March 12, 2022! I'm so excited for this milestone.