Paris Party: The arch of (my) triumph

Stacy ventured out with me to locate the box, which sat on the porch for many hours while I pondered how we'd manage turning it into the arch! Finally, I chopped out a hole in the middle and taped on a couple of details, and we put two coats of spray paint on it late Saturday night in the backyard. The paint was a total waste of time and six bucks: No coverage! Aggravating. It was also toxic and stinky and horrible and it made our button-pushing fingers sore! So we desperately found some old tan latex paint in the basement (partially dried up but FREE) and slapped on a coat of that which covered beautifully and dried fast. Sunday morning I used pastel chalks to sketch on some details and we painted the back plain tan. I was so thrilled with how it turned out that I don't know how I'll bear to get rid of it. Which I must, of course--it's huge.

This might be a good time to gush about what an amazing help Stacy was! She isn't pictured because I was too absent-minded and she was behind the camera for most of the party. So full of ideas...she'd call me early in the morning in the month before the party because she'd gotten a new idea for a game or decoration she couldn't wait to share. She arrived on Thursday and slaved away pretty much all weekend. Her only break was a few hours on Saturday! She even stripped the sheets off the guestroom before her 6:30 a.m. return to the bus station with two exhausted children. Everyone should have friends like mine; I don't deserve them, but I'm not complaining.