Capturing Time

It's official. Summer 2011 has been and gone. And what a summer it was! This summer we realized we didn't have any babies anymore. All three of our offspring are officially "kids" and that meant we go anywhere, anytime, without worries about diapers, sippy cups or afternoon naps.
Needless to say, our summer was not restful - but it was fun! B, A and C are 6 1/2, 5 and 3 respectively, and were a riot to be with every single day.

Here are the kids on our last trip to the beach. I had taken lots of typical "beach " pics earlier in the season, so this time, I tried to capture the "time" instead.

"Summer 2011"

I used October Afternoon's "Seaside" line and tired to use it's vintage feel as inspiration. And instead of typical "we've been to beach" journalling, I added words of wisdom for each of our children.
Camden wanted to get in on the "layout photoshoot." Cute little dude, eh?

Thanks for looking. Please leave a comment so I know you've visited!

"Yummy" & Sketchy Thursdays

Camden and Afton helped plant the garden this year. This was our second year cultivating at this particular address and we are slowly learning what grows best here. Once again, we had more green beans than we knew what to do with! And cherry tomatoes - a zillion!

After a rough start, several carrots grew too. Camden couldn't wait for these. And look how large they grew!

My layout is created using the sketch at "Sketchy Thursdays" this week.

The scale of my layout is much larger because I wanted to fit on three bigger photos. However, I stuck with the overall shape of the layout and added lots of little veggie details.

All product by Cosmo Cricket.

Never Too Early!

The other day I sat down and calculated that I needed at least 40 Christmas cards this year. WOW! That's a lot. SO- I got down to business and made some of these:

When I make cards I try to only use leftovers. I like to keep my full sheets of Christmas paper for layouts, but I always have lots of little bits left at the end.

I LOVE using up these little bits in my stash. No waste - and an excuse to buy more!!
I really like the mix of colours in these cards. Not traditional by any means, but festive and pretty.
Pretty paper, bling and a few shakes of glitter...I hope they bring joy to my friend's homes this holiday season!
By the way - only 90 days 'til Christmas!!

A Little Autumn Nesting Around Our Home

Autumn arrived today at 5:30 in the morning. It was nice to not be awake then. The last 5 days I HAVE been awake then, re-tucking my toddler back into his bed because he kicks off his blankets as he sleeps and gets too cold to sleep. Another sign of Fall, I guess.

I love Autumn. I love the colours, the coziness of sweaters, the return of flannel blankets, apple cider and the pumpkin patch.

In the last week, I've added some "Autumn" to our home - mostly in the living and dining rooms.

Colourful corn, cones from a nearby pine tree and, of course, some colourful foliage.

Do you like my runner? I made it. Out of burlap from the Home Depot. Classy, eh? Yet oh so pretty. I love the rustic texture it gives.

I added a ruffle near the edge, to finish it off. I made the ruffle out of a cream coloured sheet I bought at the Goodwill Store.

These are some of my hubby's favourite books. I pulled them off of the shelf and added them to the top of this little cabinet. This is where he unloads his pockets everyday when he gets home, so I thought maybe they would make him happy here.

How about the dining table? Perfect place for a little tablescape.

I stitched this sign last Thanksgiving and added it to a frame that I decoupaged with a mix of Autumn scrapbooking papers. The acorns are from Pier 1. I bought them the year we were married - 2002!
The pumpkin tree was new last year too. Each pumpkin is a votive holder. I have been lighting them every evening this past week. So pretty!
I bought these artificial Chinese lanterns at a nearby farm store. I just love them! so delicate!
Thanks for looking!

Happy first day of Autumn to you!

Little Red Wagon Challenge - Twine

OOOHH! I love this challenge. Actually - it isn't really a challenge at all! I have been using twine OBSESSIVELY lately- almost every project has it!

Here is a new layout, featuring some sparkly twine I picked up at the Scrapping Bug recently:

My other obsession lately has been Doodlebug product. I used as many Doodlebug bits and pieces on this one as I could.

My garland is several die-cut tags and mini-stickers from a darling cupcake line they released a few years back.

What are we celebrating in this pictures? On this particular day we took the kids to a new cupcake shop to celebrate that it had been 6 months since my oldest son's brain tumour surgery. We couldn't be happier in his health, growth and development and we count our blessings everyday for the care he received at McMaster Children's Hospital.

Afton and I Make a Burlap Wreath

Afton is always looking to do something crafty on the weekends. Sometimes she joins me in the scrapbooking room and cuts and pastes while I make a layout. Other times, she takes a few flowers from the garden and puts together her own arrangement for her bedroom while I make a centrepiece for the kitchen table.


I recently refreshed our front entryway by painting our door a wonderful shade of dark blue. My hubby also hung a gorgeous black metal post box on the wall nearby. Our new spruced up area needed a new fall wreath to go with. When I mentioned my plans to Afton, she was all over it - "Can I help you, Mommy?"

We searched pinterest for some wreath ideas and decided at last to create a rustic, yet charming burlap wreath decorated with autumn silk flowers.

A quick visit to the Home Depot gave us a huge sheet of burlap meant for wrapping trees for the winter for the huge price of $4.99! Then off to Michaels for a wreath form.

And the crafting began!!

We began by cutting long 6-inch wide strips of burlap. Our fabric was quite see-through so we doubled to make it much more opaque. I allowed Afton to use the hot glue-gun for the first time (supervised of course!) and she applied the glue onto the foam so that we could add the folded and pleated burlap to the form.

We continued around the wreath form, being careful to overlap each piece of burlap on top of the previous.
I burnt my hands only about 27 times and then we were done! Now to add the pretty details.

I liked how the wreath looked here, but I wasn't sure if there was enough visual weight with these few flowers. So we glued on a few more:

Aahh! Perfect! Afton was so proud of our little project. Now, of course, she wants to make one with pink flowers for her bedroom door!

The Scrapping Bug September Reveal - Part 2

How about three layouts to go with the three cards I showed you in my last post??

Butterflies and paper pleating on this layout:

"Great Grandma"
Additional Products: Ribbon - BoBunny

Punches - Martha Stewart & Fiskars

Letter stickers - Doodlebug &Jillibean Soup

Pearls - KaiserCraft

Argyle on the next one -

"How Civilized"
Additional Product: Thread- DMC

Rub-on - American Crafts

Stamps - Doodlebug & We R Memory Keepers

Chipboard - American Crafts

Letter stickers - Reminisce, Making Memories, Jillibean Soup

"July"

How about a little bit of lacing detail??

Additional Product: Chipboard - American Crafts

Stamps - Autumn Leaves and KI Memories

The Scrapping Bug September Reveal - Part 1

This month my Scrapping Bug Design Team kit featured papers from American Crafts' "I Do" line and papers from Creative Imagination's "Creative Cafe." I also received a tabbed chipboard album and crystal bead pins from Maya Road.

For a change this month, I created some cards used this pretty mix of papers.

"Just Because"

Additional products: Rub-on - American Crafts

Button - Cosmo Cricket

Thread - DMC

"A Friend Always"
Additional Products: Rub-ons and chipboard - American Crafts

"Just Because" - bird card

Additional products: Rub-on- American Crafts

Stamp - Autumn Leaves

Thanks for looking! Part II of the reveal in my next post!!

Camden and the Owl

My family and I recently spent a few days a friend's cottage up north. I needed a knitting or crocheting project that would be small and simple enough to take along on the long car journey and easy enough to pull out at the lake.

I searched some Etsy shops and found the pattern for this little guy in the shop called "FreshStitches."

I bought it and downloaded it right away.

Isn't he darling? It took about 4 hours of slightly interrupted crocheting, but I think he was worth it!

Cam agrees too!

"Who-hoo," as Camden has called him, has become a constant companion.

My daughter has asked for one too, only she requests hers be all pink. Sure. I can do that!

Hmmm..I'm trying to decide. Who is cuter? The owl or the boy?

The owl is pretty darn sweet, but the toddler snuggling it definitely takes the cake!

Last Visit to the Beach- 2011

My mother lives close to Lake Huron - it's only about a 15 minute drive from her home.

As a child, my mother and father would take my sisters and I to the beach at Grand Bend weekly. It was a cheap outing that we loved - and we were guaranteed to sleep well at night!

Now that I am a mommy too, I like to take my children to this beach. It's clean and clear and the waves are rarely higher than the kid's knees.

These pics are from our last trip to the beach, Labour Day weekend.

(Those are my toes.)

And Camden. What a monkey! He loves the water, but often we have to remind him not to be too brave!!

Here he is on "Beach Timeout." Yep. You can be timed-out here too. Especially if you throw rocks at your sister!

And Afton Clare. She spent the whole summer in this bikini. I hope she always feels confident enough in her body to wear one. Lovely.

And my Bryn. So healthy and exuberant. It's hard to believe there was a time in early 2011 we could have lost him. Thank heavens.

Afton is already asking which month in 2012 we can go back to the beach.

Hold your horses little lady! We've got lots to do before then!!

Upcycling!

I have spent way too much time on Pinterest lately. I have found so many project ideas that I want to try, yet there is only so much time in my day!!

I have come across many ways to "up-cycle" t-shirts and one of my faves is to use fabric yo-yos.

I recently found this t-shirt in my daughter's size at a local children's consignment store for a whopping $1.00. It's Old Navy and has the cutest elbow-length sleeves!

I dug out my sewing stash and got to work.

Ooh! Which pretty red buttons should I use????

I created my yo-yos using this tutorial:

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/photos/how_to_make_a_yoyo/index.html

I stacked my yo-yos and buttons in various combinations until I found the look I liked the best.

Then with the whoosh of my needle and thread, I attached the "flowers" to the t-shirt. I stitched them many more times than I would normally, just to be sure that everything stayed attached when I laundered the shirt.

What do you think?

My daughter loved it - she wore it the next day (and the day after that!)

Thanks for stopping by!