Pastel Circle Pillow

Hello all.  I hope your Easter weekend was bright and cheerful and full of family and chocolate! Ours sure was!

Now -- how would feel about a pretty pastel, spring-like share for today??

Yes?  Good. I'm glad.

How does this tickle your fancy??

Doesn't this mix of prints just SCREAM "Spring?"

Before I began cutting I decided how I was going  to use each colour.  Good old pencil  and paper planning always works best for me!

Then, using 

THIS TUTORIAL

(Thanks, Lori!)

I created my nine circles.  

I was pleased with the shape of my circles.  Some were quite wonky so when it came time to pin them on the white background fabric, I had to manipulate them into the roundest shape possible! 

Overall, I am pretty chuffed with how it turned out.   I really wanted to add some shots of pink into my mostly green and white living room.  

See how nicely it snuggles up beside my Dresden pillow? 

I am thinking I may make an entire quilt using this technique.  I like how using the larger circles means that the print on each fabric can been seem clearly  and enjoyed fully.  

Maybe I'll make a twin bed-sized quilt for the daughter's bed.  Her room is getting a makeover in the next month and her current quilt has seen better days.  

Hmmm....... Another project to ponder!

Afton's Ladybug Birthday Party

OMG! My sweet little Afton is 7 today!

Where does the time go?  It seems like only yesterday that we found out that our dear little baby girl was on the way, and now she is a smart,  artistic, benevolent little lady.

To add some excitement to her birthday wake-up call, hubby and I covered Afton's bedroom door with streamers  in hopes that she would love to burst through them 

as an exciting beginning to her 7th birthday. Instead, she woke up early to go pee and stood at her door in the dark,

crying, because she thought vines and spider webs had grown across her bedroom door. 

"It reminded me of a nightmare , Mommy."

Oh dear.  EPIC parental fail. :( 

Luckily her Ladybug Birthday party went off without a hitch!!

We made her invites a few weeks ago, using a series of circles to create a ladybug shape.  

We put all of the party information on the back of the bug.  Afton tells me that her little girlfriends ADORED these invites and couldn't wait til her party!!

I'll be honest - I didn't make as many things to decorate for this party.  This year I had 4 parties/showers/events to prepare for during the month of March and I didn't have the energy to keep churning out elaborate decor.  So--I happily purchased several ladybug items from a party store to help with the decorations.  

I did make these though.  This was first attempt at cake pops.  I think they turned out pretty well except that my red chocolate coating cracked on a few of them. Hmm...not sure why this happened. Oh well.  The black bug dots look cute, though, don't they?  :)

For lunch, I kept with a "RED" theme including

"Ladybugs on a Log"

(Crasins on PB covered celery)

Licorice & strawberries

Red popcorn, cherry tomatoes &  red apple slices

. . . and red fruit punch served  in fancy bottles.  

The cups and plates were ladybug themed, too.  

And for a creative-craft, the girls made ladybug hats covered on paper spots. 

And here's my little girl. Growing up oh-so-fast.  

She is simply lovely.  

She is easy-going.

She is happy.

She is even-keeled.

She is giving and motherly.

She cooperates

And adores her brothers.  

I enjoy every minute I have with her. And I look forward to the journey we will have together as mother and daughter.

Love you so much, dear sweet Afton.  

&

Happy Birthday!!

Thanks for visiting, bloggy friends,

Our Trip to Florida

It has been a week since we returned from our family trip to Florida - and trust me--- we all miss it!  We arrived back last weekend to blowing snow and negative temperatures.  Very hard to take after a week in the sun.  

As usual, I took a TON of pictures (I never want to forget a minute!) so if you'll bear with me, I'll share a minute fraction of them  here.    

All three kids are excellent travellers.  They are (mostly) calm and quiet on every shuttle, airplane and trolley we ride on.   

We fly to Florida on spring break to spend time with my mother who lives there for the whole month of March.  The kids enjoy the time with their Nana and the freedom to play outside in the warmth. 

Of course, we visited Disney World:

But the kids much preferred Legoland!!

Overall it was a wonderful trip and the kids proved they were capable "world-travellers" even at the ripe young ages of 4, 6 and 8.

  

No Florida next Spring Break though.  

Instead, we are saving our pennies and taking the whole family to France for two weeks in July of 2014.  

We've already booked our time HERE and we are counting down the months!!

Thanks for stopping by,

B.  

Embroidered Pennants

Hi all.  I hope everyone had a smashing weekend.  I am truly exhausted from throwing my almost 7-year-old daughter a "Ladybug" themed birthday party today.  She had 7 of her sweet little girlfriends over and we ate, crafted, sang and watched a movie together.  It was adorable.  I hope to share pics of this soon - maybe later in the week.

But for today I'd love to show you these embroidered pennants I finally finished.  

I found the pattern in Charlotte Lyons Etsy shop and ordered it right away.  The white cotton came printed with the images right on it.  All I had to do was stitch it in my favourite shades.  

Honestly, I did most of the stitching last summer .....and then it sat idle for all of the snowy season.  

Recently, I finally dug it out and added the ric-rac borders and the red ribbon edging.  

I chose very "Cath Kidston-esque" colours which go perfectly in my apple-green painted living room.  

I haven't embroidered in ages.  It felt good to be back at it.  Perhaps I need to get my hand on another stitching project right away.  Maybe cross-stitch this time......

Hugs to all,

B.  

Felt-Soled Crocheted Baby Booties

Hello blog reading friends!

Yes -my family and I made it back, safe and sound, from our week in Florida.  I have a ton of pics to show you, but I need to go through and edit a few. So, I promise  I'll share some pics in my next post.  

In the meantime......

A couple of weeks ago, I spied  the cutest project made by Jaime (from Raising Up Rubies )on Instagram.

She was crocheting baby booties but adding a little flair to the  soles.

I immediately grabbed my crochet hook and a bootie pattern ( I used  THIS ONE) and got started.

Aren't they the cutest?  

After crocheting the foot section and the sweet little ruffly cuff, I added some sweet little pink buttons.  These secure the booties onto  baby's wiggly feet.

And the soles?  What makes them special?

Oh yes.  Some felt hearts, hand-stitched with embroidery floss.  

Ca-ute!! If I do say so myself.  : )

I have 2 cousins and 4 friends ready to have babies in the next 6 weeks.  I have a feeling I'll be making a few more pairs of these in the near future.  

Thanks for popping by!!

Hugs,

B.

(By the way - you can now follow me on Bloglovin. I guess we all  better make the switch before they steal GF from us permanently!)