Follow the Paper Trail

I Moved... again...

2011-12-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

I disappeared for a while and then decided I like blogger best so I started another blog here.

So if you still want to continue to follow me that's where I am, and I'm staying there, promise. :)

I've moved!

2010-09-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out wordpress here https://asimplyunclutteredlife.wordpress.com/ . I'm finally back to scrapbooking but was running out of room for images here. So if you still want to visit me that's where I'll be! :)

XO

Summer is in full swing!!!

2010-06-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

ok, well... almost! The girls have two more days of school and it will be for sure then. We have been acting like it's summer holidays for the last week anyway. :) The kids have been out in the warm weather catching caterpillars and putting them into containers and were very excited to watch one make a cocoon! The caterpillars actually pull all their hair out to make it and end up looking like little worms! We are waiting the two weeks so we can watch it emerge and then we'll set it free. :)

The girls also had their 'after dance performance' hair cuts. Chastity decided on side bangs, layers and highlights. She hasn't had bangs since 1st grade so it was fun. She looks so mature with her new haircut.

She likes this photo the most but I like how the one below shows her cut better.

Emma decided to get her hair chopped off and lightened slightly. She also wanted them to show her how to work her curls since she usually gets them to straighten it.

And Mikhail just wanted to be in front of the camera again. :p

Chastity was still being asked at school to make sock monkeys so we decided on one more batch and swore we would not make anymore. We made 26 more of them which sold right away. She had a few teachers ask her to make some more over the weekend just because she was out again. She told me she couldn't say no so some how I was talked into helping make 7 more over the weekend. I told her we are now done, no more. lol

Here's the group photo...

Did a little playing with distress inks.

Made a card for a special teacher...

And a journal that Emma and I loved so much we almost kept it. :)

I used distress inks and UTEE over grunge board. I attached the metal elephants afterwards. I also distressed the pages (in the dryer :)) and bound the book myself. The paper in the book is watercolour paper.

They are also doing some sort of restaurant type thing in Emma's class so she wanted to make some mini cupcakes for it. They are delicious, here's the recipe.

YUM!

That's it for now, thanks for peeking :)

Ready to perform..

2010-05-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Look at what I won!!! I participated in the celebrations over at two peas during National Scrapbooking Day and won these KI goodies! I love getting scrap goodies in the mail, even better when it's a surprise :). And look, I've already used a friendship sticker in a layout! :) I have recently put together kits using the supplies I have on hand. I selected a few papers and matched up everything that would go with the papers. I can tell you it makes scraping a lot faster, easier and more fun.

The girls, as well as Mikhail, are getting ready to perform their year end again as well. We are ready for it! and excited for it. :) I think it's the best part of dance. All their hard work during the year pays off and they get to show off what they have accomplished.

Chastity's last batch of sock monkeys she made for her school entrepreneur fair sold in ten minutes, so we made 15 more. She put up posters at school and the day after putting up the posters sold these sock monkeys from her locker!! They sold just as quickly! I think she has started her own business, we sure didn't expect that. Even the squidward looking one sold, the kid who bought it called it that too! heehee

We put in our garden again this year. Last year I couldn't keep up with freezing the veggies that grew thanks to my flare-up. I am having a positive outlook for this year. The girls (and even Mikhail to some degree) did SSOO much work to help me get it weeded and planted. I'm so thankful and proud of them. My husband has been in camp for three weeks so far, wouldn't you know, right at planting time. But my kids worked with their broken Mom, we worked as a team and got 'er done. I told them one day we should put bricks or rocks around the garden so we could control the weeds better, it was only a thought. But guess what? They went to work placing the bricks around the garden with the bricks we had laying around!

Looking good so far...

a few of the seeds have sprouted already!

some were already small plants. We wanted to have a head start on it all.

It has been raining a lot round these parts. I love the sun, don't get me wrong, but we don't have to worry about watering the garden!

thanks for peeking

We're back!

2010-05-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hello! We are back and have been settled in for about a week from our trip off the Island. The girls went to the dance festival over there. They took three pieces over and won silver for each. We also went to the zoo while we were there. Here are some of the photos...

The girls and their metals...

I also made a mini album of some of my favourite quotes. I sprayed paint and mists on the tags and bound it using my bind-it-all. All the quotes I used are ones I either live by, need inspiration from or have lived. :) Here are the list of quotes I used:

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind. -Author Unknown

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -Albert Einstein

The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. -Horace Bushnell

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. -Helen Keller

After the game,the king and the pawn go into the same box. -Italian Proverb

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

No man is happy who does not think himself so. -Publilius Syrus

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.... -Martin Luther

It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. -Chinese Proverb

You will never "find" time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. -Charles Bruxton

A loving heart is truest wisdom. -Charles Dickens

Life's a voyage homeward bound. -Herman Melville

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live. -Elbert Hubbard

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. -Leo Tolstoy

I have finally heard from my doctor about the surgery I need. The MRI confirmed what he suspected. Although there is not yet a date set up, that's how the waiting lists are here, it will be happening sometime during the summer or possibly right after the summer. I'm just glad I don't have to wait two years like a lot of people end up doing. I'm still scared of the surgery but I think I will be in a happier place afterwards, so I'm looking forward to getting my life back again.

We took our little guy in to get his first haircut!!! Check out the before and after!

Cute, huh?

Thanks for peeking :)

Happy belated....

2010-05-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

National Scrapbooking Day! I managed to get these few things done for the challenges over at two peas. Did you get to any scrapping over the weekend?

I had my MRI done a couple of weeks ago. The results say basically the same as my CAT scan. For those of you who don't know it's 3 ruptured discs in the neck one severely with infringement on the nerve and a spur from the broken neck I had. Still waiting for the go ahead from the surgeon on how we will go about this. I'm pretty ready now I think. Want to carry on. :)

While we were there I did get a few photos...

Day and...

night of same building.

And another day and....

night :)

We ate here, fabulous food!

I'm getting ready for another dance festival/competition for my girls. I think it will be pretty fun! :)

How are things for you? What adventures have you been up too?

thanks for peeking

What has been up for the last few weeks...

2010-04-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

I took a vacation from the Internet in general for a while. I found it was taking up a lot of time and I wanted to re-evaluate the way I want to spend my time. I still want to keep my blog going, I'm just unsure of how often I'll post. It will probably depend on how full or uneventful my life is at the time.

We went up the mountain to see how high the snow was getting. We knew it was almost a record, last one was in '94 I think. We let the kids jump around in it and get soaked before we dried them off and bundled them up for the ride home again. I was a fun spur of the moment thing.

If the snow gets any higher most of the signs along the road will not be seen!

Our wild little boy...

and crazy girls...

Baked some cinnamon swirl bread. I found a blog here and decided to purchase their first books. Still want to get their second one.

Here are a few layouts I`ve done...

We also have been sewing up sock monkeys like there`s no tomorrow. The girls, myself, my mom and even my brothers sat together to make these for Chastity`s entrepreneur fair. Our fingers are sore and calloused but we did it! :)

That`s it for now, thanks for sticking with me :)

Number book and cooking

2010-03-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

More cooking from scratch! :) Don't you love homemade pasta? It is the best. I made an entire recipe of spaghetti from scratch this weekend, sauce and all. Here's the recipe for the pasta...

Whole-wheat pasta dough

All purpose flour 1 cup

whole-wheat flour 1 cup

salt 1/2 tsp.

large eggs 2

water 1/4 cup

olive oil 1 tbsp.

Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Make a well in centre.

Add remaining three ingredients to well. Mix until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead until ball forms. Wrap with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes. divide dough in half use lots of flour to avoid sticking and cut into noodles.

I finally have a pasta maker. It has fallen apart on the third use (that's what I get for buying cheap?) so I'm waiting to buy the attachment to my kitchen aid mixer one day. :)

Have you ever picked up one of these? I did these with my girls when they were small so I needed to get one made for Mikhail.

It didn't turn out real well but I'm still happy with it. I love all the details of their hands. I pulled out Emma's from when she was about the same age and it totally brought me back to when she was little. Here's Mikhail's...

If you look closely you can see his pinkie sticking up and even see his nail in detail!

Here's the project I was talking about in my last post. I made this number book/tag book for Mikhail. He loves flipping through it. :)

And finally here's my last layout for Lotus Paperie.

thanks for peeking

Goodbye...

2010-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Lotus Paperie has been a part of my life for almost three years! Most of my son's life. So it's hard to say goodbye. I loved how the challenges took me places with my scrapping that I may not have gone and I'm gonna miss that. Vanessa has had to end the blog because of other business adventures that unexpectedly took off rather quickly. It's sad, yes. But I feel like there is another chapter waiting to be started for all of us. :) Thanks for everything Vanessa, it has really been fun to be a part of. xo

I made this layout as a celebration of all that Lotus Paperie has become. It's actually in my art journal :)

the journaling a little closer...

I will continue with my own blog. I have a another project that I hope to get to this weekend in fact, so my personal blog isn't over.

thanks for peeking :)

Ramblings

2010-03-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

We are back to normal procedure after spring break. The week started out pretty good. Mikhail had dance and his class was being taught how to move their hips, he ended up sticking his butt out and shaking it instead. Hahaha. Guess that's how it looks to him!

Surfed the net and found a few things. There is this really cool website that analysis handwriting. I thought it was pretty accurate and kind of fun to do. Here is the website if you would like to try it out.

Also found this blog. She makes some pretty nice jewelery along with other things. Pretty sure she sells on etsy.

I have another tutorial up at Lotus Paperie. It is a pretty simple one this week, how to make this...

Thanks for peeking, Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

xo

Random Acts of Kindness

2010-03-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate it when you are stuck in a rut? It's like a negative cloud is hanging over you. I've been feeling a lot like this lately, and it weighs me down. I can't afford to be like this as I will only feel worse physically. My doctor talked about positive thinking with me. She is absolutely right I know. I'm usually a positive thinker. After talking with her I knew what I had to do. Something I had been thinking of all along. I shared random acts of kindness with a few people. And after that talked with my girls about random acts of kindness and giving. They are good at these things already but we were looking at a bigger picture. We plan to give more to friends and family but strangers as well. Little notes left behind for people to find. Helping people. Small things that make a world of difference. Not only will it make someone's day but put ourselves in a better mood as well. :)
I remember when I was developing photos at a local developing store often and received a random note with my pile of photos complimenting my photography. And another time when we were driving a purple vehicle. We were in a parking lot with no plants around but someone found a purple flower and placed it on our car.

What kind of things do you like to do randomly for people? Did anyone share an act of kindness with you?

Here's my layout this week for Lotus Paperie.
Thanks for peeking
xo

Spring Break continued...

2010-03-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Finished this mini album the other night. Stayed up until 1 am to get it done. I usually like to finish a project when I've started it, usually don't like to leave it. So since I started this when the kids went to bed I was up pretty late. :p So for some of you that wonder how I have the time, there's your answer, when I should be sleeping, lol. I also scrap instead of watching tv, which is why when people talk about different tv shows I most likely don't know what you're talking about! hehe

The cover is made from felt and fabric. I just sewed and pieced the image together on the cover after I drew it. Used Bo bunny, Doodlebug, Bazzill cardstock Kraft, Walnut ink, and an old children's book for some images and words.
This album is about the day the kids and I went to the petting zoo...

The weather has been so nice, except for two days ago, it was snowing and raining at the same time!

The second it's nice out we take advantage of it. The girls went for a bike ride with a friend so Mikhail decided to go on the trampoline. He was yelling, 'yee-haw, weeee' as he jumped. He had a blast.

We also went to a local river and hung out there. We just talked, threw rocks into the water and broke rocks to see what it looked like inside. Also went for a small hike. We all had fun. :)

I so LOVE this photo :)

See, I really do exist! Trevor took this photo, his first in full manual. I set it up, but still...

Mikhail was a little weighed down...

with just a few rocks. I think there is another rock collector in the family. :)

I have a tutorial up at Lotus Paperie. How to make this paper flower. Check it out!

thanks for peeking :)

2010-03-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Just been getting projects done for Lotus Paperie lately, and hoping to get others done soon that I can share. Enjoying the warm weather and sunshine we have been getting as well. Hope it lasts but I hear we could get a little snow over spring break.

Little Mikhail has been voicing his own ideas a lot more lately. They are the funniest ideas. I need to start writing them down when he says them because I forget them. He has been providing quite the entertainment to say the least.

If you have been visiting my blog you probably remember me writing about this. I decided it needed to be scrapped. :) Here's my layout this week for Lotus Paperie. And here's the link to my post so you can read the journaling if you like. Love blogger for these kinds of things! :)

Really looking forward to Spring Break. Needing some time with my kids. Looking forward to doing crafts and things with them. :)

That's all I have this week. :p Have a great Spring Break, thanks for peeking :)

Just Sharing Some Photos...

2010-02-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've shared a few photos.

We went to the park together yesterday. We just hung out and took photos of each other and the scenery. Here's a few of the shots I took.

We bribed Mikhail with icecream for a few pictures. He didn't want to sit still at all.

I love how the deer each have their own personalities. This one was totally up for a photo.

This one thinks it's a dog, heehee

and this one was wondering what all the commotion is about.

Today we are taking it easy at home. Doing some baking and some crafts.

Baked another batch of applesauce muffins. One of our family's favourites right now. Here's the recipe.

thanks for peeking

Hello!

2010-02-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still here. Just been preoccupied with the dance festival and really I have absolutely nothing else to report about because of it. Except that Mikhail, my three year old, was such a trooper when he had to sit in the theatre for literally hours on end watching dance after dance day in and day out. He sat pretty still, especially while there was someone on stage, even got into the groove a couple of times. He is such a good boy. :) Chastity, Emma and everyone else did so well up there. Love seeing local talent.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week, use up your mismatched letter stickers. thanks for peeking :)
xo

Festival...

2010-02-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

The Performing Arts has started locally. My girls were in ballet yesterday and lyrical today. There's more, a lot more. But I like to get through one day at a time :). They have done an excellent job so far, beautiful smiles. :) They are competing against each other this year in almost every dance which is a little tough but hasn't seemed to faze them :). So proud of all their hard work, as well as their groups.

That is pretty much life right now. It always is during festival.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week based on the sketch below.

thanks for peeking

Organizing week six

2010-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

We had a nice family weekend. Had family night, watched a movie. Took a trip to the pet store. Mikhail was so excited about that it was like we were going to the zoo! :) We also took a walk in the warm SUN!! It was beautiful in our part of the country Valentine's Day. I'm not kidding when I say warm. We were walking a trail near the ocean and still didn't necessarily need a coat!

I whipped these up in about 15 minutes for the kids. We are being cheap these days so everything I used to make these we already had around the house. Those containers are packaging from my Prima Flowers.

I kept the Valentines for school pretty simple and managed to make 66 of these in a day for the girls classes. Hearts are for the girls and frogs for the boys.

Here's a photo from our weekend walk. The kids rode their bikes. Mikhail kept watching his tires, he said that it was too bright. The problem is he almost ended up in a head-on collision with two adult bike riders coming the other way. He panicked, wobbled all over trying to decide what to do and wiped out, bouncing off the pavement. He was more embarrassed than hurt, :).

Here's another organizing idea. I used to have my brads in a spice rack. It didn't work because there weren't enough jars for amount of brads I have. It also took to much space on the counter top.

I saw this idea on Two Peas. I used a place mat which happens to match my room. :)

I sewed on Velcro and now store my brads in small bags that attach to the Velcro. Easy to put away and doesn't take much space.

thanks for peeking :)

Finally, some news!

2010-02-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

I finally got in to see a specialist about the pain I've been in since the accident 2 yrs ago. Turns out I had a broken neck that they never dealt with which is why there is a spur on my neck. I also have been diagnosed with a protrusion of the disc in C5/C6 area of my neck and will need surgery to get better. If you are interested in the surgery process at all here it is. I have been put on the waiting list for the surgery. They have no idea how long I will be waiting at this point. Hopefully not too long as I have not been able to do a whole lot and just want to get on with my life already. So that is the big news this week.

So anyway, I often have a lot of photos I like to include in my layouts but I don't like them spread out onto two pages. To solve this problem I like to get multiple photos printed out in smaller sizes. I always went to WalMart to do this but their programs in their Kodak machines have changed so I went in search of another solution. I knew I could do this in photo shop but it took too long for the amount of photos I have. I found a program to download off the internet for free called PhotoSheet. I love it. It's quick and easy to use. You just have to drag and drop your photos into it and save, that's it! Here it is.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week, challenge is to use tissue paper.

Thanks for peeking
xo

Busy Weekend ahead

2010-02-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

This is just a super quick post. We have about a dozen doctors appts, dance photos all day tomorrow and Chastity's birthday party the day after so I have to get my stuff together and get organized.

Chastity is going with an eighties birthday party. I didn't think I would get into it, I mean who wants to revive the eighties? But I am having a blast finding all the stuff from my childhood and the memories that go with it. Her sister, brother, all her friends and her are going to dress up as if it's the eighties too. I can't wait to see what they come over looking like.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. Based on the sketch.

thanks for peeking

Organizing week five

2010-02-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

OK, so I've been doing this for over a month and I think I've made some serious progress! Yay me :)

I decided to tackle my mask/paint distressing drawer. This is the before. I obviously couldn't find a thing in this mess and all my Heidi Swapp masks were at the bottom of the pile untouched. Here's the after. I separated the supplies by painting tools and masks in large drawers from my sterlite drawers from Wal-Mart. They are now under the sink because I needed a large area for them.

Next was my Misters. This drawer wasn't bad but I didn't like how all my supplies from behind kept sliding down.

I gave my mists their own drawer in a basket so I could pull them all out easily when I needed to.

And the rest of the stuff got their own drawer. This is labeled tool drawer.

I now cringe when I look at this one. It's my sewing cupboard. It was so messy that I had multiple elastics and pin assortments. That was because when I needed those items I didn't know I had them and would go buy more!!

That won't happen anymore. I have all my pins in a large jar as well as my elastics along with everything else.

My thread is sorted by colour in glass jars as well.

This is where I store the fabrics most likely used on my pages.

No before photo of this. It is my raw chipboard and tags they were all over the place in different drawers. I now have all my raw chipboard in a container. My tags are sorted in two different categories, decorative and journaling.

See ya on Friday

thanks for peeking

Dancing Feet :)

2010-01-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

My layout for Lotus Paperie. The challenge was to use dictionary/music paper on your layout. Not going to get into the details of my week. It could have been better, lets just say there was a lot of pain and throwing up (sick kids) involved. :p

Have a great weekend!

Organizing week four

2010-01-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

I don't have any before photos this week. I got too into getting it done that I forgot. :p I will work on that for next week.

I focused mostly on my stamps and ink. My ink, bottles and pads, were all stuffed into one small drawer. It didn't work because, obviously, I couldn't see what I had and I was scared to dig in for fear of it all spilling over everywhere. I moved my bottled (alcohol and re-inkers) to the next drawer over that is wider and put them into their own basket. Beside it I organized my perfect pearls/pearl ex in another and my embossing powders beside that. All the tools are stored just behind the baskets.

I just had to tweak my stamp storage, it was mostly like this already just not so organized. See the two longer baskets at the bottom? Those are my ink pads and acrylic blocks. The top one is where I store all my black, white, and brown colours. I also have my distress inks in there because I use them a lot. The bottom basket is were all my colour ink is. The rest of the baskets are stamps organized by theme. At the very top where the baskets are stacked is where my foam stamps reside. I don't pull those out too often.

Inside each basket I have two or three themes that are separated with those photo organizers you get inside a photo box. I dismounted a lot of my mounted rubber stamps so I had more room to store them this way.

Here's a peek into my paint storage. I didn't change a thing because it totally works for me. :)

And here is my Cricut set up. Love how it's stored right behind me and anything to do with it can be stored right along with it. Also love how I can roll it to any place in the room. This is a bathroom caddy.

My tutorial is up at Lotus Paperie, using Perfect Pearls.

E.T.A. My earlier post was a mess up as far as what tutorial is posted. If you saw the post earlier, that one is up in a few weeks ;)

Thanks for peeking :)

Baking :)

2010-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Emma was baking again. She took a book out from the library to cook. She pretty much tagged the entire book of recipes to try, she got through two so far. She made this cake entirely on her own from scratch. She also decorated it. Notice the writing on the cake? :) Our family had a nice afternoon treat.

She also made these. They were actually pretty good and really easy to make. Here's the recipe...

Chocolate Truffles

1/4 cup cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped nuts

1/4 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Roll into balls and roll balls into chocolate sprinkles.

I have all my photos that were on my computer completely organized, printed and burned onto CD. That was part of the organizing this week for photos too. They are organized chronologically on CD as well. I also write on the CDs with sharpies a list of what is on each CD.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week. Based on a sketch.

Thanks for peeking :)

Organizing week three

2010-01-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

I forgot to take a before shot of this drawer. It was bad. Now it's pretty :). Before it was just a jumbled mess, once again, couldn't find things and didn't know what I had. I used the drawers from clear plastic desktop organizers that I had bought on sale from Staples a couple of years ago at 75% off. Check the sale items at Staples, ya never know what you'll find. :) I also have a drawer organizer in there and a few small jars. This drawer is right beside me so I wanted to store things in it I'll use a lot.

From left to right, starting at the top...
I stored my white buttons here because I use white buttons a lot.
My stickles and glitter
regular tags
metal rimmed tags
all things metal
loose paper rings
Fancy pins
paper clips
Basic Grey brads
small pieces of paper, punched shapes
jars of odds n ends Organizing my accents was a huge job. The problem was that they were all over the place, in different places of the room, and very disorganized. I REALLY didn't know what I had.

Those rubons were wrecked when Mikhail was crawling around and curious. He found them and tried to make a paper ball. They really could have been wrecked by they way they were stored but I caught him with them so I know it was him. :)

Here they are afterwards...

The small baskets, which were purchased at the dollar store, at the top are smaller accents. They can be used on any layout. Just below that in the photo the top drawer is accents that can be used on any layout. The next two under it are organized by theme, separated in extra large ziploc bags, and all are in sterlite drawers from Wal-Mart.

My gems have always been stored like this. I have them organized in baby food jars by colour.

I don't have a before shot of my photo organization either. They were in different places in boxes unorganized. They are now organized chronologically. The boxes are the photos I want to keep but don't want to scrap. The photos in the albums are the ones I want to scrap. I like it this way because when I'm looking for photos to scrap I just have to flip through the albums, which are in order, to find the photo I want. My family can also look at them while they are stored this way as well. They are binder type albums so when I take a few photos out I can just remove the page and place it in the back of the album for more photos.

I labeled the albums by year/theme.

thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Mikhail's blocks :)

2010-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Still getting that organizing done. :) I have taken some of my rubber stamps off of their wooden blocks so they store better. I will show you how I stored them in a couple of weeks. Mikhail is totally thrilled I have decided to do that because he scored new toys out of the deal. He says he loves his new blocks, even the messy inked up ones :) excuse the mis-matched clothes, he was half way ready for bed when this photo was taken, lol. Here's another layout for Lotus Paperie. Challenge this week is to use a lot of tags.

thanks for peeking

Organizing week two

2010-01-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

I started on my ribbon this week. It wasn't working because it was just a big mess in the drawer. I couldn't find things and didn't know exactly what I had. My lace was just dumped into a basket and my fibers and embroidery floss were a mess. Now my ribbon is wrapped around photo dividers (those ones that come in photo boxes) by colour, specifically ROYGBIV. My lace is wrapped around those photo dividers as well.

Here's a better view. Those are rolls of raffia in the one basket along with rolls of coloured wire. I have my Embroidery floss and fibers organized by colour (roygbiv) in those plastic holders in the back as well.

Next was my alpha stickers. They were just piled high in one drawer, a big mixed up mess. I hated going through them to find the right ones and most of the time ended up being happy enough using the ones at the top of the pile.

Now they are in 12x12 sterlite drawers from Wal-Mart. I just pulled the drawers completely out of the unit and stored the main unit in the basement. The top drawer is holding black and white alphas and the bottom two are coloured.

And last are my primas and buttons. I didn't like them stored in these bowls because I couldn't quickly find the colours I needed. They looked pretty though. :)

I organized all my primas and buttons in glass jars by colour. Most of my jars are from baby food. The rest are left over from canning jam and a couple (like that big one in the front) from the thrift store.

I'll be back Friday for another challenge and next week for more organizing.

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Organizing and stuff

2010-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

yes, I know Christmas is over....
but this was 50% off and Mikhail, (who has a thing for trains, even the gingerbread type) had been eyeing it up every time we went to the grocery store this holiday, which seemed like a lot since we were always running out the door realizing we had forgotten yet another ingredient. I was standing in the grocery store line thinking I had gotten into another one of those compulsive buys that would only lead to frustrated kids, and surely I had lost all common sense. SURPRISE! It is WAY easier to put together than those pesky little gingerbread houses. That is probably the only reason they got it together.

Yes, you read that right, the kids did this one all on their own. The icing is already mixed and ready to go and the plastic holder does most of the holding together. Can't get any easier than that. They were all happily busy (minus one small meltdown) for about an hour.

Potty training has been coming along so SLOWLY. WOW! I had been warned over and over how slow most boys are but never did I really 'get' it. This is the second time Mikhail has been potty trained. Ya. He was totally trained at the end of summer when we went on a last minute camping trip. Until we were home. We could not figure it out, was it the convenience of the toilet being close by in the motor home? Who knows, but he has been doing all of his business on the potty for three straight days! He has been having some accidents but then realizes and runs to the potty. :) YAY!

It really feels like forever since I have been near a computer and I guess a week in the real world away from one kinda is. I probably peeked two times, but that's it. I knew if I got too close to one I wouldn't get all the stuff done that I have. One of the things I have been doing is organizing my studio. It hasn't been organized properly since I've moved back into it. I've been following the challenges over here.

I started off by going through and figuring out what was working and what wasn't. I decided that my paint set up in the cupboard was working and the way my cricut was set up was working and everything else wasn't. Needless to say, I have a pretty big job to do. I decided that I had to start posting photos of progress so I would actually stick to it. The challenge is 29 weeks long but I'm hoping to do a few challenges a week instead of one so it won't take that long.

Here's my old paper storage. It wasn't working for me because I couldn't easily see what I had. I had to pull out full groupings of paper just to see what I had. Most of the time I didn't and just settled for the top papers. This was my card stock set up. It wasn't bad but every time I changed my mind on a colour it wasn't easy to stick back in the right spot so I ended up just sticking them in the front of the pile all mixed up. It was also too high for my 5' frame. :p

Here's how it is now. I have bonus space for projects being worked on. All my paper is organized by colour. The pattern paper is then organized by type in their own separate colours. (eg. dots, stripes, floral, basic grey(because I have a ton and know when I need bg on a layout) etc.) Then I have my theme paper organized separate. I love that all my pattern paper now fits into one basket and I can take it all out when I'm scrapping.

I will keep you updated on the progress.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. Based on the sketch below.

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

I am not one for New Year resolutions. I know I'm not going to stick to them that way. I tend to pick things all the time through-out the year and gradually work on them. I start with small steps and end up making big changes. Usually I like to change anything that is negative. I don't do negative very well. It stresses me out and I get sick, not to mention it takes days to get rid of the feeling. Anything from relationships to the way I think to situations that will turn negative. So I will continue to work on all of that. :)

I have a few more pictures from Christmas.
So this is a very rare shot, Mikhail sitting....and sitting still!!! He totally knows how to work his sister's DS's just from watching them. I could not believe that he can totally play the games on his own, just from watching. The girls and I were busy baking when we saw him doing this. We have a maid. Just wish it was more talented than just floors. But, at least we can do the rest while it does floors, and it totally saves my hip and back. :) Actually, that was a joke for a couple of days...-bends to push the button-....oh, my back, doing the floors is hard work, lol.

We torture our kids every year at Christmas and make them eat breakfast in the morning before opening the gifts. I was making Monkey Muffins, this is two of them waiting. Emma was off getting a large container to keep her unwrapped gifts separate from everyone else's, lol

Emma and her lip gloss :)

Mikhail opens the gift Emma bought him for Christmas...

Chastity opening her gift, Emma got a camera too. :)

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie using journaling stamps multiple times on your page.

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Let's Talk Turkey...

2009-12-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty good Christmas. We kept up with all the traditions, baking, going out on the town to find the best Christmas light display. All that stuff.

The girls read Mikhail 'T'was The Night Before Christmas' like we do every year too.

I cooked two turkeys so we could have leftovers. We did have turkey sandwiches but also had Shepard's Pie the day after. I tastes like turkey dinner all over again. I love the fact that you just pull out all the leftovers from the day before and layer them together and bake, that's it. It has become a tradition every boxing day for us.

Another one we just tried was Turkey Pot Pie. Just whip up your favourite pie pastry. I doubled the veggies and used a little less then 2 cups of broth so I didn't have to cool the filling before baking. I only used half of the veggies I cooked and froze the rest of the cooked filling for another night of easy cooking.

If you have a food processor here's a super easy recipe for double pie pastry...

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup butter, cold and cut

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

4-6 tablespoons ice water

Combine flour, salt & sugar in food processor. Add your cold, cut up butter and mix in processor until you have a course pea size mixture. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture resembles crumbs. If dough holds together when pinched it's ready. Split the mixture into two even groups and form two balls. Roll out on a floured surface. Be sure not to handle your dough much or it will not turn out the same.

Another recipe we have tried is Turkey Tetrazzini which wasn't bad either. So if you have cooked turkey in the freezer or have just cooked your turkey hopefully this will help you use up some of the leftovers.

I have another Tutorial up at Lotus Paperie for you too :)

Thanks for peeking

xoxo

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hope you are having a wonderful time with family and friends this Christmas. We are really enjoying our time together. :) I'm going to make this short and sweet so I have the most time possible with them.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. It's based on the sketch below. I used a lot of rub-ons on the bottom left corner.

thanks for peeking and Merry Christmas :)

xoxo

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is the last post for Handmade Christmas ideas. It has been fun. I am so happy to spend some time with my family during the holidays. Baking /crafting has always been part of that. I loved finding all these ideas this year and sharing them with you. I truly hoped you enjoyed...
Build A Snowman kit
Fudge

Free DOWNLOAD bookplates

Free DOWNLOAD recipe cards

FREE DOWNLOAD there are all red ones too

Lots of handmade here

Sock Monkey

Mice Ornaments

A little late for this year but maybe for a gift or for next year...

Christmas Countdown Blocks

Tree

Thanks for peeking :)

XOXO

Gingerbread Village that wasn't...

2009-12-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

The kids and I sat down and tried to make a gingerbread village last weekend. I prepared everything, including the icing. But when we sat down and actually attempted to put the little houses together that's when the frustration kicked in. The icing wasn't holding it together well enough for the kids and when the bag of icing popped opened, that's when Chastity says in a frustrated tone, why don't we just eat it then. I looked at her a little surprised, continued to pick up the little chimney, but instead of adding it to my house slipped it into my mouth. I knew what that would start but at that point I didn't care. And this is what we were left with... That white patch is where the bag of icing popped. We decided that it's what makes more sense to us anyway, we live in the forest. :)

Here are a few photos of Mikhail and what he got for his birthday...

And here he is having a blast throwing snowballs at everyone. :)

I am being referred to another doctor who does Prolotherapy for my chronic pain now because although acupuncture works for a while it is not long term. They have finally figured out that because I have a flexible body type, when I got hit that hard in the accident my ligaments were stretched too far and that is why everything keeps popping out of their joints and why my muscles are always so tense, they are doing the work of holding everything together. I get to wear a belt to hold my hips in place too. A $40 fashion statement that not to many people find fashionable, I think they are just jealous, lol.

Here is my layout for Lotus Paperie this week. The challenge is to scrap a layout without any photos.
I used tissue paper and stickles for the wings...

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Three Years Ago Today

2009-12-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

My baby and only son was born weighing 8 lbs 2 ozs. He was two weeks early!! He had the softest cheeks I had ever seen when he was a newborn. His sisters could NOT wait until he was here...

Mikhail during his first morning...

This was his announcement photo, look at those cheeks :)...

and his feet...

Mikhail started standing and walking furniture when he was 6 months, we knew we were in trouble then. Here he is at 10 months trying to escape...

And when just plain old climbing wasn't good enough he would move things over and climb onto them, yes, at 10 months. He was (and is) mischievous too.

For his first birthday I made him a cake all for himself.

This is as messy as he got, poor guy had a cold and didn't enjoy it so much.

So we had an 18 month birthday celebration for him where he got to be the prince AND enjoy his cake! We had water balloon fights afterwards, it was sooo fun.

Canada Day

Last summer, he loves being outside.

His cake from today. He picked out the candles. They totally spelled his name wrong so I changed it to Miky, his nickname.

We spent some time outside in the snow sledding, building a snowman (lady actually) and having snowball fights.

Happy Birthday Mikhail!!

XOXO

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Found some more handmade goodness. Here's what I have this week...

Memory Game definately doing this for my son :)

Glass Ornament Christmas Topiary

Fabric bracelets

Body scrub

Gift card holders
FREE DOWNLOAD pdf for gift tags

And another FREE DOWNLOAD pdf for gift tags

One week left to find those very cool homemade Christmas ideas. See you next Tuesday!!

xoxo

Some photos

2009-12-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Considering I was late on starting everything this Christmas I think we are doing pretty good with the shopping. The Christmas cards are done. I just mostly have to work on the hand made stuff, which does take some time. Pretty hard to find at this time of year but I'm determined.

Here's a few photos to share from this week. The kids checking out what's in the advent calender for the day. Glass ornaments the girls and I made on the weekend.

I think Emma has an eye with the camera, she took this photo of Mikhail :)

Mikhail playing with his Thomas train

Here's the layout I made for Lotus Paperie. Based on the sketch below.

Thanks for peeking

xoxo

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

I've been finding some really cool stuff for homemade Christmas gifts and decor. There is so much out there, here are seven more things (well, maybe more!) to make this Christmas.

Great stocking stuffer for kids!

Gift Set
An Artist's Organizer

Here's another idea for crayons

To protect your Ipods...

Ipod Pouch
Here's another
And another I made a tutorial for this tree on Lotus Paperie. They are really fun and you could easily do this with your kids.

Paperback Tree More yummy treats...

Food Gifts

Here's gifts in a jar with FREE down loadable tags

More recipe gifts

I made this last year. I love that what's inside is more of a surprise than your store bought advent calendar, so do the kids. ;)

Here's where you can purchase them. The numbers come with the kit and you can decorate them in your choice of paper.

Advent Calendar
These are beautiful.

Beaded necklaces
I love this tree, I HAVE to make one. :)

Feather Tree
And my friend Vanessa pointed me towards this gem. Beanbags with free down loadable games! COOL. :)

Beanbags with down loadable games

That's it for this week, thanks for peeking.

XOXO

Christmas stuff

2009-12-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my December Daily album. The album itself is done, just taking photos at this busy time of year to add to it.
Also almost done my Christmas shopping. Mostly just have to get some stuff for Mikhail, he's easy though. I usually have the shopping done by Emma's birthday (Nov. 25Th) because I hate the crowds and all the commercialism that goes with it. I'm going to hand make a bunch of gifts too.
Still have to make my Christmas cards this year, late on that too. Usually have them in the mail by now, I don't even have the photos yet!!! I hope to fit that in this weekend.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. The challenge is to use foam stamps on your layout.

Here's a close-up of where I stamped with white paint (just under the photo)...

Don't forget to stop by the Lotus Paperie blog on Tuesdays for the tutorials, mine is next week! :)

One other thing I've been up too, made a canvas. I used Tim Holtz alcohol inks to colour the background brown. Used my Cricut for the word home and mostly scraps for the rest.

Another angle...

Thanks for peeking. I'll be back Tuesday for more Homemade Christmas ideas.

XOXO

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it through the weekend unscathed. :) The kids really enjoyed themselves too. Here's a photo of Mikhail on the float for the Christmas Parade taken by JoAnne (thanks Jo :)).

We went home and had hot chocolate afterwards, we are SOO happy it didn't storm out like it did during the practice.

We also went to the second saga of Twilight-New Moon. It was excellent, and although I have read all the books I still wish they put a little more into the ending. The theatre was packed full of teen aged girls screaming when Jacob takes his shirt off. That alone was pretty entertaining, lol.

I have decided to search the web and find some really cool projects and ideas for decorating your home for Christmas, homemade style. I also want to post some gift ideas that I find. I'll try to post once a week, probably Tuesdays, with seven ideas...enough to make something everyday until Christmas. We'll see how I do.

I found this cute canvas book idea here. I thought it could make a great gift for a baby or even an adult, depending on what you put into it.

*Free Download!!

Check out these cool journaling cards!! I was thinking of using these in my December Daily book, maybe you could use them for something too. They are a free download here.

Homemade food packaged just right is always appreciated. Here are some more ideas.If you are a sewer then you probably have a lot of scrap fabric laying around. I think these are cute. There is more where that came from here.If you are a knitter you might have a lot of yarn laying around that you could use up for this project.

There are a lot of cute bows and decorations for gifts here.
These would be fun to make with your kids. I think I might make a few with some ribbon attached in the middle. Probably use some Basic Grey patterned paper and hang them on the tree. Here are the directions.

And before I go, go check out Lotus Paperie December 1st, first thing in the morning. We have something new in store for you.

Thanks for peeking

have a great week! :)

XOXO

Overwhelmingly busy!

2009-11-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

So I keep telling myself, 'I'm not going to go on and on about everything I have to do' because I know we are all busy, but I need to today. I'm just feeling overwhelmed with it all. I have not stopped all week. It's so bad I have been forgetting to eat and then fuel the headaches I get, pretty silly but true.
Yesterday I had my exercises at the pool with both girls in tow because I had to cut the class short for parent/teacher interviews and had no time to go home. Then rushed off to physio with Emma so I could get her to dance on time. Came home to get Chastity because she had dance. Thank God for my mom today. She looked after Mikhail. Oh, Mom, Mikhail said 'thank-you for looking after me' as you drove away today :).
And I will not be getting any breaks until next Wednesday when the kids are in school I think. This weekend alone looks crazy, Christmas Parade, two birthday parties and the movies. I know, this too shall pass and then I'll miss it all like crazy. I'm going to the movies with the girls so I guess that qualifies as a mini break. :) New Moon...

Here is my layout for Lotus Paperie, based on my sketch this week...

Have a great weekend

XOXO

10 Years Ago Today...

2009-11-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

My middle child was born weighing 6 lbs 12 ozs, quite big considering she was just over 4 weeks early and considered a preemie. She was healthy enough to come home the next day.

Chastity, her big sister (21 months old) holding her baby sister for the first time :)

Emma's first birthday. She loved chocolate even then...

Emma at 18 months old

Emma's Halloween costume at three years old

Emma at four

Emma at five

Emma's new hair style this summer

Here's what she got for her Birthday today, she LOVED it :)

We made some cupcakes from scratch together

Here they are, chocolate of course. :)

Still can't get over the fact that she is now double digits!!

Happy birthday Emma!!

XOXO

That's a lot of water!

2009-11-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, our weekend started out good but ended in a bit of a disaster. We spent the day together with a bonn fire going to clean up some brush. My husband had to cut up a couple of trees that came down during past storms. Mikhail saw the hard hat sitting there afterwards and had to try it on. It was too heavy and big for him and kept sliding all over his head. :) He still thought it was a cool hat.

I took a few fall photos in the yard

It poured all night and all day the next day. Before we knew our sump pump quit our basement was buried 2 feet in water in some places. It was a mess. That was on Sunday. On Monday the weather didn't let up and our city ended up flooding. There were lots of closures because of flooding. My photos are after the floods let up and the roads were reopened, so you'll have to 'picture' it.

moving the trailers...

the water was across the road here...

and here...

this park was deep enough for a boat. although it quite often floods during storms I never saw it as bad as it got that day.

So that was the excitement of the week!

Oh, that and Emma's cast was finally taken off! She has to do exercises to get her wrist back the way it was and now I just have to watch and see if her growth plate will be alright. I hope so.

Here's this week's challenge for Lotus Paperie. The challenge is to use packaging that your supplies came in! Mikhail has his own Fisher Price camera and when he first had it he would always have the camera turned the wrong way, towards himself, and he would proceed to take multiple photos of his little mouth and nose. :)

I used the cardboard backing to frame the photos...

Here is the before...

That's about it this week, thanks for peeking!

xoxo

More renos and things...

2009-11-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

How has your week been? We are finally starting to get back to our real life, the chaotic one, the one we love. :) I'm back to my regular exercises at the pool and all the appts. that go with it. Kids are back to dance and school. We are pretty much all better now, I'm just waiting for my energy level to come up, or is that just me?? lol
Anyway, we are planning on putting in a dance studio for the girls downstairs. We already have an empty room that they dance in all the time but we want to add to it to make it more of a dance area for them. We have it all planned where everything is going to be, we just have to do it now.
Also getting more ideas for Mikhail's big boy room. I love this idea for favourite books. That's about as far as I've gotten with it though. :p

Here's the sketch for Lotus Paperie this week...
Mine honestly started that way since I love exactly the way the sketch is but my layout ended up like this...

Which I'm happy with anyway, loved playing with the paint :) I think paint and spray ink is my thing. :) I find myself quite often running out the door to pick kids up, my fingers stained with paint or ink, lol.

Emma's cast comes off next week!! Can't wait, and neither can she. It's been a long 8 weeks with that thing. She will have to get used to it being off though because I noticed as she walks she doesn't pay attention to her casted arm and weather she bangs it against things or not, that's gonna hurt. We'll see how she does.

Thanks for peeking, have a great weekend

XOXO

AWARD!

2009-11-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

I received a blog award from Marit the other day and finally answered the questions that go with it! The goal is to answer the questions with one word, I cheated a little as I found it pretty hard to do.

Here's my answers...

1. Where is your cell phone? none
2. Your hair? copper
3. Your mother? confidant

4. Your father? workaholic
5. Your favorite food? Veggies
6. Your dream last night? forgot

7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? get better
9. What room are you in? living room
10. Your hobby? Scrap booking/photography
11. Your fear? kids dieing
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? retired?
13. Where were you last night? quarantined
14. Something that you aren’t? dramatic
15. Muffins? yep
16. Wish list item? no bills
17. Where did you grow up? Canada
18. Last thing you did? snuggled Mikhail
19. What are you wearing? Jammies (still quarantined :p)
20. Your tv? hardly watch
21. Your pets? none
22. Friends? close-to-heart
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? melancholy
25. Missing someone? always
26. Vehicle? truck

27. Something you are not wearing? ya don't wanna know
28. Your favorite store? Local scrapbook store
29. Your favorite color? can't pick
30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning
31. Last time you cried? couple weeks ago?
32. Your best friend? hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over? Wal-mart (and I wish I didn't have too :p)
34. Facebook? yep
35. Favorite place to eat? home-sweet-home :)

So you are supposed to forward this award to 5 people but I'm gonna leave this one open to anyone who wants it. Let me know if you decide to answer the questions so I can take a peek! :)

I am also still in a circle journal group and received 3 journals the other day. Here are my entries.

This one is for the gratitude journal...

and this one is about yourself, you have to list 10 things about yourself right now. Number three DOES NOT say I've been with my hubby since I was 9, but rather 19, the ribbon is hiding the # one, lol.

and this one is about what inspires you.

We are still fighting the H1N1 virus at our house. We have been quarantined a total of 6 days, looks like it will be a while yet as Chastity's symptoms just got worse yesterday and Emma is still coughing. We are hanging in there though. I'm sure we'll be fine. Mikhail is pretty much back to himself now! :)

Have a wonderful virus free week :)

Thanks for peeking :)

XOXO

Kids are sick :(

2009-11-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

And I wish I could say from too much Halloween junk, but no, it's that nasty swine flu that's going around. It's flying through almost everyone I know right now. I have it too but not like my kids do. I was worried about my middle child because she had a good fever but Mikhail's spiked at 39.3 C, that's about 103 F. He's throwing up good too, all over our nice new couch. sigh, guess it could always be worse, right? As long as I can get him through this I'll be happy.

We had a good Halloween. Took the kids trick-or-treating with a friend. Had fun showing everyone the kids costumes. Chastity was an evil fairy, Emma was a vampire and Mikhail was a monster.

Here's our pumpkins, saw the pumpkin eating a little pumpkin in a book and thought we would put our own twist on it, adding brain matter to the small one. :p

and we set off fireworks again in our yard.

And finally, here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. The challenge this week is to use a coffee filter. I have to say...this wasn't the easiest challenge for me. Firstly, I had to go get coffee filters because we are not coffee drinkers here. Then I had to figure out what to do with it. I ended up turning it into a flower, sewing it to my page and using yellow paint on the edges.

That's life this week, thanks for peeking

xoxo

Lotus Paperie Design Team Call!!!

2009-10-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

Our current design team is wrapping up and we want to give you a chance to become a part of our team! Do you love to challenge your creativity and take it to the next level? Then this is for you. All the information to apply is here.

We can't wait to see what you are made of. :)

Here is my layout for this week's challenge based on a sketch. this isn't my usual style but I still like how it turned out. I even used very old supplies that I bought like 10 years ago! Like the rainbow/clouds, the tulip on the top and yellow daisy at the bottom. I'm surprised I still had these hanging around. I also didn't have enough letter stickers for the word face so I used the negatives from my old stickers, used Lil' Davis glitter paint and just layered it on.

Here's the sketch we have to work with this week. Go check out the others gals layouts this week, they are awesome. :)

Well, we are almost ready for Halloween this year. Need make-up ideas for the girls and pumpkins for last minute carving. I'll share photos of their costumes soon. This week has been packed full of appts. and everything in between as always. Keeps me on my toes. :)

oh, do you love lemons or lemon flavour? I have an awesome muffin recipe using lemons. The girls love them, Mikhail, not so much. Here it is...

Lemon Coconut Muffins

All-purpose flour 2 cups/ 500ml

medium unsweetened coconut 1 cup /250ml

baking powder 4 tsp. /20ml

butter (or hard margarine), softened 1/3 cup/ 75ml

granulated sugar 3/4 cup /175ml

large egg 1

finely grated lemon zest 2 tbsp. /30ml

milk 1 cup /250ml

medium unsweetened coconut 3 tbsp. /50ml

GLAZE

granulated sugar 1/2 cup /125ml

lemon juice (I used freshly squeezed) 1/4 cup /60ml

water 3 tbsp. /50ml

finely grated lemon zest 1 tbsp. /15ml

Measure first 3 ingredients into a small bowl. Stir. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and lemon zest. Beat well.

Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk in two parts, stirring after each addition until just combined. Fill 12 greased muffin cups 3/4 full.

Sprinkle with second amount of coconut. Bake in 375 degree F (190 C) oven for 18 to 20 minutes until wooden pick inserted in centre of muffin comes out clean.

GLAZE: Combine all 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat on medium until boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Heat and stir for 2 minutes until starting to thicken. Carefully spoon over hot muffins. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool. Makes about 12 muffins.

That's about it. Enjoy your Halloween weekend. Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

CT scan on Tues., results in on Wed....

2009-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

and when it's that quick it's not good. I have been living with three bulging discs (two mild, one severe with nerve impingement) and a spur all on my neck since the accident. The doctors are actually surprised I am walking around the way I am. The only way to fix it is with surgery on my neck. I really don't want surgery on my neck but I haven't been living like I did before so I probably should. Still need to talk more with my doctor.

Started my water exercises this week. They are geared toward older folks with osteoporosis, it works on your core. I'm not joking when I say don't let the little old ladies fool you, it doesn't look like much when you watch but it really is. They are a fun group though, always cracking jokes. Well except for the poor old lady who doesn't like their perverted jokes, but that makes it even funnier. :)

Here's some homemade buttons I made this week. I figure it's not bad for the first time and without using a rolling pin with the clay. :)

Went for a walk with the family and took a few shots of the kids, these are some of my favourites...

This is not posed, it's Mikhail being cheeky and thinking he was going to trick me by getting ready to run the other direction before I could get a shot, but I knew it was coming ;)

These are Mikhail's new favourite shoes, rubber boots. He doesn't fit his Elmo shoes anymore, they won't work in the rain anyway. He is SO happy he can jump in puddles now. :)

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week, use your ribbon scraps.

Here's another quick recipe for ya. This is one of our favourites. If you don't like spicy go light on the red-pepper flakes.

have a great weekend

thanks for peeking

xoxo

Week in the Life

2009-10-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm doing that again. It is one of the best albums I have to date of my family, the stories and photos have so much more meaning. Ali Edwards isn't doing it right now though because she has other things at this time of the year to get done, but she says she'll be doing it in January. I'm just going to show a couple of photos from the week.

Here's Mikhail and his little people. He has this broken little car, it's missing the top. He uses it as a skateboard for his little people :)
Bet you are wondering why there is a shoe on the dash. Mikhail wasn't happy...with what?? not sure. I know he was angry with his sister. He decided to throw his shoe and that is where it ended up...all the way home. Oh well, can't keep them happy all the time. He was later angry that his shoe was on the dash instead of his foot, I think he was just tired. :p

The girls and I were also playing with light in the dark with the camera. We were getting bored waiting at dance so we started taking shots of vehicles driving by. The girls loved the effect and took turns. They even got a few shots where they said it looked like ghosts in the photos. They aren't posted though.

And here's my layout for Lotus Paperie, Mikhail and his spot.

My Thanksgiving was pretty good BTW. Great food, a funny movie, and family. Can't beat it :)

Thanks for peeking, have a great weekend :)

xoxo

woah, when did that happen??

2009-10-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Friday snuck up and totally confused me today! I was just zooming through the week at lightening speed, minding my own business and it decides to pop up!! Between dr.s appts (a couple for Emma, she now has a 1/2 cast, yay!!), physio appts, signing up for classes, normal driving around and getting ready for our Canadian Thanksgiving at my house (yay :)) it has been one busy week. So I have nothing exciting for you but my layout for Lotus Paperie. Mikhail and the slide :)

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

I dropped the housework today :)

2009-10-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just have to drop things you don't feel like doing so you can make way for things you are totally in the mood for. I decided to do that today. I took some time to myself and scrapped a few layouts. Here are a couple of them, the others are for Lotus Paperie so you have to wait to see them. :)

this one is of Mikhail's current favourite shoes...

and this one is photos from butterfly world. I was inspired by a tag from clothing for the design.

I did do some baking today for the kids lunches. I made some raspberry muffins...

and applesauce muffins.

Healthy oatmeal cookies

And oatmeal bars.

Thanks Deidre :)

So hopefully that will last a while :) I like to get a bunch done and then freeze them. That way I don't have to think about it for a while.

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

He's still lovin' it....

2009-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mikhail still can't get enough of his dance class. He got right into it as soon as the class started and he was so excited about his star stickers he had to show his daddy and I a few times. :)

Still getting Emma through the days with her broken arm. I end up flat ironing her hair every time I wash her hair just so we can deal with the massive head of hair she has. It really helps with her getting ready in the morning. Just over an hour every time though, yikes!

So I baked another cookie this week, they were even better than the last ones...
Jumbo Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies. They have coconut in them too, yum!!

and here's my layout for Lotus Paperie this week.

The flowery fireworks are made using punches and an old French/English dictionary. I sprayed some ink on them and added gems. The star lace paper is actually red but I wanted white so I used the flip side after I used the red side to spray my home made glimmer mist over it. I also used some perfect purals for an extra glimmery effect.

That'll be it, thanks for peeking:)

xoxo

My birthday in a nutshell...

2009-09-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

ok, so it wasn't the best one I've ever had...but it wasn't bad. I spent most the day with my kids just relaxing since the day happened to be Pro-d for teachers, no school. The girls gave me framed, scrapped photos of themselves from when they were younger that they made themselves. They also made foot scrub for me... it's green and smells like vanilla extract. They told me it was supposed to have peppermint in it but they thought peppermint would stink so they used vanilla extract. :) They also made cards for me, Mikhail too. Later I went for dinner with my family, Trevor was in camp, he missed out :). Then everyone came to my place and my parents brought over this cake...

Wanna know the story??

Well, go back to when I was a little girl. I was eleven years old. I had my own paper route and therefore my own income!! Well, the truth is I had to share the paper route with my brothers and also split the income. We each made $20.00 a month to deliver papers every day. Our only day off was Sunday. Every Friday we would go into town. We lived in the country so this was a big deal to us. While my parents did the grocery shopping we used to spend our money in the mall. The mall and the grocery store were in the same building at the time and it was much safer then than it is now, the town was only a 1/4 of the size.
Anyway, there used to be this toy store/gift shop in the mall and we used to spend most of our time and money in that store. I was shopping for a birthday gift for my mom in there and that's when I saw it, the perfect gift. It was a mug and on it the words 'staying alive at thirty-five' in bright eighties colours. I thought, well my mom is turning 35 and it's pretty good that she's still alive, I'll buy it. I got home and wrapped it up and when I gave it to her on her birthday didn't expect the reaction I got. She opened it, slowly lifted it up, and as she read it a smile spread across her face. My dad slipped behind her and read it almost at the same time and started in hysterics. He had a blast teasing her about that. It became a family joke and funny memory from that day on, and guess what? It was my turn this year. :)

Update on Emma, she's feeling a lot better. We had to see the specialist and get more x-rays. She still has 1 mm space in her bone so we have to go again in another week.

I'll be back on Friday for another Lotus Paperie layout.

Thanks for peeking
xoxo

Here we go again...

2009-09-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I will get to that part in a minute, just wanted to share a couple of other things first. I am pretty impressed with Mikhail's learning curves lately. We really haven't gone over a lot with him but he seems to pick up knowledge from everything. It's amazing to watch him. I think he'll do just fine in school when the time comes. :) Here he is lining up the lids with the paint colours, he decided to do this on his own!
Emma lost another tooth, which is a good thing because the next day she ended up with a dislocated fracture in her wrist and had to be put out in the O.R. to fix it. Don't want any loose teeth during an operation.

She was at a friends house and they decided to go to another friends house. They were playing on a zip line when she fell off. Her wrist looked very strange when I saw her. I took her to the E.R. right away. They decided to put her out to re-align the fracture but while she was out she threw up so they had to put tubes down her throat to protect her lungs. She also broke it across her growth plate so I have to keep an eye on her arm as it grows. She has had her arm up for three days to keep swelling down because if it swells up too much we would need to remove the cast and do the procedure again. She has been on codeine for pain, I can't tell you how much I hate to give her drugs like that. We also had to spend the night in the hospital. I pretty much pulled an all nighter. It has been a tough week but it is getting better now.

Emma told me she's all right with me posting this photo of her still in the hospital.

So, ya...here we go again :p.

Have you seen this line of Basic Grey wrapping paper? If I saw it in the store I'm not sure I'd buy it just because it's too pretty to put on gifts just to throw away again. I might for projects though. :)

I wanted to do a little more scrapping this week than I actually did, but it was just not in the cards this week. Here is my layout for Lotus Paperie though.

That about it for this week, thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

P.S. Happy Birthday to me :)

Weekend Stuff

2009-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after the girls small pieces (dance) and after we got the chores done Emma and I did the baking for school. Chastity had a friend over so she didn't join us. I found this awesome recipe for chocolate chip cookies, one of the best I've made...here it is...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 twelve-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips (18 ozs)

Instructions

Preheat oven 350 degrees

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients.

Stir in chocolate chips.

With your fingers, place golf balled sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges are light brown.

These end up being a chewy cookie. If you don't like chewy they are still good cooked a little longer and still the best chocolate chip cookie I've baked :).

Family night was fun. We ended up making these after Mikhail pulled out the slip of paper. He was so excited he wanted to make them immediately. He couldn't say the words beanbag balls as quickly as everyone else and kept saying bee ba balls. It was so funny, guess it was a bit of a tongue twister for the two year old. :)

More things rippening in the garden. Just picked this melon today. :) It was one of the best melons I've tasted.
That's it for now
thanks for peeking
xoxo

Studio, Craft room, whatever you want to call it...

2009-09-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the meaningful artwork the kids and I made together that I was telling you about. We just went to town splashing paint all over it. Mikhail (the two year old), out of all of us, was the conservative one, sitting with a paintbrush painting. I think we had just as much fun during the clean-up with the water hose. :) It literally adds a splash of colour to the studio.

I finally decided to post my studio photos. I had mixed feelings about it as I'm not a braggy person but at the same time I'm excited about it starting to come together and I have been posting updates about it. So I figured some of you might want to see. This room is mostly for me but I also share it with the kids. They have their own drawers for their crafts and Mikhail has his own shelf with a few toys to play with.

Here's the ugly before...

This window we removed and put in french doors and we moved the sink to around the corner.

I am sooo glad that carpet is gone...

Here's the progress we've made so far...

This pantry holds all my paper...

This is our massive island, it's 10 feet long...lots of space for the kids and I to scrap etc. together. I have most of my supplies stored in it.

This is the sink area where I store my stamps, paint etc.

This is the cube shelving that I was telling you about that we made.

This is my personal seating area

and my view of the garden. The hummingbirds like my butterfly bush too. :)

just another angle

We still have some more to do but it's getting there.

So, family night is on Fridays and we decided on a little spontaneity. The kids and I sat down together and made a list of things we can do together, cut them into strips, and put them into jars. We separated them into days out and time at home. The kids take turns pulling a strip out and that's what we do. :) Here are the decorated jars...

A layout of my little guy when he just learned to walk trying to rollerskate too :)

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. Mikhail jumping on the bed, he really is a little monkey :)

and the sketch that inspired it...

The story behind this photo...

he was going all day, so much energy and I was after him all day to slow down. Constantly jumping on the couch, which I was constantly after him for. He ended up in a few time outs. :)

Finally, it was quiet for just a few minutes before I had to pick up the girls. I knew he was in his room and figured he was playing with his cars. I went up to get him and he was out. Guess he was just trying to keep himself awake all day. Oh, and he's in the middle of potty training (he is so very stubborn about that :)) and likes to hang out in his pull-up at home.

One more thing, Here's a quick recipe for ya. The ingredients didn't sound too good together but they taste good. :) If you don't like really spicy go light on the red-pepper flakes.

That's about it,

thanks for peeking

xoxo

The week so far...

2009-09-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so this is probably gonna sound really lame to most of you, but I'm just so excited that I figured out how to can my homemade chicken broth rather than freeze it!!! Now my freezer isn't going to get as cluttered, yay. :) Yes, I think it is a little O.C.D. :p I'm an organizational freak.

Here they are in cute little jars, I'm thinking chicken broth isn't so cute to look at though, lol. I even have the broth measured so I know how much is in each jar.

Mikhail's first day of dance was on Monday. He did extremely well. I thought he was going to be shy at first because that was how he was acting when we got there, but he warmed up quickly. He ended up trying to hold all the little girl's hands when he was supposed to be dancing. Even went off a couple of times dancing with a couple of them. He later told me they were all his friends. :) I think it takes a lot of patience to teach two years olds a few dance steps. I would be exhausted afterwards if it were me. :) They are going to be so cute though. I took a lot of photos but this is the only one with just him, don't wanna post people I don't know without permission.

And guess what? He enjoyed his class so much he wouldn't take his dance shoes off, he even ended up sleeping in them. :) awwww

Emma was a little nervous when she had to go to her Irish class because it was her first year in that particular class. She really had fun though and can't wait for her next one. The girls have started up with everything else really well so far. They look forward to each class. Love to see that. :)

Emma had to do a test at school for her spelling to see what level she is at. She just entered grade 5 and is spelling grade 7-8 words. :) Yay Emma. I knew she was up there, I was just waiting for someone to figure it out. :)She reads ALL the time. :) Chastity has been reading a lot too. She never showed as much interest in it until lately, proud of her too. Things are starting to click for math too, Yay.

I don't have any scrappy stuff to post just yet. I plan on doing a little something to go with the Lotus Paperie challenge on Friday.

Thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

There is a point, and I will get to it!

2009-09-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking lately about my family and what we got through this summer. With regular activities started it got me thinking. How much do we teach our children? Really think about this, and maybe in a different way. Are you the kind of parent that does everything for your child thinking it's an easier way, that they are too young and will pick it up later? Or are you the parent that teaches things early and steps back to watch them try it themselves knowing they will eventually get it and in the long run everyone will benefit?

I started teaching my girls at two years that they need to put laundry in the basket and toys in the toy box. They started baking with me at two years and Emma was actually 18 months!! Yes you probably can imagine the mess. :) Emma especially loves to cook and bake now. When they started school, they made their own lunches with general guidance. I didn't touch the lunches, just let them know what was best to put into it. I had a teacher complain to me once and a parent give me a dirty look once over it when the conversation was brought up!!! Although the actions of others for what I was teaching my kids made me feel a little guilty, like I was putting them through hard labour (lol), I stuck to my guns and still am. They pack their own dance bags, they do it every night before bed. If they missed something they are responsible for it. (except I still have to drive to get it and bring it to them, but they do learn to be more organized because they hear from their dance teachers as well as me :)) They also have chores that need to be done, and with it an allowance. They don't get paid to do things like clean their rooms and making their lunches (those are expected of them), but for housework...and only if it's completed.I still remind them about the things that need to be done. But every year there is less nagging because they are doing things themselves without being told.

The purpose of this post? Well, as everyone knows, I was in an accident that at first didn't show how my injuries were going to affect me. This June I cut the grass and it caused a significant flare up that left me stuck to the couch for about two months. I am still healing from this flare up but I am soooo much better than I was at first. Luckily (or not, depends on how you look at it) it was summer and I didn't need to drive the kids around, I couldn't. They picked up everything that needed to be done. They cleaned the house, cooked dinner and lunch, did laundry, and even looked after their little brother and I. They are 9 and 11 years old. I am so extremely proud of them. And all the work I have done to teach them independence I found is very worth it. They have a ways to go to adult independence but I know that if something were to happen to me they would be all right. Now, for their little brother...

Bits and Pieces...

2009-09-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

This post is heavy on the photos, so, sorry if it loads too slowly for you.

We spent the better part of Sunday and Monday preparing for the first day of school. We are back to menu planning, a chore list, and baking for school lunches. The girls and I baked their favourite strawberry muffins together. We also baked some cranberry muffins and banana bread. I think it's looking a little more positive as far as the school goes this year. I lost a little faith in it last year so it will take some time I think, I have my mind opened.

We are also looking at another exciting year in dance. Chastity and Emma are each in 12 classes and Mikhail has his very own class this year too! We went to the dance store to get him his first pair of dance shoes and he packed those around for the rest of the day. :) I'm thinking about another adult class for myself as well. We'll see though because my physiotherapist wants me to take water exercises to help build strength, I really want to do both, just don't want to push it.

We found another tree frog in our yard. We see them hanging out here every year. The kids love them :) Isn't it cute?? :)

It seems like every year the leaves start to turn colour a week earlier than the last. This year it was the middle of August! Mikhail and I decided to make pretty leaf rubbing pictures using crayons. Look at him concentrate :)

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. This week we are challenged to cut the pattern out of pattern paper and use them as embellishments.

You know the veggi garden is coming close to the end when your pumpkins are getting pretty big and your beans turn to seed. It was a good year. We ended up with about 3 cups of seeds from the beans!! Gonna save them for next year. :)

Here are a few seeds...

Remember the mini album I talked about? Well this is how it started...

And here's how it looked when I was done...

I took four sheets of tissue paper that had been wrinkled up and sort of modge podged them in layers on the covers. Then I sprayed the edges of the covers with a mixture of blue dye, water and blue perfect pearls. I then took the same perfect pearls and let it fall from the container onto the cover and where ever it landed was meant to be. I sprayed it with water to set it and heat gunned to dry. I then took bubble wrap and paint to it.

These shells I had been holding onto forever and finally put them to good use. I just drowned them in diamond glaze to make them look like they are in a puddle of water. You will see ink, perfect pearls and paint through out the book. These photos are from last year!! (sorry about the glare on some of the photos)

That is it for now

have a beautiful weekend

thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Back to My Baking Self!!! :)

2009-09-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

YAY!!! I am baking again! I am so happy to be able to get back to doing the things I regularly do. I made three batches of blackberry jam. All three of my kids love jam but my oldest doesn't like the seeds in her jam so I sat there straining all those blackberries just for her. :) This jam tastes SSOOOOO good.

And then the day before that I baked cookies, but not just any cookie, these cookies....

They are melt in your mouth kind of cookies, delicious. Here's the recipe if you want to try them. They are so easy to make.

I have been working on a mini album that I can't wait to share, but alas, it's not done. Those silly responsibilities keep getting in the way. :p I will share as soon as I can.

Here's my layout for Lotus Paperie. We used a sketch this week. The photos are of my oldest daughter at Science World.

I finished all my shopping for school, still working on the dance supplies.

The kids spent a lot of time on the beach this week, love that. :)

Had to say goodbye to my Aunties, they had to end their trip. :(

that about sums up my week!

Thanks for peeking, have a fabulous weekend.

xoxo

Been making stuff :)

2009-08-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

The challenge at Lotus Paperie got me started and it was all uphill from there.

This week we are challenged to alter something and so I altered a window frame. We have these old window frames that have been hanging around our house since we moved here and who knows how long before that. I love the weathered look of them, so...I broke out the glass with plans to turn this one into a cork board.

I first tried to use thin sheets of rolled up cork board but they were very hard to get flat. Maybe the two year old running through the studio and right onto the freshly applied cork board, putting a hole right though it, didn't help? Needless to say, I went and bought a big board of already put together cork and used my hubby's jigsaw to cut it to size. (the leftover my girls used in their room, they loved the different shape of it) I then put a piece of plywood behind it and screwed it all together.

Then I took out one of my huge alphabet chipboard letters (a T for me :)) and applied Tim Holtz distress crackle paint in light blue. It wasn't just the right colour so I applied a green over that when the crackle paint was dry. And finally after that I applied perfect pearls to give it some shine. I hot glued my letter on and tied the two ribbons on, also adding a felt heart and button.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out. :) It's going to hang in the studio.

I also altered a picture frame. I'm going to get the same pictures enlarged so it will look better.

I didn't play with my perfect pearls enough and decided to take a "q" from Jennifer McGuire and make book marks for my girls, I made two of each of these.

and then I made cards just for fun :)

I have started my back to school shopping. Bought most of the clothes and supplies, just need a little more. I really wanted to get it done in one shot but it didn't quite work that way.

Found a couple of sites on how to make dimensional flowers for your pages here.... and here.

Also found a cool challenge site. It's for organizing your scrap area.

Been spending time with my Aunties too.

That's about it, thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Finally Feels Like Summer!!

2009-08-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm getting through this flare up little by little and finally did something that fits summer perfectly! :) We went swimming. I went out with the kids and a friend and her kids who happen to be friends with my kids, we had a blast. :) We went to a swimming hole just five minutes from our home. We are so blessed to live in a beautiful place.

It took Emma the whole day to get the courage to finally jump in! :)

Here's my layout for the challenge at Lotus Paperie which is based on a sketch this week. My layout is of Mikhail breaking into the safe at our hotel room...monkey see, monkey do! :)

I've been playing with Tim Holtz alcohol inks lately. The first card I embossed resist the tag and the second one I stamped with versamark ink and then inked on glossy photo paper.

The studio is still coming along, still waiting on finishing touches but I'm officially moved in and using it. :) All the stuff I have that's finally put in it's place in the studio has lead to the rest of the house coming together in organized fashion, that really makes me happy.

Excited to see my Aunties and cousin soon.

Had my second round of acupuncture. I felt a release in my arm right away. :)

That's about it, thanks for peeking!

xoxo

Challenge 137

2009-08-14T07:42:00.001-07:00

Well, that was an interesting and hard week. There are parts I wish not to repeat, like the funeral part.

The cabinet part turned out well though, they are installed. But guess what? I decided we needed to build cube shelves for added storage so the room is STILL not done. :p I'm lucky enough to have an uncle with all the necessary tools who also helped design and measure. (Thank-you Uncle :)) The plumbing needs to get finished off too. I also have big plans to get my kids involved in making a meaningful piece of artwork to hang in there, just waiting for it to dry up outside because it's definitely a project we will want to do outside. It's looking good! For those of you who don't know I'm talking about my studio.

Here's the layout for this week's challenge. It wasn't a good photo day for my arm when I took this photo hence the dark side, but I got it done! :) The challenge was to use watercolours, paints, pencils, whatever. I used my watercolour pencils. Go check out the art on Lotus Paperie. :)

Have a great weekend, thanks for peeking :)

Outings and things

2009-08-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

After about a month and a bit break from scrapping I was feeling extra creative and managed to get the challenge done for this week! Not only did I get this week's done but last week's too! This week is based on a sketch and my layout is about how I buy petite size clothing and still have to shorten them!!! sheesh! I used tags from my new clothes and a piece of fabric from the jeans I had to shorten. Go to Lotus Paperie and check out the rest of the ladies layouts.

Here's my layout for last week. We were supposed to finger paint so I painted with my fingers :) This layout is more for my art journal.

We finally got out as a family and did something together. I was really worried that I would spoil the fun and end up in too much pain but we stayed out most of the day walking a local river that was pretty dry from the very hot weather we have be getting. I don't have any shoes for water so I went barefoot and felt the odd rock poke my feet. They would heat up and I would just cool them down in the water as we walked. A couple of days later the bottoms of my feet were bruised, lol. I didn't know I was doing that much damage. I did feel the bruises coming on the tops of my feet from stubbing my toes on rocks. :P

Here's Chastity...

there are a lot of fossils in our river beds :) we love looking for them

Daddy would lift Mikhail up to cross the deeper parts of the water to keep him dry but that didn't work one bit. He just kicked his feet like crazy slashing everyone with water :)

Emma carrying a few fossils, soaking wet from falling in the water

Mikhail copies his sister

There were a lot of frogs on the river, we think it was because the water was so low

We went to my mom and dad's house to watch the fireworks this long weekend too. I'm pretty happy with the photos I got, just need to use a zoom lens next time.

Other news...

I'm getting my cabinets put in my studio as I type this!!! I'll update with pictures when I think it's organized enough. :)

I cooked some homemade spinach noodles with homemade sauce, roasted chicken, and fresh raw peas from the garden. YUM! The kids got their veggies. :)

And some sad news for my family... my grandpa passed away yesterday after a bit of a battle with lung cancer. Hope my family will get through all right. R.I.P. grandpa

That's about it...thanks for peeking :)

xoxo

Acupuncture does work!!

2009-07-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

I find myself waking up bit by bit everyday, coming out of the fog of pain I've been in for the last month and a half. Finally noticing things again :). I have an appiontment for a CT scan but it's not until Oct. 20th!!! Our medical system hard at work. I finally got the acupuncture that five different doctors have recommended. I never decided to get it sooner because it wasn't covered by the insurance company that is dealing with the accident. I decided to take control of the outcome and am willing to try anything. Not only is all of this affecting my quality of life but is also affecting my family's. I got the acupuncture yesterday and I can already feel a big difference, not quite back to myself, but I can hold my camera again! Well, I could yesterday, a little more stiff today. It's like two steps forward and one step back. I can't even tell you how happy taking pictures made me. It's still one step at a time but this was a big one, after all, I can type this now!! :)

Here's a few pictures of how things have been around here. The girls had been taking pictures for me for a while because I couldn't hold my camera for quite a while. they captured all kinds of things like Mikhail's pose for the camera...

Mikhail's curls...

and Mikhail finally reaching the petals and riding his tricycle!!

spent a lot of time at my parents and the beach. my brothers took the kids out to the beach...

we saw a snake eating a fish at the beach...

the girls and I went and got our hair done together. I needed to get mine cut a lot shorter because I was having a hard time brushing it (thanks to my arm not working :P)

this is the first time Emma has ever had bangs. she also got her hair straightened, not permanently though.

even the hummingbirds have been suffering while I've been down. the feeders are dirty and covered in some kind of wasp.

glad the girls cared enough about the garden to water it :) They have been cooking and cleaning too. I have the best kids :)

Here are a couple of layouts that I didn't get posted. This one was a challenge to use a blurry/crappy photo.

and this one is based on a sketch.

Thanks for peeking

thanks for the positive and kind words too, they really do help :)

xoxo

Challenge 131

2009-07-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

For Challenge 131 over at Lotus Paperie we are challenged to cut the pattern out of pattern paper.
My layout is of my middle daughter's successful year.

So I have been in some extreme pain for the last two weeks. I'm done with pretending that I'm ok. Everyone who is close to me knows that right now I am not ok. My accident from a year ago has caused a few flare ups and this last one is huge. I have seen a doctor, again, and now need an MRI and maybe surgery, depending on what shows up on the MRI. The dr. said I have rotory cuff syndrome. And the pain I'm feeling tells me it quite likely will be surgery. I'm not really able to do anything, can't even hold a book so I can read. Hopefully this can be fixed soon because I have also been told by the dr. that if it's not treated properly right away it can become chronic.

That's about all I have, sorry it's not more upbeat, but I'm not feeling it. :(
Thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 130

2009-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am SOO late on posting this. But I finally got on the computer with internet services. We are on a little vacation and hardly have internet as we travel. This is not going to be a very entertaining post because I am still having a lot of problems with my flair ups from the accident.

Just sharing my layout for ,umm, last week. For Lotus Paperie :)

thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 129

2009-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Whew! Dance is done for the year! The girls were in a combined 20 classes (and if you count me there was 21) which made for a very busy year, and for a busy performance week. I love the quick pace of it all though. We really had fun.
I thought that my life would slow down a lot but I was so wrong. I guess I need to play a game of catch up with everything else in my life because my attention was diverted. It's alright though and we are looking forward to next year. :)

This week at Lotus Paperie the challenge is to use a lot of white space. I love the look this gives a layout but for some reason had a harder time than I thought I would. My layout is about my son always trying to be a big boy and keep up with his much bigger sisters. Check out what the other ladies did :)

So, my studio is coming along...so painfully slow. I have the walls pretty much how I want them. Have the french door in, the walls are painted and the flooring is in. Just need to get the plumbing done and the cabinets ordered. It will be a month before they arrive...painful. But I can't wait, it will be so organized in there. :)

I took a few shots out in the yard... my middle child finally has the upper hand :)

Our garden is doing well...

The strawberries are even starting to come...

just a visitor to the garden :)

Have a great weekend, thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 128

2009-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my layout for the challenge at Lotus Paperie. Be sure to check out what the other girls created!

ok, so this is going to be a super lame post. I have been extra busy with performace week for the girls (and I) in dance. It's what we like to call in our house survival mode. I'll update when I get a chance.

have a fabulous weekend, I will :)

thanks for peeking

Challenge 127

2009-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week we are challenged to use felt on our layouts. I decided on a layout about Mikhail and his Pooh Bear he so lovingly calls Pooh Pooh. I cut a strip of red felt with deco scissors to add to my layout. Go check out the challenge this week at Lotus Paperie, so much inspiration!

Life these days is mostly around dance. Not much else since I spend my day organizing, cleaning, watering the garden and cooking just so we can get through each evening of dance. There is only one week left. It's bitter sweet because we spend so much time making dance possible and actually enjoying the chaos that goes along with it that we aren't too sure what to do with ourselves afterwards!
We did have a little excitement over the weekend, a huge tree came down with a loud crash while the kids were cooling off in the kiddie pool. It was weird with no wind and temps in the high 40s (Celsius) in the sun! We see it in wind storms all the time, first time while it's hot with no wind!

Here are a couple of photos from the weekend...

and a few photos of the kids in the yard after a bunch of dance...

Our garden coming along. Brussel sprouts...

beans...

That's it, have an awesome weekend :)

thanks for peeking

Challenge 126

2009-05-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the challenge for Lotus Paperie this week, based on a sketch. This is the last week with the current design team, check out what they have done!

The photos are of my son when he really started playing with his cars :)

Still very busy with dance, mass rehearsals started this week. The girls have classes overlapping more classes all week, next week too. And I'm talking their own classes overlapping, not overlapping with each other! Pretty tricking figuring out where to fit in dinner but we are managing. Healthy home cooked dinners too! :) And without the extra hands at home to help with dinner dishes or bedtimes etc. since hubby has been in camp.
Our garden has started to grow, here are the first seeds to pop up, radishes...

...but the gate was left open and the deer ate some of our lettuce. It wasn't pulled right out of the garden so I'm sure more will grow, all's not lost.

Had another class with Chicks Who Click, here's a few shots...

Have a lovely weekend, thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 125

2009-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

The challenge this week is to use memorabilia in your layouts. I have a ton of memorabilia laying around so this was the perfect challenge for me, to actually use it. I finally finished the layout from my ultrasound for Mikhail's baby album. LOVE the top picture, you can see his face expression, it was the same one I saw everytime he slept when he was first born! I also included the parking receipt from the hospital that day. There is hidden journaling about the day we found out he was a boy.
Go to Lotus Paperie and see what the other gals did.

We have had a very busy week. It started with putting in a veggie garden. I tried to get Mikhail involved but he kept trying to plant carrots in the trails instead of the rows, lol. I'm sure there will be a few that pop up there. The girls loved the whole process. We still have a few flower seeds to plant, this weekend I bet! Found out Emma is allergic to mosquitos. Her calf swell right up and still is swollen a bit. She always had a weird reaction to mosquitos but this was over the top! It was photo week at dance. We actually had one day off! It probably was due to the fact that a lot were already taken in the middle of the year. :) It was nice to kick back for the evening. Mass rehearsals start next week, gonna get even busier, love it though.

Here's a glimpse at what the kids did with their evening off...

Mikhail was trying to copy his sister, she would jump onto the ball and let the ball go flying under her but little Mikhail's arms and legs weren't long enough to touch the ground and he kept doing flops all over the place with a big grin on his face then go up to his big sister Emma and tell her 'That fun Em, that fun.' So sweet :)

Watering our garden :)

parting shot, lovin' the flowers that are in bloom :)

Have a great weekend, thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 124

2009-05-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

The challenge at Lotus Paperie for this week is a sketch. I flipped things around a little on my layout.

I remember this moment like it was yesterday. Mikhail was only 5 months old, and granted he's only 2 years 5 months now, it's still amazing how fast time flies past. I wonder how long this moment will feel like yesterday to me?

So this week we have been lacking sleep big time. Mikhail had been waking up with a high fever multiple times a night for the last three nights. Not sure what's up with him as he is mostly fine during the day. But lack of sleep for me equals not enough energy to get extra things done, so I don't have a lot to say. :p My poor girls have been getting woke up too since their doors are across from each other. Hope tonight will be different and we can all get some sleep.

Have a great weekend (it's the May long weekend for us!)

thanks for peeking :)

Back from Shine Competition!

2009-05-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

We are back from an exciting trip to Vancouver. Chastity had two dances this year to compete in. One was her Lyrical Jazz group and the other was her Jazz group. The groups brought home a silver metal each! Here's some photos from our trip.

We took the ferry over, Mikhail loved going outside. He kept pretending he was flying.

This is for Chastity's Jazz piece...

Her metals...

We decided that since we spent all that money on the ferry we may as well make the most of it, so we took the kids to a petting zoo.

and then to science world...

We bought Mikhail some blocks in the gift shop. He wouldn't let anyone carry them back to the truck. :)

and back on the ferry to go home.

Still renovating my studio, it's taking a bit longer than anticipated, think it'll be worth the wait though.

Just developed a whack load of photos, more inspiration for the upcoming challenges at Lotus Paperie. Have you checked out the new design team announcement? It's gonna be a wicked six months!!

Have a great week!

Thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 123

2009-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week's challenge is to use

CRAYON

on your page.

I have to admit I was all over this one. I absolutely love trying new things on my pages. I drew circles freehand first. Then I used shavings of crayon on my layout by melting them to my page. I first put down a piece of wax paper then used my iron to melt the crayon. The last thing I added was a crayon border around the page. Go to Lotus Paperie and check out the rest of the pages!

It is the time of year where things get crazy. Vanessa and I have been working on deciding who will be on our new design team. It is always a tough decision as we get so many wonderfully talented entries. We will be posting soon (if not already!) on Lotus Paperie when we finally decide, watch for it.

The girls dance has picked up again. We have been at the theatre for stage orientation and are now at another festival for competitions. We are also going to add some family time and a little shopping while we are here. Soon after we have more dance photos and then Mass Rehearsals, and Mass Rehearsals are always very busy being a jam packed two weeks FULL of extra practices for the upcoming performances. It's kind of exciting actually!

We have also been renovating my studio. We put french doors on one wall to the outside. I love that idea because I can scrap during the summer and still feel like I'm part of the summer environment. I also like the fact that I will be able to see and communicate with the kids better. We are in the process of redesigning a weird wall that was in there. We are going to make it flush with the other wall and then add built in shelving. After that it will be paint, then flooring and then new cabinets and an island built so my kids can join me. So excited about that! Well, I'm off to get some more done and enjoy the time with my family.

Have an awesome weekend
Thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 122

2009-05-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Challenge 122 is up at Lotus Paperie. This week it's a sketch. Mine is of my daughters from a few years back. I love this photo of them.

It's been a frustrating week not being on top of things because I'm having a tough time with pain management. Silly me thought it was a good idea to scrub our floors on my hands and knees (with the help of my fabulous daughter Emma :)) which has resulted in a huge flair up from the accident. My Dr. let me know I had pushed it and shouldn't scrub the entire floor at a time. I'm wondering how that's gonna work. This house will never be clean at that pace. I try to make light of it but in reality it kills me because I have always liked my house very clean, probably causing myself more stress over it. :p Seriously, any ideas on how to stay positive and look past the frustration? I could really use some good and positive advice.

So I was surfing the net, checking out a few blogs, when I came across a post by Ali Edwards. She had a link to this awesome 40 tips for Going Green post. We already do a lot of it but there are some great ideas there that we don't yet do. Hope it inspires you too.

Here's Mikhail in his favourite spot, the window ledge. A perfect place for a road for his cars. Gotta love the tongue sticking out in concentration. And yes, I realize he needs a haircut, I'm too attached to his pretty baby hair but it's not benefiting him. I have some plans on the back burner though.

Why is it that Mommy's food always tastes better??

I have been finding comfort in drinking this tea lately, Chai tea. This is the only brand I have tried, think I might make a stop at the local tea store and try it in another brand too.

I had another class with the Chicks Who Click. Our awesome teacher was going over straight, leading and double lines that come together. My shots are in my flickr gallery.

Mother Child class is coming along. We have been taught the whole dance but are still working on remembering it all. I think it`s gonna be pretty cool though.

That`s about it, thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 121

2009-04-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

The challenge at Lotus Paperie is to hand stitch on your layout. I decided to take this challenge and run with it. I hand stitched on three sides of my layout and also hand stitched a heart on the photo, the rest of the stitching is machine. The layout is about the day Mikhail was born and how I thought for sure I would be able to hold him for hours after he was born (I couldn't with the girls, preemies) but it didn't work that way.

There is only a couple of days left to get your layouts in if you want to try out for the Design Team. Check out the post here.

Also, if you want to join us in the challenges post your layouts on flickr and add them to our group, make sure you tag them with the challenge # with no space (ex. challenge121) so it's not missed. You will have a chance to be in our top three and to win some scrap goodies.

Wanna know about a huge peeve I have?? I can't stand it when people say 'I don't have time', or 'I wish I had the time'. Know why? Because it's all about how you organize and use your time. I might be caught saying 'I don't have time' once in a while, usually to someone asking me to do something extra. It actually means I have other plans with my time though. I just hear it way to often and it really bugs me. I have also had this statement directed at me a few times. I made my life the way I want it, why don't you? We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Thanks for letting me vent :).

We are getting our new doors put on today, can't wait for that to be done. Getting excited as to what it will look like.

We have a couple of ravens nesting near us and we caught them eating a rat!! I didn't know they ate rats but I'm so happy to see they do, they can eat as many as they like :).

Thanks for peeking, have a great weekend!

LOOK!! It's Spring!

2009-04-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

It was so beautiful yesterday, (and today) that I HAD to get out and enjoy the weather. Mikhail was down for his nap, so since I couldn't go out in it I decided to take in the spring details on our property. :) It was also very windy. Have you ever tried taking close-up photos of flowers in the wind? It's pretty tricking, but I managed. Thought I'd share in case you couldn't get out to enjoy it too :)

We are having beef stroganoff for dinner tonight, or to be exact, turkey stroganoff. I'm not a huge fan of ground beef, yuck. I have never had stroganoff before! (unless mom cooked it when I was small, if you have, sorry mom) I might be the only one who never has I think, besides my kids. So we'll see if it's any good.

I did some therapeutic scrapping a couple of days ago, thought I'd share, maybe more people will understand me better. And maybe it will help others who feel the same way.

Check out the look on Emma's face and her body language in this photo, it's hilarious. She was so concerned that Chastity would get more eggs than her during the Easter egg hunt a few years back.

Here's the layout, think I'll be using paint more often, it works for me. :)

I'll be posting my layout here for the challenge at Lotus Paperie tomorrow, look for it.

Thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 120

2009-04-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you should stay away from something for a while because it's proven to be too dangerous for you? Not that I can stay away from it. In the last week I've been cutting myself on anything remotely sharp while cooking. Even cut myself on a plastic spatula...plastic. Who does that?? Emma has total confidence in me now, with comments like, 'oh, I can't watch', and 'Mommy, you are gonna cut yourself' constantly flying through the air. I think maybe I should hire someone for a little while until the coast is clear... Anyone want to come cook for me? lol

This week the challenge at Lotus Paperie is based on a sketch. My layout is of Emma and how proud I am of her and everything she has overcome (and is still overcoming) in one year. She is so strong.

I let the kids sit down together and have some of their Easter chocolate. I never completely agreed with the idea that chocolate makes kids hyper, it never seemed to make mine hyper before...but now my opinion has changed. Here's why kids should NOT have chocolate...

Mikhail sneaking into Chastity's chocolate...

Yes it was as chaotic (if not more) and crazy as it looks.

have a great weekend

thanks for peeking :)

HAPPY EASTER!!

2009-04-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

Just sharing a few photos of the kids from this Easter. We did die our eggs with the lace but we also used rubber bands on others. I think Mikhail liked the rubber band eggs.

Lace Eggs

Rubber Band Eggs

Easter was fun. The kids were outside hunting for the eggs on our property. There are all kinds of tricky hiding spots for that Easter bunny but they found them all.

Eggs found...

Mikhail LOVED this chocolate truck. Yesterday I asked him if he would like a chocolate wheel, of course he said yes. But when I broke it off and gave it to him he started crying saying no and asking me to put the wheel back on, he was upset I broke his truck! lol

We also had a fabulous turkey dinner...still eating it for dinner, should be done tonight though. :)

Great family time.

That's it, thanks for peeking :)

Challenge 119

2009-04-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

The weather is cooling off again, but the temps went up to 17 degrees the last few days!! I took advantage and soaked in the rays. :) I'm a sun worshipper living in Canada, go figure. :p

There is still time to try out for the Lotus Paperie Design Team. Don't miss out on the fun.

The challenge at Lotus Paperie is to stamp with corrugated cardboard, I can't even tell you how much I loved this challenge. My favourite things, office supplies and paint. :) The layout is of Emma and the slugs she loved when she was smaller, she used to think they were cute, lol.

I got going with the paint and didn't want to stop, here's another of my girls at the beach.

Chastity's lyrical jazz group was asked to come back for a repeat performance on the weekend. It was a long day but it went well, we left for the theatre at 12:30pm and didn't get home until 10:30pm. My poor little guy must have been wondering what happened to me. I'm always home at his bedtime.

I baked a little and made this...

want the recipe? Here it is. They were gobbled up in no time :)

We did do a little shopping when we were getting through the performing arts and I had bought the kids something. Chastityand Mikhail showed their appreciation, I'm quite sure Emma would have too but she was at dance when they made these.

Are you a gal who is serious about changing the world for the better? I'm talking about going green here. If you are tired of the commercials that beg for your money, don't like harmful chemicals used to produce these lovely things and want to stop filling the landfills unnecessarily this might be for you.

Check it out Ok with that? Well here's another, and another here, and, although a little high on the religion, here's another. And on to Easter so you don't think I've totally lost my mind...

We are planning on decorating our eggs this way this year. The girls are quite excited to try it. I also love these ones, and these ones. These ones are super cute, check out the photo in the background :).

I also decided to buy some jellybeans this year to brighten up the table. It makes me happy :)...

Have a wonderful Easter weekend

Thanks for peeking :)