On the 5th Day of Christmas...

I pulled out some foam stickers and ....

voila!  The snowflakes are from the dollar store as are the foam letters.  The centers of the snowflakes have little green gems in them - simple!  LOVE IT! (the simple part I mean!) Pin It

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

I found these cute Penny Black hedgehogs and couldn't resist them!

I added some paper peircing and some candy cane twine and presto - done! Pin It

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

I played with this little polar bear from Stamping Bella.  I think he is just adorable and was really happy with how this card turned out!

I'm not sure who the sentiment is by - I think it might be a dollar store stamp.  Its hard to tell from the pic but the red stripes are colored with my spica pen so they are nice and sparkly!  LOVIN these simple cards! Pin It

On the 2nd Day of Christmas....

some Making Memory Christmas embellies.

This card was made with a felt poinsetta that I got in a mm kit from last year.  I just love it and the paper is some old SU that I had in my stash.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Its hard to tell in the pic but the dp is zigzag stitched on with my NEW sewing machine DH got me for Christmas!!!  Anyone want to buy a Janome sew mini?

Thanks for looking!

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Is Anyone Out There????

I don't know if anyone is out there anymore but if you are, you are very very loyal - lol!  Its been soooo long since I posted.  Truthfully, life has gotten so busy with these 4 boys of ours that I just haven't had time to do any type of hobby activity at all.  Until last night that is!  My DH insisted that we head down to our den where his video games and my stamping stuff are and spend some leisure time together.  So I stamped like crazy to try and replenish my Christmas cards for next year.  Over the next few days I'll show you what I came up with - many of which were inspired by the amazing blogs I visit all the time!
So, here is the first card:

Ingredients:  swiss dot cuttlebug folder, pti inks, swarovski crystals, mft die, and snowflake punch.

Simple but pretty.  Completely describes our weather here today - a good day for snuggling in and hmmm, stamping I think!  I hope you all had an amazing Christmas surrounded by those you love! Pin It

Texas

We were lucky enough to get to go and spend a few days in Texas with our friends Travis & Jamie.

We met them in Cabo and hit it off right away.  I was sooo excited to visit them and to take Andy to Dallas. 
The visit started off with a marathon shopping trip for Jamie and I and a golf game for Travis and Andy:

Travis and Jamie were such great hosts and carted us literally all over Dallas/Fort Worth and Arlington, showing Andy the sites and visiting old friends.  The only problem was that Travis wore this visor the whole time we were there:

We headed out that night for a yummy supper at the Olive Garden:

In our down time, Andy and Travis stole every second they could playing guitar hero - rock it boys:

We did ALOT of driving to see all the things we saw - HOLY FREEWAYS!!

We saw Reunion Tower, the mustangs at Los Colinas:

I went to bible college in Dallas and have always wanted to take him back to show him where I spent this significant period in my life.  Travis and Jamie were so gracious to drive us back to the ghetto - I'm not joking here - to visit my old campus.  It was so nostalgic.  I remembered everything being so much bigger.  It was great to go back and visit and be able to share that with Andy.  I got to see my old dorm:

Above, Gordon Lindsay tower where all the boys lived.  I worked in the cafeteria there.  We saw the new conference center:

There was a Wendy's where this building is now when I went to school there.
The next day we headed out to Arlington to visit a very dear friend.  When I was a young 18 year old student just out of high school Ruth Anne and Joe adopted me as their "Canadian Daughter" and became my home away from home.  Visiting her was definitely one of the high lights of the trip.

Jamie was so gracious to take us out to visit Ruth Anne and go for lunch and to see some sights.  We went to Joe C. Garcias for lunch.   There is an AMAZING patio there.

Then we headed out to the Fort Worth Stock Yards.  That was fun to see:

There was an old rail car in a station with little shops lining each of the sidewalks beside it:

We as the long horn cattle drive:

Here is an old fashioned stage coach:

And Ruth Anne sitting on a saddle bar stool at one of the saloons:

We saw some really cool architecture in Fort Worth as well.  The Fort Worth court house:

Then there were these amazing Angels:

Finally it was time to say good bye to Ruth Anne.  The visit was just way too short and I hope we get to visit her again soon.
After that, we headed out to a Texas Ranger's game!  That was SO much fun!  What a great experience to go to a MBA game!

Former President Bush and his wife were there enjoying the game:

We had such a great time with Jamie and Travis and can't wait until they come to visit us in Canada in the spring!

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Big School Boys

I can't believe my little boys started Grade 2 already and my baby has finally grown up and gone off to kindergarten.

Jacob - 1st day of Grade 2

Eli - first day of Grade 2

Little Benjamin - First day of Kindergarten

This is the first day Benjamin took the bus with his brothers. He was SO excited!!

 Here they go, off to change the world!

 

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Mexico!!!

Andy and I have been back from Cabo for a week or so now but things have been so busy I just haven't had a chance to blog about our trip so I wanted to make sure I do that now!!
We drove to Calgary the night before we left and spent the night with our friends Wendy and Rory Bond:

We had such a nice time getting to know them a bit better and Rory kept Andy up late playing video games - his favorite!!!  Thanks Wendy and Ror for being such great hosts!  They were also our chauffeurs (sp?) to the airport and back!

The next morning we got on the plane and headed to where the sun shines nonstop!  The flight was a little long and painful but once we there it was worth it!

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Pics from Summer Vacation!

We had a great time with the kids in Sylvan Lake.  We ended up having to take a few day trips because it was raining and definitely wasn't beach weather. Pin It

Decorating 101

Elizabeth, our son's girlfriend has come to live with us.  She is just a gem and we are so happy to have her.  I am especially happy to have another girl in the house.  All these boys I live with are finally realizing that I'm not an alien, I'm a girl, as they see her doing some of the weird things I do - he he!
Anyway, we needed to get a space ready for her since all of our home is boyified.  I can't EVEN tell you how much fun I had decorating for a girl!!!  Elizabeth is very feminine but not a fru fru lace and ruffles kind of girl so I knew exactly what I was trying to accomplish when I started out.  She has been accepted to The Art Institute for dress design so I really wanted to create a space that would reflect her personality, goals, dreams and also be a space that would inspire her to draw and sew and yet be very functional and practical as well.
Here is the before photo:

Now please keep in mind that we live in a rental house right now so painting the walls, changing the carpet, light fixtures and door knobs were not really an option since I wanted to invest in things she would be able to take with her when she moves away for school.
Thankfully the walls were just plain white which gave me a nice clean crisp canvas to work with!  I knew because of the lack of color on the walls I would need to add some major pops of color in the decorating elements.
I started out with this dress:

You may remember I posted a couple of years ago about my friend Melissa surprising me with this dress for my birthday.  I haven't been able to unwrap it and use it in my space b/c of all the boyishness so this was the perfect starting piece for this room.
Next I had my Great Grandmother's antique Singer sewing machine:

Another perfect addition (that really didn't have a place to live) for a dress designer's room!
Next I moved on to the bed.  I started with these amazing curtains and built a not so frilly small canopy:

Now I knew that I wanted to do black and this fuschia pink.  Feminine, chic, but not fru fru.  Next I found all of the bed linens:

Then I added this headboard I picked up second hand:

Every bed needs bedside tables so I added these tables and lamps which I also picked up second hand:

The tables were originally a cherry color so I sprayed them glossy black and added this frame with a pic of Elizabeth's Mom and Brother to make her feel at home.
I knew that Elizabeth would need a place to draw and sew so a desk was in order.  I had this cherry desk and chair with very granny like upholstery so I once again got out the spray paint - have I mentioned how much I love spray painting furniture - he he.  Here is the after photo of the desk and chair:

Notice the upholstery is still the old granny stuff but I just haven't found the perfect fabric yet.
Finally she needed a functional space for clothing and things.  Since the room doesn't have a closet, I picked up a clothes rack and used a set of rubbermaid drawers I had kicking around - not glamerous I know but they worked nevertheless:

I added the little basket for her to put goodies in.
All that was left now was to decorate - YAY!
I found this little dress form for hanging jewelry on:

and these pictures which literally could not be pryed out of my hands when I was leaving the store:

Are they not TOTALLY PERFECT for a future dress designer???!!!
I added this frame which I had with a pic of Elizabeth and Isaiah from Grad:

Lastly, I got some art supplies for her to create with and put them in this pretty & matching gift bag:

I fanned out some fashion magazines on the corner of her bed and voila:

This is the view when you open the door.
Moving around the room from left to right:

She was absolutely thrilled when she saw the room and I was so happy to do it for her!!  Doesn't make you feel good when you can do something to bless someone else!!
COST for ROOM:
dress - free
sewing machine - free
curtains - $20.00
other materials for canopy - $22.00
bed linens including matress cover, sheets and pillows - $111.00
headboard - $20.00
tables - $10.00
lamps - $5.00
frame - $6.00
basket - $10.00
spray paint - $40.00
jewelry dress form - $13.00
pictures - $60.00
clothes rack - $10.00
Grand Total:  327.00
I'd love to hear what you think of my little decorating effort! Pin It