Living with what you love....

 I  recently picked up the latest issue of Country Living magazine, and discovered an article about this new book......

I was immediately inspired to dispatch myself to the local bookstore to search out this book.

The book wrapped it's pages around me like a warm blanket.

I love, love, love the sentiments inside it's pages.

It's not about buying new, buying old or buying anything.

It's about displaying what you already own and love.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have long had an affair with pictures.

Pictures from both the past and the present.

This love is what has led me into the hobby of scrapbooking.

And this love has spurred me on to create groupings of treasured photos throughout my home.

I think the picture arrangement in the staircase below is stunning.

If I were to visit a home with a staircase like this, a trip to the upstairs would take me hours.

I would study each picture and wonder who each person was.

I am still working my way through the delightful pages of this book.

My mind is absorbing every idea offered inside.

Now...to decide on my next project.

my 6th blog photo...

Grace over at Sense & Sensibility tagged me for a fun post. For this tag, you need to find the 6th photo posted on your blog and re-post it and tell the story behind it.

I have been blogging on and off since 2006.

I started this blog as a form of memory-keeping.

But it has also evolved into a place to share creative projects, recipes and other things.

But, alas, we digress.

This is a picture of my then 5 yr. old Tyler in the spring of 2006.

The Edmonton Oilers were in the Stanley Cup playoffs that year.

And this picture is from the final game where the Oilers lost their Stanley Cup dreams.

Tyler's little tear-stained face shows all of his heart's dissapointment.

He was so sad that Oilers didn't win the Stanley Cup.

A picture really is worth a thousand words.

Thanks Grace for tagging me! Please go visit her amazing blog!

how I love Amy Butler anything....

A friend of mine introduced me to Amy Bulter quilting fabrics a few years ago.

And I fell in love.

The happy prints.

The delicious colour combinations.

The incredibly beautiful punch they give to any room.

And here we are a few years later and her designs have branched out into much more than quilting.

Her designs now grace wall art.

I love the vignette above.

And there's a fabulous line of stationary products.

I would never want to leave my desk.

A line of papercraft products can be found at Michael's. I have all of her scrapbook paper.

I am so love with it that I find it hard to use!

There's a line of sewing patterns for purses, pillows, cushions and lots other amazing projects.

All so very pretty.

There's also gift wrap.

And all of these things are so lovely.

It makes me want to open my own "Amy Butler" store just so I could be surrounded

by all these items of pretty..... every day.

what's happening around here?

I had a scrapbook date with a friend at her house.  Hunter got to tag along.

She enjoyed many hours of cuddling with this sweet little six week old boy.

Momma was able to get some scrapbooking done.

Hunter gained some little baby skills.

I was so happy for her to have this experience because we don't see tiny babies very often.

For a lot of households, spring brings a nice break from winter activities before the summer activities start.

Not in our house however.

Welcome to spring hockey.

It compresses the same number of games of winter into half the time.

And my two boys show how much they hate this schedule by the sad looks on their faces.

I spent 'National Scrapbook Day' doing the appropriate activity.

My project was our little trip to Colorado.

I will share when it's finished...and that will be soon I hope.

I really love scrapbooking mini albums.

There is such satisfaction in a  project that can be tackled and completed in a day or two.

I made this new dish for my family one night for supper.

(I'm from the Maritimes, and we say 'supper'. Dinner is lunch.)

This recipe was snipped from an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

It was called Chicken Chili and it looked so good.

But it fell flat in flavour.

Peanut butter.  Coconut milk. Chili powder. Cayenne powder.

Fresh cilantro.

All the right ingredients, yet the taste was not there.

Ron didn't find it appetizing.

Hunter tried to fix it with more spices.

Tyler wasn't interested.

It got a thumbs down and into the garbage it went.

Darn tootin'.

Here I am working a bingo for the skating club.

I am sitting in the big uppity-up chair of the bingo chairperson.

It sounds like a special job, but really it's not.

It just means you get to arrive early, count more money, and leave later than everybody else.

The big guy in this picture had a birthday.

Yes.

 That's a Dairy Queen cake.

It's the requested confection for his birthday.

I secretly think he likes this cake because it goes into the freezer downstairs in the storage room.

The storage room located right off the TV room.

This means less walking for a midnight snack while you watch your fav shows or movie.

We got this overnight snowstorm and awoke to this on May 4.

Just when you think spring is here, the black abyss of winter sucks you back into the icy cold.

(But really I have to confess... it was raining and windy when I went to bed....and I slept like a baby because the sounds outside my window of soft rain, wind and then snow reminded me of  the sounds of home in the Maritimes...and I felt strangely comforted in my nice & warm, flannel-sheeted bed.)

I threw Tyler's winter boots away 2 weeks ago thinking we were done with winter and

 they would be too small for next winter.

The boots he hated wearing all winter suddenly became his most prized possession.

Throwing away winter boots in April. Mommy..what were you thinking?

Hunter made this dish for our family while I was at Bingo.

It sure was nice to come home to a wonderful meal.

She made a chicken & olives dish from Martha's new book, "Fresh Flavors Fast".

It was delicious.

This recipe is a keeper.

And so is the daughter who made it.

I have started a little makeover on these yucky-looking stairs.

These are the stairs that go to the downstairs TV/Family room.

The prep work of washing and taping off took longer than the actual painting.

As life interrupts the painting marathon, I am still  working on them.

And after all the hard work on the stairs, I needed a big 'ol brownie.

 So I made a pan of apple brownies.

I love this recipe.

It's basically a brownie blondie recipe with 4 cups of chopped apples.

And cinnamon.

 Lots of cinnamon.

Apple pie spice works nicely too.

And a little drizzle of icing.

 If you are going to take the time to make squares, then you should make a 9x13 pan.

The pan lasts longer and there are lots to pack into lunches.

Except.....well... it really does not  last longer.

It gets eaten just as fast.

a mini-scrapbook...

While cleaning and organizing my little scrapbook space, I came across this little scrapbook I made a few years ago from an altoid tin.

 It was a really fun & easy project.

Just take an empty altoid tin and wash it.

Assemble some scraps of cardstock, some ribbon and whatever little embellishments you have and 2 punches.

For this project I used the Marcy Uchida circle punch (2 1/4 inch size, which fits perfectly into the tin) and an EK Success Flower Punch.

You also need a set of little pictures to go inside the scrapbook.

Walmart makes this easy with the various size miniature prints you can make under the 'collage' setting at their in-store photo kiosks.

You start by punching a circle out of cardstock to cover up the altoid label on your tin.

Embellish the circle with a punched flower, a brad and some ribbon as shown.

 Or whatever other creative ideas you have. I am all about making a project your own!

Inside the tin is your 'mini scrapbook'. Punch as many circles for the scrapbook as you like. I recommend around 6-7 circles.

Place an eyelet at the top of each circle page to provide a place to insert ribbon to tie the scrapbook pages together.

Then build each page however you like. On each page of my mini, I have included a picture, a punched flower and a button. I have inked the edges of the flowers and circles for a little added dimension.

Building the pages is your time to play.

Mix and match colors! Switch up embellishments!

This project makes a great little gift for Grandparents. Or a nice little purse-sized scrapbook.

It would also be a great birthday party craft.

You only needs some tins, cardstock scraps, a few punches and whatever else you have on hand for embellishments.

This is one of my favorite projects ever!

This post has been linked to these great parties:

Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog

 

Organizing Keepsakes...

 A few years ago I spotted these attractive suede boxes at London Drugs. 

 I loved the combination of the suede and leather look and the antique-looking handles.

  I thought these boxes were perfect for the upper shelves of our closet.

A place where I like to store special keepsakes because I know that they are dry, warm & safe.

 In these boxes are things like elementary school pictures of Ron and I, baptism candles, tiny baby clothes and such.

Problem was.....I didn't have these boxes labelled.

 Bad idea.

Everytime I needed to locate something....I had to peek through all the boxes.

I finally took a few hours and solved that little problem.

With a black sharpie pen, tags and some ribbon, I had all the boxes sorted and labelled, and back into the closet in 2 hours.

It feels so good to look at those tags and know what is in each box.

Notice the wall that is partially painted?

 That is another project that needs to be finished.

And guess what?

I recently learned from watching Cityline that when painting a room, it is best to leave the interior of closets neutral so when you paint a room, you don't have to go throught the hassle of emptying a closet to paint it.

Brilliant! I wish I had thought of that sooner!

Greek night at our house....

For some reason this morning, Hunter and I both got up with thoughts of Greek food.We decided to make tonight a "Greek" night at our house.It was a collaborative effort between her and I. Using a new recipe from "Fresh Flavours Fast", she made the greek chicken kabobs.Marinated in greek spices, fresh oregano and mint...they were yummy.She also made the lemon-scented rice.

I made the greek vegetable salad. Yup. I got off easy. Except, it seems now that whenever I cook with my mother or my daughter, I ended up being the 'sous chef'. Why is that?

My favorite part of the meal, however, was how she stood over her father while he barbequed

the kabobs to make sure that that he didn't burn them. Or turn them black.

Yes. He does that.

We also served soft pita bread and tatszki of course.

It was a delicious family meal.

Such a nice finish to the weekend.

There was even enough to package up for school lunches for Hunter.

Awesome.