mother's day tea

I had the sweetest tea ever with the sweetest little girl ever, this past Mother's Day.

I was invited to Miss S's nursery school for tea {and a surprise cake that the kiddies made but Miss S told me all about} and the cutest performance {also a surprise, but I got many sneak previews by my girl who obviously cannot keep a secret}.

Miss S was the sun...

with her friend Miss K {my friend Lee Ann's daughter}. She knew all her lines and sang all the songs.

And then she gave me her handcrafted gifts - a sparkly heart-shaped pin and some paper flowers. So sweet.

And equally sweet was this teapot card from the sweetest boy ever...

Happy Mother's Day!

let's go to st.louis

How cool is this...

Mary Engelbreit is hosting Home Companion Workshops! And check out the list of amazing instructors...Wendy Addison, Amy Butler, Tinsel Trading, Claudine Hellmuth, Mathew Mead, French General, Charlotte Lyons, just to name a few of my favorite creative celebrity type people. Wow, wow, wow.

Oh. My. God. I want to go. Are you in???

I will be waiting not so patiently to hear more of the details.

{Posting from The Grandparents laptop, waiting to hear if anything can be recovered from my hard drive}

what do

The Bachlorette, Jillian and I have in common? Not much.

Other than this fabulous pendant...that she wore on Monday night's show.

Handmade by RitzyMisfit, mine is a melted and stamped wax seal green pendant, with quirky vintage-looking charm. Jillian's was turquoise...

{The one pictured above is a photo from RitzyMisfit's site, not my actual pendant}

You can pick the "level of character" and "degree of color" that you want your pendant to have. I love it.

That Jillian...she has great taste in baubles.

As for men??? I guess we'll see...

elton john and billy joel

Live. In person. At Scotiabank Place.

Face 2 Face. Dueling pianos.

It was such a fabulous concert. I loved it. They may be old, but they still rock!

Monique and I had a great time at the concert on Monday. I went to the show mostly to see Elton John {saw him in Calgary before and loved it} again, but ended up thinking that it was Billy Joel that put on the best show. He is great in concert - a fabulous entertainer and so funny. I still love Elton, he just didn't play as many of my favorites this time, as he did at his last show.

You just cannot beat hearing legends like Elton John and Billy Joel live. So much fun. I am still singing thier songs in my head...

You can read more about the show here.

rideau antiques

All one and one + two of us went antiquing Mother's Day weekend because K didn't buy me a gift and thought it would be smart to suggest I go find one for myself and act like he intended to do that all along. So off we went, on the hunt for some it is art to me even if you don't think so to hang on the big empty boring wall in our family room. I had my heart set on three antique church windows from here, that I spotted a while back, but by the time I finally convinced K how cool they would look in our home, they were gone.

I remembered Rideau Antiques having some windows, so we looked there...

{Read about the shop here}

Some windows, it turns out, is a major understatement. There is no shortage of windows...

or doors as it turns out. I thought about hanging a perfectly peeling door on my big boring wall, but K did just not 'get it'...

He did not understand how pretty the shutters would look on the flat, empty yellow vastness that is our family room wall either...

It was not really the right time to tell K how cool I thought one of these posts would look, just leaning elegantly in a corner of our home...

or about how I have always wanted an antique claw foot tub...

in every room in the house...

In the end we went home without finding the art of my dreams to fill the wall of my decorating nightmares. We were worried that because the windows have been out in the Canadian elements for who knows how long through wind and crazy humidity and rain and snow and more snow and more snow, they may have too much mildew mold, maybe??? and ick on them. Which might be hazardous to the kiddie's health. And I should probably not endanger my kiddies health with my Mother's Day gift.

I didn't find my art that day, but I did have fun taking photos at Rideau Antiques.
I love that place!

donna downey

Here it is, my long overdue post about the Donna Downey event that I went to in April, with Renee, Stephanie and Mellisa.

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Donna is fabulous! So creative, and so fun. Renee and I met her right away after arriving in Smiths Falls - we ran into her at the hotel as we were checking in. She was so friendly, and so in need of a Starbucks, we decided to grab a coffee together...

Our coffee plans fell apart when we found out Smiths Falls doesn't have a Starbucks {the horror!}, but Steph and Mel ended up finding her a chai latte that rivals Starbucks, later on anyway! And we enjoyed more time with Donna later, when after a long day of teaching she decided she needed to unwind with a BIG Canadian beer. In a paper bag. Again Steph and Mel {the beverage queens maybe?} came to the rescue...

and we stayed up waaaayyy too late in their hotel room {not much to do in Smiths Falls after hours, we discovered} getting to know Donna. So cool to hear about her experiences in the scrapbooking/mixed media industry and the "famous" {yes they do exist, and yes I know I am a dork} scrapbookers whose work and creativity we admire. And Stephanie made me her famous Caramel Candy Apple Martinis...yum! Good times.

The classes were great, and Donna is a wonderful teacher. I tried all kinds of mixed media techniques that were new to me, and so much fun. Check out this link to the classes we took - Swatches and Bloom and Paint.Watercolor.Doodle. All the painting and the oil pastels and the ink, made me feel like a real artist...{sigh}. When I grow up, I want to be an artist.

After all this, I wish I had signed up for Donna's Inspired event in her home town of Charlotte, North Carolina...but it was too late, the event sold out a while ago. Oh well, there is always next year! Who's up for a trip???

fabric fat book swap

I finished my fabric fat book pages recently, that I am swapping with some girlfriends. We didn't really have a lot of rules for our swap {or at least any that I remember following, if we did} other than they were to be 8" high by 9" wide to allow for binding the book on the left side} ...


The theme was "a touch of whimsy"...

I wanted my pages to be kind of messy and put together in a child-like way {which also conveniently disguises the fact that I obviously cannot remember how to sew in a straight line...}

I used some vintage children's book pages, sheet music and bingo markers...

Home is where the green felt heart is...

and every painted blue cloud has a silver lining...

And cherry prints and pom-pom fringe are just whimsy at it's best...aren't they?

Renee and Stephanie have already posted photos of their fabric pages on thier blogs {click on their names to check them out} and Mellisa and Katie were in the swap too. All the pages are so wonderful and whimsical...just like the ladies that created them. Now I just need to create a cover to house my pages {and I will post the completed book soon}. Thanks girls!

how cool is this?

I just saw a peek of the new Chatterbox line for 2009...and I LOVE this Artsy Album Stand {"to artfully display your artsy little books"}!


If you see one in the shops...let me know {just don't tell my husband}! Here is the link to rest of the Chatterbox catalogue.

Cheers!

one little word

In the spirit of the new year and new beginnings, I have come up with my "one little word", Ali Edwards-style! My one little word 2009 is

calm

I need calm in my life. And I need it now! I am not naturally a calm person. I talk too much, worry too much and get excited way too easily. Whatever. In 2009, I am going to enhance my calm! When my kids are misbehaving...I will be calm. When I am exhausted and in over my head with life...I will be calm. After we move again and finally get settled...I will be calm. And now you can hold me to it.

You can read about Ali's one little word concept here. And this is a quote from Ali's blog about the power of one little word:

Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009?

It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word.

One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here's one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren't ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities.

I am also going a step further, to have one little mantra for 2009. And it will be this:

{this is a reproduction of a WWII poster issued as a means of allaying public fear - I bought a red one last year on etsy to hang in my scraproom}

I think in order for me to remain calm, I will need my kiddies to also be calm, so I have decided that they should have a mantra too. And it will be this:

I need this print for Miss S's room. I love it! It was done by Jenni & Aaron of Every Day Is A Holiday, check out their etsy shop here.

What is your one little word?

merry christmas!

{artwork by R, age 4, December 2008}

mirror, mirror, on the...minibook

I am uploading new photos as I watch the snow come down, and down, and down. We may be snowed in here, soon!

Last week Renee, Mellisa and I took a class taught by our friend Stephanie, at the Scrapbox. The four of us got a chance to create and chat, so it was a great night. We also started planning for the Donna Downey event we are all going to, and some swaps to do together in the new year, for the event. We are going to try our own 'fabric fat book' inspired by the one Renee and I saw at Silver Bella {it was hosted by Michelle Geller, check out just how fabulous it was, here}.

Here is the mirror book I made in class, full of photos from R's first Christmas...

As usual, Stephanie designed a gorgeous book, with so many charming details. On one of the ribbons we hung charms that we made using Tim Holtz 'Fragments'. So easy to attach paper to the clear charms with crystal laquer - and so cute! There's a Heidi Swapp Chandelier Crystal on another ribbon...

Love the mix of Heidi Swapp and Making Memories papers and embellishments...

I love, love, love Heidi Swapp clocks...

and the Making Memories journaling cards...

The flocked damask paper that we put on the back cover is fabulous...

Check out the reflection of my vintage Christmas ornaments in the mirror cover of the book...

And just because it was in the background, here is a photo of my new favorite tree. It is a Bethany Lowe 'Vintage Inspired Silver Tree' that my mom sent me this year!

It's still snowing...