Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Scott's Art

I don't have any of my own artwork to share today, so I thought I would show you a few of my favourite pieces of Scott's artwork from grade one. Since grade 2 starts for him in exactly a week, it seemed like a good time to show it :)

Corduroy the Bear

Thumbprint art

An Inukshuk that he made during Olympic fever!

First and last day self portraits!

Last Day for SUMMER MINI


Today is the LAST day to order from the Summer mini... if you know there is something you want, you can order from my website until 11pm. After that, it will be unavailable unless the item has made it into the Idea Book and Catalogue.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Clearance Rack


There are some great end-of-summer deals at Stampin' Up!'s Clearance Rack. Check it out today, and place an order online at my website. Clearance Rack items are only available through an online order. But the cool part is that you can shop 24/7 through my stamping website.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Play Dough

My friend Hilda talked the other day about the joy play dough brings to her kids, and I am guessing that in turn it brings joy to her (or at least peace and quiet for a bit!!). So I thought I would make a batch of play dough with the kids today. It turned out great... I'll put the recipe I used at the bottom. I know there are a million recipes, and everyone probably has their favourite way to do it, but this one worked really well for us today. The hardest part was finding the cream of tartar at the store!!!

The kids are happily playing with it right now. I like the fact that it can be stored for quite awhile, and doesn't dry out nearly as fast as the store bought kind, there is no fighting over colours, plus, I know exactly what is in my play dough - not some mystery substance from China.





Play Dough Recipe

You'll need:

Flour 3cups
Salt 1 1/2 cups
Water 3 cups
Vegetable Oil 2TB.
Cream of tartar 1TB.
Food coloring few drops or unsweetened "Kool-Aid" 1pkg.

Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.
Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away
from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled.
Place on counter or wax paper knead 3-4 times.
Store in an air tight container.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Bag Ladies... Not just bags :)

If you want to see what I was up to today... here's a link to the Bag Ladies blog that I am one of the writers for. I was going to post the pics here, but it's been almost a year since the sewing team posted on Bag Ladies, so I thought I would spread out my posts and put my sewing stuff there.

First Day

Here's another easy breezy card... I used the set "First Day." If you like it, or others from the Summer Mini Catalogue, then act fast... the sets and accessories that didn't carry over to the big catalogue are gone for good as of August 31st.

SHOP NOW... Open 24/7

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

PNE 2010 - an annual date

On Monday, Steve and I took a trek out to Vancouver to spend the day at the PNE. The kids stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's. I know they had more fun than if they had been along. We were there for about 8 1/2 hours, not including the hour each way to get there, and they would have been exhausted. We have never taken our kids to the PNE, and don't actually plan to for at least a few more years. At this point, they are still quite enthralled with the local country fairs, so why not wait!

Here are a few (ok, quite a few) pics from the PNE. I took other pics - Logger sports, crazy art exhibits, motor sports, and the prize home, but I'm choosing to only share a selection of my 96 PNE photos :) Some of those things are shown in last year's post... Our PNE date 2009

People, people, PEOPLE!!

It was the 100th anniversary of the PNE, originally called the Vancouver Exhibition.

The President's Choice Superdogs were on the very top of my "like" list. They were hilarious to watch, and I don't know why I've never bothered to go to one of their shows at the PNE before. This is something our kids would have LOVED!

Animals. Big, big animals! Can you see how little Steve looks?

Some ladies were making a pretty big fuss over this mama sow because she almost crushed one of the piglets and the wee little piggy was bleeding.

I was intrigued by these eco-sculptures, and I think if my yard was big enough, I would like to have one put up. Kind of like a larger-than-life Chia-pet!


So many of the 4-H kids were just lounging around on their cows. Kind of humorous!

Now these guys (and one gal) could PLAY! They were amazing. I took one short video of them that I might upload at a later date. They were entertaining and very musical. We both enjoyed listening to them play, and they drew quite a crowd.

Michael Bolton. Blast from the past!

While I enjoyed his singing and still love a lot of his songs, I really can't say much for his stage show. It was extremely hard to get a decent picture because the stage was pretty much black like this for the entire concert. But, even after all these years, the man can still sing :) ♫

The "Kaboom" show in honour of the PNE's 100th birthday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this exactly like last year's show? Why did they do it the same? But it was still fun to see.

A pic of toys hanging upside down, waiting to be won by some sucker that doesn't have enough stuffies in their house already!

Late at night, on our way out of the gate, Steve couldn't resist trying out the Prize Home schpiel! We were laughing so hard, and the people passing by thought we had lost it. It was even better when I handed him a few brochures and said, "See if you can get anyone to come over!" But nobody did. Still fun.

This cracked us up more. Like I needed some sugar at 10pm.... I was giddy enough by that time. But I love PNE mini-donuts. So, we got some as we were leaving the park. When the kids at the tills saw Steve gearing up to take a pic, they all "cheesed" too. I only noticed afterward when I was looking through the photos! I "LOL"ed, for reals.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sharing in your sorrow...

It is hard to say goodbye to a loved one. Even harder when they are only 9 years old. Steve's cousin's son died on Saturday Aug. 14th. You can read a news article on him here: Abby News. We went to Matt's memorial last Friday, and it was such a beautiful tribute to his life, and a reminder that this life is not all we've got when we choose Jesus as our Saviour. The next time we see Matt, in Heaven, he will be running and playing like he wasn't able to do while he was on this earth.


Here is the card I made for Matthew's family. I used Basic Pearls Jewels and the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set.


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Pretty in Pink Wedding...

Here's the card I made for my cousin Maren and her new hubby, Chad. They got married in June, and I did some of the music at their wedding. I was a bit slow on the draw for their gift, so I only got it in the mail this week. However, I have heard that proper wedding etiquette allows you to send a gift for up to a year after the wedding, and not be considered "too late!"

The card is made using mainly retired products, but the layout is easy enough to duplicate with any stamps, paper and ribbon you may have. The pink textured paper was made with my Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Both things are available at my website: SHOP NOW. The paper I used is Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. This is still one of my favourite combinations of colours.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Sunflower Fetish

I admit - I love sunflowers. I love their colour, their size and how cheerful they seem against a bright blue sky. My dad knows this! He has sunflowers in his garden this year. And he gave one to ME!!! I love it. I put my sunflower table cloth on the table so my sunflower could be displayed properly. He said it should last for two or three weeks. That is wonderful!

Here are some of the pics I took last week of my dad's garden before he cut one down and made it mine.









Thank you, Dad :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Vintage Cameras

Do you still have rolls of film in your fridge? I do. And part of me wants to call my old film camera "vintage," because we are living in such a digital, fast paced era. But then I saw these babies at the Heritage Museum last week, and I've got nothin' on them!



I subscribe to an email newsletter that arrives in my inbox every week from a site called Photojojo. They always come up with interesting topics of discussion in the photo world. This week's newsletter was all about creating that vintage look on your photos, using your modern equipment. While I am not ready to smear Vaseline onto my camera lens, I did find the article interesting. I also find it interesting how so many people long for what used to be.... Article: Vintage Photos

Also in the Heritage museum, there was a section dedicated to two brothers who generously donated their house and land to the community. Their names were John and Henry Newman, and the story of how they came to give away their estate is in the article below.

Enlargement of above article...

It just so happens that John Newman was an avid photographer. The black and white photos in this gallery were all taken by him over the years. They were very good.


Here's one of Newman's photos. I couldn't get over how this woman could contort her body. Many of the other photos were of boats and flowers.

In the early '90s, an article was published in the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper called "Brothers of the Land." It was written by Sandra McCulloch and photographed by Debra Brash. The following year, Debra Brash won an award for her photo of John Newman in his old claw-footed bathtub. I was living in Victoria at that time and I remember reading the article in the newspaper when it was published. It practically jumped off the page for my brother because he had once helped Mr. Newman out with his cow, and he recognized the man in the tub photo! One day, my brother happened upon Mr. Newman and his cow, who had gotten out of her pen and was wandering down the road. Angus helped return the cow to the farm, but the process was hindered by the fact that the cow was blind!


John Newman died in 1997 and his brother Henry died in 2000. The property was formally made a park in 2004.

Everyone has a story to tell. Perhaps the Newman brothers didn't think their story was all that interesting. They lived by late 1800's standards, but this was in the late 1900's... that makes for a good story!