Sweet Paris

I would love to see this in real life one day, but for now, I will have to settle for this stamp set!

Stamp set used: Artistic Etchings.

Inside view of card:

Chore Charts Revised

So, after a bit of time with our original chore chart, I revamped them, and have been using this chart for the last 3 weeks. I like it much better. And I will print them out each week for a couple reasons:

* We can put a new memory verse on each week (the boys get these from Pioneer Clubs that they go to on Wednesdays...)

* I can change up the chores

* It is not so overwhelming to look at one week at a glance

* We like stickers. So, an erasable chart just won't cut it. Sorry trees - you're going to have to take one for the team! If it's helping my house stay clean, and my kids to learn responsibilities, then it's worth it to me to use a new piece of paper every week!

At this point, the boys' charts are the same as each other. Elise's chart has less chores than the boys, and she has "Organize Shoe Cupboard" on hers, as well.

Another Open House card

Here is the other card we made last night as a Make and Take.

This one is with French Foliage from the Holiday Mini. It is pretty basic, and we used the "Happy Thanksgiving" sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I have the set in clearmount set, but it is available in woodmount, as well.



I also made this gift bag from a paper lunch bag. I just stamped French Foliage all over it and then added the twine, sentiment and floating leaf. What a quick and easy (and cheap!!!) way to make a little gift bag if you need something cute for a hostess gift when you go visiting friends over the Thanksgiving season.

Happy Feet!

These happy fellows are from the stamp set "Jolly Bingo Bits" in the Holiday Mini Catalogue. We love the movie Happy Feet, so I wanted to make a whole bunch of dancing penguins. I used a post-in note and made a mask so I could put some of the dancers in behind.

Orange is not a typical Christmas colour, but I think this Pumpkin Pie colour works on the card because of the penguins' beaks.

A little detailing on the inside of the card:

Police Run

I woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning. There was a child calling my name... I went to help him, and he fell asleep again. But before I could fall back asleep I couldn't help but notice the sound of the pouring rain outside. It was more than pouring, it was pounding. Usually, I would welcome the soothing sound of the rain. But not on this morning, for only a few hours later I was to run a 5K race with my 7 year old.

Racing + rain = not so much fun.

But, just in time, before the race began, the rain stopped. After the race, the sun even shone. And then before nightfall, the clouds opened up and let go of what they had been holding onto all day. I was so thankful that there was no rain during the run.

We had a great time. The run was the 20th Annual Police Challenge, and it was either a 5 or 10K route. The charities our local Police Department supports are: ALS Society, Special Olympics and the United Way.

Scott left me to run with a pack of his friends around the 1.5km mark. I was ok with that because there were so many people in this race that I knew. I met him again at the finish line, 5 minutes after he crossed. But even though my child is so much faster than I am, I still posted a time that was close to 2 minutes faster than my race in May. That's the only time I was looking at.

Here are a few pictures. We had a great day, and at the end of it all, Scott said to me, "That was so much fun! I am a good runner. When can we do that again?!" That was music to my ears. I am really trying to get my kids to embrace fitness, and apparently, it's working :)

Pre-race:

The 1st place finisher... he was done in just over 16 minutes. Unreal.

Here's Scott racing to the finish line. What a trooper! And Steve (he was standing at the finish line) said Scott finished just as strong as he started.

Here we are, still together!

The kids finished before we did, but Andrea stuck with me and we crossed the finish line together. Thanks, friend! Let's do that again!

There were close to 100 people from my kids' school that ran... from kids to teachers, to the Secretary and Principal! Talk about amazing school spirit! We got the trophy for the 12th year in a row for most participants.

I've already been checking websites for what race is next. Maybe I can shave 5 minutes off the next one. Or maybe I'll do something crazy like running a 10K next time :)

At my limit...

Oh boy! I just tried to upload pictures and was presented with the message that I have used my photo limit on my blogs... hmm.. that's not cool! So, I have to figure out how to either delete some of my storage or pay for additional storage.

So much to blog about... so little space (apparently!). But I aim to fix this asap.

Weekend Sewing

I did another project on the weekend. This time I used Stampin' Up!'s new FABRIC!!! Love the "Deck the Halls" fabric from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. I made a set of quilted coasters. The back and binding is from a coordinating fabric that I had on hand. I think they turned out fairly well. I have to still practice with my binding... looks a little homemade - which of course, it is, but I don't want it to look so homemade :)

Sidewalk Chalk

My husband is away this weekend at a lake with 4 other guys. They are camping in tents and the back of a pick up truck, and waterskiing and wakeboarding/kneeboarding for the whole weekend. They will be sore and tired and hopefully happy as clams when they come home. Whenever Steve goes away, I get a tiny glimpse of what a single mom (or dad) must feel like, and I admire these women and men more than ever.

But the kids and I have done a few fun things while daddy's been gone. On Friday night we had home made mini pizza buns and watched a movie (Ballet Shoes). Then on Saturday afternoon, we did some sidewalk chalk (see pictures below).

There are fun things planned for today, as well, and I might just blog about those later. Steve will be home this evening, and we will all be very happy to see him!

Thought I would share some of our vibrant colouring. I am sure the neighbourhood appreciates the fact that with one good rain, this "artwork" will all be gone. And if the rain doesn't come fast enough, I am sure that Steve will insist on helping it off the road with a hose shortly after he gets home :)

I had to get right in here... Around Elise's birthday, I bought some new sidewalk chalks, and they just looked too fun to pass up, so I put my book down and got down and coloured!




The box brags that they are "Brighter and Bolder!" And I would have to agree....

Up until I broke open the new box, this is what we were dealing with:


Very fun... the next time you see some kids drawing on the road, why not as if you can join them? (As long as it is the washable stuff, and not real graffiti! :)

My kids

In the Summer, we had the kids' pictures taken by Revival Arts Studio as part of the Imagine Kids project. This is a fundraiser for Matthew's House, an organization that will provide respite for severely disabled children, inspired by Steve's cousin's little boy. You can read all about Matthew's House here.

Here are the portraits we chose for our home.... Three 8X10s for the piano, and a larger photo of the three of them, which I put up in the living room, for now, but I'm not convinced that is where it will stay. It seems to be floating all on its own, so I'll have to play around with a few places around the house to see where it will fit best.

Table Runners and Gym Bags...

Maybe this should go on the Bag Ladies Blog, but I am going to put it here.

Tonight was a night of sewing. My son is now in grade 2, which means he has to have a gym strip for school. This means he needs a gym bag. So... I made him one. We went together to Fabricland, and Scott picked out 2 different fabrics. And this is what we came up with:

Drawstring thingy on the top.

Totally reversible. He thought that was cool :) This fabric has little puppy dogs on it.

After I made this bag (which only took about an hour) I thought I would try my hand at a very "easy" looking table runner pattern. Yes, it is true that I just had to sew in straight lines, but it was very ambitious of me to take on 2 sewing projects in the same night. But, I persevered and I finished. I hate unfinished projects because I usually don't go back to them for a very l-o-n-g time and then I lose interest. It's just better if I finish what I start on the same day!!

I am quite happy with how the runner turned out. I made it with my leftover Christmas fabric from the stockings I made last year.

The tutorial for the simple table runner is HERE. And I can see how this could become an addiction. I am already planning out who might end up with one of these as their Christmas gift this year!

The flip side of the runner. Technically, you are supposed to be able to use the back as another option for display, but I think this one looks better right side up!

Sympathy Card

A blogging friend's mom passed away this week, and I made this card to send to her and her family.

Open House

Holiday Mini Open House

Wednesday, September 22 from 7 - 10pm

My house

Stamping
New Products
Make and Takes
and much more!

Don't miss it.....

Please RSVP

Hope to see you here!

My Beautiful Nephews

My sister has 4 boys. Bless her! They are all becoming handsome little men... just look at these photos from the last couple years. One thing Louise is amazing at is updating the family with photos of her boys. I love that. I am not quite as on top of things as she is.... sorry about that Lou! My mom always has to ask for updates on my kids for her 8X10 Grandkid wall. I need to get on that... the photos she has in there now are from Elise was still two. Now, she's FOUR!

I just put this page together of Ethan, Jackson, Liam and Cole. As you can see, there is a spot for Liam on the second page... any chance you have another one of those, Louise? I can't find it.

It is very much fun to scrapbook these boys because they are all so photogenic. Just look at her oldest, Ethan - he loves having his picture taken!

These will be put in my album called "People we Love."

Chore Charts

September seems like a good time to organize. I think that I am more of a Fall cleaner than a Spring cleaner. I'm talking the deep-down-purge kind of cleaning, not just every day tidy stuff. Some people are every season cleaners, but I have just cleaned out a few cupboards and made piles for the trash and for the goodwill stores, and kids' clothes to give to friends for their kids. I think it stems from the feeling you get when you buy new clothes for school and the joy of cracking open a new notebook. I love school supplies. Fall is when I think things feel fresh, more so than Spring. Spring is the hanging on season... the final push to the big break you get during Summer holidays. "If I can just make it to June, then I know I can rest!" Ever feel that way? I especially did this past Spring. But, Fall is perhaps my favourite season. No, let me try that again... Fall is definitely my favourite season!

To embrace this Fall Clean feel, I wanted to do something to encourage organization in our house.

My kids are generally good helpers. They have gotten into a routine of making their beds daily, and clearing the table after a meal. But for other things, I feel like I am one big nag. I hate that. My kids wouldn't always believe that I hate it, but I do.

So, we came up with a plan... Chore Charts. I think they are a really big deal in some homes, and I did find many good sites online just by typing in "Free Chore Charts for kids" in a Google search. However, there was one thing that typically every single resource had in common... they were only for one week at a time. I'm all for weekly rewards, but I'm not for the constant printing and replacing of charts. So, I created one that is for a 2 week period.

One idea I came across in my search of charts was to have your kids decorate their charts and then take them to an office store to be laminated, then just use a dry erase pen and they can check off the boxes... I do believe we will do something like that. Then I won't have to buy excessive amounts of stickers that will just be chucked at the end of two weeks. I think we will go through the first round with the paper copy, and then I will know if these are the chores that should be on the list, or if I need to personalize them for each child, etc. And at that time, I can revise the chart to one week if I think it is a good idea to laminate for reuse.

We are going to start on Monday. Wish us luck :)

Do you do chore charts with your kids? Or other kinds of charts? I came across ideas for potty training charts, behavioural charts, and basic household chores. It all sounds like a great idea, but I reserve the right to eliminate charts from our house if they become more bother than benefit!

What are some of the things on your charts? I would love to hear so that I can revise our chart if need be before we laminate the final draft.

Calling All Canadian Stampers!

Anytime is a great time to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, but when you join between now and October 18th, you will receive a great gift!

New recruits who join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator during the promotion period will receive a FREE Greenhouse Gala craft tote (valued at $49.95) with the purchase of their Starter Kit.

Ask me for more information about signing up. See the flyer here.** Tote comes empty

What do you get when.....

You give a little girl an owl punch and allow her free reign of the scrap drawers? You get a whole lot of little paper owls!!! Elise (my 4 year old) had a great time punching and gluing owls this morning. She put them all in a little treasure box for safe keeping and said she is going to play with them lots!

Owl punch is item # 118074

P.S. I promise I will make some creations with this punch soon, myself, and post them... but then again, maybe I should let Elise make some of the samples to post on here - I think she did pretty well, and she's only four :)

Holiday Mini!!!!

The Holiday Mini is here!!!!! I love it. Products in this mini will be available from today until January 3, 2011.

New punches, new stamps and ribbon, and... wait for it... FABRIC! I am so excited about the fabric. Gorgeous! Truly beautiful, and I can't wait to do my first sewing project with the fabric and jumbo buttons.


To check out the new mini, or to place an order, please visit my website right HERE.

I will be booking a new mini open house as well as 2 Christmas card classes in the near future. Stay tuned for the dates, which will be announced tomorrow.