May 22, 2012

We just had a long weekend, and I think it was one of the best ever.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we managed to get equal amounts of chores, rest, and fun in.
Saturday morning I headed off to the hardware store in search of ferns and spray paint.

This year I decided to re-paint my patio pots bright yellow.  I loved the aqua from last year, but this year I needed yellow!

Next up was to divide the ferns I bought: one into four; the other into two.  I had forgotten how difficult this is, and am now crossing my fingers that they will all survive.  I put the two halves in the planters under our long garage windows.  The four quarters go into the four smaller yellow pots, which sit in the corners of our 'urban gazebo' on the deck.  

The other pot I painted holds the violas that used to be in the garage window planters.  It now sits on the patio table under the gazebo.

I really wanted bright colours for outside this year, so only the yellow and orange flowers made it to the back.  The purples and pinks are staying out front.  I got the yellow straw mat from the dollar store, and the mosaic candle holders are the ones the kids made last year at my 'summer camp'.  I realize now that the yellow spray paint I picked is the same colour my bedroom furniture was painted when I was a kid.  No wonder I love it!

This is a picture of our back deck from the kitchen.  I hope the ferns live because they are a nice low-maintenance plant that will last the whole summer.  I think the yellow pots will make up for the colour usually supplied by the flowers I normally put there.  

Once all the work was done I told everyone I was just going to cross stitch all weekend, and that's pretty much what I did.  I wanted to try my new dyed floss and thought this design of fall leaves would showcase them well. 

 I used 8 different shades of green, yellow and orange in this free design I found here: Le Blog de vava.  This design is on page 6 of the Grilles gratuites/Freebies link on the right hand column.  This talented stitcher has 36 pages of free designs so get a coffee if you plan on perusing it!  I think I may have exceeded my download limit here alone:)

Oh, and what's cross stitching outside without a little summery drink at hand?

The kids got to crafting as well: I bought two unfinished birdhouses at the dollar store and now we have two more colourful decorations for our yard:

We also had two very interesting comments from our kids: 

 We had to go to a funeral home for a viewing on Saturday.  We didn't know if it was going to be an open or closed casket, so thought we would prepare the kids just in case it was open.  It turned out to be a closed casket, and as we were speaking with one of the family members My Favourite Boy came up and asked:  "What's in the box?"  It was just a little awkward!

On Saturday at dinner My Favourite Girl told us she was going to become a vegetarian once she finished her meal.  Mr. Crafty World asked her why and she replied that it was cruel to eat animals.  I said, "You know you are telling us this as you're eating about three kinds of meat in those meatballs".

"I know", she replied, "that's why I said I was going to become a vegetarian after I eat my supper!" 

Those two make life so much more interesting!

Christmas-y

We have been decorating.  Once Advent started My Favourite Girl asked everyday if we could put the decorations out; including the tree.  Last week I succumbed and put everything out while the frightful weather outside carried on.  I'll spare you all the details, but here are my favourites this year:

The tree, of course:

As we were decorating I remarked that it was really my tree in a way.  I know where all the ornaments came from because I either made them, bought them, or selected from the kids makes.  That's probably why I love decorating it so much.  We have a Christmas story I just love, called 'Christmas in the Country'.  In the book a little girl describes Christmas in the little house she lives in with her grandparents.  As they pull the decorations out of the closet and she looks at the glittered balls and other things she has made, she says she love the ornaments because each one reminds her of her whole life.  That's exactly how I feel about our ornaments.  There's the ceramic wreath I made in grade 1: one of my first experiences with "real" art. The glass balls filled with rose petals from the three dozen roses A. gave me when he got his Commission;  the blown glass baby shoes commemorating My Favourite Girl's first Christmas; and all of the foam, popsicle stick and tissue paper creations made by my two little elves.  Oh my, I'm getting teary eyed just writing about it!

Next: the kid's tree.  This little tree was Mr. Crafty World's and my tree before we bought the big one in our first house.  It came with us through many moves and now we use it in the basement for the kids to decorate.  They have a lot of fun decorating it each year and adding new things to it.  My favourites this year are the paper chains and button wreaths:

I love the new little hand made decorations like this sweet elf:

...and these snowman pots:

Another project the kids made are these snowball votive holders.  I was amazed at how well these turned out and created our mantle display around them.

I bought round glass votive holders from the dollar store and we coated the outside with white glue and rolled them in epsom salts.  I put a few coats of clear acrylic spray on the outside after they dried to keep the salts from falling off.  They look so sweet when they're lit.  I'm using the battery operated tea lights in them; that's why the light is so yellow.  

It finally started to look festive outside as well this week.  We had our first "real" snowfall and it was so beautiful.  

The kids had a blast at the bus stop making a fort and growing big plans to make it enormous when more snow fell.  Alas, most of it has gone now, but it will come again I'm sure.

Have a blissful day :)

Seasonal Makes

The weather has taken a turn for the better here the last few days.  Yesterday was so nice we could be outside without our jackets on. I bought a bunch of mixed greens and figured I had better change our garage window planters while the soil was still soft.  Last year I was too late and had to pour boiling water over the dirt to get my greens in!

I used one bunch of mixed greenery from the store and supplemented with a bit of my own cedar and some of the neighbour's - shh! don't tell!  I made two like this:

I bought a tree shaped ice cube tray for a dollar with the idea of making more crayons or bath fizzers or something.  Last night My Favourite Boy and I made bath fizzers to test it out.  We used balsam fir, sweet orange and a little bit of pine essential oil to scent them.  They smell like Christmas to me!  

  

The recipe we used was 1 part citric acid; 1 part epsom salts; 2 parts baking soda; witch hazel to mist them and about 1 tsp of our essential oil blend.  We colored the epsom salts to get the speckled look.  The outer trees are green by the way; it's not showing up so much in this picture.

Since Advent begins tomorrow I decided I had better finish off a cross stitch project I started last year during Advent.  I finished my cross stitch as a flat fold as best I could.  I messed it up a bit, but I think I'm the only one who can tell :)

This is what a flat-fold finish is like:

Sort of like a little easel is the best way of explaining it.  I bought this fabric this year and I love it.  I think it's the perfect fabric for this so I'm glad I waited.

Here it is next to the Advent centerpiece My Favourite Girl made in Sunday school last year.  Each week you pull a tissue paper 'flame' out of the candles.  As far as kids crafts go I think this one is spectacular, and plan on keeping it for as long as I can!  Isn't it just the cutest?

I heard back from the church about the wedding coordinator job:  they can't decide between myself and another applicant so we have to respond to some scenarios they are creating for us next week.  All this will take place via email - thank heavens.  It makes me feel good that I'm the top two; of course I don't know how many applicants there were.  Maybe only two!

I also just applied for a job with a company that makes school lunches.  Not cafeteria style: parents order the lunches and they are made in a commercial kitchen and delivered to the schools.  This would be a great one because it's from 9-1:30 during the week and whenever school is out you don't work.  Fingers crossed I get called for an interview next week.  Prayers please!  One of our cars needs a replacement transmission so the sooner I can get working the better! 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Mantle Make Over

We have the same mantle as everyone else on our street.  There must have been a sale on at the builders warehouse when they were making this subdivision!  As far as mantles go, it's fine.  I am grateful to have it and I have for sure seen worse.
 At one point in our house's history the owners put new stone over whatever else faced the fireplace before.  Instead of removing the mantle, putting new facing one and then replacing the mantle, they just put the stone around it.  Because the stone sticks out over the mantle, and in some spots by quite a bit, it has made putting things on the mantle a little challenging.  Because the stone is not completely flat, you can't really hang anything from it.  Any pictures or mirrors I have, have to rest on top of the mantle (thereby taking up valuable display space) and be secured by chains into the ceiling above it.

(See how the stone sticks out?)

Things like this plate rack actually hang over the edge; just waiting for something to hit it and knock it over.

Pulling the mantle off was out of the question.  The quickest thing I thought to do was to face the mantle with more wood and trim to make it a little deeper.  I had to use 1/4 inch wood pieces for the sides to fit between the stones:

...and I used 3/4 inch pine for the front, along with some more trim at the top to add an extra 1/2 inch.  I just nailed everything in, then glued and nailed the trim on.  The actual facing and staining only took a day to complete; I only got the thing varnished yesteday!

  I have been debating whether or not to do an aged paint treatment on the mantle so that's why it took me so long to decide whether to varnish it or not.

Here is the mantle now, and I can say it's much more fun to play around with!

(The blue candles don't really "go" here, but you get the idea!)

I'm not sure if I will put the mirror back on or not.  It takes up a lot of space and is so heavy I still have to rest it on the mantle.  If I can find a lighter one and try to hang it off the stone I will. For the moment I am loving the white iron decoration against the stone.  I think I'll move the candles and put my white birds there, currently living in a box slated for the church sale!  I also found some white porcelain fruit that would look pretty good up there I think.

As Good As It Gets

When we finished our basement last spring, I had said on my blog that I would show pictures of my craft space.  The reason why I haven't yet is because frankly it's never clean enough for me to take pictures of it.  Yesterday, as I 'cleaned' the space for the umpteenth time, I thought I should just snap a picture before it gets any worse.  Truthfully, this is the best it has ever looked, and probably ever will.  So here it is folks - a quickie basement tour 18 months after being finished!

This is the "hallway" at the bottom of the stairs and part of the kids crafty zone:

Here's the rest of it.  I made those planets for the basement when we lived in our last house.  I thought the bright colors would look nice with all the other bright colors!

This is the left side of my crafting space that is behind the kids'.  I keep my fabric in the left cupboard; books and magazines in the middle, and paper/stamping/general craft supplies in the right cupboard.  Under the table are my ribbon and yarn.

And here is the right!  The Welsh Dresser would normally be in our kitchen, but in this house there isn't a spot for it unfortunately.  While we live here it's housing mostly cross stitch supplies.

When you step out of the "room" that houses my stuff, and across from the kids area is the computer and treadmill beside it (not seen):

...and opposite this is the TV area.

If you hang a right after the bookshelf on the right you will be back to where the stairs are.  The door to the right of the stairs leads to the other side of the basement, which is unfinished and houses the furnace and lots of other "stuff", like food, camping gear, suitcases, etc.


We have been having amazing summer weather here lately, which is much appreciated after a nonexistent spring.  The kids and I have spent the last couple of days exploring the ravine and biking to the library.  Next week I am putting on a day camp for my two kids and 5 others from the neighborhood, so it will be busy!  I hope the weather is good so we can do most of the activities outside; otherwise it will turn into five, full day playdates!

Thanks for visiting!

Jenn