Merry Christmas Teachers!

I am sure that there is not much that the ones that teach our children need or don't get at the holidays but I didn't want to give them the same old gift so I decided to make something. I am hoping it is a bit more practical than some..... at least for the holidays!

Never forget another birthday

I hate to admit it, but we have been known to have sometimes missed a neice or nephews birthday, but no more! I know all of the birthdays on my side of the family but neither Ryan nor I know the ones of his, so when I saw this as a link on Pineterst I knew I had to make it.

I started by painting the wood out with black spray paint, then cut out the letters with my Silhouette onto vinyl and applied them before spraying a second coat of rock paint. I then had Ryan drill the hole for the knob and countersink the back so that it would hang on the wall.

For the tags I cut out the shape on my Silhouette then cut out all the names and birthdates on the vinyl. I aged the edges with an inkpad and added the ribbon.

Button sign

I made one of these a week ago and after the arrival of my new little nephew I felt the need to do another one.

Gotta love a freebie!

Following the freebie code I found from Paper Coterie, I then stumbled across another freebie. I still have a blank wall that I have empty and want to do a full wall of canvas, so here was my chance to try them out. Canvas People had a promo on that you could save $55 per canvas or get a free 8x10 canvas. I chose to go free for the 3 that I did and, again, just had to pay for shipping. I had 2 done of my neices from photos I took of them this summer and one of Graidan's skates for his room. Again the quality may not be tres fab but it was FREE!!!!

FREE Memory Boxes

In my travels around blogland today I came across a coupon code fro FREE memory boxes from Paper Coterie and thought these would perfectly accompany some of my Christmas presents this year. In the end I ordered 12! There were so many great designs to choose from that I just couldn't stop and when all I had to pay for was shipping, why would I? The quality of each box is impeccable and second to none. I am just so excited about these! I am hoping everyone will find the same joy in them. Whether they use them for school projects or keepsakes.

Here are just a small stack of the many boxes that I had made.

Christmas Blocks

The idea for these came from something Martha Stewart did for  baby gift here and also from a craft my sister-in-law did a few christmas' ago. I altered Martha's instructions slightly. Instead of using wooden blocks I cheated and purchased mine from Stampin Up and instead of painting them out prior to Mod Podging them I just applied the paper to them without painting. I plan to give these to some of our friends as holiday gifts this season.

Dinner and a Movie

Oh, how things have changed and the definition of "dinner and a movie" no longer means a night out. Tonight we treated the boys with homemade pizza for supper, set up their little table downstairs and delivered dinner to them as they watched a favorite movie.

Ninja

In my cleaning this weekend I came across a Halloween costume I bought on clearance after last Halloween. Graidan found it an had to get it on.....and play the part I might add.

New life for an old table

I bought this table off of a Garage Sale site on Facebook for $20, went and picked it up and got to work remaking it into something we could have used years ago.

This is what I started with....

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I sanded it down and added a quarter round moulding to the edge to help stop trains from derailing ;)

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Then I painted the whole thing out.

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The boys are so thrilled with their new toy that we will often find them downstairs playing as soon as they get up in the morning. Now their trains and tracks do not have to be taken down and put away after each play, but are still contained and don't look messy. This makes us all happy ;)

New Toy Brings Great Joy

Our kids are not the only ones that get excited with a new purchase. While preparing to do my very first DIY project solo I found a new 'toy' at Home Hardware while picking up some other supplies. 

Ryan thought I had fallen and hit my head when I got home and he saw how giddy I was with my purchase. Now to put it to work!

First Hockey Game

What an early morning! Today was our first hockey game for the boys. Of course it was at a rink an hour away at 10am! Could be worse. Some of our games are at 9am which means out of the house by 7:30 which means up at 6ish..... Sounds like a lazy weekend morning to me ;)

The boys did not pull out a win but sere super cute to watch. The funniest is the fact that they have never practiced face-offs or game play at any of the practices so for the most part they were not knowing where to go. I was yelling at Hudson from the stands at one point, "Go Hudson! Skate hard buddy!". He stopped dead in his tracks and yelled back "What did you say mom?" I guess that means this new hockey mom is going to have to zip her lips.....who said my boys never listened to me though? Sure proved me wrong ;)

Another time, after Hudson finally figured out where to stand for face-offs, the play was still going and he skated over to the bench to ask "Where do I go now?" He thought he was supposed to be standing somewhere rather than chasing the puck.

Graidan, on the oterh hand, was not feeling very well and in hind sight I likely should have forced him to stay off the ice. He had a lot of trouble standing up today and basically skated around with one hand on his stick the whole time....not in a big hurry at all!

Pre-game cheering on by the coaches and parents in the dressing room as the boys line up to hit the ice

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Hudson (#22) takes his first face-off. After the game when we were back at home he told me "That game kinda stressed me out. I never knew where to go. But later, I figured out where the face-offs circle was so that was good." Haha. Sure enough, the little bum went skating hard to take the face-offs after that revelation!

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Graidan (#8) playing net....with one hand  on his stick ;)

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....and taking the face-offs.....with one hand on his stick ;)

Hudson (#22) on his left.

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Hudson back in the net

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And SURPRISE! He is taking the face-off again ;)

Graidan is on Hudson's right (you might be able to pick him out by now with the one hand on his stick! lol)

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I am so looking forward to the rest of the season with these little guys!

Christmas Card Display

I always struggle year after year with how to display our Christmas cards that family and friends send us each year. Our house does not have a lot of table-like display room, mainly because I just do not like clutter and prefer the clean line look. Last year I did a lower scale version of this display but wanted to spice it up a bit.

First I spray painted standard clothes-pins black. You could use any color you wanted. I used black beacause the papers that i was using all had black in it, the ribbon I had on hand was also black and white and I already had black spray paint in the garage left over form another project.

BONUS!

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 Next I cut all my paper to size so it would fit on top of the clothespins

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Mod Podge a small amoutn onto the clothes pin. Place the paper where you want it and smooth down the edges with your finger. Let it dry and add buttons on the end you pinch to open the pin with a hot glue gun.

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Hang the finished products on a ribbon. YES - this is a 2010 christmas card from my friend in BC. I wanted to make sure that it would hold properly and , VOILA, it worked! Now I am just patiently waiting for the cards to arrive in the mail....hint....hint.....

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Bring on the cards, photos and Christmas letters everyone!!!

Happy Day

Oh I just love getting the mail! It is almost like Christmas on a daily basis when some other little treasure shows up......don't tell my husband ;)

Today was not quite a mail delivery, rather a delivery from my friend Nicole who hosted a Lia Sophia party last week and she showed up to deliver my goods BUT exciting just the same!



New eyes

So, I decided to venture out of my comfort zone a little this week. I have been wanting to try getting eyelash extensions for a little while now but was just not sure who offered the service around my home so didn't bother. After a little research  and asking around I discovered a spa that does them so I called and booked myself in.

Here is the before and after. The before was taken in the morning daylight before I went to my appointment and the after in the evening so the lighting is very different but other than that there is no difference. In both photos I have zero makeup on and to this day have only wore mascara 2 days (in 2 weeks). I am pretty stoked with how they turned out and my 'gettting ready time' has been cut in half in the morning because eye makeup is next to nil.

If you are wanting to give this a shot be sure to check them out at http://www.exhaledayspa.ca/

First sign of snow

This morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow covering the ground. I am not normally one to get excited about seeing the white, fluffy stuff but it was such an unusally mild day instead of the potentially blizzarding, windy conditions we could have had. The boys were dressed in their winter gear and out the door before we could blink!

Advent Calendar 2011

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I love Christmas. No other holiday beat it. Especially my family all being together. There is just nothing better than that!!

This year I scanned pinterest (my new obsession) for some ideas and found this truly creative calenadar that I got to utilize all of my scrapbooking goodies as well. It's a win-win!

I decided on a 24 day calendar because it fit the best on the 12x12 paper that I was using. PLUS day 25 is just so darn exciting in itself that I didn't think I needed to add in an activity that we would likely not get done anyways.

Each card pulls out of the slot to reveal our event for the day. Here is what I have on the agenda for this year:

December 2011

1. DECK THE HALLS! (as if mom didn’t have everything decorated weeks ago) Make a home-made Christmas decoration
2. Make a Skype date with Aunties/Uncles to tell them we love them/miss them and will see them soon.
3. Make fruit loop necklaces (either for decoration or to eat)
4. Wrap Christmas presents
5. Make a decoration for the tree
6. Make a snowman or paper snowflakes
7. Make a Christmas card for someone special
8. Color a Christmas picture
9. Download a new Christmas song to sing along to
10. Make the house smell like Christmas: either by baking (depending in the night) or light a festive scented candle ;)
11. Get mom and dad to take you out for a special treat
12. Read a Christmas story book before bed
13. Make hot chocolate and stir it with candy canes
14. Drive around and look at Christmas lights
15. Take food to the food bank
16. Have a campout in front of the Christmas tree
17. Buy & wrap a gift for Angels Anonymous and take it to DQ
18. Call Grandma & Grandpa and sing them a Christmas song
19. Think of something special and do something nice for someone
20. Watch a Christmas movie as a family – complete with popcorn!
21. Deliver presents to family and friends
22. Take that something special to school to that very important figure helping to mould our futures (teacher)
23. Write a note to Santa to leave out with your milk & cookies tomorrow night
24. Read the night before Christmas and check the Santa Tracker to see where the man in red is before lights out

I am pretty pumped to get started. Looking forward to December already and counting down the days until my sisters and neices get here! I plan on documenting each day with pictures (surprise!) to remember our fun!

Stay tuned ;)

Playdate

Hudson had one of his little buddies come over to play for the day today. The occupied themselves for a good chunk of time playing trains and cars but then spotted the iPad......

Had I not sent them outside eventually to get some fresh air on this beautiful fall day this would have been what I witnessed for the entire afternoon as well ;)

Better Late Than Never

Ya, ya, ya.... I know this is late but I finally got it done. I decided at the beginning on Hudson's Playschool 2 years ago that, rather than trying to keep every piece of art that he brought home, I was going to take pictures of everything and when he was done I would put together a snapfish photobook to have as a keepsake instead. I diligently took photos of everything that came in the door and filed them carefully on my computer. Alas, as he has started Kindergarten, I have finished his book......and it is 80 pages!!!!! Man, Mrs Hume and Mrs Wilson were busy with these little bugs!

Here is a bit of a review of some of the pages I did.

 

I love, love, love these books. My mom will often complain that since we went digital we never print anything off anymore and she has to beg for photos. Now, every year I do up a whole year in review of the boys and get 3 copies - one for me, one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law. Then nobody can complain ;)