Ahh the winds of change..

Here's a toast to new beginnings and the memories of all that has come before.

in two days it will be exactly four months since we made the adjustment to star a new life for our family here in Blackfalds, Alberta.  I think we have finally reached the stage where we are settled in to our new community and our new life, because as I was discussing with my friend just last night, now has come the twinges of homesickness.  We spent 9 wonderful years in our hometown and the house in the country.  High Level and Rocky Lane were the places where my hubby and I grew up and it was where we chose to settle down and start our family and watch it grow.  So it was bittersweet to say goodbye to all of those memories in order to journey on this new path here in Blackfalds, but I am a firm believer that if you are going to try something new than you need to embrace it with all of your energies, and that is just what I have been doing in our new home.

Let me just start by saying that I like our new home and our new community.  I find Blackfalds very welcoming, it's got the same small town feel as High Level, and I love that my children can now play down the street with their neighbours or go for a bike ride, or we can go to the local rec. centre whenever we feel like swimming, or playing badminton, etc.  It feels comfortable to live here.  I also like that we are just minutes away from a more urban community such as Red Deer.  We can go into the 'city' for a movie, dinner, or just for a day of shopping and errands if we like, which we do often...then it's right back to Blackfalds for the small town feel.  All in all, we really like living here.  

I would say the only downside of living in our new community is that I haven't met many crafty types yet and I've come to realize that I, myself, do not feel very crafty unless I am around other creative types to motivate and inspire me..so in this way I am really missing my crafting friends back home.  I haven't even touched my craft supplies or played in my brand new craft area since we've moved..it's sad really but I just can't seem to get motivated to take on a project, of any kind.  The biggest thing I've done since moving here was putting together the Halloween Wreath kit from Stampin' Up! with my son and I only did that because we were decorating outside for Halloween and it was either put the kit together or forego it for another year..so the time crunch forced me to do it.    I know it's time to get in there and get gluey but I'm just not sure how to motivate my self..one thing I've been thinking of is to try to start a new card group here, the timing is right with Christmas just around the corner..I think a group would be fun to make cards for the holidays.  Perhaps that's the way to start, inviting others to join me for a holiday card group.  Can't hurt to try right?!  

In the mean time I am back in Roller Derby and trying to push myself to get better every week, to master some of the derby skills..it's slow going but I'm determined to get better and faster; I also joined a belly dancing group this week and that was a lot of fun...one way or another I will find my niche here in my new town and I will find a way to get my creative juices flowing once again.  For now, here's a taste of some of what I've been up to in the past few months ala photo journal style but in no particular order :)

Cheers

Orange pound cake recipe from Pinterest, I was in a baking Mood!

Since September I have been on such a Pumpkin kick..and now I can get the coffee whenever I want..my grocery store sells the Keurig pods

My son loves all things Halloween and his birthday is at the end of September..he says its the best of both worlds

Strapped on my skates again for Roller Derby! I'm still Fresh Meat but one day I will Benchmark!

Beautiful beach sunset by Gull Lake

The beginnings of my new craft area

I love fresh cut flowers and all summer I've been able to get these kind of bouquets from the local farmers market

Got to see this play again this summer..AWESOME!

The view from my room :)  an early fall weekend away with friends in Canmore/Banff

Window shopping for the perfect pumpkin

DIY Retro Fresh Kitchen Tile Style

Hi Everyone,

Can you believe that Summer is just around the corner?!  I told my son the other day that we don't really have Spring months up here because as soon as it gets warm enough for the snow to melt we seem to skip Spring and fast forward to Summer clothing, Summer BBQ's and Summer thoughts.  I said that the true indicator of Summer would be after we have one more good rainfall, because then the leaves on the trees will truly sprout and we'll see green trees everywhere.  Last night it rained by our house..not a torrential downpour but apparently enough for my predictions to come true.  The trees around our house are a lovely shade of budding green!  I know I should expect at least one more frost before its safe to plant or enjoy the outdoors as summer weather, but it's so hard when you experience Winter for 6-8 months out of the year.

My wish for everything warm and sunny was the start of where my inspiration came from for this neat technique for making your very own Scrapbook tiles, that and a little bit of home decor searching online. Stampin' UP! has this great Designer Series Paper (DSP) called 'Retro Fresh' from the Spring Occasions Catalogue (Item # 132993).  I love the colours in the paper but I'm not really a retro kind of gal, at least not for the 50-60s era, but if the 80s and 90s could be considered retro than I am all over it LOL. Anyhow, as I was looking through the papers, one of the patterns caught my eye.  It was these teeny tiny bi-colour tiles that look a little bit like paint swatches.  What they actually made me think of is the tiles that go on kitchen or bathroom backsplashes a la the 1960s, and then I thought to myself, 'wouldn't these look just like those kinds of tiles if I could figure out some way to make them all shiny like actual backsplash tiles?!'.  I immediately went through my inventory of adhesives and liquids to see if anything could produce the desired effect and sure enough, I found my Stampin' UP! Crystal Effects (Item #101055).

Now it was just a matter of putting the two together to see if this technique actually played out in real life the way it had come together in my mind..the result:

What do you think?!  Doesn't it look just like ceramic kitchen tiles!

The technique is simple enough, but it is time consuming to 'paint' each tile so I only did half of the sheet.

I thought it turned out pretty amazing actually, exactly like what I had pictured in my mind and the technique is simple enough..Just 'paint' each tile with one coat of Crystal Effects and let dry.  In order to get an authentic tile look, I coated each square individually rather than painting the whole sheet so that each square is shiny and looks bubbled, like real tile.  I only coated half of the 12x12 sheet as I just want to use the finished product for a border so I won't need to use up the whole sheet this way and I didn't want to waste it, but I know it is simple enough to do if I need to create more.

So that is my share for today, a simple technique for creating your very own retro fresh kitchen tile style embellishment!

Cheers

Just Pin It!

Good afternoon everyone!

Spring is just around the corner, I can feel it in my bones (or rather my feet..soaked through my boots and gonna have to invest in some rubber boots very very soon!) and I can hear it in the air.  Yesterday I heard a bird outside my house that I haven't heard all winter..couldn't tell you what kind of bird it is but I recognized it's song as one that comes every spring and that got me all excited and giddy like a kid.  I am sooooo not a winter person.  I bundle up in the winter, I try to hibernate, and I most definitely do NOT enjoy outdoor winter sports, pfft...just give me a good book, a warm blanket, and a place in cozy bed to hide.  Anyhow, Spring is so close and one of the things that comes with spring is new inspirations to craft, cook, and yes, even clean!  Crazy huh!  I've been pinning like crazy on my fave social bookmarking site - Pinterest.  Feel free to look me up under My Pinterest Profile .  I am a bit of a Pin addict and I try to go on the site at LEAST once a day for new ideas and inspirations.

YUP This is ME!!

Today I thought I would share some of my favourite pinspirations with you so you can see that not only do I pin voraciously but I do actually use the sites I've bookmarked as well.  There are some great recipes, some great craft inspirations but also some genious gifting ideas too...I just love this site, can't say that enough..love love love Pinterest!  Anyhoo..enjoy my pinspirations and have an awesomely cheery spring day!

This image just makes me smile because there really is beauty in the unlikely and the simple.
find it at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107756057495/

I have 365 pins on Stampin' Up! Inspirations alone, soo many great ideas
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107760372282/

Tried these, loved these, and will make again!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107759343465/

Used this idea for a work giveaway..it was fabulous!!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107757638638/

These are just some of the many many pinspirations that are out there and just a taste of what's on my boards.  Feel free to check out my boards, and please share with me any great ideas you might have, I'm always looking for something new to pin!!

P.S.  This is a site I keep going back to because I just love making these flowers and the tutorials show you how to make different kinds and it's really simple to follow.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107757350377/

Dapper Diaper Cake

Good evening and greetings from that which was lost and now is found...well not really lost but forgotten for a while.  I've been a busy lady these past months and kind of forgot to prioritize my blog and post all the various creative eats and treats I've been making.  I know, yet again, bad girl *smack on the hand*.  Finally a friend mentioned that they do still watch for posts on my blog and wondered if I was ever going to put anything new on here.  That made me realize that I do have at least one person who checks this baby out so I'd better get my butt in gear and give them something to look at.

Really I do like posting to this page, I just forget now and then to do so.  Anyhow tonight, I had my creative juices flowing and I actually remembered to take pictures as I went so I thought, 'well girl..no better time than now to get back in the saddle!'  So here I am!

My mother-in-law, Mom2, asked me to create a diaper cake for a baby shower that she is attending tomorrow.  She said she wasn't sure of the baby's gender as baby is still on the way and the couple wants to be surprised so this is a 'baby-to-be' shower, but she knew that the nursery was going to be grey and yellow.  What an interesting colour combination for a gender neutral nursery..actually I think it's kind of neat and that gave me the idea to do a simple diaper cake with those colours.  Now with limited time and inspiration, I decided to do a three tiered diaper cake with a banner and paper flowers in the colour theme of grey and yellow. I didn't want the cake to be overly girly since baby to be could be a boy, hence the banner idea and, since I don't know the baby's name yet, I decided to use the title of 'wonderful' cause that is what all babies are..so here are some photos of my creative process, enjoy!  I promise not to go so long between posts next time!

the start of the diaper cake, I used 75 sized two diapers for this cake.  p.s. I didn't have enough yellow ribbon so I used yellow washi tape for the top and bottom layer!

This is the start of the flowers for the cake, I made 8 large flowers and 3 smaller ones.

 I can't take the credit for these amazing paper flowers..please check out this link to see a number of tutorials on how to make a variety of beautiful paper flowers  Moments of Tranquilty - flower tutorials and trust me, once you practice with these techniques you will never be without a flower for your papercrafting again!

This is the cake after I added the flowers, but it still needed something on top

I've only just gotten into using banners in my projects since this summer when I made my daughter's birthday cake with a banner..since then I love the unique and fun look they add!

I ran into a problem in that I wasn't sure what to attach my banner to..paper straws to the rescue!!  I had to cover them with grey ribbon to match my cake though

Completed banner...TA DA!!

Doesn't it look great as my cake topper?!

The finished Product, looks good enough to eat!

I am always giddy and impressed when a project comes to fruition and resembles what goes on in my brain. Aside from the diapers, washi tape, inks, and straws..everything you see here came from my Stampin' UP! stash of products.  I love how versatile the products were in creating this cake..an added bonus is that as good as this cake looks, it has zero calories :)

Anyhow, that's it from me for the evening.

Cheers!