Love...

Altered Book

MECA and the Portland Public Library teamed up to present "Long Overdue: Book Renewal." Starting with books that had been withdrawn from the Portland Public Library as no longer suitable for circulation, more than 200 artists overseen by the Maine College of Art have – through deconstruction of text, assemblage, collage and other means –created “new” works of art. After a gallery exhibit and series of discussions opened to the public, these works were re-introduced into the Library system as new items and are now available to anyone in the United States who possesses a library card.

See more here

Monday is a good day to clean...

With Nail Polish

Prevent rust rings from metal containers

Brush nail polish around the bottom of shaving cream cans and other metal containers to avoid unsightly rust stains on your counter or in the medicine cabinet.

Reset loose jewellery stones

If your jewellery has popped a stone or two, you don't have to put it in the "play dress-up" box yet. The stone can be reset using a little drop of clear nail polish as the "glue". It dries quickly, and the repair will be invisible.

Plug a hole in your cooler

A small hole inside your cooler doesn't make it trash-worthy yet. Seal the hole with two coats of nail polish to hold in that ice!

Prevent loss of buttons

Keep that brand-new shirt in good shape by putting a drop of clear nail polish on the thread in the buttons. It prevents the thread from fraying, so taking this precaution in advance could save you later. Put a dab on just-repaired buttons as well.

Smudgeproof important drug labels

Preserve the important information on your prescription medicine and other important medicine labels with a coat of clear polish, and they won't be smudged as you grab them after getting your glass of water.

Seal out scuffs on shoes

On leather shoes, it the back and toes that really take the brunt of the wear and tear that leaves scratches on the surface. When buying shoes for a kid or active adult, give these areas the extra measure of protection they need. Paint a a little clear nail polish on the outside of the back seam and over the toes. Rub the polish in a little to feather out the shine of the polish. After it dries you'll be a step ahead of those perennial shoe problems "driver's hell" and "jump rope toe."

Amanda turns 10

10 years old... I can't believe Amanda is in the double digits now. Praying for a nice day, we decided to have the big party out at our cottage (the weather gods were listening and we had a beautiful, sunny day!) If it were up to Amanda, it would have been a whole weekend affair - did I mention that she started planning it 9 months ago?

We succumbed to getting a giant bouncy castle - Dean luckily plays hockey with a guy who could get us a deal. She had a long list of other things on her wish, list, but we thought we'd call it a day with the 2-story castle that took up half the back yard. A can of pledge made the slide super slippery we were told – by the end of the day, the entire inside of the castle had been "pledged"! The kids enjoyed the tree fort as well – Dean's nephews have been building it for years – when they had to wait for their turn to bounce. Many freezies, water bottles and prize hunts later, we had 16 exhausted 10 year olds.

Last step - birthday cake. We always make our cake because of Amanda's allergies (celiac), so a doll cake held centre stage. Amanda wanted a "Rocker Girl" theme and she did most of the decorating herself. Everyone loved it and couldn't tell it was gluten free.

The pick-up time finally came and mommy could finally sit down and have a cold beverage... and a few bounces on the castle...

Make it, don't buy it

As Father's Day approaches, I'm usually scratching my head when it comes to what to get my father. What to buy.... well he has pretty much everything he needs or wants. So we decided to go the old fashioned route and make something for him.

We're going to be travelling home to Ontario this summer, so we thought if we gave Grandpa a book of loving coupons from his granddaughters, it would definitely be something he didn't have already! They could be redeemed during our visit and give Grandpa and little extra bonding time with the kiddies – my parents don't get to see them very often due to geography.

I made the general design of the coupon type, while my girls added their artistic talents, coming up with an image to match. Amanda decided to put herself in sunglasses on every drawing and be a little silly (she is almost 10, after all...) while Emma took the super cute route. I always love to see their artwork and was impressed with what they came up with. We bound the final booklets together, and voila, we had a lovely little gift.

Do you think the kids will let me get away with something like this for their birthdays?

otetete & anyo

These are just way too cute. The word’s Otete and Anyo are the nickname for a baby’s hands and feet in Japanese. These customs stamps of each are awesome. I wish they had them when my kids were babies! Check out the site here.