A new card endeavor

A new card endeavor

After many years of creating a variety of things, I've embarked on a new direction - greeting cards. I've illustrated my own Christmas cards for the past 23 years and have enjoyed being my own art director. Recently, I brought some of my cards to a nearby gallery and received very positive feedback. The gallery owner casually mentioned that she always gets requests for Birthday Cards - could I make a few dozen? And so it began...

Now there are 2 galleries carrying a variety of cards that I produce - some are quirky and fun and some are pretty and traditional. My kids have even become involved in a few of the projects. There is always a holiday just around the corner, so the possibilities are never-ending....

Birthday

Easter

Ornaments have become my thing....

I started making glass ornaments a few years back after seeing a snowman ornament in a store. I looked at it and thought, "I can make something like that!" And so it began. What started out as a small idea became a nice little money-maker for me at Christmas time.

Year one - snowman. I started with a larger glass base filled with "snow" and a velvet scarf and we were off. When I ran out of the large bases, the little baby snowman came along.

Year two - penguin. This is probably my favourite and definitely the most popular. I made him with a variety of different beads or sequins in his belly and different coloured scarves. Very popular with the kiddies!

Year three - santa. I felt it was time for santa to come along and join the crew. The large round base was a natural for his big jolly belly.

They've all been popular sellers and a fun project for me. I'm thinking maybe an angel next year??

50 years of happiness

On July 1, 2011, my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Part of my contribution to the big event was designing the invitations and a tag for the favours on the tables. I stayed with a fairly classic design, adding the black and white "belt" to modernize it. Once this is slipped off, the inside of the invitation is revealed, showing the details of the day and a beautiful picture of my parents cutting their cake. The coordinating tag ties it all together to make a great keepsake for our guests.


It was a wonderful day full of laughs and memories. Here's to many more years, mom and dad....

My little monster

In the theme of making things for Christmas, I decided to whip up this little monster for my secret santa at work this year. My co-worker likes these little guys, so I thought I'd make one of my own as a personalized gift. Of course, my girls want one now, too.

My thoughts are gravitating towards next years' Craft Table. Monsters, anyone?

Birdy Santa has come out of the woods

A friend of mine asked me to make a special Santa for her mother-in-law for Christmas this year. She is a fan of birds and owls, so I made this Santa very outdoorsy with natural, earthy colours. Birds of a feather...

Traditional Santa has arrived (from Italy?)

Always stuck for an idea for a Christmas gift for my babysitter, Elena, I decided that this year I would make her one of my Santas. Elena is from Italy, so I thought what better colours for a Santa than that! He has a rich velvet cloak, with traditional white fur and lots of goodies in his Santa sack. He was received with much love and appreciation and now has a place of honour on her fireplace mantle.

Snowman joins Santa

I'm in the throws of the craft fairs right now and have come up with a few new trinkets to sell with my Santas. My cute little snowman ornament is filled with ice-like pellets, but his red velvet scarf keeps him toasty warm.

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?

Love...

these paper bouquets.

Find them here.

It's all about mom...

With Mother's Day fast approaching, the kiddies and I embarked on yet another journey into "craft corner". Grandma from Ontario gets the first edition, as we have to get it in the mail for a timely arrival. Grammie from Halifax will be next, in time for our get together at her house on the "big day." I have a couple of great craft books that have truly beautiful items in them - it's always exciting to see what we'll try next.

First up – cards. Luckily I have lots of pretty scrapbooking papers leftover from Emma's dollhouse makeover, so that selection went pretty smoothly. I assisted in some cutting out, but for the most part, the kids were on their own to create at will. Minimal fighting ensued over scissors and markers, so we came out pretty unscathed.

Next up – our lovely tissue paper bouquets. All the petals are made from hearts (very appropriate for Mother's Day) so mommy spent her time cutting and cutting... We poked them through some sparkly pipe cleaners, shaped them, added some glitter and leaves and behold... a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for the centrepiece of the day.

Next occasion... Father's Day... Tissue paper tie perhaps?

Easter traditions

What would Easter be without a little egg decorating? I bought the executive kit this year (mostly because I left it to the last minute - as any busy mom would - and they had them all on sale). It had sparkles (my favourite), stickers, sponge stampers and even foil wrappers. The kids loved the magic crayon that leaves their lettering in white after dying - a great way to identify whose egg is whose... (Mom made one too). There were the usual surprises - okay one fell on the floor and cracked, ending up as a "mommy egg". Colours turned out a little different than the visions in their heads and both kids wanted to use pink at the same time (of course). We had great fun, though and had a proud exhibit to show off when all was said and done in my nifty ceramic egg holder.

Now to clean up all the sparkles...

A valentine from the heart

Inspired by one of the Usborne Craft books, I thought it would be fun to pull out all the papers and trimmings in our craft drawers and make some truly homemade Valentine's for the grandparents this year. A little help was needed from mommy for Emma's (she's 6) but all in all, it sure brought back memories from when I was a kid. At least we have more to work with now than doilies and red construction paper. Although I think glitter is permanently embedded in my tablecloth...

If you enjoy making crafts (with or without kids), I highly recommend the Usborne series of books. Beautiful crafts and instructions – a little more interesting than macaroni and silver spray paint. As an adult, I look forward to the next crafting project from these books as much as the kids do.

Check out the books here

Birthday cards with a new purpose

This is a little idea that I totally "borrowed" from a friend of my mothers. I gather up all the birthday cards that my kids receive each year and make them their own custom placemat. I figure out the main placement of pieces and then get the kids to embellish at will with stickers and what-not for the finishing touch. Then, it's off to the local copy place for a quick lamination for protection from drips and spills.

I now have an archive of placemats that bring back all kinds of memories of birthdays gone by - and they take up very little space. The kids will pull out old versions every once in a while and can miraculously recall who gave them certain cards and of course announce which were their favourites. When they were younger, it also gave them something to look at and kept them occupied while at the table.

Happy memory making!

A dollhouse of memories

When I was around 10 years old, my friend had made a cardboard dollhouse that I was completely envious of. I made an attempt of my own to replicate said dollhouse but it wasn't quite "it". My father (who has many talents, including building things) stepped in and offered to make me a real dollhouse out of wood with all the trimmings. And so the project began with my dad taking care of the construction of the exterior and I, making my first debut as an interior decorator. He even made a little stove and fridge with doors that opened (washers painted black were the burners) and I was in heaven.

The years went by and I grew up, but the dollhouse still held a special place in my heart. When I got married and moved to the east coast, a generous friend offered to bring the dollhouse back to Halifax in the back of his pickup truck after the wedding. My hopes were that someday we would have kids that would enjoy it as much as I did.

Well, we've had two beautiful daughters (now 9 and 6) that have enjoyed the dollhouse but over the years, I'd noticed that a facelift might be in order. Small items could get lost in the not so current shag carpeting and it had suffered some damage. For my daughter Emma's birthday, I decided the makeover was due and the redecorating began. A friend from work had some great carpet leftover from her house, so out went the shag. Scrapbooking paper provided a ton of options for wallcoverings. Some new wood furniture from Plantown (made from organic Rubberwood) was bought to work with some of the original pieces my father had made. I sewed some new curtains and bedcoverings and just in time, the dollhouse was ready for unveiling. We even bought a new family of dolls complete with a grandma and grandpa doll!

A friend from work also connected me with a couple of other sites that had intriguing dollhouses as well. Using UP! the movie as an inspiration, a couple made a house for their daughter using cardboard boxes and wrapping paper tubes (and then as they say in the blog, they took it to "crazytown"!). Sounds like something I would do... check out the full article here

Another site shows how a woman in Manitoba took an old abandoned farmhouse and turned it into a lifesize dollhouse! Very cool... check out the full article here