Insta-Friday #17

Welcome to Insta-Friday #17 - My week in pictures!

Last Friday, I had an errand to do downtown. I plugged my meter with an hour's worth of time & then finished my errand in about 10 minutes. So, I took the rest of the hour, & walked around downtown by the river, enjoying the wonderful weather & our beautiful city.

Saturday morning, I was up bright & early to go out to a town wide garage sale. This house had a ton of homemade baking for sale as well as fresh (she pulled them out of the frier while we watched), homemade donuts! My friend, Vanessa, & I couldn't resist trying them!

Insta-Friday #16

Welcome to my week in photos!

I think I say this every week, but it's been an exciting, fun week. You know, keeping track of my life on Instagram makes me really appreciate the small things in life. Even the seemingly meaningless errands & chores take on a new meaning when you can see a bit of beauty in them.

Last friday was spent doing doing some thrifting & errands with my friend, Sarah. I was on the hunt for some fabric to sew a window valance for my son's bedroom makeover. We discovered a fabulous quilting shop & I found the perfect fabric!

While we were out thrifting, we each found a large treasure! I found the blue trunk & she the great chair. We think a hotel was redecorating & got rid of a bunch of these chairs. It was in fabulous condition!

We also enjoyed seeing the cheery flowers at the Home Depot even though it's still a bit early here to be planting. Give it another week or two & we'll be good to go!

On Saturday, my husband, daughter, & I went garage saling for a bit. This pink elephant sadly was not for sale. :(

Insta-Friday #15

Welcome to my week in pictures. My opportunity to share with you some of the more behind the scenes moments of my life...

Last weekend started with some beautifully warm weather, so I gathered all the spray painting projects on my to-do list & started exersizing my trigger finger!

You'll see them all in a few days. Stay tuned!

My current Saturday morning routine includes going to swimming lessons with my little fishies. 

They're doing great!

Strawberries & Cream Trifle

On Friday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a baby shower for a dear friend of mine. We were celebrating the birth of her precious little boy. 

The night was full of delicious food & desserts, cuddles with the new baby, & laughter with friends. Perfection.

I was asked to bring a dessert of some kind 

so I was thinking through some of my favourite things to bring to a party, 

& this trifle popped into my mind.

It's a wonderful thing for a spring party. After all, strawberries just scream spring, don't you think?

Just look at the yummy layers of angel food cake, strawberries, custard, & jam... **drool**

Spring Coconut Cake

What kind of recipes do you like to make for Easter? One of my favourite flavours for Spring is coconut.

This past weekend, we had an early Easter/birthday celebration with my family. It was the first opportunity we had to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday with them & since we're all busy people (plus some of us will be out of town next weekend) we also decided to have our Easter get-together a week early.

Happy Easter Card {Stampin' Up!}

Easter weekend is almost here! Can you believe it? It seems to just have snuck up on us this year. I think it's because it's in March this year. 

Well, it's coming & I'm doing a few things to get ready.

I made a few Easter cards to spread the love to some of our family.

Paint Dipped Votive Holders

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Mine was mostly good. Our little girl had the flu on Saturday, but rested a lot & got better quickly. I ended up staying home from church with her on Sunday just to make sure she didn't have any more episodes. :) Because we were home & she was resting, I hung out in my craft room for a good portion of the weekend. I pulled up my Pinterest boards & did a whole bunch of little projects. It was great to be so productive!

Here's one of the projects I did. I actually just saw a picture & did my own thing to come up with the end result, so I did a little tutorial so you can follow along if you want to try making some of your own paint dipped votive holders.

DIY Pennant Gift Bag

Today I'm showing you an easy way to dress up a plain gift bag.

Pennants/bunting/banners are all the rage right now & this is such a simple little project you can do in such a short time.

Here's what you need:

Over The Rainbow Card

Do the dreary days of winter ever get you down?  I, for one, sure love to see colour & clear skies during these cold months!

Another thing I love during the winter (well, really anytime of year) is connecting with friends. Wouldn't you love to receive a happy, colourful, cheerful card from a friend on a cold, dreary day? 

Me too.

The idea from this card was lifted from a card I saw in a magazine awhile ago - I think it was Paper Crafts magazine.

I just love the colourful rainbow effect of the ribbons!

20 Outdoor Spaces & Garden Ideas

How was your Mother's Day weekend? Did you plant your garden? Do some yard clean up? 

We did some yard clean up, gardening, & got out the patio furniture. 

On with spring!

Here are 20 beautiful garden spaces that are inspiring me...

Let's start with some gorgeous yards & container arrangements:

Source

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Cheery Mother's Day Card

Mother's Day is just around the corner... are you prepared or do you still need to rush to the store? 

I'm a little of both, this year. My cards are done, but the gifts have yet to be purchased. 

(Mom, if you're seeing this, you can just pretend to be surprised on Sunday.) :)

Coconut Bounty Bites

Okay, friends, if you like Bounty candy bars, raise your hand...

I see those hands! :) 

Then have I got a treat for you!

They only have 4 ingredients & there is no baking required... so easy!

Mother's Day Free Printable

I've created my first printable for Mother's Day!

You should be able to click on the image & print it off. 

Or, click HERE.

Enjoy!

Check out the great parties I link up to here!

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This printable was featured at:

Spring Cards

Last month, I attended a scrapbook fundraiser that my sister-in-law, Carrie, organized for her children's school.

Each of the attendees paid a fee to attend & the school (organized by Carrie) provided a huge table for each person to work at, meals for the day, & workshops that you could attend to learn some new techniques. 

We brought our scrapbook gear & got our creative juices flowing!

There was a great turn out & tonnes of raffle prizes that were donated. Alas, I didn't win anything this year. 

Oh well. :)

Here are a few of the cards I created that weekend...

Happy Easter!

Spring Cleaning 2012

Have you begun your spring cleaning? I've done a few of the tasks on my list, but have lots left to do! 

In addition to my regular cleaning, here's my list:

Update: After talking to some friends of mine, it has come to my attention that you may think I do this whole list every year. While I strive to do my very best, alas, I don't complete this list every spring... ever! :) It is simply a guideline & something to work towards. Don't let it stress you out. :)

Note Card Set No. 2

My card making days have been few & far between lately, but this past weekend I was able to pump out this notecard set using a bunch of Echo Park scraps I had kickin' around. 

All these patterned papers & stickers are from Echo Park's Country Drive, Little Girl, Splash, Summer Days collections.