Canvas Art

Way back in January, I took part in a Pay It Forward challenge on Facebook.

The first 5 people to respond would get a handmade gift from me sometime in the

next year!  Here is my first handmade gift.  I knew my friend liked this quote,

so i thought it would be fun to make a canvas for her.  I bought 3" letters at Staples,

and I already had the canvas and spray paint.  I had to trim the letters a little to 

fit the word "better"!  I wasn't settled on how to paint it, and in the end,

opted for the easiest method!  A few minutes after the spray paint dried,

I was able to carefully peel the stickers off with my fingernail.

Success!

I love it when projects go smoothly.

And I wholeheartedly agree with this quote.

You can even see my flip flops in the photo.

tiptoeing through the tulips in Aggasiz

In April, on our way to Kelowna for the weekend, we made a little detour

to the tulip farm in Aggasiz.  I found out about it only a few days prior, and thought

it would be fun to go and see them!  I was hoping and praying that the clouds would

miraculously clear as we were driving, and we would have a magnificent view

of the mountains in the background.  No such luck, but was still enjoyable.  It was 

quite mucky, and only 1 of us 4 had rainboots!

a very beautiful sight

thousands of colourful tulips

photo ops galore!

tiptoe through the tulips

it was a fun little pitstop on a long-ish trip

good to get out and stretch our legs

fun to see a different part of BC

Birthday Sewing

These are gifts for 4 different preschool friend's birthdays in the first

2 months of the year.  I love making pretty little skirts for little girls.  

They are easy and quick to make, and pretty adorable.

love this 5

these shirts are for twin brother and sister,

who happen to have the same names as my O and L!

I thought a 5 was a lot more interesting than a plain ol' O.

pretty wrapping paper

Valentine's Day

We like Valentine's Day over in our house!  I know many don't care for it, but what's not

to love about hearts, red and pink, a bit of chocolate, and celebrating LOVE!

working on their handmade cards for classmates and teachers

cute cupcakes on a pretty platter

little treat bags for the kids

going to school on Feb. 14th

I whipped up this top the night before.

I found a stained shirt in her drawer, and cut and sewed 

felt shapes on. the black dotted line is sharpie!

felt heart hair clip

my 3 little loves!

sisters showing some love

I tried to french braid Lily's hair in the shape of a heart :)

going through his cards and candy after school.

most kids give a little candy or treat these days.

V-day dessert on a cute plate!

pretty flowers and chocolate from my big Love.

He's not at all a rose guy, in fact, he felt very strange buying them he told me.

Roses and chocolate are very cliche, but he bought them knowing I like them!

face painting gone wrong

On Friday, Ruby came home from preschool with a DIY facepaint job.  She was so pleased with it.
Of course, she wanted to do it again. She asked and asked and asked.  When she stacked up 2 stools to try and reach the face paint, I decided to let her do it.  I got her a cup of water, she got the mirror, and I let her do it completely on her own.  She started out with a nice pink nose and kitty whiskers, but that wasn't enough. Before I knew it, her whole face was painted, camouflage-style! Pretty soon, her smile turned into a frown and she declared she hated it, it was ugly, and she wanted to do something else that was nicer.

trying to wash her face with a hand towel

face cleaned off, let's look at the idea book

I'm going to paint a butterfly on my face

(high hopes and expectations!)

the moment she realized her face didn't look like the picture

and this is hard.

so sad.

poor girl, self-face painting is a lot harder she thought.

she was so dejected.  she wanted a 3rd attempt, but I changed her mind,

washed her face and we cuddled up and read books instead.

These series of photos make me laugh,

but also make me feel sad that her high hopes were completely dashed 

when she realized she couldn't paint her face very well.

life can be hard sometimes!

Happy New Year!

This past year was great, and now we're looking forward to more great things in 2013!

Here's a little look at how we spent our new year's eve, in Kelowna.

We were with a lot of family throughout the holidays, but happened to be 

on our own for dinner on the 31st.  There was something special about being together

on the last night of the year, pirate packs and all!

We met Jill and family downtown for some fun outdoor skating!

This was the first year the city of Kelowna did this New Year's Eve event

and it was a hit!  The skating rink was packed, and the live celtic folk band

was playing some great tunes.  The family festivities were from 6-9pm, 

ending with fireworks to coincide with NYC midnight!  

Fun for all the kids to see, which was the point of having them early.

The ice rink, skaters in motion

 

impressive fireworks display

"oooh, aaah!"

3 cute skater girls

Mom and Dad arrived home from Barbados and Haiti at midnight (NYE)

We had a nice relaxing day together before we headed home.

We also celebrated sister Jill's birthday on the 1st with a family dinner.

We had a wonderful week away, with family, friends, and fun winter activities,

but we were also happy to come home!