[New Year stuff]

Thinking about making New Year's resolutions? Here's a free printable for you. Plus a free printable on how to make your goals into reality. (I made this handout for a lesson I taught at church. Hence the step #12.)

Looking for a cute calendar? Just print a bunch of these either full page size or maybe two per page. Leave room on the left to punch holes, if you want to put them in a binder. This would also make a great Menu Planner or a To Do list. That is one of my goals for this coming year - to plan our suppers better and to learn new recipes.

Check out my New Year Pinterest board for ideas for New Year's parties, etc.

[Thanksgiving craft for kids]

We already had our Thanksgiving but our neighbors down south haven't had theirs, so I thought I'd share this idea for a cute Thanksgiving craft for kids.

I browsed the Internet for images of a tree silhouette and maple leaves. I printed them on card stock paper and then our daughter wrote on the leaves what she is thankful for. We attached the leaves with a foam square so it would look a bit three dimensional. 

Simple. Super cute.

[freebie]

[new beginnings]

I love new beginnings! Each morning, each week, each month, each year… If you messed up somehow, you can start all over again and with better resolve to do better and to be better. Forgive yourself and others for misdeeds and thus give room for improvement.

One of my favorite things to do is to start a new day planner each year. This year I found the perfect one for me! So my style! Love it! J

I love to mark in the birthdays. The pages are clean, ready to be filled in with appointments or what happened that day.

This year’s wall calendar is Ireland themed. A gift from someone who knows Ireland is special to us.

Maybe if I’ll stare at this picture of Giant’s Causeway, I’ll magically get to finally visit the place. I lived so close to it, yet never had a chance to see this amazing piece of nature.

Look what a lovely thing is in my new day planner already! What a fun activity idea for kids. Print out the numbers of the new year and let children decorate them in some fun way.

If you want to see some ideas I’ve collected on Pinterest about New Year’s Eve, click here. I love the idea of interviewing your child each year and videotaping their answers.

Happiness to you all in the year 2013!

[Happy Thanksgiving!]

Made a little wreath. Printed some maple leafs and taped them on a cardboard circle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

{thankful}

happy thanksgiving!

it's actually tomorrow but we're celebrating today so...

thanksgiving is when people think of all the things they're thankful for. there are always the obvious ones - family, friends, health, home, faith...

i'm going to try and be a bit more specific today and come up with some sort of list that reflects my thoughts on this day.

i'm grateful for...

...18 years (today) of being married to an amazing guy whom i love more now than when we got married. i'm so grateful that i have always believed in marriage. i love being married. i love my most awesome husband who puts up with a very imperfect wife.

...a daughter who loves to do art and crafts. it would suck if she didn't enjoy it. :)

...living in canada. of course i miss many things about my home country. but i honestly love living here. canada feels like home to me and i'm grateful for that.

...the internet and how it helps me to stay in contact with my family. i'm grateful for all the memories i have with them and love them all so very much.

...being able to stay home and be a full-time mom. not everyone has this priviledge and i don't take it for granted.

...the church i belong to. today specifically for the opportunities it gives me to serve others. our local food bank is in great need of food. more people go to the food bank as many people are struggling financially. but less food is actually being donated. our church has organized a food drive to collect much needed food. we picked up our 300 flyers and our flyer route today. first we deliver the flyers and then we go again later to pick up the actual food people hopefully will donate. it will be hours of volunteer work but i already look forward to the good feeling that will come from the service. our church has the perfect organization to get things done when things need to get done. i'm grateful to know that giving of yourself and your time makes you happy.

...yummy food! :) ikea's blueberry soup, nachos, oatmeal cookies (and for a little girl who loves to make them with me), nanaimo bars, homemade soup...

...a new thai fast food place at southgate mall. yummier than yummy food and great price.

...jay's mom who is making thanksgiving supper for us all today. it's great to get together as a family and celebrate special days together.

...any of you who take the time to read my blog and leave comments now and then. thanks for sharing my life with me.

...my bed. i'm off to take a quick nap and to cuddle with jay and sienna. i am so tired. many poor sleeps lately.

{2009 here we come!}

{jennifer pebbles}

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I've been spending a bit of time at "two peas in a bucket" lately. Today I found Jennifer Pebbles. I like her stuff (the fall wreath is a class they offer at two peas) and she has a fun blog too:

www.paperandink.typepad.com

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{thankful to have jay home}

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Happy Thanksgiving (Canada)!

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This is made with rubber stamp ink and fingerprints but we'll make similar ornaments with paper and a heart punch. Or we'll just color circles. Haven't decided yet.
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This is made with a styrofoam ball (cut in half + brown paint) and cardstock. Markers are pushed in about an inch (2.5 cm) deep.
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A thankful tree. Everyone writes on the cardstock leaves what they are thankful for.

All these ideas are from:

www.familyfun.com

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I love Thanksgiving. It's a great reminder to be thankful for your blessings.

Jay came home this morning at 9.30. He had been driving all night to come straight home. Needless to say he's sleeping right now. Poor guy was so exchausted. There was a snow blizzard on the way that made the drive even longer. He eventually found a gas station that had duct tape for sale and was able to block the broken window. He was so happy to be home. We gave him tons of hugs and cuddles. Y

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Sienna and I started making rutabaga casserole (lanttulaatikko) for our Thanksgiving turkey supper at Jay's parents tonight. Sienna loves to help cook. I cut the cubes and she put them in the pot. She was so cute examining the rutabaga. "This one is rectangle"... This one is triangle"... "Oh mommy, this is a baby one"... :)

Now we're off to make Thanksgiving crafts to take as presents for gramma & grampa.

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Today I'm thankful that Jay is okay. When I went to his parents yesterday and his mom told me to call him as something bad has happened my first thought was "oh no, something terrible has happened to Jay and he's in a hospital or something".

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love you canada!

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Very hot again.

Singing O Canada in the car.

Riding a trike.

Sidewalk chalk drawing.

Canada Day celebrations.

Bunnies.

Snakes.

Horses. (Just when we were going to take Sienna to ride a horse they wouldn't accept more riders... But she got to pet a horse at least.)

Bubbles.

Balloons.

Flags.

Many nationalities represented in the growd as usual.

Young girls singing karaoke.

Lotsa red & white.

Bagpipers.

Beautiful Royal Mounted Police lady.

Sienna wouldn't get her face painted or let us put a maple leaf on. Mommy tried to show it's ok. Still no. Figures. :)

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grrh

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Muutamia kuvia kekkereista. Niin vasahti Sienna kaikesta juhlimisesta.

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Mulla on menossa tanaan tosi huono paiva. En voi uskoa miten surkea muisti mulla on. Minun piti tanaan menna eraalle tosi tarkealle kurssille (Robinin hoitoon liittyva) mutta arvatkaa kuka unohti tarkeimman asian koko viikolla? Olin normaaliin tapaan Siennan kanssa taalla alakerrassa kun Jay katsoi kalenteriin ja sanoi etta hei, sun pitaisi olla kurssilla juuri nyt. Tama oli tosi tarkea juttu silla haluavat etta ollaan kayty kaikki vaadittavat kurssit lapi ennenkuin antavat rahabonuksen. Kurssit piti saada aikaiseksi taman kuun loppuun mennessa. No, antoivat luvan ensiapukurssille ja eraalle toiselle kurssille vasta ensi kuussa menon. Mutta tama kurssi joka oli tanaan olisi valttamatta pitanyt kayda lapi. Seuraava on vasta toukokuussa! Eli nyt odotan karseella fiiliksella tuomiota etta saadaanko se bonus vai ei tasta mun mohlimisesta johtuen. Miten jollain voikin olla tallaiset aivot jotka temppuilee nain. Eika kalenteri auta jos siihen ei koskaan muista katsoa! Oon niin vihainen itselleni tanaan. Grrh. Me not happy! :(

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I messed up big time today. I was supposed to go to a really important course today. Guess who totally forgot this most important thing this week. Guess who's feeling so stupid. What's the point of calendars if you never look at them. This was really, really, really important. Me not happy! :(

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couple of ideas

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I have time to share couple more things before Sienna wakes up and we're off to our Imagine That class again. I think it's so neat that nowadays people do all kinds of fun stuff with their photos. I don't scrapbook that much (a small project here and there) but I have always kept learning about this field and the techniques people come up with. These pictures are by Jennifer Johner and I found them at the Two Peas in a Bucket web site. I like how she used embroidery to decorate her pictures. You can also make albums from material (kankaasta albumeja!). Just print photos on canvas (there's specific stuff available for this in office stores, don't cram your printer with stuff you shouldn't :) ) and then embroider away. Craft tip for the day. :)

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Cookies by www.bissingers.com.

Rubberstamping cookies with food coloring. Great idea!

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:P

all you need is love

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Happy LOVE day everyone!

Lotsa LOVE from our family to yours!

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Pictures: Martha Stewart (of course).

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garlands and ornaments

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If anyone wants to start making crafts early for next Christmas Becky Higgins has instructions for these cute photo ornaments in her blog (made with wooden cubes). Just do a Google search and you'll find her blog. She's very well-known in the scrapbooking world.

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I searched for some other ideas for garlands after I saw the beautiful celebrate garland Talia had made. This tree one for Christmas is from www.familyfun.com. The stars are buttons.

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I love this Halloween garland. The googly eyes on the bat are so cute.

Garland is from: http://www.mamaurchin.com/.

The Halloween stamps are from http://www.stampinup.com/.

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Martha Stewart Crafts sells garlands. Here are just two that are available.

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I love the colors in this picture. Fall colors are so "me".

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There are various leaf garlands you can make for Thanksgiving. This one is from Family Fun again and is made out of cardstock and people can write on the leaves what they are grateful for. Templates are at their web site. I'd use cute scrapbooking paper in fall colors. I think I'd also use some family photos and cut them into leaf shapes to add in the garland.

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You can also make the leaves out of thick material. Love it. The fall season is so "me". :)

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I know, I know... Instead of posting ideas here on my blog I should be spending the time making one of these cute garlands. :)

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valentine's day

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Love is in the air...

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Since I was quite unprepared for Christmas this year I thought I'd start thinking about Valentine's Day early. I think Valentine's Day is tons of fun. I haven't been too creative with it in the past though so I thought that it's about time I put a bit more effort into it. I want to come up with something really creative and fun this year. Please feel free to share your ideas with me.

The two posters above are from www.allposters.com.
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Last year Jay's gift was a heart shaped thick glass photo frame with a picture of Sienna and me in it. Ikea sells those frames and they are perfect for Valentine's Day gifts no matter who is on your list. Another idea is to buy a photo weight kit and make a paper weight for someone. I don't use paper weights (who does?) but they'd still be cute. You don't have to put a picture in it. Perhaps a love poem or words of your favorite love song...

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www.photoweights.com

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Ikea sells these perfectly colored tea lights as well. Another candle idea (of course you have to have a candle lit dinner that night) is to use various cream colored pillar candles and arrange them on a platter and then fill the bottom with kidney beans. Yep, kidney beans. :) I think I saw that idea in one of my ooooold Martha Stewart magazines. It looked really cute. I'd use a wood platter. Heart garland made out of scrapbooking paper, felt or thick material would be easy to make. And there's always the "put branches in a vase" (you get extra points if you do it early enough for small pink or white buds to show up) and hang little heart love notes/ornaments on it. Lots of ideas. Please share yours. :)
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Cards are always nice. I find that after this many years of marriage it's hard to come up with something original to say in them. Somehow I need to find how to put some spark in my card as well.
www.marthastewart.com
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Handmade heart shaped ice-cream sandwiches!!! I love this idea. www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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Almost too beautiful to eat.
www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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I loved this idea as well. I'm the only one in our family who drinks herbal tea. I started thinking about other places to hide little heart love sayings. It would be fun to change almost everything into heart labels.
www.marthastewart.com (of course)
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family fun - valentine's day ideas
You can read the history of Valentine's Day from the link above. Family Fun always has tons of ideas geared towards kids. Party & treat & craft ideas etc.
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I think a heart shaped pancake breakfast is a must. With strawberries and whipping cream of course. If you cut the strawberries in half vertically they'll look like hearts too. Aah! So cute! :) That reminds me that my dear Jay always likes to say "what's so cute about it?" when someone calls something cute. He demands to know what makes something cute. :)
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So, more ideas please everyone. Let's get this LOVE party going! :)
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ps. The kidney beans I was talking about should of course be DRIED kidney beans. :)

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ps2. To easily make heart shaped pancakes, put the batter in a squeeze bottle (clean syrup bottle f.ex.) and then you can "draw" with the batter. For those using North American recipe - add a bit more milk to the recipe so the batter won't be so thick.

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