Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

I thought I'd share a few of this year's Easter preparations.

First up a couple of pics of my seasonal decor.





Treats I put together for Easter at my sister's house, skewers of Peeps for all my favourite Peeps!



And for the girls rubber boots and candy!



The rubber boots were a actually a necessity for the Easter Egg hunt at my sister's.

I'll share some highlight's from my sister's soon!

Spring is Really Trying!

The snow is melting from our front south facing garden.

The bulbs have sent their shoots up to burst through the mulch.

And a crocus is even blooming!



Spring will be here in full force soon, right?

Today....

....my sister would have been 40 years old, sadly we lost her 8 years ago.

This is my favourite photo of her and I(we were likely 18 and 8 or so):



The sense of loss never really goes away and I found this quotation that sums it up best:

'To lose someone you love is to alter your life forever, the pain stops, there are new people, but the gap never closes,this hole in your heart is the shape of the one you lost, no one else can fit it.'

Little Red Wagon # 178 - Think Spring

Welcome back to another Little Red Wagon challenge.

This week Joanne is wanting us to think spring and has provided us with this photo as inspiration:

I pulled out the colours and the berries as inspiration to create this card:

I created it this past weekend using patterned paper I stole from Regan!

If you can, please play along and link up your project at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create!

Trip of a Lifetime to French Polynesia

Last month DH and I were able to take a trip of a lifetime to French Polynesia. Although expensive, this year we are celebrating a significant anniversary and as we have talked for years of going to Tahiti, we decided to do it! Fortunately we were joined by friends Kathryn and Dave as well as my sister and brother-in-law, Sherry and Willie.

Of course,I have a ton of photos and I haven't seen the ones our travelling companions took yet!

So I thought I'd start my posts on this trip by sharing some of my favourites.


These first two are from the high mountainous hills on BoraBora. The colours of the water are absolutely breathtaking! Nature is so beautiful!






Then you know how much I love flowers and as we walked through a wonderful market on Raiatea, we saw these gorgeous tropical arrangements for $10. The bird of paradise grows wild there! We were close to the ship so Steve went back and asked if we could bring them on board and we could! And so he bought them for me Valentines Day! As they were still so fresh at the end of the cruise, we gave them to some of the waitresses that we got to know on the cruise, they were thrilled too!



Here's my sister and I at the beginning of the trip on our tour of Tahiti.



This lighthouse at Point Venus on Tahiti marks the historic landing site of many famous explorers such as Captain Cook and Captain William Bligh.



Onboard the Ocean Princess.




Some beautiful hibiscus.



More to come soon.

Little Red Wagon # 177 - Easter

Time for another Little Red Wagon challenge!

But first, some news, Dee has decided to take a break from Little Red Wagon(we'll miss you Dee!), so we welcome two new girlfriends, Jayne and Carolyn! I have no doubt that you'll be inspired by their creations!

And Jayne has selected Easter as the theme for this week.

So I dug out my trusty Papertrey Ink Egg Hunt stamp set to create this card:



So please link up your Easter creations over at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Spring is Almost Here!

And I really can't wait.

I splurged on some bulbs to bring some spring colour and scent indoors.




This March has had several days that really makes this quote in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens ring true.






'It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.'

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

And thanks to those of you who left comments on my post about whether to continue with my blog, they were much appreciated!

I will be continuing on blogging about bits of my life, scrapbooking and cooking. As this is a hobby for me I don't think blogging should feel like work.  So I'll blog  when I have something to share and when I don't I won't, lol.

In honour of St.Patrick's Day, I made Irish Soda Bread Muffins:

I didn't have caraway(which I don't much like anyway) and replaced some of the currants with dried cherries and blueberries.  Brittany thought we should sprinkle green coloured sugar on top instead of just plain sugar as the recipe calls for.

The muffins turned out  moist and not too sweet.

If you want to give them a try, click here for the recipe.

Enjoy!

Little Red Wagon - Window!

Hi all!

It's my week to select the Little Red Wagon challenge and I often dig through my supplies for those items I haven't used for inspiration.

I found the Memory Box window and shutters die I bought shortly before Christmas to create this card:

So, yes you guessed it , my challenge for you this week is to create something with a window on it!

And I used another Memory Box die on this card as well, Spring Flower border along with a relatively new Cuttlebug embossing folder, Decorative Tile.

So please link up your creations over at  Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

I've Been Thinking....

.....about the future of my blog.



I seem to have lost my blog mojo.

Mostly I've been posting cards and the odd recipe and not too much else.

So do I continue on in this vein or try to bring back the 'bits of life' and share more of what I've been doing or simply shut the blog down?

Decisions, decisions.

Back soon.

Little Red Wagon #175 - Shape

This week Regan is challenging us to make a shaped card.

I dug deep in my wagon for this scalloped edge card base that I've had for ages to create this card:

This card features Stampin' Up's Papaya Collage and From My Heart stamp sets, Sizzix Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Papertrey ink in Terracotta Tile and Simply Chartreuse, Stampin' Up ink in Soft Suede, Momento ink in Rich Cocoa and Prima paper.

So if you can, please play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Snowy Day

We woke this morning to more snow.




But it was a heavy wet snow.




That coated the trees with what looked to be a layer a fluffy white cotton.



Of course that was before you tried to shovel it! LOL

Little Red Wagon # 174 - Vellum

Well Tammy is challenging us to dig deep into our wagons this week, find that vellum and use it on our creation.

This was the perfect reason to try a technique I have always been meaning to and that is to stamp on vellum.

So using Stampin' Up's From My Heart stamp set along with Dynamics Oval Doily die, Stampin' Up ink in Cherry Cobbler and their Stippled Blossoms stamp along with Prima paper I created this card:

So if you can, please play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Little Red Wagon # 173 - Totally Teddies

This week Jan is challenging us to create something a teddy bear on it.

At first I wasn't quite sure how I would be able to meet this challenge but then I was at a Stampin' Up event and was able to borrow their stamp, Favourite Teddy Bear, to create this card:

This card also features patterned paper from Jillibean Soup, Memento Rich Cocoa ink,as well Papertrey Spring Rain ink along with some Stickles to create the party hat!

So if you can, please play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Little Red Wagon # 172 - So LOVEly

With a certain day coming up, Joanne is challenging us to create something with the word LOVE in it.

I dug deep into my wagon to create this card:

This is a larger card, 5 by 7, and uses Cuttlebug embossing folders Flourish and Swiss Dot along with some Papertrey chocolate cardstock and the Quickutz Chocolate font die. The felt embellishment I've has so long I'm not sure who made it.

So if you can, please play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Main Bath Remodel

Like the powder room, I didn't take any before photos for the main bath but try to envision a 1980's bathroom with the vanity and tub flush against the wall and the toilet situated under the window.

We ended up moving the toilet so we could place the freestanding tub lengthwise along the window wall.

We painted the upper half of the wall in Benjamin Moore Grey Horse while the lower half was finished in subway tile with a finished edge in a more rustic marble tile. The vanity and matching mirror is by Fairmont Designs.

We were supposed to have 13 by 13 floor tiles but they ended up being out of stock so we went with a 18 by 18 tile in the same marble look porcelain tile. I really like how the 18 by 18 tile helps to make the bathroom appear larger.

And a closer look at the wall tile and old fashioned water pump inspired faucet.

I'm extremely happy with resultant spa-like atomsphere of the main bath.

Little Red Wagon # 171 - Colour Combo

This week Dee is challenging us to create something based on this inspiration pic:

Isn't a bright and cheery photo?

So I decided to create a couple of cards based on the colours.

For the first I used Papertrey's Mega Mehndi Medallion stamp along with their Hawaiian Shores and Orange Zest ink/cardstock. I also used Jenny Bowlin for Ranger ink in Cough Syrup.

For the second I channelled my inner Dee and Regan and a using few bits from my wagon created this card:

So if you can, please play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.