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On the eighth day of Christmas…

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On the eighth day of Christmas we were baking again, if you can call making rice crispy treats baking. I am that mom that sends treats to school with her kids for holidays, birthdays or once because I was taking a cake decorating class and I needed someone to eat my homework. Before school broke for the holidays I sent rice crispy tree treats to school with each of my kids. My husband brought the ones to my sons preschool party because I was writing an exam, and you will never guess where the Tupperware container is. If you guessed still at the school you are correct. So much for being green.

I made the rice crispy treats as per the box instructions in a parchment lined baking pan, sprinkled them with coloured sprinkles and put them in the fridge. After they were formed I removed them from the tray using the parchment, and cut them into rectangles and then triangles. To be totally honest I had the frosting in the fridge already mixed in piping bags so it looks like more of an effort than it really was. I piped on some details, and popped on some edible ornaments and a few dozen trees were born.

trees trees 2
Filed under: Christmas, DIY, Food, Uncategorized Tagged: Baking, Christmas, rice

On the ninth day of Christmas…

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coastersMy kids love coasters. Yes the ones that you put drinks on. They throw them as frisbees, use them as plates, roll them and who knows what else. I find them everywhere, in beds, outside, in the bathroom, under rugs you name it I have probably found a coaster there. I have no idea why they have a fascination with them but I can tell you that they disappear and get broken at an alarming rate.

So I decided to make some that wouldn’t get broken (or at least not into sharp pieces), can’t chip, and would be kind to the inside of my washing machine and were made from scraps of felt. I also made 5 because for sure one (or more) will go missing. There isn’t much point in buying something nice at least not for a while.

If you find yourself in a coaster predicament as well or you just think that these are cute and would like some for yourself the instructions are as follows:

Step 1. Cut felt into 1cm strips (using standard felt sheets). I used 8 colours but you can use as few or as many as you like. I used 17 strips per coaster, 2 strips per colour plus one extra in the outside colour.

cut strips

Step 2. You can use white glue but mine needed to be super durable, so I opted for hot glue. Starting with any colour wrap and glue the end of one of the felt strips to make a small cylinder.

beginning

Step 3. Glue and wrap additional strips of felt. If you are using white glue use straight pins and pin as you wrap and glue. With hot glue you don’t need pins.

wrap

Step 4. Once you get to the end of the felt add in the second strip. Glue and wrap the strips in sections.

almost done

Step 5. Once you have used all 16 strips of felt glue the last strip around the outside butting it up against the same colour.

seam

 

 


Filed under: Christmas, DIY Tagged: Christmas, Christmas Crafts, coffee, Felt, tea

On the eleventh day of Christmas…

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On the eleventh day of Christmas I was crafting for a birthday. Just a few days after Christmas its my nieces birthday. I have two boys, four nephews, and one niece so its very rare that I get to make anything pink. It is always nice to switch up the colour scheme and get a little pink in the mix. I made this superhero cape and crown for her birthday present.

RUBY

If you are interested I sell them here on Etsy.


Filed under: Christmas, DIY, Family, Reviews Tagged: Christmas, Dress up, pretend

On the twelfth day of Christmas…

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Each year I make the kids a Christmas ornament. Usually the ornaments are a little different, as are they. This year I made them ornaments inspired by Scrabble. With a few ribbon scraps and my trusty hot glue gun I whipped these together in minutes.

I would like to wish you all Love and Joy in the holiday season!

Love and joy Love Joy
Filed under: Christmas, DIY, Family Tagged: Christmas, ornaments, traditions

Playing with Fire

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My kids have a small obsession with camping. I do not. Camping isn’t my thing. Going to the cottage or cabin is more my speed. I am a big fan of my bed, running water, electricity and flush toilets. Walls and doors are not overrated in my opinion. I like a lot of protection from mother nature and a piece of cloth between me and the elements isn’t quite enough.

I do however love my kids and I love that they use there imaginations when they play. One of their favourite things to play is camping. Sometimes this involves a couch fort, a ball tent or their teepee. Years ago I made the boys a teepee to play in and it now has a few miles on it. They have been roasting marshmallows on chop sticks over a red pillow with every camping adventure and I though that it was time to make them a campfire.

My timing could have been a little better because I finished it at midnight on Christmas Eve. I am guilty of running to the craft store on Christmas Eve to get supplies. Even among all of the store bought gifts that they received for Christmas this is what they were up to after Christmas dinner. My oldest opted for marshmallows for dessert in lieu of pecan pie so that he could try out the new camp fire.

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Filed under: Christmas, DIY, Family, Sewing Tagged: Camping, Felt, pretend play, Toys, Waldorf, waldorf toys

Just for me

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If you have been following my blog for any length of time you probably notice that I make craft projects for other people often. Even when I decide to make something for myself frequently someone tells me how much they like it and somehow it becomes theirs. I am an advocate of the handmade and prefer to gift handmade objects.

One of my friends gave me yarn for Christmas this year with the implicit instructions to make something for myself. She knows me a little too well. The yarn that she gave me was beautiful but I was already making myself a pair of finger-less gloves. I might have to turn the yarn that she gifted me into a pair of socks. No one in my house will steal them because they will have a bit of pink in them.

If you think that these are as great as I do here is a link to the pattern. I think that I was sucked in by the pretty pictures with the pattern and I have made an effort to duplicate it but I didn’t really do them justice.

gloves in process gloves in process 2 gloves 1

P.S. In case you were wondering those are my real hands and my nails are real. I just have to throw it out there but I take zero credit, because it’s all in the genes. Some people get skinny genes, some people get good nail genes. I only got the good nail genes.


Filed under: DIY, Knitting Tagged: gloves, knit

Two years in the making

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I wish that the project that I was about to show actually looks like I spent two years working on it. When my youngest was born I made a promise to my husband that I wouldn’t start anything new for at least a year. In the days leading up to his birth I was finishing a Bachelor of Design degree and life was full. I swore that I would take the year of maternity leave to just BE with the kids. That lasted for a little while but I can’t sit still for long. Once the long nursing sessions stopped and I had a little time with my hands empty I took up knitting. That was enough of a challenge for a few months then I took up crochet. Here is my first post about crochet.

Someone tried to convince me that crochet was easier and faster than knitting. The jury is still out on that one. It took about 30 minutes per row of stitching (the blanket is sized to fit a double bed). I don’t know if that is normal or I am super slow. I know that most crochet blankets typically have a very loose weave and perhaps that’s why it’s faster. Or maybe I am just a slow crocheter.

I fully intended on making this blanket for myself, until my oldest discovered what I was working on and claimed it for himself. I make so many things for the kids that they just assume that they are entitled to take what I make as their own. I want them to appreciate the art of making objects so when they ask I oblige them.

I don’t have a pattern for this one. I can’t read a crochet pattern yet even after 2 years. It’s basically a really big scarf :0.

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Filed under: Crochet, DIY Tagged: blanket, Crochet, diy

Warm and Cozy

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There is nothing quite like knitting a warm cozy blanket in the winter. Last week I wrote about a crochet project that I had worked on for 2 years (even I can’t believe it), in contrast I made this blanket in only a few days over the Christmas break. There are a few differences that account for the speed. This blanket is a bit smaller, and is knit with big think yarn which makes larger stitches per inch. Even better than knitting a blanket in the winter is snuggling under it with a cup of tea in a handmade mug of course and a magazine. Pure luxury!

blue blankie 1 blue blankie 4 blue blankie 5 blue blankie WIP 1 blue blankie blue blankie WIP 2
Filed under: DIY, Knitting Tagged: diy, knit, knit blanket, Knitting

Sock it to me

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My feet are always cold. Even when I am wearing socks my feet are cold sometimes. It’s grey rainy and cold here so I can think of nothing better than colourful wool socks to keep my feet warm. It took me a few weeks to make these. I knit when I watch TV or lectures for school and occasionally when I am out and about. The time invested is totally worth it, as long as I don’t accidentally shrink them in the wash.

These aren’t exactly matching but they are from the same yarn. Matchy, matchy is totally overrated. I think the pattern adds to the fun. I am sure that my sister who never wears matching socks would approve!

WIP one down one to go warm toes
Filed under: DIY, Knitting Tagged: diy, knit socks, Knitting, socks, wool

Out of this world Valentine’s Day

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This past Valentine’s Day I spent time with my parents, my kids, my husband and an astronaut. Yes an astronaut. We spent Valentine’s Day at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was an out of this world Valentine’s day.

I have been to Florida many times and the Kennedy Space Center was not on my list of destinations until I married an aerospace engineer. My oldest was an astronaut for Halloween so I knew that it would be of interest to him as well. As luck would have it my parents wrangled a mini-van as a rental car and we all piled in for a astro-ordinary Valentine’s Day outing.

In keeping with family tradition the kids were wearing their heart shirts. As long as they request holiday specific t-shirts and will happily wear them I will keep making them.

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Filed under: DIY, Family, Travel Tagged: Astronaut, Florida, Kennedy Space Center, Valentine's Day

Hiatus

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Every once in a while it’s important to take a break. A break from things you love (like writing this blog) and things that you don’t. Recently I went on vacation and took a break from many things including parenting. My husband and I went away for a few days together because it’s important for our marriage. I love my kids but I love my husband too, and sometimes we need to be together without the kids. Thankfully my parents are happy to step in and have let us escape more than once.

We contemplated going on a cruise but I have in the past struggled with motion, and given that my brain is still healing we opted for a land based adventure. I may have been fine on a cruise but when someone was meddling around in the part of my brain that controls balance I am going to air on the side of caution for the next 6 months or so.

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Florida Socks

Our land based adventure involved a fair amount of driving, which for me means a fair amount of knitting. I knit a pair of socks while we were cruising around south Florida. We went to the Florida Keys and Miami. We had a few very relaxing kid free days with lots of time to chat (if you know my husband you understand the humour). Anyway it gave us time to reconnect which is critical to the success of our marriage.

 

We started just south of Tampa and drove to Homestead where we stayed in a dive (which was a bit of an accident), but we survived the night. We also took the opportunity to hit up Red Lobster. It has been years since I have been to Red Lobster (we don’t have one where we live), and those cheese buns are fantastic.

In the AM we made a quick escape to the Keys and drove all the way to Key West where we spent the day, and evening. We didn’t stay in Key West because it’s pricey, instead we opted to stay in Marathon (another of the keys). In the morning after a trip to IHOP (how can you resist) we drove to Miami Beach. Our hotel was perfectly positioned right on the beach. We walked the beach for hours while I took too many photos. We had dinner on the strip and I drank the biggest margarita I have ever seen, twice.

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We spent the following day relaxing poolside before the drive back along alligator alley to life with kids. The kids had an amazing time with their grandparents (pictures below prove it), and we had a great time without them. It’s important for them to spend a little time without us, and for us to spend time without them, we all appreciate each other more after a little time apart.

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Filed under: DIY, Knitting, Marriage, My Brain, Photography, Travel Tagged: brain tumor, Brain Tumour, diy, Florida, florida Keys, Key west, Knitting, meningioma, miami, Miami Beach, photography, socks

Minion Cupcakes

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I am that mom that sends cupcakes to school for her kid’s birthday, please don’t hate me, I like baking. One of the kids in my son’s class asked him how many days it took me to make them! Honestly as you might be able to tell these were very quick, from start to finish it didn’t take more than 2 hours including baking time.

I challenged myself to make and decorate cupcakes without going to the grocery store. It’s beginning to look like Michael’s in many parts of my house and it’s about time that I used some of the supplies I have. Believe it or not I had minion cupcake wrappers, no doubt I saw them somewhere cheap one day and bought them (then forgot about them). So Minion’s were the theme. With cake mix, frosting, food colouring, eggs, oil, white lifesavers, and chocolate chips on hand I got to work. Here was the result.

m1 M2
Filed under: DIY, Food Tagged: Baking, cupcakes, diy, Minion, Minions

I just want snow

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S14I know that I have readers all over the world, and for those of you still digging yourselves out of the snow you might be surprised that my son asked for snow for his birthday. It has been 2 years since he has been able to play in the snow. I have fond memories of playing in the snow when I was a kid, and so I do understand his request. When asked if he wanted to go skiing or have a birthday party he opted to go skiing, which really impressed upon me how important this was to him.

So we rented a ski condo from a friend, packed up our (newly purchased/borrowed/knitted) snow gear and set out for the mountain. In an effort to make the most of our weekend I booked lessons for the kids and my husband who had never skied or snowboarded before.

I learned to ski when I was a kid and skied through highschool as part of the ski club but it has been 16 years at best guess since I have skied. To be truthful I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t remember how, or that I wouldn’t be much good. That whole brain tumour, metal plate in my head thing has made be overly cautious. I was also nervous about the movement and potentially getting dizzy. I am 100% OK when I am walking but I have had some movement issues post surgery. But I am so happy to report that I skied (wearing a helmet) for two days. My body was sore but my heart was full. I am happy to have been able to do something that I really enjoy.

S10The birthday boy unfortunately had a different experience. Five minutes into his ski lesson my husband took the call to pick my son up because he had been sick. They both missed their lessons, and the birthday boy spent the next two days in bed with the flu. I felt awful for him. He did get on skies briefly, threw some snowballs and went for a sled ride but he missed out.

My youngest however has proven to be a true snow bunny. My husband was able to reschedule his snowboarding lesson and would do it again, and I conquered a small fear, so all in all the trip was a success. We will be back at it next year, hopefully earlier in the season!

 

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In true Making a Life fashion I knit the kids matching multi-colour hats and for myself a white/orange winter hats for the occasion.


Filed under: DIY, Knitting, My Brain, Travel Tagged: Brain Tumour, diy, family, Knitting, mount washington, skiing, Snow

Grass Block Cake

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I knew that it was inevitable at some point my kids would be talking about something I knew nothing about. That day has arrived. Minecraft has invaded. I still do not understand it completely, but my oldest loves it. He looks forward to computer class once a week when he gets to play it and the rest of the week he talks about it. 

On his birthday, I made him a grass block cake. In Minecraft, everything is built from blocks, and apparently, grass comes in blocks too. The cake is made from two 8×8 chocolate cakes frosted with chocolate icing, and the top is frosted with green icing. I used the Wilton grass tip (233) to make the green icing look like grass.

gb1 GB2
Filed under: DIY, Food Tagged: Baking, Birthday cake, cake decorating, diy, Minecraft

Surprise, we are having a party

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This year when I was talking about birthday plans with my oldest, we gave him the option of having a party or going skiing. He picked skiing, which is fantastic. We were more than happy to try something new with the kids and especially because he wanted to do it so badly. Unfortunately, he got sick as soon as we got there, and missed going skiing.

I also know that this time in our lives is fleeting. Birthdays are a reminder that our kids (and all of us) are getting older by the second, and I just couldn’t skip the party. I can see that there is a limited number of birthday parties left before the kids are too cool to have their parents involved in birthday celebrations so while I can I am going to celebrate.

Surprisingly we managed to keep the event a secret until the morning of the party. I think that it actually worked quite well. As the parents of the birthday boy we weren’t asked how many more sleeps, minutes or seconds until the party. Most of the guests were not aware that they were coming to the party until the night before or the day of the party either, so it was a win-win for all of the adults involved.

The theme was Minecraft. I knew nothing about Minecraft but thanks to Pinterest I learned everything I needed to know to throw a Minecraft party. We made a portal, creeper and ghost balloons, TNT decorations, balloon spiders, a creeper shirt for the birthday boy, a TNT pinata and a diamond sword cake.

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We started the party off with Minecraft activities that I found on Pinterest, a dot to dot, a decode a word and decorating diamond swords . This kept the kids occupied while the other guests arrived. When everyone arrived, I broke them into teams and they did a scavenger hunt. I gave them a map of the house to find Minecraft objects that I hid inside and outside. After the scavenger hunt, we had a Minecraft themed snack, which included:

  • Chicken – Chicken nuggets
  • Potato – Tater tots
  • Slime – Green grapes
  • Carrots – Baby carrots
  • Redstone – Doritos
  • TNT – Red Licorice
  • Snow – Marshmallows
  • Sticks – Straight pretzels
  • Melon – Watermelon
  • Fish – Fishy crackers

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After snack we had, the diamond sword cake, which was made from two sheet cakes (chocolate and lemon), decorated with chocolate, and vanilla frosting (coloured green and blue).

SP1

After cake, we opened presents. My kids have so many toys so I suggested that in lieu of gifts we collect donations for the Brain Tumour Foundation walk in May. He raised $62.00 and got some new toys so it was another win-win. After presents, we headed outside to smash a piñata. Inside the piñata were goody bags for the kids. After the piñata, the guests went home and I broke out the wine. It was a successful easy at home party, which the kids loved.

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Filed under: DIY, Family, Food Tagged: Baking, cake, cake decorating, diamond sword, diy, Minecraft, minecraft party, party, party planning

Horsing Around

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horses1Sunday morning my oldest has drawing classes, and he was refusing to go recently because he was “too busy” pretending to be a cowboy. He and his brother were both galloping around wearing cowboy hats. After I promised that, he could return to playing cowboys after drawing he dropped the hat and off we went. As soon as we returned, I was roped into their pretend play.
“Where are your horses?” I asked
“We don’t have horses,” they said
“Do you want horses?” I asked
“YES” they said
“Where do we get some?” they asked
“We make them,” I said

 

The gears shifted from playing cowboys to making horses. My oldest likes to help and so he was in charge of cutting out a paper pattern, which I found here. He also chose the yarn and cut the mane for the brown horse, one string at a time. It was a little painful to watch but he was content for about an hour cutting strand by strand.
My office/craft room is the smallest room in the house but coincidentally has the largest walk-in closet, which comes in handy for storing my hoard of craft supplies. It also means that when I get inspired to make something chances are if I go digging in the craft closet, I can probably find the supplies required. I had everything I needed for these with the exception of the wooden dowels, and I was short on stuffing.

 

If you want to partake in making a horse for yourself, you will need:
• Felt sheets, scraps cut into squares (the equivalent of 4-5 standard sheets of felt) or fabric
• Stuffing
• 2 buttons for eyes
• Thread to sew felt together
• Embroidery thread to sew the eyes on, and or the bottom closed
• A sewing machine
• Yarn for the mane, and for the bridle
• Metal washers, or metal D rings for the bridle
• 3-4’ wood dowel

 

This project took me somewhere between 5-6 hours to make two horses in case you want an idea of the time commitment.
GIDDY UP!

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Filed under: DIY, Family, Sewing Tagged: crafts, Crafts with kids, diy, Dress up, Felt, Horses, pretend play, Sewing, Toys

Minecraft-ING

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minecraft header watermarkMy seven year old is obsessed with Minecraft. I hear a lot of “Mom did you know, in Minecraft……” which is about where I zone out because I really know very little about Minecraft. However, I am interested in expanding upon his interests. I think it is great that he is so passionate about something, even if it is based on a video game. Instead of incessantly playing video games I want him to build on the creative problem solving skills learned in Minecraft, and apply those skills to other things.

Many of the projects that I make are child inspired, such as this tent, campfire, hobby horses, super hero capes and crowns. I let their play fuel my own creative juices and I come up with crafts to satisfy my passion for making, and props for their playtime.

I have been involving the kids with crafting projects for a very long time. The first project that I remember working on with my oldest was when he was three and I was sewing, he wanted to sew with me, so I let him put his foot on top of mine and “drive the sewing machine.” Over time, he has become more and more involved in making things.

 

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For this Minecraft project he drew the cubes that he wanted made, picked out the felt colours and after I sewed the blocks he stuffed them. We talked about how many pieces of felt we needed to cut and how many sheets of felt would be required. He made a bit of a mess on the floor of my office during his design phase but it is usually a disaster anyway. 

 

As per usual there has been fighting over who gets to play with which character, and I even made a sixth block because there wasn’t an even number to split between them. Now they are fighting over who gets to sleep with which block, but at least I know that they like them.

MC4 MC2 MC1
Filed under: DIY, Family, Sewing Tagged: crafts, Crafts with kids, diy, Felt, kids crafts, Minecraft, Sewing

Watch out Ferragamo

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I make one pair of shoes (from a kit no less) and I think that I am a famous shoemaker! I am killing myself over here laughing, who am I kidding....Ferragamo. But seriously, I made myself a pair of shoes how cool is that. …

Birthday Books

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With the advent of digital photography, photos are snapped and lost into the black hole of technology. Some of us do not ever get the photos out of the camera, and some transfer them to computers but then do little…

Peach and Rat Season

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Three years ago we bought the house in the city with a yard slightly bigger than a postage stamp.  We moved in at the middle of August and on the third day while I was cleaning a paint tray in the kitchen sink I…
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