Sisterhood Challenge : EASTER!

It's that time again - another challenge is going on at The Sisterhood of Crafters and this time around, we're celebrating Easter - be it with a card or project. I don't usually do much for Easter, but with two nieces and two nephews and a severe urge to do something with the awesome Friendship Jar stamp that my sweet blogging buddy Andrea had given me many moons ago, I just had to do this easy little treat pack I had in my head.

The jars were cut out with my razor (also inspired by Andrea's Post - which now that I look back, I wish I'd topped like hers, too!) A medium card bag acted as a perfect jelly bean receptacle and without too much work, I had sweet treats for my favorite little ones, which I'm sure they'll gobble down.

There's more great Easter inspiration over at The Sisterhood of Crafters and you have until April 8th to play along with us!

On a personal note, I'm getting anxious for tomorrow, which is the lady I'm replacing's last day. She's leaving some big boots to fill. I know I'm up to it...I just hope I can survive my first big challenge on Monday & ensure everyone's got their proper hours and pay (it's the one thing that makes me nervous - messing up someone's $$!) Anyways, I have a little gift for her that I'm taking in today so she doesn't end up with too much being hauled home tomorrow for her trip South to Calgary.

I'm hoping someday soon I'll have some actual spare time to do a little blog surfing, but suffice it to say, it hasn't happened lately (as is the case with house cleaning and maintenance!) Thank goodness for MrP and his infinite patience and support. I don't know what I'd do without him!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Celebrating You : Mojo Monday Sketch 222

Well I knew I'd be needing some birthday cards for this month, so I used the Mojo Monday Sketch 222 to get started. I wanted to create a golden creation, having been inspired by the new ribbon I picked up at Michael's.

I used some liquid pearls, gold embossing powder, gold paint pen, some of my yet-unloved copics (I was hoping for a paler shade of green, but this was the lightest I had..in hindsight, maybe a SU marker would've worked, too) and some pearls to highlight this creation. I also added a little sparkle with a glitter pen to the inside of the flower.

I was also able to use up some papers from my collection. Yahoo!

The sentiment is the title stamp from Celebrating You and the flower is from Love's Flower, neither set of which has seen enough love on this blog (in my mind anyways).


Have a wonderful Friday! Tonight I'm off to The Keg with my mom and MrP to help use up some gift cards she received over the holidays. Sweet deal for us =) Speaking of sweet deals...I had told MrP that I was craving salad for supper, so what does he do? Rocks my world with an amazing feast of warm, fried goat cheese coins on a bed of spinach, apple & walnut salad in an apple cider vinaigrette. SPOILED!

It's a New Year

And I just want to take a moment to reflect on the year that's passed and all that's happened, plus recognize those things and people that I am grateful for. Looking at my posts from 2011 for my favorite cards, I was also struck by what a fantastic year it was for MrP and I. With trips to San Francisco, Napa and Chicago, it was definitely a memorable one. On our drive home from Red Deer on Christmas Eve, we were even reviewing our favorite parts of the year.

My biggest personal achievement this year was this: I started training for and completed my first half marathon. Not only did I do it, I beat my anticipated finish time by about 16 minutes. I don't expect it'll be my last ;)

But some of the greatest times this year were brought on by other people...my friends and family. To be sure, MrP made this an unforgettable year and for him, I am completely grateful. I can't even begin to describe how much I love him and our relationship.

My friend Swillsey and I had some awesome volunteering experiences to end the year, our gifts to each other being those of time well spent, helping others and I love that she's so giving like that. Also, the fact that she showed up to take pictures of my half...well that just meant the world to me.

My fitness buddy, SB, completed the half training with me and was a huge source of support and inspiration through it all for which I am utterly grateful. I'm not sure I would have finished like I did without her.

RunnerJen got me through the long Sunday runs when SB was working and I just needed someone to keep me going. I'm in awe of her ability to make people feel like they can do anything. Plus, a super sweet gift for Christmas - photos that she took of our runs together - was very appreciated.

Joc is courageous and sweet, witty and inspiring and she's got me running into the winter months, having agreed to train with her for Vancouver (although I'm thinking I'll likely run Red Deer's half marathon with SB the weekend before instead of Vancouver).

Chelsey is my super crafty bestie who gave me the single coolest gift this Christmas, spoiling me rotten, that really did blow me away. She created the advent calendar seen below...

and for every day, there was a gift bag to open. In a year that MrP and I chose to not exchange gifts, somehow, our tree was overflowing underflowing (?!) with gifts. The crazy thing was the timing of them as I opened. I had one day where I had a nail file on my list of things to pick up at the store and what did I open that morning? A seven way file, perfect for my exact needs! There was a Starbucks gift card, socks, chocolates and even one of my favorite treats that I'd gotten a raw deal on a Halloween - Sour Patch Kids. It truly was a glorious thing, to wake up every morning to a little surprise. It really made my crazy busy month something to look forward to and I can't wait to return the favor sometime!

Speaking of our tree - I don't think I shared a photo of our 7.5' - 1,300 light beast that is the bane of MrP's existence. He wanted blue, green and purple lights (don't tell him they look pink!)...and LOTS of them, so after buying individual strands, he sat for about three evenings, restringing the strands so they had the correct sequence. PLUS, the green bulbs were a different brand that we ordered from the US, so he had to swap out all of the bases for the bulbs on those strands. It was a heck of a process and now he basically despises having to pull out the tree every year, but man is it a spectacle (I think).

But I digress. I was talking about the people who've made this year what it was...and that includes YOU. I'm so grateful to have me so many amazingly talented, kind hearted and genuine people through this blog. I had, at one point, decided to shut it down, but it's the friends I've made along the way who are non-judgemental, sweet, giving and so full of inspiration that have kept me going.

To all my friends, I look forward to sharing in your times of challenge and celebration in the upcoming year. May yours be filled with love, laughter, health and friendship!

A Year In Review

My wonderfully talented and sweet friend Karin is hosting a Year in Review Blog Hop to highlight some of our favorite creations of 2012. Turns out, I did more crafting than I thought I did! In no particular order, here's some of my faves from the year.

 

If you'd like to play along, check out Karin's blog for the details. Entries end today for a chance to win some great prizes!

At this time, I'd like to thank you for your support over the last year and wish everyone a very happy, healthy and craft-filled new year!

Nesties Storage

I've been working on this project for a little bit, but finally finished it up today, so I wanted to share. This is how I'll be storing my nesties. It was easy, affordable and can be hidden by switching the side of the door that it's hanging on (which happens to be our server/storage room door that is also in my craft area)

It was easy to create with a sheet of corrugated plastic from Home Depot (to ensure it was light weight), over the door hangers (also from Home Depot) and some rolls of magnetic tape from Canadian Tire (I'm sure Home Depot carries those, too, but I hate that store, so when it was just me shopping, I went to Canadian Tire. Is it just me or does Rona make more sense?! Apparently Rona was designed by/for women and Home Depot was designed for/by men, so I've heard).

Anyways, it's a fast & easy storage for my addiction and I thought I'd share in case anyone else has a Cuttlebug folder overflowing with nesties! HAHA (Note: I also have one more row free - as MrP pointed out - so I can buy more. I think that was encouragement?!)

I went to the gym and avoided shopping today. Hope your Boxing Day was a good one, my fellow Canadians ;)

Day 2 in Chicago

Starting the day off right, we booked a walking food tour with Tastebud Tours, much like the ones we took in New York and San Francisco. This one, however, promised we would need a healthy appetite....and they weren't kidding. When you start off with two slices of Chicago deep dish pizza (which as it turns out features a heart stopping amount of cheese), you know it's gonna be one heck of a tour!

Pizano's for Pizza

 

Slice of Cheese and slice of Beef & Cheese

One of the purchased cows from Cows on Parade

Sarah's

A "Sarah's" Brownie (fudgey heaven!)

Palm Court - the Tea Room at The Drake
(one of the top tea rooms in the world)

Powder room of The Palm Court
 Powder room at the Palm Court was in the finals last year for the best rest room in America

Individual facility

Powder room hall

Powder room wall



Seating for High Tea at the Palm Court



MrP outside The Drake



John Hancock Center



We saw a couple of weddings having photos taken at this church



Waterworks building that survived the Chicago Fire
(it's literally a giant holding tube to prevent flooding)



Downtown Dogs - an apparent Chicago staple



All beef vienna sausage on a poppyseed bun with relish, onions, tomatoes, slice of pickle, peppers, mustard and celery salt.
The coloring of the relish is an old tradition that is still used today. Way back when, they thought the relish looked unappetizing, so they added green dye. (and they think this neon green looks more appetizing?!)



Chowing down
(MrP was terrified. Heck, I was terrified. Turned out it's damn tasty!)

Another Chicago Fire survivor. They pressure washed most of the building, but left a bit of the spire to show the char.



Next on our tour was Heaven on Seven, a cajun restaurant (subsequently we went back there again to try their pecan pie)



Huge hot sauce collection (free dinner for two if you can bring in one the owner doesn't have)

Gumbo (DELISH!) and Jambalaya (also very tasty!)



Funny hot sauce

with and even more hilarious description

Billy Goat Tavern

Tour Guide, Annalynne giving us the story behind the Cheezborger

Cheezborger at The Billy Goat Tavern



Love that architecture!



Outside of The Chicago Tribune features stonework from buildings around the world



Loved the look of The Allerton Hotel's second floor

Faces at The Allerton Hotel

Dessert at The Allerton Hotel (their pastry chef is amazing!)

End of Tour Photo with Annalynne



United Center



Mitika statue



Hull statue



Growing up, MrP loved Michael Jordan



Madhouse on Madison getting ready for some hockey

Ready to cheer on the Oil (while expecting a 6-1 game for the Hawks)

A whole lotta history!



Gametime, baby!



Retired numbers of some of the greats



RNH (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) - seriously looks like he's 12 on the ice with the big boys!



Madhouse is right!

The Bulls also play at the United Center



The 'boulin Wall (or sieve as was the case that night)

We got very tired of hearing Chelsea Dagger, as catchy as it is, it's tough to hear six times!



MrP and The Math Genius(as we deemed him)
 from Medicine Hat, who's getting his PhD in Economics at Northwestern

All in all, a fantastic time. I'll more pics up soon (MrP is on me to get them up!) But now all I can hear is Chelsea Dagger in my head....