A nice fall day

Today was a beautiful day here in southern Ontario ... the sun was out,the air was crisp and the sky was clear and blue. I decided today would be a nice day to go for a drive, so I took my mom out for breakfast. We went to one of my favourite breakfast places ...

My mom had never been, so I thought it would be a nice treat. Everything looks so good on the menu, but I'm a sucker for eggs benedict. I had the asparagus and swiss cheese eggs benedict and my mom had their 'buckwheat blessings' which is buckwheat pancakes wrapped around sausage. All of the dishes come with a nice assortment of fresh fruit ... and it always comes to you looking exactly the same as it does in the picture on the menu. Here's what our brunch looked like ... I say brunch 'cause we had to wait in line for a little while so by the time we sat down to eat it was officially 'brunch time'.

buckwheat blessings

eggs benedict

Well, now I think I'm going to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend watching one of my all time favourite shows ... Gilmore Girls. I've seen them all a bunch of times, but I do enjoy just putting the DVDs in and just watching the series from the beginning. I've just started season 3, so we'll see how long it takes me to finish them off this time.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

An early start to Christmas

I'm still struggling to get rid of my cold ... it just doesn't seem to want to leave. Since I have been sick I've had a lot of time to blog surf and start working on some projects. The first project I'm going to share with you is a boxed set of Christmas cards. I've been thinking about making a set of cards to give away as a gift, but I couldn't really think of a nice way to package them up. That is until I saw this great video tutorial on how to make a card box.

I started by making the set of cards ... I didn't want them all to be the same so I changed up the colours and the layout. I made a set of 6 cards and then used the same design to decorate the front of the card box. I think it's absolutely fabulous. And so did the person I gave the set to ... my mom. She's always liked the cards I've made, so I thought this would be a nice little surprise 'no occasion' gift for her. And the fact that it came with a surprise dinner of fish and chips from our favourite place didn't hurt either.

card set

box with cards inside

close up of box

I'm definately going to make more card sets ... I'm thinking a birthday set and then an all occasion set would be a good place to start.

Now I'm off to finish making my 'famous' tomato sauce.

Happy crafting!

(sorry, but I can't remember the name of the stamp set I used - it was one I got from Michael's and I threw out the packaging. The next time I'm there I'll make a note of which one it is.)

Oh, Smudge!

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving holiday. I planned on spending the entire day working on some projects. I live in a one bedroom condo, so space is at a premium. I do have a desk in my den space (it's a nook outside my bedroom), but when I get in a 'crafting mood' I like to spread out. So, I often find myself taking over the dinning room table. Well, I don't know if any one else has the problem I was having yesterday, but my littlest kitty (Smudge) wanted to get in on the crafting too. I didn't mind him sitting in the middle of the table too much ...

... it was when he decided to stick his paw on the open stamp pad that I had a problem with.

After I washed the cranberry ink off his paw I was able to get a few more things done, so I'll post them soon for you to see.

It's been far too long!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to everyone in Canada!!!

It's been too long since my last post ... things kept coming up which would keep me away from home and then I got sick. I still have a nasty cough, but I've been able to make the most of my 'recovery' time to work on some projects.

The first one I'll share with you is a gift-card holder. I had made one before, but this time I took some inspiration from a very creative lady, Dawn, because instead of using ribbon to tie the gift card holder shut she made a paper band. I must admit I do like this a lot ... it gave it a much cleaner look. Here's the one I made ...

front

inside

I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of these this Christmas as my mom and I like to give gift cards to the local coffee shop to our neighbours.

That's it for me today ... I have to get ready to go to another Thanksgiving gathering today.


(sorry, but I can't remember the name of the stamp set I used - it was one I got from Michael's and I threw out the packaging. The next time I'm there I'll make a note of which one it is.)

thank you card

I've been having a very relaxing weekend ... it all started Friday night when a friend and I went and had our first (of many) pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. That kind of got me in the 'autumn' spirit, so I made a batch of soft ginger-apple cookies (but I didn't add the icing the recipe calls for.

I also wanted to try making this clever gift-card holder I saw on on the Chic'n Scratch Live website ... I just love this site 'cause it has so many great ideas. My card isn't quite finished as I haven't added anything to the inside, but I'm happy with the way it's turned out so far ...

front of card

inside of card

I'm off to clean up my kitchen ... I love baking and cooking, but I don't really like the cleaning-up part.

Thanks for stopping by.

all stamps used were from CTMH ... solo T & adorning corners

I'm back ...

And boy have things changed ... I swear the counter was under 100 when I last posted!!!

Anyways, it's been so long since my last post as we've had a friend over from Scotland visiting us so I was busy with that. I had everyone over for brunch on Saturday ... I love to cook so it was a great opportunity for me to try out a new recipe. I recommend anyone that's planning on having people over for brunch to make this strata ... it's super easy and it's made the night before, so all it has to do is bake in the oven while your guests are over. Actually, everything I made was prepared the night before ... all I had to do was fry the potatoes.

strata

fruit salad

home fries

I did find some time to make the cutest little treat holder for Halloween. I did make some changes from the design I found by Angie Kennedy Juda ... I added some sides, used a different punch to make the opening for the chocolate and I used google eyes instead of just paper.

I've been working on some other projects so I hope to have them ready to post soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

A challenge ...

I'm still a rookie when it comes to this 'blog thing', but I think I'm catching on. I came across this great challenge over on the Moxie Fab blog. You should all check it out ... seems like a lot of fun. Here's what I've made for the challenge (stampset used is 'All Decked Out' from CTMH).

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend ... thanks for stopping by.