DIY Bouquet Calendar Gift

I was inspired to make a layered 2024 calendar by a reel I saw on Instagram. I used some new products from Catherine Pooler and Crafty Meraki to put my own spin on it!

4 ideas with the new i-crafter Doily die

Good morning! Today the April i-crafter release is available and we are hopping to celebrate! (Hop details below).

There are lots of new goodies, and I focused on the beautiful new Doily die as well as the Carly alphabet.

Here, I used 3 of the doily dies to create a little sun-catcher. I cut them (the Spellbinders Tool-n-One is invaluable for getting all the little bits out easily!) and then blended ink through them. By doing it this way, I was able to blend the ink onto a white card panel, and make this card as well:

And a word about the Carly Alphabet - it is a huge set of dies that includes both upper and lower case letters as well as punctuation. It's in a fun whimsical font and it's easy to work with, especially if you put BeCreative tape on the back of the cardstock before you die cut your letters.

My next card uses a fun technique I learned from watching Amber's video on the Save the Crafty YouTuber hop. I embossed the doily onto a piece of white cardstock by running it through my die cutting machine with the rubber embossing mat. I used Copic markers to colour it and then laid another die cut (from Memory Box glitter cardstock) over top. This gives the look of inlaid die cuts.

My final card also uses an embossed doily, this time as the focal point. I added some jewels for colour and sparkle and popped it up over another doily cut out from black cardstock.

Here's a video:

BLOG HOP DETAILS:

i-crafter

Amanda

Jenn

Jessica S.

Karen

Lisa

Ardyth

Lynnea
Tonya

I-crafter

Essentials by Ellen Preview Week Day 4

It's the final day of the Essentials by Ellen Preview Week and today, we're featuring a clever new treat box. You can assemble this 2 in 1 Box so that it opens on a long side (shown here) or on a short side. It's all in where you place the glue!

This is the perfect size for a little treat for someone special and the set includes dies that allow you to cut windows in the box, as well as the tag I used here.

I created my happy pattern with the Essential Circles dies and some ink blending.

Remember, all the goodies we've been showing this week will be in the shop on March 8.

In the meantime, search #ehambassador for more examples and inspiration and check out Ellen's blog for a chance to win!

Hedgehog Hollow March Kit - Artesprix Markers

I'm on The Hedgehog Hollow blog today with something completely different!

Scrabble tile ornaments-in-progress

Over the summer, I bought a Scrabble game solely for the tiles. Now that it's December 18, I figured it was time to actually use some of the tiles to make something. I found these little ornaments on Pinterest:

But sawing the letter trays is beyond me. Or at least beyond what I was prepared to do at the time.  I made a set of "love", "hope", "peace" and "joy" (the 4 Sundays of advent) for someone who reads this blog, so you can't see them until after Christmas.

Then I spoke to my sister who had also seen this Pinterest photo and suggested a vertical orientation and since I had the letters left over, I made ornaments for my kids. I glued the letters I needed to a strip of cardstock. Then I glued the ribbon loop to the back of the cardstock before adding another layer of the wooden tiles (blank side facing out). I'm in the midst of putting Stickles down the sides (see below), but it takes a lot of drying time, so I'm afraid you're seeing these in progress and not quite completed! I added some beads at the bottom of the ribbon for extra colour and fun!

Snowbirds

As you can see, the rain cleared up and we had a wonderful time at the Air show. There were lots of old WWII planes (one of the only two remaining Lancasters, and the only remaining working Mosquito, as well as Spitfires and Hurricanes), a Lysander, an aeronautic stunt team of 3 Harvards, some WWI replica planes and of course, Squadron 431, the Snowbirds.  (My son, above, has a flight jacket with their squadron patches on it). I didn't take too many pictures, because, really, the fun is watching the action rather than trying to record it! But here are some of the 50 various manouevres that the Snowbirds performed.

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While I can honestly say that I would probably have chosen crafting over the Air Show (you would have, too, admit it!), I did have a good time hanging out with my son and my dad, and we're already making plans for the 'big' airshow that happens on Labour Day weekend.

The Sinking of An Empress

Many of you know that I am a member of the Salvation Army. My family have been members going back 5 generations, to the early days in the late 1800s. 

Today (as well as being my birthday - scroll down to see my previous post) is the anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland, an ocean liner that sank in the Saint Lawrence River following a collision with the Storstad, a Norwegian collier, in the early hours of 29 May 1914. 

Of the 1,477 persons on board the ship, the accident claimed the lives of 1,012. The number of deaths is the largest of any Canadian maritime accident in peacetime. (1,502 people lost their lives in the sinking of Titanic).

The passengers included 167 members of the Salvation Army, including the Territorial Commander for the Canada and members of the Canadian Staff Band, who were travelling to London for the first international conference.

My friend's grandfather was on the Empress of Ireland and survived. He became an Officer (pastor) in the Salvation Army because of the events that night. Previously, he was an accountant with an Insurance Company, but during the disaster, he promised that if he made it out alive, he would dedicate his life to God.

My great-grandfather was in the Peterborough Temple band, that was sent after the disaster to the conference to take the place of the Canadian Staff Band. At each performance, seats were set up in band formation,with white ribbons on each chair, in remembrance of the members of the Staff Band and the others who perished that night. 

This event is an important part of Canadian and Salvation Army history. As years pass, fewer and fewer people remember or even know of it. The last survivor passed away in 1995 at the age of 88. Each year, remembrance ceremonies are held in Quebec, near the site of the sinking, and the Salvation Army holds a remembrance ceremony at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, to remember all those who perished that night.  Next year, a special commemorative is being organized to mark the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland.

Richland Horse Show

We've been away in Michigan the last few days, primarily to see my sister ride in a Three-Day Event. It included Dressage (we didn't see her do that - we were still driving), Stadium Jumping (above) and Cross Country (below)

From the time my sister was old enough to know what a horse was, she knew that her life would include them. She is now an equine surgeon at the Wisconsin Equine Clinic in Oconomowoc, WI.  She has not ridden in a show in many years, but this was her second one this year. After the three days, she finished 4th in her class - we're so proud of her!

This photo is my sister with her husband and my two children (and the ribbon, of course!).

Most of our family was able to come to the show, including my parents, one of my other sisters (I have 3 sisters in total, one couldn't make it) and her family. Plus it was a treat to see my great-aunt and uncle, who live in Grand Rapids and drove down to Kalamazoo to have dinner with us one evening.

We also had an opportunity to see some CIC 3-star riders (Olympic level) - their jumps were bigger and their cross-country course was longer. It was really exciting to see how such a big show (about 500 horses!!) was run and put together. The whole thing was really impressive and fun!

So no card today, but on our way home, I found a number of new horse stamps to make some cards for her (she likes to send them to her friends and clients), so keep watching.....

Moving Day*

I think I am a contender for Best Mom AND Best Daughter today (sorry to my 3 sisters!!). Oh yes, AND Best Wife!

It's a thundery afternoon here in Toronto and I've been baking away - all my specialities!

Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Not only do my kids love these, but so does my dad. He's coming tonight for yet another Toronto Symphony concert (Holst's Planets - can't wait!!) and stops by for a drink and a snack afterward before driving home.


Cheese Scones (I say Skahns, how about you? Maybe you just call them biscuits and avoid the controversy?)

These are my mom's favourites, and some of these will be taken to her tonight by my dad, as her Mother's Day present.

Finally, my son's all time favourite - Banana Chocolate Chip cake. It has a Cinnamon/Brown Sugar/Chocolate Chip topping that crisps up and is scrumptious. My son would eat this and nothing else  until it's gone, if we let him.

Don't you wish I was your daughter? or mother? or wife? lol!

*And now I have to move out, before I eat it all myself!

Just for Fun!

And on the topic of not knowing your own city, or just stumbling on something fun and unexpected, here's a photo of a sculpture we found downtown yesterday morning at 7:45 as I was driving my son and his friend to an Air Cadet Drill Competition. Fortunately, there was no traffic, so we sat at the green light while we got the camera out and my son (see him in the mirror in the bottom left corner) took the photo. Unfortunately, we don't know who made it or what it represents, but for my military-minded almost 13-year-old son, it was a find! (Edited to add: I am informed that this sculpture represents the War of 1812, when the British defended the border of Canada from the invading Americans!)

Edited to add: 

Here's another photo from the internet, for a different perspective:

Loot Bags

My daughter's birthday party was on Saturday. We wanted to do something creative for the goody bags, and since I bought some of these to store my Cricut Cartridges in, I have quite a few of the old cartridge boxes hanging around, looking for a good home.

We cut up some designer paper, used the Cricut  (Mickey Font) to cut out names and then mod-podged the whole thing - voila ! A fun personalized keepsake box for each girl.

Lots of room inside for a candy cell phone (don't ask!), a game and a personalized necklace (can you believe they had 7 out of 9 of the girls' names? For the other two, one got her initial and the other one got a necklace that says "Girl Power")

Thanks for stopping by!