43/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

We spent time this week watching videos from when you girls were babies. And now look at you; how fast the time goes.....

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

New Yarn

Last weekend I visited a local yarn festival with my friend Jill. It was my intent to simply browse the stalls and make no purchases; I told myself that I had enough yarn at home and already too many projects on-the-go. Well, you can imagine how well that plan worked out...

Yes, I bought six balls of this gorgeous yarn; it spoke to me and who was I to ignore its call. An example of stash enhancement if there ever was one.

I am thinking of making either a cowl or a scarf. The search for the perfect pattern begins.... 

A Happy Evening & Autumn Bunting

It was Saturday night. The girls were asleep, Steve was watching something comic book related on TV (?), and all my chores were done....so what did I do: I made myself a cup of tea, cued up the playlist on my phone, and settled down at my craft table for some much needed creative time.

It was glorious, refreshing. And at the end of the evening, I had made a beautiful autumn bunting:

Using papers and embellishments from the Happy Harvest Line by Doodlebug Designs, I worked away on my little crafty project while singing along to every song (out loud). Yes, I was in my happy place.

I picked three patterned papers from the line and used them to cover cardboard triangles.

I love arranging little clusters of embellishments, which I did on my bunting pieces.

All in all, a very happy evening.....and a beautiful autumn bunting.

Bunting is such a happy thing, isn't it? I've made several over the years - some sewn, some crocheted, some paper - and they always make be very happy. 

40 Years

My parents recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

What an incredible milestone:amazing and inspiring. 

They were in Europe for the last month on a well deserved celebratory trip, and when we picked them up at the airport on Sunday, I gave them this card:

It is very similar to a card I made to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary a few years ago. I loved the simplicity of that card, how it highlighted the years spent together, so I used the same design here, with a few little tweaks.

Congratulations Mom and Dad on your 40 years together!

42/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Snow on the ground in the middle of October brought a lot of excitement to our morning.

Claire: "Mom, don't freak out, but I just looked out the window and there is snow on the ground!"

Bridget: "It's not even winter, how can there be snow!"

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Autumn Love

Autumn always has been and forever will be my favorite season: the brilliant colors, the crisp air, pumpkins, squash, watching the leaves swirl around in the wind, making soup, wearing flannel pajamas, lighting candles, celebrating our wedding anniversary, listening to the leaves crunch underfoot as I walk about town....

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.

The Big Blue Cowl

It wasn't always a cowl. But in the end it became the biggest, squishiest, and I am predicting, the warmest cowl ever. And I love it.

Back in August, I went on a spontaneous trip to a local yarn sale with my friend Jill where I bought a bag of beautiful pale teal yarn. (I recently read about the term "stash enhancement" as a way to describe the purchase of new yarn; a perfect term if there ever was one, and one that I must certainly adopt.)

I needed a project to work on while we were on our holiday, something easy to pick up and put down, so I settled on this shawl pattern using my new yarn. As our minivan rumbled along the highway, I got to work on my shawl; a row or two followed by a long gaze out the window at the passing scenery, it was the perfect way to spend the hours on the road.

I also spent one glorious morning sitting on the patio of our cottage in Prince Edward Island, a cup of tea perched on the railing and my crochet in my lap. I will always remember this time when I wear my cowl.

As for how this went from being a shawl to being a cowl: as I neared the end, I began to wonder about the practicality of a shawl, about how much I would actually wear it. I thought that perhaps a cowl would be more useful -  after all I live in Canada, a place visited by the Polar Vortex - so I seamed the ends together and my big blue cowl was born.

It is a perfect length - two wraps around my neck and it is full and cozy without any gaping holes for the wind to get through. And while it has not been cold enough yet to warrant wearing my cowl, the cold is coming....and I am ready.

Goodness, it feels great to have finished one of the many projects I have on-the-go. And motivating as well; as soon as I had darned in the last end on my cowl, I was back to vigorously working on my Cozy Stripe Blanket.

Have you finished any projects lately? Have you ever started making one thing and then turned it into something else at the end? 

(P.S. I just checked the weather forecast and it may snow on Sunday! Yikes! I finished this project in the nick of time.)

My Flowers

The challenges over at The Memory Nest just keep coming.

Here is this week's sketch:

And here is the layout that I created:

When I first saw this sketch I knew it was perfect for pictures of my flowers. It was a little challenging to find patterned papers that worked well with four very different pictures, but as always a quick glance through my Jillibean Soup collection and my page came together; Jillibean Soup to the rescue again.

I just had a quick look back in my archives and I created a very similar layout back in January.

Should you feel inspired, you can create with this sketch and link up over at The Memory Nest. And please take a moment to check out the work of the Design Team - such talent and an incredible source of inspiration.

41/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

You girls always go back to being creative, this week playing repeatedly with a board game that you made up yourselves. Also in high rotation this week were the paper dolls you drew and cut out. You play for hours with these paper toys, all the while the 'real' games and dolls gather dust on the shelf. You need so little to be happy.....

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Three Things

Wow, this week has passed in a complete blur. I feel as if I have spent the entire week running from one thing to the next, all the more reason to pause for a moment and take note of the the things that have made me smile.

A cup of tea and a little crochet. I slept in one morning this week resulting in a quick get-dressed-and-get-out-the-door-to-work panic, which is never a nice way to start the day. By the time I got home that night I needed to sit down and recharge.

The weather. If I could order the weather, this is the type of autumn that I would request. It has been warm and sunny, and the leaves are changing to the most brilliant colors. Beautiful.

This weekend is a long weekend. I'll have an extra day at home, enough said.

What has made you smile this week?

40/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Sometimes all they need is a change of scenery...a little time outside in the beautiful autumn weather....to remember how to get along.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project

P.S. How can there be only twelve weeks left in the year? I find this unbelievable and daunting at the same time....where does the time go?

The Scraptoberfest Challenge

Good Morning!

I hope you are in the mood for a challenge because today is the start of the Scraptoberfest Challenge. The Memory Nest has teamed up with three other great scrapbooking challenge sites to bring you the ultimate scrapbooking challenge and the chance to win multiple prizes!

This is how the challenge works:

Each blog is hosting a challenge for a chance to win a prize.

Now here’s the fun, extra-challenging part: If you create a layout, combining all four challenges together, and link it up to each participating blog, you will be eligible for a chance to win the Scraptoberfest BONUS prize!

Here are the challenges:

• Scrap Our Stash: Create a layout using at least two different types of Washi Tape.
• Challenge YOUrself: Create a layout that includes YOU in the photo.
• My Scraps & More: Color Challenge

• The Memory Nest: Sketch Challenge

Rules for all challenges:

• Your layout must be new as of October 2, 2015. No back linking
• Layouts only, No Cards
• No Digital Layouts
• Participants are allowed to complete or combine one or more of the challenges, but to be entered into the BONUS prize drawing, they must combine all four challenges.
• For each challenge you complete, you MUST upload to the blog that hosted the challenge to be eligible for that sites' prize drawing. 
• All entries due October 31, 2015

Bonus Prize: The Bonus Prize will be a $40 gift card generously provided by all four challenge sites. The winner of the Bonus Prize will have two options for their gift card:

• $40 gift card to shop with one of our sponsors…winners choice  ~OR~
• Two $20 gift cards to shop with any two of our sponsors…winners choice

This is such a fun opportunity to create a beautiful layout, plus have the chance to win some amazing prizes.

I had a lot of fun creating this layout combining all four challenges:

I invite you to join in on this challenge, as little or as much as you would like. Challenge yourself creatively...and of course share your creations.

Happy Scrapbooking!