Cristmas crafting

So this year I have decided to make the majority of my Christmas gifts, in an effort to save some money and have some unique gifts as well.  At first I thought that I would just bake everyone some holiday goodies but then I had remembered my friend, and blog mentor Jen ( canadianrhapsidy.blogspot.com )  talking about making pre-made mixes to make things a little easier after the baby was born, and thought hey why not, gifts from a jar!


Now my creative juices were flowing and I was looking for ideas everywhere and thought hey why limit myself to just one item!  After thumbing through dozens of magazines and googling like crazy , I found a picture of a homemade holly ball (holiday cheer, was the magazine) and thought to myself why don't I make homemade Christmas tree decorations!


Once that one was done I decided to do another, because it only took me 5 minutes

#2 with 2 fabrics

Christmas ball #1



here is a photo of both the right way

These were the supplies   used

To Create these, I cut a piece of cotton fabric large enough that it would wrap around the Styrofoam ball, I then used the string that I had chose as a decoration and tied it around the gather, then in a continuous strand around the ball for a decorative touch.  Using hot glue to secure it. to cover the hot glue spot I added embellishments. 

Each ball cost aprox. $4 to create, a far cry from the $10 - $25 dollars department stores are charging for a large scale ball!  Well worth the 5 minutes to make! 

Once you start you just cant stop!

One of my very first posts as a new blogger was about the drastic hair cut I had.... well of course after the initial cut, not exactly what I was aiming for, but still very nice it was time to go even shorter

Although still not quite exactly what I was hoping for, I will admit it is allot easier to manage and takes at least 10 minutes off the blow drying time!

Making bread

My second attempt at making Bread...

Yes that's right I said second ...lol, to be honest my first attempt was with A recipe that was given to me by my aunt and I am quite sure she was just going by memory, however I think that the amount of yeast that she said to use was for a larger amount of bread, all I could taste was yeast......admittedly I don't think that I let the bread rise long enough, and also that you are supposed to kneed it in between rises.  Lesson learned!!! Shannon has no patience sooo she must use a quick rise recipe.

second 15 min rise

I should mention that I found the recipe on google when I was looking for a fast recipe, the recipe I used was the firmipam  2hour recipe



and now making pan buns



why not make some Cinnamon buns too!

  And now for the finished product!!!



Ooooh so yummy!



From start to finish including bake time this project took me 2hours and 25 minutes! Not to shabby for my second attempt

Where have you been?

So it has been brought to my attention that I have been very negligent in my blogging.......umhumm (you know who you are...lol)

Where did I leave off......last time I blogged, I was in Alberta.  Just to give you all a quick update as to what has been happening, I have since returned home to Ontario to nurse an injured husband whom had a small accident with the lawnmower.  I have started working at a local retail store as a cashier and have found out today that I may have my foot in the door at a company that is in my field of disability services.

Because my trip home was unplanned and a bit of an emergency situation, I left my daughter with her grandparents....she is having the time of her life with dance classes and gymnastics!

Finally my mother has committed to a date to bring her home! They will be home in 2weeks!

Day 5 & 6 Visiting Alberta

Day 5 was a write off with a whole lot of nothing accomplished!

Day 6 we awoke to Brook announcing to the house that it was time to get up  "It's a beautiful day!" along with breakfast awaiting us in the fridge waiting to be reheated (we had a bit of a lie in this morning).  Today's planned activities  include a  picnic at the beach and a family BBQ  at dinner time with birthday cake and presents so Marvin can partake in Brooklyn's birthday before he heads back to Ontario on Sunday! (I wish he had more time off)

Day 3 & 4 - Visiting Alberta

Not  whole lot to  mention about day 3, nothing overly exciting other than a quick trip to Walmart to find Brook a coat for the cool northern evenings

Day 4
Marvin got out fishing today with a family friend on the lake.....He was pretty excited they caught 5 fish in the first hour that they were out(wish I was there to get a picture!) 

Image via Wikipedia

Brooklyn spent most of her day laying around in Nanas bed while she tried to get some sleep as she is working grave yard shifts. Brooklyn watched cartoons as Nana napped or tried to.

This evenings adventures led us to walking the dogs to burn off some of their pent up energy (and some of brooklyns as well)  This was a nightmare!! Even though I had doused myself in mosquito repellent and covered up with clothing I must have had a flashing neon sign above my head that said free mosquito smorgasbord!  Lesson learned ....no more walking the dogs!

Day 2 - Visiting in Alberta

Hmmmm....well I thought I came here for a vacation from the everyday!  So far I have cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped and cut the grass.  Isn't it funny how your parents have the ability to make you feel like your 14 years old and you still have to do your daily chores....haha!  It really has not been that bad.  I volunteered to cut grass to get a little fresh air and some exercise, and grocery shopping was just another excuse to get out of the house.

I feel compelled to say however that in between those few chores I have done a whole lot of sitting around.  I have not even had the responsibility of taking care of my daughter (unless she has asked me directly)  She asks Nana and Papa to do pretty much everything for her!  Wouldn't it be nice if they lived just right around the corner!

Now all that's left for the day is to enjoy some BBQ for dinner and relax with family.....mmmmm I cant Wait, I am so hungry!

Until tomorrow!

Day 1 - Visiting in Alberta

Today was the first official day of our vacation in Alberta!  After getting up at 3:15am and making our way to the Toronto airport (I will skip the complaints of all the irritating stuff that comes along with boarding an aircraft.) With an on time departure of 6:30am we were up and on our way!  With a few bumps on our decent into the Edmonton airport,  we landed safely with only a 20 minute delay!

As you may have read previously, the big plan for the day was to  visit my friend/hairdresser for a long overdue haircut and style.... Mission accomplished with 18" of length lost in some places and 12" in others I am very pleased with the final results! Thank you Myrna!

Soon after my stop for a quick hair cut (that ended up taking 1.5hrs....chatting got in the way) I went to pick up the rest of my crew that I had left to have a leisurely breakfast at a neighborhood restaurant, and we were off on the last lag of our trip to our final destination 3hrs north. 

After our arrival some unwinding and unpacking we were off to a local hot spot for some dinner.  As hungry as I was my poor body was definitely craving some R&R!  Thank goodness for grandparents and dogs to entertain my daughter....R&R was easily achieved!

until tomorrow, good night all

This city girl is leaving the country ....heading back to the city!!!

After much humming and ha-ing, the whole family is on their way west...we are Alberta bound!  (for a week at least)  The most exciting part is that I have finally managed to get my husband to accompany my daughter and I for the visit.

I am very excited, not only to see my friends and family(with the exception of a few that will be traveling around the same time....gotta love block leave) but also I am going to see my hairdresser!  I am sure the ladies are with me when I say one of the biggest stresses of leaving a community and starting over is trusting and committing to a new hairdresser!  After suffering a very  very bad hair cut, my then roommate at the time hooked me up with her hairdresser and I have never looked back!  I am looking forward to a big change!  I am going from hair more than halfway down my back to an inverted bob! (I will post pics after its done)

Marvin (my husband) will be heading home after a week while Brooklyn and I will be staying on for at least another week (date to be determined as I go) I look forward to being able to visit one on one with some close friends and maybe even manage a girls night somewhere along the way.  I have lots of ideas of what I would like to do while visiting however past visits have told me not to get to overzealous with my plans in order to avoid let downs ...sometimes while on vacation, I tend to forget that the rest of the world is not on vacation as well and still have jobs families and responsibilities.

My parents are so excited that we are coming, my mother calls me every day to update me on how many sleeps till we come and her progress on preparing the house for our visit.  She is like a kid in the candy store for the first time.

Tomorrow brings on the arduous task of packing, cleaning and organizing.  I am one of those people that can not leave the house a mess ....nothing worse than coming home only to have to start cleaning on top of the piles of laundry that will inevitably follow you home.  My goal its to be able to pack everything I need into checked bagage with the exception of my purse and a diaper bag of course.  Through all my travels with a child and the safety travel standards I have learned that the less you need to carry the better. 

First time blogger ....suggestions welcome

The last few days I have been surfing the web, looking for ideas on crafts and projects. During this research I have come to realize that I am of a minority of the non blogger.
In the last few weeks I have come to enjoy the entries of a few bloggers. I have found myself returning to their blogs daily to see what kind of inspiration they may have encountered.

Yesterday, a friend of mine posted a project that I did on her blog, and painfully pointed out that I am "was" blog less, so here we are at the beginning of a bumpy ride that will hopefully smooth out rather quickly. If you should have any tips or tricks to make this as simple as possible I would greatly appreciate all that you have to offer!!!