Willow & Paisley

It's Treasure to Me!

Yes, I am first and foremost a card maker BUT I do love me some garage sale~ing!  And since I have someone to go with who enjoys it as much as I do....{{STEPH!}}.....I have actually been out twice this year so far.  We have alot of fun hunting for treasures and what better place to share what I love doing than my blog.

Yesterday (Saturday) we started out early.  WAY too early considering it was friggin' SNOWING and I think anyone who listed a garage sale on Craigs List obviously changed their mind.  SO....we went to a thrift store, a charity garage sale (indoors) and a community hall garage sale.

One of my favorite fun finds was the Lite Brite because I remember how much I loved mine.  Didn't every child of the 70's have one of these?  I bought this for my nieces and nephews to play with when they come to visit.  It has tons of patterns inside and a big container of the coloured thingys that you push through the paper.  I paid $7 for all of this including the 2 Giada cookbooks.  The litte wire racks will come in handy when my kitchen is done.  I will find something to put them in.  Plastic lids or pot lids maybe?

 

The thrift store was a perfect fit for my love of all things crafty.  The trim was a crazy good deal. There is a total of 29.5 yards of lace and trim for~~~$5.25!  The pearl head pins are 1000 to a box for $2 each.  The embroidery thread was .10 cents each as was the green thread.

 

My favorite trim....this amazing blue one.  Total of 14 yards for $1.75. 

 

Steph found this great apple peeler at the thrift store but she let me buy it!  It was $5.99 and I am hoping it works as it looks like I am going to have a gazillion apples this year.  Pies for everyone!  But even if it doesn't peel an apple very well I don't care.  It's green and it wants to live in my kitchen.

Oh and here's something I had to buy.  I bought this great top for my niece Shelby.  It's the most amazing green and I hope she loves it like I do.  She's 12 and I think this would be so cute with skinny jeans but she's a picky dresser {and way cooler than her Auntie Char} so we'll see.  It was $5.99.  The tag says Urban Heritage and looks like a decent brand.  I think...but what do I know.  haha.

 

One of my favorite blogs is Southern Hospitality.  I have spent many hours on her blog and the thrifty blogs that link to her each week.  {{The blog world out there is HUGE people...mind boggling really.}}  I will be linking my very first 'thrifty finds' post over there to join the party.  FUN!

I am also linking to Trash To Treasure Tuesday

p.s...I'm super new to these thrifty parties so I am trying to figure out who to link to and where. I am not sure how to make the logo's link back though.
  

 

 

 

 

Kitchen Renovation - End of Week 6 update

I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of renovation progress photos for you guys this week.  The replacement trim is scheduled for this Monday. 

The trim that was brought in was a bit too rounded on the edges.  ~~Not sure if you can see that very well in the picture below.~~  What we are going for is a trim that is quite square.  So contractor is actually making the trim themselves by ripping MDF into the right widths and doing a slight routered edge to take the sharp part off.  {{ripping = cutting....I'm just repeating what I hear...haha}}.  I know that it's going to turn out great.

While it seems like nothing has happened in 2 weeks we still are on schedule.  Basically we started close to 2 weeks early on the demo and everything has gone so smoothly but the cabinets are right where they always were to be at this stage...in production.  It's all good.  

This week we did have to make a change of the kitchen sink choice as the first one FLUID UD3320 (below) ended up being on backorder till sometime in August.  It was a 1 3/4 sink and had a 17" side and a 13" side.  Loved it.  I said my good-byes.

 

So then we {well actually the designer} found a great replacement.  A Blanco Zerox U 1 3/4.  It had a 15.5" and a 13.5" side.  Or so we thought we found a great replacement. We were told this sink was $2699.  Gasp.  Nope, not gonna happen.

 

And last but not least we really did find a replacement. The one below.  And it's back in the $1000 range which is do-able.  It's a Lineo Amano LI 2000 Varsi.  I had to give up the 1 3/4 option and go back to 2 equal size bowls (15.5 & 15.5).  But I'm just fine with that and to be honest I don't know anything about kitchen brand names and I can't even tell the difference between these 3 for that matter.  The most important factor to me was that the sink had a very square edge profile.  Clean and linear!  Oh and it's 10" deep.  Nice.

My dream sink would have been an apron front sink but that was when the sink was still under the {now removed} window on the wall.  Once we moved it to the island I just couldn't visualize an apron sink anymore.  I am quite happy with our final choice.

Well, that's it for now.  I'll be back soon to show you where and how we've been preparing our meals.  It's not pretty.  But I'll share anyway so maybe someone feels sorry for us and we can get some dinner invites.  Just kidding.

 

 

 

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge - Fabric Inspiration

 

Regan is kinda {alot} brilliant.  She is also a little obsessed with fabulous fabric these days and it all brings us to our challenge of the week.  Lucky for us!  The inspiration photo is for an on-line fabric store I believe.  It's adorable, isn't it?

My card doesn't look anything like the cute picture but what I was inspired to do was to go to my fabric drawer and use this beautiful fabric that I purchased from Etsy ages ago {and hadn't used yet}.

I trimmed out the flower from the fabric and adhered it to cardstock which was trimmed just a bit smaller.  This gave it some substance so I could use pop it up with foam adhesive.

The wide crocheted lace is from a local fabric store and there is a strip of turquoise paper peeking through below.

I just love this sentiment from Technique Tuesday.  It comes from the stamp set called Simply You by Ali Edwards.  It makes me happy!
  
 

  
Speaking of happy.....check out the fancy girls!

Dee    Jewels    Regan    Maria    Wendy

 

 

 

 

Embellish Magazine BLOG HOP ~ Welcome

Well Hello!  You've arrived just in time to join me for Embellish Magazine's blog hop to celebrate the Premiere Issue!  You are in for a treat and I know you will enjoy visiting the participating blogs which are filled with creativity, tips, and inspiration.  AND prizes too!

For your chance to win a prize don't forget to leave comments on each blog.  Embellish Magazine is offering prizes for 10 lucky winners.  The winners will be randomly selected from the blog hop participants blogs.  A comment left on each of the blog hop participant's web site will give you an entry to win one of the prizes, which include Lawn Fawn stamps, May Arts twine, Subscription to Embellish Magazine, and A New Design crinkly stained ribbon.

Embellish Magazine has been released for about one month now and enjoyed by many.  Have you downloaded your copy yet?  You don't want to miss it and you can buy it ~~~>> HERE.  $3 = Awesome!

 

OK....let's get this party started!  Happy Blog Hopping my friends!  {{You'll see that we all created never before seen projects using the colours from the magazine.....Red, Brown, Turquoise, Kraft....and Twine too!}}

Embellish Blog

Ryann Salamon

Tessa Wise

Charlene Austin ~~that's Moi!

Renee Van Stralen

Lori Roop

Julie Campbell

Sarah Martina Parker

Tammy Fite

Heather Pulvirenti

Regan D'Agostino

Emily Niehaus

Maile Belles

Tiffany Johnson

Anya Schrier

Leigh Ann Baird

Amy Rohl

Mariana Grigsby

Kelly Marie Alvarez

Michelle Woerner

Tina Fussell

Maureen Plut

Brenda Weaver

Julie Lacey

Ashley Cannon Newell

Embellish Blog

 

Prize contest open until Monday May 31 @ 5pm EST.  Winners will be announced Tuesday, June 1

  
  
  
  
  

FELT Goodness!

 

Hi PTI Blog Hoppers!!

Ok, Ok, Ok.......I admit it!  I am just a little bit FELT OBSESSED these days.  So you know that I am loving this months Hop challenge!

The other day I made some cutie little framed felt decorations for a friends little girl and my baby nieces using PTI's Hawaiian Shores felt (heavenly stuff!).  I had these left over felt "frames" and knowing that I can't waste a single thing Papertrey...they got used on my little project.

So, do you know what it is?? 

Why it's a mini photo album of course!

It started out as a card but the sentiment on the background paper "we remember moments" steered me in another direction.  I cut and sewed some Page Protectors to create 6 little photo pockets inside.  Have you seen Ali Edwards sew on her page protectors to create her {amazing} albums?  Brilliant, I tell ya!

 

OK...you are so going to die when you see the picture I put in my mini album.

This is Willow and Paisley when they were just little baby boopers! OMG how cute are they?!!!  When we brought them home they were only 1 pound and they fit in the palm of my hand then.  That was 4.5 years ago.  Can you tell I love my girls?! 

Here's a close up of my felt flowers using PTI's black felt.  The green felt is from the craft store and I stitched the leaves and stems to the paper.  This whole project was a bit finicky and took me some time over a couple of nights but I do love how it turned out.  I hope you likely too!

Have a fun Hop everyone!  Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

ETA:  One of my newest favorite blogs Trendy Treehouse is a pretty cool place to hang out at.  Today is Shutter Love Tuesday.  I just saw that the theme is {Pet Photos} so I just had to come link up my photo of my little fur babies! 

 
 
 
 
  
  
   

Such a Great Friend

Hi everyone!  Thought I'd just pop in to share one of my Mint Motif cards that I made when I first got the stamp sets.  A few of the stamps were heat embossed the onto kraft cardstock.

I have been happily playing with these stamps ever since I got them and if I can ever get my act together and actually take photos I will share those with you asap.

The fabulous green background paper is Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage.

I love the stacked sentiment stamps so much.  I am all about looking for a new way to add a sentiment to my cards and this set does the trick!

Very Square -------->>>> click HERE

Very Square Sentiments-------->>>> click HERE

 

Kitchen Renovation - End of Week 5

This week was pretty slow in the kitchen renovation / main floor remodel progress but we expected that as the cabinets are still in production.  I need to enjoy the break in busy-ness as I was thinking today about all the steps to be done to completion and I realized that June is going to be a CRAZY BUSY month.  The contractor hopes to be done this renovation by the end of June so that means cabinet installation, walnut floor sand and finish, paint, counter tops, backsplash, appliance installation, lighting installation and all trim needs to be done.  Yikesa!

Speaking of trim....we hit our first snafu this week.  The carpenter arrived to install our window and door trim but unfortunately it was done incorrectly.  He installed the 3" trim with a standard mitered corner.  Unfortunately, the design that our designer and I discussed didn't make it to all involved parties.  Whoops.   When I got home that day at lunch time I called Mark, our PM and told him what happened.  Within a few minutes he called me back and told me not to worry and it was going to be taken care of.   Thank Goodness for Mark.  He makes everything right.

The trim is actually supposed to be a 4" board on top that is 3/4" thick with sides that are 3" wide and 1/2" thick and a bottom piece that is 3" wide and 3/4" thick.  The design is to go with the shaker style look of the kitchen.  It's going to look great!  And yes, I feel bad that it's wasteful to put all this new trim into the garbage bin along with the trim that was already ripped off.  I do feel bad....but not bad enough to leave it.

Since I don't have much to show you this week I thought I'd share a few shots of our final drawings.  {{I am hoping you can click on these to enlarge them}}.  This will give you a basic idea of what our brand new kitchen will look like.  If you have any questions just ask!!

First up is an over view of the kitchen layout.  Cabinets on either side of the kitchen and the 10' x 4' island down the centre.  Did I mention before that the island is being painted the most amazing GREEN?  Yep, it is.  Call me crazy but I love it!

Below is the wall that has the opening down to the family room.  It's all cabinets and drawers.  The uppers will be glass doors (to display my {small but loved} Fire King Jadeite collection).   I am so excited to have more storage.  Maybe I can now bring my small kitchen appliances up from the basement and let them actually live in the kitchen.  What a novel idea!

This next drawing is of the wall which the window was removed from.  Can you see why that window had to go bye-bye?  On the very left is a pull out 12" pantry that will be great for spices and small items (and to allow for the fridge door to swing open).  Then the fridge, pots and pans drawers and my amazing new gas oven~~ a 30" Prof. Dual Fuel Range RDT-305-N by Fisher Paykel.  We love this range and love that we got a great deal on it too.  It was regular $5999.00 but we got $1000 off from an awesome salesman at The Bay (thanks to Steph for the referral).  Seriously, if you live in Calgary and you every need to shop for appliances or furnishings....you have to contact me for his info.  It's way more of a range than we will likely ever need but we love the "pro-style" look and decided to go for it since we went to the extent of having the gas line installed anyway. 

This is the kitchen island where my dishwasher, sink and microwave will live.  I love that every bit of this kitchen is used for storage if at all possible.   The other side of the island has touch latch doors that open to 12" storage shelves the whole way across.  I have open shelving on one end for my Le Creuset cast iron babies and closed shelving on the other end. 

I have been obsessed with looking for blogs with kitchen renovations and just found a new one!  You HAVE to check it out.  She's just at the demo stage so you can follow her along like I am but be sure to go back several posts to read about her marble, backsplash and handles.  She's putting 9 (or is it 10 now Sabjimata??) handles on her cupboards.  This girl is going to have the coolest kitchen.  I am just a little bit jealous that I am on the safe side in comparison~~~I only have 2 different handles. LOL.  Check it out HERE.

I wanted to share one more thing.  My favorite find from garage saleing last weekend!  These are so cute and I paid $1.  Score!  From what I have found out is that they are coasters.  Boy, they must have made glasses pretty small way back when as no glasses I own would fit in these.  They will find a happy home in my kitchen even if they don't serve a duty.

Do you enjoy garage saleing or is it just not for you?  I love it and I am so happy that my wonderful friend Steph enjoys it too.  Ever since my mom moved 6 hours away I haven't been out.  But not this summer.  Steph and I are already obsessed with finding some thrifty deals!  I think we could both be diagnosed with having hoarding tendencies.  Haha.  {{I shouldn't laugh...you should see my garage}}.

I am Such a Copy Cat

Click HERE

These were allllll mine!  Mike had his own.  Yep, I ate them all.  YUM!

 

 

 

Loonie Stampers #93 ~ FELT

Hi All.  This week I chose FELT as our Loonie Challenge.  {And YES I chose it before Papertrey announced it for their blog hop}.

A few weeks ago my wonderful friend Jackie came to Calgary for a visit. {{I'd link you up but she's a bit too busy to have a blog right now.....with an almost 2 yr old, one on the way and a dairy farm to run...but I'm working on it.  You'd love her.}}.  She brought me the CUTEST Felt Sticker Woolies from Basic Grey.  Thank you Jackie. 

So I decided to make something for her daughters bedroom using them and this is what I came up with. {{the pics are terrible....ugh.  Seriously, I am getting so sick of taking bad photos}}

The butterfly and the flower are the felt stickers in the package.  The alpha stickers are Cosmo Cricket and do I ever love those too.

Of course I had to make a couple more for my own little nieces bedrooms too!  I used Stampin Up Felt flowers but the butterflies I made myself.  Not bad for a copy of the original hey?  Super easy too.

So I think these are great for little girls bedrooms but I also have a 12 yr old niece and a 9 yr old nephew.  I'd love to make them something too but I'd have to make it a little more "grown up" so they don't think I am crazy Auntie Char.  {{Did you know that a 12 yr old girl is way more grown up than you and I EVER were at that age?  Scary but true}}.

Check out the chicks to see what Fabuness they created with FELT!

Dee    Jewels    Regan    Maria    Wendy
 

This one's for Teri.  I TOLD you I have no control over these girls forcing their way into my pics.  Say Hello to Paisley.  Heehee.

 

 

 

 

Embellish Magazine - Butterflies

Every second Friday = Embellish Time.

Ohhh....we have such a fabulous sponsor for you this week.

 Skipping Stones Designs have some of the cutest stamps ever!  They have a stamp to meet every style....from funny to classy.  For my card I used one of the large butterfly from Healing Wings and one of the small butterflies from Dandelion Dreams is heat embossed onto the Kraft cardstock.  Isnt' that sentiment sweet?

These stamps are really great and for your chance to win a couple of the sets you only have to put on your creative cap and join in on the fun.  Here's the deets:

1. Use the colours indicated in the photo image.....Kraft, Black and Green. {{I used Spring Moss}
2. The theme is Butterflies. Use them in any way, shape or form.
3. Link up your creation over on the Embellish Magazine blog so we can oooh and ahhh over fab creations.
4. Have fun. {{that's just a given}}

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now get.  Get to your craft room and let the fun begin!

Thank you Skipping Stones Design....I totally enjoyed your stamps and I'll have another card to share soon.