What I Love Most About Owning a Chalkboard

Enough said!

Subway Inspired Words to Live By

Ever since the first time I saw subway art I have loved it -

I guess I'm a sucker for typography.

A while ago I discovered a great post by Ashley at lilblueboo

on her amazing take on Resolution Subway art.

She was kind enough to offer instructions as to how she made it

and even included the artwork to reproduce it.

She creates amazing things!

I fell in love with Ashley's version and loved the idea

of having such positive words displayed in my home.

I ran it past my husband and we decided it was near perfect for us.

We wanted to make a little change to it to suit our family better.

So my husband made up a pretty good version on our computer

and I brought the file to the local print shop.

They printed it on to canvas for me then I stretched that around an artist canvas.

It now proudly hangs in my kitchen for our family to read each end everyday.

Thank-you Ashley for sharing your words!

Merry Christmas To You All!

From my family to yours.....

....we wish you a Christmas filled with all the things that matter most!

peace, love and hugs,

Treasures in Black and White

Yes, I feel like I have been a little out of touch with the blog world and my blog friends as of late. I never expected to be absent for so long either. My sister gently reminded me how long it had been since me last post......Ooops! Well with the magic of the Olympics a distant memory, kid parties over with,and sick children now back at school I am finally feeling like I can get back to normal life. Yay!

I have not had the time to sew, decorate, or hunt for treasures, but I have made time to sort. and organize and that always feels good.

I have been scanning some old photos for my Father-in-law and in so doing have found a few sweet little treasures worth sharing. (Nichole if you see these keep it a secret from your Hubby as there maybe some forthcoming gifts for family members.)

Here are a few of my favorites.......

How much more Canadian could you get?

Love the old wooden sidewalks and the child's wagon that says :Artillery Car" on the side!

I think this one has to be my favorite.

Who didn't play "wedding" just once when they were a kid?

It looks like something right out of "Little Rascals".

Flowers for sale.

Love the lazy days of summer!

We were happy to find this photo!

The family members in this photo traveled half way across the country in the car above.

The picture was taken in Stanley Park in Vancouver (the "Central Park" of our city).

Some engineers are doing everything they can to preserve this old tree

... here is what it looks like today.

Sad to compare the two photos.

Extremely Behind the Times!

Ok I admit I'm a little behind the times. I only got the tree down a week ago and I still have christmas stuff sitting at the top of my stairs just waiting to be put in the attic. I did manage to find spots for a few christmas gifts though. Christmas is not about the gifts, and it truly is more than that for me and always has been - but it seems ridiculous for me to share these gifts with you next year. So bare with me for a few highlights!

A set of four Jadeite mugs from my hubby,

they have found a nice spot next to my retro teapot.

This sweet little rusty, cast iron Mr. Peanut piggy bank.

My kids got these Jones Sodas with their pictures on the label from their Uncle.

They rarely get pop so they loved this.

And my Husband got acquainted with Etsy, and picked out this sweet little necklace that has rarely left my neck since I received it. I love it!

There now I can officially put Christmas behind me!

Sweater Happy Birthday Bunting

I thought I'd find a greener way to decorate for the many family birthday celebrations that happen in our house each year!

I decided to make a reusable Happy Birthday bunting from old sweaters and some old mens shirts.

I ironed on some fusible interfacing to the back of a some scraps cut from old men's shirts.

Then I typed the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on my computer, selected a font and enlarged it to the size I wanted. I printed the letters out, cut them out and used them as a template to cut the letters out of fabric.

I cut out triangles out of old wool sweaters then stitched the letters on with embroidery floss.

I found a woolen looking binding tape at our local fabric store

then stitched all my triangles to it.

A new tradition of having this banner hang at each and every birthday celebration has begun!

(I suspect one day the kids will be fighting over who gets to keep it - maybe I'll make a few more - some day...)

I'm linking up to Cindy's "I made it for Monday" party at www.cottageinstincts@blogspot.com.

When Life Gives You Stuff - Make Stuffies!

I'm linking this post to Cindy's at Cottage Instincts "I made it with what I had Party".

Actually, we (my daughter and I) made it with what we had.

You may have seen these little creatures on a previous post, if you have then you already know their story ....

My funny little creative nine year old daughter always wants to do something crafty. Last weekend she drew this sweet little puppy and told me that she wanted to make a stuffed puppy that looked like it had been loved for years and she wanted it to looked like a crazy old lady that couldn't see very well made it! She is a funny one! Looks like she like likes things with a soul to them too!

She went through my scraps of fabric and buttons and here is the results!

I absolutely adore this little guy and think this is the most brilliant design ever!

Isn't this sweet? We'll keep this one forever!

My son put an order in for a monster so I made him out of some old sweaters I had.

Then I made this little rag doll out of my daughters old clothes and the body and head is made out of an old wool blanket. Total cost for all three stuffies - a big fat zero! (Cuz' we made it with what we had!)

End result - priceless!!!!

We've been busy!!

We finally got Halloween behind us, then I spent an entire day organizing my attic of it's sweater collections, boxes of thrifty finds, old kids toys and outgrown kids clothes. Every year I sell what I can at a local Kids Swap.

I love getting rid of stuff

almost as much as I like collecting it!

That is a bit weird, even I have to admit!

I listed a few things on ebay, and then spent a day cleaning house.

There is nothing better than a clean house to make you want to break out the crafts!

So we started sewing - just my daughter and I.

I made a doll from her old clothes, an old wool blanket, and some felted wool sweaters.

My daughter came up with a design for the cutest stuffed dog that I ever did see! I actually think it is brilliant! I love how the tail is off to the side. So sweet!

Her original design.

She's really funny, she said

"I want this dog to look like it has belonged to someone for a really long time,

and to look like a crazy old lady that couldn't see very well made it."

I think that is sooo funny and I think she actually achieved that!

My middle boy (for lack of a better description) put an order in for a monster - and I did not want to disappoint!

My youngest says that he scares the nightmares away - that's pretty cute!

His name is now Mr. Monster.

I often find her cuddled up with her youngest brother as I did last night, and I was touched to see that she had given her new creation to him to cuddle for the night.

The weekend was a success!

Sweet, nightmare free dreams precious children.

Happy Halloween!

I promised to post more Halloween decorations so here they are!

My homemade wreath!

I actually mildly electricuted myself on this project - not sure if it was worth the effort!

It's safe now.

I took these old lanterns out of my garage sale bin and decided to paint spider webs on them,

glued on a few spiders, added a mason jar with a candle inside! I like how these turned out. Though they look better in person.

This candle stick was a thrift store find. It was hunter green with old rose dried flowers and moss glued to it - which I removed and spray painted black. Then I bought these old photos at a flea market for .25 cents a piece.

I hope that one day old photos of me don't end up in someone's Halloween display!

More old photos and another spray painted thrift store candelabra.

My daughter wanted to be a Realtor for Halloween(don't ask me why), she collected candy in a brief case! Too funny!

My middle guy is a parrot and the little one is a pirate!

I'm linking up to Donna's Funky Junk Saturday night party!

Click on this link to go there!

Saturday Nite Special #3 - anything goes!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

A Quick Halloween Mantle

My Daughter asked if I could please do a better job of decorating for Halloween - so I decided this is the year that I do more than just carve a pumpkin!

The pumpkin patch is the perfect place start.

Hard to get a bad shot a the "punkin" patch!

My middle child is the last of my kids to make it onto this blog.

He's a cutie don't ya think?

Simple! ... but nice.

Pesky little creature!

Halloween and costumes are keeping me from my other passions - sweaters & junk.

I hope to return to these passions soon,

but in the meantime stay tuned for more Halloween decorating!