Altered Tool Caddy

I found this spinning tool caddy at a local yard sale today while I was coming home from running errands this morning. Score! I love finding things to alter! And, better yet, it was only a buck! lol :) I'm gonna use it on my desk to keep a card making few tools handy.

I wanted to give it a little punch, so I used glossy white cardstock and SU Real Red ink. I broke out my Impression Obsession clear rubber stamps again - Bold Florals set. I think these are such pretty flowers that I just randomly stamped the same flower all over the card stock and left it at that. Simple, but elegant. The large front and back windows each measure 4" x 3 1/4" and the smaller side windows each measure 4" x 2 1/4" to give you an idea of how big the tool caddy is.

Well, It's late and I'm gonna call it a day. I'm sure I'll likely be back on tomorrow with another creation. Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

My Little Girl's First Day at Pre-School

Today marked a bit of a sad day. It was my little girl's first day of Pre-School. She's always been quite shy and sensitive, so I wondered how she would do in school. But, I think the 2 weeks that I had her in day camp this summer really helped her, as she has a fantastic day today. I'm so glad. When I went to pick her up she was all smiles and told me about all the fun things they did. She can't wait to go back on Tuesday. She'll only be in school two mornings a week. But, I think that's enough for her at this stage. Then, she'll start Primary at the Elementary school next year with her big sis.

I called my Mum to tell her that Natalia had a great morning and she asked me if I felt older this morning. It's funny, I kinda do, it's hard to believe Alexandria will be 6 years old next month and Natalia will be 4 in November. Where does the time go? Seems like just the other day that they were small babies, time flies by so quickly that you have to treasure it now.

Well, it's time to run over to get Alex in a few minutes. Wow, it's a lot of running back and forth. Over to drop her off, home. Over to pick her up at lunch, home. Over to drop her off for the afternoon, home. Over to pick her up for the end of day, home! Then, there's Tuesdays and Thursday's when I have to drop off and pick Tallie up at her pre-school, too! Can't wait til next year when they're both in the same school and they're in the lunch time program so they can stay all day while I'm at work. lol :) Ok, I've gotta run...

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Masculine Paisley Card

I came home after I dropped Alexandria off at school this morning, and since Jim has the day off work, he was watching Natalia, so I ventured into my stamp room for some stampin' therapy. :)

I took the time to make this card for a friend of mine who just had surgery. It's for a guy, so I tried to keep it simple and with a masculine feel and not girly at all...man, I'll tell ya it's hard not to use ribbon! lol :) Anyway, hope you like it, Jay! :)

Stamps: Impression Obsession Clear Rubber Stamps 'Get Well Soon' is from the "Greetings Galore" stamp set.
Cardstock: Teal Bazzill, Burnt Umber (orange) Bazzill
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye - Bohemia - Backyard "Just Be You" Paisley/Teal
Hardware: SU HodgePodge Hardware - Antique Brass finish brads and corner latches. Does anyone know what those things are actually called? lol :)

Well, I'll probably be in my stamp room again tonight, so I'll post them later on.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

First Day of Primary

Well, I got up at 6:45 this morning and Alexandria saw me and shot out of bed like a rocket saying, "Mammmmma, do you knoooooow what today is?" She was just a wee bit excited! :) We got her ready and off to school and she settled right in. She looked so cute sitting at the little group tables that they have set up. My grown up little girl...

Natalia was also excited this morning, she wanted to practice carrying her backpack. lol :) She starts preschool tomorrow at the same one that Alexandria attended last year (Alex missed the birthday deadline to enter school by only 5 days) so she had to wait another year to start school.

Well, off to get some errands done before it's time to pick up Alex for lunch.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Florals from Impression Obsession

I finally got a chance to play with my stamps from Impression Obsession. These are a set of clear unmounted rubber stamps called 'Solid Florals.' I absolutely love these florals! Such pretty designs!

I kept things in just white and green tones for this one...I think I'm using a bit too much celery and sage these days, though! I love it, but I think I need to branch out and start using some other colours.

Cardstock: White, Sage, Celery (Bazzill)
Ink: SU Certainly Celery
Ribbon: Sage and White Gingham
Tools: Paper Piercer, Corner Rounder

Well, this is a quick post for me, I just realized that it's 12:30 AM and I need to get up early to get my oldest daughter off for her first day of Primary! I'm sure she'll be up at about 4 AM as she was so excited going to bed! She already told me she was gonna get up 'nice and early.' Oh dear, I really hope she sleeps til at least 7 AM! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Info for Eczema Control

I just emailed this info to another crafty blogger for her son with Eczema and I thought to myself, why not share it with everyone. You never know who might read it and it could help them, too! My youngest daughter, Natalia (she'll be 4 years old in November) has Eczema and these are some of the hints that I've gathered to keep her skin under control.

When she was only a few months old, we started out using Betaderm ointment .5% for her body and Cortate .1% for her face as her Dermatologist prescribed. We used that for about 2 years, and it would keep her skin in check as long as we applied it the 2-3 times per day. However, in the process found that it ruined a lot of her clothes as the ointment is a Vaseline based product and leaves a greasy layer on clothes or where ever she was sitting. Not a good thing! lol :) Anyway, I was also rather nervous about using those steroid ointments all the time as they thin the skin, this was when a friend of mine told me about a product that Aveeno makes called 'Extra Moisturizing Cream' that comes in a beige coloured tub with a navy blue cover. It's about 20 oz I would say. Well, holy cow, what wonderful stuff! I use it once a day on her body, sometimes only every 2-3 days and it works wonders. In Canada is cost around $13 for the tub of cream, but it's worth ever penny! Just thought I would mention, if you were interested in trying it out. I haven't used any steroid ointments on her in over a year and don't think I'll ever go back to using them. Natalia's skin used to get so bad it would crack and bleed, it used to make me so sad because I can imagine how much it used to bother her when she was just a little baby. I'm so glad I finally found something that really works for her. Lately, I've also just been using Aveeno moisturizing lotion in a pump bottle and it works great, as well.

We also do the following things as recommended by her Dermatologist:
~Only 100% cotton clothes
~Double rinse clothes in the washer
~No dryer sheets or fabric softener when drying clothes
~Aveeno Shower Oil for her bath. Pat skin dry after done. I only use this when she really has a breakout, though. Otherwise, just Aveeno shower gel. It's gentle for her skin. Goodness, I should have shares in the Aveeno company! lol :) Seriously, I love their products, I hope to God they never go belly up!!!

We've also found a lot of triggers for her that flare up her skin like grass, sand, tomato sauce, oranges (basically anything that's really acidic) Just a hint, when she was a baby I used to rub Vaseline around her mouth before she ate pasta with tomato sauce and that would keep her face from breaking out. Then, just wipe it off after she was done eating.

Anyway, obviously I'm not a doctor, but it's just that I remember how crazy I used to get trying to figure out how to keep my daughter's skin under control and would have loved to get all the info at once, instead of the suffering she went though in the meantime. If any of this works for anyone else, I'll be happy that I shared some info! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

All dressed up...

We had such an awesome time at Doug and Bev's wedding yesterday. It was great to see so many people that we hadn't seen in a while. I've known Doug for about 19 years...man time flies! A lot of great times together! Doug met a really nice girl from Sask. and I think they make a wonderful couple and will be very happy together. I wish them all the best!

We had to get a friend to take our picture together, as Jim and I so rarely get dressed up and go out together. My idea of getting out of the house is going to a friend's place to make cards or to a SU party or an Epicure Selections Spice party! We don't party like we used to, but we had so much fun last night. However, I realized this morning that I'm not as young as I used to be, though! Getting home at 2 am after drinking copious amounts of Vodka probably wasn't my best move...but my I had fun! lol :)


This afternoon, we headed up to my parents house for my Dad's 70th Birthday celebration. We had a great afternoon and evening with my family and it was wonderful to see my cousin and her husband again. They brought their motor home here with their truck in tow, all the way from Macro Island in Florida.

Well, I just realized that it's after 1 am and I need to call it a day. Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend as much as I am!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)