A Winter Walk In The Woods |

I realized that if I wanted to get some photos for our Christmas Cards that NOW was the time! We are away next weekend and the following weekend is already December (where every weekend has something going on!!).  Plus with Shutterfly is having a 50% off sale until Monday so I thought if I can get everything done now it would mean savings!

I had already found the location I wanted to use for the photos on a walk one day. There were a few beautiful birch trees and  a pine tree behind them. We have a love for Birch trees that started on our honeymoon. So we makeshift planned our outfits (grabbing one of MY tamoshanters for Aderyn to wear and my hubby and I just wore our black coats & jeans).

Since we didn't have a photographer my idea was to have my husband take a photo of me holding Aderyn by the tree (so that he could get her to look/smile) then I took a photo of Ben by himself leaning on the other side of the tree. I then patched the photos together, matching up the tree bark in the middle, so that it looked like we were all in one photo together! Hopefully no one will be able to tell (unless of course they read my blog post hehe)! 

 I didn't have high hopes for how they would turn out, but in the end they are nice and will work well for our Christmas card!



Now to pick and design our Christmas cards from the hundreds of options!!

Fall Display 2013 |

Stack O' Gourds

View larger image HERE on my Instagram.

Pumpkins out of TP rolls! |

As September rolls around I get so excited about fall, my favourite time of year!

This year I came across these cute pumpkins made out of fabric and a toilet paper rolls!
 So simple and easy but they look so cute.

Here are how mine turned out:

Here is how I made them:
 
1. Choose three different fall fabrics - purcahse about 22 inches of the fabric - my fabric was 45 inches wide, SO I was able to make TWO pumkins out of one 22inch long piece, by simply cutting it in half. (So now I am able to give some as gifts too).

2. Place your piece of fabric face down on the table.

3. Scrunch up two pieces of tissue paper and then unfold them again placing them in the middle of the fabric. (This will give your pumpkin a bit more roundness).

4. Place a toilet paper roll in the middle of the tissue paper and fabric.

5. Start by tucking one corner of the fabric into the middle of the toilet paper roll, and continue tucking each corner in clockwise.

6. Use a piece of brown card stalk or brown paper bag rolled up a few times for the stem, OR you can even use a stick from outside. Simply insert the 'stem' into the middle of the pumpkin.

7. To finish it off I used wide green ribbon from the dollar store to make the leaves. I simply cut a piece of ribbon about 10 inches long and then stuck the ribbon under the stem before pushing the stem into the center of the pumpkin. I also tied twine and brown string to the stem to look like vines. I also want to add green floral wire to the stem and then curl it around a pencil to make it look like curly vines coming off the stem.

* Once fall is over you can simply unfold the pumpkins and keep the fabric and leaves/vines/stem in a bag and then next year simply recreate your pumpkins on new TP rolls!

Mother's Day Sunday School Craft |

I was searching online for a good Mother's Day craft for our Kids Church program and I ended up merging together a few of the ideas that I came across, so I thought I would share the craft idea in case someone else out there is looking for a cute, meaningful and simple craft idea.

We needed something that was good for a wide age range of children (Toddler to age 8). We also wanted something that the kids could present to their moms when they come in at the end of the service on Mother's Day.

I came across this image about 'Good Roots' and that is what started the idea:

It is basically a foam flower (you can get them in a 20 pack at Michales Craft Store) that the kids can decorate with markers, stickers etc. Then you simply tape a wooden skewer to the back of the flower and then wrap a green pipe cleaner around it to make the stem. Then I created a tag that is to be tied to the stem with green ribbon (making the leaves).

The tag includes a scripture verse with a play on words: "Train up a child in the way they should "GROW", and they will not depart from it." Prov 22:6.
As well as the "Thanks for the good ROOTS Mom!" concept.

Here is the tag - feel free to copy it and print it for use if you wish to make this craft:

And here is how the final product will look:

Here are the kids making the flowers and telling us why they love their mom! This video was played in the morning service on Mother's Day right before the kids came in with their flowers:


Have FUN!

Decoupage Easter Eggs |

This year I thought I would try to make some pretty decor eggs that I could reuse every year as my table centrepiece.

I decided to Decoupage plastic eggs with fancy printed napkins.

HOW TO |

You will need a package of plastic eggs, colourful printed napkins (you can also use scrapbook paper or tissue paper) decoupage - OR I just used white glue mixed with a little water, and a brush.

After applying the ripped up pieces of napkin with glue/brush to the eggs I laid them to dry for about an hour.

I then placed them in my hurricane vase on top of some 'Easter Basket Straw'.

The nice thing about using the plastic eggs is that they won't start to smell or break, so I can bring them out every year as decor!

Here we are on Palm Sunday with a sign that I made for a photo booth at our church (slide show of church photo booth below).
Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Feature |

I was featured on Printabelle!

Thanks for featuring my Easter Bark recipe! And Thanks for all of the other great Easter craft and recipe ideas you complied! What a fun and beautiful holiday it is!

A Few other inspiring and pretty Easter ideas:

Beautiful pastel rainbow ruffle cake from Bubble and Sweet.

Click here to get her complete instructions.

The Browy Blog's very own Rice Crispy Nest Treats.

The Full of Bliss blog  has some beautiful table scape ideas for Easter.

The Browy Blog's very own | Easter Tree

I want to try this craft | Mod Podge Easter Eggs that I found on the 'Our Family Journey' blog
*Great idea to use fake plastic eggs so that you can reuse them for decor every season and they wont break!


Another Mod Podge Easter Egg Craft using Spring Napkins | Found this project on the 'Brown Paper Packages' blog |


Neat DIY door decor from A Pretty life in the Suburbs |

Another beautiful project from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs | Easter Garland

The Browy Blog's very own | Umbrella Wreaths


LOVE this adorable craft idea from Disney Family Fun, and it is all about recycling! - I made them once as a kid but these ones even have cute little bodies made out of yogurt containers and cups | Grass Head Guys

The Browy Blog's very Own | Easter Cookies with Candy Corn


Mason Jar Planters from the CSI Project |

A super cute Easter Dip Presentation from Better Recipes |

Happy Easter! I hope you found some inspiring projects above to make your Easter extra bright this year!

Check out THIS blog post from last year to see what Easter means to me!

Spring Umbrella Wreath |

This year I made a few Spring Umbrella Wreaths for myself, my mom, my aunts and my grandma.

They are super easy to create...

WHAT YOU NEED:
- An umbrella
- Ribbon
- Faux Flowers (of varying heights and types)
- A door hook
- Scissors

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN:

Simply turn the umbrella upside down and begin arranging your flowers in the umbrella. Once you have them how you want them simply tie a ribbon around the umbrella, making sure that it holds all of the stems in place. Then you are ready to hang your 'umbrella wreath' on your door (either inside or out!) making a lovely spring display of flower and classic wreath alternative.

HERE ARE A FEW THAT I MADE:

Blue & Yellow:

Multi-colour:


Purple Tone & Pink Tone Umbrellas:

Happy Crafting!

Valentine's Day Pins |

I have a 'Gal-entines' get together coming up (basically a movie night with 'Gals' in celebration of what we love about each other) so I wanted to peruse Pinterest for some cute ideas to see what I could make/ bring to the party. (pictures of what I make to come).

If you are in need of some last minuet Valentines Day inspiration for a craft, card, treat or decor take a look at my hand selected pins HERE.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

2 Ingredient Truffles |

This year I am making Chocolate Truffles to give as gifts.

I found this super easy recipe for Two Ingredient Truffles on the Mom of All Trades Blog.

Here is a quick break down of the recipe:

The Two Ingredients:
- 1 Pkg of Chocolate Chips
- 1 Brick of Cream Cheese

- Let Cream Cheese soften for about 20mins in a bowl - cream/whip it

- Melt the Package of Chocolate Chips (in 30 second incriments so as not to burn it)

- Blend the cream cheese and chocolate together


- Use a spoon to scoop out small portions of the chocolate - drop them on a wax paper covered cookies sheet. (I was able to get 24 truffles from this recipe)

- Place the sheet(s) in fridge for about 1 hour.


- After the truffles are chilled and can be handled without melting take them out of the fridge and roll them into more of a ball shape.

- Then roll the truffle in a 'topping' of your choice.

The Toppings I Used:
- Coconut
- Walnuts and Pecans Chopped up
- Coco Powder
- Christmas coloured sprinkles
- Skor Bit Chips


Recipe Variation:
I also made a second batch using dark chocolate chips and I added in a 1/4 cup of crunchy peanut butter so that those truffles will have peanuts in them! A Yummy combination!


Wrapping the Truffles:
I got cute mini cupcake wrappers from Bulk Barn that are Christmas Theme and I also got nice see through red candy containers to arrange the truffles in. I will tie them up with ribbon and place a tag on each to give them as gifts.

Have a yummy Christmas Season!

Our 2011 Christmas Greeting |

The "Coming" Of Christmas |

I read a friend's blog post today and she mentioned advent candles. I didn't grow up lighting candles at home in commemoration of advent but we did of course have the classic chocolate calendars that my mom would get for us each year. My brother loved to yell down the hall each morning telling me what the image on the chocolate was of to spoil the surprise for me, I always loved to guess what the image on the chocolate would be first and then open the little door to reveal the chocolate waiting inside!

But today when I looked up 'Advent' I found that the word itself is from the Latin 'adventus' meaning "Coming". It reminded me of how important it is to celebrate the "coming" of Christ at Christmas, not only that he came to earth as a baby (the reason we celebrate Christmas) but that he is coming again which is definitely something to celebrate!

Instead of the classic 'advent wreath', or an advent calendar, I had the idea of placing 12 mini candles down the runner of the table and hanging a nativity ornament or tag on each candle (perhaps in the order of the Christmas Story) and then each night at dinner you could light one candle and read a portion of the Christmas Story (Separating the story into 12 different sections). That way on Christmas eve the last candle would be lit and the Christmas story completed. You could use traditional advent candle colours or something that compliments your dinning room. Then you could make the last candle purple (the colour of royalty to symbolize Jesus as King) or white perhaps - setting the last candle apart from the rest.

Since my table is already decorated this year I might do this next year - but I mocked up what it might look like (below) and also shared some images of nativity ornaments/tags that you could hang on each candle.

I can image how beautiful the table would be fully lit with candles and can image the excitement and anticipation that would come as each candle was lit and as the table slowly began to get brighter approaching Christmas. It would be a great family tradition and it would be a meaningful way to tie in the Christmas story at each meal leading up to Christmas as well - Counting down not to "Present Day" but to CHRISTmas Day!