2012 Highlights

As I have been looking back at everything I have crafted in 2012, it's amazing how one can forget how much can happen in a span of just 365 days. I am amazed by how much the kids have changed in just a year's time. 

I have been blessed beyond measure this year. 

I want to thank you all for following along on my little journey. I appreciate all the kind words and encouragement you give me. It's nice to know that people like what I do:o)

So I thought I would share my 12 favorite crafts from this year. 

It was hard to choose, but I was able to narrow them down:o)

My first pick would be the dresser re-vamp I did for E. I was quite proud of this because it was the first piece of big furniture that I had worked on completely by myself. 

The hubs was quite impressed:o)

I loved our family movie nights that we had this year. They started to spread out when school started, but the kids seemed to have so much fun with them:o) 

They really had a ball with the Drive-In Movie Night.

The birthdays were a total blast this year. I always enjoy putting the kids parties together, and this year's themes were so much fun to work on.

S.R. made a sweet little Dorthy in her Wizard of Oz party.

My, how this little one has changed! 

E's party was so much fun as well. I didn't dive into it like I normally do, only because I am totally not a Star Wars fan, but thankfully there were so many awesome ideas on the internet.  

Love these sweet faces!!

I did a lot more sewing this year than I have in years past, and I love that my kids get excited about the things I make them. It hasn't always been that way unfortunately. I have finally figured out what they actually like, so that there isn't any disappointments on either end:o)

Here are a few of my favorites for S.R 

This dress is my absolute favorite:o) The flower girl dress. She looked like a little princess! 

We were stopped by so many people in church and at the grocery store a few weeks later saying how beautiful her dress was...I might have been a little proud;o)

Here are my sewn favorites for E.

 This little ottoman was super simple to put together, and E absolutely loves it. He lugs it around all over the place to sit on it. Definitely a score for his mommy!

This little vest and bow tie were absolutely 

adorable on him as well:o)

              

My biggest project of the year wasn't even in my own house. A very dear friend asked me to completely over haul her house and give it an updated look. I won't lie and say I loved every minute of it. It was exhausting, and with only one good hand during the process, there were times when I wanted to throw in the towel. But it turned out great and she loved it so much that she did the HGTV cry..you can't get a better response than that:o)

The before and afters are really something.

And the last of my favorites for 2012 would definitely have to be the "Famerican" Girl doll bed and bedding.

I wish you all could have seen how sweet S.R. was on Christmas morning when she saw the bed. I asked her if she new who made the bed. She said Santa..I told her that her Daddy had made it. She said,

 "Wow! He did a really good job." 

Such a sweet heart!

So those are my favorites for this year. I've got some big projects lined up for this next year and I can't wait to get started on them...just don't tell the hubs;o) 

Have a great New Year. I'll be back here next week to share with you all a new dress for S.R. and a Tooth Fairy Monster I made for E(it's ugly and he loves it:o))

What do you think...?

Below are two graphs that look like they may have something in common. The first is from Whisperer's blog. We have posted it a few times here, and it shows how a mania unfolds in a graph.

I admit I have had trouble identifying where we were on the slope, but things may be a bit clearer now.

The second is the SFH average price for Vancouver. You judge.

Welcome Back

Ben Rabidoux's Vancouver talk is up on you-tube. Most of the charts are not shown, so if you have the package you can flip through them.

Kudos to the LePoidevin Group at National Bank for getting this off the ground, and doing such a professional job with handouts, video taping etc.

For those who missed the talk.

18" Doll Bed, Quilt, Pillow and a Mattress Tutorial

Are you guys ready for Christmas yet? Do you have all of your gifts bought, wrapped and tucked neatly under the tree? We are done for the most part. I think I am going to make one more thing for E and then we will be done. 

Today's post is about what we(the hubs and I) made for S.R.

She has asked for an American Girl Doll for Christmas this year. She is 4 years old...she ain't gettin' an American Girl Doll. However, she is getting a "Famerican" Girl Doll...(Faux-American). Ole Santy Claus is bringing her the doll from Target that looks just like the real deal, and it's 1/3 the cost.

So, I came across a really cool building plan for a doll bed on Ana White's Blog. It is perfect!

I knew the hubs could make it, and so he did:o) 

I decided that I needed to make some really cute bedding to go along with it. 

This Famerican Girl will be resting in style:o)

(I got a little impatient, and decided to take pictures before the hubs could get it stained..pics of the final product will come after X-mas)

This is my very first quilt to actually quilt myself. I found an easy tutorial at Mommy by day, Crafter by night. I was able to make this little quilt in about an hour and a half. The fabrics were from a fat quarter bundle purchased from the Hob.

 The pillow was an absolute must as well:o)

 Here is the under-side of the quilt.

When I laid the quilt and pillow across the bed, the quilt wouldn't lay right. The spindles were in the way, and it just looked like it needed an extra something, so that's when I realized this bed needed a mattress.

This is sort of a tutorial, but not really a step-by-step because I was in a rush to get this done before S.R. got home from school yesterday:o)

I started with two fabrics, you could use the same fabric, but this was leftovers from the fat quarter pack, so I used what I had.

I stitched them together to form what looked like a pillow. I realized I didn't have enough to cover the base of the bed, so I had to add a strip across the top to lengthen it. Once it was re-stitched, I laid it across the bottom of the bed to make sure it fit.

I then stuffed it with poly-fil, and closed the end up by hand-stitching. I usually avoid any hand-stitching at all cost because I am too impatient. However, I really wanted this to look nice, so I bit the bullet, and used my little needle and thread. 

To prevent the mattress from looking like a big pillow shoved into the bed, I tufted it. I had a fabric button covering kit(is that what they're called??), and I used the purple polka dot fabric to cover the buttons. This task was a little more labor intensive. I used a long needle, and lots of patience. At one point, I really thought I was going to need a Band-Aid as well...OUCH! 

This is the back-side of the mattress. Yes, I realize that there are two sets of buttons...why, you ask? Because this was a last minute project, and I didn't have time to go buy matching buttons:o) And, yes, it's staying that way.

So it's complete, and I am thrilled with the results. 

 Perfect for her Famerican Girl Doll!!

Participating in these parties:
Classy Clutter

Fabric Coasters

I am at the end of our Christmas list. (Hooray!!) I still have one or two more things I have to make, but then I will be done. 

Today I worked on some fabric coasters for the kids' teachers.

Simple, easy and very little time to make.

You can find the tutorial HERE.

In about an hour, I had 3 sets of coasters made.

Today was also Polar Express day for E. He got to wear his jammies to school and he got to take a coffee mug full of goodies for a gift exchange. 

Can I just say that I love this time of year, and all of the fun things that there are to do?!?

The hubs and I have both been busy little elves. He made S.R. a doll bed the other day, and I made a quilt and pillow. Pics tomorrow if I get around to it;o)

Time for a Christmas Hiatus

Best to you and your families. Whichever side of the Housing debate you are on, I hope the year ahead is Healthy and Happy.

See you on the other side of the New Year.

Fish

It's all over!

May as well collect up your marbles and go home.

Scotiabank has declared it a soft landing. So nothing to worry about. No reckless lending went on, no big losses for the big 5 and the CMHC won't bankrupt us all.

Phew that's a relief!

Very sad indeed

Read this on Vancouver Condo Info blog. How a man denied entry to Canada for human rights reasons still owns 110 condos in Toronto!

How does this happen. It would seem to me the Government needs to worry a little less about the British Royal heritage and a bit more on not allowing our country to become a haven for the world's-worst people and their money. Even the Swiss have been tightening up.

Mr. Malkin, the National Post revealed in 2009, has been blocked from entering Canada by Canadian authorities who accused him of organized crime involvement. In his fight to overturn that decision, it was revealed he owns 111 condominium units in Toronto.

Canada should not be a safe haven for people who do this type of crime. Canada has a very attractive economic immigrant program and it is very popular for Russians so, absolutely, Canada has to be on the list of countries that are doing this

A Basic Table Turned into Footstools

Happy Monday to you all! I know it's been a while since I posted on furniture re-dos. I have been so wrapped up in sewing projects over the last little bit, that I kind of forgot how fun it is to transform an old piece of furniture:o)

Today I want to show you how I gave a table a new look....a REALLY new look!

When we built our house, we had all of the bathroom sinks raised. That poses a problem when you have little munchkins running around the house. They have a hard time getting to the sink to wash their little hands or brush their teeth.

 My children literally have monkey toes. They climb those cabinets like nobody's business to get to that faucet. I knew something needed to be done before our cabinet doors started falling off of the hinges. 

I have always wanted to get the kids step stools, but I'm cheap, so I never bought any. 

So what do you do when you need something, but don't want to pay for it? You use what you have, and make it work.

I bought this table for $2 from my friend's grandfather. I didn't know what I would do with it because of it's odd shape, so it sat in the garage for A LONG TIME.

I finally got the idea to turn it into footstools for the kids. The legs were perfect..in length and in size. 

I disassembled the table using a hand saw. Thank goodness I didn't use the table saw. There was a big metal rod down the center of those legs. I was able to saw down to the rod, and then unscrew them apart.

 I didn't want the finials, so I had to figure out how to re-attach the legs. I measured and mark a spot near the original holes.

 I screwed all the screws in where they barely broke the surface on the bottom side.

 I laid the board on it's side, and attached all of the legs.

 Since there were 4 gaping holes in each stool, I filled them with wood putty, and let them dry for a few hours. After it had dried, I sanded the spots down, and spray painted each stool.

The finishing touch was to add their initials. I used some wooden letters I had on hand and traced them onto vinyl, and cut them out. 

 Very easy, very inexpensive, and very functional.

 To save the cabinet door fronts, I added some foam pads to the backside.

Now my children's little monkey toes can rest easily on their new stools!!

This project was featured here:

Bank of Canada shouts 'Fire' again

Panicked about Condos now. I agree, but I think the horse may have already bolted.

Fraser Valley numbers out. Big drop in sales YOY 20%. Drop in SFH average (big 7%) and Median but the benchmark comes through with a 2% YOY increase. Gotta love the benchmark..eh?

MOI 10.5 or so.

D.S.C.C.W.-Waterless Snow Globe

Last week I ran across a really cute Dollar Store craft over at the CSI project.

They were waterless snow globes. This particular craft is what got the wheels turning for this week's projects.

 Our snow globes look slightly different than the ones from CSI. So far, these are the kids' favorite Christmas craft:o)

The base for their snow globes are the same from the Snowman Ornament. They are found at the Hob.

I let them paint their bases any color they chose...I was definitely surprised by S.R.'s choice, but I think it's because she knows it's mommy's favorite color:o)

They both got to pour the sugar into the bowls. I used 1/4 c of sugar in each.

I handled the hot gluing. As you can see there was a tad bit of over kill on the hot glue:o)

So I added the ribbon around the the gunky glue area to clean it up. Super cute, super cheap, and super fun!!

In case you missed it, and would like to see what else we have been up to this week, click on the links below!!

Snowman Ornament

Angel Tree Topper