Summer Bucket List

Last summer I was pretty lucky.  I had most of the summer off to spend with the kids, enjoying them and doing whatever we wanted.  I was very lucky to be able to spend a lot of time at the trailer which helps the days (and weeks) go by quicker.  Although this was wonderful, I felt a little perplexed trying to come up with stuff for us to do to keep ourselve from getting bored.  Enter summer 2012 :)  With the summer weather already here, I was motivated to do a little pre planning.  I've visited many sites on Pinterest and decided to make a couple of lists of things we can do this summer.  Most of the things on the lists are FREE (yay!) or relatively cheap (bonus), and things I already have at home.  I know, look at me go! Here's the 2 lists 100 Things and 100 more Things. 

                                                                                                                                 
If you are uncertain about any of the things on the list, post a comment and I'll share the instructions or blog I found the idea on.  For those of you on Pinterest, just type the idea into the search bar and you'll find TONS of ideas.

Let me know what other ideas you have for summer and maybe we can add it to our list as well.  Lets see how many we can cross off our lists.  We're hoping to complete BOTH lists :)

Wish us luck!

Super Mario Party

So this year I had the bright idea to suggest a Super Mario Bros theme for the kids birthday party.  With their birthdays being only 2 days apart and so close in age, I needed something they both could enjoy.  I really should have done some research before suggesting it though.  Thank goodness for Google and Pinterest. Once the invites were sent there was no going back.  I decided I would make my own cake and then didn't know where else to go to even find a Super Mario cake.  I think it turned out pretty awesome don't you? 

notice the cake didn't make it outside without someones finger on it :)

Next was a couple of games.  We had a bad guy bean bag toss. 

We also planned for a yoshi fruit hunt, using party blowers to knock down cups with fruit pasted on them, but we never got around to it.  We also had pinata's that the kids painted.  We found a dinosaur that they painted to resemble bowser, and a soccer ball painted yellow and orange to look like a fireball :) They were so cute. 

 They even tried to use the balloon decorations as pinatas.

The kids favourite was by far the pin the mustache on Mario. 

 The gift bags I cut out with my cricut and by hand, and was by far the most time consuming activity (besides the cake that is).

The kids had such a blast and the party came together really well in the end.

Kitchen Makeover (it's AMAZING what a little paint can do)

Okay, so I'm off to a great start already.  2 posts in 2 days.  Mom would be proud. 

So lately I've been hating my kitchen.  While surfing Pinterest I recently came across a tutorial for painting kitchen cupboards.  The kitchen looked somewhat like mine so I decided I would take the plunge.  It's only paint right :)  So after LOTS and LOTS of comparing ideas and techniques, I set off to my local Benjamin Moore store.  Most people who have painted cupboards used their brand of paint, so I guessed it was a good place to start.  The lady working was very knowledgeable and very helpful.  She told me I didn't even have to sand in between coats as the paint was THAT good :)  (I did anyway because I'm a bit of a perfectionist) 

Here's the paint and primer and the colour we chose.  Just slightly off white called Classic Grey.

Here is a picture of out kitchen before. Not awful, but just okay for me.  I needed a change.

The next step was to take off the doors and set up for painting.  This was a really hard step for me because I HATE it when the cupboard doors get left open.  Seriously, how hard is it to close it after you are done.  Is it that hard to open again if you need something else later?  Sorry, just a pet peeve :)

Here is how it looked for 3 LONG days :) Man, I didn't realize how much tupperware I had.

Guess the hubby was right (shh, don't tell him)

Don't mind the clutter, although I'm sure yours would look the same if you took off all your doors.

Next step was to wash with a degreaser and elbow grease all the cupboards and frames and basically anything made of wood.  The primer works really good, but if you paint over a food blob it will probably be there forever.

We had the room to paint the cupboard doors in the garage, but the weather has been cooperating lately if you needed to do it outside, after about 2 hours they were dry to touch you could bring them inside and leave them inside overnight as long as no one touches them or walks on them (like a dog or cat) :)

Spencer was always willing to help which is why I started painting after the kids went to bed.

I only did 1 coat of primer and 1 coat of paint on the inside of the cupboards.  I really didn't think it made that much difference in the end and was happy that they were done and up that much sooner. I bet you wouldn't have even known if I didn't tell you.

AWESOME new kitchen!!!

I think I'll have to make some new curtains.

All in all it was a fairly easy project to do, I just had to wait the alotted time, I didn't want to rush the paint job so the waiting was the hardest part for me. That and keeping the dog out of the garbage for 3 days.

Hereis a little comparison one more time.

If you have any questions about any of the steps I did or if you decide to try to paint your own cupboards send me an email or some pictures. I'd love to see your new kitchen too.

Happy Crafting

Ginny

The Reason I Am Who I Am

 



 Saddness, that is all I can feel.  The world recently lost an amazing lady.  This past February my mom last her heroic battle with Cancer.  Writing this post is especially hard because even when she was sick, she kept asking me how the blog was going.  She always said "I've got you in my favourites on the internet" and "you're good at this, keep on top of it"  And I have done exactly the opposite. I've let the blog fall through the cracks, but on that note, I have fallen through the cracks as well.  I am not nearly as on top of things as I used to be, it seems like my brain isn't working properly.  Simple things turn out to be huge disasters, and usually it is mom to the rescue with a quick fix or to walk me through something over the phone. So now what?  Everything I am is my mom. Everything I do reminds me of mom. Sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, even scrapbooking. It's all I can do to get through the day without crying. This past weekend was the Stoney Creek Quilters Guild Show.  Before she got sick she planned this show and was so excited for it.  I managed to get a couple of quilts entered, because I knew she wanted me to.

   

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<>                 Griffin's Quilt - Guess Whoo Loves You

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Patio Lanterns

   

I was able to have a table FULL of mom's stuff to sell and even managed to raise $500 for Cancer research.  All these ladies commented on how strong I was for being able to get through the whole weekend and you know what?  They were right.  It was almost a closing of a chapter, as I took down her "last quilt".



Mom's Last Quilt - Jacobean Delight

But I know that in order to move one I have to go back to doing things that used to make me happy.  And lucky for you guys, that is ALL THINGS CRAFTY.  Please bear with me, as I try to get back in the swing of things.  Up next, "our new kitchen makeover" 

Happy Crafting

Ginny