An Angel Earned His Wings

photo credit: hurleygurley

My heart hurts. I wish there was something I could do to ease the pain my friends are feeling; I learned today that the nine year old son of my friend and colleague passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning. He was a brave little man who fought long and hard to stay here on earth with his mom and dad, but it was time for him to breathe easy and for the pain to go away. I will miss you so much Hunter... I already do.

Fab Pick of Last Week

F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!

Nothing more to be said about Freya Art's super sweet designs. Hop on over to the Freya Art's Etsy shop and you'll find adorable drawings with sayings that compliment them perfectly! Once again I'm smitten. I ♥ Etsy.

For My Ladies...

I haven't been on the ball when it comes to birthday wishes so this is a big belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY with chocolate sauce, brownies and a big ass cherry on top to the following fabulous ladies (named in the order of their birthDAYs not by years or level of love): Rebecca, Joanne, Mom M, Sarah and Jessy!

photo credit: flickr

Happy Birthday Beautiful girls!! The world is a much better place because the five of you are part of it! MUAH!!

photo credit: he marli

Sweet Treat

photo via blah to TADA!

Check out the delicious looking Strawberry-Vanilla Swirled Frozen Pops recipe Claire from blah to TADA! shared. YUM!

Beautiful!

{sweetheart} via bitterlemon

Working hard has paid off. I did it! I got the job. It's official and I'm thrilled: I'm a vision itinerant teacher! Believe it or not I start tomorrow already. I can't wait to dive in!

Wow! Deep breaths. I'm super excited! I'll let you know how things go.

Veruca Pepper & an Interview

A clever name and a fabulous design. I want this hoodie by Snoozer Loser NY.

I have a job interview tomorrow for a teaching position... cross your fingers and toes for me please!! This could be the "in" I've been hoping for. Maybe if I get a job I'll treat myself to Veruca Pepper. Maybe...

Cake in the Kitchen

I'm sure this will be appreciated by anyone who has ever worked in an office. Give it a second to get going, I thought I had volume issues at first...

Dreaming

A new quote to add to my favs

Photo via Yes and Yes, originally from New Resolution

Pretty Up Your Walls

Image via Purl Bee

Have some stellar fabrics that you want to display? Check out these sweet Swatch Portraits by the Purl Bee - the how to can be found here. I'm dying to get my hands on the fabric with the pink birds and yellow flowers, I'm off to hunt for it now!

I ♥ U2

The U2 concert in Toronto on Wednesday night was the best concert EVER! They sounded unbelievably fabulous live and so did Snow Patrol who opened up for them.

I snagged a few of Joanne's pictures to share with you because in all of the shots I took with my cell the boys look like they're on fire and I don't mean "on fire" as in "damn they were so good they were on fi-ah!"

We were ridiculously close to the outer circle of the stage. Bono was in panty tossing distance in the shot below but I'm a classy lady and of course I chose to keep my gitch in place rather than whipping them at him.

I expected some serious lecturing from Bono on the horrible happenings in Africa and the generally brutal state of the world - which I should add I wouldn't have disagree with or frowned upon, I admire a star who uses his platform to make a difference rather than simply giving away cash for the tax break - but instead the focus was on what positive change has taken place since the global community has begun to work together to make a difference. Very cool.

A fabulous concert by an amazing band. There is definitely a good reason U2 has been touring for 20 odd years: they're freaking phenomenal.

Thanks for the photos and a fabulous evening Joanne!! Thanks to my Michael for the tickets!

Another one of my 32 bites the dust! Yippee!

Tonight's the Night!

I'm super excited! Tonight Joanne and I are off to see U2! Mike's work gave him two floor tickets and he gave up his so that Joanne (who is a HUGE U2 fan) could go with me! Woooo hoooo!! Thanks babe!



I was extra excited to find out that Snow Patrol is opening up for U2! This is going to be an awesome night!

Teaching Peanuts to Sew

image via ralphhogaboom

I love the idea of teaching wee ones to sew and have every intention of starting a sewing/crafting club when the day I have my own classroom arrives.

Sewing School is a lovely little blog I found recently that is run by two women who enjoy teaching children to sew - there are loads of fabulous ideas found here for those wanting to sew with their monkeys.

This article is AWESOME. A pre-school teacher describes how she instructs her tiny 3-5 year old children in the art of sewing. Sew sweet!

Fab Pick of Last Week

I love these adorable stuffed cats! The funky retro fabric compliments the kittens' hand screen printed linen faces.

Check out Jane Foster's shop, she has some awesome screen prints ready to be framed and more fabric items for sale too. Jane features many of her designs on her blog so you should check that out too. I'm itching to get my hands on her latest fabric designs... fingers crossed that she decides to sell them!

Thanks to Pattern & Perspective for sharing the link to this fab shop.

Inspired

You might remember a recent post which linked to a tutorial at Lil Blue Boo (a new blog to me that I'm LOVING). I was inspired by Ashley's alphabetic bean bags so last week I whipped some up. Rather than painting on the letters I decided to cut out fabric letters and I'm thrilled with the result.

These little bags will be tucked under the Christmas tree for my niece Neve this December. One gift down and a zillion to go!

I Wanna Win!!

I've been a fan of Replica's clothing for ages and now I have a chance to win this fab hoodie!

In order to gain an extra entry on Sweeter Than Me's giveaway I've decided to create this post which means YOU have a chance at winning too - simply zip on over to Sweeter Than Me and follow the instructions. Fingers crossed!!

Tutes for Little People Goodies

This activity table is an easy DIY project and the perfect opportunity to use awesome chalkboard paints which are now available in a variety of colours.


Angry Chicken posted about story dice recently, I can't believe I've never seen or heard of these before! My niece Neve LOVES taking turns telling stories and story dice would certainly help me out when I get stuck thinking of a new adventure for Princess Lily. Making these dice is a pretty straightforward task but if you want some help check out this tutorial by The Toby Show.


If you would rather purchase a set of dice be sure to check out Mama Roots etsy shop where you can snag a beautiful stamped die or two. Love the robot!


Ooooh another possible Christmas gift for one of the little women in my world: a fabric dollhouse. Could you get any cuter?!

Can You Read Music?

Oooooooooooooooo this makes my heart smile. Thanks for sharing Miss T.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Learning to Hand Stitch

I'm was super excited to stumble across this Pocket Stitch Book created by Cassi Griffin for Sew, Mama, Sew. This little gem is going to help me complete number 2 on my list of 32. Thanks goes out to a new find, Sewing School, for this link.

I am definitely going to try out this Queen Anne's Lace design - another little something that reminds me of my mom, although I'm not entirely sure why. Mom?

Photos and tutorials from Sew, Mama, Sew.

Yum This Week

Breathe deeply people, the excitement is unbearable.

Our menu for the week:
Mon: tacos, maybe... have yet to decide but I have a couple hours yet and have to make something out of what little we have in the cupboards since I have not gone grocery shopping and the stores are closed because it's a holiday for most (boo hoo, off to work I go)
Tues: grilled chicken salad (Asian dressing)
Wed: out (Mike fends for himself)
Thurs: chicken fajitas and birthday cake for the best mom-by-marriage a girl could ask for - seriously.
Fri: BBQ pork chops and potatoes with grilled peppers
Sat: Ribs - Mike's special recipe. Mmmmm.
Sun: Salmon on the BBQ with potatoes and maybe some corn on the cob

Fab Pick of Last Week

Apparently my new love of inanimate birds has yet to die. I found this design on my blog hop the other day and knew it just had to be my next feature. Ninainvorm upcycles vintage ceramics by applying handmade screenprinted designs, the results are wonderful. See for yourself when you visit Ninainvorm's etsy shop or blog.

'Tri'-ed and Succeeded

We did it! All that triathlon training was put to good use this morning: Joanne and I completed the tri in just under an hour. I jumped in the water at 8:15am and Joanne hopped in six minutes later. We wanted to complete the race together so I waited for Jo in the bike transition area which added a few minutes to my time but Jo was kind enough to do the math and my final overall time was 56:26 minutes, which placed me 82nd out of 172 participants - the official results show me placing 116th but of course that counted my wait time.

A super humongous thanks goes out to Joanne who encouraged me to join her in completing a triathlon in the first place. I am sure I would have never attempted this if it wasn't for Jo; having her by my side throughout the event was awesome - she stuck by me even when I suggested she go ahead during the run (I was feeling sick) - and crossing the finish line hand in hand was a truly amazing feeling! All our hard work this summer allowed us to complete a major goal which means I can wipe one of my 32 Things to Do Before I'm 32 off the list! Woo hoo!

Mission Accomplished

My husband is a musician/DJ who has spent countless hours in his studio over the last ten years working on music with the hope of eventually releasing a record.

I'm stoked to be able to announce that he has reached his goal! Mike won a remix contest and his track will be released on itunes, amazon and a pile of other online digital distributor sites at the end of 2009 or early 2010.

The original track is titled Substance D by Nick Cenik, Mike's remix is titled the Ypsi Kid's 4 Course Meal Mix. Check it out by pressing play below or click this link: Nick Cenik - Substance D (Ypsi Kid's 4 Course Meal Mix)

You can check out more of Mike's tracks on his Sound Cloud page.

Belated Beyond Belief

This little puppy was supposed to be given to my mom for her birthday in April!! I'm a bad bad daughter but I suppose it's better late than never. This was my first attempt at a cosmetic bag (hence the very belated gift) and I'm happy with the result. She's lined with the same pink nylon fabric that the L (for Lois) and the heart are cut from and you can see a tiny bit of the cute pink zip used to keep mom's goods inside. I think she (the bag, not my mom) looks like a bubble, not sure if that's a good or a bad thing...

I might make another one of these ladies for the shop... but what initial should I use?!

p.s. the pink bits are NOT fuzzy or dirty in the flesh (or should I say in the vinyl?), the pic just isn't the best.

Blow Off the Dust

I've finally blown off the dust and started up the machine. More goodies hitting the shop soon but I've started things off with this super sweet crayon roll-up.

Shield Your Eyes

This tutorial is going to help me complete number 12 on my List of 32.

Cute Tutes

Love these fabric remnant notebooks by Scissor Variations:


And this fabric bowl featured on Imagine Fabric:

Seashell Candles by Martha:


Adorable beanbags by Lil Blue Boo


Have you found any cute tutorials recently?

Root Beer: A Safer Choice

Thanks to my mom for sharing this laugh!