Sunshine Gift Package

Have you ever had a friend or a family member that you felt could use some cheering up? 

I'd say most of us have... only, most of my friends and family live in Ontario, which is five hour flight away from me!
I can give phone calls and FaceTime, but can't stop by with tea and desserts to cheer them up. Can't offer to babysit for them. Can't organize a party. Can't stay up all night chatting.
This is where the ever-popular care package comes into play.
When my friend needed cheering up, I decided to send some sunshine to take away her winter blues.
 I made a "Happy" themed care package (i.e. it was all yellow, lol).

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DIY Gift Mug

I've seen mugs like this floating around the Pinterest world, so I decided to try and out and make one for myself! Or rather, for someone else :)

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Valentine's Day Candy Boxes

Aren't these adorable?!

I had so much fun making them! Just one more reason I love a holiday - party favors!
Although this time it's not my party….
But I had my creative juices flowing, I had the supplies, and [miraculously] I had the time.

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Chocolate Bar Love Letter

Valentine's Day - the holiday of love. 

With a new baby at home for Valentine's Day, I knew I wouldn't have a chance to run around town looking for gifts for my husband. In lieu of something new, I decided to make something sweet (no pun intended). 

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Birthday Gift for Oma

We were very lucky this year to get to celebrate Oma's birthday with her. 

Usually we don't get to see my mom on her birthday because we live so far away and January is an odd time to travel. Plus we usually would have just gotten back from somewhere over Christmas, sometimes from visiting my parents. 

But this year my beautiful daughter was born in January and since Oma HAD to come meet her (obvi!!), it meant we got to share in celebrating her January birthday too! 

I knew we wanted to have something homemade for her birthday, and that we wanted the gift to represent her first grand daughter too. 

I came up with the idea to make a scrapbook page and frame it for her with pictures of Ellie from her visit. I made the page ahead of time, but we had to be sneaky and go print pictures to add while Oma was here, but without Oma knowing! 

Then, I also wanted to frame some little Ellie footprints. We stamped them so that they looked like hearts. My husband made both the frames in his garage before Oma arrived for her visit and we had everything ready to go when her birthday rolled around. 

The footprints were done when she was just 5 days old! 

We anticipated needing a few sessions to get them all done, but Ellie just let us stamp while she was wide awake! 

We used a water soluble paint to that it was safe for her little toes and washed off easily. 

Here were our finished products up close: 

This is one proud grand parent :) 

Happy [belated] birthday to the very bestest mama and Oma ever! 

We love you VERY much!!! 

{xoxo}

Toffee Caramel Apple Dip

Doesn't this look amazing?!
It doesn't taste half bad either!
I was searching for a fall favor to send some guests home with after a party. I thought this would be perfect. Also, since I was planning to hand them out in small mason jars, I figured most people would be willing to take one home with them :)

Ingredients:
1 package of cream cheese
about 40 caramels (or one small package)
1 stick of butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 bag of toffee bits

Instructions:

1. To make caramel: Stir caramels, butter, and sweetened condensed milk on low heat until everything is melted. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn. Takes about 20 minutes.

2. Add cream cheese to the bottom of the serving platter (or mason jars).

3. Pour caramel onto platter as a thick layer. Top with toffee bits.

If you are adding it to mason jars, I found that this recipe made around 7 or 8 jars. I made a second batch to have one for each guest, and then I still had some for the husband!

Here's how they looked all packaged up!

Here is the party platter version - or husband version in my house :)

When the dips were ready, I wrapped each mason jar up with an apple and a "Thank You" tag. 

There was one jar for each guest to take home after the girls Pinterest party I hosted :) 
I picked the granny smith apples (although they are not usually my favourite) because I thought the tart taste would compliment the sweet dip.

{yumm}

Welcome Baby #2

He's here!! Welcome John Charles!!

I was pretty sure it was a girl... I was very wrong, lol. 

My good friend's baby boy was born Aug. 17 at 5:21pm. 

8lbs. 3oz. 

Dark brown hair, blue eyes, and handsome as can be!
Now my flower girl has a little brother :) 

I wish I took this picture, because that would mean that I had met him! 

But I stole it from his proud mama's blog here :)

I'm gonna say that Russel was the winner of the epic baby predictions :) He guessed boy with blue eyes, and was only 2 oz. away! Good job! (now guess ours correctly!!)

Here's a picture of the cute little something I sent ahead of time for the little guy :) 

First baby hat I ever completed!

Congratulations on your growing family!!!

He's perfect :)

{love}

Going Away Present

Well he's gone... basically.
My little brother is all packed up and headed to Japan for 3 years to teach English!
I'm pretty jealous of his adventure - it's going to be amazing to be so familiar with another language and culture the way he will be.
Luckily there is always skype, which is basically how I talk to him right now (being 3 provinces away), although I don't know if the 15 hour time difference will make it too difficult for me to talk to him regularly.
It's a great opportunity and I wish him all the very best! 

What do you buy as a going away present for someone heading overseas?

Can't buy anything heavy, or large because of the suitcase. 

The gift needs to be semi-useful, and also (from my perspective) semi-meaningful too. 

Well, my brother had the idea of asking for a scrapbook of Canada to share with his students in Japan. 

I had less than a week before I saw him, so this was a bit of a daunting task, but I went for it! 

Here's his have-fun-overseas/good-bye-for-a-while Canada & Family scrapbook:

Hope you liked it Nate! We will miss you!!
See you in Japan in a year or so (hopefully!)
Lots of love from our family in Alberta :)

{adios}

First Father's Day (sort of...)

Because I like celebrating, and I like babies, I gave Mr. A a Father's Day gift this year (last month). 

Even though there was no baby for him to hold yet.

Just an early gift! I think he was surprised :)
And excited once he read the card which told him that the gift was something to get him excited about playing again! 
(also take note of the boy-ish wrapping paper - chosen especially for this husband!)

He got baby lego! 

I'm positive he would've preferred real lego - but those little pieces don't need to show up in my house for at least a few years! He can still sit beside the baby and build with these legos! Right?!

This baby will be building lego bridges in no time! 

No need to worry about his or her fine motor skills :)

{love}

How to Make Mini Pom Poms

Isn't that a cute wrapping job?? There are a few reasons I really like it. 1) I'm a fan of simple/organic-type wrapping (i.e. yarn, jute string & brown paper wrapping), 2) It's cheaper, 3) It's original and stands out

It's also very easy to do!

Here are all the materials you need to make the pom-poms:

yarn, cardboard, scissors, and anything to trace circles (I used tape, a tea cannister, and a glue stick)

1. Trace a couple of different sizes of circles (two of each), and cut them out. Then trace small inner circles (I used a glue stick) and cut them out too.

2. Cut yarn - I used approx. 5 arms lengths (finger to finger).

3. Put two cardboard circles of the same size side-by-side and line up the edge of the string with the inside edge of the circles.

4. Start wrapping the string around the circle (through the inside edge and around the outside edge)

5. Continue until the circle is completely covered.

6. Make a space between the two cardboard circles you put together initially.

7. Place your scissors between the two slits in order to cut the outside edge of the yarn circles.

8. Cut around the entire circle. Be careful not to let go of the strings in the middle or the yarn will unravel from the cardboard.

9. Put an additional piece of yarn between the two cardboard pieces and wrap it around.

10. Tie the additional piece of string around the centre of the yarn between the cardboard pieces

11. Pull apart the cardboard

12. Ta-Da! Cute decorative pom-pom. Repeat with more colours and sizes of cardboard circles.

Here are a couple of presents that I beautified with colourful pom-poms :)

{create}