Linky Love

So much for the rainy forecast that was mentioned earlier this week... it was a stunning day today!! Of course I spent most of the day in the city doing banking, grocery shopping and other mundane tasks but to not be rained on was a lovely bonus *grin*.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite craft projects, recipes and photos that I came across this week and hopefully you haven't already seen them all :)

LollyChops shares a fabulous printable tree silhouette and some great ways to customize it for different holidays or themes. I am in LOVE with the swirled yarn background!

I am so making some of these wool leaf coasters I found on Design*Sponge with the kids!!! This is such a great project for fall :)

{Photo via Dalboz17}

Wouldn't you know it I just had my very first Pumpkin Spice Latte today in town and with this great recipe from Delicious Noise I can save myself some serious coin and enjoy one anytime I want!

Oh my word, I want this!! *swoon*
This amazing bath mat is made with real live moss that lives in your bathroom through the humidity and water from your feet as you step out of the bath onto it.

I am crazy about moss and if you have never stepped barefoot on a plushy carpet of moss before stop what you are doing right now and run straight to the nearest wooded area and let you inner fairy run free as you caress some moss with your tootsies! LOL.

Hope you enjoyed my linky love and have a fantabulous weekend :)
Hugs,
Rosina

Fall Cleaning & Holiday Catch Up

I've been trying to tackle some rather large cleaning projects around the house. I think most people do a really big spring clean but I sort of guffawed at the thought of cleaning earlier in the year and now of course I'm paying the piper as I have all of the bedrooms in different stages of disarray and today I ripped through my kitchen like a hurricane *grin*.

One really triumphant moment was the removal of our microwave today! It has sat dormant on my counter for numerous years never getting used as I don't really believe in using one for cooking or reheating. I had casually passed it by Hubby the last time he was home from work to see if he had any problems with my idea and he had none so my oldest son and I carried it away this afternoon and said adiós to the beast LOL. I must say I am LOVING the extra counter space that it has freed up :)

All of this really didn't make for exciting picture taking though so I thought I would share some photos from our family trip to the BC interior this summer. I had planned to share them months ago but when we returned home we were busied with dad's cancer and such so they went into storage. So today I'm sharing some for your viewing entertainment *grin*. And my dad is doing great to! He has recovered, and his latest CT showed no cancer :)



The mighty Fraser River. We had just left Lillooet and were heading south to Loon Lake where we were to meet up with some of Hubby's family for a weekend on the lake.

This particular stretch of the highway was being repaved so we had quite a stretch of gravel road to travel.

The highway winds along the Fraser River for quite some time before heading away from it. Unfortunately ALL of my photos are hazy because of the heavy smoke that was hanging in throughout the region from the forest fires. We actually stayed at the same campground in Lillooet as a large group of firefighters that were out battling the fire every day. It was a little unnerving to be in so much smoke and to watch the helicopters with the massive water buckets come and go in the mornings and evenings.

Taking in the circle route via the Duffy Lake road.

If you have never taken the Duffy Lake road it is quite the experience especially when you are towing a fully loaded travel trailer behind you. It is the highway 99 just outside of Pemberton and used to be nothing more than a logging road but over the years it has been paved and to our surprise it had been resurfaced again lately so most of the road was actually in excellent shape!

It is a beautifully scenic drive that takes you STRAIGHT UP through the Cayoosh mountains and when I say straight up, I mean heavenward *grin*. You definitely need a full tank of gas, and some good breaks for this stretch of road. We must have climbed for a good 1/2 an hour to 3/4 of an hour and at some points we were only in first gear in the truck because of all the switch backs and hair pin turns! When we finally crested we came upon Duffy Lake which was just like glass and full of the reflections of the surrounding mountains. The air was much clearer up there to. When we were in Pemberton the smoke had been so thick that we couldn't stay outdoors for more than a quick walk to and from the truck so it was nice to be able to breath more freely and we lunched along the lake :) The final leg of the journey of course was straight down and that's where the good brakes part came in! LOL.

Hope you enjoyed a little look into our holidays and I'll have to share more with you another time :)

Hugs,
Rosina

right now, I AM

...bending cedar tree limbs that the children collected into hoops that we will use to create woven nature hangings. We scoured the yard for red leaves, twigs, pine cones and other little bits to use and tomorrow we will finish our 'secret' project. I haven't told them what all of the collecting was for *grin*. I couldn't help myself, I love to keep them in suspense! LOL.

Hugs,
Rosina

Family Time

Late last night Thanksgiving plans changed and our dinner destination quickly changed from my sisters home to mine. So today was a busy day of making pies, turkey and all the fixings :)

We had a lovely evening all together and we were so lucky that Hubby was able to join us this year. Quite often he is away working but yesterday the kids and I ran up to Hardy to pick him up off of his tug so he could be with us.

The perfect end to a full day was a big slice of fresh pumpkin pie. Mmm, so good *grin*. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with your families here in Canada and I'll be sure to wish all of my US friends a big happy thanksgiving next month! I think some of you had thought I was off my rocker when I started wishing everyone happy thanksgiving yesterday. Nope I really wasn't loosing my marbles. LOL.

Hugs,
Rosina

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hugs,
Rosina

4 Haiti with Love

I know that you all remember the horrific destruction that left Haiti in shambles after the massive earthquake that hit them on January 12th of this year. Despite the lack of news coverage in the months since the height of the crisis there are still so many people there that are struggling every day.

So when my uncle told me that he was returning to Haiti with the Global Aid Network (GAIN) I knew that it was our chance to do something for the children even if it was something as small as sending little notebooks with stickers and crayons.

So the kids got busy cutting fun papers to make our plain old dollar store notebooks look really pretty, added some cute little stickers...



and I started measuring and sewing lengths of elastic into loops that would securely hold crayons inside them.

I had seen this project done on another blog and it was such a great idea. So I measured out a 6.5 inch piece of elastic for the piece that would wrap right around the notebook and marked 6 lines on it in the center that were spaced 1/2 an inch apart. Then on a smaller 4.5 inch piece of elastic I marked another 6 lines on it that were 3/4 of an inch apart. Placing the shorter piece of elastic on top of the longer piece I just matched up the lines, sewed, and created the little loops. I then attached the two ends of the longer piece together to make the band complete.

With the elastic loops complete we were ready to place one on each of the notebooks...

and start filling them up with crayons. The measurements worked out perfectly and the crayons were nice and snug in each of the loops.

Each of the children wrote special little messages inside of the notebooks and they were ready to get packaged up and shipped.

Luggage space was limited so we made 50 sets of the notebooks which ended up filling one of the giant warehouse sized cereal boxes and boy was it heavy!

We shipped it today and it will be on its way to Haiti with my uncle very soon and into the hands of the children that he and his fellow medics help during their stay. I pray that they will bring many smiles to the faces of the little ones :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Special Project

The children and I are working on an extra special project but they begged me not to tell you exactly what it is just yet since we're not quite done. They never said that I couldn't give you a little teaser though *grin*.

We've been busy little bees cutting scrapbook papers...

portioning out special stickers...

and sewing up elastic loops. Tomorrow should get us all finished up and I can't wait to share with you how everything turns out :)

Hugs,
Rosina

right now, I AM

...thinking that today's swimming lessons looked more like a visit to Club Med *grin*. When I was a kid our swim teacher stood over us on the pool decks and barked out orders like a drill sergeant and you worked your buns off treading water, doing laps or learning some sort of skill. Heaven forbid we ever had a moment to actually play. As I re-read that I feel like the old guy that tells the story of how he had to walk to school up hill both ways without shoes in knee high snow but I kid you not our swim teacher was the devil in disguise! LOL. I sure am glad that their lessons are much more playful :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Binding

I've been making bias tape for the binding around my potholders but I think it would have been quicker to have just bought a pre made package! I really wanted that perfect match to my fabric though *grin*

I've never made bias tape before so I just sort of estimated the width and went with 1 1/2 inch strips of fabric and after all of the folding and ironing I ended up with 3/4 inches of fabric to wrap around the edges of my potholders. I've got the first one pinned and I'm hoping that when I go to sew it on tomorrow it all goes smoothly!

I was going to do it tonight but I just got a phone call from my boss and it's time to go back to work. I work seasonally for fisheries offloading sea cucumbers and red & green sea urchins and there are a few boats hailing into the area for the end of the week so I've been sorting through paperwork and charts to see what I need for this winter. It's a great way to pick up a little extra cash around the holidays but man I am seriously not looking forward to standing out in the pouring rain anytime soon! LOL. It never fails, as soon as I start it rains sideways and soaks me. I'll just have to focus on the nice little cash infusion that will be heading to my bank account very soon *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Her First Quilt

The quilting bug has caught hold of my seven year old daughter and she is working on her very first doll blanket :)

I am totally thrilled! She has been watching my mom and I craft since she was a baby and I can tell that she will soon be a full time member of our sewing circle *grin*. She's hand sewing all of the pieces together and is amazingly quick now that she has mastered how to tie her own knots and is no longer stabbing her fingers constantly :)

Thankfully for now my scrap bag will satisfy her every need for fabrics but I know there will be the day that she will want to shop just like her mama at the fabric store. All I can say is poor hubby's pocketbook! LOL.

Hugs,
Rosina