Walk in my Garden pt 2- Crochet flowers

Here is some more of my yard to share with you.
When you walk into the front gate, we have a little side yard that goes to the side door of the house. For Mother's Day one year hubby and my girls bought me this strawberry planter. I have never planted strawberries in it. I am a rebel teehee.
That pretty stepping stone you see there, my girlfriend Debbie painted it for me. I love it.

Here is a Welcome sign that I made and painted years ago. I have one for each season

This birdhouse, my dad built it. I painted it, used crackle medium on the main part. I also built the patio on it. I figured I may get some high maintenance birds living in our neighbourhood LOL.

This is one of my favorite spots. I love miniatures. My dad made me this fairy door, there is a tiny fairy standing beside it. I have tiny animals and fairy's through out this area. This scary Garden angel looked so much cuter when I made her. She is a rustic or primitive angel. Her moss hair fell off over the years ago. She holds a sign that reads "May all your weeds be wildflowers".I need to take some better pictures of this side yard. It is quite pretty. I didn't know I was going to post pictures of my yard, so I never took to many pictures of this part. Maybe if it is sunny tomorrow I will get some better ones.

Now for some crafty goodies.

As hubby and I were watching TV tonight. I made some crochet flowers. That shiny thing in the center is a quarter to show you the size of them.

I love this double and triple layer flower. I have so many other crafts to do, but for some reason I want to crochet right now.
On to my day. My day went well. I got to sleep in a bit, as Kristy didn't have any exams today. The girls all helped tidy up the house. Took Ashley driving for a bit. Did some book work.

Then I get a business call from a new small company. The lady was a b1tch. Believe me I don't use that word lightly. But she was telling me that I needed to change the way I did my billing. She didn't understand it, how was she to bill her customers, she just went on and on. I couldn't get a word in. I was trying to ask her what she needed and she just wouldn't stop. Seriously I felt like I was getting verbally abused here. Finally she said something about how she had to go and she would call back later.

I told her that once she calmed down she could call me back.
Well I guess she didn't calm down as she didn't phone back. I just faxed her, her 3 tickets and left a note on the bottom saying that "We have billed this way for over 30 yrs, and she was the only one who has a problem with it. I thought that I would share this in this fax as you wouldn't let me get a word in during the phone conversation."

I was so upset that I actually cried after I got off the phone with her. Then I was so mad that I let a complete stranger make me feel this way.

I told hubby about this when he got home (he is my boss after all). He just told me she was a big fat meanie and obviously stupid if she couldn't figure it out herself. And gave me a big hug.

Humm could that be considered sexual harassment. LOL.

Hope you had a good Monday, and got some crafting in.

Tracy

A Walk in My Garden pt1.- Crochet butterflies

Today is Father's Day, Hubby wanted to be outside most of the day. So we went to the Garden Nursery and bought some flowers. The girls, hubby and I spent most of the day outside, planting flowers and just enjoying the beautiful day.

So I thought I would share my yard. Today I will focus on the front yard.This here is a flower bed that my younger brother Darren and I built. He lives in Manitoba, he came down here for a visit (years ago) and helped me build the wooden flower hanger. The flower bed is in the shape of a heart. I think of him everyday when I look at this.

This is a bird bath that I converted to a planter. The sun isn't at the right angle, sorry for that. This is in the center of the front yard. I love this.Here is a bird house that I painted years ago. My SIL Sharon knows I love birdhouses, when she would go away on a trip she would buy me a plain wooden birdhouse for me to paint. I love Debbie Mumm and Susan Branch's style and colours. I made a wall hanging from Debbie Mumm's fabric (which I can't find in town anymore) and got this idea for this birdhouse from the fabric. The birdhouse has weathered through the years but I still love it.Here is a bird feeder right beside the front door. I love to hear the little birds tweeting around during the day. What I don't like is weeding under this. The birds are so messy that I sometimes have wheat and corn stalks growing in my front flower bed, teehee.This photo here is just before you enter the side yard. I built this flower box many, many years ago. Yes I did, all by myself. I even put a decorative edge at the top of it.

The shrub and Iris's that are underneath it grew there all by themselves, I didn't' plant them :) I love when that happens. That big rock is from my hubby's gravel property. He loved it and brought it home with him. It has a red tinge to it and has sparkles in it.

Yes that is a heart cut out of my gate, cute eh? I made that little garden angel hanging underneath it. She has a birdhouse, watering can and "Welcome" sign hanging between her arms. Above my flower box is another angel, my Aunty Carol got it for me, it says "Bless My Garden" she has little bells dangling from her dress. When I water the flowers beneath her I love to ring the bells. I know its silly, but its the little things that put a smile on my face.
So that is the front yard. I will share the rest of my yard during the next few days.

Onto some crafty pleasures now.

I have been asked by a few of you on how I made my crochet butterflies.

For the first butterfly I used crochet cotton. For the smaller one I used crochet thread. They are both with the same sized hook. I put the quarter beside them to show the actual sizes.
For this one I did a single crochet in pink around the butterfly.
Here are the instructions. ch=chain, slpst=slipstitch, dc=double crochet,

Hook size=2.5

-Chain 10, slipstitch in 1st chain to make a ring.

*1st Round

- ch 3 (makes 1st dc), 2 dc in ring, ch 2, 3 dc, ch2. Continue until you have 8 sets (ending with ch 2)

-slpst in top of chain to join, slpst in dc, slpst in ch 2 space.

*2nd Round
-ch 3 (makes 1st dc), 2 dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch 2

-go into next loop 3 dc, ch2, 3dc, ch2. Continue until you have 16 sets (ending with ch 2)

-slpst in top of chain to join, slpst in dc, slpst in ch 2 space.

*3rd Round

-ch 3 (makes 1st dc), 7 dc in space

-slpst in next space,

-8 dc in next space,

-slpst in next space

- Go all around until you get to the beginning. slpst in top of ch. End.

Easy Peasy.

Then you fold the circle in half matching the edges evenly. Using flower stems, fold them in half and put through the middle of the circle.

Wrap your crochet thread, cotton, or wool around the middle of the butterfly about 15 times. Knot it twice in the back. Thread your ends through your work.

Now just admire these little cuties. I am sure you are going to be making many of these little beauties, they are addicting.

You can even use embroidery thread to make these as well.

If you can't understand my instructions, even though they are awesomely written. Check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHMYlC2KgX8&feature=related

Hope your weekend was a crafty one.

Tracy

Father's Day Wallet

I did a tad of crafting today.
I got this idea from Nicole of http://canadiannickelscrapn.blogspot.com/2010/05/video-episode-21-fathers-day-wallet.html This is so cute.
I did mine a bit differently then hers. I saw a link that a lady made the paper look like leather.
What you do is dry emboss the paper. I only had a Fiskars embossing plate with this type of texture, I wish I would have had the cuttlebug one as I think they make a deeper embossing. Then you lighty rub your ink pad over the raised area to change the colour. Then do the same with Versa Mark, lastly emboss with clear embossing powder.
Pretty neat eh? I put a thin magnet on the closure and on the body of the wallet.
I did crochet a couple more butterflies tonight while watching "Zombieland". Love that movie. It has comedy and zombies, whats not to love teehee.

Went and looked for flooring for our camp/cottage. We found some low pile carpet, grabbed a few samples to see which colour looks best in the rooms. The sales guy was hilarious. The girls came with us and he focused on them and what he thought their personalities were like. He said Ashley knew what she wanted (she wanted wood tile) and didn't want to hear what he had to say. Kristy was the boss. Heather didn't care she just went with the flow.
He was trying to convince them that the carpet was the best and most affordable way to go in the camp. Wayne and I laughed, that was the high light of my day, that is kind of sad isn't it LOL.

I am so tired, guess I shouldn't have stayed up till 4:30am.
Hope your Saturday was a creative one.

Tracy

It was a hot one today

It was pretty hot today.
How hot?
It was so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Teehee.

I didn't want to turn on the central air as it takes up so much Hydro. But hubby broke down and did it after supper. It is quite nice in the house now. I can handle the heat. Actually I quite like it, Hubby on the other hand can't stand it. Mind you he does wear his shorts in the winter. Ya he is a nut bar LOL.

Kristy thinks that she did very good on her English exam. I think she has high 80's or 90's in that class, so no worries on that subject.
After her exam she walked home from school and brought a boy home with her. She has a lot of guy friends. Well actually so does Ashley. They all have more guy friends then girl friends. They say girls just have to much drama. I guess they get enough of that amongst themselves LOL.

The day seemed to go by slow. Which is a first.
I cleaned up the house. Did some book work. Mailed some decorative tags, that should have been in the mail weeks ago. And BBQ'd steaks for supper.
Oh ya and I made a gift card Father's day card. I got the idea from Nicole from CanadianNickelScrapn. I will post it tomorrow. I need a Father's Day sentiment or something on the front. With all the stamps I own I don't have one Father's Day stamp. But I know who will. My scrap'n friend Lynn. She sells Stampn Up products, Guess who's getting a call tomorrow teehee.

I watched a bit of YouTube today. Wow, there are so many things I want to make. Inspiration is just flying around my brain, its dangerous in there.

Fridays Peeves. Humm today was a good day, but I know there are some I can come up with teehee.
1. Crabby accounting ladies. Don't get upset with me because your billing system doesn't work the same as mine. I don't care how it goes in your computer, not my problem, just pay your bill. And no I didn't tell her that. I was very calm and helpful. I think she was calmer after talking to me though.I think I heard a smile on the other end teehee.
2. Parents that don't know where their teenagers are, and don't seem to care, so sad.
3. Open cupboard doors.

Hope you all have a good weekend and get lots of creative time in.

Tracy

End of School Ice Cream and some more lollipops

It is raining, thundering and lightening here right now. I just LOVE a storm. I love the smell of the rain, and the excitement of the thunder and lightening.
Just hope I get this post out before the Internet goes out.

Today is officially Kristy's last day of high school, grade 9. So let the summer begin :)
Well she does have 3 exams to take, one tomorrow, then one on Tuesday then the last one on Wednesday.
Every year on the last day of school I take the girls out for ice-cream. Because Kristy is the last one in high school, I just took her and her friend Alyson.
These girls wouldn't let me take their pictures, Brats LOL.
The top picture is of Kristy, and the next one is of Alyson. They thought it was funny as one of Kristy's teacher's were at Merla Mae as well getting a cold treat.
Today I got to make some more lollipop flowers. I ran to the fabric store to get some more Bridal Satin. I also picked up some bridal lace for the lace circle around some of the flowers.
I bought chocolate brown and light cream satin. I thought that I would try to Glimmer Mist the cream colour.
This blue one I Glimmer Misted it. It took the Glimmer wonderfully. I heated the edges before I Misted them. I wasn't sure how the Glimmer would react to the flame. Plus not sure how toxic it would be.
I Glimmer Mist the rose coloured one as well. I even glimmer misted the bridal lace on a brown one.Here they all are. The top ones are a deep purple and the bottom 2 are chocolate brown. In the photo they look the same colour. If you look closely, the bottom left I glimmered the bridal lace behind the flower.Now if you plan on doing these, (I will do a tutorial) Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area. My craft room is in the corner of the basement with no window. So guess who has a headache right now. I am not sure if it is from heating the satin, or the glue gun. I have a mini low temp glue gun. Well it died during this. So I had to use the Big Daddy Industrial Strength Glue Gun.
Needless to say I am going to get me a new mini one tomorrow. I may need to get some feathers and other goodies to decorate these cuties. I have no idea what I am going to do with all of these, but they are fun to make.
I tend to do this though. I find a craft that I like and make a whole lot of them. Teehee. I think it may be part of my obsessive personality, what do you think?

Thankful Thursday.
1. Good Friends
2. My blogging friends
3. Getting comment on my blog. I LOVE this, who am I kidding.
4. Playing in my scrap/craft room
5. Afternoon naps.

What are you happy about today?

Tracy

Lollipop, lollipop oh lolli-lollipop

Wow I got to play today!
Well not for long, but I did do something. I made these lollipop flowers. I have wanted to make them for awhile now. I bought the fabric yesterday. So honestly how do you thing they turned out?
I am not sure if I like them. For one thing I think the beads should have been white, and I didn't have anything for the back of the flowers. I have seen feathers, sequins or beads used in place of my fiber, but that's all I had. I guess it will be a trip to the craft store for me tomorrow. I'll get my chauffeur to drive me....Ashley teehee.

Today Ashley met with the groom to be to talk about the photography for the wedding she was asked to do. She was so nervous.
As she was meeting with him, Heather and I went for breakfast. We went to the Hoito, so yummy. This place is a landmark in my city. There is even a book about it.
See that gentleman sitting in the front of the store. He is playing a accordion. So you even get entertainment when you enter, teehee. My FIL and MIL always went here. It has great prices and you get a lot of food. The college and university students love this place. Most times you have to wait for a table. We were lucky we got to just walk in and sit down.

They make the best Finn pancakes with strawberry sauce in town.

I did get to Jangles today (yup thought of you Jingle). They didn't have one charm that I liked for my tags. So then I went to this old craft store, Unique Family Crafts. The owners run it from their home. The front of the place is the store and they live in the back part. It is on at least its 3rd generation of women. I used to go there for patterns and paints.

They sell all types of odds and ends of crafts, but the last few years I noticed they have been specializing in beads. Well they had so many cute charms and I found what I was looking for.

I did 3 loads of laundry today and hung it all on the line. As I was hanging up the last load, I noticed that the air changed and I could smell rain in the air. You ever get that? Smell the rain in the air?

Luckily the rain missed us and my laundry all dried. That is the worst, taking wet clothes off the line. Its like taking off you wet bathing suit, not fun.

So that's all I wrote folks. Nothing else to see, so you can move along :)

Hope your Wednesday was a crafty one.

Tracy

Dreaming of my get away.

Today was another day NOT spent at home.
I long for the day when I get to spend my whole day just lounging, eating bon-bons, checking out blogs, checking out YouTube channels, and crafting the rest of the day. Snap out of it, time for a reality check, LOL.



So Ashley and I went out and exchanged the straightener that we bought yesterday. We didn't like the new one. It tugged at your hair and didn't straighten like our CHI. So we got a new CHI. A funky one teehee.
I went looking for some charms for my decorative tags. I went to Michael's and didn't find any that suited my needs. They did have a lot of really nice charms though.
I was planning on going to a charm shop in town called Jangles(but I kind of forgot). Every time I see this store I think of Jingles :)
I went to the dollar store for some storage containers, and found some other goodies I wasn't even looking for. Funny how that happens.



It was a nice day today, I got 1 load of laundry on the line. Wow I do a lot of laundry LOL.
It rained later in the evening, but I did get a very short walk in tonight before it really came down.



I went to visit my girlfriend Debbie (at her work) so we could book our girls get away. We decided to stay on this side of the border. We are going to Mink Mountain again this year. But we decided to stay at the Falcons Ridge. It has a hot tub and the kitchen table looks big enough for our stuff and for us to scrapbook. We also take over the extra chairs and use them to put our stuff on.
They have excellent hiking trails there. We did them all last year, and let me tell you it was a workout.
Here is an example of the hiking trail. We hit this rope about 10 minutes into the hike. It was to help us climb up part of the mountain.
It was just the 2 of us and the trails weren't marked that well. We kept wondering if we were lost. But it was a BLAST.*Sorry Debbie for posting your picture, but you have the one of me teehee. Plus you look so cute in this one :)


What have you done today to make you feel proud?
1. Went for a walk even in the rain.
2. Bought lots of fruit and plan on eating it.
3. Cutting down on my hydro.

Ya that's all I got. I try to do 5 but could only come up with 3 and I really had to dig for those.
So whats on your list.

Tracy