Some of my card samples . . .

These are some of the hand-made cards I have created using stamps and inks and various other craft items . . .

Mailbox

Here is our new mailbox which I stamped using acrylic paint and stamps from Stampin' Up . . . I painted the whole mailbox, stamped with the paints and then coated the whole thing with a weather-proof sealant!!

Samples of my beaded jewellery

Here are some samples of jewellery I have made using different types of beads:


This is a three strand necklace made from various types of purple, wooden seed beads.

This is a blue necklace made with navy, blue and white glass beads with swirls on them.

This is a necklace made from multicoloured glass beads I found when I was in Florida - they are separated by small wooden black beads.

This is a multistrand chocker necklace made from different shades of pink seed beads.

This is a beautiful flat stone I found on a beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island near Uclulet. It is so soft and attractive, so I decided to make it into a necklace.

This is a necklace made from turquoise coloured glass beads.

This is a necklace made from turquoise beads.

This is a bracelet made from amethyst glass beads and sterling silver separators.

These are earrings made from sterling silver and Swarovski crystal beads.

These are purple earrings made from sterling silver and various purple beads.

Let's talk crafts . . . stamped tiles

I am an avid crafts enthusiast and enjoy a variety of different crafts!! I am currently a demonstrator with Stampin' Up and love stamping, scrapbooking, beading, knitting, etc. Here is a recent work of mine . . . a set of coasters I made. I stamped on tiles to create these coasters for my mother as a birthday gift:

Pete's big trip to Nova Scotia

For our final big trip of the summer, Peter and I flew out to Nova Scotia to visit my parents. We had a great time, but unfortunately Pete came down with a serious ear infection as soon as we arrived and was feeling absolutely miserable for the first 5 or 6 days we were there. We even had to take the little tike into the hospital one night with a high fever :-(

But he prevailed and kicked his ear infection and was eventually back to his fun-loving, ENERGETIC, happy old self! The grandparents were pleased to see the real Pete back and had a few days of going to the beach, reading stories, going for walks to enjoy with their grandson. Peter had a fun stay in Hunts Point, and especially loved the beach, as well as tormenting my parents' two airedales, Maggie and Cleo. He had his first real ice cream cone and it's a real shame we didn't have our camera with us for that one!!

Here are a few highlights from the trip:

Our family trip to Oakville

For our second trip of the summer we drove from Ottawa to Oakville, a city south of Toronto, to visit Paul's cousin Anne, her husband Dave, and their adorable son Aiden! It was a long drive but worth it because we had a fun long weekend . . . we brought our cocker spaniel Rudy with us and he had fun romping with their Samoyd Samson. Until Rudy figured out that Samson wasn't allowed in the kiddie pool, and Rudy felt that he, well, WAS allowed in!! So he would just plunge into the water and lay down and "hide" from Samson there :-)

Peter and Aiden had fun playing together in the backyard and at the park. Aiden had a lot of fun toys for Peter and didn't mind sharing all his things!! What a good role model to his little cousin. We all ate A LOT of food that weekend (it never really stopped) and enjoyed the whole family's company in the backyard of Anne and Dave's absolutely gorgeous new home.

When I returned home to Ottawa I babysat my friend Heather's son Connor for 2 weeks (he is 13 months old). Peter and Connor had a lot of fun together and went for a huge wagon ride through the woods every day at the local dog park, Bruce Pit. Connor realized quickly that whatever was in Peter's sippy cup was better than his, so he preceded to drink Peter's every morning. I don't know how Connor is doing now but I think (wink wink) that Peter taught his little friend a few bad habits over the course of his visit with us. And talk about exhausting - those were some tiring days for me (and six months pregnant in 35 degree heat as well!).

My first blog!

Well, this is my first blog and I don't really know where to start! If I had really been "on the ball" I would have started this when Peter was born - now I've missed out on the first 17 months!!

Right now I am home in Ottawa after an exhausting summer of travelling! Here's my brief synopsis:

In late July we flew out to British Columbia to visit Paul's sister Stephanie and her husband Chris. They just built a beautiful new home near Vernon, B.C. in the Okanogan Valley. It's in Predator Ridge, a golf community, and it's so amazingly scenic there!! We loved seeing all the sights :-)

Pete loved visiting his aunt and uncle and was lucky enough to see a lot of new things on his trip. We went to a miniature horse farm (the largest one, we're told!) and Pete played up close with most of the animals there :-)

We were even lucky enough to get in a little swimming and playground time :0

Overall we had a fantastic time and think British Columbia is a pretty cool place. We owe a big thanks to Steph and Chris for our fun stay at Predator Ridge!