Still here... haven't melted away... yet

Belly - 37 weeks

So, it was a hot hot hoooot weekend! We went to Matt's company picnic in the park on Saturday and I got soo sunburnt / heat stroked - ew! Yesterday it was sweltering in our house and I spent the day trying not to move mixed with fainting/throwing up and crying. Jude was at Grandma's so we could get things done.. well.. we did nothing ;) Not good times! Today will hopefully be better... and it is supposed to be a rainy week. Here are our pics from the park on Saturday, look how fat my feet are ;)

Fabulous FALL!

Hello readers!! :) I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday, I know I am! For all of you Canadian readers, please make sure that you don't forget to get out and vote today (preferably NDP - Canada needs a leader with a badass moustache!).

It's only 2pm here and I have had quite the full day already! Jude and I ran some errands this morning, and I have oficially started my Christmas shopping. I went looking for this:



But alas, I did not find it. However, since I was in the bookstore already, I did a little bit (and when I say little bit I mean I was in the store for over an hour) of browsing. For the first time, I allowed myself to visit the Children's book section. Here is what I left with:



There were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many books with gorgeous illustrations! And waaaaay too many of those gorgeously illustrated books also happened to be on sale. I paid full price for only one, with the rest costing between $2 and $5. Oh and I did pay full price for the cd (you can't tell in the photo, but is lullaby renditions of radiohead songs, cool hey?).



Here are a couple of badly shot photos from the book "Vunce upon a time", the one I paid full price for. I just couldn't resist this cool artwork, and I figured that we needed at least one Halloween book!





And these are some shots from a couple of the other books. Don't you just love the colors in all of the illustrations? When I was a child I always treasured books like these ones... obviously I still do ;) I hope to get back to the bookstore sometime soon because there were a lot more books calling to me! Especially the large Alice in Wonderland with original illustrations, and I really want to pick Jude up a copy of Goodnight Moon.

After the bookstore, we had one more stop to make.



Gorgeous, right? These road side self serve vegetable stands are very common here in PEI, and of course now that fall has arrived they all prominently feature pumpkins. I had driven by this particular pumpkin patch about twenty times and never had any cash on me or didn't have time to stop, so I planned a special trip. You see pumpkin patches like this every 10 homes or so, but this one is HUGE and beautifully arranged. The pumpkins we picked up are very good quality, better than any I have seen in the grocery store so far and the best part, pumpkins at this patch only cost $1! I got a jumbo pumpkin, 6 mini pumpkins, 9 ornamental gourds, and 4 regular sized pumpkins for only $13 (I threw $15 in the box because these pumpkins are grown and harvested by the family's 5 kids and the money goes to them). There were even two very friendly little kitties there to greet us, and follow us around. Jude loves kitties so they made fast friends :) Of course, I couldn't resist taking lots of photos!













Our plan is to attempt to carve something like this with the jumbo pumpkin:



And maybe something like this with the smaller ones:



These ideas are both from Martha Stewart (of course, I love Martha!!), here is a link to the raven project with step by step photos and instructions, and the silhouette project as well if you want to give either it a try.

Photopost Friday!!

I finally got a chance to sit down and load a bunch of the photos I had taken recently.








To see more, please visit my Flickr Photostream.

Photo Wednesday? lol

I had to bribe Matt to give me the laptop by promising to talk about the Blue Jays on my blog, so - here you go Matt ;)

The blue jays have won ten consecutive games in a row and he thinks they might have a chance to make it into the playoffs. They are his favorite team, so he's naturally very excited about this prospect.

Now onto the fun stuff - Photos!! I took a bunch of photos today (finally). I was even able to make a small paper craft now that my space is a bit tidier, and I cleaned up my supplies after I was done. I really wanted to just leave them on the desk, but I am commited to trying to keep the studio tidy now. Enough chatter, let's see the pictures :)


Some polymer clay buttons I have on the go. I've developed a good system and can make them pretty quickly. I hope to paint some nice designs on them and then glaze them and offer packages in the Paper*Cakes etsy shop.


The little craft I spoke about earlier.. just a little tag. I had this pre-made tag in a drawer, and just worked off of the blue background color. It seems boy themed, maybe for a birthday gift for a little boy or a shower gift for a mom expecting a boy. The back is completely finished and professional, with a place to write. The tag itself is oversized, so it can be used as a card/tag in one.


Lastly.. I've been working on a little 'entryway' station. It's actually on a wall in my living room (the stairs are behind) just before the entrance to the kitchen. (When you walk into our home, you basially walk into the living room. We have a teeny townhouse.) I wanted to create a little nook where people could sit and put on shoes, while having jackets and bags handy. I found the boards with hooks in them at a discount store for $2.99 each and painted them red. My hope is to make a cushion for the bench, get a little end table to sit where the laundry basket is in the photos, and maybe hang a few pictures above the rows of hooks. For now it works :)

Click HERE to visit my flickr account and see a few more detail shots and additional projects. I have also been uploading flea market finds and a few shots of Jude.

Operation Studiop Cleanup: Day Two

Here are some photos of the Studio.. coming along nicely but I still have a long, long way to go.



Remember this table? It was once covered with a stack of paper so high it was unuseable. There were boxes and totes piled next to it in the entryway, which have since been removed. A few knick nacks remain, which will need to be removed before the sewing machine and paper cutter can return to their rightful homes. However, it is nice to be able to walk into the room without fear of tripping or breaking something (my neck!).



I re-installed the cupboard door. This makes a huge difference in the room already, being able to close the door on the mess inside. All of the patterned paper from the table was put into the rack where it belongs. Scraps were put into a little tray on the desk. I found the rest of the fabric to make the curtain for the other side, but currently have no more double sided carpet tape so I can't put it up just yet. Right now I am just focusing on cleaning anyways - prettyness will come later!



Next to the cupboard lives my Making Memories carousel, which has had a makeover. I took out everything I don't need close at hand to make room for the essentials. Various glues, paintbrushes, tools, pens, and watercolor pencils hang out here. Before, everything was willy nilly inside of it and now it is easy to turn and grab what I need.



Whoa. Whoa. Yes, that is a clean worksurface. I have a desk again!



And finally, the shelves. Looking a bit more tidy but still have a ways to go. I need to find a better place for all of the wood pieces and I would like to get more of the pink photoboxes (they're IKEA) when I'm in Alberta.

Today is especially rainy here in PEI, we're catching the tail end of tropical storm Hannah. At least gray and yucky days usually make the best cleaning days! I hope to get a bit more done soon.