Remembrance of the Penny

If you're Canadian, you already know that the Canadian penny is being phased out.  People have mixed feelings about this, and what it means when we're shopping.  If you want to read a bit about it & rounding, check out the Royal Canadian Mint's website. 

Basically it was costing more to make than it was worth to keep producing the penny.  Kind of sad but I found a few penny projects to use up those ones you've been saving!

I also have a whole pin-board devoted to this, but unfortunately some of them are links to a round up that don't have the source (which is why they're not included here) but feel free to take a peek on Pinterest.

DIY Ombre Penny Art - I Heart Naptime (Guest post by Doodlecraft)

Here's another spin on Ombre Penny Art

DIY Ombre Penny Art - Keeping it Simple (Guest Post by My Covered Bridge)

I'm a big fan of showing off your collections and I think that if you want to save pennies for sentimental value, this is a great way to do it!

Now if you have A LOT of pennies, this is a really cool idea

Stair DIY - The House of Bing

Wow! I've seen back splashes and countertops, but doing your stairs is commitment! I don't think I'd have the patience for it, but it turned out fantastic!

Are you saving pennies for sentimental value? What would you do with them?

$5 of Decorating Fun

Once every year I get to remind my boss how "old" he is (old in quotation marks because he's only 4 years older than I am, and neither of us are actually old) I like to do this by decorating his cubicle for his birthday. 

This year I spent a total of $5 at the dollar store, and produced fairly good results - and that included a card!

This banner was left over from last year...but you can't go wrong with one of these!

I decided against the Disney Princess theme and went with something slightly less emasculating and less obnoxious - hockey theme!

I found a package of Canadian hockey team napkins - perfect!

I also picked up some streamers, balloons and tissue paper!  Streamers and balloons are pretty obvious as to what to do with them, but the tissue paper I took one sheet at a time and grabbed it by the middle and stuck it in random crevices...like between his monitors.

So for not very much money, I was able to decorate the cubicle and still have plenty left over! 

Winner Winner Winner! {Sew Mama Sew giveaway day}

The winner of my Sew Mama Sew giveaway day giveaway is......

And comment #55 is......

Shanny!!!!

Congratulations!  I'll be contacting you to confirm what color you want and where to be shipping the goodies! :)

Thanks to everyone who entered! This was SO MUCH FUN (as always!)  Thanks to those people who decided to follow (through whatever means you use) and big thanks to Sew Mama Sew for having such a fantastic event! 

Thank You Cards {Part 3}

Here's the last installment of my card making obsession.  If you missed any of these cards, check out {Part 1} or {Part 2}

These first three cards were pin-spired from this one.  Hers is a sympathy card and was so fantastic I had to try to re-create it.  And then I liked it so much I did it in other colors! The reason the color of the stamp doesn't change is because I stamped on vellum and when I do that, I hate when it smears or rubs off, so I used Staz-on ink (and I only have one ink pad of that!)

This one was fun because I got a square envelope from Amy so I could make a square card to fit in it.  I used only half of the stamp that has "thanks" written on it a bunch of times.

 

This one was a stash-buster with the sticker (this one is probably under a year old though!)

 

I felt clever using the "with all my heart" on here because it's the type of thing I would NEVER use otherwise! :)

 

This card was fun because of the unlikely color combination! It was a good scrap-buster too!

Lastly, I leave you with this card.  This one was to use up some old rub-ons that were bits and pieces from different sets.

Thanks for checking out all of my cards! I had fun making them! 

Sweet Potato Chips and Guac

The other night I was hungry while making dinner.  I was making chilli.  It still needed to simmer an hour. I wasn't going to make it that long!

What I did have ready to eat was an avocado (my love of avocados is HUGE!) and sweet potatoes.  I thought that this could be a winning combination.

 

And how!

 

Using my sister's blog post on making microwave potato chips, I did the same thing with sweet potatoes.  I found they needed to cook a bit longer than what she recommends.  I don't know if this is due to different microwave powers or due to sweet potato vs. regular potato (potato, patahto, right?!)

 

Anyway, this was a nice quick solution to my rumbly tummy!

 

 

As for the guacamole I really phoned this one it.  We're talking mash some avocado, add some lemon juice and salt and pepper (did I mention I was hungry?)  I think we all know that guacamole is really just an "adult" way to eat mass amounts of avocado "legitimately" right?!  If you have a favorite recipe for guac, go for it.  :)

 

Enjoy!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day - Coffee Filter Roses

I'm so excited to once again be participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!  If you're a first timer over here - welcome! Please stay and look around after entering! 

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/

My coffee filter roses {tutorial} seems to be one of my all time most popular posts and now I'm going to be giving away one full bouquet in the color of your choice!

Here's some that I made as part of a gift a couple years ago

All you have to do to win is leave a comment below with what color you'd like (don't worry, if you win, you can still change your mind!) 

AND if you don't have a blogger/google profile, please leave me your email address so that I can get a hold of you!

I would love for you to follow me, but it's not a requirement to enter!

Note that there's 1 comment/person, and I will choose the winner at random.  Contest closes May 10th and the winner will be announced May 12!  Contest is open to those in Canada and the US (for shipping reasons)

Thanks for entering, I'd love for you to stick around and check out some of my other crafty goodness!!

Also, if you haven't already been there, head over to Sew Mama Sew for a ton more giveaways!!

Thank You Cards {Part 2}

Alright, here is the next installment of my thank you card making BONANZA! If you missed the first part (and the reason I'm making all these and for the first set of cards, check back here!)

This is one of my favorites! I love the colors and the elegant look of it! The sentiment is another $1.50 stamp from Michael's.

This one was fun because it all started with the little "Thank You" patch.  Again, something I picked up a LONG time ago and figured it was time to get rid of!

This card was made with - you guessed it - stickers that I had picked up a long time ago and just got tired of seeing in my stash year after year!

Call me crazy, but (but don't call me crazy butt! :P) I LOVE the neon color with the pale blue & grey! 

 

This one had the little thank you patch that came with the one above.  Add some flowers and before you know it you have a card!

 

For this card I used a couple of die cut glitter flowers that I have a ton of.  When I first made it, it wasn't my favorite, but I definitely like it more now!

This last one isn't so much of a thank you card, but it would be really cute for a child. 

        

   

Thank You Cards {Part 1}

Lately it seems like I haven't had much time for scrapbooking, and I haven't really been taking pictures to scrapbook with - it's a bit "chicken & the egg" scenario.  Either way, it's resulted in me making a lot of Thank You cards!

The great thing about making these cards is that I get to use up a lot of scraps I have kicking around!  The last weekend I got into a scrapbooking kick I made 21 cards! 

Now you might be asking what one does with 21 Thank You cards. When my dad was sick and in the intensive care unit, both the staff members and my family and friends were really great.  When you have a family member in the hospital, it consumes a lot of your time, and a lot of people help you out, and deserve to be thanked. I intend to leave a bunch of these cards in the family room at the hospital my dad was at so that anyone who needs one is welcome to it. 

Now, as not to overwhelm you with 21 cards at once, I've split it up into a couple posts!

All the cards today use one of my Thank You sentiment stamps which I think came from the $1.50 bin at Michael's.

This first one, the card base was a leftover scrap, the "T" was from some monogram paper, and I thought the little crown was a cute touch!

This one was a really great way to use up some random stickers I've had forever!  The two circles are popped up, and the tone-on-tone stamping turned out better than I expected!

This card again was just leftover bits and pieces too.  LOVE the colors!

Okay, yes, this card is very girly.  But because these are not all for me, you never know what catches other people's eyes!

These last two are definitely my favorite.  I thought I was pretty clever for cutting up one piece of paper to make a super adorable card (super easy too! Cut, ink, adhere! BAM!)



Stay tuned for part 2!

 

 
Making the World Cuter

30 Days of Salad! {Try to Keep Up}

This is me doing a little advertising work for my big sis Leslie at Try to Keep Up.

 

Last summer she put on a cute little series called 30 Days of Salad.  As the weather turns warmer (well, not in Saskatchewan!) our stomachs turn to salads.  Over the summer Leslie's blog will have 30 different posts of salads. 

 

I discovered the best salad by Bev at Flamingo Toes last summer.  It became my new go-to salad to bring to BBQs.  Although now that I'm not eating wheat, I'm not sure what I'll do (probably eat it and think about the consequences later!)

 

 

Anyway, she's still looking for people to contribute! If you're interested shoot her an email! westcoastleslie@gmail.com  

Pet Peeve...followed up with some humor!

Alright, first with the pet peeve - "Pin now, read later"  I don't know about you, but I rarely find I have the time to go back through my pins and read them later, if I didn't already do it when I pinned it (other than for reference - like I'm going to make something or try a recipe)  I try to take the time when I pin them to visit the original site to make sure it's a "good pin" (ie the link goes somewhere, and it's the original site) I do this because I know I will likely never go back to check. 

And isn't everything kinda "pin now, read later"?  If you're not going to come back to it, why are you pinning it?

Anyway, this wasn't to make a whole bunch of people upset, it's just me venting a little because I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. 

I know I'm not the only one because I found these... (no...I did not just go and make them myself!)

This however is a real concern:

Especially because I have a board titled "Corgis" and then "Clothing DIY" It makes me think of this:


(I apologize it's only the audio, couldn't find a good video)