Depending on where you give birth, your baby may be offered a bath before you go home. This old-school practice is becoming less common, because the W ...
I remember the days when I was in nursery school and my dad would walk me to school. I tended to wander off somewhere as a kid, whenever I went out ...
Who?s riding" Children about seven to eight years of age. Even if they?ve met the guidelines, kids need to be mature enough for this upgrade. Ensure ...
by Joey Lombardi posted in Mom Stories It all started with lamps. My wife and I bought two lamps for our bedroom last year. They are nice, but they a ...
I have created a few new ornaments to represent the year. I made these for my girlfriends and slipped a few into Christmas cards this year. Of course ...
With all of the knitting I do I end up with a lot of tiny leftovers. Even though I throughly enjoy playing yarn chicken (trying to finish a project wi ...
One year ago we picked up a puppy. Our first puppy. He has grown to be a big part of this family. He is gentle with the kids, loves to play games and ...
When I first started making as a pre-teen cross stitch was my craft. I made & sold lots of ornaments. I also have many cross stitch ornaments on the t ...
I?m not sure about you but I?m starting to feel ?jolly AF?, at least when drinking. A few years ago I?d open a bottle of wine and drink the whole thin ...
A year ago we were having a quarantine Christmas and I was hanging out with my quarantine crew. Fast forward a year and it feels pretty similar. I am ...
I started running years ago and found in the winter my ears would get cold. I ran in a toque but I got too warm. So one night before I was running the ...
I saw these naked nutcrackers at the craft store and was inspired to deck them out in holiday style. I painted them while watching many Christmas movi ...
I remember the first time we went and made clay pieces as a family. Our youngest was about 5 which was the minimum age and for a good reason. It was h ...
That?s a wrap on Christmas 2021. All that?s left is the dishes. Good thing I have a few new dish clothes to clean up the mess. ...
The very best day that we spent in Thailand was at Elephant Hills. It happened to be my husband’s birthday. Even thought he took me to Thailand ...
Wow, I made it. We crafted through the 12 days of Christmas once again. I had a little help this year from the elves. This final project was made fo ...
It’s the 12th day of Christmas today, or maybe even day 13 but if you are like me then perhaps you have lost track of the days. My oldest saw k ...
The kids and I usually make a gingerbread house from a kit around Christmas. The goal isn’t about the baking, it’s about the decorating ...
Wow, today was a day. I’m on an emotional roller coaster and I’m exhausted. Whose with me" I’m ready for that long winter nap Iâ ...
Our Christmas tree is decorated in ornaments that were given to me when I was a child, some were made and some were bought. Each year I received at le ...
I was making a craft today when my five year old asked if he could have a clear ornament ball which I was planning on using for my project. He was ver ...
Every once and a while I get the opportunity to use my crafting skills to help others. Crafting skills don’t really come in handy that often so ...
At this rate I might have to change the title to New Years Crafts. It’s only 8 days to Christmas day and I am on day 4 of Christmas Crafts. We ...
On the first day of Christmas my true love made for me?an ornament wreath. On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me…mugs. We ha ...
At Halloween we took the kids to a local craft shop to make Halloween bowls. While we were there the kids saw posters for holiday mugs, and they decid ...
This blog began as a 12 days of Christmas Crafting blog, which has morphed over the years to incorporate whatever was going on in my life. I have kept ...
In addition to temples, and tuk tuks there are many markets in Thailand. The Damnoen Saduak floating market was about an hour and a half out of Bangko ...
As a maker I am interested in crafts so the Sampran Riverside Village was right up my alley. We learned about and tried our hand at some traditional T ...
I think that I love to be surprised, but I am not good at accepting surprises. The truth is that I love the idea of being surprised. When we go on vac ...
Today is my 40th birthday. It’s a big deal. Every birthday is a big deal because I am still alive, and that’s worth celebrating (at leas ...
If you have signed up for any retail emails you have probably been bombarded in the last few days. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 50% off, buy one get on ...
Wow, that was quite the crafting/blogging break. It has been 3 months since I last posted, perhaps that suits my two readers just fine (thanks mom). W ...
Canada is having a big birthday tomorrow! 150 years young. We celebrate Canada Day every year but this is a special year so I made special shirts. I c ...
I haven’t posted much lately because I started a new job at the beginning of May. There have been lots of changes happening at home, and we all ...
On March 18th 2015, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and it was life changing. I believe that no one should hear the words ?you have a brain tumour ...
Two and a half months after brain surgery my husband and I went away over night to celebrate our anniversary without the kids! It was the same weekend ...
Over the past two and a half years when I was asked “what do you do†(for work)" I answered, I am working on my Masters, which usually spa ...
As a designer I LOVE a good before and after makeover. Before I went in for surgery to remove a brain tumour named Timmy, I joked about my brain being ...
I am having one of those “where did the time go momentsâ€. Today is my son’s 8th birthday, and it seems like yesterday that I was sw ...
I have been blessed to be surrounded by strong women my whole life. Women who believe that they are equal and can do anything. When I was a kid in the ...
Happy Valentines’s Day! I am a celebrator, I celebrate everything. Including Valentine’s Day which my husband lovingly calls a Hallmark ...
Every once in a while a package from my mom arrives with a surprise inside for the kids. Once it was these little cuties, and another time it was Star ...
With every new year comes resolutions and I seem to make at least one similar resolution every year. Last year I resolved to listen to more music, and ...
As a student and a mother, I am often studying in odd places. I am regularly in the local recreation center studying while my kids are in an arts or s ...
When I decide to knit, or crochet a new project I can be inspired by an image on Ravelry or Pinterest or by the yarn itself. Believe it or not, I am k ...
On the last day of Christmas Crafting my sister made for me…a Messy Bun Hat. Right now there is quite the knitting trend happening, with the cre ...
I have been on a knitting binge recently, which means lots of leftovers. I haven’t been feeding my family leftovers because of my knitting obse ...
I have made many gingerbread houses over the years and I am getting much better at it. By getting better I mean I now buy them assembled. Not just pre ...
It has been a busy few weeks here, and today is the first day in a long time where we didn’t have any commitments. I am spending the day in my ...
For a while I was on a sock knitting kick. When I determined that I had enough pairs of knit socks, I moved on to finger less gloves. Same yarn differ ...
We are in the midst of a cold spell on the island, and I am struggling to stay warm and cozy. The wool socks, and sweaters just aren’t cutting ...
Let me tell you a little secret, I make a lot of crafts from scratch but I also craft from kits. It’s even better than baking from a box becaus ...
Today, I am turning the crafting over to the kids. They make ornaments for the family each year, and this year its melty bead ornaments. As they are g ...
“He’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out whose naughty or niceâ€â€¦on day 4 we are making a Naughty & Nice sign ...
On the third day of Christmas my true love made for me…JOY. For a few years I have been photographing my friends and their families for Christma ...
For years I have been doing the 12 days of Christmas crafting, and will continue this year too. The 12 days of Christmas Crafting historically has bee ...
On the second day of Christmas my true love made for me…A Santa pillow. I saw one of these in a store and it was more than $50.00, which is a li ...
I mentioned in my last post that we traveled to Vancouver as a family for a week. My husband had a conference and I though that it would be a great ...
My “Making A Life†philosophy to living includes creating a homemade life but it also embraces making memories. When my husband announced ...
As I was making Christmas Sock monkeys (on a Saturday night after most of a bottle of wine) I got to thinking that if the socks had meaning the monke ...
October is the month that the wool socks come out. I don’t like wearing socks, I am convinced that it’s genetic. My dad has gone so far ...
I have become a celebrator, I celebrate everything post brain tumour. But a wedding anniversary that is a super big deal. Being married is hard, which ...
I love Pinterest, I pin lots of projects and even make some. BUT it?s very misleading. That whole perfect pinterest thing is a bit much, even for a de ...
Packing up this piece today, to send it to the ?Inner Workings? art show at The Gerry & Nancy Pencer Brain Tumor Centre in the Princess Margaret in To ...
On the first day of Preschool the teachers announced that we would be going to the Pumpkin Patch. Each and every day for a month and a half, upon waki ...
Making my own bread was something that I did years ago before having kids, when I had a smidge more time and no one holding onto my legs while I was c ...
Full disclosure I made carrot soup with homemade bread for dinner, but fed my kids McDonald’s for lunch. In my world that is balance. I donâ� ...
Florida has been on my mind of late with all of the news about Hurricane Matthew. While we were there earlier this year we visited the Moat Marine Lab ...
This past week the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with their children, were in BC for a visit. I am not normally a Royal fan but since there were ...
This past summer I was able to spend some time with my youngest sister. She lives in Ontario and I live in BC, if you are not a geography buff that is ...
Originally posted on Sarah Patterson Photography: I don’t know about you but when I go on vacation I always bring my camera. I take a million p ...
Today is the first day of fall and the first day of knitting season. I don?t know about you but I take a hiatus from yarn based projects during the wa ...
Originally posted on Sarah Patterson Photography: Today celebrates the last day of summer. I can?t think of a better way to close off an excellent sea ...
Originally posted on Sarah Patterson Photography: I had the opportunity recently to do a fly by over Victoria, BC. It was a beautiful day even with th ...
I really don’t know where the time went. One day he was a baby and the next he is 4. When I was in the midst of diapers, nap-time, breastfeedin ...
We are so fortunate to live surrounded by so much natural beauty. Thetis Lake is one such place just outside of Victoria. We made it to Thetis twice t ...
A wonderful friend dropped off a big bag of apples and pears on my doorstep recently. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but fruit flies not so ...
Last weekend, I got pickled. I spent Sunday with a group of moms on the Victoria Harbour Ferry Pickle Pub Crawl. Unfortunately, we picked the on ...
Another summer break has come and gone. The kids are heading back to school in a few short days and I am too. My reading in the next few months will c ...
 On August 7th 2015 I went into the hospital to have a meningioma tumour removed from my brain. The experience was no picnic, but I survived and a ...
After the first disastrous camping trip three years ago, I didn?t have it in me to try for a second time. When my husband decided to give it another g ...
We see my sister and her kids once a year. Each time we see them we have a little photo shoot. It?s challenging to get a 1,2,3 and 7-year-old to look ...
Last week, I was writing about being a tourist in my home town, so it’s only fitting that today I write about exploring Victoria. My first trip ...
Yesterday, I took my kids to see ?Living in the Age of Airplanes? at the IMAX theater. The movie provided a history of travel and got me excited to se ...
As a mom, I find myself spending my time doing things that I have no interest in. I don?t mean cooking dinner (which coincidentally I have no interest ...
Lions, Tigers and Bears oh my. While we were on vacation in Ontario we spent a day at Safari Niagara, which is home to many animals including Lions, T ...
  It has been years since I lived in my hometown of Welland, Ontario. In truth, the second I had the chance I moved away. I packed my bags and ...
I am a little late to the party this month, as I was on vacation for the first week of August. I had four books listed on my July reading list but I o ...
I am a big fan of eating local in season food. Fresh local fruit just tastes better, especially when I grow it myself. Before you get the wrong idea a ...
I grew up in the small town of Welland Ontario, recently I returned to visit family. During my stay my mother pointed out a new restaurant and suggest ...
Who loves FREE food" I sure do. We have blackberries growing in our yard but after we picked all of the ripe ones my oldest suggested we go in sea ...
The other day my son asked if we could paint. My answer to that question is usually an astounding YES. I wanted to switch it up a bit because I am run ...
When I was young, single and childless I would escape to the cottage frequently stopping along the way to pick up a rental kayak for the weekend. To g ...
If you are heading to a BBQ this weekend, or hosting a BBQ what are you serving for dessert" How about cupcake sliders" These are a great conversati ...
