Tea for Five?

I have been wanting to have a tea party for sometime...so we decided to invite a few friends over for Princess' party...please forgive the photos...the dining room isn't very accommodating in terms of lighting!

One of the girls was calling the party a Lemonade Party since we had Lemonade rather than tea...I kind of liked it! ;)

The birthday girl! I shall have to get her her very own tea cup...that is my Lily of the Valley Cup from when I was a girl!

You know I hate to disappoint my fans...we did a quick craft and made mini purses!
Here are our guests. Aren't they lovely?Oh and another guest!

Princess was delighted with her Tangled Cake and doll! It was a little tricky for me since the cake cracked when I tried to put the doll in...I managed make do but it wasn't easy!

Enjoy!

Heather

Fresh Air Fun!

When we decided to volunteer for the Fresh Air Fund, there was an air of excitement in the house. Sarah knew the dates and had them on her friends' calendars. Sean counted down the days until the child matched to our family would arrive. Simon watched as we cleaned and prepared the room.

Finally, the day came and then the week or so passed and now she is gone.
On the night Nyla arrived, the kids ran through the gardens, they hunted bugs and butterflies. Nyla had trouble getting to sleep that night...we talked to her until she started to yawn and show signs of fatigue.
The next day we took her to swimming lessons, she completed the last 3 days with the kids and loved it. We visited a local splash pad/park. So many firsts for our new friend.
We had a quiet day then the next we headed to Balls Falls. We discovered many Inukshuks at the top of the Upper Falls and the kids built one to join the others.
We headed to Port Dalhousie, spent a bit of time on the beach and then rode the carousel.
I later discovered that the carousel was actually carved in Brooklyn, Nyla's home turf.
We spent our next day in Niagara Falls. Enjoyed the Maid of the Mist...
And then came home to celebrate Sarah's birthday! Our last big activity with Nyla was the beach. Ahhh, the beach. We were there for 6 hours...the time just slipped by.
Thank you for visiting Beamsville Nyla. We hope you had fun!
The kids sure were worn out after you left...we spent a couple of quiet days of rest catching up...relaxing and reading.
What a girl! What a week!

Enjoy!

Heather

Sew me happy!

You all know that sewing has gone from being one of the domestic things I hate the most to one that I love a great deal...so when we found out that we had a young girl coming to stay with us from Brooklyn the first thing I thought was...well, I shall have to sew something for her while she is here.

So, on Day #2 I pulled out my t-shirt bin and my fabric bin and we laid out a t-shirt and some coordinating fabrics and I got to work. Now, because the kids were having trouble adjusting, I obviously couldn't just make something for ONE of the kids and not ALL of the kids. SO, I finished dress #1 put it away and then had Sarah choose a tee and coordinating fabrics and so on until I had something for everyone...

This is the only photo I have of Nyla's dress. Isn't it sweet though? I sewed the back of the tee on inside out so that you can see the nicely scripted Disney that is silk screened on the shirt.

Here is the tee I made for Simon...I used the Little Blue Boo Hoodie Pattern but sewed in a collar instead...he was set on Tom & Jerry as soon as he saw that t-shirt! There were no if ands or buts about it!

Sean has been lovin' this Ghostbusters Tee since I brought it home from Value Village about a month ago! He is so pleased to have finally added it to his wardrobe! This tee is based on the Sienna Dress by Lil Blue Boo.
I think Sarah was a little disappointed that Nyla chose the Minnie shirt but I am just thrilled with how this one turned out. It is not as girlie as her usual choices but it looks fabulous on her and I am going to enjoy her wearing it for sometime! Both this dress and the Minnie Dress are inspired by the Sienna Dress by Lil Blue Boo as well (boy do I ever wish this pattern was available in bigger sizes!)
As I type this I am thinking about the next tees that I have set aside and I am dying to pull them out but I really should get some other things done around this house first (SO boring!)

Enjoy!

Heather

Art Camp!

All of these recent posts happened a few weeks ago but I have been very distracted! This whole summer thing is tricky with 3 kids at home full-time!

Art Camp was SO much fun and SO messy!

We did all sorts of things...we stamped, notice the background, we also used one of my favourite techniques to create the background on these cards!

We painted...
We bashed!
We made crayons and candles!
But my most favourite project? Most definitely, the Tie Dye! It wasn't as messy as I thought and it was SO fun!!!
I hope all of the kids enjoyed our summer camps! We will definitely do more next year!

Enjoy!

Heather

I like to party, party!

So, the theme of this year's birthday party was The Beach...I thought I could make a fruit tray resemble a beach ball but in the end, it was just a fruit tray. I tried!

We did sand art. The kids loved it! It was fun to watch them create their masterpieces!

Aren't they neat? I love those tall bottles! And do you know what? They were only $1.69 at Michaels. Seriously!

I glued, taped and sewed to create our bean bag toss game. I did it on a plastic board. Next time it will be on wood for sure! The kids loved it!

Sarah helped decorate the cupcakes...

We kept it really simple. And I couldn't find the shorter rod for my cupcake stand (it was all so rush, rush over here!)

We didn't have a photographer this year. With the renovations on the workshop and how busy we have been I just didn't get to it. So that is it for photos this time...We did have a lovely time though...it was good to see our friends and family!

Enjoy!

Heather

I always feel like...

Somebody's watchin' me!

A few weeks ago, we had our Secret Agent Camp! This camp was less about crafts and more about being crafty! ;)

Here are the kids preparing their disguises!

We worked out some sleuth communication devices...

Then made them a little more discrete so that the bad guys wouldn't catch up to what we were up to!

Our pompom shooters were a hit! (Our little princess handed over her shooter as soon as the day was done...she will have nothing to do with guns!) You can find a number of tutorials for these shooters on the internet but I used the one offered by Root And Wings Co. found here.

Here is my team. In disguise!

We also enjoyed Wink Murder, Jail Break, The Telephone Game, several scavenger hunts (one created by the kids - each one wrote a clue and they worked through them together!) and lots of other activities! It was a fun busy day!

It's been a fun summer full of Creative Camps! Just one left to go...

Enjoy!

Heather

Phone Home

Do you have a home that isn't your home? You know, a place that even though you have only just arrived, you feel as though you haven't left? I have a few of those...we were recently at one of them.

A place that is safe and comfortable, where you are loved. Yeah...that's where we were. Wish we had more of them in fact...

Well, at that place, there was a birthday. A very important birthday.

And that birthday girl, she happens to love ET and a lot of things from the 80s in fact...the fact that retro is in, is really working for her...

So, last year it was Purple Soap...this year ET. I hope she loved her cake. I miss her already. Can't wait to go back again soon.

Enjoy!

Heather

Sunny Days...

I don't know everyone who reads my blog but I bet a lot of your are moms...and something came up the other day while we were on vacation. First take a look...here is Simon in the shirt that I made him to wear at Sesame Place...

And Sarah in her Abby Cadabby shirt I made for her to wear there...

Let's not forget Sean, our middle child, who is going through a 'what about me' phase.

And Mr. CB...doesn't he look charming in is Super Grover golf shirt (he also took a moment to apologize to Grover for Simon's lapse in judgement with the Elmo shirt.

So there we were at Sesame Place with our homemade tees...wait a minute...what's missing? Of course, it's me. And the answer is no, I didn't make myself a tee. Why you ask? I ran out of time, didn't have a tee, just don't ever seem to get to myself. Do you have that same problem?

Then I got to thinking...everyone has at least one really cool bleach shirt here too...well, except for me. I came up with some designs yesterday but now I need some tees. Hopefully I will be back soon with some cool tees of my own to share...just for me.

Enjoy!

Heather