Meaghan Smith Juno Party and Giveaway

I got this picture from www.monstersandcritics.com

Look at her, doesn't she just look absolutely stunning!!! 

So seriously what would you be doing if one of your BFF's Meaghan Smith was up for a JUNO?  Having a party right!  That's sure what we decided to do.  (For my US friends the JUNO awards are the Canadian version of the Grammy's, for lack of a better description.  Needless to say they are A HUGE DEAL!)

Monica, who is always the most gracious hostess, was putting on this wonderful event in her home.  We gathered a hand full of friends for an intimate little setting to ensure that we would all be able to really enjoy the evening with Meaghan from afar, and that we sure did.  Had we have had more room we would have invited all of you to join in this magical night!

I showed up early to help with the remainder of the food prep and to get the room set up, and lets be honest here, sitting at home waiting was just about killing me. 

What food do you serve at a Juno party you ask?  Well all of Meaghan's favourites that's for sure.  She knew we were having this event and had some input into some of the little details.  There was bean dip, guacamole, fruit salsa, black berries, cupcakes and rocca.  Also some yummy punch to tie us over to the big toast of the night later on!

We've got some "Champagne" on ice, (sparkling apple juice) but hey we can pretend right!  At this point we had stopped to take a minute to call her and wish her all the best, we weren't sure if we would get a hold of her but we did. She was in the middle of getting her hair done. Didn't she look fantastic!

Why do you ask are we breaking a wish bone?  Well this bone was left over from Christmas dinner.  Monica I'm still wondering why in March you still had the wish bone.  None the less we both made a wish (which I'm pretty sure was the same, for Meaghan to take home a JUNO)  so it really didn't matter who won. 

For the record the bone wouldn't break.  Even with Monica heaving on it with both hands.  I guess she just didn't need our extra luck after all.

The guests started arriving, but there was one of our friends who lived just a little too far away, in Oregon so we skyped her in and she was able to share this wonderful night with us.  Can't you just tell by her smile that she just had as much fun as we did.

We watched the JUNO pre show, and the red carpet event, of course with our eyes peeled to see "Our Meaghan".  Seriously Bryan Adams, did you really need to steal her thunder?

Through out the night we chatted, had a great time, but we also played "What d'Juno about Meaghan?" trivia.  It was lots of fun just chatting about her, and looking back on all of her accomplishments.  It helped make the night that much more magical for us.  Have you taken notice of our "star" theme for the night.

There were some gift bags as well to be given out, which were all filled with Meaghan Smith stuff, some of which you can see here.   There was a t-shirt, a signed copy of her first CD, a lovely bag she made, and some of her hand made cards.  Meaghan has creativity running through her soul!

Here we are waiting with baited breath for her category to be up and it is.  This is what it sounded like at our JUNO party when she won.

The energy in the room can't be put into words but I'll give it a try.  First of all Meaghan is one of our best friends.  She's kind and gentle, she's loving and cares incredibly about her friends.  She's down to earth and humble.  Her ability to accomplish what ever she puts her mind to and follows it through to the very end is awe inspiring.  She's there to cheer you on through the good times, and sends a listening ear through the bad.  She's the kind of friend you long to be.

When you have all that emotion in your heart for her already and then you are sitting there, in that moment, waiting for her name to be called and to see her dreams coming to life, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, my heart was racing and I felt like I was going to jump out of my own skin.  It was such a magical moment for her and for us as her friends to be able to share in.

Meaghan this toast is for you, with all the love we have for you, we are so proud of you and you deserved to win!

Since you weren't able to make our party I'm going to host a CD give away.  I bet I can even get her to sign it for you, but you'll have to send some extra special love her way for that.

If you want a chance to win a copy of her latest CD, you need to be a follower of my blog.  So come sign up and then leave me a comment that you are a follower. CONTEST CLOSED

You can get an extra entry for posting it to your facebook and blogging about it on your blog as well.  One entry for each one.

Hey and maybe I can even get Meaghan to pick the winner.



Yummyliscious Waffles

Yes Yummyliscious is a word.  Just ask Buddy Boys because he made it up.  Around here if something is just a bit better than yummy it's got to be Yummyliscious.  That's just what these Waffles are.  The key to their success however is the Belgium waffle maker.  It's deeper than a regular waffle iron and keeps your waffles soft (as long as you don't leave them in too long).  The other thing that makes these good are the strawberries and blueberries that were hand picked the summer before, then lightly sugared.

Waffles

2 Lg Eggs

2 C Flour

1 3/4 Cup Milk

1/2 C Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp Sugar

4 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl or in your Kitchen Aid mixer.  Cook in the waffle iron and serve with all  your favourite toppings.

Bob the Builder Birthday Cake

Tomorrow is Buddy Boy's birthday party.  His first one with friends, he's so excited.  I had decided not to make him a cake you see as he's been sick this week and I've been home with him.  I thought that my local grocery store would carry a Bob the builder cake and voila, I'd order one and that would be it.  Unfortunately that was not the case and I've been promising him this cake for months.  I couldn't let him down.

Here's what I came up with.  I sure hope he likes it.  Happy Birthday Buddy Boys, Mama loves you!  Hope you really enjoy your Birthday!

Here he is the morning of his party.   He loved his cake!

I am momma - Boys Shirt Entry - Freezer Paper Stenciling

Here is the shirt I made for the I am momma Hear Me Roar Boys Shirt Contest.  I got together with a friend of mine Karlie and we made some sweet shirts for our boys.  Doesn't her little boy "J", make Buddy Boys look ginormous?  Can I just say here that Buddy Boy's Birthday is this week and he turned three, Happy Birthday to my "Big Boy" (he hates it when I call him my baby). 

First things first.  I used Picnik to create the image that I wanted to use to make his shirt.  There are so many options that you could spend the day making some cute designs.  I saved the image onto my computer and then opened a Word document and re sized the image to fit both shirts and simply printed them on white paper.

Because there are some overlapping images I simply traced the different layers of images onto the freezer paper.

I used a little crafter's exacto knife to cut out the image from the freezer paper.  Make sure to put a self healing mat underneath your design or your hubby may get really angry when he sees what you've done to the table top.

Simply iron the freezer paper onto the shirt where you want the image to appear.

Apply the fabric paint using a paint brush and always brush towards the centre of each cut out so you don't push the paint under the freezer paper.  That would cause the image to not come out as you want it to.

Once the first layer of paint is dry, (my paint's instruction said four hours, but I used my hair dryer to dry it up and it was dry enough in a few minutes) iron on the next layer of words onto the shirt where you want them to appear.  Apply the desired paint colours to your stencil.

Once you pull away the freezer paper you can really see your image coming to life.

The last step was to cut the rock out of felt.  I found this grey felt at Michael's Craft Store and it had a rock design already on it.  It really made the shirt pop and come to life.  I sewed it on with yellow thread to accent the rock. 

Don't you think Boy's Rock!  I sure do.



RS Birthday Handouts

It's that trusty time of year again when we celebrate the Relief Society Birthday social at Church (the women's organization).  There is a quote that we always use in RS that is "Charity Never Faileth".  My trusty side kick Monica volunteered to make the handout.  I of course am always in on what ever she seems to get her hands on so with the help of some friends we got to work.

Monica actually spent a different night out with our good friend Liz cutting out the card stock and the little saying to go onto each little gift bag.

We used this fudge recipe again and spread it out much thinner than I had done the first time I made it.  We placed two pieces of fudge in each little bag and stapled the card stock to the bag.

The ribbon and the little note were stuck on with some hot glue.

As you can see Monica used a little play on words and put "Chocolate Never Faileth".  These were a fun little project to do and I always have a good time hanging out with friends.  Thanks for Sharing your creativity Monica and thanks gals for coming to hang out and letting me get in on the action.   Happy Birthday RS!

Update: This blog post was featured on Sugardoodle here.  How fun!

The winner is...

Tami you are the lucky winner of the card give away.  Thanks for participating and I'll be sending it to you in the mail.

Mothers Day Card Giveaway

Can you tell I've been busy making cards for all occasions, not to mention Mothers Day cards.  So I thought it would be fitting to do a Mothers Day card give away.  This way I can take care of the card you will need for your own Mother.

Aren't they super cute!  They were fun to make.  These may not be the exact card you get but it will be just as cute and the paper will be just as fun and I promise your mother will love it.

It's super easy, here is how it works:

1 Entry if you post this on Facebook

1 Entry if you post about it on your blog

3 entries if you are already a follower or become a follower.

Be sure to come back and leave a comment on this post each time you share the blog.  I will give away one card for every 10 new followers I get.  So share this with your friends.  I hope I have to make a ton of Mothers Day cards for you all!

I will draw for these March 19th, 2011

Boy's Shirt Contest at I am Momma

I'm really excited about participating in the Boy's Shirt Contest at I am Mama Hear Me Roar.  I have my shirt done and ready to go.  I will be loading it up on March 25th, so I'll show you then.  It's really cute and I can't wait to share it with you.

All in a Days Work

I use to pride myself in being a city girl. I grew up in the outskirts of Montreal, nowhere near the country by any stretch. When my husband and I first started dating we would drive to his parents in the country and I couldn't stand the smell of manure (still can't) or the fact that shopping was not a stones throw away. We would debate about city/country life and where we would live. He wanted to live in the country and I vowed that I never would. (Yes, your right I ate my words). But I wouldn't trade it for anything now. As much as I love creating with a glue gun and a sewing machine. I love being outdoors, gardening and growing things. I plan on sharing with you my outdoor creative idea's through out the summer. This past weekend we spent the day outside cleaning up the "swamp". Right next to our house is this gathering of dead trees and swampy water. We have plans of someday turning this area into a pond. This will take quite some time, and I'm sure a bunch of money. However we did not like the look of all the dead trees and alder bushes that are growing there. We rounded up the troops, my in laws and our trusty neighbour and out we went to work.
The kids lasted outside for a short while. They were loving the fire we had started. We burned our Christmas trees that we fired out the back door the end of December. They really go up in flames and smoke up the place. The kids loved it. They watched Grampy and the boys running their chain saw's clearing the land. My son is a boy's boy and wanted to be down in the action with Grampy but it was just too dangerous for his little self.

Here's the after of it all. We cleared out a large area over the swamp and made a huge bonfire. The fire burned into the wee hours of the morning. Most of the brush is gone and we have a little bit left that we will burn through out the early spring. I'm itching to get outside and to do yard work. This summer I also plan on planting a vegetable garden. It's been way too long since I've had one. I think spring is finally on it's way I can feel it in the air.