Strawberry Jam

I can't believe how long it's been since I have posted on this blog.  Life has gotten crazy and something needed to give.  I guess it was better that it was this than my sweet kids.  I really have missed being creative and look forward to making room for it in my life again.

 

 

It's been a few years since I have canned strawberry jam.  I have a small freezer so I prefer to can it and keep it on the shelf than take up room in my freezer.  We took our kids to their Grandparents in Bridgewater and together we went strawberry picking.  Really that's the best part.  I love that the kids are old enough now that when they get tired of helping us they can run the strawberry field and find their grandfather.

 

 

I don't have a special recipe that I use, I use liquid Certo and use the recipe included in the box.  It's so delicious.  It's really quick to make once you get started and I love that it's home made.  This year Coconuts wanted to help me do it.  I can't believe she's old enough to be doing this stuff with me.  I love it. 

 

 

Um delish!

 

 

The longest part is probably skimming all the bubbles off the top after you cook it.

 

I shared a few with some friends.  Really what's better than homemade jam from a friend.  Not much really.

We ended the day with an outdoor BBQ under the big maple tree.  Really life doesn't get much better than that.

Made by Me Mondays - Fishy Birthday Party

Her Birthday was back in January, so I'm a little late in posting this but I still can't believe my oldest child is nine.  As the years go by the distance between them feels shorter and shorter.  Coconuts wanted a Fishy Birthday Party.  So here is what I came up with for her.

For her cake she wanted some different colors inside of it so I just picked three colors of the fishies and colored the cake batter that way.  I just clumped the batter in each cake pan until they all had the same amount.  I didn't mix it together I just let it be.  It kind of looks camo.  That really would be fun to do for buddy boys birthday a camo party.  I'll have to remember that.

I just used the fishes and then added the little saying from Dr. Seuss one fish, two fish, and that was the kids take home from the party.

The best part of any Birthday celebration is the friends you have to share it with, and coconuts has some of the sweetest friends and I think they all had a great time.  They gathered all the teddy bears in the house and threw them over the banister onto Dad who was standing in the landing unsuspecting (wink, wink), they giggled and they got along really well (oh and they may have had too much cake, candy, pop and chips) but there is no photographic proof of that.

Happy Birthday Coconuts, I love you very much and sure hope you had a fun birthday.

Made by me Mondays -Over the Shoulder Tote for Ducky

My niece got this fabric and pattern from her grandmother last year for Christmas.  She had come over and was planning on having me show her how to make it and help her make it.  Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to do it together and she asked me to hang onto it and to sew it for her.  I had it for a few months leading up to Christmas past but I just didn't have a minute to sew it. 

 I was off between Christmas and New Years and we were headed over there boxing day to spend some time together.  So that morning I decided to see if I could pull it off before it was go time.  It took me only about 3 hours max to sew this tote with the pattern that she had.  Coconuts is modeling it for me.  I think I may try to make her one as well.  Isn't it a darling bag

 This button is an old one I ripped off some clothing I was disposing of.  Does any one else keep old buttons from things before they throw them away?  I love doing that.

Here is a better side shot of the tote.  The fabric choice that her grand mother picked really is adorable.  Next time Ducky we'll do some more sewing together.

Papier Thursday - Valentines Day Treats

Happy Valentines Day! 

I hope you all get to spend the day with the people you love.

I've wanted to make these valentines for the kids to take to school for a while.  For Coconuts I needed only about 5 shots and I had one I could use.  But Buddy Boys is my little prankster and so he kept making silly faces and this is the best of the twenty or so pictures I took of him.  He's going to start school next year, I hope his teacher loves a little wise crack cause he's on his way.

I sure do love my kids a whole bunch, aren't they sweet! 

Being a working mother I sometimes feel like my kids miss out on all the fun things that stay at home mothers get to do, so I try when I can to do these little extras for them.  I put this all together in the fridge the night before and I set it out for my family before I was out the door this morning at seven am.  They called me to let me know they loved it. 

Happy Valentines Y'all!

Gratitude Sunday - Garden Fresh

One of my most favourite things to do is to drive down to the Valley in NS when the leaves are changing all sorts of reds, yellows and orange and go apple picking.    We are blessed here to have this beautiful valley with all sorts of locally grown produce. 

We have a favourite orchard that we go and do our picking at each year.  It's become a family tradition and the kids really love going.  This year it had been raining that morning so when the kids picked the apples off the tree they would get a little rain water shake off the tree on them.  They loved it.

I love this tree it's got to be over a hundred years old.  Coconuts looks so little under it.

I sure wish we had some smell-o-blogging button that you could push here while I transferred the smell of this bakery onto you.  We purchased some fresh rolls and a to die for pumpkin pie.  This is the real reason I love it all.  We travel over one and a half hours just for this little gem of a bakery.

Of course they have a little farmers market as well where you can take home all the perfect ingredients for a good old Turkey Dinner.  We took this trip on Canadian Thanksgiving Day and it was perfect.  So today I am grateful that I have the capacity to drive and get my family fresh, wholesome food to eat, and for this glorious place that I live. 

Your turn, leave me a comment and tell me what your grateful for.

Gratitude Sunday - Cousins

When I was a little girl, I grew up in Montreal.  My mother came from a family of six children.  So one would naturally assume that I grew up with a ton of cousins around.  The reality is other than my mother having three children.  One of her brothers had one.  As a child I always wondered what it would be like to grow up with all kinds of cousins around.  Heck more than one anyway.

I love that I know get to live it through the eyes of my children and their cousins.  It really  is a beautiful thing to watch.  Our family is really close and I love this sweet boy as much as I love my own children.  As you can see Coconuts feels the same about him as I do. 

So today I an grateful for these two.  They are cousins but they love and look out for each other like siblings.  They want to spend time together and look forward to the times they get to hang out again next.  I love you both very much. 

Alright, your turn, now you leave me a note and tell me what your thankful for today!

Ruffle Layered Skirt

I had eyeballed these ruffled skirts a while ago.  Then a good friend of mine Jackie O had made them for her grand children.  They were so adorable.  Since I don't have a surger I asked if we could have a play date when her life slowed down a but.  Of course she obliged!  Thanks Jackie I had a great time and these skirts are adorable.

Here is Coconuts and her sweet friend Charlie, she lives next door and they play all the time.  They have the sweetest friendship, when we moved into the neighbourhood three years ago Charlie and her sister came over to say hello.  They might have known a hand full of English at the time, and Coconuts new not a lick of french.  But these girls have grown a little friendship that they had to really work hard at in the beginning to understand each other (I played translator for a while).  Charlie now speaks wonderful english.

Anyhow Jackie and I made the blue one together but didn't have time to get the yellow one started that night.  It was late and I went home.  Sweet, sweet Jackie did up the yellow one for me that night and brought it to church to me the very next morning.  I left her house around 9:30 pm.  She must have stayed up late to get it done for me.  Thanks Jackie for being so sweet to me.

The best part of having a little girl is that they love to play dress up and take photo's.  Here are my sweet models who loved having a back to school photo shoot and model the ruffle skirts.

If you are wondering where I got the tutorial from it's a Dana made it tutorial.  Thanks for reading my blog.

Little Girl Brides Maides Dresses

The first thing John & Sue asked us was if they could have the wedding at our home.  Of course I was thrilled with this and we were happy to oblige.  Then the wedding planning started and Sue and I were off to Fabricville to pick out fabric.  She chose this summery floral print with a vibrant blue accent colour.  She asked if I would make these dresses for the girls.  

I was totally freaked out cause if she had seen the black dress I made Coconuts she wouldn't have asked thrilled and happy to take it on.  When it came time for the zippers I really was worried cause that is what I botched on Coconuts black dress.  I made round one of the dress and had a fitting with the girls.  The dresses were too big on all three of them so I had to re-adjust the bodice and take in the sides of the dresses to make them fit.  And they fit them like a glove. 

Here they are on the wedding day Bella, Coconuts and Duck and they looked stunning.  They loved their dresses and they knew they were made especially for each of them and they were so happy to be in them.  Sue you picked out the right fabric the girls looked stunning!

Easter Bunny Bunting Banner

I've been wanting to do an Easter Project with Coconuts and this was the perfect project.  Dana  from Made had a free pattern that I used.  I didn't use my machine for this one.  I did all the sewing by hand.  Coconuts sewed on all the little accessories.  She really loved doing this project with her Mama. 

I decided to use multiple Easter colours for this banner and I think it's pretty cute.  The best part is that Coconuts helped with it and she's pretty proud of her work.  She's a crafter in the making.

It looks pretty sweet on our mantle.  Happy Easter everyone!!

Baptism Dress, Yup She's Eight!

It feels like just yesterday I held this little girl in my arms for the first time.  I still remember her sweet little cry.  I remember how quickly she stopped crying as she was wrapped really snug.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to have this sweet girl grow up.  Well growing up is just what she's done!  I'm not sure where these last eight years have gone but they are gone and she's getting ready to get baptised.

Here is her dress all in white that she will wear to get baptised.  She was so excited that I was making it for her.  She sat by me and my ancient sewing machine, she handed me scissors, pulled out needles and spent a whack of time yanking her PJ's off so she could try it on for size.  I really wanted it to fit her just right.  I think it does.

I thougth it would be fun to make a little overcoat and sash for the dress to fancy it up for her.  I'm pretty sure the anxiety of working with satin gave me a few extra gray hairs, but I think they were worth it.  She looks beautiful and deserves her special dress on her special day.   

I added a few little extra ruffles at the bottom to make it a bit more fancy for her.  She loved it all so I say this project was a success.

Sweetie I hope you always remember this special day and know how much Mommy loves you and is so proud of you!!

(In case your wondering I used the Burda 9757 pattern)

Flower Hair Clips

Well apparently I took the summer off from blogging.  Did you miss me?  I have lots of projects to share so here's hoping that I'm back with a vengeance.  I've had this project on the go for quite some time now.  Meaning I bought the fabric and then let it collect dust for several months (six maybe but who's counting).  I finally got around to digging out my needle, thread and glue gun. 

Coconuts was rather excited about these.  They were her after school surprise today.  As you can imagine she liked the one with the pink flower and yellow button the best.  I knew she would.

I'm thinking there may be more of these to come.  I have other idea's for them besides hair clips for my girl.

Heart Patch

Does anyone else out there mend their kids clothes.  My girl is growing like mad the last few years she starts out the year in one size pants and finishes it the next size up.  I got these jogging pants for her last Christmas. 

 I got them a bit big so they would last her the year.  They were her newest, cleanest best fitting pair.  But low and behold she trips and takes out a nice little chunk of her pants.  Really honey couldn't you have done that to the high water ones that don't fit you?  Other than the hole they were really comfy pants for her.

I decided to make a little patch for the hole.  I printed off a heart in word as a template and cut it out of felt.  I added a little button to make it cute and then sewed it on with some thread

Voila we have a cute patch on her pants.

Girly Cupcakes for the Spa Party

The cupcakes are ready for Coconut's spa party in the morning.  I think I may actually like working with fondant more when it's for cupcakes, than trying to battle a cake.  That and I'm think I'm starting to get the hang of it a bit better.

I took the day off work today to get ready for her party, when coconuts got home from school she was so excited to see these toppers for her cupcakes.  Hope her little girly friends enjoy them.