Yummy Mummy Treats

Hallowe'en is in just over a week and I know that our two kiddos off at university are working super hard right now so I thought that a little treat would be appreciated. It's a miracle of organizational skills but I actually got these mummy treats made and mailed off last weekend. I know, I know - amazing isn't it. 

I thought I would share the idea with you because, friends, these couldn't be easier to make and yet you look like you put some effort into the gift. To make the mummy treats you just wrap a chocolate bar in black paper. Then you wrap over the black paper with toilet paper (white crepe paper might have been better, but I didn't have any) and add a pair of googly eyes.

It's all about the eyes don't you think! 

Linked to A Pretty Life in the Suburbs Halloween Link Party

A Sweet Note and a Fall Wreath

A few weeks ago I sent these candy posters off to Kate and William who are away at University. I know being away from home during family holidays like Thanksgiving can be difficult so I thought a "sweet" care package would be just the thing.

I stood in Shoppers Drug Mart for ages trying to select the best chocolates and candies - ones that I could work a silly note around.  I didn't have it written ahead of time, it was more like I wrote the note to match the candy I found (which you will probably be able to tell when you read the note below).  It actually wasn't the easiest thing to write as you can see by my arrows and crazy writing all over the place, but I'm sure the kids got the hang of it and enjoyed the treats.

In case you are interested, and/or want to steal some of the wording for a candy poster of your own, this is what it says:

Happy Thanksgiving/Hallowe'en:
This is just a little note and a few treats to give you some EXTRA love.  I know school can be EXTRA stressful, but taking an EXTRA break can be a real LIFESAVER. Having a few SNICKERS with your friends in the HALLS at university can make all the difference.  You have the SMARTIES so don't let the workload give you the SCARIES. I say relax and ponder the deeper questions, like do you want COFFEE CRISP or with DAIRY MILK?  Personally I am a milk-in-my-coffee sort myself.  Love you to MARS and back.  Miss you lots.  love,Mom

And in other news - I finally found a fall wreath for our front door.  It's not that I've been looking and looking and not been able to find one.  It was more like I've been wanting one and thinking about how I'd like a wreath that had bittersweet berries on it and seeing pretty wreaths all over blogland and a wreath didn't magically appear on our door.  Then I happened to be at the grocery store on the weekend and found this one for 50% off because it was a little damaged - nothing some reddish paint couldn't fix though.  I love the colour of the berries with the door and brick and now I can relax and stop pondering our naked front door.

    

Father's Day Memory Box

About a month ago we went to an auction at my husband's childhood home (which you can read about here and here) and one of the things we got was an Royal Canadian Air Force jacket that had belonged to my husband's adopted father.  He had been a Tail Gunner in a Halifax Bomber during World War 11 and had taken part in many air raids, including D-Day. 

We don't have any photos of him in uniform so the photo below is just taken from the internet, but you can see the jacket is the same as the one above.

A Halifax Bomber Crew.  The row of bombs on the airplane indicate the number of bombing raids it has undergone (BBC)

Unfortunately the jacket was too moth-eaten to keep so after some consideration we decided that making a memory box with items from the jacket was the best way to deal with it.  

I took the idea and made it a reality by assembling the memory box for Father's Day. I cut some material from the back of the jacket and taped it around a piece of foam-core board to line the bottom of the memory box.  The material was so faded that I used the reverse side to get a truer representation of the colour.  Then I arranged the buttons, one of the badges from the shoulder, the belt buckle, and a piece of the trim from the sleeve and attached them to the material at the back.

It's a nice way to save the memories without having to keep the entire jacket which was long past its prime.  

Men are sooo difficult to find gifts for aren't they?  I have to confess that I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of the memory box idea.  Did you all think of something wonderful to do to celebrate Father's Day?  

Linked to Sunday Best Party at A Pretty Life,
Sunday Showcase Party at By Stephanie Lynn,
From Dream to Reality at The DIY Dreamer

Turquoise Easter-in-a-Box

She loves turquoise - always has.  So I decided to make turquoise the theme of Kate's Easter-in-a-box this year (you can see last year's here.)  
I love wrapping things in kraft paper - it is such a lovely simple backdrop to be dressed with decorations in any colour.  Of course, I used turquoise to decorate Kate's box using gingham washi tape to write "Happy Easter".  As for finding the treats to go inside ... that pretty much involved me wandering around stores looking for anything turquoise.  

There was candy and chocolate wrapped in turquoise,

and turquoise washi tape and a turquoise Sharpie (because the girl loves Sharpies too),

and a turquoise elephant mobile from The Paper Place in Toronto (because everyone needs an Easter elephant),

and Tic Tacs (which aren't turquoise) but are in a hard-to-find flavour and the girl loves Tic Tacs so she will be thrilled. By the way, what flavours of tic tacs can you buy where you live?  We have found that they vary a lot from country to country and we always bring home weird and wonderful flavours for Kate as gifts.

After I took the photos I packed the box up and realized I still had some room - which definitely is a no-no when it comes to care packages.  Soooo, I bought some more turquoise things and added them.  

I found some turquoise candy that I put into a divided container (I got the idea from Angie at Echoes of Laughter which you can read about here). I included turquoise sprinkles and coloured sugar in one of the partitions and some turquoise cupcake papers so Kate and her friends could decorate cupcakes for Easter.

I also found ... wait for it ... turquoise tic tacs in New York so they got included too.  The cupcake liners and candy filled the box perfectly.

Then I tied the package with a bow ... a turquoise bow, of course ... and sent it off to Kate!

Do you have kiddos living away from home - at university or working? Do you send them something? What do you include?  I'm always looking for other ideas of what to send.  
I remember how tough this time of year is for university students so I like to throw in lots of treats.  Kate has already opened her box and has started the sugarfest. Happy Easter Kate!

Linked to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm,
Time to Sparkle at Inside BruCrew Life,
Open House at No Minimalist Here

2012 Project Recap

One of the things I like about New Years is taking stock of the year that is past and seeing how it went and what improvements should be made and goals should be set for the new year.  Now that 2012 is drawing to a close I had a look back at my project list (which you can see here) to see how I had done and was pleasantly surprised.  I was more productive than I remembered.
Let's see how I did:
SMALL HOUSE PROJECTS (defined as anything I can accomplish myself in a day or two and that costs less than $100):
1. Tidy and paint the front hall closet. DONE (you can read about the closet makeover and organizing here)
2. Edit and tidy the china cabinet and add paper to the back of the cabinet so the dishes stand out more. DONE (I did get this done as you can see in the photo below, but I never posted about it because the wallpaper wrinkled and warped in a terrible way so I have to fix it and then I'll post about it.  I love how much brighter it is though)
3. Edit and sort the craft things in the basement and the trunk. DONE (you can read about the one thing that helped me once and for all get the craft materials under control here)
4. Organize the spices. DONE (you can read about the spice cupboard makeover here)

Yay me!!!  Fist pump for getting them all done.

BIG HOUSE PROJECTS (defined as anything that involves getting my husband to help out, costs more than $100, or takes more than a weekend to finish):

1. En suite bathroom - frame the mirror, install new faucet, add a new counter, and a new light. FAIL
2.  Master bedroom - finish painting the walls, lengthen the drapes, fix the eyebrow window cover-up, edit the furniture, purchase and install a new overhead light. DONE (see photo below)
3. Kid's bathroom - add a new light, new taps, and a new counter. FAIL
4. Half-down bathroom - add a new light, new taps, and a new counter. FAIL
5. Paint/stain dining room table. DONE (see photos below)
6. Make a picture collage on the family room wall. FAIL
7.  Add beadboard to ceiling in family room. FAIL

Master bedroom makeover

Dining room table makeover

Accomplishing two out of seven big projects is pretty good in my books.  Most of the other projects will be rolled over onto my 2013 list. I also completed one project that wasn't on my list - and it was a big one.  Go me!  It took the help of most of the family to complete it, but we finished putting in a new front walkway and garden beds in September.

Front walkway makeover

PERSONAL GOALS:
1. Finish the France photo book. DONE - it took until February, but I finished it (you can read about it here)
2. Finish our son's wedding photo book. FAIL - hanging my head in shame
3. Learn to use my new camera that I got for Christmas - finish listening to the DVD, and take the camera off the auto setting which is all I have used so far.  FAIL - nothing, nadda, not yet
4. Visit Ottawa/Hull to see some of the places that my husband's ancestors founded PARTIALLY DONE (I was in Ottawa for one day when I went with my son to visit the university there on the March Break.  You can see a photo of it here).


OTHER CRAFT AND GIFT PROJECTS COMPLETED IN 2012: I made good headway on some of the goals I had set for myself back in January, but I also completed a few other craft and gift projects during this past year that weren't on any lists.  In fact I finished more crafts and special gift projects than I had remembered - ten in total!  These included the following:
1.  Bed slat mantel art board (you can read about the Christmas mantel here)

2.  Beaded snowflakes (you can read about how to make them here)
3.  Carrot garden carrot cake (which you can read about here)
4.  Mason Jar Matchbox (you can read about how to make it here)

5.  Sweet dreams pillowcases (you can read about them here)

6. Easter-in-a-box (you can read about it here)

7.  Recipe Book (you can read about it here)

8.  Map Wall Art (you can read about it here)

9. Snowman Lab (you can read about it here)

10.  Date Basket Gift (you can read more details here)
I feel like I accomplished a lot this year - for me anyway.  I'm not the fastest at getting things done and I do work full-time so I'm happy when I get anything checked off the lists.  I'm working on my project list for 2013 which should be out soon.  
How did you do in 2012?  Was it a productive year or one of those years that got derailed?

Linked to Top DIY Projects at Southern Hospitality

Date Basket Gift Idea

I was behind schedule this Christmas and ended up with a bit of a scramble at the end so I didn't get a chance to post this gift that I made for our son and daughter-in-law.  In fact I was still putting it together late on Christmas Eve and didn't take photos of it until after Christmas.  
Money is tight for Malcolm and Christie right now as they are students and looking for a job so I knew that something practical that would help with the entertainment budget would be appreciated.  I found this picnic basket at a thrift shop in perfect condition with the original Pier One tags on it.  It didn't have any dishes in it which was fine by me since I know that Malcolm and Christie had some good quality plastic camping dishes they could use for picnics.  I wanted the basket so I could fill it with things that would help them to have some fun dates.

 

Here are the things I put in the basket:

Malcolm and Christie loved it and told me they will put it to good use.  
I could see making a date basket for an anniversary present or for Valentine's Day.  There are endless options of things to include depending on money and interests. Have you ever made anything like this?  What kinds of things would you include?

Linked to WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style