Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the ladies out there - none as hard working as my own mother though! My mom even taught dance for a few hours this morning before we started our Mother's Day. We went to the Value Village 50% off day and I cleared the racks lol, got tons of stuff. Then we had a nice lunch at Alice's Village Cafe in Carp that we've been meaning to go to. It's very cute there and they have an adorable light fixture that everyone seems to know them for.

I thought I would also share the little flower pot card I gave my mom today, inspired by a similar one I saw on Pinterest but there are many different versions of it all over the web. 

So very cute...

Happy Mother's Day!

DIY Honeycomb/Hexagon Stamp

Recently I've been doing a lot of collecting of scrapbook supplies in any way I can find them. I'm trying to keep from spending a lot of money on this hobby by using things I already have and wouldn't think to use for scrapbooking. The other day while washing the dishes I had kind of an epiphany when I saw the BBQ chicken container - you know, the kind everyone is always talking about on Pinterest. You get the chickens for about $7 (or less in the US)...

Well something I never noticed about these before was the bottom - it's a honeycomb shape that would be just perfect to use for a background stamp in scrapbooking! So I just cut in to the centre and took out the part that had the honeycomb pattern...

And within ten seconds you've got a great little stamp you can use on all kinds of pages!

Stamps of this size are usually around ten bucks and up, but making it this way is free :) You just ink it up and end press it down with the palm of your hand and you've got a great textured background. 

You can make it fairly transparent or very thick depending on how hard you push down on it. Hopefully I can find some more ways to make my own free scrapbooking supplies this summer :) For ideas on how to incorporate the honeycomb stamp into page layouts, check out my Scrapbooking Inspiration board on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/ladelle/scrapbooking-inspiration/

SCHOOL'S OUT!

Another year of university has come to a close and it's been a pretty successful one. While it was full of my usual last minute assignments, up all hours the night before the due date... it paid off and I will be getting a scholarship for next year because of it! :) But now it's summer vacation for me and there are quite a few things I'm hoping to do this summer...

One thing is fitness. I am working (slowly) into many different things. Every Wednesday this Summer Tasha and I are doing yoga on Parliament Hill which Lululemon hosts for free with several yoga teachers from the Ottawa area. There have been two classes so far and they've been awesome. The first week there were 511 people and the second week there were over a thousand! It's a great experience and requires a lot of sunscreen cause you sure do cook out there with no shade in the noon sun, and that's just in May. Below is a picture from the first week, it's a beautiful site. Besides yoga Tasha and I are also planning on getting memberships to the leisure centre near us and doing as many of the classes as we can handle. And I am also going to do some Jillian Michael's work outs on my own like the 30-Day Shred which I did partly last summer and somehow stopped half way through. But hopefully I can commit this year.

Another thing I want to do a lot of this summer is scrapbooking. I've amassed a huge amount of supplies in the last few months which I saved a lot of money on by getting them through Kijiji and finding and making my own in many different ways. I'll be putting up some of my own posts about DIY supplies that have worked out really well for me, but this post has also been really useful for ideas about how to reuse things and save money on supplies - I love the main photo of how they used a juice can lid as an embellishment and there are so many other good ideas to try that are all pretty much free things you have in your home.

Well Spring in Ottawa doesn't really exist so welcome to Summer! 

Cheap and Easy DIY Stocking Stuffers (for Girls)

I've seen tons of "cheap" stocking stuffer ideas on Pinterest lately and... let's face it... some of them are just bad. I won't name blogs but I read one today that was so bad that I thought... I could/should definitely make a post better than that. So here are what I think are some of the best cheap and easy stocking stuffer ideas for older girls that you can make yourself.

1. T-Shirt Memory Scarf
Great use for all their old t-shirts that don't fit anymore but are still saved for the memories.
Very sentimental and no cost!

2. Leg Warmers/Boot Socks From Sweaters
Either cost of a sweater from the thrift store or $0 if you use an old one.
A great, stylish gift for this time of year!

3. Vintage Tin Candles
So sweet and so many options. I always see all kinds of tins at thrift stores for 99 cents each and you could make them in her favorite scent or color.

4. Thread-wrapped Earbuds
She'll love these because they keep earbuds from getting so annoyingly tangled up - not to mention they're adorable. And you'll love them because it costs next to nothing to do!

5. Yoga Mat Bag
All it takes to make this yoga bag is some leftover stylish fabric and the ability to sew by hand or with a machine. Takes no time at all :)

6. Jersey Infinity Scarf
A couple of yards of jersey fabric and the slightest bit of stitching makes one of these adorable infinity scarves that are seen all over lately.

7. Mittens Sewn From Sweaters
Can't knit or don't have the time during the busy holiday season? That's ok. These cute mittens look like you knitted them by hand but really are sewn from two pieces of a sweater. So fast and reminds me of the Grinch's tailoring skills! lol.

8. Fabric Covered Votive Jars
These pretty little facbric votive jars can be made to match her decor and are great either as candle holders or for holding things like makeup brushes, pencils, art supplies, etc.

9. Sugar Hand Scrub
This is called a Gardener's Hand Scrub but it's really great for dry winter hands and is made from sugar and dish soap that has Olay in it. I'm going to make these for mother's day but it would be a great cheap stocking stuffer too!

10. Kindle Cover From Hardcover Book
This awesome tutorial shows you how to turn a hardcover book into an adorable Kindle or iPad holder.

11. Photo Journal/Notebook
Turn some special photos and some nice paper into one of these adorable photo-covered journals!

12. Rhinestone Monogrammed Christmas Ornaments
With some dollar store ornaments and rhinestone stick on initials, you can make some really sweet monogrammed ornaments for about 2$ that will be cherished for years to come.

13. Hot Chocolate Spoons
Wrap these in cellophane and a gold twist tie.
Great for stirring cocoa on Christmas morning while opening gifts.

14. Snowmen Photo-holders from Giant Clothespins
It's really easy to make a couple of these photo-holders from giant clothespins. They're great for holding cards, pictures, or recipes around the holiday season.

15. CD Wallet Scrapbook
A lovely sentimental gift in miniature version! You could do a theme for it, like previous Christmas's or pictures from the past year, and then do one every year.

16. Lotion Bars
These lotion bars are like the ones you'll find at Lush, but only take three ingredients. They are great for winter hands and for keeping in places you need a little moisturizer like on the night stand.

17. Braided Leather, Rope and Chain Headband
Very cute headband with just a few materials. Make in Christmas colours or in black and gold for her to wear to upcoming New Year's Eve parties.

18. Button Bracelet
These are really cute and who doesn't have a ton of buttons lying around to make this?

19. Ombre Seed Bead Bracelet
I used this tutorial this summer to make one of these bracelets for myself and it turned out really cute!

20. Glittered Metal Bracelets/Bangles
Get some old metal bangles you don't wear anymore or some from the thrift store and spruce them up with glue and glitter. Nothing says Christmas spirit like sparkles! :)

21. Knob Pulls Necklace Holder
This adorable necklace holder is made from a piece of wood, paint, and cute mismatched knob bulls you can find cheap at thrift stores. So cute to hang on the wall to display jewelry.

22. Pretty Shoe Clips
She will love wearing these handmade shoe clips on her shoes to holiday parties. I used the flower clips tutorial and made some to wear to a wedding this year and everyone loved them. The bows are really sweet too. You can buy the clips on Etsy cheap and then you just need a little fabric, thread and hot glue.

23. Tinted Lip Balm in a Vintage Tin
All you need for this tinted lip balm is Vaseline, Koolaid and an adorable little tin! I'm going to be making all kinds of this.

24. Embroidery Thread Wrapped Friendship Necklaces
These friendship necklaces are made from different colors of embroidery thread and thin cotton rope. I think these are so awesome, I'd love to get some in my stocking!

25. Leather Bow Bracelet
All you need is a little scrap of leather and a snap to make this sweet bow bracelet she is sure to love.

Happy HoliDIYs!

June 24th

Chris and I had a sushi night tonight. We bought all the ingredients and made a ton of sushi ourselves. And my god was it ever good.

We made all this for about $18... so I have no idea why sushi costs so much to buy at grocery stores pre-made...

It turned out really well. The rice worked perfectly even though I messed up the cooking process lol.

And rolling it went really well once we got the hang of it. This was like... legit sushi. I will have to try and make some more. A customer suggested I make smoked salmon with cream cheese and I can't wait to try it.

I got all the recipes and tips I used from my Sushi with Style book by Ellen Brown. I am so happy to have it. The tips are seriously great and I feel like a pro. I learned what types of tools you need, what ingredients work best, how to make, season and cool the rice, how to put the rice on the seaweed properly, how to roll, how to cut, just everything you could ever need to know.

June 23rd

Chris and I had birthday cake ice cream today.... who ever came up with that flavor is a genius...

Chris is boring but I made mine into a delicious sundae... yeah that's picture of the day worthy

June 22nd

The sky was pretty interesting on my way to work today. There were no clouds in the sky, except at the verrry edge of the horizon. It look pretty neat.