I love summer markets! Much to my husband's dismay (although he is a good sport and probably won't admit it) I could travel around all summer and just go to markets. I love supporting anything handmade. This year our Wild Women Craft group decided to put a collective table into the Canada Day Market. Check out our fun banner! Thanks to my crafty friend Athena and our 3 children (plus baby bump) we got it done in time for our debut!
We hand cute little girls dresses and skirts, sunhats, felted soaps, collaged pictures, banners, monsters & owls & SEW much more! It was a beautiful day and a great Canada Day Celebration put on by the City of Fernie - hats off to those that organized such a great day. And thanks to everyone who stopped by our table!
I apologize for the lack of blogging but we just returned from our family vacation to Smithers. So instead of crafty pictures here are some of our holiday! We drove over 3000 km, and except for not wanting to see the inside of the van for a while, it was great! Avery and Kaden got to visit with their cousins, aunties, uncles, Grandma and Grandpa which was so great since we all live far apart. This is the kids at Twin Falls in Smithers, a short walk up to the most breathtaking waterfalls. Smithers is definitely one of the most beautiful little towns I have ever seen!
Here we are on the ferry from Takyzie lake where we met the family for a few days at a rustic little cabin/spot on the lake. Beautiful area, lots of fish and eagles, and fun times with the family. Avery caught her very first fish!! Kaden cried when it was bouncing around in the boat - poor little guy, hope he grows out of that as his dad would have a hard time taking him fishing if he cried every time!
Very excited little girl and very proud daddy. We even cooked it on the camp fire and Avery ate almost the whole thing! (Pretty good since I have never been able to get her to eat fish).
We drove through the Park to get to Jasper. It was raining but that's what rain jackets are for! Beautiful scenery! Lots of waterfalls and wildlife (sorry, didn't get a picture of all the bears we saw, but should have got one of the tourists standing on the side of the road with their children watching the bear eat!!) Fun times - thanks Sikkes clan!!
Wilde Women Wednesdays meet every Wednesday night at the Fernie Arts Station from 7-9pm. We are a group of....you guessed it.....Wild Women.....who work on any project that we want. These crafty girls sew, crochet, knit, stamp, felt, quilt, make cute kids clothes, and sew up pillows that they opened up because they needed stuffing for another project! Some just come to get a well deserved couple of hours out of the house, get inspired, learn new things, and meet new friends! If you are interested in joining us you can email me jodparker@shaw.ca.
The day has come - my little baby girl turned 5!! We had some of her friends over for a tea party so I decided to make some tea pot cakes. I will be the first to admit that I am no Martha Stewart when it comes to cake making. As a matter of fact, after Avery's 1st birthday when Dawn and I attempted a cake, I relinquished all cake making duties to my mom. But this year I thought I would give it a try again. Lets just say that Grandma has a year to plan!
The great thing about cake is that kids don't care what it looks like, they just care about how much icing they get! I made 2 cakes, used lollipops as lid tops, cut out a spout and handle from paper, threw on some smarties and voila!
Living in a small town with limited resources makes you.....resourceful!! I had no Happy Birthday banners so decided to make my own out of some of Avery's baby clothes. Here it is hanging in the tree.
I have to say, I am so glad I don't live near a dollar store where I could just pick up dollary stuff. We played pin the handle on the teacup, which I cut out of an old gift bag. The take home bags for the kids contained the little tea cups that they used for the party (from my favorite store) and name tags that I made each of them.
Oh yeah, if you have a wonderful husband like mine then the entertainment is cheap! (Well, maybe not the chiropractor/massage bill afterwards?!?!)
The weather held out, everyone had fun, and my kids forgot what vegetables were for the day!! When I asked Avery what her favorite part of being 5 is, she said "going to kindergarten!" That blog post will have to wait for a day when I can emotionally handle it!
My bestest buddy Dawn bought me tickets to see David Gray in concert!! I have been a David Gray fan for years so was sooooo excited!
Bloomsday in Spokane - a 12km run with 50,000 others! This was my 2nd year going and I am hooked. Not necessarily because of the running part, but because it is a much needed and deserved girls weekend!! The run is fun too, mostly to be part of the energy! I thought I would come home with sore legs but instead came home with a sore stomach from LAUGHING so much! Already can't wait until next year!
Some more collaged pictures from all my scraps of paper. Even used my new sewing machine to stitch around some edges, and of course some mod podge to cover the whole thing. Can't wait to make more....maybe will try to sell some at the summer market.
Well Avery has given me some rules for Mother's Day tomorrow:
Today is my best friends birthday. She is the most beautiful person I know. We go back a long way and I don't know what I would have done without her over the years. My kids love their Auntie Dawn Dawn as much as I do. When I think of her and our friendship I am overcome with gratitude & my heart is filled with JOY. Happy Birthday Dawn!!
As you can see I have a little ADD when it comes to creating....felting, sewing, paper, gluing. I had so much fun doing those little collaged tiles, that I wanted to do more (but not on the expensive slate tiles needed for our kitchen). These are on wood, and I wanted to do a little family tree. Mod Podge is the BEST! You can be as messy as you want and it just dries! I feel very lucky to have my family and this is hanging right by our front door....wonder when Clint will notice my masterpiece??
Hope everyone has a Happy Earth Day and does some kind gesture for Mother Earth! I did a little craft with Avery and her friend, with their handprints, as we talked about what their little hands can do to have a big impact on our beloved Earth. It is great to hear what a 4 year old already knows about reducing-reusing-recycling (well, maybe with thanks to Jack Johnson aka Curious George as Avery calls him!)
I love paper and have lots of it in my scrapbooking stash! I also love inspirations quotes. So I was digging around in Clint's shop and found these tiles, and made these little collaged tiles. Oh I had so much fun and now want to go get more tiles (apparently those expensive slate tiles are for our kitchen??) I just used Mod Podge (my new bff) and glued away. Good project to do with tiny hands around too. I gave Avery a kleenex box and some magazines and she kept busy with her own collage.
So big news for my beloved town - last year Fernie was chosen as THE SPOT to film the latest and greatest movie Hot Tub Time Machine. As you can tell from the title, this is a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, applauding at the great storyline, definitely up for Film of the Year!! Okay seriously, us Fernieites were pretty thrilled to see Main Street transformed, John Cusack in town, and many locals had the priviledge of being an 80's extra!! Now that the movie is out and people all over the world are flooding the theatres to see it, us small town folk were wondering what kind of GREAT publicity Fernie would get. Little did we know that we would be compared to .... the shining?!?! Seriously?!?! Watch this video clip:
Overwaitea Foods in Fernie put on the best easter egg hunt ever at Rotary Park! Although as Avery put it - "This isn't really a hunt cause there are chocolates EVERYWHERE - you don't even need to hunt for them!" And she was right, my kids came home with a years supply of candy which is now hiding. The REAL Easter Bunny was even there, and every time Kaden gave him a hug he got another chocolate bunny. Hats off to Overwaitea for putting on this great community event!! Now if they would only pay for the dentist bill.....ha-ha!
We had our good friends Molly & Liam over and painted Easter eggs. Give kids anything with dye in it and they love it. Kaden on the other hand didn't quite get the concept, as you can see from his egg!!
I found this pink/brown sweater in the Salvation Army one day and pictured little bunny rabbits. I seriously have a problem....I cannot even look at clothes without thinking of what I could do if I cut them up! Sometimes when I am singing to Kaden in his room (that is a talent I only share with my children) I am staring in his closet thinking "what could I do with that shirt?"
These are made using the wet felting technique. I like the one with the little birdie, it is a little smaller, perfect for a cell phone. The other one can carry money or cards. The buttons are little felted balls. Super fun to make!
