Holiday Cheer

Can you believe that Christmas is just five weeks away! I'm just relieved that I got all my swap items made and mailed out before it gets even crazier!
We took the kids to see A Christmas Carol and they had their eyes closed most of the time,because it was way too scary for them! The effects were amazing though,and it did leave me with a warm Christmas feeling inside.

This past weekend Toronto also had their Santa Claus Parade. This photo was taken there in 1918!

This Mr.Potato head float was my favorite this year! Of course we only saw it on the television because we wouldn't dare freeze our butts -in the middle of a million- people to watch it live...ha,ha!

Santa was also so cheery and lively.

My kids already wrote their letters to Santa. My oldest daughter wants way too much, as you can see.

My second daughter was too lazy to write- so she cut out pictures from a catalogue..lol!

Remember the Christmas post cards I made for a swap? Well here is one -that I got in return- and it is soooo darling!

My order from monkeysalwayslook -on etsy- also arrived.

I placed one of the spoons inside my floral arrangement, and I altered the other one and attached it to one of my jars of jam. This one is going out to a friend.

I also turned one of my Charlottes into an angel. It says 'Soar' on her chest. Notice the tiny baby on her arm?

Finally, I wanted to thank sweet Zoe for this wonderful award. I sure hope you receive your blog prize in the mail BEFORE Christmas Zoe!

Got to jet. Am babysitting my 2 year old nephew Adam for 2 days and have lots of plans for us!

Huggies!

A Marathon of a Weekend!

I had such a busy weekend!! On Saturday- after I dropped the kids off at Italian school- I went Grocery shopping, cut my hair and had a pedicure. Then we had dinner at my parent's place and pulled our Kris Kringle names.

When my sister Julie gave us her Christmas wish list- it was her way of announcing to us all that she is pregnant! Yipee!! I am over the moon!


Sunday morning I cleaned the house, bought some jeans, went to a triplet's birthday at a roller rink.

This was our first time going to a roller rink and we discovered that roller skates were much easier than roller blades!

Then I went out to dinner -and saw this hilarious movie- with my sister Sabrina.

After all that I even managed to have time to create! I was inspired to make this bottle doll through one of my fav. Artists; JoAnna from Moss Hill Studios. It was so much fun to make!

While I was printing the bottle girl's face -onto fabric- I had some room left over to print some crowns to cover some jars of my home-made strawberry jam.

Then finally I addded a little fairy to my printer's block.

Let me know what you did this weekend :)

Swap & Tutorial Reveal + Black Friday Flea Market

The Altered Christmas Doll Swap is now closed, and below are the participants. I have also e-mailed you your partner's info. Please mail out your doll NO LATER than Dec. 5th.

I can't wait to see what everyone does with this swap:) I already made my doll and am ready to send it out! Please e-mail me pix of your dolls once they are complete! Thanks to all the participants who joined in the fun!

*Whosies & Materialgalmolly

*Viv out on a Whim & Gingham World

* Sandy's Creations & Paper*Cakes Finds

*Kandeland & Pawsh Poodle

I am also so excited to be participating in Pawsh Poodle's Black Friday Flea Market, so please check it out here on Nov 27th-11th for some SWEET deals!

My Frozen Charlotte Tutorial has now come to an end and I am really grateful to those who have registered for it! Below are the items we made in the classes;

An 'I Play with Dolls' ballerina pin.

'Golden Jar Fairy'

'Sewing Mends the Soul' 'Bloom Where you are Planted'.
Altered waxed bottle with Charlotte.

Lest We Forget, and a Mini Vacation

Today is Rememberance day, so at 11:00 am we prayed together (in the car) to remember those who sacrificed their lives for us. It really touched me to see so many people pull over on the highway to take a moment to remember!
We were on our way back from a 3 day trip at Great Wolf Lodge and Water Park. Before we got there, we went to Bird Kingdom. As you can see, they had reptiles there too.

Out of no where- these Lorikeets swooped up to me and started nibbling at my hair!

It was amazing seeing all the domesticated tropical birds there!

Then we headed over to Great Wold Lodge. We swam so much at the water park, that we are wrinkled from head to toe.

At night there was a story time show and the kids also went to a pyjama party.

The Pj party gave my Husband and I some alone time, so we went out for coffee and drove around Niagara Falls to see the Christmas light show. We also drove up Clifton Hill which has tons of wax museums, fun houses and haunted houses.

Now that I'm back, I am going to focus on getting ready for my upcoming Christmas Craft Show. If you live nearby, please come and visit!

I am also going to prepare for this fabulous blog party at Bella Dreams! I will be posting my Christmas decor, a Christmas craft project and will share with you our wacky Christmas traditions. Click here to join in the fun :o)

I am proud to say that some very sweet and talented ladies have joined my Altered Christmas Doll Swap! I need a few more players though, so please don't hesitate to sign up! I will be closing the sign-ups this Saturday!

**UPDATE: Sign-ups are closed**

BTW, if you are looking for some cool swaps, keep checking SwapDex frequently! They posted my swap and did an interview with me :)

Art Journaling and Some Wins :)

Hello my dears! Just thought I would show you the last pages of my Life Journal.
I had so much fun with these pages!

This one is about my love for junking and old dolls.

This one is about my full time job as a mom and about the fact that I am not perfect.
:-0

These are the last two pages, and they are about Friends and Art Therapy. I carved out many pages to make a window on the right of the book.

Oh and check out my cute bobby pins :) I used a button-making kit and chose some cute fabric, then slid the button over some bobby pins.

I got many surprises in the mail as well this week. I actually won these yummy Hawaiian chocolate macadamian from Rima's adorable blog.!!EEeek!

Then I also won this print from Natasha's 'It's All About Me' give-away! Woohoo! What luck!

I also received an adorable dolly- from Lisa- that was part of a swap that we did in L.A.

I hope you have a fabulous week!!

Swap Madness!

Today it is SNOWING for the first time but I am keeping warm inside- by the fire. I have also started crafting for Christmas!
First of all, I was honored to be personally invited to join a private art swap group called Amusing Muses. All the members there -are so welcoming and talented!

The first swap I joined- with Amusing Muses- was a Christmas Post Card Swap. For my post card I printed an old Christmas image onto a transparency, sewed it onto an old post card that I stamped, and then filled it with snow.

The second swap was an Art Doll Swap- where we were provided with a template and measurements as a starting point. I decided to make mine into a Christmas Angel.
I enjoyed making the Christmas Angel so much, that I decided to host my own SWAP here! Please join me in swapping an Altered Christmas Doll! You can alter an existing doll or make a fabric doll. See the examples of past Christmas dolls I altered above.

If you would like to join, please leave a comment here by Nov 14th and I will assign your partner on the 15th! Your doll should be sent out no later than Dec. 5th. Also, please add this swap badge to your blog and spread the word :)

I caught the swapping bug because I also joined Victoria and Kelly's Secret Santa Swap, and have already sent my gifts out. I also completed my ornaments for a '12 Days of Christmas' swap. Now I need to work on more Christmas ornaments that are being swapped with my Niagara Art Sisters. Not to mention I am creating items for a Christmas sale I am doing in a few weeks!!

Oh yeah, and I have also been busy creating Fall and Christmas banners. Some are available in my shop.

Please consider joining my Christmas swap and leave a comment here soon!

Fall Back and Relax

I'm back with an update that thankfully my son has completely recovered from H1N1 and Pneumonia! I am so grateful to you all for your prayers and loving comments!

The best thing about the Fall is 'Fall Back'! I feel like a hybernating bear because I am sleeping a lot more lately- so I think it's great that we have an hour more of sleep by setting the clocks back an hour!

I also love how the leaves change to bright colors during the Fall.

This is the tree in front of my house and it has an empty nest- which made me think of how the leaves fall and birds fly south in the fall as well.

The roots of the tree is equally as beautiful and they look like a pair of old hands.

I tried my hand at making one of those gorgeous velvet pumpkins that I have seen out there in blog land. I liked mine extra mushy and I love the rich color of the velvet.

I have been trying to relax so that I don't get sick as well. Sipping hot coffee -from Tim Hortons- and reading my favourite books is the perfect way to do just that!

I also curled up in a blanket -on the couch- and watched a sweet movie called 'My Life in Ruins'. Not to mention that the Actor above is such a cutie! You can actually find him on facebook!

Then of course shopping on line is always relaxing and fun! Here are my fav. latest finds on etsy.

I hope you are also relaxing and enjoying the last days of Fall!