Pick of the Day

This is from the shop of ArtbyTrudy:

I don't know how but I think Trudy has seen my house!

Click on pick of the day to see more of her artwork.

Bragging About my Kids

I've been focusing on the family...

My son Chris has had a successful rugby season at school. Not successful for the amount of wins but for the overall effort he made and the teamwork he learned. They finished off the season with two wins and now we are off to the playoffs.

Chris is the big one on the right!

We also celebrated my daughter Liz' 18th birthday on the weekend!

Happy birthday Liz!!!!!!

My Mum came up from Lethbridge to visit and for a late Mother's Day celebration.

We took her to the Shooting Edge for some target practice. She did amazing! Me, not so good and now I'm off to the optometrist to find out why I couldn't focus on the target.

I have a great fear and respect for guns and would never consider owning one but I have to say it is quite the experience firing one. This was my second time at a gun range. The first time was in Las Vegas firing machine guns that are not even allowed in Canada and this past weekend was my first experience with hand guns. I have a feeling though that as far as Mum is concerned I may have created a monster!

CN

Pick of the Day

This item is a mix of two of my favourite subjects, Zombies and Robots. You can find it in Bolts and Bots Etsy shop...

Enough is Enough, No More Snow!

Seriously, it's May 20, it's time for some sunshine and warmth. I've had the fireplace on most of the day and I put a winter coat on to walk the dogs. This is so depressing...

Ok, enough weather talk.

We went to Chinatown on the weekend and along with the bubble tea I picked up a bunch of little Kawaii items that I am working with. Posted my first item a couple of days ago...

The Lucky Cat is a little jingle bell and is surrounded by Chinese coins. This bracelet turned out really well and I'm very pleased with it.

My daughter Liz and I are going back to San Francisco this summer. I love wandering around Chinatown in that city. It's certainly a lot bigger than our version. Last time I was there I picked up a bunch of Lucky Fish and made this bracelet:

I can't wait for our next trip to see what other goodies I can find.

Here's hoping for some sunshine tomorrow!

CN

Pick of the Day

Western themed items don't usually catch my eye (maybe because I'm born and raised in Calgary and see it all the time), they have to really stand out for me to take notice and this item from BouncingOffTheWalls shop sure did...





Very cute and colourful, I love these drawer knobs!










A quick thank you to MyGrandpasPen for the custom card. Thanks so much!

CN

What's Happening in my Town...

The Calgary Roughnecks won the 2009 NLL Champions Cup. They beat the New York Titans by a score of 12-10. This is the second time in franchise history that the 'Necks have won the Champions Cup and I can proudly say I was there both times. If you've never checked out an NLL game I would strongly suggest getting tickets for next season. The games are fast, rough and loud! Lots of fun and it's still affordable!

Yesterday we walked the B's at Princes Island Park in 24c temperatures and sunshine. Today is cold and wet. Oh how I love Calgary and it's weather!

My garden looks lovely though and yes I have a garden gnome....

We've been enjoying many of the theatre that Calgary has to offer. We recently saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Theatre Calgary, we will be seeing Evil Dead the Musical soon and I just got my tickets for the Lion King in August. We also took in Alberta Ballet's production of Alice in Wonderland. I feel very lucky to live in a city that offers so much. I was disappointed that I missed Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra doing the music of Led Zeppelin. That would have been awesome!

Just a couple more weeks until Spock Days in Vulcan! I will be introducing some new items shortly to go along with it. Stay tuned for the unveiling!

CN

Pick of the Day

My pick of the day from Salonskacollection's Shop:

I love the rich colour of this necklace. So elegant!

CN

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Anything exciting, sad, cheesy, adventurous? I know there are winter readers and summer readers. Some people like to read all year long. I'm a bathtub reader, any time of the year. I have a stack of books that is taller than me of titles I've yet to read and I keep buying more books.

I've recently finished The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill and The Birth House by Ami McKay. They share a couple of things in common. One is a strong female narrator and the other is a location of Nova Scotia. The Birth House takes place entirely in Nova Scotia while The Book of Negroes has Nova Scotia as one of a number of settings. I would recommend both of these books, I was sorry to see them end. I am now reading Born Standing Up by Steve Martin which will be a mood change from the previous two.

If anyone has a favourite book they would like to recommend let me know. I'm always looking to add to the growing stack. My reading had stalled for a while last year. I got distracted with crafts, television and tabloid magazines (I know, I know). I made a promise to myself to put other distractions aside and take some time to read one chapter each night and I realized how much I missed reading. Nothing compares to hearing the words in your head and seeing the setting in your imagination, the faces of the characters. I have read some books where I feel as though I can smell the air around me.

Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day! Did anyone get any books?

CN

Pick of the Day

I love the colours MyGrandpasPen uses. Beautiful!

Click on Pick of the Day to see more.

CN

Bitch and Moan

I spend a lot of time on the Etsy forums. I read a lot but don't add too much unless I have something of interest to say. One thing I've noticed is that people like to complain...a lot. There are pages devoted to discussions about what is the point of people heart-ing you and spam and is it ok to convo someone to tell them you like their shop and is that spam and someone uses the wrong tags and should I tell on them and on and on and on. I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of grumpy people out there. Go see the new Star Trek movie, that will cheer you up.

Ok, that's my rant for today, sorry about that.


Oh, one other thing I read. Should people be promoting their Etsy items on their own blog? Well it's my blog and I'll promote if I want to:

My new purple bead bangle. Thank you, thank you very much.

CN

Pick of the Day

I couldn't limit myself to one item from this shop so the whole shop is my pick. I love the vintage images.

Click on Pick of the Day to go to Myfathershouse4.etsy.com

CN

Summer is on it's way!

The sun is shining, it's getting warmer outside and summer is on it's way!


Some things I'm looking forward to:


Working in my garden
Mowing the lawn
Taking the B's to Sandy Beach


Some things I'm not looking forward to:


My sore back after working in the garden
Green feet after mowing the lawn
The small of wet dogs



The Bruiser B:

CN

Pick of the Day

I've recently joined the Alberta Street Team on Etsy. You can find us by searching Alberta Team.


I love this item from Short Bus Stuffies:

Click on Pick of the Day to see more from Short Bus Stuffies shop.

CN

Working Hard

I've been working on a bunch of new pieces and will be getting them on my Etsy site shortly. For now here is a sneak peek:



I've been using some very pretty porcelain beads, glass beads and some resin pendants that I've found. I have a one more 'geek' item coming up and I'm anxiously waiting for some deliveries of charms and other items that will make for some very interesting pieces.

The new Star Trek movie opens this week and we are so excited to go see it. I made an awesome Star Trek necklace using Minimates toys. I gave it to my Trekker neighbor who is going to show it off and also test out the wearability. If it works out for her I will be making more to show off at Spock Days in Vulcan Alberta which is held the second weekend of June.

One more item for today:

Go Roughnecks Go!

CN