Recycled Wallpaper QP Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Knit & Crochet, Scrapbooking , on July 10, 2009

I’m baaaaaaack! Hopefully you liked the Recycled Wallpaper mini pack freebie given away yesterday :) Today as promised I’ve got the coordinating quick page to give away, too! It’s 3600 x 3600 pixels (12″ x 12″) and 300 dpi. It uses a little from the Recycled Wallpaper pack and then I added some other random stuff as I went. It’s a little pink, but pink is a very good color :)

Download the Recycled Wallpaper QP here!

Don’t forget that unless otherwise specified, my digital scrapbooking elements are for personal use only. Be sure to check out the TOU included and let me know if you have any questions. I hope to make some more new stuff in the near future, as time allows. Right now I’m back home in Indiana for a brief period this weekend in order to interview with the school district I taught at before I moved up to Canada. Cross your fingers! If I get a job offer, Lucas and I will pack up the boys and we’ll be on our way.

And of course, finding out last minute (Wednesday) that I was going to need to take a plane to Indy the next day (Thursday), one of the most important aspects of the packing wasn’t which outfit I was going to wear for the interview, or my teaching portfolio… but what knit projects I wanted to take with me for the flight! Haha. Ok so I’m probably exaggerating a lot (It took a long time for me to decide on an outfit, and I spent several hours touching up my portfolio), but it was a very important part of the packing. I had to figure out the patterns I wanted to take and wind some yarn for those projects into cakes to pack in my carry on.  I’m going to be working on Danido Crafty’s Bebeh Earflaps Hat and the Modern Cabled Baby Bib by Andrea Pomerantz. I’ll let you know how it goes! :)

Have a great weekend, and wish me luck!


Recycled Wallpaper Mini Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on July 9, 2009

I know this is beyond bizarre and a lot of you may be in shock because it’s been months and months and months since the last time I created digital scrapbooking elements to give away since knitting has taken over my craft time lately, but I made some freebies to give away over the weekend and I’m proud to offer them up to you today :) I call this little mini pack “Recycled Wallpaper” as the background papers remind me of scraps of wallpaper that have been ripped down during a remodeling effort. I’ve “recycled” them into something useful for your digital scrapbooking purposes!

Since it’s been awhile, I’ll be sure to mention that as always, the background papers and elements are created at 300 dpi, and the papers are 3600 x 3600 pixels (12″ x 12″) in size. The set is for personal use only (the terms of use are included, please be sure to check them out!) and the set includes 3 papers, 3 coordinating clips, and 3 matching ribbons.  Nothing fancy, but it’s a little somethin’!

Download Recycled Wallpaper HERE!

I know I’m a little rusty on the digital elements scene, but hopefully you’ll be able to find a use for this mini set! Be sure to check back tomorrow, as I’ve also created a quick page that coordinates with these elements. It’s a little pink and girly but that’s ok sometimes, right? See you soon, and enjoy the elements :)


Craftster Feature and New Scrapbook Pages

Posted in Featured, Scrapbooking, Soapmaking , on July 7, 2009
You & Me Together by

You & Me Together by Shallya Kitby, using the kit Cherish for Love by Fanette

I am most honored to be notified that my DIY Batman Soap Tutorial was a Craftster-wide feature recently, AND was also chosen as a featured project for Quarter 2 of 2009 in the Bath & Beauty section.  WOW! I really appreciate all of the “this rocks!” votes I received on the tutorial and am glad it’s gone over so well :) Thanks everyone!

This weekend I got around to some much neglected digital scrapbooking. It feels like it’s been forever! Several months ago when I was doing more digi scrapping I had started stockpiling various quick pages that I’d found on DigiFree as I came across them daily.  I was just saving them for a rainy day I guess! The weather has definitely been rainy here in Calgary lately, and so on Sunday I went back through the folder and turned around 33 of those quick pages into new pages of my digital scrapbook.

Name by

Kissletoe by Cinnamon Designs

Firstly, I went back through photos I had on my hard drive, which took me all the way back to November. There were a couple of events in the fall and winter that needed to be scrapped, such as Lucas’ birthday party, outings with friends, and Christmas. I also realized that the more digital pages I had in a single scrapbook in My Memories Suite, the slower/longer it took for the program to load the scrapbook when I wanted to work on it. This makes sense since it had to render all of those thumbnail previews along the bottom, and the more elements and extras on a page to render, the longer that would take. Multiply that times 40 odd pages or so, and you can see where I’m coming from. To help with the clutter, I decided to sum up the end of 2008 by adding a few more pages to finish off the year, and then start a whole new, separate album for 2009. So now I have a Family Life 2008 album and I’ve started a Family Life 2009 album that will be ongoing for the rest of 2009.

Green Lagoon by

Green Lagoon by Miss Vivi

Family Life 2009 was a fun one to start on and where I had the most catch up to do, because we’re already just over halfway into the year and so much has happened in the first part of 2009! Really the pages just started flowing once I went back through the photos I had stored away in my Pictures directory. I had some great new photos of Oliver and Winston in their Flames gear to scrap and some Calgary Flames quick pages I had created myself last year to use with them. I had quite a few newer photos of Lucas and I together that were begging to be scrapped, and of course a LOT of photos from our recent anniversary trip to Nova Scotia. It was hard to narrow down all of the fantastic photos we’d taken to just a few digital scrapbook pages, but I managed!

Name by

An Apple Day by MimiLou

Then I scrapped our recent family outdoor activity of choice: rollerblading! Lucas and I have been rollerblading fairly regularly for almost a year now, but just recently (like 2 weeks ago) we decided to start trying to rollerblade with Oliver and Winston, too. This has been ridiculously hilarious and A LOT of fun, and a great form of exercise for the whole family. Oliver could stand to lose a few pounds, tbh. But shhh, we don’t tell him he’s fat. (Ok we do, but it’s mostly hair, right?)

County Fair by

County Fair by GWTW

Then of course most recently, as in this past weekend, Lucas and I attended our first Calgary Stampede ever!  As I mentioned in my previous post, the Calgary Stampede comes to town for 10 days every July and turns the entire town into a rodeo.  Suddenly everyone here thinks they are a cowboy. To be honest, the Stampede was very much like the Indiana State Fair, just with a rodeo attached. It was great fun though, because it’s been years since I’ve been to a state fair of course.

All of this work to catch up my digital scrapbooks inspired me to create something of my own to share, and I played around with some new background papers and a couple of matchy-matchy elements to go with them. Nothing fancy, but I plan to give those away later this week, along with a quick page I made to go along with them. How exciting! Although knitting has dominated my crafting time for the most part the past several months, I don’t plan on letting my digital scrapbook get that far behind again, so hopefully that means more scrapping and more freebie goodies for you, too :)

In creating a 2009 album and leaving it open-ended to add on as life happens, I’ve started fast-forwarding in my mind to imagine what other upcoming pages I’ll need to scrap about. Most exciting is the next chapter in Lucas and I’s lives where we move back to Indiana and roadtrip with Oliver and Winston to get there, along with the birth of my first nephew coming up in October. The 2009 Family Life album sure will be a monumental one!


Tattoo Parlor Knitting

Posted in Knit & Crochet, Scrapbooking , on July 6, 2009
finished baby blanket for my nephew!

finished baby blanket for my nephew!

The last thing you’d expect to see in front of a tattoo shop at 6am on a Saturday morning is a chick sitting on the front porch steps knitting a baby blanket. I suspect there have been stranger things, but not many. As I’ve mentioned a few times lately, Lucas and I are planning to move back to the U.S. to be closer to family at the end of the summer. I realized that it’s the first week in July and that means we could be moving as early as a few weeks from now. It seems like such a short time away all of a sudden! I’ve truly loved living in Canada and while I’ll be happy to be near to family again, I’m really going to miss it here. The three years I’ve lived here have been a very big and important part of my life and includes my amazing husband. We are looking forward to starting our own family back in the good ol’ Hoosier state. So what does this all have to do with me knitting on the front porch of a tattoo parlor at 6am on Saturday? Everything! When I realized how soon we may be leaving, it seemed like the perfect time to get the tattoo I’ve been wanting to have done before we leave: a small Canadian maple leaf on the top of my right foot, to celebrate this hugely important part of my life and my love here in Canada. It stands for Lucas (who is Canadian), and it stands for my life here. When we move back to the states, I won’t be able to forget this chapter and I will think on it with fondness. We’ll of course come back to Canada to visit friends and Lucas’ family out in BC often, but it just won’t be quite the same experience as living next to the Canadian rockies like we do now.

my canadian maple leaf tattoo

my canadian maple leaf tattoo

So why 6am? Well Smilin’ Buddha Tattoo Shop (where Lucas and I got our little matching tattoos exactly a year ago) has drop-in Saturdays where appointments are made for when the shop opens at noon on a first-come, first-served basis.  If you get there first, you get your appointment first. We arrived at 6am and were the first people there. We sat together and I finished my Organic Baby Wrapper blanket for my future nephew. Around 9am, someone came along and set up our appointments in order (by this time, several more people had shown up to stand in line) and so my appointment was set for noon when the shop opened. We then went off and enjoyed a delicious pannekoeken breakfast and did a little window shopping on 17th Ave to kill time before we had to be back. I was excited that the same tattoo artist that did my first, Stacie-Rae, also did my maple leaf. She did a fantastic job!

Friday was the start of the Calgary Stampede, which turns the entire town into a rodeo. It’s amazing… it gets to be the first week in July and suddenly everyone is a cowboy. The cowboy boots and hats come out and everyone wears jeans to work all week in the downtown core. People say “Yeehaw!” and tip their hats and pretend they know how to rope a calf. Ok so I might be exaggerating just a little bit with that last sentence, but it’s amazing how many cowboy hats you see during this one week of the year. Happy Stampede! Lucas and I went for the first time ever on Friday night and we had a blast. I didn’t wear a cowboy hat and “yeehaw”, but I did throw in a lot more “ya’lls” for effect.

photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

Also this weekend I put the finishing touches on the knitted dishcloth set (made from my free Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth pattern) for my boss and packaged it all up in a small basket tied with a pretty black and white flowered ribbon. Doesn’t it look lovely? This is my last full week at the temp office job, and next week I’ll be in for the Monday and possibly Tuesday to help cross-train the new girl who is taking my place. With the baby blanket project and the dishcloth set finished, it was time to cast on something new. I’ve got quite a long list of baby things I want to knit for my future nephew, but the super soft snuggly knitted Baby Bunny from Alan Dart’s Wuv You pattern has especially been calling my name.  I’m not sure if it’s the cuteness that’s drawing me in or the incredibly soft Sirdar Snowflake yarn that I can’t keep my hands off of, but I casted it on last night and will be working on it this week.  Let’s hope it turns out half as adorable as the one in the pattern photo!

OH! And you won’t believe this, but I actually created some digital scrapbooking elements and papers this weekend. A quick page, too! Now don’t get too excited because I’m a bit rusty with all of this knitting going on instead, but I plan to release the little mini pack and quick page later this week so keep watching! I was inspired after working hard yesterday to finish off my 2008 digital scrapbook and get my 2009 one up to date. I know I’m 7 months behind on the 2008 one, but I really only had 4 final pages to add to it before I deem it complete. I went in and pulled from the stockpile of quick page layouts I’ve downloaded from DigiFree and been saving for a rainy day when I had time to devote to my digital scrapbooks, and rain is sure what we got this weekend.  This means I’ve got some pretty layouts and featured artists to share.  I’ll share the pages I did this weekend and the artists whose quick pages I used and give away some of my own created digital freebies later this week. See you back here soon! :)


Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth Pattern

Posted in Freebies, Knit & Crochet, Tutorials , on July 1, 2009
photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

Happy Canada Day! If you’re looking to whip up something patriotic today (or on Saturday for the 4th of July) check out my free pattern suggestions over at Knitting Under The Desk – I think you’ll like both the Canadian and U.S. holiday ideas. And if you’re an American like me living in Canada, you’ll find time to squeeze in one of each! Celebrating two holidays just plain rules.

I’ve been working lately on a dishcloth set for my boss. It’s summertime, and that usually means some kind of temporary office job to keep me busy between school years. Lucas and I are looking at moving back to Indiana very soon, and I recently realized that my time at the office will very quickly be coming to an end. Everyone there has been really fantastic, and I wanted to make a little something for my boss, who is wonderful, and the girl who showed me the ropes and trained me for the job, who is also really great. (See the bookmark I made for her a few weeks back here.) Sort of a “so long, thanks for being awesome” gift.

photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

photo copyright Lesley Karpiuk / pinktoque

My boss mentioned not too long ago that her kitchen is done in black and red. Mostly black and dark wood with punches of red. When I started trying to figure out what I wanted to make for her as a “so long and thanks for being awesome” gift this summer, I decided some bright red dishcloths would be perfect. Then the search began. You know, there’s an awful lot of dishcloth patterns out there. I tried out a few and just kept getting discouraged. Nothing seemed to be just right. Then I started messing around with the basket weave stitch (more like alternating stitches evenly to create a basket weave effect more than a stitch), which was featured on a ton of the dishcloth patterns I was perusing, but eventually I just said “forget it” and put together my own version of a bordered basket weave dishcloth pattern. Unoriginal, I know. And seriously, just what the world needs is another dishcloth pattern, but really… this turned out well and I like how the borders gave it a really sharp, neat look to it when all was said and done.

So my pretties, as a Bonne fete du Canada gift, I present to you… my Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth pattern. Free, of course. I think you’ll rather like the simplicity and reversibility of it! Not to mention that the little pocket square texture makes a great surface for scrubbing with.  I have made three so far and am planning on making one more and then folding them up all pretty (after blocking for presentability’s sake, of course) and tying with a black ribbon.

What You’ll Need
x1 skein of Lily’s Sugar’n Cream worsted weight cotton (1 skein = 2 dishcloths. Score!)
US size 8 needles

Download the PDF here [non-Ravelry users] or on Ravelry as a free [Ravelry PDF download].

Download my Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth Pattern FREE!

Download my Unoriginal Bordered Basket Weave Dishcloth Pattern FREE!

Well that wraps it up for today; Happy Canada Day (and Independence Day on Saturday!) Lots of love and hope you enjoy the pattern :)


Tutorial: My Memories Suite Error Resolved

Posted in My Memories Suite, Scrapbooking , on April 28, 2009

Let’s set the scene: You’ve recently added some new content that you’ve downloaded to the My Memories Suite program directories and you can’t wait to get in and make some fantastic new scrapbook pages with them.  You start up the software and rush in to browse in the new directory you’ve created where all the new content is stored. As soon as you do, an error message pops up. Something about a corrupted file. Annoyed, you click ‘OK’ and realize that you were able to “bypass” the error and still access the files after clicking ‘OK’, but the error keeps popping up and you have to click ‘OK’ for all of the errors before you can use anything in that directory. Every. Single. Time. Ouch.

Some of you have experienced this situation multiple times. And many of you have emailed me, asking about the error and how to fix it, or what was causing the problem. Was it the content you downloaded? The error used the term ‘corrupted’ in reference to a particular file as you were browsing content directories; was there a corrupted image file in your download? Rest assured, it’s not anything you’ve done wrong, and believe it or not, the actual image file in your download isn’t corrupted. (Which is why most of you realized you could just click “OK” and it would allow you access to those files.)

Thanks to a helpful Pink Toque Craft Blog reader, Cam, we now have a resolution straight from My Memories Suite customer service that fixes the problem.  And the answer is so simple I keep wondering why I never bothered to call them myself.

Apparently Windows Vista doesn’t like to play nice with My Memories Suite. (Wait, Vista isn’t 100% compatible with everything? NO WAI!) You know how when you go browsing for scrapbooking items such as backgrounds or embellishments within the software and you see various thumbnails there to choose from? The first time you browse new content to use within the software that My Memories Suite hasn’t accessed before, the program renders thumbnail versions of every single image file in the new directory when you browse in it right then and there — backgrounds, embellishemnts, etc. — so that when you are browsing your options you have a little preview thumbnail image of the items to choose from.  The error comes into play when you’ve added new content, go to browse it within MMS and you use Windows Vista, as Vista doesn’t like to render the thumbnails properly, hence the error message. The error is basically just letting you know that the thumbnail isn’t present and it can’t be rendered, but it forgets to mention that it’s all Vista’s fault.

The Solution?
I know you’re thinking, “Great, Lesley, but how do we FIX it?” Well, after adding new content to your My Memories Suite software, be it additional content you’ve created or you’ve downloaded from others, (See my tutorial on how to add additional content HERE) you need to right click on your shortcut to launch My Memories Suite and choose “Run as Administrator” from the popup menu. If you run MMS as an administrator and THEN go in and browse the new content you added, My Memories Suite will render the thumbnails properly. My Memories Suite only needs to render thumbnails once — the first time the program accesses the new stuff  — and then the thumbnails will always be there. So this is why right after adding new content you may get errors for certain embellishments. You will continue to get those errors every time you run My Memories Suite afterwards until those thumbnails are created properly.  Once the thumbnails are rendered, the errors will go away.

You will only need to run My Memories Suite as an administrator once after adding new content to your software directories.  If later on down the road you add more new content, be sure that the next time you run My Memories Suite that you run it as an administrator and then go browse to the new content so that the thumbnails for the new files are made correctly, and you’ll be good to go. If you ever run into the error while you’re working within the software, simply save what you’re working on, exit out of the program, and restart My Memories Suite, being sure to run it as an administrator. Then go back to the directory you were trying to access before and the errors should be gone.

The only part of this that still doesn’t make sense to me is how Vista decides which files it cannot render properly. Sometimes I get the error after adding new content but other times I don’t get any errors at all. Sometimes it’s not the entire contents of the new directory I’ve added, just a few select files among an entire folder of new stuff that produces the error. Previously I believed it affected files that were small in size or too small of a resolution to be used properly within MMS.  I was fairly regularly getting the error on tiny items or very thin ribbons, which tend to be a lot of pixels wide but only a few pixels tall and I thought that was the contributing factor.  Perhaps that is part of it; perhaps the reason Vista is having issues rendering these thumbnails has to do with file sizes, dimensions or resolutions. But the most important part to note is that it is not an error or problem with My Memories Suite; it is a Windows Vista problem.

Bottom line: If you’re getting errors about corrupted image files after adding new content, run My Memories Suite as an administrator (right click on your desktop/taskbar shortcut and choose “Run as Administrator” from the popup) and browse to the new directories to ensure thumbnails are rendered properly to alleviate errors. Special thanks to Cam for sharing this information with us :)


Easter & Another Feature!

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking, Sewing , on March 15, 2009

Yes I know St. Patrick’s Day comes first, but today I was in the mood to create a bunny, and so I drew up the image I had in my head and made a quickie pattern. It was kinda nice dragging the sewing machine out of the basement and rooting through a large box of my fabric to find just the right stuff. This bunny is made from fuzzy felt and regular craft felt. I used the machine to assemble the body and ears, and then hand sewed the facial features on. Nothing majorly special, but I did love how the face turned out :)

So that’s my crafty donation for the weekend. And what a busy weekend it was! I spent most of my weekend in a two 8-hour day first aid course for work. I am thankful that my instructors had a great sense of humor because it actually helped make the day not seem to drag on. But I did feel like my weekend flew by way too fast, with very little extra time to craft. This next week will be the same… a short four day week at work for kids, but five days of home visits to families of my students for me. The best part is that after I get through next week, it’ll officially be spring break and I’ll be done with home visits. Plus my mom and grandma will be here to visit, yay! So I’m hangin’ in there and am looking forward to more relaxing times ahead soon.

Freebie!

Freebie!

Oh, and it’s definitely worth mentioning that I was recently featured in the March 2009 edition of the My Memories Suite email newsletter! A layout I designed with the software (using elements I designed myself as well) was chosen as the March winner of a $20 gift certificate for products in the My Memories Suite store. The text from the newsletter reads, “This month’s gallery winner is Lesley Karpuik.  Lesley is an amazing scrapbooker and a dedicated blogger!  You can visit her blog at http://craftblog.pinktoque.com. Lesley wins a $20 certificate to the Design Shop.  To enter, post your layouts under “Fan Photos” on our Facebook page.”

How awesome is that? And wow did such nice comments make me blush. And which design did I use? My “Autumn Romance” quick page that I created and gave away for free here on my site back in November. Did you miss this freebie? Well go and grab it HERE so you’re not missing out! :) Don’t forget if you’re on Facebook to join the My Memories Suite fan group and enter to win!

Hope everyone had a great weekend <3


Get 25% off My Memories Suite just for reading!

Posted in Scrapbooking , on January 22, 2009

Buy Now at 25% Off! That’s right my friends, I’m now a part of the My Memories Suite affiliate program.  You can save 25% off of the My Memories Suite software by clicking from the pink toque craft blog, just by being a reader! :)

I was very honoured today to be asked to join the affiliate program.  StoryRock and Polaroid are wonderful to work with and are even more wonderful by allowing me to offer a 25% discount on the My Memories Suite software to my readers.  Talk about passing on the savings!

So if you’ve been holding off on purchasing My Memories Suite or have been wanting to get it for a family member or friend, NOW IS THE TIME! :) Not only will you save a bundle, but once you receive the software you’ve got all of my tutorials here to help you out so that you can dive right in from day one… and of course I’m always available to help with your questions via email here on the pink toque craft blog.  You’ve got all the support you need to start making the digital transition.  I promise it won’t hurt ;)

Thanks to all of my readers out there for being you — I do love the comments and emails that I receive from you.  I know it’s been awhile with the holidays and my new teaching job since I’ve made/given away any new freebies, but I think I’ve got an idea or two in mind that I hope to get to soon in celebration.  Plus I’ve been working on a new Huug© and am looking into a retail venture.  Life can be a pretty big adventure, huh?  Wishing you all the best, see you back here soon!

My Memories Suite (Standard Package) SAVE 25% off Regular Pricing ORDER NOW!


Holiday Baking Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on December 19, 2008

Holiday Baking Freebie by pinktoque

Today marks the last day before Christmas/winter holiday break for a lot of people, including teachers and students!  Today was the last day of guest teaching for me and I was lucky to have my most favourite of all grade 1 class as my last day.  Now it’s the last day before holidays, but it’s also my last day of guest teaching because I was given a full time kindergarten teaching contract that starts up on January 5th after the break.  YAY!  It’s about time, eh?  It’s a small private school in downtown Calgary and I am really excited.

So for the freebie this week I wanted to present you with a set I made a little while back that I absolutely love.  With holiday baking being a very important part of the holiday season, I thought you would all enjoy a holiday baking set.  This personal use freebie includes a cookie sheet and three different shapes of sugar cookies — bell, star and tree — that come in four different decorated versions — plain, flour powdered, frosted and sprinkled with sugar — to grace your baking scrap pages this season.  That’s 12 different cookies + a bonus gingerbread man I added, too.  There’s even a piece of waxed paper and a freebie paper included of a countertop (our countertop, lol) so you’ll have all you need to create a beautiful baked good layout this Christmas.

Download my Holiday Baking freebie HERE!  Don’t forget to read the personal TOU included.

I hope everyone has a very merry holiday season!  Things will probably slow down around here for awhile as I get adjusted with the new job and such.  Happy New Year and best wishes!


Glass Mosaic Tiles Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on December 13, 2008
Glass Mosaic Tiles Freebie

Glass Mosaic Tiles Freebie

As I’m sure most of you are experiencing, December is a very busy time of the year.  I’m having a hard time keeping up around here mostly because I’m working so hard to get my Christmas gifts made (just one project left to go now, woo!) along with doing Christmas cards, the usual holiday baking, etc. etc. etc.  How is it that December seems to sneak up out of nowhere and suddenly it’s Christmas?

I have a little freebie for you today; I wanted to have something birthday-related because tomorrow I turn the big 2-9 (*wince*) but I haven’t had time to devote to creating new digital scrapbooking goodies so I’ve resorted to putting up something I made a month or so ago and have had sitting in my “ready to release” folder.  These glass mosaic tiles are just some extra frills for you to use on your pages: there’s 12 different colours and three different styles of tile… full square, half squares (triangles) and smaller rectangular tiles.  That’s 36 tiles for you to arrange however you’d like to create a neat mosaic design in your scrapbook!

Download my Glass Mosaic Tiles HERE! (and don’t forget to read the personal use TOU included.)

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but we’ve been pummeled lately with snow.  Last week we received a little over a half foot, and then this weekend the temperature dropped to a high of -20 (not including windchill) and we’ve received around a foot of snow with more coming tomorrow supposedly.  It’s so cold!  We managed to dig out the car and go out for sushi at our favourite place close to home this evening for my birthday dinner, but we don’t plan to leave the house tomorrow if we can help it.  It’s kinda nice feeling snowed in, but at the same time I can’t help but think about the drive to work on Monday morning.  Ugh!

I hope to update shortly with a bunch of my finished projects.  I handmade something for everyone in my family this year and on top of that, Lucas and I made special handmade keepsakes for our family and close friends that attended our Las Vegas wedding back in June.  I can’t wait to give them to their recipients!  Once I do you’ll be sure to see what all we made right here on the blog :)  Enjoy the freebie and your weekend :)