2013 - aka Where’s Claire?

Hello and Happy 2013! 

It’s been a while. 

(Ha! That’s an understatement)

If you’re still reading my blog . . . thank you, thank you, thank you!

I came so close to writing 100 posts and then something happened.

Something good.

Way back in October we went to the cottage to close it up for the winter. While we are at the cottage my only contact with home is a bottom-of-the-line cell phone with limited reception and internet access. I refuse to have a cell phone contract.

On a whim, I checked my email and found that a Kindergarten teacher had been trying to get hold of me for two days. Via text messages, I landed myself a supply teaching job indefinitely. The following Tuesday I started teaching a Full-Day Kindergarten class with a fabulous Early Childhood Educator.

28 little bodies in one room.

But, in the meantime, my cousin’s wife, Laura, who teaches at the same school went on an early maternity leave. They had not interviewed anyone for her position at this point because she expected to teach until the end of October. However, the twins she was carrying had other plans!

I interviewed for her position (Grade 3/4) and heard nothing for a few days. Then, the day before Halloween the Principal approached me to tell me I had been recommended for the position and would switch over on November 1st.  Eeek!

So, after surviving Halloween in Kindergarten, I made my way down the hall to drop off my things in the classroom where I will be teaching until the end of the school year.

Two months later, I am still trying to strike a balance between teaching and “in the meantime.”

Grade 3 and 4 are completely out of my comfort zone. I have been teaching for almost 7 years but all of my previous long-term positions have been in Kindergarten and Grade 1. I am not used to a curriculum that I have to teach myself before I can teach the class!  And the split. I have huge respect for teachers of split grade classes. Oh, and I have to teach French since I have 6 Grade 4’s in my class. I haven’t taken French since University.

November felt more like September as everyone got settled into new routines and December was a blur with holiday activities taking up more time than I could afford.

I have to remind myself to take everything one day at a time.

As overwhelmed as I feel at times, it is such a honour that my administrators saw my potential and chose me for the job.

I hope January can be a fresh start for everyone.

No matter what, this new teaching adventure would not be possible if it were not for these little ladies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoe and Lyla, born on December 28th, 2012

 

Of course, I had to use my Silhouette to make a special card welcoming them to the world!

Handmade cards are one thing I can always make time for . . . unless you count Christmas cards. Sorry, they didn’t happen this year!

For the first few days it was Lyla and “Baby B” so I had to wait until a second name was picked before I could send it on its way. 

As an added bonus, I got to take photos of my card with my new DSLR camera! No editing, just cropping. Love it!

Proud parents Laura and Adam now have 4 little girls – Claudia, Annabelle, Lyla and Zoe. I cannot even imagine!  Oh, and they’re all under 4 years old!

So, that’s where I’ve been. How about you? I hope things are well in your neck of the woods!

Please know that even if I’m not commenting on your posts, I’m still reading your blog in my downtime. I don’t think I could give that up!

Have a great day/week/month! (let’s be realistic – it’s report card writing time)

How to Make a New “Old” Sign

If you’ve been a reader for a while you know how much I enjoy making something new look old. 

My favourite victim? Painted signs.

I have an entire Pinterest board of sign inspiration which includes this lovely pair from a site called 1stdibs:

Living with a mechanic, these would fit right in at our house.

Here’s my version of the second sign (which I promise I have no intention of selling since it is very, very similar).

How to make a new “old” sign:

Paint board with blue acrylic paint.

Apply Contact paper stencil cut with Silhouette (Font = Bebas Neue) *everything blue was covered with Contact paper.

Paint over board and stencil with another coat of blue paint so that any colour that bleeds under the stencil is the base colour (totally worked!).

Spray paint top coat in Heirloom White. Heirloom White, you never fail me!

Peel off Contact paper stencil while still wet to reveal this:

Look at those crisp letters! This was my best stencilling job EVER!

But, I wanted the sign to look old not new so I did the same thing as what I did with my vintage-inspired grocery sign – sand, sand and then sand some more!

To make it look a little dirtier I inked some spots with Tim Holtz’ distress ink and then smudged it in/wiped it off.

Old-ish Canadian Tire tool box courtesy of Mr. Mechanic.

(I wanted to turn it into a fall planter filled with mums but that was vetoed)

 

Oil funnel courtesy of the shed at the cottage.

It belonged to Mr. Mechanic’s Grandpa.

 

 

Before I made this I had already chosen the perfect spot to hang it: the wall across the bottom of the basement stairs. By hanging it low on the wall, you can see it through the window in the back door and while standing on the landing inside. 

The basement beyond the sign may be a work in progress, but the stairs have never looked better!

What do you think of my latest new “old” sign?

 

P.S. Is anyone getting a higher than normal number of spam Blogger comments recently?  I don’t want to have to add Captcha to commenting but they’re driving me crazy!

 

P.P.S. Oh my goodness, 99 posts! Whew!

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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Pinspiration: Canning Lid Pumpkin

Last week I said I would share another pumpkin project that looked great on my chippy chair.  Unlike my paint chip pumpkins, I can take no credit for this DIY brilliance.

This pinspired pumpkin project (say that three times fast!) is thanks to Kristin of Simply Klassic Home’s amazing “junkin’ pumpkin" that has been all over Pinterest and blogs lately. 

When she originally posted this pumpkin I was so inspired that I dug out my zinc lids from the mason jars I rescued last summer and had my own canning jar lid pumpkin in less than 5 minutes. 

Go visit her site to find out how you can make one, too!

Canning jar lids + twine = perfection!

To make the rustic stem I simply folded twine back and forth until it was thick enough and then wrapped the twine around it to hold it together.

Then, I just tucked it into the space in the center and tweaked it to give it a bent stem shape.

I told you it looked good on my chippy chair!

{Thank you for the pinspiration, Kristin!}

 

P.S. Are your canning lids gold coloured? You could always create a faux-zinc finish like this one with acrylic paint! You’ll be seeing a sign that I made for the cottage using this finish soon!

 

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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{Quick and Easy} Paint Chip Pumpkins

Aren’t these adorable?

If you’re looking for an easy way to decorate for fall, you’re in the right place because these paint chip pumpkins are SO easy to make.

Two years ago I found this tutorial for paint chip pumpkins and used it to make Thanksgiving decorations with my sister-in-law.

The hot glue part was a bit tricky (and painful) and made it so that they took up a lot of space when stored. Then, last year I realized that I could eliminate the hot glue and create pumpkins that were collapsible for storage using the same method as my paint chip balls.

Here’s the quick step-by-step:

The process for making pumpkins is the same as above with one extra step – hot glue a piece of a branch to the top to create the stem.

{Quick Tip: Choose a flat brad like a square that will allow you to glue your stem almost flush with the top of the pumpkin}

When it’s time to put them away, they will look like step 5 above except with a stem.

Nice and compact (and almost free).

So . . . what’s stopping you from making paint chip pumpkins in every colour imaginable?

 Orange, cream, chartreuse.

Ombre.

I finally found a chippy chair at a garage sale for $2.00.

It was the perfect backdrop for my photos!

Swoon.

In my next post I’ll be sharing a different pumpkin DIY that looks just as good on my chair.

Come back soon!

 

 

P.S. FYI - Mr. Mechanic and I are far-too-regular customers at many home improvement stores!

 

P.P.S. Want to see more of my paint chip projects? Here you go!

 

 

 

Psst - I’m linking up to Sarah’s Easy Fall Decor Linky Party!

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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My Fall Mantel: Pumpkin Edition

Mr. Mechanic and I have a cat named Pumpkin so it’s safe to say that we enjoy all things fall. 

She’s gray not orange and her name was first a term of endearment when we decided to rename her after her adoption. She started out life as ‘Peppy’ but is definitely a Pumpkin.

I’m telling you this because Pumpkin was my inspiration for this year’s fall mantel.

I brought my tub of fall decorations upstairs, took out a frame wrapped in butcher paper and walked away for a minute. When I came back upstairs she was sitting right on top of it!

As I unpacked my decor, a pumpkin patch started to grow!

Since it’s Thanksgiving in two weeks, I decorate for fall first and then add touches of Halloween later.

I was already working on a fall sign, so I decided to run with the pumpkin theme this year.

Here it is!

 

From Left to Right:

 

 

 

 

 

I used my Silhouette to create a stencil for my own sign after seeing this T.J. Maxx inspiration on the blog A Bowl Full of Lemons.

 

 

 

 

 

I even made a cameo appearance in my attempt to get a photo that was front and center. Peekaboo!

 

This mantel is a great mix of old, new and a handful of D.I.Y. projects. Just the way I like it!

The two small bottles were cottage finds (the little one is actually an old Buckley’s bottle) and the tall bottle came from Goodwill last year. The braided jute ring is a 50 cent napkin ring from Michaels that I thought looked rustic.

My frame (which Pumpkin was sitting on) is a plastic Dollarama frame that I painted and glazed last fall to bring out the corner details. It is sitting on a book, also from Dollarama, which I wrapped with Kraft paper to cover the title. The edges of the pages have a fantastic texture to them!

The printable was created by Kristin at Simply Klassic Home. You can download your own copy of this beauty here.

The glass acorn was a clearance Michaels find last year in the Thanksgiving decor.  Are you noticing a pattern here?

All of the pumpkins and the sprig of bittersweet (thanks, Bronwyn!) are from Dollarama, Walmart or Michaels. I painted some of them and left others their original colour.  The little orange and yellow pumpkin on the right definitely needs to be a different colour. Any suggestions?

I made the burlap fall banner last year after seeing them everywhere. Super easy. Just burlap, acrylic paint, letter stencils (pre-Silhouette!) and twine.

My owls are from HomeSense (big: 2011, little: 2012) and the metal basket was my only splurge (HomeSense again) because I knew it would be a great way to display my birch logs. I scooped a big branch from my neighbours’ yard before the wood chipper got to it when the hydro company did their line maintenance last winter. Remember my poor tree?

The pumpkin on top is a faux pumpkin from Michaels that I spray painted Heirloom White.

Finally, the white lantern on the floor was a summer 2011 purchase from HomeSense. I filled the base with strips of burlap, pinecones and mini pumpkins to give it a less summery look.

(In case you’re wondering, that arrowhead plant in the pot lives on the mantel year-round because of how much it hangs so I just work around it. We re-potted it this summer and it loves its new digs!)

 

Thank you so much for checking out my mantel!

 

P.S. Want to know a ridiculously easy way to hang a banner? Check out my trick here!

 

P.P.S. Did you see my fall planter? The mums and asters are really starting to fill out now!

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I link up at: Serenity Now, I {Heart} Naptime, Under The Table And Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Simply Klassic Home, Home Stories A to Z, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Not JUST A Housewife, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Alderberry Hill, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, A Diamond In The Stuff, Creatively Living, The Winthrop Chronicles, Clean & Scentsible, Oopsey Daisy, Lil’ Luna, Someday Crafts, Live.Laugh.Rowe, The 36th Avenue, aka design, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Thrifty Decorating, Crafty Scrappy Happy, How To Nest For Less, Tatertots & Jello, The Grant Life, It’s Overflowing, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Positively Splendid, My {Re}purposed Life, Unrefined By Design, Just Us Four, Liz Marie Blog and The Crafted Sparrow

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