Hoppy Easter!

I know I am late, but I wanted to share my cupcakes with you all! A co-worker/friend invited us to her house for Easter and I decided to bring cupcakes. My original plan was just to decorate cupcakes with coloured icing and sprinkles, but ever since Shea's birthday, I am kind of addicted to fancy looking cupcakes! So, I did a quick google search and found this link: http://parispastry.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-cupcakes_21.html

They turned out great! It was pretty simple to do. Though next time I would use regular icing rather than cream cheese icing because cream cheese icing isn't pure white and the marshmallows were pure white. I doubt anybody noticed though - well, except me :) I used a jelly bean instead of a m&m or similar shaped candy - I really liked it. I did try to find black licorice for the whiskers, but string black licorice is hard to find in the stores! I think I will buy some and keep it in my cupboard for occasions like this.

I had some extra cupcakes, so I just decorated them simply with little chicks that I picked up at Michaels the other day. They are cute too!

I really have to say that I love google - there are so many talented people out there and I love that they share their ideas! Thank you to all that share your ideas!!

Here is Shea looking for easter eggs :)

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Happy Halloween (a little late)

We had such a fun Halloween! We took Shea trick r' treating to a couple of family and friend's houses and then we hit the fireworks and bomb fire in our community. Shea fell asleep on the way to the fire, but woke up for the end of the fireworks. I thought the noise would scare him, but he didn't seemed to be bothered by it at all.





I did carve a pumpkin - though not as elaborate as my previous pumpkins (last years pumpkin and the year before pumpkin). Again, we had no kids come to our house. Maybe next year :)





I also sewed a friend some floor cushions. I will take a picture of them this week and post a small "how to". They were super simple and they look better than I thought they would!

Fun Halloween Craft

I LOVE halloween! I am so excited to dress Shea up and go celebrate this year. I want to put some decorations around the house and I found this easy peasy craft! I am going to go make some right now :)

For instructions how to make your own - visit Our Best Bites.

Gearing Up For New Years...

Going back to work after the holidays isn't that much fun... I am sitting at my desk today thinking about all the work that I should be doing, but just don't have the heart to dig into it quite yet. We arrived back in Victoria late last night - our flight was a couple hours late, but nothing out of the ordinary for the holiday season.

Calgary was great! We spent most of our time visiting friends and family and of course eating way too much! db got a video camera from my parents to record the baby... yup, you heard right... new baby! I have been hesitant to announce that db and I will be expecting our first child in March (I guess I wanted to make sure everything was okay). There is still lots of things to do before the little person arrives, but we are taking it day-by-day.

Plans to decorate the baby's room are fully underway with the help of my talented sister and I will be posting photo's on here as it progresses. Anybody want to come help me clean up the room?? Hahahaaa... Also, anybody know a good painter in the Victoria area?

I am on the search for a great rocking chair - so far, I haven't found the perfect one, but I haven't given up hope! I really love this chair, but not being able to test it out is a big red flag for me... but I may just bite the bullet and buy it anyways!


In other news, the Olympics are coming up fast! My sister and I have a bunch of tickets and are getting very excited to be able to go. Looks like we are going to be staying with some of her friends that have offered us a bedroom in their close-to-downtown apartment in Vancouver. I will be 8 month pregnant, so sleeping in a bed was sort of a requirement. We are super lucky to have such great friends to put us up!

Well, I think that is all the news from my little family! Wishing you all the very best for 2010!
<3 Ariane, db and new little person

Happy Halloween!

Oooohhhhh Halloween was great this year! I carved my pumpkin in a pretty simple design compared to previous years. I loved my sister's pumpkin! It's awesome! I wish she would send me pictures of it in the dark!

My pumpkin for 2009

My sister's pumpkin

Then a bunch of us went to the local bomb fire and fireworks party down at the ball fields. The fire seemed really big this year - but I think it is because we got there early. Great fireworks display too!

Back to Halloween Fun!

I found this awesome tutorial to make some fun Halloween decorations on Forty-two Roads blog. They look so fun! I want to make them!

I already bought my pumpkin and am excited to carve it!

I'm Thinking of X-Mas Already??!!

I know that Thanksgiving has just passed and Halloween isn't even here yet, but I can't help but thinking of things I want to make for X-Mas! So, I did some searching around and here are some great tutorials that I found:

1. Ribbon Wreath

Picture from The Long Thread

2. Advent Calendar

Picture from Sew Mama Sew

3. How to Make a Paper Finnish Star

Picture is from Craft Ideas

4. Quilled Snowflake Ornament

Picture is from Reese Dixon

Tutorial Tuesday - Twirl Skirt

Before I get to the featured tutorial for this week, I have to brag about my beautiful nieces and nephew. Anna is 3 and is so much fun! We play many games together like pirates, don't wake auntie, Mr. tickle, and princess Leona and Ariel. This week's tutorial is inspired by her - she loves to dance around and I wanted to make her a skirt so she can twirl. I have all the fabric and materials to make it, but with all the playing we have been doing, I didn't have time this week. Hopefully I can get it done this weekend and post pictures soon!

Anna watching Auntie Ariane and Uncle db play baseball on the weekend

Next is my niece Suds - she is 11 and is very cool. We went shopping for a dress for db dad's wedding that is coming up in May, but we didn't find anything that is just right. We did manage to find a cool hoodie at a local surf shop. I think she likes it. We also made the Polymer Clay octopus from my previous tutorial. They were more difficult to make, but we managed. Check out the girls painting their fun craft items!

Suds crafting away!

Suds and Anna painting our polymer clay octopus

And of course there is wonderful Matthew - who is such a happy baby. He loves to cuddle and crawl around. While we were crafting, he needed to sit at the table with us, so db sat with him so he didn't feel left out. It is amazing how much he has changed since I first met him. Soon I will be having to find fun boy things to do with him!

Lara and Matthew cheering the Flames on (before they got knocked out)

Now, the tutorial for the twirl skirt I found awhile back on House on Hill Road's blog, but never managed to get Anna's measurements. The skirt looks simple to make - so I am hopeful that all goes well when I start making it.


Tutorial Link: http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/photos/twirly_skirt/

Hope everyone is having a good week! I should be back this weekend with more fun stuff!

Back, but Re-Grouping

I know I have been back for over a week and haven't posted anything. I apologize! When I got back from my London trip, I managed to get a cold and it took me a week to recover! Then I had to do some major crafting for a craft swap that I am participating in (pictures to come!).

I managed to get all the crafts complete and in the mail today! Now it is time to organize all the photos from my trip! It is going to be quite the task because I have over 200 photos! Yikes! The good pictures will be posted on my flickr page!

I loved the London Eye, Wicked (the show), British Museum, Steph's school stuff, and so much more of London! Thanks again Steph for being our wonderful tour guide!

I am off to Seattle tomorrow night - but I am going to try to post a link for a new tutorial before I leave!

Off to London!

Au Revoir mes amies! I am off to London for a couple weeks and I am not sure how much I will get to post. I will try to update with some funtastic pictures :) If not, hope everyone has a great week and I will be back with some fun tutorials!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody!

I was up late last night carving my pumpkins - I really like the way they turned out! For more photos, check out my flickr account. Tonight we will be going with some friends to the Saanichton bombfire and fireworks event. We went last year and it was a great time! Last year, we didn't even get 1 kid - but I will leave candy outside with the pumpkins... you never know... this may be the year!

Hope everyone has a spppppoookkkyyy day!