Five for Friday

Happy Friday!

 I can't believe it's been almost three months since I posted here on my blog!

I knew that when I stepped down from the CAS(E) This Sketch DT,

that it would cut down on my card-making, but I really didn't imagine that I would hardly

craft this fall.

While I have missed sitting at my table and being creative, 

I have also found life to be full lately.

So, I thought I'd post a "Five for Friday" to share what I've been up to....

1. Well I think I have, after two years, adjusted to working full time. :)

It is still my dream job & I love it! 

I feel more and more confident in what I'm doing and 

am blessed to be working with several fabulous contractors. 

I'm hoping to have some kitchen photos to share soon, so stay tuned.

2. Time with my family has always been and continues to be my priority.

With Austin away at Bible College, Jonah in Grade 11 & Sage in Grade 9, 

I am all too aware that my days as an empty nester are just around the corner, 

so I want to soak up all of the time with them as I can!

And yes, I am now the shortest member of my family. ;)

When I started working full time in 2016, I started putting money away in savings to save

for a trip to Florida. 

Well, this fall, I had enough money saved to take Austin, Jonah & Sage.

We had such a fabulous time!

We spent three days at Disney World.

Day 1 was spent at Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

On day 2, we went to Animal Kingdom:

On Day 3, we returned to Epcot to visit all of the pavilions and then

spent the rest of the day at Magic Kingdom.

Then, we spent two days at Universal Studios.

 

We especially loved all of the Harry Potter stuff!

It was such a great time that we spent together -- I really loved it!

3. We have also been busy with taekwondo, trying to attend class whenever we can.

Last Saturday, I was bursting with pride as Jonah & Sage tested for their 3rd degree black (Jonah) & junior black (Sage) belts.

They tested with our instructor, who was testing for his 4th degree black belt.

At their promotion, Master Lea let me tie Jonah's new black belt around his waist. :)

4. I have also been focusing on taking care of myself.

I joined a weight loss program in July which has had me eating healthier (whole foods, lots of veggies, no dairy, no carbs), exercising more often (this month's focus is yoga, which I'm enjoying) and seeing a loss of 18.5 lbs. :)

Part of the accountability of the program is encouraging the participants to take sweaty selfies after we work out, like this:

I've been loving this transformation in my habits and in my body!

5. And lastly, I have a card to share!

Sunday, we had supper with Cameron's aunt for her birthday, so I sat down in my craft

space on Sunday afternoon and to make her a card.

I used some patterned paper from my stash, some Papertrey Ink button twine 

and some stamps & dies from Wplus9 (Modern Peonies, I think),

which I heat embossed in clear, after stamping them with Versamark Black Onyx

and then watercoloured with my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers and a water brush.

Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

I know it's been a long time since I posted a "Five for Friday."

Life has been pretty busy lately -- I would have thought I would 

be used to working full time by now.

Not that I'm not enjoying it -- I truly love my job!

But between that, and spending time with my family, my blog has been a little neglected.

So, I thought I'd give you a bit of an update on how my family is doing...




1. Austin finished his first year at Steinbach Bible College and really enjoyed it.



 He decided to spend his summer serving at Roseau River Bible camp,
and really seems to be liking that, too.
It's over an hour away from home, so he's only been home for a couple of weekends,
but he seems quite happy, which makes me happy.


2. Jonah had a busy spring.
He was involved in the school play (Dorothy in Wonderland -- a mash up of
The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland -- it was very fun!)
Jonah played the Mad Hatter and he was fabulous!



He is also busy with jazz choir, band &  jazz band, where he plays the double bass.



He's also been learning how to drive (he's quite good!) and got a job
serving at our Access Event Centre.



3. 

Sage has also had a busy spring, as she finished up Grade 8 -- singing in choirs,
being in her school play (Madagascar) and having a big role in her school's medieval feast,
where she was the lady of the feast and sang a solo.

The feast lasted an hour and I don't think she stopped smiling the whole time!

4. As proud as my children's accomplishments make me, however,
nothing gave me more joy than to watch Sage & Jonah get baptized on May 27th at our church.

5. My job at Two30Nine is going really well!

On Monday, I went to visit a client whose kitchen I designed.

Because she lives in North Dakota, we couldn't install it for her,

so she ordered it as supply only. 

I told her once it was done, I really wanted to come and see the end result.

She is so happy with how it turned out -- and so am I!

The upper cabinets are painted with White Dove & the lower ones are Hale Navy

(both of these colours are Benjamin Moore).

I love how crisp and warm this feels!

I love the framed glass doors!

I designed a custom hood so my client's husband wouldn't hit his head while he cooks.

I also designed some built-ins beside the new fireplace to replace the angled cabinets that 

were there before.

The TV is on an arm that swings out when they want to watch it from the couch.

I can't even explain how exciting it is for me to see

one of my designs on paper (or on the computer) become a beautiful kitchen in the end!

If you'd like to see more of my work, please follow me on instagram

or visit my Houzz page and follow me there.

Okay, there's my update.

We're off to Sage's awards ceremony for the Grade 8s at her school.

I'm pretty sure she'll be getting an award for making the honour roll this year. :)

Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

1. Austin left for a missions trip with twenty-five other youth and leaders

from our church on Wednesday.

After a layover in Montreal, they arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday.

I'm very excited for this opportunity for him!

You can follow their trip here, if you'd like.

2. After church on Sunday, Austin and I drove to Winnipeg and spent the afternoon together,

just the two of us.

We did a little shopping and went to see Baby Driver at the theatre.

Unfortunately, I realized later that we hadn't taken any photos of our day out. :(

3. I got new glasses. 

Sage and my friend, Val, helped me pick them out.

And Sage took this photo of me. :)

4. I shared a couple of weeks ago how I sold the front display at Two30Nine 

and redesigned it to fit into my client's kitchen (click here to see photos).

Well, I wanted to share a peek of the new front display that I designed to take its place.

It combines so many of my favourite things:

white shaker cabinets, herringbone tile, glass cabinets, floating shelves,

Fantasy Brown granite countertops and an island in one of our new Coastal colours.

Intrigued?

You can see more of it here.

5. I have another card for this week's CTS:

 and for the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge -- Surf's Up:

trendspanama.nu

I decided to make a card using my MFT butterfly set -- in different shades of blue. 

I stamped my butterfly onto its coordinating diecut 

and layered it over a piece of cardstock that I'd smooshed with PTI Hawaiian Shores ink.

I stamped my sentiment (from PTI's KIS: Sympathy) 

on a strip of navy cardstock and heat embossed it in white.

Thanks for looking!

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Five for Friday

I realize it's been quite a while since I posted a Five for Friday

on my blog..... 

Life has been busy, especially with working full time, as you might have noticed

by the fact that I'm no longer blogging every day (it actually made me quite sad when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with posting daily!)

So, I thought I'd catch you up with what's going on in my life lately...

1. My job is awesome!

I'm loving designing kitchens/living spaces for Two30Nine.

I have had four kitchens installed that I have designed.

I'm looking forward to photographing them once they are all complete and 

sharing them with you.

For now, here's a glimpse...

This is part of a new kitchen that I designed in our showroom.

Isn't it lovely?

2. Last weekend, Jonah & Austin went to Calgary with their school choir 

and Jonah's band.

My friend, Tania (the boys' vice-principal) went along, too.

They had a very good time!

Sage and I had to go to Winnipeg to apply for a passport for her,

so we stayed the night at my mom's and had a bit of a girls' weekend:

we met my mom for supper and went to see Going In Style together at the theatre

(very good movie!) and then did some shopping on Saturday.

We went for lunch at Saucers on Academy Road.

3. I've been enjoying watching the kids perform...

Sage and Jonah both played piano pieces in the Morden Festival of the Arts

and Sage performed three poems.

And then, on Tuesday evening, she sang two songs for the Vocal session.

She was asked to perform at the Festival Highlights concert again this year --

she will be singing Be Thou My Vision on Sunday afternoon.

And, this past Wednesday, she performed at her piano recital

and we played a duet together.

4. This week, Austin and Jonah have been performing in their school play:

The Great All American Musical Disaster.

Austin played Bronco Winnie and Jonah played Bob Everlove.

They both did an amazing job!

So fun that they got to do this together! 

5. It's Administrative Assistant Week and my co-workers asked me to make

a card for our admin assistant, Lisa.

Since Lisa is also a photographer, I decided to use my Altenew stamp set

and this month's Altenew Inspiration Challenge to make my card:

Here's my card:

I stamped the camera in Altenew Sapphire ink and versamark and then heat

embossed it in clear.

Then I stamped the sentiment (using my Mama Elephant alphabet stamps)

and the same inks/technique.

I used my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers and a water brush 

to colour them in and matted everything on a piece of RC Aqua Cardstock.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking!