Yet Another Adventure in Bathroom Renovations.

It has been a long time since I posted.  Time to resurrect this blog.   This post is not going to be crafty at all.  But I have plans underway and am working  on a project with some other fellow bloggers, details will be coming in a few weeks.   

This post is another bathroom renovation project that was forced upon us.  LOL  Dave and I were planning a kitchen renovation, our kitchen is very very sad.  We met with Jacklyn and Shannon over at Timber Barn in St. Jacob's.  I had been researching various kitchen renovation experts and stumbled upon their showroom in St. Jacob's as they were moving in, and fell in love with what I saw.  We had the plans drawn up for the kitchen and were deciding on a timeline last summer.  Then our master bathroom decided to have a meltdown.   I was in the laundry room, which is directly under the master bath, when Dave came in to talk to me.  As I was looking up at him during the conversation I noticed a rather large, very wet spot on the ceiling from the shower.  The bathroom renovation that we had been putting off since we moved into this house in 2002 was now screaming that it needed to be done immediately.  So we contacted Shannon and told her about our change of plans, Plans were drawn up, cupboards, tile etc. were picked out and we moved into the kids bathroom.  

Here are the before pictures.  I have found that the builder never utilized the space to maximize the potential of the bathroom.    Yes, that is a jacuzzi, that we hardly ever used and took up so much space.  And besides we now have a hot tub.  So yes, it had to go.  

The shower was cramped, small, dark and dingy.   There was never a place to store our shampoo and conditioner bottles etc.  The wall that was shared with the closet had a huge bow in it.  Not sure how you can build a shower/wall and notice a bend in the studs that severe.  Quality workmanship at its finest.  LOL  And we always had a problem with water damage to the section of wall under the door. The shower  was the source of the water damaged ceiling in the laundry room.

Dave from Meyer Flooring did most of the renovation work.  Demolition day came and when they ripped up the shower there was so much water damage the floor boards were rotting.   It was a good thing we did this renovation now.   Bit by bit we saw the new bathroom come together.

And now we have a fully operational bathroom!!!  We had toyed with the idea of moving the wall between the bathroom and our walk in closet to give more room in the bathroom.  But we had to keep costs down, because I still want that new kitchen.  LOL   We kept the room the same size and made the best use possible of the space at hand.   We ended up with a much larger shower with a niche in the half wall to store our shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc.   The shower is glassed in and tiled in marble subway tile which gives it a very light and roomy feel to it.  We now have a standard stand alone tub that takes up much less space than the old jacuzzi yet is still roomy for those night time baths.

We also took out the California shutters which opened up the space even more.  We added a frosted film to the bottom two thirds of the window to give us privacy yet still allows light to come through and we can still see outside.

This is the new vanity, the mirror was not hung up yet when I took this picture.  We have a quartz counter-top and drawers instead of cupboards.  I find that the drawers store a lot and everything is easier to keep neat and organized and easily accessible.  

We changed the placement of the toilet which allowed us to add this storage tower.  We now can store towels, extra rolls of toilet paper etc out of sight.

I love my new marble basket-weave floor.  So gorgeous.

We decided to add herringbone tile to the shower floor and niche. 

Overall we are very pleased with the finished project.  The workmanship and eye for detail from Dave at Meyer Flooring and Timber Barn was exceptional.  Now we save up and get ready for the kitchen.  Hopefully late spring/summer 2016.  Keeping fingers crossed.  And I broke a drawer tonight too.  LOL

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

A Valentine's Day Treat

It is hard to believe Christmas Holidays are over and we are well into January 2015.    Along with a new year comes Stampin' Up! celebrating Sale-A-Bration and the new Occassions Catalogue.  I would like one of everything please.  Unfortunately my budget says no, something about a mortgage to pay, children to feed and clothe.   But I still got some fabulous new goodies from the Occasions Catalogue and for every $60 you spend you get to pick an item from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue for free!!!!   There are some sweet items including ribbon, paper, exclusive stamp sets and Blendabilities markers.   How does it get better than that?  

Tonight is our team meeting and we are having Valentine's Treats swaps.   I decided to make a Ghirardelli treat holder, who doesn't love chocolate right?  And Ghirardelli caramel squares, oh my, how amazing is that!!!  I had so much fun playing with a new stamp set, paper, punches and dies.    This treat holder was inspired by one that fellow Demonstrator Mary Fish did on her blog HERE,

For my version the products used are as follows:

Cardstock:   Basic Black and Real Red
DSP:    Stacked with Love (Occasions Catalogue)
Glimmer Paper:  Red
Ribbon:  1/8" Taffeta in Basic Black
Stamp Set:   You Plus Me (Occasions Catalogue)
Punches: Banner and Confetti Heart Border Punch (Occasions Catalogue)
Thinlit: Mini Treat Bag Thinlit Dies (Occasions Catalogue)
Ink:  StazOn in Black and Classic InkPad in Real Red
Misc:  Sponge Dauber and Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the blogging world.   And comments are always welcome!

Christmas Season has begun

Its hard to believe its December 1.  Daniel and I heard the 12 Days of Christmas by Bob and Doug MacKenzie on the radio this morning so I can say that the season is officially upon us.    LOL  

And here I am not having my Christmas shopping done!!!   Yikes.   This is an off year for me big time.   Time to buckle down and focus!!!   

I would like to share this simple card that I made.  Quick, easy, and still has a wow factor.

Supplies that I used are as follows :

Cardstock:  Whisper White and Soft Sky (unfortunately the camera wasn't able to pick up the beautiful soft blue color of this cardstock)

Stamp Set:  Cheerful Christmas from the Holiday Catalogue

Ink Pad:  Cherry Cobbler (my favourite)

Emobssing Folder:  Filigree Frame from the Holiday Catalogue

Embellishments:  Frosted Sequins (again the Holiday Catalogue)  and Dazzling Details in Cherry Cobbler


I hope your month of December is off to a very good start.  And unlike me, you have your shopping completed.  LOL

Thanks for stopping and visiting my corner of the blogging world.   Until next time.

I Was Whisked Away for a Romantic Getaway, How Lucky Am I!!

Sometimes life gets crazy and you need to getaway from it all.  And I am very fortunate that Dave decided to do just that a few weeks ago.   He whisked me away for a weekend of wining and dining and romance.  Something that was greatly needed.   He booked us a fabulous room at the Prince of Wales hotel in Niagara on The Lake.  One of my favourite towns here in Ontario.   

An amazing surprise awaited me in our room.   A stunning bouquet of roses and a bottle of champagne to warm me up on a cold night.  

Love the bubbles in champagne.  Made me realize we should drink it more often.  Maybe I willl pick up a bottle for Christmas and another one for New Years.  LOL

Our room was amazing.   A large sitting area,  a big comfy bed.   A huge bathroom with a jacuzzi, and heated towel bars.    And I fell in love with the details of this stunning Tiffany Lamp.

We stayed for two nights.   Each night we were treated to an amazing three course dinner.  The first was at the restaurant at the Prince of Wales,  Escabèche, with wine of course.   

After dinner when we went back to our room there was another rose waiting for me on our bed.   

The following night we had dinner at The Cannery in the Pillar and Post Inn.  A more casual dinner but still very good and of course another rose awaited me in our room after dinner.  (Did I mention how lucky I am and spoiled of course) 

Saturday we spent the day exploring the area.   We slept in, had breakfast in our room and took our time driving around.  We started out at Chocolate FX where we had a tour of their facilities and received free chocolate truffles and of course we loaded up on alot of chocolate.  Chocolate covered cherries, mint chocolate, dark chocolate, etc.

We had lunch at the Ravine Vineyards at their restaurant overlooking a section of Vineyards, the squash soup was perfect to start our lunch on a cold November day, I had a delicious lobster roll with salad and of course a glass of wine to complement the lobster.   Dave had a burger with homemade fries and a glass of wine to go with the burger.   We followed lunch with some wine tasting in their tasting room.  And of course we had to buy a few bottles.  Dave picked up a jar of Marmalade infused with Scotch whiskey,and he has enjoyed it on his toast a few times since we have returned home.

We then went to Chateau des Charmes vineyards.  We enjoyed the tour of the winery where we were able to peek into the pressing room where they were busy processing the last set of grapes of the season that were picked that morning.  We then went into the basement where the wine is stored in stainless steel vats for white wine and oak casks for red, where the wine sits for a year at lease before being bottled.   Afterwards we went upstairs for more wine tasting, which Dave and I found really interesting.   Our guide educated our group on how to properly taste wine, starting off first with a light white wine (I do not remember exactly which kind, I was still working with a bit of buzz from the first vineyard, lol) and ended with a nice Cabernet.   And of course we had to buy more wine.

Sunday we took our time heading home.  We did some shopping in downtown Niagara on the Lake.   Visited Fort George and had a private tour and learned quite a bit of history of Niagara on the Lake and the war of 1812 where the town was pretty much destroyed by the invading Americans, and life of soldiers in the British army in that time period.   As two history junkies, Dave and I loved the tour.  

And to say we were frozen after the visiting the Fort is an understatement.  LOL  Thank goodness for a car with excellent heat.  And we forgot about the heated seats in Dave's car until we were almost home.  We both had a "what the hell were  we thinking"   moment on that one.  LOL

The next morning getting up early and having to think about what to make for dinner was a shock to my system.

Now we are planning our next weekend away sometime in the New Year.  For now I have Christmas on my mind, baking, meal planning, tag making, present wrapping and of course decorating.

Thanks for visiting my corner of the blogging world.  Your comments are always welcome.  Enjoy your day!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Last night we carved pumpkins and we are missing a child as Laura is away at university.   Can you tell who is the serious one?  

Dave decided to get out the power tools when it came time to carve.  Pumpkin juice was flying everywhere!!!

Dalwhinnie just watched not sure what to make of what we were doing.  

Daniel and Amanda posing with their finished creations.

Dalwhinnie decided to pose in the picture as well.  But she appears to be a bit camera shy.  LOL

We are getting ready to start handing out candy here tonight.  Daniel and Amanda are too old to go out trick or treating so we don't have to eat dinner in a rush and do hair and make up etc.   Around here it is a rainy day and night that is suppose to turn to snow later tonight.    Stay safe, and try not to eat too much candy.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.  

Pass the Honey Pot

I had the fun task of setting up a challenge for our team, since our team name is CraftDBears, and a bear is our mascot, Denise (our team leader) and I decided to name this challenge Pass the Honey Pot.   We had two teams of 4 people each.  I picked a card from the current Stampin' Up! Catalogue and Idea Book.  I passed that image on to the first person on each team.   Using current Stampin' Up! product, they used the original image as inspiration for their card.  Not to recreate the card, but use the card as inspiration to create a unique card, make it their own so to speak.   They then sent me an image of the card they created.  I would then take the card that team member #1 created and send it to team member #2, who would follow the same rules as the first person.  I would then take team member#2's card and send it to team member #3 etc.  Kind of like the telephone game with cards.  

Everybody had fun.  And I loved seeing the evolution of the original image and what the final card ended up looking like.    The response was very positive and I would love to do it again.   

Below is the original card that I chose from the Idea Book and Catalogue on page 67.

For Team One, we started out with our fearless leader Denise, you can find her blog at CraftDBear

The Honey Pot was then passed on to Tammie, you can find her blog at Pieces Of Paper and Puppies

Then we passed it onto Margie, you can find her blog at Margie's Stampin Studio

The final person to receive the Honey Pot on Team 1 was Melissa.  You can find her blog at Lovely Stamping

For Team 2 we started out with Kim, you can find her blog at More Fun Outside the Lines

The Honey Pot then made its way to Andrea, you can find her blog at Jomina Creations 

Then Carol Ann had some fun with the Honey Pot.  We are working on Carol Ann getting a blog so the world can see her talent.  LOL

And the final place that the Honey Pot stopped at was Laurie, who was being pressured by some of the team members.  Poor Laurie, it wasn't her fault she was the last one to get the Honey Pot.  LOL  Laurie too needs to get a blog showcasing her Stampin' Up! creations.   We are working on her.  LOL

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the blogging world.  Let these creations by some talented ladies be an inspiration for you to create something.      Express yourself through your art.   And have fun!!!

Horticulture Society Tour

 Our summer has been busy but good so far.  Not much time for crafting.  Getting away with Dave.  Dropping off and picking up kids from various relatives homes in different towns.  Amanda rehearsing and performing her Grade 3 & 4 Irish Dance Exams.  Which she passed!!!  Way to go Amanda!!!   Daniel's birthday yesterday.  He turned 14, my baby boy is growing up.  Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

Besides Amanda's exams, the girls going to Grandma and Grandpas to see a play with a cousin, and Daniel's birthday yesterday, we were busy preparing our backyard to be shown in our local Horticulture Society Tour.  One of our neighbours is on the Society board and asked if our yard could be added to the tour this year.  I explained our gardens are young.  Just a year old right now, so not established yet.  But they still wanted us on their tour.  So we said yes.  We have spent a lot of time this past week (especially Dave since I was mom's taxi service driving children here, there and everywhere), weeding, staining fence and shed, polishing the BBQ and fridge to a shine.   And putting decorative touches to the decor of the yard etc. The yard was ready to be shown.   Friday night we were able to tour the other properties with the rest of the home-owners and some of the society members.   We saw some stunning gardens that have been cultivated for over thirty years. Hopefully someday my gardens will be as full of gorgeous plants as the other ones.

Saturday was a busy day, we had 118 people come through our yard, we received all positive feedback on what we have done.  And a number of people wanted to just sit on the patio and not finish the tour.

Since the yard was spotless for once, all pets and children were banned until 4 pm that day.  Dave and I took various pictures of the yard through out the day, take advantage of it being show and picture ready.   And what a perfect day it was for the Horticulture tour.

To dress up our table, since it was free of food and such, I picked up some tiny vases at Dollarama and added a daisy from my garden to each one.   So pretty.  

After the tour was over, it was time to break out the steaks, onion rings, shrimp for Daniel's birthday dinner.  We had some family come over and the yard was no longer neat and tidy but cluttered and filled with laughter; which is why we built the yard in the first place.

Afterwards, when our company left, Dave and I crashed with some wine in front of the fireplace absolutely exhausted.  But our day wasn't over yet, we had to pick Laura up from work at midnight, luckily she works here in town, so we didn't have to drive too far.

 Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the blogging world.  This week looks to be a little more quiet and predictable and I hope to get into my studio and create.  We have a bridal shower for my niece to go to next weekend and a card needs to be made.