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Fall Front Porch Decor

October 16, 2013 chantelledoll

The leaves have all turned beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and have started gathering on the ground over the past few weeks – Fall is officially here. The flowers in my planters are looking sadder and sadder as the days pass and I am happy to have some fall themed items to put on the porch to spruce it back up and celebrate the change of season.

The large pumpkins I use on my porch are ceramic and were found at Winner’s several years back. They were more expensive then a real pumpkin, but I like that they are something I can reuse year after year. Combined with a few small real pumpkins or gourds, it is a quick and easy holiday display.

And the best part? Come Halloween all I have to do is rotate my pumpkins around, add in my “Happy Halloween” tombstone and switch the welcome sign for our house is ready for trick-or-treaters!

Hopefully it looks as good on the front porch of our Forever House next Halloween!

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Bye Bye Baby

October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 chantelledoll

In the last few weeks my baby girl has gone from taking her first wobbly steps to walking steadily on her feet. At 16 months it has been long awaited and eagerly anticipated, but I find myself filled with mixed emotions this week as I watch her make the quick transition from baby into a toddler right before my eyes.

Keira and I have both been battling colds this past week. I was awakened the other night around midnight to her screaming and after 15 minutes of waiting for her to settle back down, I gave in and got her up and out of the crib. Cuddling with her on the couch in the dark I couldn’t help but be brought back to the quiet times spent in the middle of the night nursing and cuddling her back to sleep. I miss that time with her.

Keira is our last baby. While my thoughts drifted to what it might be like to have another baby to cuddle, I couldn’t imagine having another. It is the cuddles with HER I miss. I am happy with my “million dollar” family, and just need to remember to cherish all these small moments that go way too fast. While I have been anxious for her to walk, in many ways I am thankful she drug things out and let me enjoy her being my baby.

My girl gives the BEST snuggles. She nuzzles her head right into your neck and wraps her body tightly around you. I love getting her up in the morning because I am always greeted with a huge sleepy eyed smile and a tight snuggle before she’s off and into trouble. She has also started giving open mouth kisses – probably part of the reason I have her cold!

I love that she is walking and discovering new things. The perma-grin plastered to her face when I set her down and let her walk through a store or public place warms my heart. These past weeks she has also become a pro at opening and closing the doors and has finally started waving bye. Just like the walking, the waving has come a little later and I am taking it as a sign that it is time for me to say “bye-bye” to the baby phase and embrace having a toddler.

I love you my little Keira-boo!

Big Hands, Crafts, Doll House, Our Forever Home

DIY Scrabble Tile Pillows

October 8, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

I have had this Scrabble tile pillow idea pinned on my pinterest boards forever – since before we even started thinking of buying a new house. My husband and I both enjoy playing Scrabble so I instantly fell in love with the idea and have been waiting for just the right time/place to use the idea. After weeks of furniture shopping, we finally just ordered a large custom sectional for the bonus room of our new house and I knew it would be the perfect spot to incorporate the pillows. I struggled choosing between the words “HOME” or “COZY”, but decided HOME worked best as the décor in our new forever home.

The method I used to create my pillows requires you to cut a stencil out of contact paper. I had used this method previously to create pillowcases as part of my sister’s wedding gift (below), so I was fairly confident it would work for this project too.

For the actual pillows, I found these 15×15″ pillows at Jysk. The cover came off easily, they were a good match to the Scrabble tile colors and at only $3 per pillow I didn’t have to worry too much in case the project was an epic fail. I am so happy to say it wasn’t and I am able to share this project with you.

Materials Required:

– Pillow covers (1 per letter in your word)

– Home Printer

– Contact Paper (I got mine at Michael’s)

– Exacto Knife (tools section of the dollar store)

– Scotch tape

– Paintbrush

– Black fabric paint

I began the project by laying out the letters and numbers in Adobe Illustrator using the font Arial Narrow Bold. For my 15×15″ pillows, I ended up doing the letter in 700pt type and the smaller numbers in 365pt. Once laid out, I printed the letters off on my home computer to use as my template to cut out my stencils from contact paper.

If you are lucky enough to have a light table, that can be used to overlay the contact paper on the printed letters on cut them out. I improvised by taping my letters and contact paper up on my patio door so the sunlight acted as a light table. I then used my exacto knife and carefully cut out each letter/number. TIP: When placing the contact paper, ensure the side that you peel off is facing down or your letters will be backwards. For letters/numbers with centers such as the O or 4, you will need to keep the middle sections as part of your stencil.

From there, I placed the contact paper template on my pillowcases to determine exact alignment. I begin by placing it with the backing still on and marking along the edges with scotch tape. The tape then gives me a guide once I peel off the backing paper and go to stick it down. It is a bit of a tricky process, but the contact paper is pretty easy to pull apart if it does stick on itself. Just don’t try to reposition too much once stuck down because it results in a less clean edge. Once stuck down, push along all edges to ensure there is a good bond and the paint won’t leak under the stencil.

The final step is to begin painting. Place a piece of cardboard inside the pillow so the paint does not leak through to the other side and just begin filling in the open areas with the paintbrush and fabric paint. For clean edges, always start on the outside of the contact paper and brush in towards the open area. It is a bit tedious, but it makes for sharper edges. Once dry, just stuff the pillow back into the case and you are done!

This method can be used for any type of image or lettering you want to put onto a pillow. Using the Scrabble tile idea, the possibilities are endless – you could do your child’s name or initial, or spell out “LOVE” or “NAP” for your own bed. It was a quick and easy project and I am very happy with the final results. Now to wait to get into our new house so I can see these on our pretty new sofa.

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Indoor Toddler Fun in Edmonton

October 4, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

As the weather is slowly starting to turn cold on us, I thought I would compile a list of all the fun indoor play places the kids and I frequent throughout the winter months. I find I start to go stir crazy if I am trapped in the house with the kids, so it is nice to have so many options open to us. Please click the link titles for more information.

Cafe’O’Play – Edmonton and Sherwood Park

An indoor play place and coffee house – what’s not to love?? I get to sit and relax with a delicious latte while the kids crawl through the plastic playhouses and slides, ride around the track in a cozy coupe or pretend to be little engineers at the train table. Everything is secured and enclosed so it is easy to let the kids lose and not be stressed about them wandering off.

The Toy Hutch

This indoor inflatable park offers a little of everything between the giant inflatable slide, train table and climbing structures. They have also offered special event days in the past where they have brought in a petting zoo for the kids. It can be quite noisy with the inflatables going, but it is a clean, fun space for the kids. Located in West Edmonton.

Inflatable Fun Fun Place and Café

A new inflatable place on the southside, Inflatable Fun offers a clean secure play area complete with bouncy castles, plasma bikes and a really fun clubhouse upstairs. The café area offers delicious homemade sandwiches, coffee and baked goods if you are looking for a quick snack or lunch.

John Janzen Nature Centre Tegler Discovery Zone

The nature centre has an incredible indoor playground complete with slides, tunnels, beaver den and a giant bee hive. The kids and I all enjoy climbing through the tunnels and pretending to be the actual animals in the dens.

Treehouse Indoor Playground

This is on our to try list. They have opened fairly recently and I have heard good things about this indoor playground. It looks fairly large and includes all the typical plastic slides and tunnels for the big kids as well as a toddler’s area.

West Edmonton Mall Toddler Time

Before Camden turned 3, we used to visit West Edmonton Mall quite frequently to take advantage of the free admission for him. There are several attractions throughout the mall which leads to quite a few options to keep the kids entertained. For those 3 and above, the mall attractions do offer Toddler Time Monday – Thursday 12pm-3pm at a rate of $12 per child and their adult chaperone.

Galaxyland – WEM’s indoor amusement park offers a range of rides that are suitable for toddlers. Camden really enjoys riding around on the motorcycle and car tracks, I was able to enjoy the hot air balloon ferris wheel and train with him last winter while Keira enjoyed the views strapped on me in the baby carrier.
Galaxy Kids Playpark – There is a small admission for this indoor playground located within Galaxyland, but it offers a wide range of climbing structures, slides and ball pits. There is both a young kids area and more challenging equipment for the bigger kids.
Sea Life Caverns – Located right by the Sea Lion tank, the sea life caverns are a bit of a hidden treasure within the mall. Climb down the stairs and you are surrounded by manta rays, sharks, giant sea turtles and penguins. I love aquariums so this is one of my favorite places to take the kids. Adults do have to pay an admission fee.
World Water Park – The waterpark is also an option, although I haven`t been brave enough to take the kids on my own yet. I think this will also have to be on our to-do list for this winter because Camden has gone to the waterpark once before and seemed to really enjoy himself.

Millwoods Town Centre Mall Playground

A decent option if you are looking for something is to head to Millwoods Town Centre Mall and let them play on the playground right by the food court. It is a fairly simple playground, but it is a good option to allow me to get a bit of shopping in (Target, Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart, Safeway) and let the kids burn off some energy.

IKEA

Once your kids hit a certain height, you are able to drop them off with the caregivers at Smaland in IKEA for up to an hour while you shop. There are slides, a ball pit, movies, coloring and activities to keep them entertained while you get to enjoy some child free time. While there, I also like to hit up the IKEA café for an inexpensive meatball lunch. Kids eat free on Tuesdays!

Chapters

Once in a while we will take an outing to Chapters bookstore so the kids can play with the train table and I can grab a latte from Starbucks. It is usually fairly quiet and relaxed and just one more way to help pass the long winter days.

Telus World of Science

The Telus World of Science has a great kids Discoveryland Gallery with a play airport (complete with xray machine), water area and giant piano. I also highly recommend you check out one of the shows in the 360 degree domed Margaret Zeidler theater (included with admission). The kids and I have seen both “In my Backyard” and “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure” (ages 2-6) and it is a fun and unique experience.
If you are a Harry Potter fan, the new Harry Potter exhibit opens November 23rd.

Terwillegar Recreation Centre

Our closest recreation centre offers both an indoor playground and a nice saltwater pool for the kids. This fall Camden is taking a class at the rec centre on Thursday mornings so I can see Keira and I spending a lot of time at the playground since she still gets in for free! (2 and under)

Capital City Gymnastics Open Gym

I love visiting gymnastic centres for drop-in hours. The entire floor is padded so the kids can’t get hurt and there are all kinds of new things for them to jump on and climb over. Capital City Gymnatics just opened a brand new facility this Summer and I am eager to check it out in the upcoming weeks.

So there you have a glimpse of how we plan to spend the next several months. I realize there are things I may have missed, so if you have suggestions or know a fun spot we might enjoy, please share in the comments below!

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: McDonald’s Pumpkin Spice Latte

October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 chantelledoll

I shared my Easy Pumpkin Creamcheese Muffins earlier this week, so I figured I would continue the theme and share my latest pumpkin discovery: the Pumpkin Spice Latte from McDonalds.

With September done and over, the kids and I are starting to fall into a bit of a weekly routine with playgroup on Tuesdays, Camden’s preschool class on Thursdays and another playdate or two to fill out the week. I usually enjoy a coffee at home from the Kuerig each morning, but last year with the rush to get ready and out the door I got into the habit of treating myself to a store bought coffee on the way to playgroup. This was usually from Tim Horton’s, and occasionally Starbucks or Second Cup when I was wanted something extra fancy.

I have tried the coffee from McDonalds before and enjoy their latte’s, but for some reason it just never comes to mind when I think of stopping for a coffee. I first tried the McDonalds Pumpkin Spice latte on a whim when I noticed a sign for it while ordering the kids a Happy Meal. I was very pleasantly surprised by the first sip and was immediately disappointed I didn’t order a larger size then the small. It is creamy with just the right amount of pumpkin and cinnamon flavour.

I do like the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte, but at $2 less per cup McDonald’s is a great alternative. It is missing the whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkling, but doesn’t come with the guilt of spending that much on a cup of coffee. It is the perfect compromise between economical and fancy coffee and has given me something to look forward to for the last several Tuesday mornings. There’s nothing better then some adult conversation with a good cup of coffee!

Recipes, Sweet

Super Easy Pumpkin Creamcheese Muffins

October 2, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

There’s a two ingredient pumpkin muffin recipe floating around pinterest that is simply 1 box of cake mix mixed with 1 can of pure pumpkin. I have made it before and the results are a dense, moist pumpkiny treat. It is good, but I decided I could make it a bit better – enter the creamcheese!

The idea for the creamcheese was actually inspired by a copycat recipe for the Starbucks Pumpkin Creamcheese muffins. That recipe asks that you blend the creamcheese and then roll it into a log and freeze to be cut into rounds. This seemed like a lot of work for me so I took the lazy way out and simply cut pieces off my brick of creamcheese and poked it into my muffin batter. If I am feeling extra ambitious next time I may whip the creamcheese first, but the lazy method still seemed to make some pretty tasty results.

Easy Pumpkin Creamcheese Muffins

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 box cake mix – Spice Cake Flavor

1 brick (8 oz) creamcheese

Chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine canned pumpkin and cake mix and mix until well blended. (I also added a bit of pumpkin pie spice to mine).

Spoon muffin mixture 2/3 full into cupcake liners.

Cut creamcheese into approx. 1 tsp portions and push slightly into the middle of each muffin.

Sprinkle with nuts and sugar/cinnamon sugar if desired.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy.

Makes 18 muffins.

Celebrations, Gift Ideas

Backpack! Backpack! Dora Themed Gift Wrap

September 28, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

Over the past year, I have been lucky to meet some very lovely ladies and their adorable children through our playgroup. I had been in other mommy groups and classes and haven’t really clicked with anyone so I am thankful to have found these ladies and get to spend time with them on a weekly basis. Our friendship has grown outside of the regularly scheduled playgroup now and I am so excited that we have now started to be invited to some of the kids birthday parties.

The first party we have been invited to was a Dora themed party so I wanted to find the perfect gift. There is a lot of cheap Dora themed stuff out there so I ended up settling on a cute Disney princess dress and tea party set. I decided I could make it Dora themed through the wrapping, so I bought a roll of purple wrapping paper and set to work!

Part 1 – “Backpack” wrapping

This idea came from purple paper bag backpack themed treat bags I have seen on the internet. The gift I bought was a nice rectangular shape so I decided to wrap it and make it look like backpack. I simply started by wrapping the gift as normal with purple paper. The pockets, top flap and back straps were just folded out of the same gift wrap and taped on. The finishing touch was Backpack’s face which I found on the internet and printed on my home computer. It was cut out and attached with double sided tape.

The pockets on the backpack were stuffed with Dora fruit snacks and a Dora themed activity book I found from the dollar store. When I showed the final backpack to my 3 year old, his first questions was “where’s Map?” With all the other stuff I had for the pockets I didn’t even think to add him, but I am so glad my 3 year old suggested it! To make Map, all I did was print the same face I used for backpack and rolled up the sheet of paper.

Part 2 – Helium Balloon Star

If you have been “lucky” enough to have seen an episode of Dora, you have probably seen the happy faced stars floating around. When looking for Dora gift ideas on the internet I came across pictures of these stars and they reminded me of the star shaped helium balloons I have seen at Dollar Tree. I know how much my 3 year old loves helium balloons so I thought this would be a nice little addition to the gift. Unfortunately my Dollar Tree was out of the big star shaped balloons so my idea to have stars floating above backpack had to be modified to be a small star shaped balloon coming out of Backpack’s pocket.

The balloons are cute on their own, but I figured they could use an extra Dora touch by adding faces to them. To do this, I simply painted eyes on in whiteout and used a sharpie to draw in the mouth and eyeballs. And then I found cute “Happy Birthday” helium balloon with Dora on it at Dollarama so I was still able to have a balloon floating above backpack!

I love the way it turned out and was so excited to give it to the birthday girl. She didn’t even notice the gift inside wasn’t Dora related, and her mom tells me she was asking for a princess dress anyway, so it ended up being a perfect gift all around.

Now my problem will be to come up with something equally awesome for the next party! I think I may have set the expectations a little high.

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: Orijen Dog Treats

September 27, 2013September 27, 2013 chantelledoll

We have been feeding our dogs Orijen brand dog food for several years. There seem to be a lot of dog food commercials lately asking you if you know what is in your pets food and I am very confident that Orijen stacks up just as well, if not better, then those foods being advertised. The dogs really seem to enjoy it, it is high protein and organic, and I really liked that it is produced locally in the town of Morinville, just outside Edmonton.

We ran out of dog food this past weekend so I made a quick trip to the pet store to pick up a bag. While there, I was excited to see Orijen now has a line of dog treats out and decided to pick up a bag for the dogs to try. There are 8 different flavors, and I ended up going with the Tundra – a mixture of freeze dried elk, quail and trout.

Nova has been picky about her treats lately and will barely touch a milkbone, so I was so happy to see she snapped these right up. Judging by both dog’s enthusiasm when I now reach for the bag, I would say they are a winner and will continue to be a doggy staple in our house. I love that I can offer them some variety with all the different flavors, and I am so happy to have found something I can use again to entice Nova downstairs when needed!

Celebrations, Parties

Camden’s First Birthday Luau

September 26, 2013October 3, 2013 chantelledoll

We were lucky enough to take a family vacation to Hawaii when Camden was 9 months old. While there, I learned that first birthday’s are a big event in the Hawaiian culture and that led me to my inspiration for Camden’s first Birthday – a birthday Luau.

The invitations were designed using a picture of Camden I had taken in Hawaii.

The birthday boy’s special outfit was a Carter’s onesie and a Hawaiian print short set I bought when we were in Hawaii. I didn’t buy the set planning to use it with the onesie, but it ended up matching perfectly. If you check out Keira’s first birthday party, you’ll also notice she had the same onesie in pink!

I found most of my decorations on orientaltrading.com. They had a line of luau party supplies with rubber duckies that worked perfect for a first birthday. I ordered plates, napkins, garland, centerpieces, a custom banner, hanging palm trees and small rubber duckies for both favors and the cake topper:

Besides the cake, other Hawaiian inspired desserts I made included sand dollar sugar cookies and macadamia coconut macaroons. These were displayed in “sand” I made from a mixture of brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs. I also brought back some macadamia nut Hershey Kisses from Hawaii that got put out with the desserts along with some Almond Joy Pieces.

Camden’s monthly photo’s were displayed over the fireplace using small picture holders I found at Michaels. A hanging palm tree, painted cardboard surfboards and a few beach toys also helped set the scene above the mantel.

The tiki inspired drink bar was a DIY project made from bamboo sticks, rope, and a dollar store hula skirt for the roof. I saw similar bars at party supply stores and online, but this ended up being a much cheaper option. Drinks were tropical soda’s and Corona – not quite Hawaiian, but still beachy!

Food was all Luau inspired and included barbequed huli huli chicken skewers, teriyaki beef skewers, Hawaiian potato salad, Hula Grill coleslaw, marinated shrimp, macadamia nut hummus with root vegetable chips, mini ham and pineapple pizzas, a fruit bouquet and luau pig bites. Items were labelled using small tent cards I designed and printed at home.

Most of our party guests were under the age of one or adults so I ended up having two different favors. The babies got stacking blocks, luau rubber duckies, a duckie printed beach ball and tiny sunglasses while the adults got these peep favors:

This was my first attempt at a party and what really helped spark my passion for party planning. It is fun to look back at all the details – I have gotten better at taking pictures, but the small attention to detail has been there since the beginning. I know my baby’s won’t remember their first birthdays, but I still feel it was well worth the time and effort to give them that special day and have these pictures to look back at!

Celebrations, Gift Ideas

Hawaiian Themed Personal Candy Buffet

September 25, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

I have been to very few Bridal showers, but I was lucky enough to be able to attend two this summer. I love attending, but always find it a struggle to come up with the perfect gift! I could easily buy off a registry, but I prefer to give something a little more personal and unique.

I posted about the personal candy buffet I did for my sister in law, and because it went over so well at her shower I decided to attempt another for my co-worker’s shower. We shared an office and she often had candy tucked away in her desk so I knew it would definitely be something she would enjoy.

Because she was getting married in Hawaii, the obvious choice was to do a tropical theme. I was able to find all kinds of Luau decorations at the dollar store including small palm trees, a coconut cup and dancing hula girl which I arranged on a platter with various glass containers also found at the dollar store.

Personal touches I added were the “Sweet Love” banner across the top and candy labels I designed and printed at home. The lollipops also got the Hawaiian treatment by inserting them through silk flowers from a lei that I cut apart.

The candy I selected also tried to keep with the tropical theme and included tropical skittles, gummy sharks, tropical jellies, pixie stiks, peanut butter M&M’s and tropical Mike & Ikes.

It turned out very cute and the bride told me it was the best gift she received. I am not sure whether this was just something she told all her guests, but I’ll take it!