Stay organized, get Cozi

How do you manage your family's busy schedule? I'm one of those who has a monthly calendar up on the fridge. I manage to stay organized by simply jotting things on the calendar. For years now, my husband (the techy one) has been hounding me about using an online calendar (Google calendars), so that he can access it from work and keep track of everyone's schedule as well. I tried it his way for a while, but I've resorted back to good ol' pen and paper. Well, I found something today which G, and I'm sure many of you, will find interesting. It's called Cozi, a free online organizer for families, which includes a family calendar, grocery and to do lists, a family journal and a photo collage screensaver. Family life simplified. Ah, if we could all achieve that.

Sakura, Japanese flowering cherry

The birds are chirping, rain is falling, the temperature is getting milder. Can you feel it? Spring is in the air. I was inspired to make cherry blossoms. You can make some too. Take a sheet of paper and cut out a silhoutte of the tree trunks and branches using an exacto knife. Using a 1/8 inch hole punch, make lots and lots and lots of circles out of pink and white paper. Glue dots onto the cutout paper. (I used a fine-tipped glue pen and tweezers to make the process easier.) Place black or brown paper underneath, and frame.

Don't you just love kids' artwork

On Tuesday, N went on a field trip with his preschool class to the post office. All the kids got to mail their own letter to mom and dad. We received ours in the mail yesterday. The words I love you were traced out, along with this drawing. Seeing pictures made by the kids, especially of our family, always puts a smile on my face.

Freebie art

Here is a great site, Feed Your Soul: the free art project, where you can download artwork from various artists, free for personal use. Here's one of the lastest ones available, by Mandy Sutcliffe.

Origami Easter Basket

I made this basket with Easter in mind. But you could also use it as a gift bag for small items or gift cards. I used one sheet of 12 x 12 inch scrapbook paper and folded it into an origami star box. I then took each star point and folded it down and tucked it underneath itself. Next I hole-punched two opposite sides, then fed wired ribbon through the holes to make the handle of the basket. You could also add embellishments for extra detail.

Setting up shop

March break with the kids was fun. We did a little bit of everything - discovered new things at the museum, bowled, swam, went on carnival rides. The kids liked riding on the subway, a real treat for them since we live in the suburbs. It’s a little quieter at home, now that G is back to work and H is back at school. I still have little N with me to keep me busy.

So now back to my project. I now have an Etsy shop. Yay! For those of you not familiar with Etsy, it is an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods. I was hesitant about joining because there are already so many great artists and artisans showcasing their work, but I thought it would be fun to try. You can head over to my shop at lemonlimepie.etsy.com

I’m excited to see that I’ve had some visits to my shop. If you’ve come upon my blog via my Etsy shop, glad to have you here. I am new to this, so for those of you familiar with Etsy, please feel free to share your comments or words of advice. I would love to hear your stories and experiences.

I came across a Chinese proverb recently. “To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art.” Hopefully, I can master (or at least learn) the art.

Halfway there

I’ll be back on Monday, when things finally get back to normal around here. March break gives the kids time off, but boy, do I feel tired already. Two days to go.

I’m working on a project for myself, which I’m really excited about. It is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I haven’t taken the time to make it happen. So stay tuned. Here’s a hint. Brought to you by the letter E.

The start of something new, Part 2

Not even two weeks into blogging and I've decided to change my blog name. I better get used to the new name, because I don't want to go through this process again. Enough said.

Welcome to lemonlime pie.

In keeping with the butterfly theme

Yesterday our family went to the Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory. I was inspired to create a butterfly puppet after seeing all the beautiful butterflies fluttering around us. The one I’ve made here from felt is based on the Emerald Swallowtail. The wings move nicely as you move the puppet up and down.

Too pretty to eat

This book Hello, Cupcake! was a gift. I’m not much of a baker, or a cook for that matter, so this book is just up my alley. It’s all about the decorating. Most of the cupcakes in this book can be made using pre-packaged cake batter and ready-made frosting. The book is full of fun and creative ideas. I was especially drawn to the page with cupcakes topped with monarch butterflies. I just had to try making them. The butterflies are made using melted chocolate wafers, which you pipe out from a Ziploc bag onto waxed paper. It was a bit of trial and error as I fumbled through the process. (I made my melted chocolate too runny.) Who has the patience for this kind of thing? Apparently I do. After an afternoon of gooey, melted chocolate, and baking and frosting and assembling, I had some beautiful butterfly-topped cupcakes. I had fun making them. Funny thing is, I took them to a friend’s house for a girls’ evening together, and nobody wanted to eat them.

Pocketful of puppets

Meet my animal friends, Ellie, Gigi, and Levi. They’ve left their zoo life in search of adventure. Powered by tiny fingers and a huge imagination, there is no telling the places they will go and the exciting things they will do next. With some felt, and a little patience for hand stitching, you can have a whole collection of soft adorable little finger puppets for the whole family.

Hello old friend

I enjoy my coffee sweet and creamy. I should say, enjoyed, since I gave it up recently. It’s tempting to have a cup of coffee, especially on those days when G makes a pot for himself. The aroma, which is the most alluring part of the whole coffee experience to me, tickles my nose just so. One of the reasons I started drinking coffee on a regular basis is because it was a way for me to take a break. With the kids, it is non-stop, and sipping coffee allows me to slow down and sit, even for a brief moment. So as a replacement, I’ve started drinking tea. At first, I admit, I was cheating somewhat. I was making myself orange pekoe tea, with cream and sugar. Not exactly a good alternative, when part of the reason for giving up coffee is to cut down on the sugar and cream. So now I’m drinking plain green tea, which I used to drink quite often. Warm and soothing, like revisiting an old friend. I think I will reap some benefits from this small change. Sometimes we need to give up one thing in order to discover or rediscover something else.

Labour of love

During the week leading up to my birthday, G (my husband) and H (my daughter) were busy working on some kind of secret project for my birthday. Every night they would go into H’s room and behind closed doors, they would work on my surprise. On the morning of my birthday, I was delighted to receive two handmade photo flipbooks. G got the idea from The Curious blog. It’s literally like watching video clips of my kids, right at my fingertips. I love, love, love my flipbooks!

And thank you to all my family and friends who made my day so special.

Happy 40th Birthday to me!

The best part of today is I get to eat cake, and lick the icing too. I made these cupcakes out of felt, but they look good enough to eat.

Wow, am I really forty years old today? Well, the evidence has started to surface - those tell-tale signs that I’m not so young anymore - the grey hairs, memory lapses, slower metabolism, and failing eyesight. I’ve been obsessing enough about those things over the last few months. No sense dwelling on that any longer. Starting today, I will embrace this new decade with optimism. After all, I’m alive and well and have many things for which I am thankful.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melodie Beattie

Mommy, please make this

One of my favourite gifts I received this past Christmas, is this book. The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo. I’ve made a couple of the felt mascots for my kids. They love them. My three year old son loves to look at all the pictures in the book and has been asking me to make him a cat. I finally got around to making it.

Spring blossoms

Yesterday as I walked my daughter to the bus stop, my face was burning from the bitter cold. With less than twenty days before the official start of spring, I’m wondering when it will actually begin to feel warmer. I recently hung up this picture in our family room. Inspired to make papercut art after seeing the wonderful work of Elsa Mora, I came up with this. Something very simple, but it reminds me of the arrival of spring. Buds and blossoms, new life begins. There’s joy in knowing that change will happen, an opportunity for renewal and growth. I’m eagerly awaiting spring outside, as well as within.

The start of something new

Some people jump out of a plane - skydiving, to celebrate a milestone birthday. I’m diving into the world of blogging, which feels, at least to me, like the same thing - a huge leap into an open sky.

As I stand on the tip of my toes, on the edge of this new adventure, I close my eyes and try to envision what this will be like. No matter what, I’ll have my family, my parachute so to speak, along for the ride.

Five, four, three, two, one. Jump!

So now with my eyes wide open, I see before me an open space, my place, my playground.

Welcome to isa + id. My creative outlet - a place for me to explore, experiment and share my love for design, crafts and things handmade.