Trendy Union Jacks Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee 2012 London Olympics Okay, I'm on the bandwagon. But not until we found this crazy waving Queen at Chapters last week. She was $20 but I had to have her because she cracks me up. Our kitchen shelves are now an ode to the Queen & her country. That nimble Doughboy shimmied up one shelf and switched flags --  I was four when we adopted our Maple Leaf flag but I remember the Union Jack flying. The teapot and juicer belonged to Grandma Gladys.  Source The sweet little banner and calico flag came from this magazine. I  never  buy magazines that are zipped up in plastic and after I bought this one I remembered why. The paper cutouts were adorable though as is the pattern for the union jack pillow. This little die cast trailer is the one that started my collection. It's a Corgi and was made in Great Britain. The awning pulls out too. I robbed Macy...
I've had a sign in mind for weeks now and much to my frustration, it just wasn't coming together. Vickie's Beach Sign Enter inspiration from: Vickie at Ranger 911's scrumptious beach sign. I loved the soft colours, shape and shading...     Source                   ... and this cute garden shed sign. A few minutes at the computer and I was in business. I loved the pointing finger and bird. I wanted a lady's hand and actually found free brushes  here.  In flew the chickadee (we love our chickadees) and then the shape (banner 3 in Photo Shop Elements' shape templates). I used one of my favourite fonts, Muffaroo, and added the shading in PSE. I haven't the skills of the artiste Vickie to free hand it yet. :) Out came the trusty ole fence boards, jigsaw and graphite paper. I cut the shape first and transferred the design after sanding the edges. The font I chose is wiggly, and I'm no...
As I mentioned in my Canada Day post, Doughboy somehow escaped from the Sunbeam on the counter and appeared here: How it happened, we didn't know. Until now... (press play on The Great Escape music link at right) We didn't notice anything out of the ordinary on the kitchen counter... We didn't even hear any scampering across the backsplash... But Doughboy must have known he was coming. It was none other than... Remy. Of Ratatouille fame. A quick zipline escape to the waiting getaway car... And they made a run for the front door! Doughboy gave one glance back... at least we think it was Doughboy... He lost his disguise on the sharp left turn. They headed for the flower bed at high speed. Doughboy & Remy laid low overnight being careful to avoid detection by local hares and magpies. (They can make a heck of a mess out of vinyl and stuffys). The next thing we kn...
Like most dogs, Max likes to be wherever we are. Or more specifically, wherever I am. Mr. CF calls him my boyfriend. Max doesn't get to come up on the furniture, but I like to have him snuggleable, so I decided that I wanted to make him a raised bed. Finding the appropriate end table (in my price range)  took even longer than finding a spice cabinet. Luckily I had my two assistants with me when I found one this week. It was $15, marked down from $25. It still seemed a bit steep, but was solid wood, so we brought it home. It didn't have a mark on the top... until I had Max try it on. He is not much for slick surfaces and clung on for dear life. I thought I wanted it white... until it was painted. Ho hum. So I had a custom shade made at my local paint shop from what was in our leftover paint cans. I used a bit of Meeting House White, from the beadboard in the kitchen, mixed with Sea Life from two of Macy's bedroom walls. One was semi-gl...
This past Christmas Mr. CF & Missy CF gave me a lovely little collection of vintage spice tins. Miss M did all the wrapping herself... not noting that most tins still had their contents inside -- and were not closed. The cayenne pepper tin created quite the spectacular sneeze fest (much to everyone else's entertainment). I definitely remember the smaller tins at top from my childhood and mom remembers the others well. The allspice tin is my favourite... wonder why. :) How can it be that you see a million spice racks in the thrift stores until you need one? It took me six months to find this baby. I plunked down my $2 and skipped home. I finally got around to fixing the one broken drawer and doing the painting.  Just a tip: don't talk on the phone whilst painting. During the first coat I totally missed the bottoms of both shelves and they'll be visible where it will hang. No high score on the multi-tasking scoreboard that day. About the ...
It has been 31C and the Weather Network says it feels like 35C, which is 95F. This is not the norm for us and although we do get a bit of this every summer it is not something we're used too. We were boating on the weekend and I bobbed around in the water for much longer than usual just to cool off. The peonies have just about had it. Today we're hangin' at home and this is how we stay cool... the sprinkler for her... ... and one of these for me. I don't drink coffee or tea but have an, ahem, Diet Coke thing. I did quit cold turkey about five years ago, but lately I have a thing for fountain pop. And new issues of Vintage Style. And scratching Max's ears while I sit by the shade garden listening to summer shrieks of a girl in the sprinkler. Next on the agenda was a new Yahtzee card game... it was fun. She won. Then Macy's next door buddy arrived and the sprinkler challenge was on. I retreated to the cool of my desk ...