Ryans Art Work - A Shutterfly Album

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Woof, woof!

Ryan has a new hat to add to her collection. Its getting kind of big (the collection that is)....  I might have to turn my focuses to other areas!  I still have a rather large knit crochet list so hopefully I remain motivate for awhile. 

I saw this hat on Etsy and thought it was the cutest ever.  I've figured I'd give it a try without a pattern (as I've been doing a lot lately)...  What I really like about this hat is that I used cotton yarn.  It makes for a pretty finished product.

If you're interested in trying it out I kind of have a pattern in my head that I'm sure I can put on paper.... 

Pillow Pets?

Here is another project that I wanted to do for Ryan for Christmas.  I stumbled upon it on a blog called Filth Wizardy where there are some great ideas for children's projects.  It seemed super simple and then, as chance had it, I stumbled upon the same unicorn head that she used (from the Dollarama none-the-less).  I also just happend to have the perfect piece of fleece left over.  Thankfully, the sewing portion was not overly challenging - I'm a lot rusty!

A little bit of sewing later and Ryan had her very own unicorn pillow pet!  I know she likes it because she gets a little preturbed when Lucy tries to share!  We're still working on sharing....

I used ribbon instead of velcro or snaps.  It seemed like the easiest at the time and I was facing a little bit of a Christmas time crunch!

Here it is in its pillow form.  I like it better tied - her nose points south a little too much in this format.

Thanks for looking!

Love, this way!

A Family Portrait.

 Ryan's multi-coloured heart.  She was pretty excited about using 2 pencil crayon at the same time.

 I asked what this one was, its a snowman!

You've got mail!

I discovered a blog before Christmas called Twelve Crafts Til Christmas which had an awesome tutorial to make your own play Pretend and Play Mail Carrier Kit.  I decided that this just had to under the tree for little Miss Ryan.  She had previously spent a lot of time hiding things and checking the mail.  I thought she might relate....  Well, a couple of late nights, and Christmas morning came.  Ryan opend her kit and exclaimed, 'Mail - this is just what I wanted for Christmas'.  You can't ask for a better reaction than that can you?

I grew up with dolls and toys that my mom made me.  I mostly loved them but I really love doing the same for Ryan.  This project was really fun to do and I would highly reccomend it.  I can't wait to try more from Elizabeth at Twelve Crafts.  She really does have some great ideas!

Here is the complete set;

And a personalized letter from Nana (as written by Mama);

 

The mailbox with a button top closure.  The flag goes up and down and is held in place by a jumbo brad;

 

You've got mail!

And the mail bag in case you want to deliver it yourself.  I just winged the dimensions on this one;

This girl...

This girl was only 3 months old when Jason and I started dating (on New Years Eve - thats a whole other story!)... I cannot believe how fast time flies and what a remarkable person Natasha has become. Only 6 months from graduating high school she is sweet and kind and patient. She is talented and beautiful, funny and unique. I know that all if these things will take her as far as she wants to go in life. I can't wait to see where that is!

And I was not much older than she is now when she was 3 months old (as a matter of fact, I think I was exactly the same age)!  Check this out - its straight from the vault...  We had the same photographer, Christopher Lovegrove.  He rocks.  Sorry for the poor scan though, I should have selected 'restore faded colour'. Unfortunately, with age comes laziness and I will not scan it again! Hee, hee!

As for Jason and I, 17 years later. We are a little less irresponsible and a lot more involved with our family. We are always conscious of how fortunate we are (even though we have yet to win the lottery). We are always happy with our choices and happy to have chosen each other. We have learned A LOT of little (and big) life lessons. We are a little more tired (especially in these pics after a marathon of wedding picture taking!). We are a lot more us. I wonder what another 17 years will bring?