baby you can drive my car

Image courtesy of The North York Drive In Theatre

Yesterday was a very gloomy and raining day, but it didn't stop us from doing our usual Saturday routine of ballet and running errands. We took the kids out for dinner later in the evening, and luckily while we were eating the rain subsided so we decided to see a movie at the North York Drive-In. If you've never taken your kids to the drive-in, I highly recommend it!

We've been to the drive-in with our kids before and have found that it's a much more enjoyable, and affordable experience than going to the regular theater. We stocked up on snacks before going, and brought every one's pajamas for extra comfort! The mini papercut slept through the whole thing, but the two older papercuts had a blast...as did the hubby and myself:) We saw Shrek Forever After, and even though we didn't stay for the second movie ( yes, you get to watch TWO movies for the price of ONE!!) it was well worth the cost. For those of you in our area, adult admission is $11 each, $2 for kids aged 6-12, and kids 5 and under are FREE!

This is definitely something you should all try with the kids...so much fun!

hello, is anyone there?

I know, it's been far too long since we've 'talked', but things have finally settled down and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. I'm finally feeling better:) The aches are gone and the kiddos are back to their usual crazy antics. The mini papercut has traded her stuffy nose for teething discomfort, but is really no worse for wear. It's been a long few weeks, but it's nice to feel 'normal' again! It seems like forever, but sometimes life has a funny way of telling you to focus.

So yes, we were all sick, each and every one of us here in the Little Papercuts house. To make matters worse, our schedule was so jam packed that we couldn't even get enough rest to make a speedy recovery. There's been so much going on with the kids that I feel like I haven't had a minute to sit down and catch my breath!
















As a result there has been absolutely no activity, creatively speaking. My sewing machine has been put away, hopefully not for too long, along side my art supplies:( I wish things weren't so chaotic, but it was a reminder to me to slow down in my rush to be working again and to enjoy my family. The kids are growing up too fast for my liking, and I feel like in the next moment they'll be gone and off to university! I've been taking a lot of pictures of them lately, trying to capture every moment. How they make me laugh:) For all the craziness of the last few weeks, my focus has been us. But we're happy being busy!

what to do?

Since the kiddies will be home this week for March Break, I've been on the lookout for fun activities to do with them. I'm thinking of doing some finger painting and maybe painting some little bird houses too. Or we could go to the AGO or ROM, but I figure that all the museums and art galleries will be pretty crowded this week. Hopefully the weather will be pleasant...enough that we can dust off the bikes and go for a ride around the neighbourhood at least:) I think for the most part, we're just looking forward to having a relaxing and lazy week, spent mostly in our pajamas! What are your plans for March Break?

4 more days

Can you believe Christmas is on Friday? My kids are on Christmas break, and luckily we've finished almost all of our shopping, we still need to pick up a couple gifts, but nothing that will warrant us having to enter a toy store:) The presents are wrapped, our Santa letters e-mailed, our paper fireplace is in place (I'll be posting pics of this later) and we're just about ready to hang our stockings and bake our cookies as we await Santa's arrival. I have a lot to be thankful for this year: three happy and healthy kiddos, a fabulous (although sometimes annoying) husband, wonderful family and friends, and a little business that is thriving. Yes we've had our ups and downs, as well as numerous obstacles to overcome, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad. Right now the older kids are playing while the mini papercut sleeps. Three happy kids...there's nothing better than this:)

happy thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're all enjoying this long weekend and spending it with those close to you:)

one more week and back to school

I can't believe how quickly summer vacation flew by! My hubby and I still have a couple of fun things planned for the kids before it's all said and done, but the kids have been preparing to return to school, which means lots of shopping. Luckily for us, MaMa and YeYe (grandma and grandpa) took us on a back-to-school shopping spree to make sure the kids are well equipped!























We still have a few errands to run, and some school forms to fill out, but the kids are ready to see all their friends again, and I'm looking forward to having some free time to myself! Are you ready for school?

where did summer go?

It's hard to believe that summer vacation is almost over, and the kids will be heading back to school in a few weeks. We've spent the majority of the summer getting ready for the mini papercut, but we've also managed to fit in a trip to the museum, walks and bike rides around the neighborhood, and my son got to move into a big boy booster seat! We've tried new recipes, been to the park, seen a magic show and a basketball game, but it seems like the summer weather came and went before our vacation really got started. Usually by this time of year we've spent so much time at the splash park that everyone's super tanned and a bit waterlogged, but without the heat, we've been forced to find activities elsewhere.


















We still have a long list of places to go within the next month: fishing, Canada's Wonderland, the zoo, the CNE, not to mention back-to-school shopping. I've got my fingers crossed that the warmer temps are on their way so that we can enjoy August before school starts. Anyone else wishing it was hotter?

creating a space for the mini muffin

I've posted a few times that I'm helping out my sister, muffin top designs, to create the perfect space for her mini muffin. I'm so thankful that she's allowed me to help her in this endeavor, seeing as my nursery or bedroom makeover is on hold for the moment...I'll get into that another time. We've made quite a bit of progress thus far, but since she lives downtown and I'm uptown, not to mention if I navigate my way to her place without the hubby, and her DH is at work, not much is really gonna get completed considering we have 3 kids between the two of us. Let's just say her nursery is a work still in progress :)

We've managed to do a good portion of the shopping online, while on the phone with each other, and we really lucked out the day we went shopping for all the bedding (we needed crib bedding and something for a twin bed fashioned as a sofa). We've been super focused on our trips to Ikea, scouting only items we need, and we're now in the last stages
of putting everything together. A couple weekends ago I took my brood to her place and I was able to paint stripes on an accent wall above the crib, as well as tidy up the mini's bookcase and dress the room with what we had. Unfortunately we were unable to put up a shelf due to a hardware malfunction...wrong size screws, but that has all been remedied.

I've also managed to finish the mobile that will hang above the crib. It consists of three balls: a paper flower ball, a ribbon covered paper lantern and a tissue paper pom pom. It turned out quite lovely, and I can't wait to get it in place! There's still a few things that need to be purchased, but we're in no rush at this point. I'll keep you guys updated as we go :)

starting fresh

So after my meltdown on Saturday with the kids, I decided that maybe what we needed was a fresh start and relaxing day filled with lots of ...nothing. Boy was I right! It was nice to just sit around and have some down time with the kids. We watched a couple movies and had some friends come over for a visit, but all-in-all there was no schedule or appointments on our list of things to do. It was nice to see that all the drama of the day before had melted away like a Popsicle on a hot day, and that my usually well behaved kids had returned. I guess I hadn't realized how hectic our schedule had gotten, even amidst summer vacation. We've been doing so much planning for the new baby, the nursery and my cousin's nursery, not to mention outings to fill the space of our usual trips to the splash park (It has not been a good summer weather-wise here in Toronto), it hadn't occurred to me that the kids just needed some time to relax at home.

And even though we did venture out of the house on Monday morning for about an hour or so, the kids were very co-operative and on their best behaviour. I guess we all needed to slow down a bit, mommy included :)

a bad mommy day :(

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like everything you say to your kids is "NO!!", "Stop that!!" or "Do you want a time out?". Well, I felt like that today. We've all seen other moms out there in action like this before. You know the moms I'm talking about...the one with the two kids and one on the way, she has absolutely no control over her kids, she's yelling at them, they're not listening and as you walk by all you can do is shake your head, thinking "I would never let my kids act like that!" Today that was me:(

I met my sister at Michael's this morning to pick up some ribbon and craft supplies, only to realize my husband had left the car with absolutely no gas, and I had forgotten to grab any money or the bank card. While inside the craft store, my son felt the need to constantly touch everything and run off, commencing my day of "Don't touch that!" and "Come back here!". Our next stop at Home Depot continued the numerous reprimands, and as my patience began to wear thin, as did the kids', we all decided it would be a good idea to head to the park across the street to let off some steam.


The park was beautiful, one we've never been to before, and it boasted beautiful gardens and gazebos, a sand/ play park for the kids as well as ponds and fountains topped off by a magnificent waterfall that cascaded down a stone wall. What should have been an enjoyable end to our early afternoon ended up as a continuation of our earlier escapades at Michael's and Home Depot. While I was OK with my son running around and having fun, I was NOT OK with him attempting to climb up the rocks surrounding the waterfall.

Chalk it up to being pregnant, but today I felt exasperated with my kids and like one of those moms whom I tend to shake my head at. It felt like not only was I ruining my own day, but my kids' day as well. I could've sworn every other parent at the park was staring at me with disapproving eyes and shaking THEIR heads. Let's hope this is not going be the norm with my kids, and that their behaviour was due to hunger and the heat. I love my kids more than anything, but my tolerance for bad behaviour has been very low lately. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...end rant.

birthdays, 1st communion, ballet exams + a wedding

So the past few months have been jam packed with activity here at the Little Papercuts home. Besides planning for a new baby, we've also seen my son's 5th birthday, my daughter's 1st communion and ballet exam, not to mention that I was matron-of-honour for a friend's wedding just recently. We were hoping for a relaxing summer, but with the 'mini papercut' arriving in mid-October, things are in full swing around here!

























My son turned 5 at the end of January and we threw him a big WALL-E themed birthday party, complete with a life-sized WALL-E I made from a few cardboard boxes. Needless to say, my little one loved it, as did the other kids and their parents! It really does go to show that no matter how many toys you have, kids will inevitabley want to play with a cardboard box:)























My daughter also celebrated her 1st communion and participated in her very first ballet exam. We are extremely proud of her, as she is with herself, and we're happy to report that she received a PERFECT grade on her ballet exam!!!!























Because this was her first year in a real ballet class, we weren't sure as to how she would fare, and to be completely honest we would have been happy had she just passed...but she showed us! We're taking a break right now from the summer ballet session, but she's looking forward to starting up again in the fall.























As for the wedding, I won't be posting any pics from it, due in part to the fact that I was almost 6 months pregnant, it was raining and I was extremely hungry when a good portion of the pics were taken. That's not to say that the wedding was not beautiful and a really wonderful event...I just won't be posting any pics:)

happy halloween

I know, I know...the last time I posted I had said that I would be blogging more often. This was probably more a promise to myself more than anyone else, but again I have lapsed in this area.
However, something incredibly exciting happened to me today and I have to write about it.

Last week, by chance, I was looking on the HGTV website for inspiration for my bedroom...hubby and I are planning on redecorating our room, but that's another story, and I clicked on their blog. There was a photo challenge for great kid's spaces, so I decided to enter my son's room and a girlfriend's nursery (yes I know I still haven't posted pics of that one, but I will soon). Well I only had time to upload the pics of my son Alex's room, so I sent it off the HGTV with the intention of uploading the nursery pics sometime today...October 31st was the deadline. Soooo, I log into my e-mail to send HGTV another e-mail when what do I see in my inbox...a message from HGTV saying I WON!!!! I could not believe it! I've never entered anything like this before, nevermind won anything. I am over the moon!

And what did I win, you might ask, I won a kid's docking station for their ipods, cell phones, etc.., but more importantly HGTV is going to put the pictures of Alex's room up on their website! This is all so exciting that I had to share!

Anyway, besides all of this excitement, we are getting the kids ready for trick-or-treating tonight. Thankfully the weather is co-operating and it doesn't look like it's gonna be as cold as it's been the past few nights. Gotta go get everyone's costumes ready...so have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

wow...it's been awhile

Well, it's been almost 3 months since I've posted anything. Summer was so much fun that there was no time to blog! But I am grateful that the kids have gone back to school...it was next to impossible to get any work done while they were home! So there's a lot to catch up on and I've got a ton of pics to post, I don't think I can do it all in one entry but here goes.























Our summer was filled with tons of fun, and a few scares too! We tried to keep busy doing stuff outside, and we were lucky there was an abundance of activities to do! While we spent most of our time at the splash park by our house, the kids also got to do a lot of bike riding, and we did our share of exploring around our neighborhood! We were also lucky enough to visit a farm, which the kids LOVED!!! We were there for a birthday party, but we promised ourselves to go back again. We also went to Paramount Canada's Wonderland, an amusement park close to our house...again a big hit with the kids. Hopefully we'll be able to get there again before they close in November, but we'll see how everything works out. We did still manage to get in some shopping, and a quick trip to Buffalo, NY to look for some great deals. All I really remember about that day was that everyone was kinda cranky and it was very HOT!!!























But we also had some mishaps...my youngest had one allergy scare when we were at a relatives house (I'm not even gonna go into it because it still makes me really angry!), and then last month he had a horrible infection that had us visiting the ER. But everything was OK in the end, and all the fun far outweighed any of the drama. But with school starting up again, and hope for me that I'd finally get some work done, September started off fast and crazy for us! My daughter started Grade 2, and my son began JK. It was a very exciting, and scary, time for us...not to mention that we haven't had a break since it started! We've been bombarded with birthdays, play dates, dentist appointments, fender benders, eye appointments and classes for first communion.























AND to top it off this weekend is just as busy as the last few! We have an outing with Grandma tomorrow (the kids have a PA day), 2 birthday parties on Saturday and we're going apple picking on Sunday. Not to mention all the work I need to finish! I'll post later about all of the work that I didn't do over the summer, and all the work I've had to do this month to catch up!!!

happy canada day

Happy Canada Day!! So school is out and the summer activities begin...so to speak. I have a ton of work to do, and I'm finding it really hard to get into the swing of things. With the kids running around the house, and toys all over the place, it's hard to get motivated to do art! Plus we just got the kids new bikes, and the weather's been beautiful so we haven't really been inside all that much. School finished last Wednesday and since then we've spent almost every day out! In the past 5 days we've been to the water park, biking riding every day and to the mall a couple times. Today it's sooo sunny outside ( and Canada Day too!) and of course the kids want to go biking AGAIN! I'm not sure how much work I'm gonna get done this summer, but I've got 4 orders that need to be finished by the end of July, 2 kids rooms to decorate and I'd like to repaint our master bedroom. I'm hoping that by blogging about this it might motivate me to work...or at least guilt myself into doing so:) I hope you all have a great Canada Day, even if you're not in Canada!! I think I have to work now:(

happiness

What makes you happy? Finding great deals on paper, clothes or anything for that matter. Sunny days. Going on a date with my hubby while the kids are at school. They all rank pretty high on my list (not necessarily in that order), but for me my kids are #1 on that list. Even though they have their moments, and they sometimes make me want to pull my hair out, for the most part they're pretty good kids. I'll admit there are those days when it is impossible for them to get along, but I think they play together and love each other more than they fight. Maybe that's wishful thinking on my part, but they're my kids and I love them.

I asked my kids what makes them happy, and both replied a resounding 'Playing with mommy'. I had fully expected my daughter to say 'Getting a new Bratz doll, or e-pet', and I was sure my little one was going to tell me 'Cars', which for him is no surprise, but I have to say it was really nice to be tops on their lists too. I'm sure tomorrow their opinions are gonna change, but for now I'll take what I can get!:)

what is little papercuts?

So, I realize that there are some of you who are wondering 'What is Little Papercuts', besides the tiny cuts you get from paper that hurt A LOT!! For all of you, this is my explanation. Little Papercuts is the business I started, officially a year ago. I mainly create children's name art, but I have also done artwork for adults and kids which are not name related. All of my pieces are made from cut paper, but also include ribbon, fabric, yarn and other goodies.


















Although I have only been in business officially since last year, I have been creating name art for over 3 years now. I think what appeals to most of the people who purchase Little Papercuts artwork is that they are all custom made for each individual. My customers love that they are able to be involved in the creative process, and have a finished product that reflects their child. Whether that means their personality, their interests or even something that matches their room, I strive to make something that embodies the person it is created for.


















Being a stay at home mom with two kids constantly on the go, it was difficult to find the time, not only to work, but to have creative space. I am very lucky to have a wonderfully supportive husband, great kids and some amazing friends who have encouraged me along the way. My 'company' is only in it's baby stages, but the journey thus far has been incredible. It still astounds me that people want to buy something that I have made...and I think that's part of what pushes me to do what I do.