Crafting

Way back in June, I was shopping at one of my favorite local home decor store and stumbled upon a beautiful framed antique skeleton key. My eyes were drawn to it immediately. It was unique and seemed to have a story to tell. I love to find pieces like that. Unfortunately what I didn't love was the price tag. $45.00. Over my budget for that day. I examined the piece a little closer and thought this could be my next "crafting" project!

And so began the hunt for some antique keys. Not realizing this was gong to be the most difficult task for this project. I did find some keys locally however they really were not calling out to me.

On the July 1st long weekend, the kids and I headed to my brothers place close to Brockville On. for a nice long weekend visit. I was mentioning to my brother about this project and he reminded me of this amazing Antique shop we would stop at on our way to visit my aunt and uncle in Perth On many years ago. On that Saturday, Shelyn and I ventured out on the hunt for keys.

On the way , I tried to explain to Shelyn about what to expect when we arrived at this antique shop. Words really could not do it justice! Lets just say, she was stunned to see all of the treasures, as was I . The hunt began!

(pictures courtesy of www.gather.com)

Amazing I tell'ya!!!

You enter inside of the house and the entire place is FULL of anything you can imagine. Its not a place you could visit if you were the least bit claustrophobic. Narrow isles approx 12" wide, stacks of antiques taller than me!

I asked the gentleman at the front desk if he had any skeleton keys and he answered with a nod at the same time swung a door open behind him and "TA-DA" thousands of keys in every size, shape and style! Where to begin?? I explained what I was looking for and he reached in the door and grabbed a ring full of keys that were similar to what I was describing. It was like he had catorgorized the keys in his mind. Finally, after about 20 mins. of Shelyn and I examining the keys very closley, I found two that were PERFECT! He explained to me , one I choose was a reproduction dating back to the 60's and the other one I choose was approx 70-100 years old! WOW!!!

We left that shop and Shelyn says to me, "Mom...I felt like I was on the TV show Auction Hunters". She loved it and wants to bring Carson and daddy back to show them!

So on with the project...

These are the beauties I left the shop with. My darling husband looked at them and was not impressed. I actually don't think he could picture what the final product would be!

As you can see, the key on the right was the reproduction. Great design however, the gold color had to go.

I purchased a can of spray paint at my local hardware store. I actually forget the color but it was similar to an antique brown/rust.

Sprayed two coats on each side.

I purchased two frames with burlap matting at a local department store. Found some scrapbook paper in my stash that I thought looked great with the colors of the frame and keys. Cut the paper to 4x6 to fit the picture opening. Removed the glass and glued the keys to the paper.

Total cost of the project was $24.00 for two frames and keys

My inspiration retailed for $45.00 for one frame and key!

Not bad!!

They have now found their home in my front entrance way.

It turned out to be a great project and could even make a great gift for the right person!

"1st in show"

Today has been the day Shelyn has been counting down on her calender for over three months! Today she would be riding in her very first horse show with her new horse "Monty". The last riding show for Shea was over three years ago with a different horse and riding coach . What a FANTASTIC day it was! Shea placed 1st in Walk/Trot Equitation...2nd in Walk/Trot and 1st is Cross rails jumping...not too shabby especially since she was up against some adults and 9-12 riders in each class! We are so proud of her hard work and dedication to this sport. She was at the barn last night for two hours, bathing, cleaning, polishing ,picking up poo and braiding the horse, then back at it again at 8 am this morning for the show. Man its a lot of work to get one horse ready for a few classes! but she LOVES it! Shea has a wonderful instructor Kirsten who is very good at what she does and makes the girls work hard! Shea was lucky to buddy up with another girl today, Megan, who rides at the same barn . They were able to team together and get everything ready for the show. Megan is also so helpful for Shelyn and genuinely cares for her like a little sister! I love when young kids can be such great role models! The cheering squad was in attendance as well. Both sets of Sheas grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousin and some friends where all there to shoe their support. When Shea was in her last class. Rene and I snuck away down by the ring to take a few pictures and to listen to the results. When they announced her last 1st place ribbon... we both looked at each other with a tear in our eyes...what a PROUD moment for the both of us!

Blog hopping again and came across this "oh so adorable" baby shower posted on

http://dehartfamilyblog.blogspot.com

I'm Inspired!!!

I SO want one of these drink jars...in LOVE!!!

Where has the time gone??? Second week in June, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and there are sounds of children playing outside until sundown. What a great time of year.

We have been busy with the usual around the Aubertin house. Enjoying sports activitie and enjoying time with family.

My dad celebrated his ?? Birthday this past May.

I love my dad! He's a wonderful man who has always shown me love unconditionally, taught me lots and been there for me when I needed my"daddy". I am very lucky to have a good combination of my mom and dad's traits. These are and example of a few of dads traits I think I have...The first trait I was blessed with is a little bit of the old Irish temper.. just a little...my entrepreneur drive...ability to speak in front of crowds...teacher or mentor trait...determination...risk taker... and the "not so fav" physical trait of broad shoulders.. oh joy!

Love you Dad:)

Little Liam is growing up so fast! He will be 1 years old in December but to look at the little munchkin, he could pass for 2!

He's a smart little cookie, already speaking a few words in English and French(his mom is french) which has been fun because our entire family is learning along with him. Liam is such a joy. He's a sweetheart and such a good little guy. Sleeps well, eats well and will truly snuggle up to anyone whiling to snuggle with him. We love and miss my brother, my nephew Liam and sister in law Cat very much and enjoy every little visit we can with them!

Liams favorite self-soothing activity... one end of the blanket in his mouth, the other end between his toes...too funny!


on the move!

May/ June is Track and Field time at Shea's school. Shea is our little "Track Star"

She LOVES to run! ( I think she gets that from me :) NOT)

Her FAV running event is cross county and she said its her best event as well. In our school cross country is at the beginning of the year and track is at the end.

This year Shea decided to run the 400m and 800m events. Last year she also did the 1500m but felt it was way too hot so she didn't try for that one this year.

She placed 1st in both races at the school event(2 schools), placed 2nd and 3rd at the "ASG" (all schools event...7 schools) and placed 11th at the district...20 some? school)

She did an AMAZING job!

We are so proud of her determination and love of running!

Sorry about the eyes closed Shea!

Sporting her "trade mark" fashion trend. Hair elastic to tie the jersey to the side.

Too funny.. she does this with her hockey jersey as well

Love her originality!

This May we have moved Shelyn to a new riding barn. It was a bitter sweet moment for everyone. She had sat on her very first horse at the old barn , trained for her very first show and got bucked off for the very first time at the old barn.

Shelyn had a FANTASTIC coach there who brought so much knowledge and experience to Shelyn.

She was great with Shea however the horse was being pushed as far as it wanted to go and Shelyn was ready to go further so it was time to move on!

We are very fortunate to have MANY riding barns in our area. It actually makes it difficult to decide where to go. We come to find out in the equestrian world, word of mouth is a very powerful advertising tool.

We have found a WONDERFUL barn and Shelyn has met her new riding partner/horse" Monty". Monty and Shea work together like they have been together from the beginning and we can't say enough about Shelyn's new coach, Kirsten.

Shelyn and Monty are very excited to be training for another show this season.

They are both working hard each week with the Walk , trot, Jumper techniques and their looking pretty good so far!

This past Sunday I packed the kids up and took them to the riding show that Shelyn will be riding in the season. We love watching all of the different events, horses and riders do what they do best! This is the riding ring that Shea will be riding/judged in.

You can see an example of the jumps that Shelyn and Monty work on.

The jump heights start from 1 foot off the ground and go up to approx 4 feet. It doesn't look like

it would be so difficult but its amazing to watch all of the technical elements that go into jumping, which is in fact what the judging is all about!

Poor Carson.. I just realized this post is mainly about Shea...I will be sure to include a post with some of Carsons activities in the near future!
more to come soon...

Sunday morning creativity

Woke up this morning, made myself a tea and ventured onto my favorite blogs. I LOVE the blog world. Each blog I go to , links me to other blogs and on and on. On many blogs, I have admired the"t-shirt" scarves. They looked so cool , easy to do and CHEAP!!! So this morning was the day I would give it a try. I have to say, it was SO easy and I know the more I do the more creative I will become with them. A few weeks ago I was in Napanee and saw a similar scarf in one of the boutiques with a price tag of $30.00...wow.

I had all of the materials around the house so this project was FREE!!! Gotta love that! This is what you need:

-old tshirt(the larger the t-shirt, the longer the scarf will be)

-fabric glue/crazy glue

-scissors

Step #1

Lay tshirt out on a flat surface

Step #2

Cut tshirt from arm pit to arm pit

Step #3

Cut off the bottom seam of the tshirt

Step #4

Cut strips of tshirt width wise, leaving a one inch band at the top of the shirt

Step #5

Once you have cut your strips , Pull each strip tight, this will create the rolling effect with the strips



Step #6

Put your hand through the top one inch band, creating the scarf

Step #7

Place scarf around your neck ..."ta da"!!!!

I used the extra fabric from the seam to create this adorable little rosettes and added pearls to the largest rosette, then glued the rosettes onto the scarf!

I think its adorable and cant wait to raid Rene's tshirt stash to make some longer one!

creative inspiration...

procrastination...

this is really not a word that I would say describes me but this past month it would! I had finally had a chance to pick up all of the photos i sent to Costco, oh...over a month ago. All 300 of them sitting beside me screaming for attention, begging to be placed in a scrapbook! It never seems to happen. I have some beautiful pics of my brother and sister in-laws wedding that was in September. I actually found it really hard to choose the special ones to blow up and frame because there were so many to choose from. I try to give myself goals each month. Nothing "earth-moving"but just little goals that make my happy. The last three months its been weight loss...UGG!!! I lost a total of 8lbs. Some would say"that's it? and others would say "that's great". I just say UGG!!! I really don't know why I put myself through this because I always know what the outcome will be. Loss a little gain ALOT! I do really well off the starting line then the motivation weakens coming around to the home stretch. It's not that I don't know what to do to loose weight, heck , it's not some secret formula, it's common sense and will power. Oh...WILLPOWER.. where art thow...willpower???

So this is what I have decided one of my goals for April will be...I will TRY my BEST to eat healthy, not excluding the finer things that bring me great joy(like chocolate) and get active! Simple, right??? Will see.

My second and last goal, is t ride the wave when the "creative" juices are flowing! I blog hop alot and have come across a few goodies that bring me great motivation. No , they are not scrapbook page ideas but to be honest, I get inspired with my layouts when I play with other "crafty"things first.

take a look at my next post with a few new projects I would like to try for April.

ESSO Game Day 2011

The Stirling Blues Novice A team travelled to Toronto for the ESSO Game day. This is a fun filled day where hockey teams get to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs pre-game practice, tour the ACC then head to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Carson was so excited because both of his Papa's were joining him as well as Rene. It was truly a "boys only"day!

They all had a great time and enjoyed some dinner at the Madarine in Pickering before heading back to Stirling.

A great day was had by all!

Today the police community/family lost another member while serving and protecting the streets of Toronto.
Sgt. Ryan Russell of Toronto Police was struck and killed while on duty. This 35 yr old man who had been a police officer for over 11years risked his life to save others. He leaves behind a wife and young son. A good friend of ours in Toronto was very close to Sgt. Russell and our thoughts go out to him, his wife and their co-workers during this difficult time.