Ole-Talk

Gerald the Giraffe

I think that I mentioned that I have rediscovered my love of knitting and that I have found a wonderful group of ladies who are also avid knitters.  We meet twice a week during our lunch and have quite the awesome knitting circle going.  I have gotten over my fear of circular needles and also double pointed needles and in fact knitted this awesome (if I may say so myself) giraffe for my nephew Kieran for Christmas using double pointed needles.  Meet Gerald the Giraffe.

He was quite the labour of love as I was also not only trying to get him done in time for Christmas but I also had to meet that pesky international shipping deadline.  But thanks to my awesome knitting buddy Marny who helped me with the spots and the pom poms as I was running out of time I made it and he is now on his way to France although I almost kept him for myself...kidding!

I can't wait for Kieran to open him for Christmas...well that is if it actually gets there in the time that they said that it will.  Fingers and toes crossed.

A Visit to Mystic Aquarium

Mum and I visited the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut today! 

We wanted to let them all go free...hee hee hee!!

Following in My Big Sister's Footsteps

I knew that I wanted to do a layout for today's blog post but had no idea what I was in the mood to scrap.  Then I say Francine's blog post from yesterday and had an an ha moment.  I remembered that I had blogged about this photo back in December so decided to follow in my big sister's footsteps and do a blog post to scrapbook page.

I tweaked the journaling just a bit and it reads:

Reunited! Although it seems that Francine and I see each other often before reuniting in December last year (2010) we had not seen each other for six and a half years...not since my dad's funeral.  So last Christmas (Dec 2010) was doubly special since I did not only get out of the cold but I got to spend face to face time with my sister.  Barbados 12/23/2010 

Here is a close up of the butterflies on the left of the page. The bigger ones were cut with my Silhouette and I enhanced them with glam-rocks using the i-rock tool from Imaginisce.

I really love this technique and plan to use it a lot more going forward.  Sometimes you just don't have the time to do a complete layout but it really does not take a lot of time to get the story down in a blog post with the photos.  Plus it makes it easier when you do have the time to scrap as you already have the story written down and you don't have to rack your brain trying to remember the details that go along with the photos.

Shameless Plug

You have to check out this blog post from my very talented sister Francine.  She has created her own toddler versions of those Keep Calm posters that are popping up everywhere.  Check out the post and then hop on over to her Etsy store to snag a few of these awesome posters.

via francineclouden.typepad.com

Reunited

Although it seems that Francine and I see each other often before reuniting a few days ago we had not seen each other for six and a half years...not since my dad's funeral.  So this Christmas is doubly special since not only am I out of the cold but I get to spend face to face time with my sister. 

Actually it is triply special because I also got to meet my nephew for the first time and of course we are surrounded by family and friends.

I cannot ask for a better Christmas!  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!