Crafts, mail & shopping!

Hello everyone! So, I just started back to work last week in preparation of the school year and it has been busy. In between I've had these other appointments as well as getting Noah ready for school tomorrow. Phew! Last year I was only working about 20 or less hours per week and now I have 32 hours per week. I am doing office work in the mornings as well as working in the preschool classroom on Wednesday afternoons at the same Art/Music school as last school year. I am also teaching English to children privately after school and I may also teach a class of immigrants on Tuesday evenings. It's been a while since I've had such a busy work schedule. I just need to find the proper balance for everything. Creating and letter writing are a part of my soul and a priority in my life so there will ALWAYS be time for them. :) Okay, so enough bla-bla and onto the photos.

A deco I made with the theme "Paris at Night" for a group swap.

Another deco I made with the theme "Kitties".

Another deco I made with the theme "Winnie the Pooh".

And another one with the theme "Suzy Zoo".

Last week I received a private swap of FBs from Iris in Hong Kong.

I received these FBs and "Vintage Summer" deco (on the bottom left) from a group swap partner.

These FBs are also from a group swap partner.

I also received a wonderful letter from my dear friend Maria from Finland. She included a postcard and FB.

Here are some items I recently bought while shopping. Some are for swaps or parts of birthday presents.

On the weekend Noah and I went to a street fair but we were a little dissapointed since it took us all of 15 minutes to see everything. However, we did find one booth with some nice crafty items. I bought some handmade soaps and a cute pen with a flower on the end. Noah had himself some chewy candies on a stick. Of course he ate them before I could get a photo. Ha!

So, I'm off since I have a zillion things to do before tomorrow.

Incoming mail!

Happy weekend everyone! The weather is gorgeous. Today I brought Noah horseback riding (he hadn't been practically all summer), then we went out to lunch and came home to relax a little before going to the pool. Now all is quiet and I thought I'd post about my incoming mail for the past week. First up, I decided to do a mail art swap with Jessica from the United States. She sent me such a beautifully decorated enveloppe with such awesome items, as well as a letter. Everything was so nicely packaged too. I love everything she sent, especially the Matryoshka doll rubber stamp. I've decided mail art is quite fun and I'd like to more such swaps.

Next I received a nice package full of crafting supplies for angeling some swaps in one of my groups.

I received a nice letter and postcard from Helen in Finland. I love the pretty stationary she used.

I received another great letter from my friend Maiken from Norway. She also sent a FB and photos.

I received another great letter and postcard from my friend Eva from Germany.

I received a very pretty card along with some FBs from my friend Molly from the USA. I love the card and have the same set. :)

I also received a "Vintage Bathing Beauties" deco from a group swap.

And, I recently went shopping with my mother and saw these cute stickers. I also bought myself a skirt and my mother bought me a novel by James Patterson as an early birthday present. Isn't it nice to find little somethings when you go shopping?!

So, it's back to work for me on Monday after having had practically the entire summer off. I'm happy to be getting back into a routine but at the same time I wish I had more free time. I still have lot's to do I didn't get to this summer but isn't that always the way it goes?!

Weekend with Molly and Jadira!

Hi all! I had an absolutely fantastic weekend with my friend Molly and her daughter Jadira. They came from New Hampshire for a short weekend with us. It's always nice to spend time with Molly. I really wished we lived closer but a 3 1/2 hour drive away isn't so bad now is it? Here are some photos of our weekend.

One of our first stops was the tourist office in Sherbrooke since they have vintage postcards. There aren't many of postcards of Sherbrooke so you take what you can get. The tourist office is situated near the downtown area and it is quite nice. Above is a photo of Noah and I outside the tourist office.

Noah and Jadira outside the tourist office. Noah was quite tired since he had got up at 3:00am and couldn't get back to sleep. This often happens and then I'm not able to sleep either, not fun.

We went to a cultural festival ("Le Festival des Traditions du Monde") and it was really hot. There wasn't much shade anywhere. Here are Molly and I in front, well partly (Jeffrey is not good at picture talking and then we had two whiny kids because of the heat), of a Paris display.

This festival features crafts, food and music from various countries around the world. This is the Asian tent where they have music and dancing shows.

Of course there was also a huge family area where children could play in bouncy toys, have little boat rides, etc. Noah (with orange cap) was having some difficulty stearing the boat around the obstacles. He loved the ride once he got the hang of it. Us adults felt like cooling off in the water since it was so hot.

Jadira was also having some diffculty stearing but she loved the ride. She went on it quite a few times.

Here I am in a, I'm not sure what kind of costume this is actually, a mermaid maybe... (photo taken by Jeffrey again so not the best)

There were many international food kiosks but we had to find something Noah would eat so we chose Greek. We all enjoy Greek food although it would've been nice to try something different. It was quite crowded and we were quite hungry.

Noah in front of some really huge plugs. By this time he was getting fed up and was about ready to drop from fatigue since he had gotten up so early.

There were so many craft and food vendors but I couldn't really look around. We headed home shortly after eating so Noah (and I) could take a nap.

Once Molly and Jadira returned from the festival we took the kids to the pool. Noah and Jadira had a blast and basically had the pool to themselves.

And off jumps Noah from the diving board.

What a fabulous weekend. I can't beleive it is almost back to school again. My summer vacation is coming to an end and I'll be back at work next Monday. I'm kind of looking forward to getting back into a regular routine again. And, as much as I love summer, I equally love autumn. Be back soon! :)

Two weeks of mail!

Hey all! I had started this post on Sunday but then the photos wouldn't load up and I was getting really annoyed with blogger. I would post more often if it didn't take so long to load up photos. I love posts with photos so I like to put a lot of photos in my posts. Having said that, here are some photos of the mail I've received in the past two weeks. But first, here's a deco I recently made for a swap. I love these cute little mice!

Here are some FBs I also recently made for a group swap. I'm dissapointed there is a blur in the middle FB because it is my favourite. Crap!

Here's a postcard I received from my friend Susi from Austria while she was traveling in Sweden.

Here's a wonderful letter I received from my friend Nicole from the USA. She included some Suzy Zoo stickers and Diddl stationary sheets.

Another great letter from my friend Nathalie from Luxembourg. She also sent a postcard from Turkey which she brought back with her when vacationing there. I love the cute stationary she used for her letter.

I received another great letter, along with FBs, from my friend Ulrica from Sweden.

Here are some ATCs I received from a group swap. The themes were "Vintage Nature" and "Vintage Bathing Beauties".

Here's a deco I received from another group swap. Can you guess the theme?

I also received this wonderful swap of ribbons. What a great selection!

I also received this lovely card with photos and FBs from my friend Molly in USA. The top photo shows Molly, Nicole (mutual pal and friend of Molly and I) and I.

Another great letter from my friend Gaby from Germany. She also send many lovely photos and a postcard.

Another great letter from my friend Stefanie from Switzerland. She also included FBs.

A wonderful letter from my friend Reiko from Japan. She also sent a postcard and we always exchange photos of our craft projects.

I also received my first birthday present, very early too since my birthday is only in September. I've put it aside until the actual date of my birthday. I'm very curious as to what it is though. Thanks Judy!

Another letter and FBs from my sweet Canadian friend Hawley.

Phew! And there you have it! I hope to be back soon if blogger cooperates when I want to post photos. Grr... My friend Molly and her daughter Jadira will visit this weekend. Looking forward to it! :)

Weekend in New Hampshire!

I'm back from my lovely long weekend with my friend Molly and her family. As many of you already know, Molly and I met through penpalling almost 20 years ago now. Wow! Has it been that long??? Anyhow, she has become one of my bestfriends and we visit each other quite often. This past weekend Noah and I went to spend some time with them. We arrived last Thursday and stayed until Sunday mid-day. We were supposed to stay until Monday morning and spend the day in Maine on Sunday but Noah wanted to go home so we left early. It was just too much newness and uncertainty for him. Both of which being very difficult for autistics. We still had a nice time and made the most of our weekend. We were busy and the weather was gorgeous, except for Friday when it rained.

Molly and family live in a quaint little town called Keene. The downtown area has lot's of little shops and restaurants. It looks so charming and inviting.

Noah and Molly's daughter Jadira in downtown Keene.

On Friday we decided to go Blueberry picking at "Monadnock Berries". You could say it is in the mountains, on the top of a hill. It is so nice and rustic. The view is spectacular.

A cute sign telling us in which direction all is located.

Noah, Molly, Jadira and Molly's son Diego blueberry picking. Actually Noah was eating more than picking.

The blueberries were gorgeous and delicious.

Jadira and Noah sitting at the entrance of a little gift shop with berry preserves, snacks, etc.

The entrance to another gift shop with beautiful crafts.

Eating a delicious meal prepared by Molly and myself. I had brought some meat and all the fixings for fondue from Canada since they can't buy it where they live. They all love fondue, especially Diego.

On Saturday and Sunday we went to Molly's family cottage in Hebron, New Hampshire. Here we are at the beach where Noah and Jadira had a absolute ball swimming.

We also went to the Hebron Fair which is a yearly craft and food outdoor market. There were such lovely crafts but it was difficult to get a good look at everything with Noah. It was also quite crowded. But, I did find a couple of things. There was some beautiful pottery, handmade jewellery, handmade soaps, etc.

Noah found something too, a stuffed dinosaur.

Molly, Noah and I at her uncle's cottage. They have a spectacular view of the lake off their deck.

Noah, standing in front of an ice cream place where we shared some homemade coconut ice cream. It was absolutely delicious.

And, that was our weekend in a nutshell. :) Molly is talking of coming to Sherbrooke for a visit next weekend with Jadira so that would be awesome! :)