A Silent Snowy Morning in Ontario

I woke in the early hours of the morning and noticed that it had snowed more heavily than expected during the night. From our bed, if the bathroom door is left open, I have a lovely view out of the window. I lay in bed this morning, feeling very lazy, contemplating whether to get a little more shut-eye or not. Eventually the picturesque view from the window won me over and I grabbed my camera a took a few photos.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Jacaranda Designs Birds Nest Necklace Giveaway

Spring is almost here and what better way to celebrate than to give away a birds nest necklace from Jacaranda Designs. It's a symbol of new beginnings, life and motherhood. A lovely Easter gift or surprise your Mom for Mothers Day....

It's EASY to enter. The rules are below.

Please leave a comment on this post, including one word you would use to describe the style of jewelry at Jacaranda Designs.

You can enter once per day and you must include your first name and etsy username or email address with every entry. If you're worried about spam email, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.

Receive additional entries:
- if you follow or subscribe to my blog
- twitter about the giveaway and/or blog about the giveaway
- become a fan of Jacaranda Designs Facebook Page
- feature any of my items on your blog
- follow me on twitter
- purchase any item from Jacaranda Designs (5 additional entries!)

Just comment/leave a link letting me know!

Go ahead, have fun and spread the word please!

This giveaway is open to everyone, worldwide. Giveaway ends Tuesday March 3rd 5pm.

Etsy LOVE!

Some of my faves from Etsy this past week!

New Spring Jewelry at Jacaranda Designs Jewelry

A sneak peek at a few of the new additions to Jacaranda Designs Jewelry. I'm having so much fun making these designs. They're colorful and fun and a perfect match for your spring and summer wardrobe.

Worms 'n Dirt - Easy Childrens' Dessert

Jake is having his birthday party tonight and he's really not one for cake so I suggested this dessert that I haven't made in a few years. Kids love it, especially if they can partake in the preparation. It's very easy! You can also purchase the tiny terracotta plant pots from a hardware store and serve the worms 'n dirt in those...it's looks perfect. For today, I used the small glass dessert dishes.

So this is how to make it...very complicated (not!)

1. Prepare some chocolate instant pudding and spoon it into the bowls/pots.
2. Crush up some chocolate cookies into crumb sizes so they resemble soil.
3. Sprinkle the "soil" on the top of the chocolate puddings.

4. Lastly, insert the gummy worms into the chocolate puddings.


You're done! Now eat up!

It's a Hockey Tournament Weekend

My younger son lives for ice hockey. His daily ritual when he awakes each morning is to watch the replays from the previous night's NHL games. He tells me about various plays he's seen and how he's going to try them during the next game. This has been his first year in house league hockey and I just love watching him play. He gives it everything he's got.


This weekend, we have tournament games Friday, Saturday and Sunday so you won't be hearing much from me until Monday.

Let's hope his team make it through to the finals!

Put a Spring in Your Step

Put a Spring in Your Step ... a beautiful treasury put together by ARTinVENICE

What Are You Doing For Valentine's Day?

Do you have big plans for Valentine's Day? Are you spending it with a loved one? Or is February 14th just another day for you? My husband and I never go out for dinner on Valentine's. BUT this year I decided to surprise him and made some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert tonight. The boys will be surprised also as these days I don't often make dessert except at the weekends.

Whatever your plans, Happy Valentine's Day!

20 Good Things

Since my eldest son was a small child, he and I have enjoyed going for a walk on weekends and just chatting. He's now 14 but still enjoys walking with me, just not nearly as frequently.

When he was smaller, we used to come up with a list of "5 Good Things" while out walking. I always found it interesting seeing what he would choose.

One day he decided we could think of 20 Good Things and he would take a pencil and paper and write them down. I still have the original taped to the inside of my kitchen cupboard and read it frequently. I thought I'd share it with you so here goes...his words.


20 Good Things (Note: #20 will be seeing this list)
1. chatting with family
2. family
3. eating ice cream on a sunny, hot day
4. hermit crabs
5. babies
6. fun
7. chocolate cake (gluten or not gluten)
8. arts and crafts
9. doing sports
10. Lego
11. glue guns
12. vacations
13. funny movies
14. watching cartoon son Saturday mornings
15. having a roof over our heads
16. dinnertime
17. loving people (people who love you)
18. having clean water to drink
19. hockey
20. seeing this list

A Lovely Sunday Out

This morning I arranged to meet a good friend for brunch. Sitting there, chatting, it dawned on me how well we get along and how infrequently we see each other. I get caught up with the "busyness" of life and sometimes don't make the time to get together with close friends and just relax. I need to make a concerted effort to make time!

After brunch we passed by a local flower store and I bought a couple of bunches to brighten up the kitchen on this dreary winter's day. I always seem to choose the lime green flowers as they're certainly my faves but today I mixed them with some peach carnations and I think the combination is perfect. Of course, my flower arranging skills could use some help, but I love the way they look anyway...

Jacaranda Designs Jewelry - New Listings This Week

Friday is here already and I'm looking at my "to-do" list for the week and I don't seem to have done nearly as much as I set out to at the beginning of the week. On the bright side though, I have completed some of those long dreaded tasks which I had been putting off for ages.

I've been continuing to add items to my Etsy shop, preparing for Spring and Summer. Lovely colorful items full of vintage glamor! Here's just a sampling....

Etsy Love!

Some of my favorite Etsy picks of the past week.


1. eljayrae


2. naturemandalas



3. jewelrybyfrancine


4. amyperch


5. elementalartworks


6. infusion


7. MagnoliaHandspun


8. yorktownroad

Playing Around With My Iphone Hipstamatic App

Yesterday afternoon, on the drive back from the ski hill, suffering from extreme boredom (everyone is always tired at the end of the day, so there's no much chatter), I decided to play around with my Iphone camera and the Hipstamatic application I downloaded. You can "change" lens and film and just have a ton of fun with it. The photos have a real vintage feel to them. Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, I started clicking away. There was snow falling and it was starting to get darker but I managed to capture a few photos of Southern Ontario farm country. Here's a couple I especially like.

Snow Day Today!

The weather forecasters were saying we were going to get 30cm of snow overnight and although it ended up being only 20cm, school was still canceled today. Thank goodness as the boys had their hearts set on sleeping in, playing in the snow and just having a break from school.

Of course, I'm not getting much done today but just enjoying the downtime. We made some tasty gluten free peanut butter cookies and watched the Get Smart movie.

My eldest son is learning to cook so every now and then we have a lesson. Last week I taught him how to make Pad Thai and today it's going to be good, ole chicken wings. You wouldn't believe the number of dirty dishes by the time he has finished but if he ends up being able to put create up a few meals by himself in the coming years, then I guess it's all for a good cause :)