Things you'd see if you were me!

Have you ever noticed how the closer you get to summer the faster the time speeds by? I am falling so far behind on my once a week blog goal.

It has been cooler the last week or so, but still beautiful! We have been getting out for a walk every day and it's amazing how much changes daily! The poplar trees were the first to leaf out and now the maples are well on their way. Another week or so and I think all the trees will be green! There are trees that grow some sort of red berry (I have no idea what they are) that have been flowering for the last two weeks, and the apple blossoms are just starting to bud. A lot of my early spring flowers are finished blooming and my bleeding hearts are getting started.

We have seen a lot of wildlife on our walks too. Groundhogs (which I think are cute, even though I know they are a pest and have to go), pheasants, birds of all shapes and colours, a hawk, a group of three bald eagles, and wild turkeys! This is the first time I have ever seen wild turkeys and I keep hoping to get a picture of them. It seems like they know when I'm coming with a camera and they hide.

We finished putting our garden in this week. With a little luck, the blackbirds will leave the seeds alone and the deer will stay out of the plants and we'll have lots of veggies this summer!

I completed a few scrapbook layouts this week. I am still working away at Disney pages, but I took a break and scrapped some pictures I snapped during a walk this week. I usually use a lot of neutral colours when I scrap, but I left my comfort zone and went with some bright colours that were found in the pictures. I have to admit that this is one of my favourite pages to date. To the scrapbookers out there: I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone this week and just see what happens!

Bottle Cap Necklaces!

Wow! I can hardly believe it is May already. It is supposed to reach 24 degrees today (74 for those of you in the US!) and I believe it. It must be 20 already! It has been such a beautiful spring! We have had record breaking temperatures since March and just enough rain to keep the air fresh. When I see all of the wild weather phenomenons happening around the world recently, it reminds me how blessed I am to live in Eastern Canada.

The last few weeks I have been tinkering away at completing our Disney scrapbook. Although I haven't been scrapping a lot, I am keeping busy creatively! My daughter (T) and I have been making bottle cap necklaces. Her class is attending French Immersion camp in June and she has been selling the necklaces at school to earn money for the registration fee. It is a fairly simple craft that we can work on together, and she really enjoys being able to earn her own money.

I have had a lot of people ask me how we made the bottle cap necklaces, so instead of a scrapbook page, I'll leave you with instructions for making our version of a bottle cap necklace!

Supplies needed: Bottle caps (we purchased ours from a beer & wine making store, but if you know someone who drinks beer you could get them for free!), Steel wool or fine sandpaper, Aleene's Tacky Glue (or another good quality strong glue), Clear varnish, 1 inch circle punch, hammer, small nail, old paint brushes, little rings (kind of like tiny key chain rings - I got them in the craft section at Walmart) shoe laces or ribbon, and images you would like to put on your bottle cap charm!

Step 1: Find images you would like to use for your charms on the internet, in magazines or from your own photographs. (I used Adobe Photoshop to crop the images into a square and resize them to 1"x1". I then put 15 images into a 4"x6" image and printed them like I would any other photo.) Use the 1" circle punch to punch out your images.

Step 2: Slightly flatten the bottle caps with the hammer (be sure to do this on a surface that you don't mind getting scratched up a bit!). I found it better to hammer lightly all around the edges so that the middle of the bottle cap doesn't get pushed in too far.

Step 3: Lightly scuff the surface of the bottle caps with sandpaper or steel wool so the glue will adhere better.

Step 4: Evenly cover the surface of the bottle cap with glue & center your image onto the bottle cap. I find using a small paintbrush to apply the glue helps get an even coat. Allow the glue to dry at least a few hours.

Step 5: Apply 2 or 3 coats of clear varnish following the manufacturer's instructions. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 6: Using a hammer and a small nail, make a small hole at the top of the bottlecap. You might have to use some pliers or something to bend down any pointy edges on the back.

Step 7: Insert the little metal rings into the holes. String your charm onto the shoelace or ribbon & you're done!