2011年6月美国之行出发前

直到半个小时前才知道明天可以一早出发了，全因为我要等一包裹。如果包裹未能如期到，惟有等明天包裹到了，后天才能走。但送货的菲律宾人很合作，如期把包裹送来。不知不觉，他送包裹到我们家已有一年了。

今天早上研究了半天，终于决定了大概的路线和入住的地方。我是在1992年去过，那时是跟着伯父伯娘转。如今有那么一点旧地重游，但感觉是大不相同。

要准备的事还有很多，行李还没有收拾呢。

2011年5月份

转眼间五月份即将结束，这个月过得平淡而忙碌。我家的小麦同志终日沈醉于修改他的数个blogs，快成为专家了。他对花生眉豆的生活有很好地描写（无可厚非他的中文水平远远高于我，应该的），我在这就用相片来记个流水帐。

五月份，虽然还是雨水不断，温度奇低，但有太阳的日子相对多了起来，花生眉豆的户外活动也多了，很是开心。

花生两岁时的生日礼物如今又可以用上了。很明显，妹妹的兴趣比哥哥高多了。

看到他们开心地一起玩，是我最开心的时候。

眉豆好像大个女了。嘻嘻。

爸爸本来在五月二日回来的，但“老猫烧髦”，居然淡定过了头，错过飞机，在上海待多了两天，多花了不少冤枉钱。哎，真是老了，连飞机都可以错过的。我还特地做了一个peanut butter and chocolate pie，和煲了一老火汤等他回来的，真是人算不如天算。

两个免费的“洗碗机” - 把所有的巧克力和花生酱舔得一干二净。

去了一趟Deer Lake，冷呀！

鹅爸爸拍打双翼，赶走玩疯了的傻狗，

虽然冷得很，但两个小的，喂鹅热情不减。

鹅爸爸和妈妈居然把四只小的带上岸吃我们撒下的鸟食，很是可爱。

两大两小，也是很可爱。哈哈！

 二十四孝的公公又出钱又出力，买了一屋子给两个小的做生日礼物（当然是两个小的妈妈出的主意）。我做得力助手，努力了三个下午，终于把屋子给完全建起来。然后超人公公又用了一下午把屋子给架起来，这样雨水就不会渗进去。

第一个下午，刚把屋子买回来，都是零零碎碎的板块。

由于第二天会下雨，所以马上动工，把外墙给弄起来，封屋顶的时候，是晚饭后，天全黑了。

第二天。上午去了趟IKEA，买了大塑料布，下午继续动工。两个花槽是我安装的，匆忙中全弄反了。哈哈！

第三天。把屋子里面的小装饰也安装了，花槽也弄正了。眉豆按的是真门铃。

开始搬家。

这是用木架子架起来后的屋子。

有了家具后的小屋子。

屋子的另一角。

建完这屋子后，我就更爱IKEA了。少一点智慧，是绝对建不起这小屋子的，很多孔都是不对的。过不了几天，我们也真地从IKEA搬回来一床给花生。装这个就顺利多了，什么都是整整好。

花生激动地说：“你们又买屋又买床给我？！” 说得象我们帮他准备东西娶媳妇似的。

花生眉豆少不了发傻的时候。。。

我爸爸从广州带了一会傻笑的娃娃回来，他们看到娃娃戴帽子，于是俩人也带上帽子，让我拍照留念！

最后是昨天和一朋友一家（她有两个可爱的女儿）去了Delta的护鸟区看鸟。

我们去过多次，但这次是花生去得最开心的一次，由始至终，都是那么兴奋，跟着两个姐姐跑，喂鸭子。

掉了一颗乳牙，样子更傻。哈哈

 
眉豆也精神，蹬蹬地，也走了很多路。

花生他爹休息五天。就在前天才决定开车去美国西海岸。今天是一个忙。我会把电脑也带上，希望可以每天写一写，分享分享相片。

A mini full of DIY flowers (con't)

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Hope you had a wonderful long weekend.

Today I'm here to share the next three pages of the mini I showed you last week.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, please click here to read my previous post.  I created a mini full of DIY flowers!  On each page there is a heart-shaped pocket where I keep all the tiny cards I received long time ago.

Here is a closer look at the cards ... see how cute they are?  I applied some brown ink along the edges to give them a distressed look.  They've been hiding in an envelope for almost 20 years and are well deserved a distressed look. LOL.

I showed you the cover and the first 2 pages of the mini last week, and here is page 4 ~ ~

There are two kinds of flowers here.  The top one is an easy one.  I just punched several flowers, staggered them and used a brad to hold them together.  The blue roses are my favourite.  Here is the close-up ~ ~

I actually combined what I've learned from two tutorials to make these lovely roses.  Jules gave a tutorial on how to make little roses inspired by Prima.  But I liked the way Lisa puts the punched flowers together, as shown here.

I used the medium Retro Flower Punch to make these roses.  I prepared each punched flower using Jules' technique, i.e., misting them first, then using the end of a marker to curl the petals.  Then I followed Lisa's method to put them together.  These little roses look pretty good on their own, and they can be used as a centre of a bigger flower, which you'll see in my next post when I share the remaining pages of the mini.

Page 5 ~~

Close-up of the flower ~~

I learned how to make this flower from a scrapbooking magazine.  One day when I was on Pinterest, I saw a link to a tutorial on how to make one, which was by Amy on October Afternoon's blog!  It's super easy to make, yet the visual effect of it is pretty intense because of the pleats.  Love it!

Page 6 ~~

I have to point out the beautiful blue butterfly here.  It was made from Jenni Bowlin's 3" x 3" acrylic Butterfly Stamp.  I love it!

Here is the close-up shot of the flowers ~~

Again, I learned this from a scrapbooking magazine.  I made two 12" border-punched strips, pleated one around the edge of a punched circle that was covered by liquid adhesive, and completed the circle.  Then I did the same for the second strip on top of the pleated circle and finished it off by attaching a brad through the centre.  I also inked and curled the edges a bit to give them more pleasing looking. :)

I'll show you the remaining 4 pages of the mini in my next post, which you'll see 3 more handmade flowers.  Shall we have some peeks? :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I'll talk to you soon!

hugs,
Yolanda

A mini full of DIY flowers

After days of raining, today we finally see the lovely sun here in Vancouver.  It's so nice to have the sun out.  The kids can play freely again in the playground and the garden.  For the past few weeks, I haven't had time to play with my beloved paper and glue, but I've learned a few DIY-flower techniques from surfing the web during my daughter's nap times.

Everyone loves Prima as they manufacture tons of beautiful flowers and other wonderful embellishments in the scrapbooking world.  I love Prima, too, although you don't see us carrying that much Prima in the store.  I do love DIY flowers because they add so much fun to the creating process and make unique accent to the project.

After having watched quite a few Youtube videos and many wonderful blogs on DIY flowers, I'm now experimenting with several techniques in a chipboard album I picked up at Michaels long time ago.  It's a work-in-process project.  I'm planning to make 10 different flowers as there are 10 pages of the album. :)  5 pages are done so far ...

I'll share links to related tutorials, either video on Youtube or step-by-step pictures, as I show you what I've made.  Hope you'll be inspired to make your own flowers to your next wonderful project!

You can click on the image to see larger pictures.

Here is the cover of the album.  The patterned paper is from my own stash, and most of the embellishments are from the Neighbour collection by Crate Paper.

The close-up for the flowers ~ ~

These are easy to make.  The centres of the flowers were made by punched flowers.  I simply punched 3 flowers from patterned paper using the small flower punch, misted them by water, used the tip of the paint brush to roll each petal (as seen in the video link below), staggered them and used a brad to hold them together.  Then layered them with some purchased paper flower petals which were scrunched a bit.  Finished them off by applying some ink around the edge of each petal.

Page 2 ~ ~

The heart is actually a pocket where I'll place some tiny cards I received from a friend almost 20 years ago.  I've been keeping these cards in an envelope, and finally I've figured out a perfect way to treasure them.

I LOVE this flower.  The tutorial on this flower inspired me so much that I've come up with this mini idea - a mini full of DIY flowers!  It motivated me to try out something I've never done before!

If you use the pink/white cardstock instead of patterned paper and a Tim Holtz's flower die to create this flower, the flower will look a lot like a peony.  Isn't it beautiful?  Well, it requires some patience to create this flower.  But it's all worth it when you see the little flower blooming in your fingers.  I applied some glitter around the edge of each petal.

The wonderful tutorial is given by Jules on Youtube.  Her blog and Youtube channel are full of handmade inspiration.  I especially love her Prima-inspired handmade flowers.  Click HERE to view the video on how to create the flower above.  Her flower is of course much more beautiful than mine. :)  It needs practice and patience.


Page 3 ~ ~

The close-up on the flower cluster ~ ~

Actually, this one was made with the ones on the cover.  The little ones were simply punched flowers from patterned paper that were "rolled" a bit by the end of the paint brush.  Yeah, I was getting lazy on this page. :)

OK, that's all from today.  I'll share the tiny roses I made in my next post.  Thanks for stopping by.

hugs,
Yolanda

Happy Mother's Day

I'd like to share a mini I made a while ago on this very special day of the year ~ ~

 

Love you, mom!

"and tonight,

I'll fall asleep with

you in my heart."

...

and every night.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women!

hugs,
Yolanda