Monday, April 29, 2013

Blog Every Day in May Challenge

I've decided to do another monthly blog challenge! 


Doing the Blog Challenge in March was way too fun and I met so many amazing bloggers. I'm actually very excited to do another one. 

As I've mentioned before, I won't have my own internet connection so I will have trouble blogging every day, but hopefully I can schedule posts ahead of time so that I don't miss any days. 

The daily topics for this challenge are very interesting and creative. I'm curious to read what my own posts will say, along with the others doing this challenge. 

If you're interested head on over to Story of My Life for the details!




Thanks, 
Cole

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Some... Interesting News

I'm moving out of my parent's house. Again.

And I'm terrified, but it feels right. When I moved out at 18 years old my boyfriend was making pretty good money, and I was excited to be on our own. I felt freedom in an entirely new way. Running my own home was amazing and I loved everything about it.

Due to many circumstances, the biggest one being money and job loss, we moved back into my parent's house about a year ago. I have found it difficult to be living with my parent's now that I've had that experience. There is often conflict and arguements over simple things between my little family (Nick, Sid and I) and my parent's family (Mom, Dad, sister and niece). We have different tastes in food, different schedules, ways of cleaning, decorating, organizing, parenting, cooking, playing ... Just about everything! And because this isn't "my house", as my dad so often liked to remind me, I don't have a lot of say in things.

I'm not trying to complain, I am beyond grateful for my mom's support and will always be thankful, but I feel it's time to get out on our own again.

This time we have very little money, but I found a cute little duplex in a century old home that we should be able to afford, and I instantly fell in love with it. It's everything I want in an apartment and I can't wait to start my "new" life there. Actually, I don't have too much longer to wait because we move May 1!

So, if you've noticed my lack of online activity you now know why. Over the next little while I will still continue blogging but because I won't have my own internet connection for a bit it won't be quite as often. Probably closer to 3-5 times a week instead of every day. 

Thanks,
Cole

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Peace Love Create

Three words I live by:



Tuesday Treasury - Nature is Inspiring

I absolutely love being outside. The colours, shapes, textures, and sounds; there's nothing more inspiring than nature (well maybe love). The only that keeps me going is nature. Whether it's a long walk through the park, or just sitting out back in the garden, the peacefulness and the beauty of nature always inspires me and motivates me.


'Nature is Inspiring' by nbnemeth



Wild Daisy-Nature Photo...
$25

Love in Nature Letters ...
$18

Bird vase, two mini bir...
$16

Butterfly Art Key Hook,...
$27

Nature green fern woodl...
$60

Made in nature...Scrabb...
$6.95

Eucalyptus Leaves Paint...
$15

Soviet Water-Lily natur...
$5.8

Green leaf earrings - N...
$22.5

Echo Friendly Custom Ma...
$22.5

The Mini Tree of Life A...
$46

La Nature...Greens and ...
$17

Jewelry box, handpainte...
$24

Japanese Calligraphy, H...
$22

EMBROIDERED Wrap yours...
$12

tree wall decals childr...
$79

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Relaxing Nature Walks

Lately the only way I've been able to keep a level head and not go completely insane is by going for super long walks along the many trails here in Cambridge. It's a great way to escape, to clear my head, and to remind myself that there's so much more to life than money, careers and material possessions.

Every Spring we get a lot of flooding here because of the many rivers that snake through our city. It's troublesome for people like my Grandma who live close to the river, because her basement always floods, but apart from that problem I think it's a lot of fun.

Another great thing about living here is the wildlife. There are so many red tailed hawks, deer, coyotes, and a variety of other birds and critters. I love watching the different animals when we go on our walks.

View of the Grand River:

Lots of moss:

Nick walking ahead of me with his art supplies:

The park flooded:

Coyotes must have gotten hungry; deer jaw:

Greenhouse at Riverside Park:
 


More floods:

What helps you relax?

Thanks,
Cole

Friday, April 19, 2013

How To Make Eco-Friendly Gift Bows

Eco-Friendly Gift Bows Out of Recycled Magazines


I don't know about you, but I absolutely love wrapping presents. I'm actually kind of a control freak, because every gift has to be wrapped perfectly which makes it difficult when Sidney wants to help, but we get through it. 

A neat idea I came across a couple of years ago was how to make your own eco-friendly gift bows using recycled magazines. What I really like about them is that you can choose your own image whether it's a funky cartoon, a beautiful garden or a serene blue sky and turn it into a one-of-a-kind bow! 

To make it:


1. Select a page from your old magazine, and cut it into nine strips. Three large, three medium, two small and one really small one. 


2. Turn the ends of the strip in to the center, so that it either makes a round, or pointed end. Dab a bit of glue in the middle to keep it in place. Do this to all eight of your strips, leaving out the smallest.



3. With the smallest peace, fold it into a cylinder. Glue it in place.


4. Once all your strips are turned in, layer them on top of one another like so, keeping the large pieces together, medium together and small together.


5. After you've layered them all on top of one another you can staple them in the center. My stapler is too big to staple the small, cylinder piece on top so I typically just glue it on afterwards. 


And there you have it! A unique gift bow! 



Thanks, 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

DIY Eco-Friendly All-Purpose Cleaner - Vinegar and Oranges



Vinegar is seriously the best thing ever when it comes to cleaning your home! You can use it to clean anything, and it will come out clean and sparkly. It gets rid of hard water build up, grease, smudges and all other forms of dirt and grime. Better yet, it kills mold, germs and bacteria. Not to mention it's Eco-friendly, economical and safe to eat!

Unfortunately, the downside to vinegar is the smell. I don't know about you but I don't really want my home to smell like a french fry stand at the beach (that's what vinegar makes me think of). Then I came across a really neat idea here.

Vinegar and Orange Peels

To make a great citrus smelling all-purpose cleaner all you need is a jar, white vinegar and orange peels (eat the orange first!). 

It's pretty self explanatory; put the orange peels and vinegar in the jar, let it sit for a couple of weeks and then it should smell nice! Mix equal parts vinegar and water before using. You can put it in a spray bottle if you'd like to make cleaning easier.

Thanks, 
Cole

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

This Past Week

A Quick Update:

Life has gotten busy for me the past few days.

WORK:

Thanks to the fundraisers that the PCF Team on Etsy put together for my family and I, I had plenty of orders to mail out!

I would love to be able to work strictly from home, but I need more money so I've been looking for a job. Looking for a job has proven to be extremely difficult. I can’t even tell you how many jobs I have applied to over the past few months. Every day I send out any where between 1 and 5 resumes. And now I have finally started getting job interviews! Only 2 so far, but if I don’t get either one of these jobs at least I know that it’s finally hiring season again!

SCHOOL:

Even applying for college funding hasn’t been easy. I know that getting funding is definitely a lot easier than working to pay back student loans, but I had the impression that all I would do is send in some paperwork and it would be done. Apparently not. I have to send in a lot of paperwork, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time over the past few days. Now I have to make a trip up to their office (maybe even a few more later on). I am really happy that I get funding though! A free education?! Who wouldn’t be!

STRESS:

This whole mortgage thing has me stressed, too. Still don’t know what is going on for sure yet, seeing as they haven’t called us back.

HAPPY:

On a positive note, I’ve been drawing and painting again. I have even started a new blog called Amity Arts & Crafts, but it isn’t up and running quite yet.

Nick and I have been going on a lot of walks/hikes, too. I think at this point we’ve been on about half the trails in Cambridge. We like to bring our sketchbooks and cameras with us. The one day we sketched the river. I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but I‘ve never been very good at sketching. I‘m a perfectionist when it comes to drawing, so sketching a rough picture of a landscape was difficult. It‘s been a good experience though. 

If you're stressed out, grab a pencil and sketch book and go for a walk in the woods. I highly recommend it. 

How’s your life been going?

Thanks,
Cole

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Emma Deer 27th Birthday Bash Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

 

First of all, I just want to wish an early Happy Birthday to Emily over at Emmadeer.com! And to celebrate her 27th birthday, she is hosting this awesome giveaway!

Amazing Giveaway Happening!

Seriously! You have the chance to win every item in this giveaway. And once you take a look at what's there, you're going to want to get in on the fun.  You can enter any time from April 15 until 12A.M. April 23.  The prize winner will be announced later in the day on April 23rd, which is Emily's birthday - so make sure to stop by and throw birthday wishes at her!






... and remember, you can tweet once a day for more entries! :] 

Thanks, 
Cole

Friday, April 12, 2013

Save Our House and Enter to Win!

Raising Money

A few weeks ago my mom and I sat down together to try and come up with ways to get enough money together to  save our home. You can read my mom's full story here

We chose to set up a fundraiser page on GoFundMe and even though it was extremely difficult to do, we both wrote a blog post about our situation. Afterwards, Kim from 2JustBYou contacted me with a fabulous idea; set up an Etsy Treasury that people can enter to win.  

The first Treasury winner was Sandra over at Sandra's Card Shop. Then she went ahead and asked all of the donors of the prizes to donate the value of the prize and postage to my family and I instead! Can you believe how generous and kind she is? Thank you Sandra. :)

The outcome of that fundraiser was incredible! Many people purchased items from my shops, and donated money directly to our GoFundMe page. 

And then luckily my mom was able to get our mortgage deadline extended so Maya and Kim decided to start another Fundraiser Treasury to help donate more money, and the outcome has been amazing!

The Results

As of right now we have raised $548 on our GoFundMe page, and sold 8 items between our two shops. 

Then something else happened that just blew me away! An anonymous donor has offered to match every donations dollar to dollar up to $1000! 

When I stop to think about all of the support, donations, generosity and kindness that others have given us I honestly start to cry. I never expected this to happen, and I can not even begin to express the amount of gratitude I feel. All of the thank you's in the world don't feel like enough. 

If you can, I would love if you could support all of the shops that have donated items! Please take the time to check out their shops and promote them because seriously, they are all so awesome.

Right  now, my mom is getting all of the money and information together to see if we have made it. We won't have the final yes or no for a few days yet, but I think we're going to be okay thanks to everyone involved. When we do find out, I will let everyone know!    

Another Chance to Win

The rules are simple:

Win 25 Entries for buying from either of my two Etsy Shops:
All proceeds are going towards Save Our Home fund. Message me your trans # with the amount spent.
 
Earn 25 entries for donating just $5, AND an additional 10  entries for each $5 increments for the cause at:
When donating please leave a comment with your Etsy username (if you have one), and your transaction number so we can make sure you get your entries.

Now, today is the last day to enter to win this treasury:


'WIN this FUNDRAISING treasury!' by bkinspired


Red Swarovski Crystal H...
$12

Crystal 16ss Enhanced ...
$6.5

On Sale Pink and Yello...
$7.65

Reserved - Blue and Red...
$25

Reserved listing - Blac...
$25

Reserved for Team Treas...
$18

On Sale Fingerless Glov...
$11

Reserved for PCF Fund R...
$25

reserved Pink Squared d...
$14

Harris Tweed change pur...
$12.5

RESERVED for PCF Team T...
$25

Mustache Card Hand embr...
$5.5

RESERVED for Fundraiser...
$16

Reserved-burlap flowers...
$24

RESERVED 4x6 Picture Fr...
$10

Reserved--crochet '...
$10



Thanks, 
 
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