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Thursday the Fourteenth, Valentine’s Day: Piper and I made lemon coconut cupcakes with pink icing and loveheart sprinkles!  I employed a bit of lateral thinking and used a tiny bit of beetroot juice to bring the icing to its blushing state.  Felt good to avoid using red food colouring, even though the sprinkles weren’t so healthy, no doubt…

Friday the Fifteenth: I finally convinced Piper to play outside.  Not sure why she’s been so reluctant to do so.  Meant I could take some photos outside - nothing too special, but still good to get some practice in.  Training my eye to see things from a different perspective.

Saturday the Ninth: Long overdue, I worked on a mitten meant for someone for (last) Christmas! 

Sunday the Tenth: I started making mugs for my valentines to go in.

Monday the Eleventh: Piper and I dyed tissue paper, after I saw the idea in an old Martha Stewart Living mag I found at the self-help for 25 cents. The colour turned out totally pastel, and I was a bit grumpy while we were doing it, cos I was trying to keep Jasper from tipping over the bowls of dye (ridiculous, I know, to attempt projects like this with a crawling baby around, but oh well!), but Piper seemed happy enough when I took the photo (admittedly a day or two later!).

Tuesday the Twelfth: I worked on the mitten.

Wednesday the Thirteenth: I finished the valentines for girlfriends that I began on the weekend. Hearts sewn onto teabags, fitted into cardboard mugs, with name/note attached. I’m happy with them, even though they’re a bit over the top! If I’d had smaller stamps, I would have made the names smaller, but oh well…

Thursday the Seventh: I managed a doodle, with oil pastels (does that sound wrong??).  Felt pretty basic, primary school flowers, but I pretty much stopped drawing in primary school, so why should I assume I’ve gotten any better (in my sleep, perhaps?).  Anyway, when I look at my effort now, it seems to have become its own entity, and I appreciate its existence. 

Friday the Eighth, tonight: I got caught up in the idea of making valentines for a few friends.  Specifically, making hearts to sew onto teabags what will be packaged in a mug-shaped card or something, with a note, perhaps.  Bit over the top, especially when I never usually do anything for Valentine’s Day, but for one thing, I’m missing my beautiful friends in Australia (already posted them valentine notes listing things I love about them), and also, I’m grateful to my family and new friends here in Canada, for welcoming me into their everyday lives.  So yes, Valentines for my girlfriends all round, this year!

Wednesday the Sixth: apart from having an emotional meltdown, I managed to make four cards.  I didn’t see the common theme (the band along the bottom) until I whacked them all together for this photo.  Can’t believe I made four cards with the same element without realising!

Tuesday the Fifth: two cards, not my usual style.

Well, I’m catching up on the last four days!

On Friday the First, I helped my three-year-old daughter, Piper, finish making (decorating, really) a calendar for herself.  When I kiss her goodnight, she always asks me what we’re going to do the next day, and I thought she might appreciate being able to anticipate certain events a bit more.  She coloured in all the birthdays of family and friends, and I drew a few little pictures of things coming up in the next couple of days (visiting friends, Gramma & Opa Snowbird coming home from Texas, etc.).

On Saturday the Second, I made two loaves of bread.  I have been making bread remarkably consistently since the beginning of the year, a bemusing pleasure - the pleasure at the thought that I can maintain the discipline, the pleasure of feeling the dough beneath my palms and the simple pleasure of creating something from nothing (nothing you can eat straight, anyway!).

On Sunday the Third, we hosted a Stuperbowl party (that’s what I was calling it, anyway!).  About half an hour before guests were going to show up, I decided to whip up a curtain for the kitchen window.  I’d been mulling over the idea for a little while, after my husband built the shelf for plants above the sink.  I love the colours of this fabric (City Park, by Alexander Henry) - I think I’ll buy another yard so I can have a bit hanging on each side, when it’s open, and so it’s more ruffly when it’s closed.  I love how it changes the feel of the sink area, and I love the idea of having plants there.  I’ll paint pots to match, and blog about that another day sometime soon.

And today, Monday the Fourth, I took the time to make myself a healthy, yummy lunch - kind of a stirfry - inspired by a book I’m reading on detoxing.  I’m not fantastic at lunches.  I don’t really do sandwiches, and usually hope there’s leftovers in the fridge that will work for me and the kids, but today, I put the effort in, and felt the emotional benefit of that for the rest of the day, I reckon.  I was planning on painting the pots to match the curtains - I bought some paint today - but by the time I had the space to do so, it was feeling like a chore, not creative at all, so I took myself off to bed for a kip before dinner - a better choice!