A beautiful wedding...

Do you remember this?

If you missed that post you can go back and read it HERE.

We finally got to see it in action as we celebrated the wedding of Mr and Mrs Jason Hay :)

I snagged this photo off of facebook since I thought there were no photos during the ceremony and have none :(  I did take a few at the reception though.

Jay and Liz had a friend give a simple swing dance lesson to everyone...I conveniently hid behind the camera for this but it was entertaining to watch.

The Groom watching everyone trip over
themselves during the lesson

Ed the MC for the wedding with his brother Keith
who thankfully was my honorary date for the
evening since Ian was so busy with his
Best Man duties and everyone I knew was
at the head table pretty much!

Ian doing much better dancing here then we did together at our wedding...
see there is a reason I am behind the camera...I just can't dance like this.

Heather and Ed concentrating on the dance steps

Yeah we did it!

Andrea and Matt

I know the wedding is supposed to be all about the bride...and she was gorgeous! They did a lot of the work for the wedding themselves and all their hard work really paid off.

I must admit though my favourite part of the whole wedding was watching Jay have his dance with his mom June. It was beautiful in ways words can't describe.

Liz had her dance with her father as well and looked stunning.

Then it was time for the new Mr and Mrs Hay to have their first dance.

A few more photos from the night...

Ed right before he suggested tequila shots :)

Friends of Ron and June

Jay's parents Ron and June

Ian talking with Trina the Maid of Honour

Ron and Ian looking dapper in their kilts

Liz enjoying a good dance

Jay and Ian...brothers from different mothers :)

We had an amazing time at the wedding. They looked so beautiful and the reception was really a lot of fun! Congratulations to you both!!! We are so happy we could be here to share it with you and wish you many years of happiness together.

Our first days in Ontario

Well we made it to Ontario :)

If you'd like to read about what we've been up to please see this post

http://operationexplorations.blogspot.ca/2012/04/so-many-thank-yous.html

Here's a sneak peak...

We've been having fun on a little hill...who would have thought one little hill could provide so much fun :)

I need to ask a favour...I'm debating how to handle these two blogs now...perhaps I should leave this one just for crafts and have everything else posted on the other blog. Or should I cancel one and amalgamate them? I hate sending you to read a different post but I also hate writing double posts for those that follow both blogs. What are your thoughts? Please feel free to comment or send me off an email. Thank you in advance for your help...I do appreciate your thoughts.

Last days in BC...

It was a hectic time of boxes and packing and cleaning but we managed to enjoy a few days as we prepared to leave BC.

(sorry about the photos...I am playing catch up on my husbands laptop as mine is having some issues and I can't seem to get the photos to upload in the proper direction!!!)

We spent an afternoon at Bear Creek Park with Grammy Sue.

And a lovely day at the Reifel Bird sanctuary.

Said goodbye to many good friends at a farewell dinner at the Spaghetti Factory.

Then we packed up the truck, cleaned up the house and said goodbye. Funny how life throws changes into the mix. When we bought this house we thought we'd be here until the girls left the nest. We LOVE this house and will miss it dearly. We will miss many great friends and family but look forward to the next chapter of this book called life!

A Vintage Brooch Wedding Bouquet for dear friends

Part of our rush to move to Ontario in April is that Ian is the best man at his best friends wedding in Toronto at the end of April :) They are having a vintage inspired wedding so I offered to make them a bouquet which I just finished last night! I may do a tutorial later but for now here is a peak at how it turned out.

 Her bridesmaid dresses are red with white polka dots
so I added this red ribbon to tie them all together. 

The underside with individual stems all done in green to resemble leaves
 and stems :) and to match the stems on her bridesmaid paper
and button flowers. I can't wait to see them all together!

A close up of the bee and butterfly which adorn the bouquet

Making this bouquet was a lot of fun and so was searching thrift stores for all the pins to be used to upcycle them into this bouquet :) I do hope they love it!!! 

water bead fun and kid made bracelets

You have probably noticed on other blogs how water beads are taking over sensory tables. Well if you haven't tried them yet I'd recommend giving them a try. They are quite messy when they get squished into a million pieces but that's half the fun (beware also of washing them down the drain as they expand and will clog up your drains), but if you are careful they will be a lot of fun!

I went to Michael's looking for floral wire as I am making a vintage brooch bouquet for a friends wedding in April and noticed them in the floral isle. They come in tiny packs in various colours. I chose light blue and dark blue thinking they'd resemble water (but in the end they looked very similar).

We put them in a bowl, added some water and waited about 4 hour hours for them to hydrate. 

We added them to a sensory bin with some aquatic animals and the kids had a blast for days...leaving me time to work on packing, sorting and selling. 

These were a big hit...even daddy thought they'd be fun in the bathtub but since the manufacturer recommends they stay AWAY from drains we didn't give that a try. However a mini pool full in the summer might be fun!

Since we are packing lots we are ending up with lots of empty packaging tape rolls. I LOVE how Sierra found an empty roll and created this...

beautiful bracelet all on her own :)