Summer Sisters (with Me and My Friends: The Book of Us)

Oh summer... parting is such sweet sorrow!

It’s almost time to say goodbye to still-light nights, eating popsicles and riding bikes. Pool parties, BBQs, and the odd too-hot-to-bear crafternoon indoors, I will miss you dearly during the glum winter days ahead. But most of all, I will miss my summer friends, those special people who come around when the sun is shining and make each school-free day extra fun!

My cousin Carolyne is my favourite summer friend. There is almost no one that I’ve known longer; we’ve been friends since birth (hers, of course, since by that time I was already a mature six months). We’ve done it all; playing in laundry baskets, staging stairwell productions of The Sound of Music, and indulging our embarrassing love of a certain dance movie franchise. But then she had to go and move away for school. So now our friend-fest is summer only… Sigh!

Before we said goodbye for yet another school year, she and I had a little fun with Me and My Friends! We gabbed and giggled about food, friends, and being carefree for one more week, as we filled out pop quizzes, compatibility tests, and more to commemorate our awesome friendship. So now, on those days when her absence is particularly stinging, I can look up all the reasons that she’s totally worth the wait!

 

Fall Fashion Fancy (with My Style Studio)

The weather seems to have teamed up with those dreaded commercials to bring the spirit of fall to these lazy, hazy, last days of summer. So I give in; I’m tired of fighting! Instead, I’m embracing the finer points of this time of transition… namely, back-to-school clothes!

 

I whipped up a crop of fall fashions to combat the chill with My Style Studio. This fully featured kit is packed with tons of supplies to help you style the season. Peel-and-stick, templates and tracing paper to start off, textured rubbing plates to create tons of cool prints, and the finest tip marker you’ve ever seen for the perfect finish.

 Here are a few faves from my fall fashion line…

Tall boots, houndstooth, and button down vests;  

Peter Pan collars, pencils skirts and summer maxis with a fall jacket.

And sure, my fall lineup is just fantasy, but with three weeks of summer dreamin’ to go, there's still time before I don my fall duds for good!

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer (with The Encyclopedia of My Immaturity)

Has is happened to you yet?

You're sitting around watching TV (which, shame on you, get outside and enjoy the weather!) when out of nowhere it hits you… the dreaded back-to-school commercial!

I mean, come on, it’s the beginning of August! Can’t we just enjoy the last month of summer freedom without having to be reminded that in a short few weeks we’ll be packing our backpacks and returning to the harrowing halls of our educational institutions?

Until that dreadful day, make sure you are spending your final month of freedom being as delightfully juvenile and un-school-like as possible. Frolic through a field in a woven dandelion crown, build a big sandcastle and then kick it down, or have some fun with The Encyclopedia of My Immaturity.

Forget everything you thought you knew about diaries and get ready to ratchet up the silliness with this wise-cracking, fill-in-the-blank activity book where you can record your summer of immaturity. Quizzes, games, silly story starters, and so much more motivate you to unleash your inner kid! 

Want to take your immaturity outside the book? Check out the other installments in this silly series, that feature instructions, illustrations, and diagrams for tons of hilarious shenanigans--like How to Do a Wheelie, How to Hang a Spoon from Your Nose, and How to Really Annoy Your Older Sibling--and spend your last lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer right!

Want even more proof? Just check out these hilarious videos below: 

Taking the Long Way Home (With Cat's Cradle & Me vs. You)

 

Every summer, when I was a child, my parents would ship my sister and I up to the cottage for a month to hang with the grandparents and soak up the sun before heading back to school. Those summers at the cottage are some of my favourite childhood memories!

But all that fun came at a price, and that price was a six hour car ride…each way! Oh, the hours my sister and I spent, listening to the same couple of cassettes on repeat and singing at the top of our lungs (sorry dad!). Now that I’m a little older, it’s a price I would gladly pay but, boy, when I was little it was just the worst!
 

So, this year, as we headed up to the cottage for a long weekend trip, I packed some Klutz kits to keep us occupied and spare my dad’s exhausted ear drums. We squashed ourselves into the car and, between naps, pit stops and snack breaks, we had a back seat blast!

First was an epic showdown  of Me Versus You, red versus blue, and sister versus sister for the title of Queen of the Car Ride! We popped apart the two pads and flew through page after page of classic pencil games—word searches, scavenger hunts, jumbles, and more—smiling smugly at our wins and suffering graciously through defeat. And when there were no more games to be played—this was a six hour car ride, after all—we declared a winner and decided to move on to co-operative play time.

Who doesn’t love a good game of Cat’s Cradle? There is nothing more satisfying than remembering that magic combination of pinches and tugs that transforms one stringthing into the next. And with illustrated instructions for five different string figures and a sunny-coloured, tie-dyed loop of string, it’s as easy as a summer breeze! 

By the time we arrived, it felt like no time had passed. These low-tech boredom busters had whiled away the time and all that was left were memories of crazy competition, wild giggles, a Cat’s Cradle crown, and tons of road trip fun!

Sidewalk Carnival! (With Chalk the Block & Balloon Twisting)

What's a crafty girl to do on a scorching hot long weekend at home?
 

Grab some Klutz kits and throw a carnival, of course!
 

That’s right folks, step right up to the amazing Sidewalk Carnival, where we're Chalking the Block and Balloon Twisting till the day is done!

Colourful cotton candy, Canada Day flags, balloon animals, games, even a roller coaster! Our cool little carnival had it all.
 

What did you get up to this wonderful long weekend? Any fun crafts to share?

(Paper) Stained Glass Summer

The last time I tested out Paper Stained Glass, it was the dead of winter. So my options for dressing big, bright and sunny windows were rather limited and I had to get a little creative. But now it’s finally summer, and a scorcher to boot, so I’m going stained glass crazy!

These pretty little creations are a great way to add some colour to your house, just in time for Canada day. With tons of intricate designs, vibrant markers, and a couldn’t-be-easier, colour-by numbers format there’s no reason not to let the sun shine in!

Daddy-Daughter Day (with Foam Rockets & Coin Blaster Arcade)

For all the ways that I’m just like my momma, I am just as much my father’s daughter, too. Yes, this crafty gal has always looked up to her brainy dad, so when Father’s Day rolls around every year, I want it to be great!

My dad is out of town this weekend, but I’m not going to let a little thing like a continent get in my way. Before he left, I snuck a secret package into my dad’s suitcase with instructions to meet up for a video chat on the big day.

Since we’re celebrating from far away, and because my dad is a bit of an astronomy nut, I broke out Foam Rockets for some Father’s Day fun. They’re so easy to assemble; just punch out the paper rocket pieces, attach them to the foam body, pop it all on the air bulb launcher and 3… 2… 1… blast off! I gave my dad a one-of-a-kind card by attaching my Father’s Day message to these high flyers and putting on an out-of-this-world air show just for him.

Next, it was time for presents! My dad has it all, so I figured the best gift I could give him was an afternoon of fun. Inside his secret package, he found a copy of Coin Blasters—the latest, greatest, kookiest Klutz contraption yet—with more than ten tabletop games you play with a coin. We flipped from colourful, pop-out page to page playing Hot Shot Hoops, Skee Coin and Penny Putt Golf with the cool Coin Blaster—a finger-powered mini-cannon that really sends your coins flying! 

And, okay, maybe another thing my dad and I have in common is our complete lack of hand-eye co-ordination, but we sure did have a blast!

Wanna see what the Coin Blaster masters can do? Check out this video below.