The Last Day of The Year!

Well, it's the last day of 2013.  Where does the time go?  Seems the older I get, the faster the days go, which makes me realize that you have to accomplish more in a day than you ever did.
This past year was a great year for me both personally and with the growth of my business.
My daughter got married in April, they bought their first home in August and celebrated their first Christmas in their new home.  So in honour of that I created this layout for their first Christmas celebrations.

I hope 2014 brings you much love, health and happiness.  Thanks for following along!

Peppermint Sugar Scrub

I love the smell of peppermint, it reminds me of Christmas and everything clean and fresh!  I also love soaking in the tub and using body scrub so, after seeing so many recipes on Pinterest to make my own scrub, I decided that I was going to make some as gifts this Christmas.  It was so simple and easy and this is my recipe:

2 C White Sugar
1/2 C Coconut Oil
4 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil
1 Drop of Red Food Colouring

I was able to purchase the first two items at the local grocery store and the last two items at Michaels craft store.
Mix the coconut oil, sugar and peppermint oil together in a large bowl.  I filled each glass jar half full with the white scrub mixture.
Add 1 drop of red food colouring to the remaining white scrub mixture to make it pink and then add this to the jars so you have one layer of white and one layer of pink sugar scrub.
You could use any colour of food colouring to create a coloured scrub.

Make sure to fill the jars to the top!

I added a metal snowflake embellishment to the top of the scrub as a cute decoration!

I made two batches of this mixture and it made 10 small jars of scrub.  Make sure to use air tight containers.

Loving the cute handmade tags too!

This really was a quick and fun project and it took me less than an hour to make 10 jars!

Childhood Memories

In 2002 my husband, Dale, traveled back to Watrous, Saskatchewan to move my mother and father-in-law to Calgary so my FIL could spend his last days with family close by. The family spent the entire weekend packing up the house, donating many items to charity, taking many loads to the nuisance ground (or the dump as we call it) and packing the rest into a U-haul for the trip to Calgary.
Deep in the back of the shed he stumbled upon one of his old childhood toys, an old Case pedal tractor and wagon. It was in rough shape; peeling paint, rusted, broken rear axles, broken drive shaft, bent front wheels and shredded rubber on the tires. Needless to say, it looked like it should also have been dropped off at the nuisance ground. But..... he packed it all up and put all the pieces into a box, brought it home to Calgary where it sat in our basement for 11 years.
A few years ago Dale took the time to research the toy and purchase original replacement parts for it only to have that box sit in the basement for another 6 years. His dream was always to restore the tractor to its original condition by himself but just this past year he came to the realization that he needed professional help in order to get it done properly, so after about 6 months of searching, he found someone who builds pedal tractors just three hours from us who had restored several pedal tractors to their original condition.  his name is Alan and he owns the Pedal Tractor Farm where he builds and rents pedal tractors for various children's events in Alberta.  If you are interested in renting them for a child's birthday party, check out his website and get in touch with him.

The end result almost made me cry. The before and after photos are like night and day.
Enjoy the ride!

Sadly we did not take any before photos of the wagon!  But here is the refinished product.  Isn't it a beauty?  Dale wanted to have some part in restoring his old toy so he purchased the original Case decals and applied them himself, after spending his younger years in the car business, he had plenty of practice!

We have since learned that my FIL received the tractor on a promo through his own Case tractor dealership in Saskatchewan and gave it to Dale when he was 3 years old and he and his brother played with it almost every day so it was well used.  It will now remain in our home to be played with by future grandchildren.

The Story Behind The NAME!

Over the years, so many people have asked me how I came up with the name for my company so I thought I would just do a blog post about it.

In 2008 when I launched Sun 7 Designs on a part-time basis, I had several names running through my head.  Mostly "baby themed" names but, after great thought, I decided to go with something that didn't include the word "baby" just in case I decided to ever branch out and create something else.

It didn't take me long once I removed the "baby" theme from my mind.

I love the sun, spending time in the sun does a body good and even when it's a cold wintery day, I still love to go outside as long as the sun is shining.

The number 7 is very special and personal to me and it had to be included in the name, there was no question at all.

Four very important people in my family have all played hockey wearing the number 7 on their backs.  My son has played since the age of 5 and is now nearing 24 and is still wearing the number 7 on his hockey jersey.  Sadly two of these special people have passed away but their #7 jerseys have been retired in our home and there will be no question what number my future grandchildren will wear on their jerseys.

So for all of you that are asking why I chose Sun 7 Designs; I'm hoping this answer, though it may not be unique or fascinating to you, gives you a small glimpse into why I chose it.  And for those of you that have no idea what Sun 7 Designs does, check out my Website or Facebook page and see for yourself.  

I Would Love Your Vote!

Sun 7 Designs has been nominated for the Mompreneur Award of Excellence 2014 and I would love your support. Why not win with me! Simply enter your vote and your name will be entered into a draw to win a personalized medium size baby blanket. I would love your support and I thank you in advance for voting!
http://www.themompreneur.com/award/#!/entry/4293180

Please leave a comment below or on my Facebook post each time you vote so that I can make sure your name is entered into the draw.

You can vote once per day and each vote counts as one entry into the giveaway for your very own custom designed personalized baby blanket.  You choose the blanket colours, any design and add the option of personalization to create something special for your little one or as the perfect baby shower gift.

I am currently taking Christmas orders until December 10th.  Orders placed after this date may be ready for Christmas, but there is no guarantee.
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Garage Sale Fetish!

Garage sales, car boot sales, flea markets, antique markets, estate sales…… It doesn't matter what you call them, I am addicted to them all.
This past summer I spent almost every weekend touring my local area for garage sales and picked up these three projects (along with many other items!).
They were fast, easy and most of all fun!
This was my first project.  Found at an estate sale in the huge pile of junk he was sending to the dump.  When I asked if I could have it, he decided he was going to sell it to me…. go figure.  But I bought it anyway for $5.

I took it home, sanded it down to the original bare wood and painted it white.  I cut a cute crown out of vinyl  and added it to the seat.  And you can't have a crown without a little bling!

This second one was re-done for my daughter's living room.  I love the cute London black cab fabric that I used on this one.

This one was also very easy to do.  I unscrewed the legs and scuffed them up a little just so the paint would adhere to the wood.  I then painted them black to match the black on the fabric.  I removed the old fabric and cushion from the stool and replaced it with new padding before adding the new print.

I like the product to also be finished on the underside so I cut a piece of lining to cover the wood and open seams of the print fabric and tacked it down with my staple gun.

And finally the kitchen stool that I found at an antique store in Nanton, AB.  The original screws were the wrong size and screwed in with small wood blocks which looked messy (see photo).  I removed the faux leather and the original padding and added new cushion padding and covered it to match my daughter's kitchen chairs that I recovered a few months ago.

Sadly, garage sale season is over for this year, but I do have a few projects left to do (weather permitting).  I will be back on the hunt for more items come Spring.

Bench Cushion

My daughter received this adorable bench from a friend when she moved into her new home and she wanted a cushion for it so she could use it for extra seating.  In keeping with the British theme in her family room, she got some fabric from her MIL in the UK and I made her this cute bench cushion.

I purchased a large piece of 1.5" thick foam and using a very sharp knife cut it to size 24"x11".

Then I proceeded to cut the fabric to fit.  Two pieces 24.5"x11.5" for the top and bottom, two pieces each 26"x 2" and 13"x2" for the sides.  I then cut some red piping to fit the top layer of the cushion all around.

I sewed the piping to the top 24.5"x11.5" piece of fabric.

The proceeded to sew the sides onto the top piece of the bench cushion, leaving the corners open until the end.

Once all four sides were sewn together I went back and closed up each corner making sure to match the seams.

Here is the finished product.  And it looks adorable on the little bench in her family room.

I just love this fabric; very modern art deco way of showcasing the British flag.  The material was top quality and so easy to work with.

Vintage Doll's Pram

For those of you that really know me, you know how much I love vintage baby items, especially prams.  I actually have a real pram that was used for my kids and will be used for future grandkids so when I found this old children's dolls pram at a garage sale for $20 I just had to have it.  It was in relatively good shape, a few scratches, dents and rust so I took it home and took it apart to clean it up.

It had a broken spring and the others were very loose so I purchased new springs and had to have my husband attach them as it was extremely difficult to pry the metal apart.

The fun part for me was taking apart the apron and the hood and re-creating it in newer fabric.  I couldn't find any vinyl that I liked so I purchased some cotton fabric along with some iron-on clear vinyl fabric and made my own waterproof fabric.

I made the apron a little bit larger than the original as I wanted the rain shield to cover most of the pram's opening.

I purchased some 1.5" foam and cut it to fit the bottom of the pram for a mattress then I used the remainder of the fabric to cover the mattress and make a little pillow.

And of course, a pram of mine could not go without one of my signature baby blankets so I created a small doll's blanket embroidering the same design as on the fabric.

I love my refurbished vintage doll's pram and can't wait for a future grand-daughter to have fun playing with it.