Nova Scotia Lighthouse Card

I can’t believe that we only have a few more weeks of summer and province posts left. Summer flew by. We are focusing on Nova Scotia today and one of its most famous landmarks, Peggy’s Point Lighthouse in Peggy’s Cove. Nova Scotia is also known for its large arts scene so we are going to make a card in honour of that for this week’s post which features lighthouses!

Peggy’s Point Lighthouse:

Even though there are over 160 lighthouses in Nova Scotia, Peggy’s Point Lighthouse is one of the most recognized and photographed lighthouses of them all and in the world. It is your classic red and white lighthouse in a hexagonal shape. It is still an operational lighthouse, operated by the Coast Guard. It marks the entrance point of St. Margaret’s Bay on the eastern side. It even had a post office in it until 2009! How cool is that? You could’ve bought a postcard and wrote it in the lighthouse and sent it right away. 

The original lighthouse was built in 1868 and was made of wood and had a beacon on the roof. The current one was built in 1914 and is made of concrete and became automated in 1958. It’s had several different light colours. It started off red, then went white, then green, and now it’s red again. It’s said that the name comes from St. Margaret’s Bay because Peggy is the nickname for Margaret, but there are a couple of other stories from how the name came about. 

Card Tutorial:

We’ve made this lighthouse card as a Birthday card in past, but you can make it an any occasion card. In the past we added a cute little heart on the lighthouse, but you can keep it plain depending on who you are giving it to. 

We like to keep with the sea theme and make the card blue. We’ve chosen a primary blue card, sized at 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ inches. 

Then we cut light blue and white layers.

We cut a red and white lighthouse from Nicole’s Silhouette, but you can find a template online or use a stencil. 

I stamped and embossed the words in blue ink with clear embossing powder and heated that.

Then we glue on the larger blue layer and then the white layer on top of that and then place the lighthouse on top of that layer. After, we glued on the stamped layer.

Finally to finish off the card, we glued a thicker red strip of red ribbon near the layers and a thinner red strip of ribbon next to that near the edge of the card. 

 And now you have a lighthouse card!

Northwest Territories - Northern Lights

Tomorrow is Canada’s 150^th Birthday so Happy Birthday Canada! We are keeping with the Canadian Province theme and this week we have the Northwest Territories. Our focus is on the Northern Lights. They are a spectacular sight to see if you get the chance to.

Although you can see them in the Yukon, Nunavut, and Alaska as well, some say that the best spot to see them is in the Northwest Territories. They are located in the Northern and Southern hemispheres over each magnetic pole. The Auroras in both hemispheres tend to mirror each other with similar shapes and colours happening at the same time.

The lights are created by electrically charged particles from the sun colliding and entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Something I did not know before was that the lights you see in the North are known as the Aurora Borealis and the lights in the South are the Aurora Australis.  

Take a look at the photos. What colours do you see? Many colours are often present but pale green and pink are the most commonly spotted colours. Other shades you might see are...blue, violet, red, and yellow. They also may take on different looks as well as you can see below. 

The best time of the year to watch the lights is winter because it’s darker more often and there are more frequent clear nights. 

 

Some of the best places to see the lights in the Northwest Territories are...

The Salt Plains – This is so neat. You can walk barefoot on the Salt Plains where “saline minerals leach from an ancient seabed, turning the world white and crystalline.”

Blachford Lake Lodge – For a relaxing rustic stay this is the place to book for your trip to the NWT. It also offers great views of the Northern Lights.

Great Slave Lake – It’s the second largest lake in the NWT and the deepest in North America (the sixth deepest on Earth!) Rent a boat and it would be a very romantic place to watch the lights.

Alexandra Falls – Considered the greatest waterfall in the NWT at 10 stories high.

The Snow Castle – A castle made out of snow each season is a cool adventure for adults and kids and a perfect spot to see the lights.

Wood Buffalo National Park – This is the largest park in Canada (bigger than Switzerland) so there are many great spots to look at the Northern Lights and you’ll see Buffalo.

In an Igloo – An experience you won’t ever forget.

Yellowknife Bay – This is another romantic and cute spot with a floating village and houseboats that you can stay on. A perfect comfortable place to view the lights.

Aurora Village – “A place where traditional Aboriginal culture blends together with modern amenities for  a truly remarkable experience.” This is the world’s epicentre for watching the Northern Lights you can’t stay at a better place for getting the full Northern Light experience.

Houseboat Bay – Go for a kayak ride around the houseboats in the summer. Or even better, stay in them during the winter for a cozy vacation at one of the bed and breakfasts and snuggle up to watch the lights above.

For more info about the Northwest Territories and the Northern Lights look here...

http://auroravillage.com/

https://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

http://spectacularnwt.com/

DIY Four Leaf Clover Lantern

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone!

We’ve done something a little different this week and we’ve made a paper lantern with a St. Patrick’s Day theme.

We used the Silhouette/cutting machine to make this but you can easily cut and paste one yourself if you have the patience. If you’re using the Silhouette/cutting machine, pick a lantern pattern and cut out of a primary green paper. The one we chose had a heart/clover cut out pattern throughout it and the top had a scalloped edge with punched holes. We thought that was super cute. 

If you are cutting it on your own, you can scallop the top edge free hand or with a border punch or if you have scalloped scissors that would probably work best. You can make the hearts with a heart shaped punch or you can make another shape. You just want to make sure that you have some holes for the light to shine through.

Then we rolled it into a cylinder and glued the ends together. We used our glue tape with some scotch tape on the inside, but it did come loose after a while so it might be a good idea to use white glue or hot glue. An even better idea might be to use construction paper or regular paper as the cardstock can be a bit heavy for these sorts of things.

Next Nicole cut some clovers out in a variety of greens that we had and then glued them on the lantern.You can find a clover pattern and trace it and then cut it out.

Here is the finished product with a battery operated tea light inside. Cute! You can also put them in front of windows or just use them as decorative pieces. 

*Please make sure that you don’t use an actual tea light with an open flame inside. This may start a fire which would be not good.