Last weekend, here in Canada, we enjoyed the first long weekend of the summer: Victoria Day. Our neighbours to the south, in the U.S.  are preparing for the official launch of summertime with their Memorial Day Holiday coming up this next weekend.

To welcome the most beloved season, b5media Lifestyles Channel decided to usher Summertime in with a very special tribute to The Good Old Summertime.

Mary Emma Allen at One Book Two Book reminds you to check our your local library for their summer reading programs which can be great fun for youngsters, parents, and grandparents.

Be gone foul wasp!  My summertime posting here at Hankering for Yarn  is how I designed a crocheted fake wasp nest to trick the wasps and yellow jackets into staying away from our home. Let’s hope it works!

Elizabeth at Career and Kids shares tips for those busy potluck and picnic days at work and home.  And on GenBetween she also shares 10 warm weather tips for aging adults.

Kadi Prescott of Supernanny Rules discusses the importance of continued learning during those long summer breaks from school.

Deborah Ng at Simply Thrifty paints a beautiful portrait of life as a kid in the 70’s in Queens with Dining Al Fresco in the Summers of My Youth.

Cyndi Lavin of Jewelry and Beading wants her readers to win a beautiful medallion, just in time for some summertime beading fun.  On Layers Upon Layers you’ll learn some digital effects to give your summertime pictures some zip!  And nothing beats crisp tangy salads for summertime eating.  Busy Family Meals has a special salad dressing giveaway.

Christine Gooding at MadCropper While she is about to enter her own winter months, she joins in our project with memories of her own summers as a child.

Heather at Chocolate Bytes has two recipes that say “summertime” to her first, chocolate zucchini cake and how about whipping up some Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream to top it off?  If you hop over to The Food Bowl, she offers tips on heat stroke prevention for your pets.

Sherry at Inside Motherhood discusses taking her daughter to the market and explaining to her how it’s better to support locally grown farm foods rather than importing food as a bit of an educational field trip.

Christina at Solo Mother share’s a bit of a then and now as she discusses Sunday rituals as a child and those of today with her own child.

Maricar at Keeping the Castle shares a wonderful guest post by Jeff Wilson of the DIY Network where he discusses simple steps to an amazing deck makeover.

Karen at Thrifty Mommy shares two very popular classic posts – 15 Summer Cooking Tips and 10 Thrifty Ways to Deal with Mosquitos

Peggy at Junk Creation shares how to make a Vacation Scrapbook Planter from a Sour Cream Container.

Tracee at BlogFabulous shares a learning experience about car maintenance

Katelyn from Stamping Mad has created a mixed media collage to remind herself to take time to enjoy the wonderful summer weather.

Farley at Behind the Vines is preparing for some summertime wine tasting.  The only thing left to do is decide on a destination.

Sandy Mitchell at Robust Cooking shares 9 Quick Vegetable Grilling Tricks and if you hop over to her other blog All Holiday Cafe, she shares 10 Ways to Save Money on Summer Holiday Travel

Susan Gunelius at Play Library shares fond memories of her younger days spending hours in the family pool and flashes forward to today and the fun and affordable pool toys that are available.

Chloe Findlay-Harder at Tangled Thread shares a tutorial on how to make a cooling bandana to help relieve those super hot dog days of summer.

Linette Gerlach at Mother Earth’s Garden shares tips on Creating an Outdoor Space to escape to for relaxation and at She Knows Parties, Linette shares a Party Punch Decorative Ice Ring for a cool refreshing treat on a hot summer day.

Noel Bautista at Unplugged Living enlightens us on solar cooking options as an alternative to traditional grilling methods.

Last, at MomGadget, Gayla takes a stroll down memory lane as she lists some of her personal favorite dishes and flavors of summertime.  Almost the entire collection is a tribute to Gayla’s grandmother who, summer after summer, taught her about tradition, gardening and the wonderful flavors Mother Nature provides us during the season.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our tribute to the wonderful season of summer and for our readers living in the U.S., we wish you all a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Holiday.

Adapted from original entry written by Gayla McCord.

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The Three Doors Down project on b5 is so neat! It’s giving me a great excuse to enjoy some of  ‘blogging neighbours’ on b5.

Here’s a link that explains what the ‘3 doors down’ project is.

This morning, one of my neighbours UP the b5 blog list (Jennifer at De Clutter It) wrote a posting about hankering for yarn.  She posted a pic of the most Zen yarn storage solution I have ever seen.  You really have to check it out!

Zen yarn photo at De-Clutter It 

She also posted about some other really great yarn storage solutions.  Brilliant. and useful, too! thanks, Jennifer!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The Three Doors Down project on the Lifestyles Channel is under way! I am really enjoying this! (click on the link for an explanation)

My first ‘neighbour’, three doors down on the list of fellow Lifestyles bloggers at b5 is Cyndi at Jewelry & Beading.

Cyndi does a great job of finding really useful info on the web, as well as writing absolutely terrific tutorials. You’ll want to subscribe to this blog if jewelry making and beads are a passion of yours!

I sent Cyndi a list of questions about Jewelry & Beading, and here is her response:

“I love making stuff and I love writing about it, so being the writer of a
couple of arts and food oriented blogs is heaven to me! I have never
minded the “create on demand” aspect of this type of art career, but there
are times when I have so many projects going that I feel like I need a
personal assistant to follow along behind me and help me keep organized.

Jewelry and Beading is a mixture of projects, inspiration, and industry
news. I love to share my own projects with readers, as well as share the
work and techniques that they send me. I also love to find wonderful new
artwork that needs to be seen and to share that with everyone. And I
think it’s important that people who are working hard to improve their
skills have the information about new books, contests, calls for
submissions, and workshops that will stretch their current repertoire.

One of my favorite types of posts to share are the in-depth “Artist
Profiles”. Often I meet people online who just have amazing stories to
tell about the path their career has taken or about their own creative
process. It’s great to be able to share more than just a paragraph and a
couple of pictures from these amazingly creative people.”

I LOVE Cyndi’s blogs, including Layers upon Layers, which is one of my faves. I subscribe to it, and you should, too!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright) 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

By Gayla

Today the Lifestyles Channel is inviting readers into their homes by sharing a glimpse of where they blog from.

The blogging locations are just as unique and varied as our bloggers – but one things for sure, in every single post, you find a sense of comfort that whispers softly – Welcome Friends.

Sandy Mitchell - All Holidays Cafe

Gayla McCord - MomGadget also blogging at              Dating Dames – Supernanny Rules and CelebAmour

Marye Audet – Baking Delights - also blogging at       Kettle and Cup

Christina Zola - Solomother

Chloe Findlay-Harder – Tangled Thread

Tracy Thompson – Foodie Obsessed

Peggy Rowland – Tree Hugging Family – also blogging at Junk Creation

Noreen Crone-Findlay – Hankering for Yarn

Linette Gerlach – Mother Earth’s Garden

Kadi Prescott – Guerrilla Parenting

Mary Emma Allen – Quilting and Patchwork

Karen Weideman – Thrifty Mommy

Susan Gunelius – Play Library and One Book Two Book

Marcie Pickelsimer – A Child Chosen

Deborah Ng – Simply Thrifty

Eliza Ferree – Babylune

Heather Goldsmith – A Creative Journal

Julie Fletcher – Robust Cooking

Kelly Saunders – Thrifty Mommy

Farley Walker – Behind the Vines

Maricar – Keeping the Castle

Jennifer Chait – Offbeat Homes also at Tree Hugging Family and Declutter It

I hope our little tour has inspired other readers to share their blogging spaces too.  It’s great to get a peek inside the daily lives of those who touch our hearts with their passion and words.

Please be sure to subscribe to our channel feed so you can stay abreast of all the fun things coming up on the b5media Lifestyles Channel.

Image source: stock.xchng

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Through the month of May, the Lifestyles channel at b5 media is going to be having a neat neighbourhood networking carnival.

Each of us will be featuring introductions to and interviews with blogs and bloggers from the b5 Lifestyles network.

Here are the guidelines….

Each of us looks at the list of b5 Lifestyles blogs, and counts down 3 from our blog. That blog, and the next 3 blogs are the ones we’ll be featuring.

This means that in May, I’ll be interviewing:

Cyndi at Jewelry and Beading

Here’s the posting about Cyndi: CYNDI

Peggy at Junk Creation

Here’s the posting about Peggy

Maricar at Keeping the Castle

Here’s the posting about Keeping the Castle

and Marye at Kettle and Cup

Here’s the posting about Kettle and Cup 

I am looking forward to learning more about these 4 blogs and their wonderful bloggers.

Just think! They are only 3 doors down….

And, Jennifer at De-Clutter it, who is 3 doors UP,  wrote  a really great posting about organizing yarn stash, when she was  writing her 3 doors down posting about Hankering for yarn. Thanks, Jennifer!

what a great neighbourhood!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The Lifestyles channel at b5 is having a mini carnival with as many of us as possible showing where we blog.

So, here’s where I blog:

Note the omnipresent cuppa tea….

I never blog alone.

We have a very  literary cat. (contrary, too).

Usually, she is draped around my shoulders:

and her sibs are usually right by:

I have several workstations in my studio, but most of them are too messy to photograph without acute embarrassment, so I’ll just show you the desk where I do a lot of my design work:

So, there’s a peek into my studio…. and where I blog….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

There will be more giveaways going on throughout the week, so you may wish to sign up for our channel feed.

and, don’t forget to check out the bloggy giveaways 

Tree Hugging Family is conducting multiple giveaways Mothering Magazine Subscriptions – Big Green Purse

Mother Earth’s Garden – Let it Rot! The Gardener’s Guide to Composting

Simply Thrifty – Coupon Organizer

Offbeat Homes – Building With Awareness Guidebook on DVD

Hankering for Yarn – Butterfly Earrings

Junk Creations – EcoHangers

Stamping Mad – Stamping Hobbyists Gift Set

Jewelry and Beading – Artful Blogging Magazine

Layers Upon Layers – Art Doll Quarterly

Quilting and Patchwork – The Magic of Patchwork Book

Babylune – Hanes Gift Certificates

Tool Belt Tips – 2 Cases Thompson’s Water Seal

Tangled Thread – Tags and Tie Dyes Contest

Busy Family Meals – Asian Cooking Starter Kit

Blog Fabulous – Boogie Dance Giveaway

Thrifty Mommy – Honey Thyme Herb Farm, Recycled Bags, Cooking Light Cookbook

Weary Parent – You’re a Good Mom Gift Set, Blume Girl Boutique Giveaway, Blog Design

Supernanny Rules – Skincare by Amino Genesis

Kettle and Cup – The Tea Table Book

Have fun and best of luck!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Some of the intricacies of bloggery leave me scratching my head. When my CE (channel editor) told the Lifestyles gang that we oughta write ‘about me’ stuff to link to on our blogs,  I went,

‘eh?’  (in true Canadian fashion)

Luckily, my clever daughter was able to explain to me, in small words that I could write on my little stickie pad, how to do it.

So, I’ve done it!
I’ve written an ‘about Hankering for yarn and Noreenski’ page!  The link

Such a clever durl!  ROTFLOL!

By the way, the photo of my puppet  at the top of the page was taken byAlan & Terri Bibby of Bibby Productions. The photo is therefore copyright to them, while the puppet design is copyright to me.  (Gotta give proper copyright accreditation – those are the rulz.)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn