October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and October 15th is recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. In honour of this, I am sharing a little bit about how running a small business helped me through one of the hardest seasons of our lives, after we became members of a heartbreaking group of mothers and fathers grieving the loss of a baby. 

When I first got pregnant, I wasn’t looking forward to mat leave. I was nervous about leaving work and being out of touch with the industry. Now, I couldn’t imagine anything less than having a full year with my constantly changing daughter.

I’ll be honest, I have been meal planning for a while now because it’s what works best for our family (and our budget). But what I haven’t done before 2017 is actually stick to the weekly plan all the time. Most days, we would have something planned, but come time to make dinner, Will and I would look at each other and pray that the other one would offer to make dinner. If no one took it on, some days we would just end up with mac & cheese.

As we all know, January is traditionally a time of reflection and goal setting, but this year instead of making specific resolutions, my family has decided to choose one word to focus on for the year. This was inspired by Ali Edwards One Little Word scrapbooking course and has evolved into something that we do as a family, rather than just personally. It gives us a more general idea of what we want to focus on for the year, and is something we see reflected in all aspects of our life.

Being new parents, we understand that babies get a lot of great stuff from friends and family, and don’t necessarily need a ton for Christmas. So when we decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange for the babies in our baby group (comprised of five other couples that we met through prenatal yoga), we knew we wanted to make something more ‘out of the box’ for whomever we drew.

Like any new mom, I am in awe each and every day watching this beautiful little girl grow and change. It’s so exciting to see her learning new things, responding to us with smiles, and becoming more aware of the world around her.

After what seemed like waiting forever for baby’s arrival, Miss Harlow Margaret Fournier came 8 days late on September 15th, 2016 at 11:17 PM, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz, and more perfect than I could have ever imagined her being.

Since this is something I’ve struggled with for some time, I figured there must be others out there who have struggled with the same things at one point or another, so I thought I would share my 3 simple recommendations:

I’ve been so lucky to be surrounded by so many supportive and generous people during my pregnancy, especially since the first few months were anything but ideal.

Although I don’t have a child to hold in my arms just yet, I believe the pregnant wonder-women of the world are just as worthy of being celebrated as moms on Mother’s Day, as I believe that you are a mom from the moment you see those two pink lines.

Three cheers for the new year! 2015 was a year of big changes, lots of courage and huge lifestyle adjustments. As you probably know, one of the biggest things for us this year was making the big move to the Fournier Farmhouse. (Read more about why I traded in my 10 minute bike ride for a 2.5 hour commute here.)

Last year, I posted a gift guide for the crafter on your Christmas list. This year, I am switching things up and posting a round-up of all the awesome gift guides from around the web for last-minute gifts for all the loved ones on your list.

Here are the best of the best when it comes to gift ideas for the holidays:

Looking for something easy, affordable and beautiful to make for the loved ones on your list, but don’t know where to start? It doesn’t matter if you’re not able to sew, knit, or paint, CreativeBug.com has the best instructional videos to make any awesome project seem easy for any skill level – even newbies.

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas at the Fournier Farm House! Between decorating the house, a busy season at work and having less daylight, I’ve found myself reading a little less this month. Perhaps the train has been lulling me to sleep more often than I thought! Or maybe this time of year has me wanting to spend more family time with Will and Oliver.

Sometimes starting a Project Life album is the easiest part; it’s the maintaining and keeping up with it that can be the most challenging. In this post, I will share the tricks I use to make maintaining and keeping up with my Project Life album easy.

This past month and a half just flew by, along with a lot of my books! Still no library card, although I will try my best to get there this weekend if possible!

Starting a Project Life album can be exciting and so much easier than you think. In this post, I will explore the things you need to get started and the tips and tricks I’ve learned for starting out. I’ve created this mini series to help those interested in Project Life learn more and perhaps start a book of their own.

Since posting my experience at Crop and Create and my intentions to use Project Life to document our first year of marriage, I have received a number of questions from friends and readers on what Project Life is and how to start. I’ve created this mini series to help those interested in Project Life learn more and perhaps start a book of their own.

I promise I’ve been reading more books than just scrapbooks and adult colouring books this month!

We just recently got our new ID cards in the mail with the new address on it, but still haven’t had a chance to make it to the library. No worries though, with the new book exchange I initiated at work (totally not for selfish reasons at all…) and a bag of books my mom dropped off, I have had more than enough to read.

Whether you’re a graphic designer, scrapbooker, artist, crafter or musician, I believe it is important to immerse yourself in your art to improve and grow within your medium. In my opinion, part of this essential immersion process is becoming a member of a creative community either of your making or by participation in an existing one.

With each passing year, I am finding myself reaching new milestones that I would have never guessed I would be experiencing at this point in my life. When I was in Europe in 2012 after graduating from University, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that in 3 short years, I would be married and living in Toronto with my husband and a great dane, living my dream life with my dream job.

I have recently embraced the succulent life and am pleased to report I am actually keeping these little plants alive. As someone who can kill even mint (which is apparently very hard to do for everyone except myself), I am very proud of my little plant babies.

Preserving memories is something everyone does, whether it’s by posting and sharing on social media, storytelling, or in a more obvious way – by creating memory books. No way is more right or effective than the other, and finding the way that’s right for you and your story is just a means of trying new things and discovering what works best for you and your story.

Aside from all the planning jitters, engagement really is unlike any other time in your life. It’s right before you are forever tied to your soul mate, sometimes before children have made an appearance and at the time in your life when you can’t help but flash your ring at any chance you get – or at least that’s the way I experienced it.

After recently losing my grandmother last month, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role a grandmother plays in the lives of her grandchildren, the unconditional love grandmothers (and grandfathers) have for their grandchildren, and the special bond that is created between grandmother and granddaughter as she grows from childhood through to adulthood.

Fitness is hard, especially during the dreary winter months. For me, I feel as though this winter has hit me especially hard; I haven’t been to the gym in weeks, I am missing my bike, and I can’t seem to get my butt off the couch!

Every so often, I find myself getting into a cycle of late nights, early mornings, and a messy lifestyle. It can become especially hard if you’re living alone or with a partner who doesn’t mind the clutter. My husband, for example, often keeps a massive pile of clothes in the bedroom that we have even started referring to as “The Mountain.”

Since I just finished watching the last episode of Gilmore Girls this week, I’ve found myself with more time to peruse the pages of the World Wide Web, 

Although I didn’t participate in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word workshop, I decided this year to choose one word to focus on for 2015. Choosing this one little word was no small feat. Out of the 1,025,109.8 words in the English language, finding just one that resonated with me was challenging and forced me think about the reasons behind choosing just one word.

For our honeymoon, Will and I decided to go on a fun driving adventure to a place both of us have wanted to go but haven’t had a chance to yet: Ireland. We rented a car, drove around the whole coast, stayed in B&Bs and had the time of our lives.

Last week, I celebrated my 24th birthday. It was my champagne birthday (turned 24 on the 24th) and although it’s not a big milestone like a 30th would be, it was still a reminder that the years seem to be passing by quicker with every year. Since there’s only less than one year left until I am a quarter of the century, I thought it would be a good time to make a bucket list of the top 25 things I want to do before I turn 25.

August 23, 2014 was definitely the best day of my life thus far. It is the day I married the man of my dreams and officially became Mrs. Sarah Fournier. After months of planning, crafting, and dreaming, the day finally came. Here are some of my favourite photos from the day. I wish I could post them all!

It’s been almost three weeks since our lives have been turned upside down with the arrival of our new puppy Oliver-Sebastian. Will and I have fallen so in love with this little guy, making it hard to do anything else when we’re at home, which doesn’t make for a very productive household as we approach our Big Day!

As of last week, I can say that I have officially completed the 100 Happy Days challenge! It took me a while to write this post because I wanted to take some time to process the end of this challenge and how I felt about it.

This Canada Day, I have decided to celebrate like an American on Independence Day! I am a proud Canadian, and I know how lucky we are to live in this multicultural nation of ours.

This is by far my most favourite quote. These past couple months I have been splitting my time between so many different things, that I feel like the time I have left to spend is not very much at all. From wedding planning, to taking extra courses, to work, and the gym, my days seem to be passing me by so quickly.

If you’ve ever had a long conversation with me, chances are the topic of my craft room has come up! I am absolutely in love with how this room has turned out, and although it becomes a dumping ground for wedding crafts and storage at times, it is the one place where organization is key.

This week was so very exciting for so many different reasons. As we inch closer to the wedding, each RSVP that we receive makes the whole thing feel so much more real. As a result, we are starting to really buckle down with our to do list so that our guests don’t show up to an empty venue on the day!

First of all, I would like to thank Tim Hortons for putting me through college and employing me from the ages of 14-19. For all you math-challenged people out there, that is 5 whole years I spent in those beautiful brown poly pants with a visor and hairnet on my head

Potato stamping is a time-tested and crafter-approved way of creating fun and budget-friendly projects. After much trial and error, I have developed some tips and tricks for using potato stamps, and I am so thrilled to be sharing these with you here on Sweet Green Studios.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Canada and am a very proud Canadian, but there is no country that loves their crafts as much as America does – and if you love crafting and scrapbooking, I love you!

It’s been almost 3 years since I started taking gymnastics, and only less than a year since I started taking classes regularly. I have a deep love for the sport and an insane amount of jealousy towards young gymnasts and their amazing abilities.

This past weekend, I attended my first bridal shower. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve attended many as a guest but never as a guest of honour. I am a HUGE fan of planning and hosting showers, but when it comes to attending one that someone is throwing for you, it can get a little uncomfortable (at least for me anyways).

Every day I struggle with motivation. I am the kind of person who gets something in my head and needs to completely finish it before I can resume any normal activity. This is probably why I experience my creativity in bursts every couple weeks.

To get myself in the crafting mood, I have created a playlist of awesome songs that are pretty hot right now (at least to me they are). As I was listening to them tonight, I thought it would be a great idea for a blog post, so here is a list of the top three songs/artists that I’m listening to these days:

So it has been a while since I have blogged, and here is the very exciting reason why!

Often times I find myself doing pages for other people; whether its my mom, my cousin or the dude sitting on the street corner, it seems like I am always finishing scrapbooks for everyone buy myself.

If you’ve never heard of Ali Edwards, you are definitely the one missing out. Ali is a scrapbooking and crafting guru who also happens to have a great blog that I highly suggest you check out at aliedwards.com. I specifically love her Project Life pages that she has been posting.