JAX does design

Decorating The Homework Club with art

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:53:00 +0000

Tomorrow is the big day – the TBBs will be doing the Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition 2012 installation at the Foster Farm Family House Homework Club. And apparently lots of cleaning too. Not so excited about that part, but VERY excited to see the design plan come together! I’m also excited that we have some awesome donors who are going to help us decorate The Homework Club with art.

Posterjack.ca is transferring these drawings by three of The Homework Club kids to canvases. Such a great way to ensure that these drawings will last a lifetime.

If you’d like to preserve your kid’s artwork, check out the great options at Posterjack.ca – they can mount any digital image onto canvas, metal, birch wood, and even acrylic.

Sheila Cain has donated a print of one of her amazing pencil drawings – this is “Harley” :-)

Check out Sheila’s Heirloom Drawings to find out how you can work with Sheila to create a graphite drawing of one of your cherished items or keepsakes.

For the second year in a row, artist Matt LeBlanc has donated one of his awesome abstract paintings. It’s currently in transit and will be arriving later today. We won’t actually see it till tomorrow, but it should look a little something like this:

Matt has the hugest heart of anyone I know, and I’m so honoured to call him my friend :-) He has donated paintings to numerous charities and good causes, and a couple of years ago he raised $38,000 for cancer research with his Art For Life Campaign. Earlier this week, Matt resigned from his job at an advertising agency to focus on his art full-time. You might want to snap up one of his paintings now before he becomes uber-famous and charges millions of dollars for his work!

And finally, I thought it would be fun to create a painting for The Homework Club, inspired by our grey & red colour palette.

Thank you Tim & Posterjack.ca, Sheila, and Matt! And also THANK YOU to the following people who donated the last few pieces that we needed to complete our project design:

Spotlight Hair Studio & Spa	One Ikea side chair
Kristin Berit	One Ikea side chair
Tina Klein Welsh	Dictionaries

Sending you all great big virtual hugs!

And seeing as it’s Kindness Week, I think I’ll send out more hugs to everyone, just because :-) It would be great if you would share this video and pass the hugs along to your blog readers. It’s a great way to spread the kindness and make people smile – or cry, because it’s just so darn emotional listening to ♫ Hallelujah ♫ and watching complete strangers hug!

Like Ellen says, Be Kind!

A bubblelicious DIY project

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:28:00 +0000

I love, love, love Bocci light fixtures:

So cool, but so expensive and so not happening in my house. Till I found this awesome bubble “light fixture” project by Jenna at Homeslice:

How awesome is that?! Jenna and her husband created their own version of a bubble light fixture (minus the light) using glass bubble balls from CB2, ornament caps from D. Blumchen & Company, and some ingenuity.

There was no question that I was going to make one of these babies, I just didn’t know where I would put it. And then I had an ah-ha moment – it would be the perfect piece to hang above the fireplace in the family room. So I bought the supplies and hubby and I used the tutorial by Jenna as a guide for putting it all together. We made some modifications based on the number of glass balls we used (Jenna used 15, we used 25). Here’s a quick rundown of what we did.

How we did it

Hubby built the board that the bubbles hang from and I painted it the same colour as the fireplace mantel, Benjamin Moore Cloud White. It’s the same length and width as the mantel – about 66” x 17”

This is where hubby turned it into a total mathie project. There are two sizes of balls, 4” and 6”. The size of the space above the fireplace where the glass balls hang is 45L” x 30H” x 13D”. Hubby generated a list of random numbers from a website like this one, and used the numbers to position each ball within the space. If a number caused an interference with an already set glass ball, he moved to the next number. Sorry if that makes no sense to you – it doesn’t make sense to me either! At any rate, here’s the AutoCAD version of the final glass ball layout:

Now on to the actual construction. Hubby drilled small holes in all the appropriate places on the board. Then we cut pieces of invisible thread to the required lengths and attached one end of each piece of thread to a metal ornament cap and tied a loop in the other end. The looped end went through the hole in the board (from painted side to unpainted side) and around a toothpick – very high-tech! The toothpicks hold each thread in place when the thread is taut, but I added a piece of tape to each toothpick to be extra-sure the threads stay in place. To prevent the threads from getting tangled (been there, done that, not fun!), I taped each thread to the front of the board until the board was installed.

Then it was time to attach the board to the ceiling above the fireplace. Hubby screwed three pieces of wood to the ceiling, and then screwed the board to the pieces of wood.

As you can see, there are two pot lights right in front of the board. So even though this isn’t going to be an actual functioning bubble light fixture, it sort of acts like one with the pot lights right there.

Then it was finally time for the fun part! Hubby removed the pieces of tape and let the lengths of thread fall loose…

…and I left it up to hubby to attach the glass balls to the ornament caps, because I knew if I did it, there would be some glass ball casualties. My job was unpacking the balls and removing the stupid stickers. And this is how it turned out (I’m still debating how to accessorize the top of the mantel):

Trying out some other accessories…. I’m kinda stumped. Maybe it doesn’t need any accessories at all? I can’t show you too much of the fireplace because that’s a makeover for another day :-)

I just love my bubble light fixture – except for the fact that I can’t get the song ♫ Tiny Bubbles ♫ out of my head. Is it in yours now too? ;-) I have to send another big thank you to Jenna at Homeslice for inspiring this project. If you want to make your own bubble light fixture, definitely check out her tutorial.

And while we’re on the topic of bubbles, today I’m guest posting over at Lisa Goulet Design, and it’s all about George Nelson Bubble Lamps. I’m also linking up to a few blog parties – Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Feature Friday Free-For-All at Five Days… 5 Ways, and Sass’s Sunday Salvation Show #12 at Sassafrass Salvation.

Come on, admit it, you’ve got the song stuck in your head now too, don’t ya?!

Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition 2012 update

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Today is the start of Kindness Week here in Ottawa. Not that you shouldn’t be kind EVERY week, but this is a great initiative that encourages people to “choose to be kind”. And really, it’s not very hard to be kind – hold the door open for the person behind you, give someone your seat on the bus, smile at a total stranger… even the smallest gesture is appreciated.

As I mentioned in this post, this is the second year that I’m participating in Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition. Next Friday, the TBBs and I will work our magic at the Foster Farm Family House Homework Club, a place where kids in the Foster Farm community go to do their homework. Over the last month, we’ve been rounding up sponsors and donors and planning the design. You might remember our colour palette inspiration…

Image via House Beautiful, February 2011

Well, just like any design, things change and evolve based on a number of factors – in this case, we had to adjust our colour palette because we couldn’t get the yellow chairs that we planned to use in the space. But never fear – just like last year, red has come to our rescue! And now we’re going with this colour palette…

Image via House to Home

Here’s a little sneak peek at the design board that our lead designer, Sonya Kinkade, has put together…If you want to see more, head over to the EMKE Facebook page and click the Like button.

I’d like to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of our donors and sponsors who have contributed products, labour, and money to this very worthy project. Can’t wait to see it all come together next Friday!

D.E. Kinkade Konstruction Ltd	Construction, labour, and materials
Ottawa Valley Kitchens	Built-it cabinetry
Sherwin-Williams store #8785	Paint
B.T. Kelly Painting Inc.	Paint labour
Barwood Flooring	New hardwood flooring
Marchand Lighting and Electrical	New lighting
Climate Works	New central air conditioning
Lafarge Canada	Supplied new school chairs
School Furniture of Canada	Kindly discounted the price of the school chairs
Tamarack Developments	Cash donation for homework room décor
Tag Along Toys	New school supplies
Smart Space Organizing	Office and school supplies
Ikea Canada	Office supplies
Future Shop	Wall mounted TV and Blu-ray player
Faye Fortune Drapery	New window treatments
Matt LeBlanc Abstract Art	New custom art piece designed for The Homework Club
Sheila Cain - Sample pencil artist	Custom art piece
Danielle Lynn Photography	Capturing the makeover with photography
Randy Little, Investment Fund Advisor	Donation of chalkboard paint

And of course, the TBBs design team!

Sonya Kinkade (Lead Designer)	Sonya Kinkade Design
Maureen Coates	Modecor
Nicole Duguay	Solace Interiors
Lisa Goulet	Lisa Goulet Design
Donna Hargrove	dh designs
Kelly James	JAX Decor & Design
Sarah Kidder	Sarah Kidder Design
Mary Anne van Gaal	Otta Decorate!

If you’d like to be part of Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition, there are still a few items that we need to buy – a couple of chairs, a floor lamp, a long wall shelf, and dictionaries. If you’re interested in donating a few dollars to put towards the purchase of these items, please send me an e-mail or leave me a comment and let me know.

And to change the subject completely… I’ve got an amazing project to share with you on Monday. It’s been in the works for a few months, and I’m so excited that it’s finally done and looks even better than I envisioned! I’ll also be guest posting over at Lisa Goulet Design on Monday about a topic related to my project. I’m keeping it a secret for now, but here’s a clue…

Happy Weekend & spread the kindness!

Mondrian inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:27:00 +0000

I just came across this 1950’s kitchen at Mid Century Modern Home. I think it’s pretty funky – I love the vibrant colours, the detailing on the floor, and the colour-block wall of cabinets.

The blocks of colour on the cabinetry wall are similar to a Mondrian painting – possibly the inspiration for this kitchen design. Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter who developed his own style of non-representational art that he termed Neo-Plasticism around 1917. His paintings consist of a white background with a black grid of vertical and horizontal lines and blocks of colour painted red, yellow, blue, and black.

Kompozicija by Piet Mondrian (1921) | image via The Indecisive Moment

So what else has Piet Mondrian’s art inspired? Well, let’s a take a look… there’s the “Mondrian” day dress by Yves St. Laurent (autumn 1965):

Image via We Form Like Voltron

The Karung Envelope designed by Judith Leiber (1990):

Image via Collectors Weekly

The Nike Dunk SB Low shoe:

Image via The Indecisive Moment

The Mondri Vase by Danish designer Frank Kerdil (available here and here). The vase can be turned and twisted to reveal three different vase sizes, depending on the type of bouquet.

Butter cake by Caitlin Williams – looks good enough to eat!

Image via design*sponge

If you want to take a shot at creating your own Mondrian-inspired piece, why not pick up a small end table (the Lack side table in white from Ikea would be perfect) and do something like this:

Image via Survivor Sucks

You could go big and paint your car…

Image via The Indecisive Moment

…or go home and paint your house!

Image via Flooded Lizard Kingdom

I’m inspired to create my own Mondrian piece now – how about you?

IDS12 kitchen inspiration: Grey & brushed brass

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Bloomsbury Kitchens had the most beautiful kitchen (designed by Brian Gluckstein) on display at IDS12:

The cabinetry itself was gorgeous, but it was the combination of the grey cabinets with the brushed brass vent hood, hardware, and faucet that really grabbed my attention.

How’s this for an ultra-glam way fridge? Yep, that’s what’s behind those mirrored doors!

The chandelier was an absolute show-stopper for me.

Brushed brass has been making a big comeback in the design world. It’s not a show-off like the “look at me” polished brass of the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s subdued, it’s warm, it’s rich, and it’s got a whole different vibe than the stainless steel and brushed silver metals that have been popular for the last 10 years. I think grey and brass are the perfect recipe for some kitchen inspiration. Here are a few more examples why…

Images via 1. Decorpad (designer Mick de Giulio | 2. Google images | 3. Belclaire House | 4. Garden Web

How do you feel about the resurgence of brass in the kitchen? Do you like it with grey cabinets, or is there another brass & cabinet combination that you prefer?

Paint chip nirvana: ChipIt! from Sherwin Williams

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:47:00 +0000

I just discovered Sherwin Williams Chip It! through one of the Facebook groups I belong to. Chip It! is to colours what Pinterest is to images. You add the Chip It! widget to your browser’s toolbar…

…and then click ChipIt! to create a colour palette for any image. Like this:

Images via: 1.The Lennoxx | 2. Completely Coastal | 3. Houzz

OMG, as if Pinterest wasn’t addictive enough. Thank you Sherwin Williams for turning me into a complete pinning and chipping addict!

And on a totally unrelated topic, I just realized that I have a bunch of comments that are waiting to be moderated – whoops! I opened my comments settings to make a change, and then I was like DUH, how could I have forgotten to check comments on older posts that need to be moderated?! I’m changing that setting right now so all comments get published automatically. So if you’ve left me a comment in the last couple of months and I never visited your blog, please don’t hate me! I’m off to visit you all right now….

Abstract painting: My new obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:55:00 +0000

You might remember a few weeks ago, I posted some pictures of a couple of paintings I made – including The OMFG Painting. You might also remember that I had a *little* accident with a bottle of white paint (I found some more paint splatters on the floor and a lamp shade yesterday). Well, in spite of the paint catastrophe, I had a great time creating those first two paintings, and since then I’ve created four more. This one was inspired by a peacock feather. The spots of white are glitter that I sprinkled on while the paint was still wet.

This one was inspired by water.

And this one was inspired by the sun – although it came out a lot more like a tie dye shirt. {Funny how that happens, my paintings never seem to come out the way I originally envision them.} It was really cool to see how the paint moved around the canvas on this one. I totally didn’t expect the colours to do what they did.

I’m not sure what this one looks like – maybe clouds in the sky at sunset?

Now that I’ve discovered how fun painting can be, I have no idea why I was so scared to paint in the first place. I love playing around with the paint on the canvas and seeing what happens, and it’s a great way to let out my creativity. I want to go out and buy a huge stack of canvases and just paint and paint and paint some more :-)

Is there something you really want to do, but fear has been holding you back from doing it? Well, don’t be scared – let yourself go and just do it!

Llinking up to Feature Friday Free-For-All over at Five Days… 5 Ways.

A little Style At Home love

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:39:00 +0000

I’m very excited to be included in the latest budget-friendly decorating article over at Style At Home. Click here to read my decorating idea for how to cheer up your home on a budget. Here’s a hint ;-)

And speaking of Style At Home… a few months ago, I pinned this picture of SAH section editor Catherine Therrien’s living room to my PInterest board. It has to be the most re-pinned picture from all of my pictures:

Image via Style At Home | Photographer: Virginia MacDonald

There’s something about this room that appeals to a lot of people! I love the colour combination, the dark hardwood floor, the beautiful fabrics (how cool are those peacock feather curtains?), and the floor-to-ceiling doors & windows. It’s pretty, but not too precious and not too formal. And the cheery orange just invites you to come in and take a seat. I can picture myself sitting here on a sunny spring day, reading a good book and sipping lemonade while the curtains flutter in a soft breeze.

I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on this room – leave me a comment and let me know :-)

Happy weekend!

BlogPodium: authenticity. branding. consistency.

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Although IDS12 showcased loads of amazing designs and products, it was the people and the constant flow of information that impressed me the most. When you’re surrounded by friendly, talented, generous people, you just can't help but come away with renewed inspiration and drive. That’s what happened to me after attending BlogPodium.

L to R: Shauna Levy (IDS director), Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault, Jennifer Flores, Kimberley Seldon x 2, Kate Moore, Margot Austin
BlogPodium images by Jason Hudson

Conversation, collaboration, connection… At BlogPodium, we believe in the power of conversation (after all, isn’t that what a blog is all about?). We will bring bloggers and industry experts from shelter magazines, design television, and social media together to talk – because great things can happen when we do!

Excerpt from BlogPodium Mission Statement

Jennifer Flores of Rambling Renovators and Lindsay Stephenson of Little House Blog founded BlogPodium in the Fall of 2011, and the inaugural BlogPodium conference was hosted by IDS on Trade Day. Registration was sold out in two weeks, and I’m sure everyone in attendance walked away with all sorts of ideas floating around in their minds!

BlogPodium image by Jason Hudson

The BlogPodium panel consisted of five beautiful & talented ladies:

Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault (Benjamin Moore colour expert and CityLine guest expert)
Jennifer Flores (Rambling Renovators)
Kimberley Seldon (Kimberley Seldon Design Group and Business of Design)
Kate Moore (Producer, CityLine)
Margot Austin (Senior Design Editor, House & Home)

Over the course of 1-1/2 hours, they shared fantastic insight into how to be a great blogger, how to connect with the media, how to pitch your ideas, and they answered questions from the audience. The three key messages that were repeated by all panel members (as well as speakers at other events over the weekend):

authenticity. branding. consistency.

authenticity
Use your original voice – Stand out from the crowd and be yourself. Tell your readers about who you are, what you love, and what you’re passionate about. Include a picture of yourself on your blog, show your personal work, and write about your take on things. If you love a room, describe what it is about the room that you love. Spot and share trends and explain why you like them. Blogging is about content and engaging your readers – have fun and don’t be too earnest. And always be YOU!

Image via …the Media of Eden

branding
Send a clear message with your blog – Find your niche, and then stay focused. Brian Gluckstein provided a great example of branding at the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup (here I am talking about branding and I’m already changing my focus!) He told us that he was searching for 1970’s designers, and came across a blog that was all about famous designers broken down by decade. He found exactly what he was looking for right there in front of him – he didn’t have to search through the blog for a post here and there to find what he was looking for. That’s why branding is so important – give people exactly what they want, and they’ll keep coming back because they know that your blog will give it to them.

Image via Action Coaching

consistency
Stay on-topic – It can be tempting to share the recipe for the best double-chocolate fudge brownies that you’ve ever eaten, or to gush over the hot Chippendale dancers at the bachelorette party you went to last night. But if people read your blog to learn how to grout tiles and refinish an old cabinet, then that’s what you need to stick with. That’s not to say you can’t have fun writing about those topics (remember, authenticity!), but make sure you don’t stray away from what your readers expect when they read your blog. They’re reading your blog to learn something, so make sure you always give them what they’re looking for.

Image via If Stupid Was Illegal

How do I get noticed?

Most of us don’t get paid to blog. We do it because we love design and we enjoy writing and connecting with other bloggers who love design. But maybe we’re secretly hoping that our blogs will get us noticed and bring us fame & fortune! That’s not necessarily as far-fetched a possibility as you may think. Some bloggers have been able to develop careers through blogging, and a number of bloggers have been featured on TV and in magazines. But it doesn’t just happen – you have to get yourself noticed.

Decide what matters to you

If you want to get clients through your blog, you have to include pictures of your work on your blog – people need to be able to assess your talent and skills.
If your goal is to be on TV, include videos of you on your blog.
If you want to be in print or online magazines, focus on your writing and pictures of your work.

Networking is key

Have a blog roll on your blog so that visitors to your blog can see what blogs interest and inspire you. Do guest posts for other bloggers that you like and admire. Don’t just offer to write a guest post – have a plan, tell the blogger what you want to write about and why it will be interesting to his or her readers. And ask other bloggers to guest post for you. Don’t be afraid to ask the big-name bloggers – the worst that can happen is that they say no. Just be sure to focus on bloggers who fit into the same niche as you.

How to make the pitch

Kate Moore at CityLine gets hundreds of pitches a year. She wants a pitch that’s short & sweet with your picture, your address, your bio, and show her what you represent and what you can do. She’s looking for someone who has a lot of passion and who can bring something to the show that nobody else can.

Image via CityLine

Margot Austin at House & Home wants to know who lives in the house, the designer, the problems that the designer had to overcome. Essentially, the full story behind the design. Make sure you’re pitching to the magazine that your room is the best fit for, and design your pitch for that specific magazine. And be resourceful – spend some time looking for the contact information for the right person at the magazine to send your pitch to.

Image via House & Home

And one last thing – remember when you’re blogging to always credit the source(s) for the images that you use. Really make an effort to include ALL credits, not only the source where you found the picture. The designer, the stager, the stylist, the home owner, and photographer all need to be credited too. I know it isn’t always possible to find all that information, and I admit I’m not as diligent about it as I could be. But I”m really going to make that extra effort from now on.

Source: House & Home Dec. 2010 | Designers: Barbara Purdy & Olivia Botrie | Photographer: Michael Graydon

The next BlogPodium conference is taking place May 2012 in Toronto. If you live in the GTA or can make the trip to Toronto to attend, I highly recommend it.

A huge thank you to everyone who made BlogPodium conference #1 such a great success!

IDS12 wrap-up + lots more to come

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:43:00 +0000

IDS12 has come and gone, and I have to say I think this was the best IDS show that I’ve been to. My brain is about to explode with all the amazing information that it absorbed over the last four days. There’s just too much to share in one blog post, so instead of cramming everything into one long post, I’m going to devote the next few weeks to posts about IDS12 and the related events. For today, here’s a really quick overview of the weekend, starting with the TBBs hangin’ with the very charming & funny Brian Gluckstein at the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup.

The beautiful & talented TBBs from left to right: Sonya, Donna, Lisa, Brian Gluckstein (our honourary TBB!), Maureen, Kelly, and Nicole

Not to name drop or anything, but here’s Glen Peloso reading the menu to us at Brassaii on Saturday night ;-)

There were so many amazing products, amazing people, and loads of amazing information everywhere. Here’s just a small sampling to whet your appetite (I’m still sorting out my pictures and will give proper credit once I figure out where I took them all!)

Living Lighting

Bloomsbury Kitchens

AM Studio

Flou

Elte

Want to see more? Of course you do! And I have a whole lot more to show you, plus I have lots of information to share from Kimberley Seldon’s Business of Design launch, BlogPodium, and the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup. February is going to be IDS12 month here – don’t miss it!

Actually, how about we turn this into a big IDS12 link party. If you’ve blogged about IDS12, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail with your URL(s) and I’ll include them in my IDS12 posts. Then everyone can visit everyone else and it’ll be like being at the show all over again :-) Here are just a few…

Studio North at IDS12

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Just over 24 hours until all the IDS12 fun begins – there are so many exciting events happening over the next four days, it’s going to be hard to squeeze everything in. But I’m sure going to try!

My favourite part of IDS is Studio North. There are always amazing pieces on display created by super-talented Canadian design makers and ateliers from coast to coast. Here are a just a few of this year’s Studio North exhibitors and creations that I’m looking forward to seeing.

Manila Rope Light by Atelier 668.

Spiral Nest light fixture by Zac Ridgely

Console table by Christopher Solar Studio Furniture.

Jeremy Kehoe created this amazing Wood Wall from scrap wood for a condominium lobby in Toronto.

Why Not Table by Kino Guerin.

Orbit Coffee Table by Nomo Creations.

Wall coverings by Mushaboom Design (how fun is that name?!)

Custom wallpaper by Rollout.

And that’s barely scraping the surface of all the amazing exhibitors and pieces that will be on display at Studio North and IDS12. I’m REALLY going to try to focus this year and make sure I don’t miss booths like I did last year. I still can’t believe I totally missed the Ikea kitchen… DOH! I’ll have my laptop with me in TO, but I may or may not have time to post pictures and updates about the show. But for sure I’ll be sharing all the IDS12 eye candy with you over the next couple of weeks.

Pack your bags TBBs, TO & IDS12 await!

Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:31:00 +0000

Last year, myself and six of my friends (who just happen to be uber-talented interior decorators here in Ottawa) participated in Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition.

The Extreme Makeover Design Dream Team!
Back row, L to R: Donna, dh designs | Kelly, JAX Decor & Design | Sonya, Sonya Kinkade Design | Lisa, Lisa Goulet Design
Front row, L to R: Nicole, Solace Interiors | Maureen, MODECOR | Mary Anne, Otta Decorate!

EMKE is a charity event sponsored by The United Way Ottawa and the Yummy Mummy Club as part of Kindness Week. Our challenge in 2011 was to transform the lobby and in-house store at The Good Companions Seniors Centre in Ottawa – with a budget of $0. That’s right, we had NO MONEY – we had to beg, borrow, and steal (well, no, we didn’t REALLY steal!) everything for the makeover – furniture, paint, lumber, carpeting, artwork, labour... It was a lot of work, but thanks to the amazing generosity of some great people and businesses, we managed to transform this cold & industrial space…

All photos of The Good Companions Seniors Centre by Danielle Lynn Photography

Into a warm and welcoming space…

EMKE 2012!

We’re back at it again this year, along with Sarah Kidder from Sarah Kidder Design. Our challenge this time around is to make over the computer and homework rooms at the The Foster Farm Family House Homework Club. It’s a place where kids who live in the Foster Farm community can go to do their homework a few days each week. Right now, the rooms are very uninspired and drab. We’re going to transform them into a bright and comfortable spaces where the kids will have all the supplies they need to do their homework. These are a couple of our colour palette inspiration pictures…

Unknown source

House Beautiful, February 2011

We already have the following donors onboard:

Sherwin-Williams Paints in Orleans, Ontario is providing all the paint and paint supplies.
Ottawa Valley Kitchens is providing custom-made cabinetry.
Danielle Lynn Photography is working with us once again to take all the before and after photos of the project.
D.E. Kinkade Konstruction Ltd is once again providing all the construction and labour.
Tag Along Toys is donating an Intelliglobe and other educational materials.
Matt LeBlanc is donating an original abstract painting.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

It’s a great start, but we still need more donations to get the job done. We need:

Wall shelves
Memo peg boards
Large clock
Small wall mounted TV and VCR
Office supplies

Window shades
Durable flooring
Two window unit air conditioners
Track lighting
Lumber and supplies

If you would like to donate any of these items for our makeover project at The Foster Farm Family House Homework Club, please contact Sonya Kinkade at sonyakinkade@bellnet.ca or 613-838-5252.

With your help, we’re going to be able to create another great space for some very deserving kids :-)

Linking up to Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Click the following links to read more about last year’s Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition project.

One more week till IDS12!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Way back in September, it felt like it was forever till the end of January and IDS12. And now it’s just one week away – WOOT!

The annual Interior Design Show in Toronto is billed as Canada’s largest contemporary design fair. And believe me, it’s HUGE! There are all sorts of things to see and do during the four-day event at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This year’s show kicks off on Thursday, January 26th with the Opening Night Party. Imagine being surrounded by the who’s who of Canadian design…

Oh yes I did!

Food and drinks for everyone (I hope the burnt toasted marshmallow ice cream people are back again this year!)…

And amazing designs every direction you look…

Andrew Ooi, IDS11

UpCountry booth, IDS11

Glenn & David Dixon, Sibling Revelry, IDS11

A very special event taking place at the Opening Night Party is the Cherish Auction. 20 Magis Julian children’s chairs are being re-imagined by 20 different designers. The chairs will be up for auction at the party, and all proceeds will be going to ONEXONE, a non-profit children’s foundation. I have a feeling this year’s show is going to be bigger and better than ever. Like last year, the TBBs (minus two) are making the trip from Ottawa to Toronto for the big show. We’ll start things off at Kimberley Seldon’s Business of Design Launch Party & Tweet-Up at Modern Weave on Thursday afternoon. Then it’s over to the MTCC for the IDS party. Friday starts bright and early with BlogPodium. BlogPodium is a quarterly conference series aimed to educate and empower bloggers and deepen relationships within the design community. I’m looking forward to seeing some of my blog friends again, and meeting some new blog friends :-) After the conference, it’s off to the show for Trade Day. My feet are already hurting just thinking about all the walking we’ll be doing! We'll probably hit some home decor stores on Saturday, and then we’re going to the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup at Brasaii Restaurant & Lounge. And then back home to boring Ottawa on Sunday (after more shopping!)

You really have to be at IDS to fully appreciate the size of the show and to experience all amazing designs and talented people. Here’s a short video that gives a quick synopsis of the show…

Will you be at IDS12?

A Lesson in Green: Eco-friendly Garage Doors

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:43:00 +0000

I was recently contacted by a representative for Garaga Garage Doors in Ottawa about their eco-friendly garage doors. I thought this topic might be of interest to my readers, so they provided me with the following information and images about their products. Hope you find it helpful…

Most people buy a new garage door as a matter of necessity or convenience. They’re either replacing a broken door or converting to an automatic. Most aren’t thinking their garage has anything to do with the environment. Nevertheless, one of the newest types of garage doors on the market, the eco-friendly kind, provides green benefits as well as a wide range of financial reasons to upgrade now.

What is Eco-Friendly?

For those not up on their lingo, eco-friendly means green or nature friendly. A green product is an item that inflicts no or minimal harm to the environment during manufacturing or operation. In addition, power-using eco-friendly products tend to be more cost-effective long term because they draw far less juice.

What is an Eco-Friendly Garage Door?

An eco-friendly garage door is manufactured almost entirely of recyclable or recycled materials. These materials are resistant to aging and weathering, and they’re every bit as high quality as the conventional garage doors on the market are. Moreover, an eco-friendly garage door is a better insulator than a standard door is, which is a primary motivation behind most eco-friendly garage door Ottawa purchases. Attached, unfinished garages can be a great waste of money. A green garage door can often save enough to pay for itself in a short period.

What is the Difference between a Standard and Green Garage Door?

Often, there is very little difference, and most green garage door purchases aren’t much different from standard garage door purchases. In other words, a homeowner doesn’t have to settle just to go green. These doors have the same level of materials and build quality, and due to the growing popularity of this home upgrade option, the doors are often available similarly priced or at a discount.

What is the Long-Term Value of an Eco-Friendly Garage Door?

An eco-friendly garage door has a minimal environmental footprint from the moment of manufacture. Even when the owner eventually discards of the door properly, they are having a positive effect on the environment.
A green garage door insulates the garage and any attached structures by completely sealing the door area. Standard doors tend not to sit perfectly flush. A green door is precise, and that allows it to trap warm air in the cold months and cooled air in the hot months.
In Canada and the United States, eco-friendly garage doors often qualify for federal tax credits and province/state rebates. In some cases, these rebates are substantial, and they can usually offset any premium associated with opting for a green garage door over a standard one.
Throughout North America, eco-rebates are also available through private organizations. If a homeowner is fortunate to have all three credits available, it is possible for the new door to pay for itself in under a year or even to be a zero-sum home improvement.
Eco-friendly doors provide a great level of home security. Earlier, we mentioned that standard garage doors tend not to sit flush. This is actually a common weakness in most home security systems, and a skilled thief can use this as their access point into the home.
When it does come time to replace a garage door, you can sell the old door, whether it’s green or not, to a recycler. The benefit of a green door, in this situation, is that the recycler will pay more for it. Selling a door this way isn’t exactly lucrative, but the additional money can go a long way toward offsetting the cost of the upgrade.

Conclusion

Eco-friendly garage doors aren’t just luxuries; they’re significant home improvements with long-term value. If you’re in a need of a new door or have an attached garage, consider this option immediately. With a little planning, the cost will be cheaper than you expect, and the long-term savings will be worthwhile.

Are you doing something to live more eco-friendly? I’d love to hear about it – leave a comment and let me know!

The OMFG Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Last year, one of the things on my to-do list for 2011 was to create a painting. It ended up being the only thing I didn’t get done – I think I was just too intimidated by the thought of putting paint to canvas. But I wasn’t intimidated by building a railing from scratch – go figure ;-) I’ve never taken art lessons, and although I’m pretty creative, I’m far from being an artist. I can’t even draw stick people properly.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, I decided that I was going to just do it. If it came out crappy, no big deal, I’d just paint over it and start again. I had an image in my mind of how I wanted the painting to turn out and an inspiration picture that I was going to use to get me started.

The first step was spray painting the canvas gold & silver.

I let it dry overnight, and then I set myself up on the kitchen counter with my canvas, my paint, by brushes, a container of water, and the laptop so I could look at the inspiration painting {I REALLY need a proper craft room}.

I squirted some purple paint onto the canvas and spread it around. Then I tried to squirt some white paint onto the canvas, but the paint just came out in little drops. So I squeezed the bottle harder, and PPPPHHHHTTTTT – white paint squirted onto the canvas. And the kitchen floor, the kitchen walls, the kitchen cupboards, the kitchen countertop, the fridge, the stove, the family room floor, and the laptop. OMFG

I got a couple of splatters on my camera bag, but managed to somehow miss the dog food bowl.

See how far away the fridge is? How the heck did the paint squirt that far?!

And to top it all off – after 1-1/2 hours of cleaning up the mess, I gave the laptop one last suck with the vacuum to get off the last bits of dried up paint. And schloop, there went the period key.

Bye-bye period key, hello run-on sentences

So a few hours and many bad words after starting, the painting came out nothing at like I had envisioned or like the inspiration painting. But I like it anyway :-) I think I’m going to call it OMFG ;-)

Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised by the paint explosion. You may remember the catastrophe I had when I painted the family room last spring that resulted in this:

Anyway, because I’m a glutton for punishment – I mean, because painting #1 was so much fun – I decided to make another painting today. No story to go with this one, though! I started with a gold canvas {ignore the broccoli and bag of flour and cans on pineapple}.

It was supposed to be a beach with crashing waves, but that plan got changed somewhere along the way {like, 5 seconds into it}.

A couple of close-ups.

Yep, those are globs of paint on the countertop!

See the speckles in the corner? I sprinkled glitter all over the painting while it was still wet. It doesn’t show up very well in the picture, but it’s pretty cool in real life.

Oh, and hubby found the period key in the vacuum canister. So all is right with the world again :-)

I’m linking up my canvas makeovers to Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch. Hopefully nobody else had a massive paint catastrophe this week!

Having a ball with my eCraft

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Santa isn’t very good at keeping secrets – he made it kind of obvious that he was bringing me a purple eCraft for Christmas. Hubby has actually played around with the eCraft more than I have, and he finally figured out how to get it to cut out the template from How About Orange to make these cool 3D balls from CB2:

I picked up a big pack of scrapbooking paper at HomeSense, and now I’m having fun making balls :-)

This is the first one I made, so I used colours that aren’t my favourites in case there was a screw-up.

Of course, I had to make one in purple & turquoise :-)

And a beach-inspired ball in blue and light brown.

These balls are so much fun to make, especially now that I don’t have to cut out each of the twelve pieces to make them! Now I need to work on some other projects that I’ve seen. I think I’m going to take a shot at something like this next:

Happy weekend!

I’m linking my eCraft project up to Feature Friday FREE-FOR-ALL {#3} at Five Days 5 Ways – check it out! You’ll find lots of inspiring projects, and you could win a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.

Bazinga! A Big Bang of Colour

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:25:00 +0000

I was a bit late getting to the Big Bang Theory party. Like, about 5 seasons late. I’m not a fan of sitcoms because they’re usually more corny than funny, and laugh tracks drive me nuts. But lately a lot of people have been telling me that I HAVE to watch The Big Bang Theory.

Image via frontierspace.co.uk

I stood my anti-sitcom ground at first, but then I caved and hubby downloaded seasons 1-4. We’ve been watching two or three episodes a night night, and we’re about 1/3 through season 3. And I have to say, I really like it :-) Sheldon is hilarious. This is my favourite Sheldon-ism – probably because I’m a bit obsessive compulsive too ;-)

And I can totally relate to Sheldon’s reaction when somebody sits in his spot on the sofa – I feel the same way when people are over and somebody takes “my spot”.

On top of being truly funny, the show is a colour feast for the eyes. Penny’s apartment is typically a mess, but the fun & bright colours & accessories are pretty awesome. I believe I see a little Tangerine Tango in there…

Image from Set Decorators Society of America

Images via Lovely Undergrad

Awesome bright green walls in the comic book store, and the comic covers and artwork inject lots of additional colour into the space. The writers and producers liked the comic store set so much after the first time they used it, that they wrote future episodes set in the comic store.

Image from Set Decorators Society of America

It’s not just the set that’s colourful, the clothes are too…

Images from Livejournal

Set Decorator Ann Shea and Production Designer John Shaffner must have a blast working on the Big Bang Theory set. They also design the sets for Mike & Molly and Two and a Half Men, and were nominated for Outstanding Are Direction for a Multi-Camera Series at the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Bazinga!

Spindle me this: A railing makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:08:00 +0000

This project definitely qualifies as an impossible made possible, so I’m linking up to the Imagine the Impossibilities blog hop at it all started with paint.

When we moved into our house in 2001, there was this not-so-decorative gaping hole in the ceiling:

Why the gaping hole? Well, it’s the opening to the loft, which is an awesome 500 sq ft room that was completely inaccessible for the first six years that we lived here. Because as you can see, there’s no staircase up to the loft. Why anyone would build an awesome room with no way to reach it, I have no idea. But finally in 2007, we had a staircase installed. YAY!

When Luigi the Flooring Guy sanded, stained, and finished the flooring that we installed in the loft, he also finished the new staircase. And then he came back later that year to refinish the flooring on the main floor.

And this is where the makeover story begins. We needed to add a railing to the new staircase and around the opening in the loft, but I wasn’t crazy about the original railing. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it, but I wanted something different. So when Luigi came back later in 2007 to refinish the main floor, out came the existing railing. Seeing as we were planning to replace it with something new, it made sense to remove it at that point.

I really like the look of metal spindles with a stained wood rail. I found this railing online, and decided that this was the railing that I wanted:

Hubby decided that he would make the railing, because, well, that’s how he rolls. He’d rather spend hours and hours and hours – stretching into months, stretching into years – to do something that a professional could get done in a couple of weeks. He thought and calculated and Auto CAD’d and came up with an initial design:

As I said, this goes back to 2007. Forward to the spring of 2010, and hubby still hadn’t figured out how to make the metal spindles without the welds showing. I called a metal guy who came over to give us a quote. We needed about 60 feet of railing (around the loft opening, down the stairs, along the main floor, and down the basement stairs). When the guy quoted $8,000-$9,000 to build the metal spindles, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I decided I could live with just plain square metal spindles, but that quote came in at around $5,000. Grrrrrr. So the project was on hold again.

At the beginning of 2011, the first thing I wrote down at the top of my to-do list for the year was FINISH RAILING. But how? Maybe I’d just have to give up on the metal spindles and go with wood after all. And then it hit me…

Could hubby build the spindles out of wood and then we could have them painted to look like metal. Ah-ha! Hubby liked that idea, and finally after all those years of waiting and thinking, he got to work. First, be built the newel posts. I was sure I’d taken some in-progress pictures, but I can’t find them anywhere. And I can’t find the inspiration picture either. But anyway, the newel posts were built and stained around June/July, and then hubby built the spindles this past summer and fall. And by mid-November, they were ready to be painted. YAY!

{Before I tell you what happened next, keep in mind that this project had been going on since 2007. Hubby had spent what seemed like forever planning and designing and cutting and routering and sanding and building the newel posts and wooden spindles.}

When the spindles were finally finished, I brought them to a paint shop that specializes in spraying wood. They sprayed the first coat, and hubby and I headed over on a Sunday morning in late November to take a look at the spindles before they sprayed the next coat. When we arrived at the shop, there were fire trucks in the parking lot. There had been a fire in the shop an hour earlier. ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?!?!? Nooooooooooooooooo!

There was no actual fire damage, but soot was on everything and the shop owner told us that because of smoke damage, everything in the shop would most likely have to be scrapped. I reiterate – ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?!

A couple of days later, the shop told us that they would be able to save the spindles after all. WHEW! I couldn’t imagine having to start that whole project all over again! And a few weeks later, we picked up the painted spindles.

We both had the week between Christmas and New Years off, so we kicked it into high gear and got the rails cut & stained & varathaned, and then it was time. The big moment I’d been waiting for since 2007 – the railing was installed! Our railless house went from this:

To this!

Staircase before:

Staircase after:

Looking down from the loft before:

Looking down from the loft after:

Looking up at the loft before:

Looking up at the loft after:

Looking down the hall before:

Looking down the hall after:

And from the other direction (in the midst of painting the hallway) before:

And after:

Newel posts:

And a few more random shots…

I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am with our new railing, It took forever to get it done, but in the end, it was worth all the aggravation and frustration and the constant “I can make it” proclamations from hubby. The change to the overall look and feel of our house is so much more than I expected, and I couldn’t be happier with how the railing came out. It was a vision in my mind for so long, but I wasn’t sure how it would look in real life. And I have to say, it looks even better than I envisioned :-) And now we can have people over without worrying about them falling through the big holes in the floor!

I’m linking up our railing makeover to Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch and to Making the World Cuter. Be sure to check out these two great blog parties :-)

1940’s Flashback

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:58:00 +0000

Image via Muse Entertainment

The mini series Bomb Girls debuts tonight on Global here in Canada. The series is set in 1941 and follows the lives of young women building bombs and ammunition for the Canadian war effort at a munitions factory in Toronto. I really enjoy period books and movies, so I’m looking forward to watching the series – it sounds like and good story, and I’m really intrigued by the ‘40s. It was obviously a turbulent and difficult time, with World War II raging in Europe and over the Pacific and in Asia, and women weren’t exactly treated as equals. But the music was cool and the fashion was pretty glam…

Image via Glamour Daze

And believe it or not, interior design in the ‘40s had a lot in common with interior design today. I came across a web site with notes taken from the book The American Woman’s Encyclopedia of Home Decorating by Helen Koues (1948). Interesting that a home decor book written almost 65 years ago has design tips that we use today. OH MY GOD. 65 years ago?! Why do I suddenly feel very, very old?! Anyway, here’s a condensed version of the notes (you can read the full article here).

1. This is the age of color. Today our walls are yellow, dusty rose, soft blue and green. Some small rooms are even in strong, deep colors. Any color you like may be chosen for the walls of a formal room.

Image from Decorating Forties Style by David Claudon,1948

Image via Style At Home, 2011

2. Combine different styles of furniture.

Image via My Design Chic from Livingetc

3. It's amazing how you can transform {an uninteresting} room into one of distinction by paneling one wall.

Fresh Home via Inside Stoop. Built by Shed.

4. Except where scatter rugs are used, the style today is to have the rug follow the outline of the room, allowing a margin of from six to twelve inches between wall and rug around the entire room.

Design by Sarah Richardson & Tommy Smythe, Sarah 101

5. Paint the radiator the color of the wall, the background of the wallpaper, or the woodwork.

Image via The Guardian

6. In many combination rooms, the studio couch is a key piece of furniture. In the one-room apartment, where it is in daily use, it should be chosen with careful consideration for its comfort as well as its appearance.

Image via 28.media.tumblr

7a. A row of pictures may be placed one above the other. This is a particularly nice way to hang human-interest pictures.

Design by Pizitz Home and Cottage, image via Chic Coastal Living

7b. Pictures and interesting wallpapers are in style today.

Ohoy Wallpaper made by 8 year old Otto Dunker for Fine Little Day (Thanks Sarah at Quintessentially B!)

8. Paint old bookshelves or cabinets that you may already have or can buy secondhand and use them for stage places.

Image via design*sponge

9. Use old jugs and pots for lamp bases and vases.

Weck canning jar pendant lights, image via The Kitchn

10. Swedish decoration is full of color, and gives great charm to informal rooms.

Image via Trendir

As they say, everything old is new again! Except avocado kitchen appliances – please, don’t ever bring those back!

Happy 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Well just like that, it’s a new day and a new year. The past week was filled with cooking and party prepping and visiting with friends and family and some skiing and dog walks at the park and food, food, and more food. Waayyyyy too much food, but that’s what the holidays are all about, right!?

We had a non-traditional BBQ rib dinner on Christmas Day with a friend and her dad, followed by a Boxing Day feast with my dad and his girlfriend. {Is it just me, or does it sound weird to call your dad’s 60-something girlfriend his girlfriend?}

For New Year’s Eve, hubby and had a Fajita Fiesta at our place. Which was actually a really good thing, because it forced us to get a big home project done. {Pictures coming soon!}

It was so much fun decorating the dining room for the party. Because if there’s one thing that I associate with a fajita fiesta (other than fajitas), it’s COLOUR! We turned our dining room into a little piece of colourful Mexico {with a bit of animal print thrown in for good measure ;-) }…

Here’s our party group :-)

Jackson got in on the action too – he even got lei’d five times! ;-)

Our friends Sandy & Rob made these fantastic cake pops – half chocolate and half margarita. YUMMY!

And I ordered a couple of dozen mini cupcakes from Sweets By Karen here in Ottawa – twelve chocolate & caramel and twelve lime. I told Karen that the theme was Mexican, and she came up with these absolutely awesome decorations for the little cupcakes. ♥ ♥ ♥

How awesome is this cactus & rattlesnake cupcake? Every little detail is perfect, right down to the snake’s tongue!

Thank you, Karen!

The sombrero was just a bit too small for hubby’s big head ;-)

And I can’t post a picture of Jackson and not Squirt – although she didn’t get lei’d, she seemed to have a good time at the party too :-)

Hope you all had a fun and festive holiday season, and best wishes for a great 2012!

Fireworks at Sydney Harbour, image via MX Large

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +0000

A couple of days ago, a lovely elf delivered a beautiful package to my house…

I couldn’t wait till Christmas to see what was inside…

A beautiful plate designed and created by Oded & Pam Ravek, the amazingly talented couple behind OR DESIGN glassworks.

A huge thank you to Oded, Pam, and Ariela the delivery elf for this fabulous Christmas gift :-) I’ll treasure it always!

Oded & Pam recently traveled to Arad, Israel where their work is now on display at the Glass Art Museum Arad. One of the pieces is this charming platter called Winter Wonder. It was inspired by their daughter’s love of elephants and the magical moment of a child’s first snowfall.

Wheeeeeee!

To learn about the creative process behind Oded & Pam’s glasswork and see more of their amazing pieces, click here to read the interview I did with them last spring. And be sure to check out their website and blog for even more pictures and information about their work.

Just a few more sleeps till Christmas… I can’t show you too many pictures of my decorations because I’m in the midst of a makeover that I’m going to share with you in the new year. But here are a few, starting with the snowflake tree in the family room (it has a few non-snowflake ornaments too)…

A few close-ups from last year…

The treasure tree in the loft…

And the white tree in the dining room…

Each tree has a ceramic Santa that my mom and I made years ago…

And I decorated the white tree with lots of the glitter balls I made, as well as some handmade ornaments I bought in Budapest last Christmas.

You can read about my trip here, here, here, here, here, and here. If you’ve never been to Budapest, I highly recommend adding it to your list of places to see. The architecture is beautiful, the food is delicious (be prepared to gain about 10 pounds!), and even though Hungarian is impossible to understand, it’s relatively easy to find your way around because lots of Hungarians in Budapest speak English.

The dining room dressed up for Christmas…

One of my mini trees has a coastal flair this Christmas…

Balls from the dollar store hung from a curtain rod…

I love these snowmen – the colours change from red to green to blue to purple.

My take on a peacock wreath…

Outdoor tree decorated with dollar store ornaments…

And a little more Christmas baking – we went to a friend’s Christmas party last weekend. She’s gluten free, so rather than making the trifle I usually bring to her parties, I found this recipe for a flourless chocolate cake. One thing I’ve discovered about flourless food – gluten free doesn’t mean calorie free! There’s a whack of butter and sugar and chocolate in this baby, but it’s totally worth it because it’s soooooooooo good! It’s uber-rich & decadent, so you just need a small piece to get big chocolate flavour.

And that, my blog friends, is all for now – I’m taking a blog break over the holidays. I’ll be back in January with more makeovers, more DIY projects, and maybe a surprise or two :-)

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and everything else festive…

See you in 2012!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:52:00 +0000

Mother Nature is really messing around with the weather this year. It’s December 20th in Ottawa, and there’s not a flake of snow to be seen. It rained yesterday, it’s sunny & cold today, and it’s not looking very promising for a white Christmas this year. A big BOOOO to you, M.N.! Not that I want to be buried under multiple feet of snow, but some white fluffy stuff would really help boost the Christmas spirit. So I thought I’d try to kick my Christmas mojo up a few notches with pretty pictures of white Christmases. Hope they lift your Christmas spirit too…

Image via favim.com

Image via The Style Files

Images via Oaxacaborn via Lantliv (photographer Frederikke Heiberg)

Image via Marcus Design

Image via BHG

Image via 79 ideas

Image via I’m All Amazed

Image via La Maison d’Anna G.

Image via Zsa Zsa Bellagio

Image via Alexandra Grablewski Photography

Image via Decor de Provence

Image via Squidoo

Image via The Essence of the Good Life

Image via Christmas Wallpapers

Image via Weekday Carnival

Image via Chic Coles

Come on Mother Nature, bring us a little bit of snow for Christmas!

Bake-N-Blog Holiday Edition, Part 2: Party On!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:27:00 +0000

OK all you bakers, today is the day to show the world your Christmas culinary creations – yes, it’s time for Bake-N-Blog Holiday Edition, Part 2! In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, here’s what Bake-N-Blog: Holiday Edition is about in a nutshell: Each blogger who signed up for Bake-N-Blog selected a Christmas cookie to make (from the Internet or a cookbook or an old family recipe), whipped up a batch of the cookies, taste-tested them (isn’t that the whole point of baking?!), and today everyone is blogging about their cookies. It’s a great way for everyone to try out a new recipe, and maybe some of them will be great new additions to our Christmas baking repertoires :-)

All participants are linking to their Bake-N-Blog posts at the end of this post or leaving a link in the comments section. Be sure to make the rounds and check them all out.

This time around, I’m doing my BNB post a bit differently from last year’s BNB post. That’s mainly because I was so busy chatting while I was baking that I forgot to take “in progress” pictures. Bad me! But it’s not my fault – I was baking with a couple of friends and my cousin and my cousin’s daughter and, well, you know how it is when a bunch of girls get together ;-) But this is going to work out great for YOU, because I’m going to share LOTS of recipes with you instead of just one!

So let’s get out the KitchenAids…

And let’s get baking! Starting with Chewy Lemon Snowdrops:

You had me at chewy. Or was it lemon. Either way, I had to try out these cookies because I love chewy cookies and lemon :-) Plus don’t they look pretty all dressed up in powdered sugar for Christmas? Unfortunately, they’re not as chewy as I was expecting, and they need more lemon juice to give them more lemony kick. I’m going to try this recipe for chewy lemon cookies from Patent & the Pantry.

Pistachio Christmas Ribbon Bars (I doubled the recipe & added white chocolate chips). Not my favourite, but not too bad. I should have put the jam on thicker to give it more raspberry flavour. And using salted butter might be better (the recipe called for unsalted).

Dreamy Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares. Fast & easy to make – only four ingredients and no baking required. Kind of on the sweet side – but then, the ingredients are butter, marshmallows, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips!

My gluten free friend Rona (she’s not gluten free, she eats gluten free food) made these Gluten Free Raspberry Coconut-Almond Bars. They’re good, but there’s a lot of coconut oil in them. Rona thinks the bottom should have been baked longer so they’d be easier to cut. She also thinks they’d be good as tarts instead of bars to eliminate the need to cut them altogether :-)

And she made gluten free Chocolate Peppermint cookies. Even non-gluten free people thought these cookies were delicious. No link for these ones, but the recipe is at the end of this post.

My cousin Lynn chose Chewy Chocolate Eatmore Bars:

And Black Forest Crinkle Cookies:

We had a small technical difficulty with the Black Forest Crinkle Cookies. You know what they say about too many cooks… yep, one of us (I’m not naming names) put three eggs in the mixer instead of two. But that’s because another one of us gave one of us a bowl with three eggs in it, so logically, one of us assumed that all three eggs were supposed to go into the batter (we doubled the recipe). We had to add some extra flour to make the batter less sticky, but we couldn’t get it to the point of being roll-able. So instead, we plopped the batter onto the cookie sheets, and they came out great anyway :-) Not sure if it was the extra egg that made the batter too thin to roll into balls, but keep it in mind if you decide to make these cookies.

Sandy made Crunchy Sesame Cookies:

And Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies:

The sesame cookies have an unexpected taste, and the pinwheels are a nice combination of flavours with the ginger & lemon. Sandy added a teaspoon (or maybe it was a tablespoon) of lemon juice to the lemon dough to give it more lemony flavour.

And there you have it, nine recipes for the price of one :-) It was a fun day of baking, and after dividing all the cookies between us, we all have a nice selection of Christmas cookies for the holidays :-)

Here’s the recipe for the Chocolate Peppermint cookies.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies - yield 30-36 cookies

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2 large egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup mini choc chips

Preheat to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
Sift together sugar and cocoa & set aside.
In the bowl of electric mixer, combine egg white and salt. Set mixer speed to high and beat till soft peaks form. Add sugar-cocoa mixture, 1 Tbsp at a time, till thoroughly combined. Set speed to low. Mix in vanilla and peppermint extracts. Add chocolate chips and mix until thoroughly combined. Dough will have the consistency of thick frosting.
Using a small cookie scoop, shape dough into 1" mounds and drop onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2" apart. Bake till tops are shiny and faintly cracked, about 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheets placed on wire racks.
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

If you’re participating in BNB, leave a comment with your link and I’ll add it to the list below. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else baked :-)

Kate @ manningroad – Cheat’s Pudding Truffles
Carissa @ The Fabulous Design File – Vegan Coconut Sugar Cookies
Barbara @ hodge:podge – Teddy Bear Paws

The ball obsession continues + giveaway winner

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:48:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I’ve become obsessed with balls. Well, the ball obsession continues! A while back, I found a picture of glittery Christmas balls on Pinterest and saved it to my crafts board. And now that it’s the holiday season, what better time to make them! They’re so easy and fun to do, and I’m totally bummed that I’ve run out of balls to glitterize. I need to go to the craft store and pick up some more!

I won’t write out a tutorial for you because Amy at Prairie Paper & Ink has already done that, complete with step-by-step pictures (click here for the tutorial). But they’re really easy to make – all you need is plain glass balls, dye re-inker, glitter, a funnel (paper rolled into a cone works perfectly) and latex gloves (trust me, that’s an important supply!)

I bought the three inks on the left online from JoAnn. The three on the right are from Michael’s, but they aren’t quite the same thing. Both work for this project, but adding water to the inks from Michael’s caused the ink to get a bit chunky, so I had to use it straight from the bottle. Adding a little bit of water makes the inks on the right easier to work with, and also helps the ink go farther.

So here’s the nutshell version of how to make glitter balls – remove the cap from the ball, put on the gloves, squeeze some dye into the ball, swirl the dye around until the inside of the ball until is completely covered, pour out excess dye, add glitter, shake, and voila, glitter ball!

It’s fun experimenting with different colour combinations and seeing how they turn out. For example, when I was working with the purple, blue, and green dyes from JoAnn, I emptied the excess ink into the same container, which created kind of an ugly dark brown. I thought I’d try it out in a ball anyway. I started with this…

Poured it into a ball…

Added the glitter…

And it came out bronze!

When I mixed green & purple together, out came copper.

And citrus green combined with water turned out almost gold.

I’m telling you, these glitter balls are addictive – I’ve made about three dozen so far, and I need to make more! Here are some of the other colours that are either straight from the bottle, mixed with some water, or two colours mixed together…

If you’re looking for a quick & easy Christmas craft, you have to try these :-)

And now on a completely different note, it’s time to announce the My Memories giveaway winner…

Jessie at Mix And Chic

Congratulations Jessie! Liz at My Memories will be sending you the information you need to download your free software.

And finally, don’t forget that tomorrow is Bake-N-Blog Holiday Edition, Part 2. It’s not too late to whip up a batch of Christmas cookies and participate! Click here for all the details.

Have yourself a crafty little Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly @ JAX does design) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:07:00 +0000

I think most people would agree that Christmas has gotten way too commercial. It seems to be all about buying stuff and getting stuff and then getting stuffed with a big turkey dinner. Not to mention the people who go way overboard with the Christmas lights….

Whoa! (Images via Socyberty)

For some reason, this year I’m seriously lacking the Christmas decorating mojo. I did put up a tree in the dining room, but other than that, all my Christmas paraphernalia is just sitting there on the floor in the family room. I keep looking at it and wondering what to do with it all. I’m finding that I’m not so interested in putting out all the store-bought decorations that I’ve accumulated over the years. So I think this year, I’m going to pare back on the store stuff and focus more on hanging homemade ornaments and decorations.

(Oh sh*t, not A Hippopotamus Christmas! Crap, now I’m going to have it in my head for the rest of the day!)

OK, so now that I’m doomed, I thought I’d share some of the Christmas crafts that I’ve come across. I’ve made a couple of them, and I’ll be showing you my very favourite Christmas craft project next week.

I love these Christmas balls. I made a bunch of them years ago, and other than one that broke, I put them on the tree every year. These aren’t my balls, they’re from Alyssa Ruklic’s board on Pinterest. I want to make one just like the blue, green, and purple ball on the bottom right. But these balls are kind of a crapshoot – no two will ever come out the same. Which is what makes them all that much more special :-)

Ashton at A Yellow Bicycle made these pretty purple, grey, white, and yellow balls (tutorial here).

Along the same line are these glittery balls that Amy at Prairie Paper & Ink made with dye re-inker and glitter (tutorial here).

I just realized that I keep calling these balls. I did mention last week that I’m a bit obsessed with balls, so it’s just the word that pops into my head. Technically, they’re glass ornaments.

If you like pinecones, here’s an edible version and an inedible version for you. Felt pinecones (these would be the inedible ones!) from Family Circle (tutorial here):

And these much more tasty fondant-covered rice krispie treat pinecones (and acorns and Christmas trees too) are from Bakingdom (tutorial here):

Holly used a wood monogram from Southern Proper Monograms, a sprig of greenery, and a couple of festive ribbons to create this simple & elegant decoration for her front door. Read more about it over at Holly Mathis Interiors.

If you’re a musician or have a musician in the family, you’ll like these stars made from Christmas carol sheet music (tutorial with templates here).

Cute blue & green topiaries made with mini ornaments (from BHG, tutorial here):

Also from BHG, a pretty wreath made with craft store pearls. I’m guessing this one takes a lot of time and patience! The link to the BHG web site doesn’t seem to work anymore, but it’s just a styrofoam wreath that’s covered with a satin ribbon and then the pearls are glued on. You could use the same technique to make balls – errrrr, tree ornaments.

Crafty projects are all about using your imagination and creativity. Tiffany at Living Savvy came up with the idea to make these cute Christmas trees. Can you guess how she did it?

Would you believe poster board and Epsom salt?! Check out Tiffany’s tutorial here.

And finally, Mrs. Mustard Seed created this beautiful no-sew – that’s right, NO-SEW – ruffled tree skirt ♥ I really want to make one, but I don’t know if I’ll have time to do it this year. But next Christmas for sure! (Tutorial here).

There are loads of great Christmas crafts out there, these are just a few that caught my eye. If you’ve come up with a great Christmas craft, I’d love to see it – leave me a comment with a link and I’ll check it out :-)

TWO REMINDERS!

My giveaway for the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software is open until 11:59PM on Monday, December 12th. It’s the perfect Christmas gift for your favourite scrapbooker, decorator, or YOU! :-) Click here to enter.

Bake-N-Blog Holiday Edition, Part 2 is happening next Wednesday, December 14th. Get our your KitchenAids & baking sheets and join in the fun! Click here for all the details.

Happy weekend!