visual meringue

Going to the Chapel...

2013-05-17T14:35:00.002-07:00

And my brother-in-law's getting maaarrriieeed..

My nice brother-in-law and his sweet fiance surprised us all on January 1st by announcing their engagement! Yes!

That means I got to design their wedding invitations (yes!)... well, basically I forced myself upon them and they took me up on it. Smart choice? Oh, and for those new to this blog, I am a Graphic Designer. So my forcefulness was at least backed up with some experience in the area ;)

Since the future bride and groom live about a five hour plane ride away, we had a discussion over Skype to talk about their vision for the wedding! I pinned some designs on Pinterest for them to start the discussion - seeing what appealed to them and to show them different formats and ways we could go.

From that discussion, a few key elements arose:
1) They loved the slogan 'Eat, Drink and Be Married"
2) They were drawn to an ivory and green colour palette
3) No RSVP card was required as they wanted to do a wedding website which could gather replies
4) The venue is quite formal so they hoped for an image of a chandelier if possible
5) They loved the look of hand drawn and sketched fonts. They also liked a bit of a vintage vibe.
6) They wanted the invitation to feel sophisticated YET still wanted to portray the feeling of FUN. It is a celebration after all! and
7) They wanted to play up the fact that even though they met miles away, years later from where they started, they were actually born in the same hospital half-way across the country!

Coincidence? I think not. Obviously fate.

Taking all that in to account, I set off to work.

Oh, and I should mention they are both actors. Fellow creative types so I took that into account too...

The finished design... FRONT

AS YOU OPEN (It's a 3 panel roll-fold). It reads "From Lions Gate (the name of the hospital they were both born in and also the name of the bridge in the photo) to Queen's Landing (the name of the venue).

COMPLETELY OPEN

BACK

As you may have noticed, some names and dates have been blurred out to protect the innocent.

A few details should you decide to attempt something like this on your own, I designed this piece to be 5" x 7" once folded. This way, it would fit perfectly in an A7 sized envelope which is 5.25" x 7.25". For a 'perfect' fit you want to leave 1/8" (.125") around each edge. This gives you some wiggle room to allow your invitation to slide in and out easily. Since we have four edges, we deduct .25" from each dimension of the envelope to give us our finished invitation size.

Never design an invitation and then go looking for an envelope to fit it (nightmare). Always look at your desired envelope size first and work back from there.

Another thing to note, is that since this invitation is a 'three panel roll-fold" style (which means the panels roll in to themselves) you will need to deduct 1/8" off your inside panel. That makes the flat size of the invitation 14 7/8" (14.875") x 7" versus the 15" x 7" that you may expect if doing simple math. Two of the panels (front and back) are 5" but the panel that rolls into the centre is 4 7/8" so that it is slightly smaller than the 5" panel it will be sitting against once closed. If all panels were 5" then your invitation would buckle in the centre where the edge of your panel met the fold.

And lastly, one note about folds. This invitation is scored in two places so that it folds nicely. Scoring your paper insures a crisp, clean fold. I score using an exacto blade which I pull loosely across the top of my paper. Make sure you don't apply too much pressure of you will cut right through! Score against a straight edge (a metal ruler is ideal). Always score on the side of the paper you are folding away from (the outside or back of your piece). I know that sounds weird but when you score, you break the tiny fibres in the paper which is what allows you to get that nice clean edge. You want to fold your paper along that 'broken' line.

Now, back to the pretty pictures...

As far as fonts go. the font used for the word "EAT" is Sketch Block. The font used for the word "drink" is Lavanderia. The font used for "And" is Bergamont Ornaments. The font used for "be" is Handy George and the font used for "Married" is Simon Script. They are all free for download.

I printed these on a colour laser printer and chose a paper stock with a linen finish. I love how you can see the texture of the paper coming through. And, fun fact, but I had to add in the horse and buggy (Photoshop) as the bridge image on the left had a vintage vibe to it so our bride and groom wanted the same for the venue photo.

I had fun playing with different typography treatments which were used to reflect the casual yet formal, while still being fun vibe.

I used the chandelier because it had a formal feeling to it (our bride-to-be requested it) and introduced the bunting (flag banner) as a way to give the invitation a feeling of celebration and fun. Also, since the invitation has a vintage feel, using a trendy or current element (bunting) is a way to make your design feel modern and fresh as well.

I also used a swirly dotted line throughout to add some whimsy and draw your eye through the invitation.

I had a great time designing this invitation for my brother-in-law and future sis-in-law! Thanks guys!

What about you? Any weddings this year? Are you involved in the planning or designing? Or just showing up for the buffet and open bar? ...Not a bad gig either!

Lighten Up!

2013-05-13T08:28:00.007-07:00

I did a little bit of refreshing on the 'ol mantel. It was time to (literally) lighten up. As in, all things WHITE!

I like the simple, clean and understated approach that using only white elements offers.

My Spring mantel was still relevant (since it is still Spring), but had a lot of Easter influence so it was time to shake it up a bit.

Since my last few mantels have been quite full, I wanted something a little less dense this time - and with an airier feeling about it. Plus I think I was inspired by my new curtains :). It's the first mantel I've done since I installed them and I think the graphic nature of them (and the colour palette) led me in this direction.

I used what I already had on hand, and the elements themselves are quite simple. First I took a white frame and framed some shells photos that I got from 'google images'. To tone them down a bit (keeping with the light, white feeling) I actually put a white box over them (in my design program - Adobe Indesign) and set the opacity to 25%. Basically what that did was make the shells a softer colour. Then I just printed it out on my colour laser printer.

The decorative scroll plaque is actually one that I got from a consignment store and spray painted white to use in my outdoor garden wall awhile back. It was sitting unused in my outside storage bin since I haven't put all my outdoor decor up yet.

This candle holder is one I've had for years I lovingly call it my 'swiss cheese holder'. As you can imagine, it makes a funky circle pattern when the candle inside is lit.

And lastly are these tree bark vases that I got back in the fall. I have used them on every mantel since I purchased them. (Seriously, check it out: Fall, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Spring) I love the shape and finish - and even love them without flowers in them. I often use them just by themselves 'as is'.

So that's it. Clean. Simple. Nothing fancy.

I think it compliments the new curtains, panelled wall and art above the couch. What do you think?

What about you guys? Get up to any refreshing around your house lately? And new mantels? If so, I bet you can safely say you didn't use any swiss cheese or bark on yours... which is a lot more than I can say ;).

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I got it from my mama

2013-05-10T10:20:00.002-07:00

In the always so eloquent words of Will-i-am, Sunday is MOTHER'S DAY!

source

A bit of a different post today as this is more of a tribute than a DIY, decor idea, recipe or craft project, but I wanted to take a moment to recognize the mom's in my life.

First up is my mom.

I've known her my whole life (ha) and I have to say she's a pretty special lady. After all, she put up my with dad and I relentlessly teasing her while high-fiving on countless road trips. And aside from jumping out of the car, she was stuck with us. And still is.

My mom:

loves me unconditionally
calls me all of the time just to say 'hello'
respects me - I think ;)
thinks I'm a big dreamer (I am)
is okay with that - I think again ;)
would write me notes and put them in my paper bag mailbox beside my bed as a child (I still have them!)
would cook us a healthy dinner every night growing up
is smart enough to realize my dad can do it now that they are retired and
is one classy lady

I love my mom.

I haven't mentioned this on my blog in the past, but my family has had a rough few years. On January 28th of this year, we lost my sweet, sweet sister Tanya. Tanya passed away from cancer after a long - and very hard and painful - battle. It's a long story for another day, but I know this Mother's Day is going to be an extra hard one for my mom. Just one daughter now. I struggled with even writing this and have been mulling it over in my head for weeks but something just compelled me to let it out. I wonder if it's my sister's spirit coaxing me on?

As a mom, I can't even fathom what it must be like for her. And as myself, I wonder if I am enough? I know it is silly and even wonder if that is a normal thought in an instance like this, but it is what it is. My sister was absolutely amazing. She is so much to live up to. She was SO very thoughtful. And she loved my mom too. I know she will be watching over her this Mother's Day especially.

So mom, if you read this. You (and dad) are my rock and I wish you a wonderful Mother's Day. Thank you for putting up with me and pretending you get my crazy sense of humour.

My sister, myself and my mom on my wedding day (7 years ago this month!)

I'm lucky enough to have another mom too! But this one is "Mum". Not as in mum's-the-word. But as in, I'm British and that's how we spell it. Yes, my mum-in-law. She's pretty great too.

My mum:

loves her family
loves her daughter-in-laws (and treats them as her own)
put up with three boys. Holy camole.
has three grandchildren who are also all boys (whoops)
has an awesome English accent (me wanty)
didn't pass it down to my husband but I wish he had absorbed it via osmosis (typed that, and not going to delete it. They moved to Canada before Chef Kev was born)
can pull things out from 1982 at a moment's notice (seriously, where does she store it all!?)
loves theatre, music and entertaining
makes being a "Mrs..." a hard name to live up to (in a good way). We share the same last name now.
made Chef Kev. And for that I will be eternally grateful.

I love my mum-in-law.

No "Outlaw In-laws" casting calls for us!

My mum-in-law and Chace

And finally, without those two Mom's I'd never have gotten to be a mom to this sweet guy.

Being Chace's mommy is such a honour. I feel like I don't even need a special day to celebrate it (but mark my word, I'm taking it)!

I hope I live up to all Chace's expectations. If I can be half the mommy that my two mo(u)m's have then I think I am doing okay.

And true story, last night when I was out of the room Chef Kev asked Chace what he wanted to get me for Mother's Day. Chace's reply? "I want to get Mommy a heart because I love her SO much".

Can't even make that kind of stuff up. That was my gift right there. I'm doing okay in his eyes :)

So, to ALL the mom's out there - Happy, happy Mother's day.

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May Calendar Roundup

2013-05-01T08:30:00.003-07:00

It's that time again - monthly calendar roundup - Yeeeehaaaaa!

If April showers bring May flowers, then we're going to have a whole lotta flowers in my part of town this month!

Speaking of a-lotta, here are my picks for the calendars that caught my eye. Simply click on the link below each one to be redirected to the download.

Enjoy!

Creative Design Magazine

Thomson Reuters

Red Stamp

Wild Olive

Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Pizza

2013-04-29T08:36:00.001-07:00

This is hands down my favourite pizza in the whole world. Seriously. It is SO g.o.o.d. Really good. And I managed to convince Chef Kev to make it for me on Saturday evening. Yay :)

This pizza is right up there with finding twenty dollars in the pocket of a jacket you haven't worn in over a year (yes!). And right up there with hitting every green light on the way to work (score!) This pizza is even as good as eating more chocolate than the Easter Bunny, yet still loosing two pounds when you step on the scale (SAWEEET!) Like I said, G.O.O.D.

Okay, let's get to gettin'.

ingredients:
whole garlic bulb
extra virgin olive oil

pizza crust - thin

package of smoked salmon lox

red onion - thinly sliced
capers
goat cheese
fresh dill - chopped
lemon

to make:
Before assembling and making your pizza, you will first need to roast a bulb of garlic. Preheat your oven to 400°, then cut the top of the bulb so that the tips of each clove are exposed. Place your bulb on a sheet of tinfoil and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Wrap the garlic bulb in the tinfoil and roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes. You will know it is ready when the cloves turn a rich caramel colour and pop out of their casings easily (to release them squeeze lightly at the base of each clove and they should come right out). Yum!

With your oven preheated at 425°, begin assembling your pizza by first brushing a layer of olive oil on to your crust. Next, cover your crust with the smoked salmon and add your thinly sliced red onion and capers. Top that with chunks of crumbled goat cheese (mmmmmmm...). Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Finish with the dill and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Zesty, Yummy, GOLD.

Enjoy!

Okay, so maybe it is better than eating more chocolate than the Easter Bunny, yet still loosing two pounds when you step on the scale. I stand corrected.

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This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Sonja at And More Food.

Putting the Spring in my front door's step!

2013-04-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

Ah yes, Spring is here. Now doesn't this image just scream "Spriiinnnng!"

No? I agree. It screams "mama's been kinda busy", actually if it were screaming it would be more like "MAMMA'S BEEN KINDA BUSY!" but I don't like to yell. What you are looking at here are the remnants of my Christmas planter (I didn't blog about it this year but it looked basically like this). Now, in my defense this is from about a month ago (so late March isn't too bad is it)? Okay, it is.

Chace and I set out to give this planter a Spring overhaul. First we removed all the dead foliage and thinned out the branches drastically. Then Chace worked his magic moving the dirt around. Nothing like putting your (almost) four year old to work. And don't you love the outfit he picked out? Priceless.

Once Chace had filled his time card we turned our attention to the flowers I had purchased. My birthday is mid-March and my sweet coworker bought me a gift card to a garden centre near my office (thanks Sharon)! I picked up these 6 plants on my lunch break a day or two before the big dig.

I'm sorry that I can't recall the names for all of these but basically I picked up some ground cover, some heather (the purple one), decorative grass, a succulent variety, and some violas.

Then we began planting. I let Chace help by telling me which one he wanted to plant next and I helped chose where to put them.

I tried to place the plants in an arrangement that would add interest from each angle you viewed the planter at. For example, I put the succulent near the side of the planter where the door is as it is small so you may not notice it if tucked in back. I also put the heather to the far right as it is large and colourful so adds a nice 'frame'. I put the grass near the succulent as I loved the play of texture. And the ground cover and flowers I tucked throughout to add diversity and interest.

Then my helper cleaned up. If anyone is looking, he charges $10/hr. All calls go through his momager.

This angle makes him look so tall!

Speaking of angle, this one here had a good one. She did nothing but look at me like this and try to get me to throw her ball for her. Get to work Belle. Shameless.

Once we were all done we had a planter that was ready to start growing. Now it feels like Spring!

As mentioned, I did this about a month ago and grow she did! Here is how she was looking last night when I snapped a few quick pics...

The flowers are loving their new homes and I am loving the colour and life.

This succulent is just so succulent. Sorry, had to be said.

Well, that put a little spring in my step - har har. There is something so refreshing about flourishing flowers. Gotta love 'em.

And the planter-o-shame is but a distant memory (albeit one with photographic evidence).

What about you guys? Get up to any spring cleaning inside or out? I love Spring cleaning/organizing. I get a real itch this time of the year. Nothing is safe. I'm talking to you garage. You've been warned.

Artsy Fartsy

2013-04-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

Chef Kev will think it's funny that I used the word 'fart' in a title #guyhumour. My mom won't #sorrymom!

Earlier this week I shared with you the updates we did in our living room. For those who missed it you can read about it here - but basically it is our new curtains and panelled wall.

We used to have art hanging over the couch and behind the dining table.

But it was taken down when we put up the awesomesauce panelling.

As juicy as the panelling is, the spot above the sofa still looked a little bare. The couch is such a similar colour that it almost blends into the wall.

In an ideal world I'd also love to update the throw cushions (bring in something more modern with hits of grey) and that lamp is totally the wrong lamp for the space but Rome wasn't built in day and neither was my living room. I'd actually really love a dark charcoal couch there but I digress... We work with what we have right!? And what I have is a small budget.

Okay, so the painting I did of Chace didn't work in this spot any more so he got moved to the basement. Sorry nugget!

Where he went up, four black frames came down. I'm going to reuse three of them here.

I was originally thinking of framing some black and white prints in them but then I had another idea.

One of my favourite tricks is framing 'art' from what are known as 'mill swatches'. In my industry (Graphic Design) mill swatches are a designers' best friend. Think of them as the paint swatch deck to a painter, the surgical tools to a surgeon (dramatic yes) or Sriracha sauce to anything Chef Kev eats. Hand in hand my friend.

Mill swatches are booklets put out by the different paper mills showcasing their paper. The swatches show different weights, colours and what sizes the paper is available in. They also contain a bunch of information about how the paper is produced, recycled content of the stock etc. In addition to this, the mill swatches also show examples of different printing processes to show how the paper stock takes ink. As you can imagine, each paper has different qualities and the imagery plays into that. For example, a shiny slick coated stock may be used in producing a car pamphlet (as it makes the car look new, shiny and fancy) so they may showcase imagery of the sort. An uncoated stock with high recycled content may boast imagery of fabrics or something much more tactile and textured. Mill swatches are awesome reference for Graphic Designers.

Sometimes the paper mills also put out what is known as 'printed samples'. Printed samples are design pieces with amazing imagery showcasing multiple lines of the mill's paper and various techniques. These are my faves. The designs and processes used can be breathtaking. And yes, I am 100% a design nerd and totally okay in admitting it.

And that pic is actually a self portrait that I took of myself stuck in a traffic jam. I guess my nerdness knows no bounds...

Okay, but back to this!

Here is what mill swatches and printed samples look like.

I've framed images from other mill swatches and printed samples in the past. In our main floor bathroom for example...

I have a set of three up but they are a bit hard to shoot together so here is the other one...

and a I've used printed sample imagery again in a corner of our entry way.

Back to the pile above though, here are the 'series' that caught my eye as possible options.

Tickets. I loved the colour here but didn't really want to cut the picture up in to three sections. I was worried it would lose the feeling that this single image captures.

Pay-per-view binoculars: these are just three but you can see under the middle one that there are a few more poking out.

Black & white to colour imagery: thought this was interesting, especially since black & white was my first instinct...

And this one here full of different rulers and the like.

I was still a bit torn so I propped up each 'set' against the frames sitting on the back of the couch. I did each one like this...

And then I made my choice. Spoiler alert - it's the pay-per-view binocular series! I loved the colours and mood of these pics. I had to go with them.

Then I set about framing them. The frames are quite old but I think I got them from Real Canadian Superstore (about 10 years ago)!

I have a few framing tricks for you though to make your framed pieces look like a million bucks. Number one is to have your mats custom cut. The word 'custom' can conjure up images of dollar signs but it's actually not expensive at all. If memory serves, these were $7 each and you end up with beautiful thick mats that really highlight whatever you are framing. I like to make them nice and generous. I find the ones that come in the frames are always a bit skimpy and have very thin margins. Ample white space = great showcasing of your subject. I think they look more like gallery pieces this way. I had the foyer and bathroom ones shown earlier custom cut too.

My second tip is to put a piece of tape on the backside top edge of your photo/picture/art print with the sticky side facing up. This way, when you centre your image in the mat opening all you have to do is lightly press down on the top of the opening and your image will get 'tacked' in to place. Then you can flip the mat over and tape your image securely in place to reinforce it.

After all three were framed I marked the wall using a level and a pencil. Then I turned to my favourite 3M picture hanging strips. I love these things. Easiest way to hang art without ever damaging your wall. Golden. I used the strips like this on two of the frames but placed them top and bottom middle for the centre frame (as it is on the moulding versus the flat wall as you will see).

So here is the 'before' again for you...

And the 'after'!

Here are some close ups of the art prints.

right hand side:

centre:

left:

I love how the soft haze in the photos really helps link the cream in the couch to the grey on the wall. And because I used what I had on hand this whole project probably cost me less than how much one of those pay-per-view binoculars charge! The only supply I had to get was some new picture hanging strips because I was out.

A few more angles for you...

I think it really finishes off the space and helps identify the 'living room' area in this open concept space (the dining table is just to the right of this area).

What about you? Any picture hanging tips or favourite things to frame? Any secret nerd confessions that you are just dying to get out? Please share ;)

Potty Pirate

2013-04-23T11:14:00.002-07:00

The other day Chace (my four year old) saw me coming out of the bathroom after changing the toilet paper roll. I know, random but I have a point. Before I got to the recycling bin he said "Mommy, can we make something with that?" The craft loving designer in me had her heart grow three sizes that day (oh, whoops, that was the Grinch) but needless to say I was happy. DIY something crafty? Of course!

I asked him what he'd like to make and he said "a pirate". Of course he did. Because he couldn't have just said something simple like "an orange toilet paper roll". But my little four year old wanted a pirate so this mommy was going to do her best to dream up one with what I had on hand.

Oh, and did I mention that Chace's favourite show right now is 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'? Yo ho let's go!

Ahoy Matey!

Okay, so obviously this is not the best thing ever crafted BUT, more important than that is what this means. Having Chace ask me to make him something out of a piece of material destined for the recycle bin was a bigger question than that. What I heard was a little boy asking his mommy to come and 'play' with him.

To digress for a moment, with all the 'stuff' going on in the world these days and the horrible events unfolding in Boston and all over the world right now this simple question was a reminder. A reminder to take a deep breath, to get off the computer, log off of Facebook, turn off the news. Let the dishes sit dirty in sink, don't worry about Chace's bath night that night and needing to rush because of it. Just. Be. Present. Sit down. Make a silly craft and soak up some of the best medicine the world has to offer (in the form of a four year old boy who wants his mommy to do a craft with him).

I'm a big believer in doing stuff like that. Of course I love my blog, I have freelance commitments, a full-time job and I love my house being tidy. But more that all of that, I love my family. My Chef Kev, my dog Belle and my little nugget Chace. Spending time with each of them is a silent way to say "you are worth all of my attention. You. Nothing else matters right now". Time to breathe.

Easy to forget to do at times isn't it?

So, to sit down and make a little pirate for my adorable little crew mate as he finished his dinner was something I was more than happy to do.

Impromptu as it was, I just went upstairs to my craft bin and grabbed what I had on hand. It didn't need to be the best pirate ever to be valuable. ;)

I grabbed a bunch of leftover felt and pipe cleaners (used here at one of my annual Christmas Craft Night's for making elves!) as well as some other left over pipe cleaners, little pompoms and googly eyes (from a kid's Halloween craft party where we made spiders out of mini pumpkins). I also grabbed some white glue (and not pictured but grabbed after was a paint brush, coloured markers, a T-pin and my glue gun).

Originally I was going to get Chace to help me make the pirate but it was a bit too difficult for his skill level (he just turned four as mentioned) and he said he wanted to watch me make it as he finished his dinner. Good gig kid.

If you have any desire to make a little pirate then you're in luck as a I documented the steps. If not, then I hope you like pictures of 'how to make a pirate' because you're going to see a lot of them. Buckle up.

First, line up your 'pant' felt about halfway up the toilet paper tube. Disclaimer - none of this has to be perfect. I will show you evidence to support this statement below. You have been warned.

Apply some white glue to your tube.

Wrap the felt around.

PANTS. Done. As easy as dressing a toddler. Scratch that. Strike the oxymoron from the record.

Next up was a shirt. I chose my blue felt (well, Chace did) and decided to wrap this one a bit differently for interest. I started on a bit of an angle...

So that when finished it had a neat 'seam'. As you can see I used the 'cut a strip and apply glue' method as mentioned above for the pants.

I overlapped the pants too just for fun (like a real shirt).

Moving along to the hair now. I made simple cuts to create some hair texture...

And glued this on as well. This piece was not as long as I didn't want the ends to meet. Have to leave room for a face!

It was about this point that Chace exclaimed, "Mommy, this is a really cool pirate!". Melt my heart kid.

This little pirate needed a hat and I'll admit, I totally winged this part as well.

I folded my red fabric in half and just started cutting, figuring it out as I went.

I knew my pirate hat should have some sort of a 'bill' that was big and floppy. The rest I just made up. It looked like this after I was done.

Here is where I used my glue gun. I glued the top part (where the fabric folds) together so that the top stayed closed. If not then the hat would have looked like a big round ball on his head.

I glued the hat on to my pirate and added some googly eyes as well!

He kind of looks like a bandit here! Oh well, perfection was not my goal here remember? ;)

A pipe cleaner and pompom later and we had a belt. I used the glue gun here too. I cleaned up the rough edges with scissors after (where the glue strings are).

To add the arms I used my T-pin and poked a hole.

Then I popped in a pipe cleaner, pulled it down (through the bottom) and tied a knot in the end. Then I pulled the arm back out to the point where the knot stopped it and trimmed the arms to size.

Every little pirate needs a sword right? Well luckily I had a pipe cleaner that could turn in to one!

To make the handle of the sword, make a small loop and twist the pipe cleaner end back on itself.

Next, fold the long end roughly in half.

Bend the right side out like a little blade and twist the bottom end back on to your handle shaft.

SWORD!

With some coloured markers, draw on a lopsided face as well as some buttons and feet and guess what? You. Are. Done.

And the best part? This.

Cutest toilet paper roll ever. And cutest toilet paper roll player.

So that is the tale of the Potty Pirate. The tale of Chace and the Neverland Pirate. The tale of the 'totally tubular dude". Aaarrrrrhhhhh! Me's off to scrub the decks. Actually I'm going to go watch 'the Voice' that I pvr'd but same diff right? Ursher baby!

Livin' it up

2013-04-22T14:25:00.006-07:00

We made some changes in the living room. Ah yeeeaahhh.... Good vibratiooonnsss!. (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch style)

Here was the 'before'.

Fine. We repainted back in the summer of 2011 to this much brighter creamy shade (the room can be quite dark). It was a massive improvement from the avocado green walls (with tone-on-tone varnish stripes) that were there when we bought the place. One of the reasons I chose this shade was for a treatment I had in mind for the loooooong wall you see on the right. I'll get to that....

But first I wanted to address the glaring wall of windows you see centre stage.

We updated the blinds too at the same time but I always wanted to soften the edges of the windows.

In January I finally found the perfect panels! Yes! But they were on back order until mid-March. Zing.

Oh well. It was love at first click so I had to go for it. I ordered up three of these beauts (found here from Sears) in the grey shade (called 'Metal'). Why three? Because I wanted one for each 'end' and one to branch the space between the large main window and small one that you see above on the left.

One of the things I love about these is the subtle texture in the fabric.

I decided to hang these curtains right up to the ceiling for a few reasons: 1) the mirror above the fireplace goes right to the ceiling so I thought this would create a nice balance 2) the main window is so large that again, I thought the extra height would be a good balance and 3) because this way I would not have to hem the curtains - ha!

Because the rods meet each corner at a weird angle (not 90°) in all instances I decided to forego a finial (say that last bit five times fast). It was too tight a space to add one and since these are panels vs. curtains, we don't draw them closed. No movement of the panels = curtains not yet falling off the end of the rod. I will keep you posted/remedy the problem if this changes!

I went with a simple black Ikea rod (Hugad) - mainly for ease and price) plus my friend Natalie gave me some that she had left over from a project she did (score!). So I didn't even need to buy any. Saweeet!

For the brackets I bought five Betydlig brackets like the one shown below (from Ikea) but in black.

See that long flat base though? It's like a big black skid mark coming down your wall. Not a problem if it's behind a curtain, but REALLY ugly when it's the middle support bracket. So instead of painting over it in the same colour as the wall, I bought one white bracket (yes, I splurged an extra $1.50 for this) #highroller - and covered up the black one used in the middle. And because Ikea 'white' is a little off-white it actually works quite well! A little less garish no?

I could paint over that to really make it disappear but it looks fine to me as-is.

For the corner where the two rods needed to meet, I picked up a corner connector piece. It's bendy so you can adjust this to fit your exact angle where the corners meet - genius! It's from Ikea as well and is also in the 'Hugad' line.

And this is what the the big wall-o-windows looks like now! Phase one complete.

Okay, so now we're back to the big looonnng wall that I had plans for...

Back in 2011 when this wall was painted I envisioned a large panelled wall. Hard to picture? Well maybe the diagram I did will help clear things up for you?

Still confused? That makes two of us. I suggest you read on ;)

I pictured what is sometimes called a 'library wall' where a piece of moulding with a simple (non-decorative) profile is used to create large rectangles on the wall. I know this may still be confusing but hopefully the pics below will clear it up.

First I began by re-painting the long wall. The cream shade was fine but I had changed my mind in the year and a half since I had originally painted it (a woman's prerogative right? No? okay. Moving on...) I chose a light shade of grey as I wanted to tie in my new curtains. I had actually planned to do this back in January when I chose them. But get this. Since my curtains were back ordered so long - and I am impatient - I ordered another design (a Chevron pattern) from the same manufacturer in the same 'Metal' shade. Then I used those 'stand in' curtains while picking my new wall colour. I didn't hang them or anything of course, I just used them to hold my paint chips against while checking the undertones of the greys. Matching greys is hard and I wanted to get just the right shade! After choosing the grey, I returned the curtains. I know, totally dorky but it worked!

And another side note I actually used them here (check out the last picture) when taking photos of the 'new baby art' that I made for my friend's little guy Evan. ;)

Okay, so back to this. After painting the wall, I went shopping with my dad and found the right profile and size for the moulding portion. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this pic...

Once we figured out how much wood was needed I purchased it and took it over to my parents. Since I had roped in my dad and Chef Kev into this project my dad graciously offered to paint the moulding for me over at his place. My mom helped too. Thanks guys! xo

Then I went and got my hair cut and coloured while my dad and Chef Kev slaved away. No seriously, I did. It sounds totally diva but is just a coincidence. I actually only get my hair cut twice a year (thanks to the curly Gods) but it sounded fun to type anyway, like I was all J.Lo there for a second..

Do you see what I mean now with the whole 'library wall' thing? If not, then keep scrolling. But first, check out this photo that I can use as blackmail to ensure that Chef Kev will never again get dibs on my dad's second hockey ticket. Can you believe my dad gave it him once over me!? Where's the love ... (mwwaaahaahaa)...

Why yes that is my loving husband pretending to be winding up with a hunk of wood like a bat...

And here's the real shot. Awww :)

After a lot more cutting, gluing, seam patching, sanding and touch up painting, we are D.O.N.E!

seriously

love

it...

Subtle but so interesting.

We had one 'work around' where there is a bulkhead just before you go in to the kitchen. But a few cuts made quick work out of this little corner. You can also see here where the seams have all been patched, sanded and repainted.

This is also the corner where the motion detector for our house alarm is. The wiring used to come out the wall that now has the moulding but Chef Kev simply cut a little slit into the drywall and moved it over so it came out just past the corner. Smarty pants.

I am SO happy with how it turned out.

So, to save you the scrolling, here is the 'before'...

And the 'AFTER'!

A year and a half in the making but SO worth it. Just think of it as carrying twins... one right after the other, For 18 months... okay, don't think of it that way, that's just weird. But I'm really happy the twins are finally here. I'm going to call them Curtains and Wall. Those names won't get them teased on the playground right?

Oh, and a few little things to tie it all in together? Some new throw cushions with a bit of grey in them as well as some art on the wall. To come in 'due' time (see how I did that, twins, due... ). Okay done.

That new baby smell...

2013-04-19T12:59:00.003-07:00

I know, I know, I have been a horrible blogger lately. But I'm still here. I seriously have a million things I could post about, but seem to lack the time involved in getting them up on the 'ol interweb. Picture my head hung in shame.

Speaking of pictures - one of besties had a baby girl (Juliette - how sweet is her name!?) two weeks ago and this past Tuesday Juliette's mommy humoured me and allowed me to get snap happy while immersing myself in that new baby smell. Seriously, the smell. It's right up there with the smell of freshly ground coffee. A drug I tell ya.

So, I'm by NO means a professional photographer (I'm a Graphic Designer) but do love playing with my camera and love taking photos. I enjoy a challenge so wanted to see if I could get some good shots that would make the new mommy proud.

I made a quicky pinterest board to see if there was any certain style she may like in particular. My pins were mostly from Bower Power Photography (Katie writes one of my favourite blogs) and Mikaela Ruth Photography (sidenote, Chef Kev used to play soccer with Mikaela's husband) because they are really talented girls who shoot inspiring photos.

Camera in one hand, a basket in the other, and sushi in the other (figure that one out) I showed up ready to do my best. I have a Canon T2I and most of these pics were taken using my favourite 'nifty fifty' lens. For those not familiar, this lens is awesome for taking portraits. If you want a shallow depth of field (where your subject is in focus but the background blurs out) then take a look at this lens. It is a 'fixed' lens (meaning you can't zoom in and out) but perfect for this kind of application

The shots were okay straight after the camera but a little photoshop never hurt anyone. I did some retouching and cropping to some of Juliette's mommy's faves and you can easily see how post-production can have a huge impact on the final product.

Juliette, thank you for being such a sweet little baby and talking your mommy into letting me take your picture!

What a Turkey!

2013-03-07T14:54:00.003-08:00

Chef Kev is such a magic genius when it comes to going through the fridge and coming up with something delicious on the fly. Want proof? Well, take this mouth-watering salad topped with ground turkey and chorizo for instance? Bam. Told ya. Right off the top of his head. Lucky me :)

The ruffage portion is made up of the following:
- greens mixture (spinach and spring mix)
- shelled, cooked edamame
- diced shallots
- chopped orange pepper

To make the turkey and chorizo topping you:
Brown the turkey by cooking it in a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once browned, drain the excess fluid from the pan and add in some minced shallot, a minced garlic clove and some diced fresno pepper. Then add in some diced dry chorizo sausage and cook a few minutes more.

Next, add some worcester sauce and 'better than bouillon' beef bovril. Mix the bouillon with about 1/2 cup of warm water first to dilute it. Add to pan.

Let that reduce down and when almost finished, add in a few spices. Chef Kev used 'Jaime Oliver Szechuan Pepper' (szechuan pepper, chilli, ginger salt) and Paella Seasoning (salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, thyme, nutmeg, parsley, saffront).

Then, add a small scoop of the bovril (this time undiluted), mix in and let reduce down.

Plate your salad and add your turkey and chorizo mixture to the top. Dress with your favourite balsamic dressing and finish with fresh grated pecorino romano cheese.

Enjoy!

Oil & Vinegar Lazy Susan

2013-03-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Chef Kev loves to have all his cooking essentials close at hand and I love to organize so basically, a marriage (pun intended) of the two was bound to happen...

Now, the 'before' wasn't a horrible mess, but did make my need-for-things-to-be-tidy-and put-away problem a little nuttier.

But then I remembered that we had been given this as a Christmas present years ago.

We do use it, but not daily of course, so I stole the lazy susan component from the box! Come on out Suzy!

Then I gave the bottles a good clean and loaded them on...

And a few minutes later I had a nice and organized oil & vinegar collection!

I love it when a plan comes together...

Especially when the plan spins! Weeeeeeee! ....

What about you? Any quick and easy updates around your home? I know I'm not the only one out there who likes things all nice and tidy so 'dish'. See how I did that? Cooking, kitchen, dish? Ah, never mind.

March Calendar Roundup

2013-03-01T08:05:00.002-08:00

March is one of my favourite months! Why? Because my birthday is this month! It also happens to be the birthday month of my little guy Chace, my dad, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law... AND my aunt (who shares the same birthday as me). And now that I think about it, I have quite a few friends who share this birthday month too... wowza, this is a busy month!

Here is the collection of desktop calendars that caught my eye for March. Simply click on the link below the one you like to be redirected to the download.

Which is your fave? Don't forget to leave a note for the fabulous artists and photograhers if you download one (optional of course but nice no?). And if you happen to make a desktop calendar and would like it considered for my monthly roundup please drop me an email or comment below. Would love to hear from you!

Here comes Peter Cottontail

2013-02-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day over, I turned some Springy attention to my mantel. Time to show it some bunnyish love (minus actual bunnies).

I don't normally make my 'Spring mantel' so Eastery but with my little guy taking more notice of the decorating I do these days (he'll be four at the end of March) I though it was high time to tap back into my inner child and pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.

I didn't really have a set vision in mind (as you will see later) but one of the main jumping off points was the (always great) seasonal subway art from Eighteen 25. You can see all of their amazing creations here, and how I used their Christmas one here and Fall one here. So fun.

I placed some eggs in a green tin I had on hand, a nice way to nod to Easter without getting all baskety and raffiafied.

To play off the pinks in the subway art I used one of my favourite candle holders (bought a few summers ago for my back deck). I still think the 'legs' look like stiletto heels ;)

The white candle holder is one I've had for years. It houses a large pillar candle and projects a neat 'swiss cheese' pattern when lit. I thought it complimented the 'spring' look well. Nice and light and airy.

The pink bowl in the background was a gift from my parents. I placed some cotton branches and little wicker decorative balls in it.

To frame the subway art I used a frame I had (originally painted for my Christmas mantel a few years back) and mounted the art on some wrapping paper I had. I love the crisp green - very Easter like in my opinion.

And a photo of it all put together again for you... You can also see the white ceramic bark vases far left. I got those in the Fall and have been using them non-stop ever since. You can see them in use here, here and here.

Clean and simple. Just the way I like it.

And since I like to challenge myself to see if I can figure things out, I took a video of the whole thing and time-lapsed it (so you can see my 27 different variations before I decided on this one – if that's your kind of jam). But warning, this video holds absolutely no educational value and is probably not going to get any high marks for entertainment value either. Definitely no Oscars for this little piece of confusion. But I had fun doing it (that's all that counts right?)

What about you? Ready for the Easter Bunny yet? Any Spring mantels that you'd like to share? I'm all ears (ha, pun intended).

Linking to:
The DIY Dreamer
The Style Sisters
This Silly Girl's Life
Housewife How-To's
Liz Marie
Serenity Now
Craftberry Bush
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
A Jennuine Life

What's in a name?

2013-02-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

A really good friend of mine had a sweet little baby boy on Thursday. When she told me his name - Evan - I immediately saw some interesting typography in my mind, so later that evening I whipped up a little art gift before I forgot it.

The process was simple enough to do in my graphic design program (Adobe Indesign). First I made a block of colour (background) which was 7" x 5". I chose a warm gray (Pantone Warm Gray 5), then I typed the words "LOVE" and "EVAN" in a font named "Cabin" at 125 pt. (a free font that can be downloaded here). I overlapped the last two letters of 'love' and the first two of 'Evan' and set the 'Evan' font block to "multiply" in the effects palette. I then set an opacity of 46%. And for those wondering, the colour I used for 'Evan' is Pantone 322.

Then I typed "the sweetest little baby boy..." below it in the font 'Bickley script' (download from here) and set the colour to "Pantone Cool Gray 11".

This is just how I did it of course, you can get the same affect through Photoshop or other programs that have some design capability.

The neat thing about the typography in this gift is that the last two letters of the word 'love' are reflected in Evan's name. (i.e. in 'love' we end with 've' but in 'Evan' we start with the opposite arrangement 'ev').

Here are a few other examples of how you could play with something like this: SPECIAL and LAYLA - see how 'special' ends with 'al' and then 'Layla' start with the opposite 'la'. Or, how about LOVE with EVIE, EVA, or even EVELYN. Or, JOY and YOLANDA. SWEET and TEAGEN, PURE and ERIN, or (my fave) LOVEABLE and ELAINE (ha!). See, the possibilities are endless!

Here is a better look at the the script line...

To frame it, I used a white frame with an interesting wood grain detail.

I got to meet baby Evan this weekend and give him a lot of cuddles. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed this gift and hopefully one day when he's old enough, little Evan will too.

What did you get up to this weekend? Any highs from 'new baby smell'? Any impromptu artwork projects? Regardless, I hope it was a nice one. Have a good week all!

Linking to:

The DIY Dreamer

The Style Sisters

This Silly Girl's Life

Housewife How-To's

Liz Marie
Serenity Now
Craftberry Bush
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
A Jennuine Life

Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got...

2013-02-22T08:49:00.002-08:00

... Jenny from the block I'm not.

But I DO have some new sparkle! This post is all about jewellery upcycling yo.

I've been meaning to do this for years. A long time. Are you with me when I say I had a super stylin' Ziploc full of battered jewellery that needed some lovin? You know your fave pieces that break, go out of style, wear out or just get generally dingy?

It's like that orchid you received as a gift in 2008 that you accidentally killed yet you still hold on to it in case it comes back? Well, I'd like to introduce you to my orchid.

So much potential... Let's get to fixin' and revamping these pieces shall we? All you need is a bit of imagination and a few sets of pliers and wire snips as seen above.

This first upcyle was made from the chain of a broken necklace that I owned and a necklace that my friend (she's a manager at a accessories store) gave me as a hand-me-down (#thanksKaelayourock). I've lucked out many times getting things she no longer wants (score for me). Some I wear as is, but others have made it to my pile above for the reasons mentioned.

This piece was actually inspired but one of my favourite Stella and Dot necklaces.

This next one was from a necklace that my neighbour gave me. It was hers, but she wasn't wearing it. She asked if I wanted it as I tended to wear chunkier pieces than her so I gladly accepted! The only problem was it hung at a weird length for me so I didn't tend to use it. But then I had an idea...

I love the double strand chain.

This next one was a simple revamp of one of my favourite necklaces. I adore the rose clasp and used to wear this all the time. The chain had worn down and due to loosing it's finish tended to kink and roll on itself. I noticed in the multi-chain hand-me-down from my store manager buddy that there was a chain that I could use to bring my favourite necklace back to life! I know the multi-chain necklace looks really pretty from this far view but unfortunately when you got up close you could see that some of the strands and overall condition had seen better days.

Moving along I made a new necklace out of a silver chain I had. The pendant was originally a white flower but had started to degrade and yellow. The leaf was actually an earring! I had lost the other one but loved it so much that I kept it thinking it would made a great pendant. I also used a piece of chain I had on hand to make an 'extender'.

If you follow me on instagram or Facebook, you may have seen this 'sneak peak' on Tuesday...

This is one of my favourites. The chunky teal necklace was a hand-me-down from the same neighbour who gave me the gold and orange one above. It came on a brown suede rope and the beads had a simple knot between them. The suede broke one day and so I revamped it into this new piece, adding yet another orphaned earring as the centrepiece. I also added an extender to this necklace too from another fragment of chain that I had.

This is so fun!

Okay, moving along. This next one combined two strands of pearl from the multi-strand necklace, as well as a link from the gold/orange one and a little cluster that had broken free of the chain used above in Stella and Dot inspired piece.

This last necklace again used a few strands from the multi-strand necklace along with a few gray beads from another one and the clasp from a bracelet. Again, all hand-me-down pieces.

I also had a charm bracelet but the charms weren't really my 'look'. So I simply removed them creating a new cleaner look that was much more 'me'.

And this last little one is more of a 'tip' should you have any pieces in need of the same help. I have this adorable ring (again, thanks Kaela) but one of the little 'diamonds' fell out. I simply dabbed a small bit of white nail polish into the recess and now the little discrepancy isn't so noticeable!

So there you have it. Nine 'new to me' or refurbished pieces of jewellery that come in at a bank busting total of zero dollars spent. Now that's my kind of shopping ;)

What about you? Any jewellery surgery as of late? And ridiculously generous friends and neighbours who shower you with hand-me-downs? If nothing else, you now know another use for nail polish aside from fixing tears in your pantyhose!

And that makes a good day doesn't it? TGIF friends!

Linking to:

Design, Dining and Diapers
Serenity Now
DIY Dreamer
Shabby Nest
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
The Style Sisters
This Silly Girl's Life
A Jennuine Life

Are you pulling my leg!?

2013-02-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

Nope. I'm pulling your pork (shoulder).

Well, actually Chef Kev is.... he made Pulled Pork. What did you think I was talking about?

prep time: 10 minutes assembly
cooking time: 6-8 hours in a crock pot

sauce:
2/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp dijon mustard
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp ancho chile powder
2 tbsp worchester
3-4 peeled and crushed garlic cloves
2 tsp ground coriander seed
3 tbsp golden brown sugar
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sriracha hot sauce
1 whole chopped white onion

3 lb pork shoulder
coleslaw (store bought or homemade from your favourite recipe)

the how-to:

Mix all the 'sauce ingredients' together in your slow cooker.

Prepare your pork shoulder by seasoning with salt and pepper. Add to slow cooker and cook for 6 - 8 hours. Remove your pork from the slow cooker and sauce. Let it stand, covered with aluminum foil, for 5-10 mins.

While the meat is resting, pour the sauce from the slow cooker into a pot. Over med-low heat, skim off any excess fat and reduce to desired thickness.

After it's nap, shred the well-rested pork with a few forks (hey, that rhymes!). Then, add the meat back into the sauce. Mix well.

Serve on fresh portugese bun. Top with your favourite coleslaw or (optional) shaved onion.

Redonculously good. Enjoy!

Linking to:

Design, Dining and Diapers

DIY Dreamer

Shabby Nest

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

The Style Sisters

This Silly Girl's Life

Tick tock on the clock (But the party don't stop, no)

2013-02-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry, just channeling my inner Ke$ha (minus the raunchiness).

But, speaking of Tocks, what is this space here missing?

ShizzBLAM! 100 points if you guessed a CLOCK.

Now let me wicka-wicka-reeeewinnnnd.

This is our master bathroom. When I get ready in the morning Chef Kev is still fast asleep. As a result I keep the master bathroom door closed and find myself constantly peeking out of the bathroom to check the time on the alarm clock on my nightstand. Annoying. I found myself constantly thinking 'hey, I should get a clock in here'...

So I did.

Might just be the best $9 I ever spent. Thank you Real Canadian Superstore.

I especially like the lightly brushed finish on the frame.

Now, since I've invited you in to my bathroom, I should offer you the courtesy of a tour (aka, turning around).

I did touch on our master bathroom WAY back in this post but here are a few pictures as I'm sure many of you have never seen it before.

I think most of this is pretty self-explanatory but I'm sure I'll ramble about it anyway. The only really major change we've made since we moved in is the blue paint. It used to be fire engine red. It made me kind of angry. It had to go. Now she feels much calmer... (the bathroom AND me).

So, to state the obvious, here are a few towel hooks right outside of the shower...

And the shower itself. She's a biggin'.

Turning around you will see the 'sink and mirror wall'. Complete with ugly tile counter that shows every single mark and water drop. That is my way of saying that we did not do that 'upgrade'. If I had an unlimited budget it would be gonzo.

A few other little touches that I do like... starting with our little 'his' and 'hers' hand towel hooks that I picked up when we visited England in 2008.

The 'soothe' sign that sits next to the 'renew' one you saw earlier...

I should paint those with the same white as the panelling shouldn't I? They look a bit off-white but in reality aren't/shouldn't be.

Here is the funky 'stem' of my favourite pedestal mirror. I love this mirror so much that I actually bought it before I ever purchased my first place. And I still love it all these years later.

Chef Kev bought me a large jewellery case a few years back for Valentine's Day (you can see it above next to the sink). I especially love the delicate little knobs...

And on top of that sits my pretty collection of perfume. And of course, I work in a perfume-free office.

Ha. Oh well. I can wear it on weekends. You know, for when I do laundry and dishes.

I hope you enjoyed this random virtual tour through my bathroom. I'm so glad you could stop by? Awkward... Umm, I'll just end with another Ke$ha quote from the post title song. "Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy". Oh man. Still awkward isn't it...

Linking to:
Design, Dining and Diapers
DIY Dreamer

Shabby Nest

Fingerprints on the Fridge
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
The Style Sisters
This Silly Girl's Life

Chicken Chorizo Quesadilla

2013-02-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

I LOVE quesadillas, and this one didn't disappoint! Thank you Chef Kev. I owe you a foot rub (don't quote me on this but if you do I will claim my blog was hi-jacked). Okay, so, on with the show...

To make these bad boys (or girls, whatever) here is what you need to know!

cook time 15 mins. prep time 30-35 mins. makes 4 quesadillas

Ingredients:
2 shallots

red wine vinegar

brown sugar

2 medium 'on the vine' tomatoes or 12 strawberry tomatoes

2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 avocados
1 lime
1-2 tbsp hot sauce

1 small can black beans

1 small can sweet corn

fresh cilantro

2 chicken breasts
5-6 oz dry chorizo sausage

canola oil

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp ancho chile powder

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

small (6-8") tortillas

cheese - shredded (a blend of your favourite cheeses)

sour cream

salt and pepper

You'll need to prep these things first (yum):

pickled shallots: mince your shallots and place them in a small bowl. Marinate them in red wine vinegar (just enough to cover the shallots) and brown sugar. Set aside.

tomatoes: Dice your tomatoes and place them in a bowl. Add the white wine vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir and set aside.

guacamole: Pit and hollow the avocados into a bowl. Juice one lime into the bowl and add add your hot sauce (Chef Kev uses sriracha). Season with salt and pepper. Use a masher and mash it up (hee hee. 'mash' is a funny word). Set aside.

corn 'n beans: empty your drained cans of corn and beans into a bowl. Chop a handful of fresh cilantro and add. Set aside.

Now we're cookin' with gas! (or electric - whatevs)
chicken and sausage: Dice the chicken and chorizo sausage. Add some canola oil to a pan and heat. Once hot, add chicken and sausage to pan. As you are cooking add paprika, ancho chile, dried oregano, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper (to taste). Saute until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat.

Drain your shallots. Mix them with the corn, beans and cilantro.

Heat a non stick griddle. Place two tortillas on griddle and spoon on chicken chorizo mixture. Spread a handful of cheddar cheese on top. Finish with another tortilla on top of that. Flip quesadilla when bottom tortilla is golden brown. Brown other side.

Now the fun part!
To plate, add your quesadilla and top with guacamole, sour cream, and tomatoes. Add your black beans and corn on the side.

... and enjoy!

Like what the chef is serving? See all of Chef Kev's creations here.

Linking to:
craftberry bush
DIY dreamer
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

DIY Valentine's Art

2013-02-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

As you may recall from my Valentine's Day mantel, I made my own bunting (tutorial here) and "love" art. As promised, here is how I created the "love" art plaque!

Here it is sitting pretty on my Valentine's Day mantel.

The first step was to get a board. My dad has a workshop in his basement so I asked if he had any MDF or plywood scraps kicking around. I gave him a general idea of the proportions I was hoping for and what he found for me was an 11.75" x 22" MDF board. Thanks Dad!

I began by priming my board. I was using acrylic paint which is pretty resilient but I still wanted to prime it first to be safe. Priming gets your surface ready for the paint you are using - protecting from any 'bleed through' coming off the board as well as allowing your paints to go down smoothly and work to their best ability. Don't forget to do the edges too! I actually did the back as well since it was going to be propped up against a mirror.

Here is the primer I used. I had it (and the brushes and paint) on hand from when I did a portrait of my little guy Chace.

After the primer had dried, I painted a really loose 'border' in a teal shade. This will make sense below.

Once that had dried, I went over the whole canvas with white paint. I even painted over my teal border but here I allowed some of the teal to 'peek' through. I painted the white paint loosely here and even did a bit of dry brushing. 'Dry brushing' is where you don't have much paint on your brush so that when you paint it is quite 'dry' and does not lay down uniformly.

The reason I painted the white over the teal is so that I could created a soft layered effect. As you can see above, the edges are quite defined if you paint the teal on top of the white. I'm all about the layas people!

The next thing I did was print the word 'love' out on a laser printer using vinyl adhesive stock. The font I used is called "Lavanderia". You can download it for free here!

Here is how it looked when I printed it. I didn't like the flourish at the end of the letter 'e' (it sort of made it look like a written letter 's') so I let that run off the page.

Then I cut the word out using scissors and an exacto blade. I didn't get too hung up on being perfect as I knew this was the sort of art that would generally be viewed from a distance.

From there I simply peeled off the back and stuck it down. I placed it in the top third of the board and at an angle (just because I thought it looked the best there for the look I had in mind).

Next was the really fun part... painting! I painted right over the adhesive word using varying shades of pink. To do this I simply squirted some red and white paint on to my palette and mixed and painted as I went along. I kept it nice and free. You'll also notice that I was careful not to cover up the bits of teal peeking through. I did in a few spots, but left quite a few as they were from the earlier step.

Once I had the board filled with shades of red, pink and white (and teal) I started adding in a few other hints of colour - such as bits of yellow and a bit more teal...

Once I was happy with the colouring I started peeling off the black 'love' word BEFORE my paint dried. The adhesive word did not come off in one big piece so expect to have to pick it off in stages. I used the tip of a knife to get under the sticker.

There were a few spots were the paint had seeped under...

But I simply waited for the paint to dry and then retouched those spots up with a small brush and some white paint.

Once it was all dry it was ready for display!

Here are a few close ups of some of the painted areas. You can see how I layered in teal and yellow a bit better here...

And a good example of the 'dry brushing' effect I mentioned earlier.

And there she has it! One easy DIY Valentine's Day art for you. What I like about this type of art is the options are limitless. Imagine this at Christmas with the word 'merry' in shades of gold and silver or even something fun like 'hunt' in pastel hues for an Easter egg hunt. Or 'BOO' in black and orange for Halloween!

But today we focus on love. And with that I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day.

linking to:
the diy dreamer
i heart naptime
craftberry bush
Serenity Now
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Bower Power

DIY Valentine's Day Bunting

2013-02-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

I did it. It was inevitable. I jumped on the bunting-train. I tried to resist the cute and whimsical nature of it, but it was too powerful. Like a fluffy kitten that has imprinted on a mother deer. You win bunting, you win.

So let it be known. And if you like, let it be done - by you.

As you may have seen here, I decorated my mantel for Valentine's Day.

As promised, here is how I made the Valentine's Day bunting (for zero.point.zero dollars). mini yippee!

First, I scoured my scrap booking paper supply and pulled out anything that seemed Valentiney to me (colour and theme).

Then I measured my mantel loosely by holding up a piece of string, adding some length (to allow it to drape) and then doubled that since I wanted to have two levels of 'swags'. Even a mantel has to have 'swag' right Beibs!?

I determined that I'd like each of my little bunting flags (bunti? bunters?) to be about 3" wide so did some math and determined I'd need about 41-43 pieces.

From there, I made a cardboard template of a 3" wide by 4" deep triangle. You can see I also entertained a 5" deep triangle but in the end, liked the proportions of the first one better.

To draw the triangle I simply found the half way mark of my 3" side (1.5") and drew a line straight down from there. I marked that line at the 4" mark and then just connected my corners with a ruler and pencil (a big shout out to grade thrreeeee!).

Then, I chose 11 of the scrapbook papers that I liked and began tracing 4 triangles onto the back of each one ("4 each x 11 papers" would offer me 44 pieces in the end).

After that I closely introduced my exacto blade to my ruler. They hit it off right away and have been on a few Valentine's dates since.

Once all my pieces were cut I organized them into piles and arranged them in a succession that I thought coordinated well.

Then I flipped each pile over and got out some cute orange and white 'ticking' string that I had on hand.

From there I began to tape the string to the back of each bunti (is that what we determined a singular one would be called?)

The solid colours you see just happen to be the colour of the back of some of the scrapbook paper designs.

Once it was all done, I simply strung it up on a few finishing nails that I had on the mantel already. I purposely made each swag uneven to the next. I liked the variety and look that it offered.

And that's it!

Next up I will show you how to make the 'love' art that you see above should you be interested.

How about you? Any fun Valentine's touches around your house? Any recent 'shout outs' to your grade school days? Nothing like a ruler, tape and sharp instruments to make you nostalgic for your youth ;)

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and find a cinnamon heart to eat.

linking to:
the diy dreamer
i heart naptime
craftberry bush
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Bower Power

All we need is Love

2013-02-08T13:40:00.002-08:00

First off, sorry for the long hiatus. Without going into detail, I've had a tough few months. That being said, it's time to get back to a somewhat 'normal' routine and in that routine I need to make time for things I love - this little blog, and all of you readers!

My goal is try and post two to three times a week. I know having a good blog is largely in part to regular posting (with awesome content of course) so that is what I'm hoping to do!

All we (all) need is Love. And our loved ones around us...

So, would you all please be my Valentines? I've decorated my mantel all pretty like for you...

I had a great time putting together this mantel and 'feel the love' every time I look at it.

What I love most was that aside from the vases, I made it all myself! And it didn't cost me a penny :).

I've got some tutorials coming for the 'love' art that I created...

And the Valentine's Day bunting that I made as well...

The white tree bark vases are my 'new' faves that I got in the Fall. I used them for my Autumn Mantel and Christmas Mantel too (so versatile!)

So there she is. This is actually the first time I've ever decorated a mantel for Valentine's and I LOVE it! (sorry, couldn't help myself).

Have you decorated your mantel for Valentine's? If so, please share!

Back soon with the tutorials...

Linking to:
Serenity Now
i heart naptime
the diy dreamer
craftberry bush
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Bower Power

Oh Christmas Tree(s)!

2012-12-19T13:14:00.001-08:00

This year we are seeing double!

The trees (yes plural) are up and this year we have the family version...

And the little three-and-a-half-year-old variety...

I don't mean that the tree is three and a half but rather the tree picker is. No offense tree - your age is hard to tell.

Like last year we headed out to a local tree farm to do the 'u cut' experience. And again - like last year - we fell in love with one of the ones they had already cut so choose that as our big family tree!

No Belle (our dog) this year as she was actually at the vet getting some stitches for a cut she got while playing with some other dogs - ouch!

However, UNlike last year, Chace got HIS own tree.

While Daddy tied the big-un to the roof of our car, Mommy and Chace went out searching.

Chace found one and picked it out all by himself.

Then got grumpy when I tried to take a picture of him with it.

I eventually got Pouty to smile though.

After Pouty had turned into Cheesy, Daddy came back and they began the task of cutting down Chace's little tree.

It wasn't long before Daddy was informed by his foreman that he needed a hand with that task.

All done!

Daddy needed some help trimming off the bottom branches (sidenote - I think he could have probably handled it himself but don't tell Chace).

And then came the obligatory pose with mommy who has annoying camera fetish picture.

Mommy thanks you for humouring her (insert eye roll #they'llthankmelater).

Once we took them home and decorated them we were left with these beauts!

And yes, Chace decorated his own tree which meant we were graced with awesome toddler ornament spacing like this...

And this...

That squirrel is pretty brave to be sticking his nose all up in Abominables' bidness like that.

As charming as that all was, mommy used her restraint and gave her ornaments a bit more breathing room on the big tree.

I mean come on, how could I not? That thing is so freakin' huge we had to borrow the neighbour and lop off the top just to get it inside (#thanksDonnely).

This is the part where I'm glad Chef Kev does not have access to writing my posts as he'd add all kinds of comments here about me 'hiding' his ornaments at the back of the tree because they don't match my ornaments...

Your honour, I cannot confirm nor deny.

They're on there. You just have to look a little harder. Perhaps.

Get up to any fun adventures while getting your tree this year? Do you have a theme or is it "come one, come all"? Anyone bought a toddler version for the first time? Could be the start of a little tradition :) I must admit, It's my fave of the two...

Christmas crazy? Me too! See all my Christmas posts here.

Our Christmas Mantel

2012-12-18T12:37:00.001-08:00

Making of the Mantel: 2012 Edition.

The mission - should I choose to accept it - (um, yes please) was to make my mantel merry and bright.

Merry - check.

Bright - check.

Mission accomplished.

Like my Christmas mantel last year, I started with a large piece of feature art and built out from there to support it. See how I turned a tea towel into my big piece of art here.

Pulling back from there, here is what I did on the right hand side.

First I draped a few garlands (snowflakes and shiny beads) loosely across the front. Then I put out my little silver 'twig' reindeer.

Beside Twiggy, I placed a ridiculously large mercury glass artichoke and beside that I placed Sparkle (who I blogged about fixing last year).

Past Sparkle I have a few votive holders as well as a fun mirrored snowflake.

Here is what the left side looks like. You'll see Chace's stocking...

As well as one of my favourite ornaments beside another sparkly reindeer and shiny dove.

Watching over Chace's stocking is this acrylic penguin...

Behind him you will see a pillar candle holder (sans candle because I just like the shape as is) and some more tea light holders...

And there we have it!

Although not technically part of mantel, I can't help but give a shout out to the polar bear in the foreground aptly named Plumpy (by me).

I mean dude couldn't even bother to sit up straight for the picture. Lazy bear.

And in the corner are my white log vases which I used recently for my Autumn mantel here.

So, like the presents under my tree, that's a wrap! All ready for Santa's arrival!

Christmas crazy? Me too! See all my Christmas posts here.

Reindeer Noses - and a free printable {Rewind!}

2012-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

I originally did this post on December 13th of last year but due to the free printable - and thanks to Pinterest and Google - I've been getting a ton of nice emails daily since about mid October asking for the free template download. As such, I thought I'd repost it incase any of you new readers had not seen it before and were thinking of doing a fun favour this season!

*** And (sidenote) I've updated the post so that you now have the option to either email me for the printable (as before) OR be redirected to download your own!

Here is my original post...

Now, I like me ~~some fun reindeer games~~ a fun party so I've been really looking forward to my husband (Chef Kev's) Christmas work party this year. It's always been a blast in the past (not a blast from the past - but a blast IN the past) so when I was asked to design this year's party favours (to be on the table when guests arrive) the discussion went something like this...

Kev: "hey, will you make the party favours for my work party this year. Only if you have time, no pressure"

Elaine: {inside voice - what! Christmas! crafty stuff! Designy things! party favours? I'm SO in! ... but play it cool...} Outside voice: "sigh, oh, okay... but only if you make me dinner for a week"

Kev: "I already do. Oh, and thanks"

Elaine {inside voice again - Dang! Foiled again by my quick tongue. Must. think. out details longer. next. time.} Outside voice: "right".

So that was that. Operation design party favours had begun.

Before I lose you, here is what I did. Details below if you've read this far (and thanks if so).

And here is how it came to be.

I went to pinterest for some inspiration and searched 'Christmas party favours'. I had a few criteria when searching. 1) It had to be relatively easy to do as I had to do 50 of them and 2) It had to be relatively cost effective, as well... I had to do 50 of them!

This caught my eye.

(source: "A personal touch" blog via pinterest)

But I wanted to give it my own spin. So I set out redesigning the header card portion.

And today (well every day) it is free for you if you'd like it!

Click here to download to download the free printable instructions
Click here to download the file containing the header
Click here to download the circle label file

Once I had designed my header card and sticker I purchased my brown and red reindeer noses. You can buy whatever you'd like of course, but for mine I bought: milk chocolate covered caramels, malt balls and jujubes as well as dark chocolate covered espresso beans and almonds. Rudolph's nose is a cherry sour.

I then purchased 4"x6" treat bags (lollipop bags) at the craft store (Michaels) and convinced Chef Kev to help me divy up the chocolate!

I trimmed down my header cards that I had printed on card stock (which are actually 4.25" wide so there is a slight over hang on each side) and scored them with my paper cutter. I happen to have a trimmer that has a setting made for scoring but you can use a bone scorer or even lightly score with an exacto blade if you are comfortable with that route (do not press hard as you will cut right through - you want to apply very light pressure to simply cut only the top fibres of your paper). You always want to score on the side that you are folding away from (so in this case, the printed side).

Score right along the edge where the red 'front' meets the green 'back'.

I put the headers aside for a moment while I moved on to folding the top edge of the treat bags over (about 1/2 - 3/4" and stapled once on each side. Chef Kev helped here too!

Then I used a tape runner (that I already had but you can get them at the craft store in the scrapbooking section) and applied a strip along the inside BACK ONLY of the card (bottom part). You don't need to do the top/front as your round circle sticker will seal that side.

Then I lined the top of my bag fold into the crease and pressed down along the tape.

After I folded the top over I applied my round sticker (printed on "Avery 5294" 2.5" circle label stock) to close the front part of the header card and attach it to the bag.

I actually found if I applied the sticker upside down I had more control. You may have noticed in the free template image earlier in this post that I left a blank spot where the label goes. The label stock has a bit of 'show through' so you could see it through the sticker if you had the pattern run across the whole card. It actually works well as you have a 'guide' to line your sticker up to so that each favour looks the exact same (sticker isn't lower and higher as you look at different packages). Bonus :)

And now the really fun part - gluing Rudolph's little nose on! For this I just used white craft glue and a toothpick to apply. I let the noses dry a few hours so that none would fall off in transport.

Here are a few pics of my workshop mid-nose application....

Did I mention I had to do 50 of these!?

Once they were dry it was time for the 'after shot'!

And here is close up of the back. I changed the colour palette in the pattern for futher interest.

I've left the 'contents' box blank on the template so that you can simply apply a label or hand write your own contents or message here.

And one last 'after' shot!

You'll probably notice a little message under the title. It reads "Wishing you the very best this holiday season from your (husband's company name) family" I deleted this in the template for download of course!

Chef Kev loves them and says he is proud. I know someone else who would be proud too...

(source: google images)

Thanks Rudy :)

Have you done any Christmas favours recently? Been busy decorating and enjoying the holiday spirit? ... or just eating a ton of chocolate? Me? All of the above.

Hey! For those of you following, this is my second Rudolph reference in two days! Weird.

Christmas crazy? Me too! See all my Christmas posts here.