Sense and Simplicity

Look What Landed on our Mantel

2012-01-30T16:00:00.040-05:00

I've had an idea for decorating our mantel that I've been itching to try for a few months now. I couldn't interrupt the Fall-Hallowe'en-Christmas flow, though, so it had to wait. Can you guess what my idea is?

Yep I had the rainbow fairy visit my mantel. I thought it would be a fun challenge to decorate the mantel like a rainbow using things from around the house. As you can see I lack in the purple and orange sections, but more than made up for it in the blue ranges. It was a lot of fun to hunt the house for things I could use. Thank heavens for Anthropologie bowls.

The sideboard is at the other end of the room and I needed to do something with it as well. I had rescued a few pieces of wood from my parent's woodshed at the cottage recently and was pining to use them in some way. After some pondering it occurred to me that if the rainbow was at one end of the room, then the other end should be all white - all the colours rolled into one!

Anyone else have a collection of bark and wood? Hmm, I thought not. I love their textured weathered look and love including them in my arrangements.

Have you ever created a vignette that was a little out-of-the-box so to speak? It was fun to do and we're enjoying the cheery colours at one end of the room and the calm natural palette at the other - just what we need to look at during all the sleet and snow and rain that we have been having in this crazy winter.

Linked to WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Toronto Blogger Meetup 2012 and a Giveaway

2012-01-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

Saturday was another Blogger meetup here in Toronto. The room was crowded and the talk buzzed. There was wine and nibblies and speeches and prizes. I have to confess that I'm always a bit of a nervous wreck before I go, but once I'm there I enjoy myself.

Cameron MacNeil from House and Home talked about trends and showed us some of the pages from an upcoming issue of Canadian House and Home magazine. I couldn't find a pen in my purse to write down his ideas (and don't have an i-phone unlike most of the rest of the guests at the meetup) so I didn't remember the other trends, but the ones that stuck in my head are:

patterned and colourful bed-linens
yellow
watercolour palettes

Yep, you heard it here first folks.

Brian Gluckstein talked about what inspires him, which is apparently a lot of things. He told us he takes random pictures of almost anything, including taking a close-up picture of a woman's skirt (true story). Any colour or pattern or texture that grabs his attention is photographed and many of these images end up on his blog and some serve as inspiration for his design work.

Cassandra from Coco+Kelley talked about how her blog developed and grew. She really stressed if you have an idea go for it even if it doesn't pan out because taking those risks are also what can really make a blog be successful. She also emphasized the importance of community and building contacts with other blogs, both big and small. She suggested if you contact a blog asking to do a guest post try listing several ideas you could post about. Cassandra also worked at Anthropologie for a year which I found very interesting. We chatted about that after. She is lovely and charming and warm.

I didn't know most of the bloggers that I chatted with, but there were a few that I recognized like Pam from Cherish Toronto, Tim from Design Maze,

and Jennifer from Rambling Renovators (holding the delicious chocolate pops we got to eat).

I also met a university student named Jude who had attended the same High School my kids went to and is friends with Gabriela the photographer for our son's wedding. Small world, eh?

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the amazing sponsors. I didn't win anything this year, but boy were the prizes ever good. The sponsors also contributed to the most fantastic swag bags that we each got to take home at the end. You can see all the goodies I got laid out on the chair in the photo below - a throw and a muffin tin and cute paper liners from IKEA; paint decks from both CIL and Brian Gluckstein (love me some paint decks); some toilet paper (okay, the box it is in is designed by Jonathan Adler, but I just thought I'd be funny and tell you all we were given TP); a coffee travel mug; a green shopping bag; and magazines and coupons. What fun!

Thanks to the organizers and sponsors for a great event.

One of the things we were given was a copy of the February issue of Canadian House and Home. Now since I'm a long-time subscriber to that magazine I already have that issue which means I would love to give my extra copy away to someone who is interested in reading it. Due to the high cost of shipping, I"m going to limit the giveaway to Canada and the United States. Leave me a comment if you are interested and let me know that you are a follower and I'll enter your name. I will draw a name on Saturday, February 4th at 9:00 am EST. Please be sure that you leave me your email so I can contact you for mailing information. If I can't reach the winner in 24 hours I will redraw a name.

Shipping Container Cabin Update

2012-01-27T20:26:00.003-05:00

A post I wrote about shipping container homes (which you can find here) in May of last year gets lots and lots of hits every day - like often up to seven times as many hits as the next most popular post. That's a lot of interest in shipping container homes! I'm not surprised at the interest in shipping container homes, though, because they are just so inspiring. I would love to get my hands on a couple of shipping containers and do a little creating myself. Of course, that isn't going to happen anytime soon (although you notice I'm not ruling it out for the future) so I have to satisfy my interest by keeping up on other people's container homes.

I contacted the owner of this wonderful cabin that I showed in my original post to see if he would mind me using more of his photos in a blog post. Well not only was Steve (see how I'm on a first name basis with him now) pleased to let me use his photos, but he took a bunch more for me as well. It turns out Steve is married to a Speech-Language Pathologist so you can see why he would be so charming - it goes with the territory.

Last fall Steve and his wife painted the exterior a warm beige colour (good choice Steve's wife) and have been working away completing the interior. I'm excited to welcome you inside Steve's little cabin in the woods. I have uploaded both labeled and unlabeled floor plans so you can have an idea what direction the pictures are taken.

This is the view from the front door looking over to the right to the sofa (a pull-out bed) and chair in the sitting area. You can also see the bedroom through the doorway on the left. The ceiling shows the corrugated grooves from the shipping containers.

I love the simple white kitchen - white kitchens are always my favourite!

Behind the curtain is the bathroom/utility/storage room.

A nice little wood stove is tucked into the corner to keep things warm.

I understand the desk is going to have a half-wall built behind it to separate the front entrance from the living room.

And finally, looking out the windows to the forest.

... and the forest.

I've been studying these photos and peppering Steve with questions about the details of his cabin so I thought I would share what I have learned.

Steven's main concerns were to keep the costs down and to make the cabin easy to maintain. He chose to build using shipping containers because of security issues. When he leaves his cabin, he simply closes and locks the doors at the end of each of the three containers. There are no other windows or doors so it pretty much morphs from sweet little cabin to Fort Knox.

The cabin is off-the-grid so is powered primarily by solar panels. The microwave oven that you can see in some of the kitchen pictures will soon be going as it is run on the generator that is being used while the construction is going on. He has installed a two-burner stove and may purchase an oven that cooks on the stovetop and is very popular with the boating community. He was unable to find a refrigerator that would work on the solar panels so he is using a small Coleman cooler that runs on a battery and is kept in the storage room and he may upgrade down the road. For more kitchen details read this post.

Steven is in the process of looking into restoring an old well that is on the property. Even if the water is not drinkable, it will be very useful for washing up etc. There are plans to install a water system with a storage tank in the bathroom/storage room and build a homemade shower in there as well. The problem with most water systems is dealing with them in the winter so Steve is looking to install an indoor water system that can be used in the winter with minimal fuss. At the present time he brings in water to use for drinking and cooking and they have an outhouse. You can see in the photo below the temporary water system he has in the kitchen using a vintage water cooler.

I think this little cabin is great - it's kind of like the Boxcar children meet IKEA (did you ever read that story? Kate and I both read it when she was young and loved it). You can read more details and see the progress pictures on Steve's blog, Tin Can Cabin.

This is definitely a cabin I'll be keeping my eyes on to see how it develops and changes as Steve and his wife use it.

WISH Wednesday #15

2012-01-25T09:00:00.009-05:00

Did you know that January 25th is the day to celebrate the life of the Scottish poet, Robbie Burns? In his honour, I saved a pretty picture of a tartan tablescape for WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday.

I love the simplicity of the piles of apples on the table, the red lanterns, the pretty embroidered napkins, the posey of leaves at each place setting, and of course the red tartans. So pretty!

frolic!

While we won't be having haggis or even drinking whisky, we can say the Selkirk grace that Burns wrote:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

So Many Firsts in One Weekend for My Airplane Friend

2012-01-23T19:58:00.001-05:00

Some of you may recall that I sat beside a young fellow from Southern India on the plane coming back from India this summer. We stayed in touch and have had him over to visit several times. There is a chance he will be leaving in a month so we thought we should make his Canadian education complete by taking him to our family cottage. We also invited the friends I went to Bangladesh and India with and made an expedition of it.

Now a Canadian winter is about as opposite to Southern India as you can get, so Jacob had a weekend of firsts. He's been in Toronto since August so he has seen snow and ice (despite the fact that this has been a very warm and unsnowy winter), but he hadn't seen deep snow or icicles or frozen lakes! Imagine seeing all of this for the first time.

We couldn't have arranged for better winter weather if we had tried. It was clear and sunny on Saturday with a fresh deep layer of snow on all the trees and the temperatures were -10 on Saturday and -5 on Sunday which meant it was cold enough to make the snow pretty, but warm enough that we could enjoy the outdoors.

Doing things for the first time is one of the joys of traveling and living in new places. I will never forget riding on the rickshaws in Bangladesh for the first time and I'm sure Jacob will never forget his first time walking through snow that was up over his knees. I was counting all the firsts on the drive back to the city and came up with at least ten. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Keeping warm when it is -10 outside. Jacob had to buy himself a winter jacket, scarf, and gloves back in the fall when the temperatures started to drop so he had some, but not all of the proper clothing. You can get by without boots in the city, especially in a mild winter like this one. So we outfitted Jacob with my husband's winter boots, a pair of splash pants to keep the snow off his pants, and a thick pair of mittens. He learned to make sure the splash pants were fastened on the outside of the boots to keep the snow out. And he learned how painful it is to take photographs with bare hands in the winter - oh the things we do to get some great shots!

2. Walking through knee deep snow - which is very! very! very! tiring!

photo taken by Jacob

3. Seeing icicles - he was pretty excited to see even some little baby ones when we first got there, but was very excited when we went to see the ice flows on the rock cuts at the side of the road.

4. Seeing frost on the windows.

5. Eating new foods like porridge for breakfast and French Canadian Pea Soup for lunch and drinking a warm mug of hot chocolate when you come in from the cold - and melting snow to get water to cook with and to wash the dishes in.

photo taken by Jacob

6. Seeing a snow angel. Kim obliged and made him one - what are friends for if not to make a snow angel for you!

photo taken by Jacob

7. Going tobogganing. The conditions on the cottage road were perfect for tobogganing and we all took at least a few turns. Jacob loved it although he was a little nervous at first that he would kill himself. Fortunately he survived and had loads of fun.

8. Walking on a frozen lake and seeing fishing huts. The lake was frozen, but I wasn't sure how solid it was so we stuck to the shore.

9. Going on the roof to remove the snow. For some reason, William and Jacob took this job very seriously and spent a lot of time figuring out the best way to remove snow from the roof and trying out different techniques. There's nothing like a project that engages your brains and your brawn.

10. Sleeping under three heavy quilts to keep warm - ahh - nothing like it!

That's a lot of firsts for one weekend, don't you think?

Linked to A Good Life Wednesday at A Beach Cottage

Making Mosaics

2012-01-20T11:00:00.002-05:00

Last week I showed you the background photos I have been collecting and a few of the ways I have been using them. I was asked how I make the photo mosaics and although it really isn't difficult to make photo mosaics, if you are new to the process it might seem complicated at first. There are many online programs that can be used to edit the photos and create mosaics, but I thought I would share how I go about making them.

I upload my photograph into Picnik which is a free online photo-editing program (you can read about it here). I then do some basic edits (which you can see over on the left side of the screen). I often, but not always use "Auto Fix" depending on whether I like the results or not. I also straighten the picture, and adjust the exposure as needed. I almost always crop my pictures and for pictures you are going to use in a mosaic they often need to be square. You can do all this on the basic edits tab.

Once you have cropped your picture then click the "Effects" tab (along the top). For backgrounds I sometimes like to either soften the picture so it is a more uniform texture or change the colour (which works best for neutral coloured pictures).

You can see "Tint" down the left side and then adjust until you find the colour you want. Of course I had to make the ice turquoise because turquoise is such a lovely colour.

You can add text now or wait until you have finished your final mosaic depending on the look you are going for.

If you only want a simple mosaic with no more than four pictures then you can use Picnik. However, if you want a more complex mosaic like I used for my WISH Wednesday mosaics (which you can see here) then I like to use Big Huge Labs.

If you decide to use Picnik to make your mosaic, then look over on the left of side of the screen - it shows you all the shapes of mosaics you can use (the ones on the white background are free and the more complex ones on the light blue background you have to pay for).

If you want to make a bigger or more complex mosaic then go to Big Huge Lab. I believe you have to open an account (which is free) to use Big Huge Labs, but I can't quite remember as mine is always signed in. Although there are a lot of fun features on this site, "Mosaic Maker" is what you need to create your mosaics. You can see near the top of the screenshot from Big Huge Labs that I have selected "1+3 right with shadow" as my mosaic layout. If I had selected "square tiles" then I could have made a mosaic with up to 36 photos in it (6 x 6 photos - just in case you needed help with the math). For some of the mosaic designs you can select if you want to have spaces between the pictures and what colour the background should be.

When you have finished uploading your photos then press "create" and you can see the mosaic you have made. Here is my finished mosaic:

Then you put it back in Picnik and add text. You can see down the left side of the screenshot the different fonts and you can adjust the size and colour in the floating box that appears on the right side of the screen. One tip I have is that if your text is long then you will have to press "enter" where you want the words to break and go to the next line as they appear in one long line unless you do that.

And here are the finished products in all their glory. Definitely words to live by!

A mosaic using Picnik:

and a mosaic using Big Huge Lab:

If you use a different system to make mosaics I would love to hear about it as I'm always trying out different programs.

WISH Wednesday #14

2012-01-18T09:00:00.012-05:00

Being that it's winter in my neck of the woods, I thought I should look for an incredible drop-dead gorgeous room with a fireplace for the WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday photo this week. So that's what I've been working my fingers to the bone doing. There are lots of fireplaces out there, but I wanted a fantastic one that was so amazing that when I looked at it all I could do was sigh and wish, wish, wish that I lived in that room.

I've recently spent a lot of time on Pintrest (by the way, did you know I was on Pintrest cause I'm a little lonely over there in my corner pinning away since I'm a newbie and haven't made any connections yet). Anyway, I found two rooms that I think fit all the requirements. I hummed and hawed over which one to feature and even asked my husband which one he preferred and he couldn't decide either (which is pretty amazing as he's a very decisive fellow) - so I'm featuring both. In many ways they are similar - with beautiful stone fireplaces flanked by large windows, white walls, and simple casual decor, but there are differences as well.

The first room has a gorgeous ceiling with painted white beams. I really like the soft furniture (what you can see of it anyway) with the striped and patterned fabric on the chair and sofa and the patterned carpet. It makes the room seem very cozy. I also love the large coffee table with interesting piles of books and rocks and flowers. I would have a lot of fun arranging and re-arranging vignettes on a surface that big and then when I was done I would put my feet up and relax. Wouldn't this be the perfect room to play a board game with the whole family by the fire.

tinywhitedaisies

The second room is bathed in light by gorgeous black-mullioned windows that surround the room. I love the painting on the fireplace and the simple rustic buckets, boxes and tin plate placed around the room. Although I'm not really a rifle person, I do think even the rifle is perfectly hung to balance the mantel arrangement. I also love the long sofa and the simple lines of the coffee table and wooden chairs. My only complaints are that the back of the sofa seems a tad low for comfortable lounging, there is no rug, and the room seems a bit devoid of colour. I think I'd have to add a few cushions for a little bit of colour and because I like to be well cushioned when I lounge. Wouldn't this be the perfect room to sit and watch the snow fall?

Architectural Digest

To me they are both gorgeous rooms and both make me feel like I just want to move in and stay awhile. Anyone else hold stronger opinions than I do and like one more than the other. Do tell!

Edit

2012-01-16T09:00:00.010-05:00

Layla over at The Lettered Cottage is having a Word of the Year resolution challenge. When I read her word UP and why she chose it and what an inspiration it is to her, I thought I would be up (get it, haha) for the challenge. I had a look back at my goals - big, small, and personal which you can read about here - and thought what really sums up everything I want to accomplish this year is the word EDIT.

Now believe me when I say that I am no stranger to editing. Hubby has had two books published and has had many academic articles published and all of them were edited by yours truly. When the text is finally wrangled into clear, concise prose that will say just what is intended with just the right amount of words - no extra - and maybe a little poetic spin on things to make it memorable - well that is perfection. It is one of those things that you just feel in your gut when you have it right. Editing one's home or life is really no different I have discovered. There is often some chaos before the simplicity and calm reigns, the process can be painful, but the results are so worth it, and the editing gets easier the more you do it.

I looked up what edit means in the dictionary and I like the definition: to alter, adapt, or refine especially to bring about conformity to a standard or to suit a particular purpose. Doesn't that work well when thinking about editing your home. It doesn't mean to make it perfect, it means to make it conform to a standard and to suit a particular purpose. Do you have a standard for your home? There is a certain level of tidiness that I feel comfortable with. When things slip below that point, I get antsy. Now my standard may be lower than other people's (and I know it is), but it's what works for us. If I peg the standard too high, then life becomes focused on maintaining the home rather than living in it.

The things I think of when I envision editing would be eliminating clutter - it make your home so much easier to keep tidy; having a place for everything that you need or want to keep; having a system to maintain the order, and finally refining the things in your home so they are cohesive and pleasing to the eye.

I love the standard William Morris set in his now famous words: have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. And that, my friends, is why I want to focus on editing my life and home this year. It won't be a finished project when December 31st, 2012 roles around, but rather EDIT is what I will focus on as I go about my daily life this year.

Linked to: The Lettered Cottage

My Photo Project

2012-01-13T11:00:00.008-05:00

Over the past few months I have begun a photo project that is very easy to do and useful for when you have a blog - I've started a collection of pictures of interesting textures. I can add text to them and use them in posts where I want to add an eye-catching title or I can use them in headers.

You can see a few examples in my WISH Wednesday mosaics.

I know you can find backgrounds online, but I think it is fun to collect my own. I'm always on the lookout for things that would make good backgrounds. I've been taking pictures of cloth,

and wooden tabletops,

and tree bark,

and snow,

and food.

The best backgrounds have interesting texture, but little contrast in colours or light and dark so that the text stands out from it. I've started a folder on my computer where I put all my background photos so I can find them when I want them. I usually crop them into a square shape, change the colour tint if I want to, and add text using Picnik

I have to say it can look a little strange at times, but the end result makes taking pictures of a wall or the surface of an empty table worthwhile.

Linked to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now,
and Strut Your Stuff link party at Somewhat Simple,
and Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order

Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess

2012-01-12T11:00:00.028-05:00

Grace Kelly was one of the most photographed women of the 20th century. I have long admired her elegance, her classic and impeccable style, and her amazing beauty - not to mention that I adore many of the films she is in. When I read that there was an exhibit of her dresses at the TIFF Centre here in Toronto, Kate and I had to go and have a look.

The thing that made her stand out is what we call style.

McCall's magazine, 1955

We had a great time at the exhibit - the dresses, especially the ones from the 1950s, were amazing and it was fun to see letters and telegraphs from Alfred Hitchcock among others. My only disappointment was when I got home and Googled more information about the dresses and realized that only a small part of the original Victoria and Albert Museum show in London from earlier this year was brought over (for a comprehensive blog post on the V & A exhibit see here). Sniff, sniff. While we loved what we saw, it was disappointing that there were such a small selection of dresses especially from her movie period. Also surprisingly they did not put mirrors on the other side of the dresses so the back side could be viewed. Despite these issues we really enjoyed seeing the details, the materials, and the workmanship of these famous outfits.

The exhitibit was divided into Grace Kelly the actress, Grace Kelly the bride, and Princess Grace of Monaco.

GRACE KELLY THE ACTRESS
They had this gorgeous soft green dress and the matching coat (designed by Edith Head) that Grace wore to the Oscars in 1955 when she won Best Actress for The Country Girl.

Forever Young Information

Have you seen the movie High Society? It is a gem and one that Kate and I like to watch and re-watch. The swimming cover-up, also designed by Edith Head, from this movie was in the exhibit. The draping across the front is so elegant and suits Grace Kelly's role in the movie as she is supposed to be a bit of a goddess.

Style Matters

GRACE KELLY THE BRIDE
There was a copy of the dress that Grace wore when she first met Prince Ranier at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. Apparently the electricity had gone out at the hotel where Grace was staying and she was unable to have any of her dresses pressed so she wore the floral one (in the photo below) which had been given to her by McCalls after a modelling job she had done for them.

Forever Young Information

This is the 1954 pattern that was used to make her dress. It makes you feel like you could wear a Grace Kelly look-alike dress if you wanted to (it is pretty wild though, so I'm not sure I would really want to).

Vintage Patterns Wiki

They also had the dress that Grace wore when she and Prince Ranier announced their engagement. Both Kate and I thought this dress was gorgeous - probably the prettiest in the show. It had lovely details, like the cuffs on the sleeve, and the belt made of the same material with lines sewn along it, and the soft folds at the waist.

Grace added a scarf at the neck, a brooch, some sunglasses, and her famous Kelly bag and she was all set to meet the press.

Forever Young News

There was also the lovely champagne-coloured lace dress she wore for her civil wedding ceremony.

Disco Nap

It had the prettiest edging along the hem with scalloped lace against the fabric.

Disco Nap

The famous wedding dress designed by Helen Rose, was an exact replica since the original was too delicate to travel from Philadelphia.

Forever Young Information

The view we had of the dress was of the back and I hadn't realized there were bows down the skirt with an insert of lace since you usually see the front in the wedding photographs.

Flare

And finally there was the gray Dior suit she wore when she departed on her honeymoon.

Flare

The Dior suit was so elegant - just simple lines with a fitted jacket and three-quarter length sleeves.

Flare

PRINCESS GRACE OF MONACO
They also had many of her dresses and suits from her later years some of which were beautiful, like this Chanel suit.

Flare

some were very princessy (and frankly look better in this photo than they did in person),

Disco Nap

and some were a little on the wonky side if you ask me - like this one.

Flare

We loved seeing her famous Kelly bag in a beautiful milk chocolate shade along with some of her luggage.

While I recognized many of the dresses on display from historical photographs, there was only one dress that I remember from newspaper articles at the time that it was worn. It was the purple dress (in the photo below) that Grace wore when attending a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera House in London in March, 1981 shortly after Prince Charles and Diana Spencer announced their engagement. It was the first time that Grace Kelly met Diana Spencer and only a year and a half before Grace died.

abc

I do think Grace's style was better suited to the fashion of the 1950s than the 1960s and 70s. It wasn't just that she was getting older, but rather I think her style suited the elegant dresses from the earlier time period.

If I could have made a dress request, it would have been for the gorgeous black-and-white dress designed by Edith Head that Grace wore in the 1954 movie Rear Window. To me that dress is the height of elegance and it suited her perfectly. I would have loved, loved, loved to have seen it in real life.

Closet

These are just a few of the dresses at the exhibit - some of the ones that I liked best. Did one of them stand out as a favourite for you?

The exhibit is still on until January 22, 2012 so you have a few days left to go and see it if you also are a Grace Kelly fan and are interested in seeing a wardrobe that has stood the test of time.

WISH Wednesday #13

2012-01-11T09:00:00.082-05:00

January seems to be a month when many people work on organizing and simplifying their lives after the excesses of the holidays. So in honour of January, I decided to post one of the prettiest display shelves I have ever seen for my WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday photo. I'm not sure why I thought this was a good example of organizing and editing, apart from the fact that the collection is so simple and so visually organized with all the bowls arranged by colour. I think we can all agree, though, that this is one cheerful kitchen with those beautiful shelves.

With that many gorgeous bowls, I would have the hardest time selecting a bowl to use. Seriously I would get hungry in the length of time it would take me to reach a decision as to which one would be the bowl de jour.

Martha Stewart

Any one else simplifying, tidying up, organizing, editing their homes/lives these days? I've been on a bit of a roll these days - details coming soon.

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-09T10:00:00.024-05:00

There were a few days left at the end of last week with no commitments, no appointments, and nothing fun planned either so William and I went to the cottage. Everyone else had to work or was otherwise busy so we had a very quiet few days.

It was lovely and relaxing and just what I needed after running around and entertaining over the holidays. While I love Christmas and having family and friends over, it is nice to have some time to make some plans, organize how I'm going to organize (do you do that too?), and generally sweep the proverbial cobwebs out of my head.

We had every kind of weather during those two days. When we first got to the cottage there was soft snow covering all the branches,

then it warmed up to above freezing and all the snow fell off the trees and the sun came out briefly,

and then, on the last day, there was a short snow squall.

I spent hours walking around outside taking pictures (I took 1144 photos in two days and yes I did sometimes take the camera off the automatic setting - yah me!).

I walked down the highway to the rock-cut and took some photos of the amazing icicles that develop there every winter. The cliff is about fifteen feet tall and the icicles tower over you in lovely thick undulating layers.

I also had my first photo challenge of 2012. I love setting myself a photo challenge. They aren't planned things, just something that pops into my head when I'm taking pictures and it is difficult to get the shot I want. I persist and persist at it, sometimes for hours, hoping to get that particular photo. This time it was trying to get a picture of the icicles dripping - and I got some!

There are probably a couple of hundred more photos on my computer's hard-drive of icicles with and without drips of water . Fun, I know! What can I say - I like to amuse myself.

I also amused myself by making a snowman when the weather warmed up just because someone had to take advantage of all that wonderful packing snow. The snowman was only about two feet tall and was as cute as a button (although I did have to eat his nose as soon as I took this photo - see our next challenge for details).

The other challenge William and I set ourselves was to eat every last scrap of food and drink every drop of water we brought with us since we have to pull everything in on a toboggan. We did it! Our lunch before we left was the last of the pea soup we cooked on the wood stove the first afternoon we got there, the last slices of spice cake, a glass of milk each, and a mug of hot chocolate using the last of the drinking water. Yum.

Although William and I went for lots of walks, some of us preferred to sit by the fire on a pile of cozy blankets.

As William and I were restocking the woodbox before we left, I spied some interesting pieces of wood and had to bring some home with me. Details coming soon about what I'm going to do with them. I really need to inspect my parent's wood pile more often - there were a couple of other treasures in there that I rescued. You can see the wood lined up to be chosen in the photo below.

I also started a photo project that I'll tell you about soon. It's all so exciting, I'm sure you can hardly contain yourself with anticipation.

WISH Wednesday #12

2012-01-04T09:00:00.015-05:00

Doesn't this seem like such a perfect cozy winter bedroom. I'm not usually one to like dark colours on the walls, I do think this midnight gray colour is lovely especially when it is paired with the butterscotch colour of the headboard and all the white on the bedding and accessories. I love that little chair covered in black-and-white gingham. I have a long-standing thing for gingham and this chair is just perfection. All those graphic black-and-white prints look so simple and clean.

A good winter WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday photo, don't you think?

2012 Projects List

2012-01-03T10:00:00.002-05:00

Last year was a busy one so I didn't accomplish all I wanted to do. I do find it motivating or head-clearing or inspiring - I'm not sure which - to list what I hope to accomplish. So here's my 2012 list with some of the ideas rolled forward from last year and some new ones - okay actually a lot of new ones. I've added a few inspiration photos too - I love how much they keep me moving forward.

Unskinny Boppy

At Home with a Country Lady

SMALL HOUSE PROJECTS (defined as anything I can accomplish myself in a day or two and that costs less than $100):
~ tidy and paint the front hall closet
~ edit and tidy the china cabinet and add paper to the back of the cabinet so the dishes stand out more
~ edit and sort the craft things in the basement and the trunk
~ organize the spices

Lost and Found

BIG HOUSE PROJECTS (defined as anything that involves getting my husband to help out, costs more than $100, or takes more than a weekend to finish):

~ en suite bathroom - frame the mirror, install new faucet, add a new counter, and a new light
~ master bedroom - finish painting the walls, lengthen the drapes, fix the eyebrow window cover-up, edit the furniture, purchase and install a new overhead light
~ kid's bathroom - add a new light, new taps, and a new counter
~ half-down bathroom - add a new light, new taps, and a new counter
~ paint/stain dining room table
~ make a picture collage on the family room wall

~ add beadboard to ceiling in family room

photo taken by me at Étretat, France

PERSONAL GOALS:
~ finish the France photo book I am half way through making from our vacation last summer
~ finish our son's wedding photo book
~ learn to use my new camera that I got for Christmas - finish listening to the DVD, and take the camera off the auto setting which is all I have used so far
~ visit Ottawa/Hull to see some of the places that my husband's ancestors founded

I never accomplish all the things I set out for myself, but I'm an eternal optimist and love having a list of things I am aiming toward. I love lists and love crossing things off lists. Who knows how things will go this year and what I will get done - but that's the fun of it, isn't it?

Linked to Home Goals Party at Nesting Place

Three things I learned in 2011

2012-01-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

2011 was a big year for our family and for me in particular (you can read about it here). I learned many things last year, but three things really stand out and I wanted to share them with you.

Here they are in no particular order:

1) I can get by with a little help from my friends. I know it's a cliche, but sometimes you can really see the truth in those cliches. It was a busy and sometimes challenging year and there were a couple of key points when friends helped me through.

My friend Jennifer helped me with the flowers for the wedding and I really couldn't have done them without her. I not only needed the extra set of hands, but I needed her calmness and encouragement to not panic at crucial moments.

And, of course, I couldn't have gone to Bangladesh without my friend Kim. We were a good team and helped each other through the trials of the heat, teaching, a foreign culture, crazy rickshaw rides, and food challenges.

2) Sit-ups really do help. I had always read that you can't do spot exercises to trim the excess from specific areas of your body, so I had always used that as an excuse for not doing sit-ups or any abs exercises. However for lent of last year I decided that a certain someone's mid-sections needed a little trimming and so I decided to give it a shot. I began with ten sit-ups and then added one every other day until I was doing forty. The amazing thing is I have kept it up. I had to stop doing sit-ups around the time of the wedding because I literally didn't have enough time in the day and I didn't do them in Bangladesh because it was too darn hot. When I got home, though, I started up again and have added some other exercises to my routine like doing the plank. And you know what - they really do work! I don't mind the five minutes I spend doing them every morning and there is a noticeable difference to my abdominal muscles as a result. Who knew? Apparently not me. If you are going to try it, my advice it to start with just a few sit-ups so you can feel successful and gradually build up.

3) My face is messy/Messi! I wanted to share this story as it makes me laugh every time I think of it. One day when I was in the middle of teaching a class in Bangladesh, one of my students called me over and said "Grace, your face looks messy". Now it was 35C and a bazillion percent humidity and I was sweating like crazy - so I wasn't looking my best, but I didn't think I looked so bad that someone would tell me my face looks messy. I was taken aback and asked him if he knew what 'messy' meant. He said to me - no not messy - Messi - football. I don't know the first thing about soccer/football so the students had to tell me that Lionel Messi is a famous soccer player. I was laughing and blushing and dumbfounded that a student had just told me I look like a male football player. In fact I was laughing so hard it took a few minutes for me to regain my composure and continue the lecture.

Later that day I Googled Lionel Messi and you know what - he does kind of look like me. What do you think?

It's not exactly a compliment to be told I look like a male athlete, but there are worse people you could look like? And it does make a good story!

2011 - A Year in Review

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

It's always fun, and nostalgic, and interesting to reminisce about what you have done over the past year - the changes that have taken place in the family, our casa, and my life. 2011 was a particularly busy one for our family and me in particular, so there were fewer house projects and craft projects accomplished and more travel and family events that took place.

So here's the run-down:

OUR FAMILY

There are now six people in our family - and no I didn't have a baby - we now have a lovely daughter-in-law. In May we celebrated our oldest son, Malcolm's marriage to Christie in a charming, simple, relaxed wedding (which you can read about here and here).

One of the things I enjoyed about the wedding was that Christie asked me to do the flowers. It was a steep learning curve, but it was wonderful being able to contribute in such a creative way to the wedding. The bouquets turned out just as I had envisioned them and best of all Christie loved them. (You can read more about making the bouquets here and the centerpieces here)

The other big news in our family was that my husband's siblings contacted him for the first time in fifty years. Being adopted, he had not seen four of his siblings since he was a toddler so it was wonderful and surprising to meet his siblings after all these years.

Framed copies of photos I gave my husband for Father's Day of him as a toddler with his parents

And finally this was the year that hubby and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. One of the things I did to celebrate was to make a photo album that highlighted the main events for every year we were married (you can read about it here). It was a surprisingly difficult task to piece together what we did each year.

Front page from the anniversary album I made

TRAVEL
This was a big travel year - I think I traveled 13,000 kms in total. There was gorgeous France (which you can read about here and here),

busy Bangladesh (you can read more about what I did there in these posts here, here, here, here, and here),

and amazing India (which you can read about here and here).

HOME AND CRAFT PROJECTS
Given all the other things that I did this year, I didn't really accomplish too many home decorating or crafts projects, but what I did do I loved.

I wanted to pretty up the back of the open kitchen shelves so I painted a piece of foam-core board using some of the leftover gray paint from the lower cupboards (you can read about it here and here). I've enjoyed decorating the shelves with yellow accents in the fall,

and red accents at Christmas time.

In November, I made several different containers to package baked goods and give them to family and friends over Christmas (you can read about them here)

For Christmas I used a red Sharpie to decorate some dollar store plates that we hung above our sideboard (which you can read about here).

I decorated the sideboard in different ways throughout the year - there was the snowy winter sideboard, the global trends fall sideboard, and the red-and-white Christmas sideboard.

The mantel also got changed-up with each passing season or holiday - there was the Valentine's Day mantel, the beer bottle inspired mantel, the Steven and Chris inspired summer mantel, and the Christmas mantel.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In January, I not only got to be in the same room with Sarah Richardson and Tommy Smythe and tour the rooms they had designed for the Interior Design Show (you can see the photos here),

but I got to stand outside of the house they were decorating for Sarah's House 4 (you can read about it here). I know, I know - Sarah and I are practically best buddies!

2012 seems like a calmer year with no major events scheduled to happen. It's fine in my books though, as sometimes years like that are just what one needs after such a busy year.

One of my great pleasures in life these days is all the support and encouragement I have received through this little ol' blog of mine. It has far surpassed my wildest expectations I had when I first began it. January 1st is my two year blogging anniversary and I'm thrilled with all the people I have met, the inspiration I have found, and the things I have learned. Here's to another fine year!

WISH Wednesday #11

2011-12-28T10:00:00.014-05:00

We're not really big New Years Eve celebrators, but nevertheless when I saw this picture I just thought it was so darn cute I had to post it for my WISH Wednesday photo (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home).

Fiskars

If I was to have a New Years party that involved doing some amazing party decorating then this would totally be it, but seeing as we will probably be hanging out with the kids, eating lots of food, and watching movies, then I doubt I'll be making them.

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Since this is the last WISH Wednesday of the month I've made a collage of all the previous posts from this month. December was a fun month to find inspirational photos for with all the Christmas pictures out there. I do find it interesting how few of the photos I selected used traditional Christmas colours.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T10:52:00.000-05:00

Today is Boxing Day - the quiet day of the holidays. My plans for the day include eating leftovers and Christmas goodies, reading magazines, and perhaps even watching a movie. It's definitely a lounge day for me. Christmas was a lot of fun, but is also a lot of hustle and bustle so it is nice to take time to relax afterward.

Here's a little Christmas recap.

Every year on Christmas Eve day we do something together as a family. Usually we go to the museum or art gallery or science centre, but we felt like we had already been to all those places fairly recently so we had to think of something new and different to do. So this year we went to Chinatown in Toronto for a visit.

To make it a special outing I thought we should put a little Christmas spin on it by doing a gift exchange. Everyone was given $20 and had to buy a present for everyone else in the family (including Malcolm and Christie who weren't with us this Christmas because it was their turn to be with Christie's family - boo hoo).

We went in pairs and spent an hour poking around the little shops in Chinatown looking for just the right treasure for each person. Then we met up and went for some lunch at a Chinese restaurant and exchanged presents.

Gifts ranged from the funny to the frivolous. You better believe that one of these little bouncy toys will be going to Halifax with Kate after Christmas.

And someone I know will be kept busy with this highly entertaining chicken feeding game.

And then there is the strange fruit that William got for me. Not only is it heavy and painful to hold with all the spikes, but the waitress at the restaurant told us it stinks when you open it. I forget what the fruit is called, but I'll let you know what we think when we taste it along with the other unusual fruit I was given.

We were home in time for me to take my time setting the table and snapping some photos. I love that moment of quiet before the hubbub of dinner and church.

We used our new tablecloth that I bought when I was in Bangladesh this past summer. It's more pink and orange than a true red, but the colours are so vibrant and so close to red that it all seems to mix together well.

I even had time to get a shot with some Christmas bokeh before the daylight was gone.

We finally got to taste the tourtiere that I made with my friend Kim (you can find the recipe here). It was delicious - just the right amount of seasoning. I will definitely have to start a new tradition of making my own tourtiere every year.

After dinner we lit the candles in the living room so we could cozy up and read our favourite Christmas stories aloud to each other and enjoy a slice of yule log.

This was probably the wonkiest yule log I have made. I think I even rolled it the wrong way as it was almost too long for the platter. Fortunately by the time I dusted it with "snow" and put the plastic axe in it and dimmed the lights nobody noticed or cared that it had been a nuisance to ice and really was a botch job.

Christmas day starts much later now that the kids are older. My parents and my sister joined us Christmas morning and we opened stockings and presents starting at about 9:30.

Afterward we had a festive lunch. The table was loaded with meats and cheeses and fancy breads and decorated with Christmas crackers and the two new salt-and-pepper shakers I was given by hubby.

Christmas dinner was at my Aunt and Uncle's home in Toronto, but I didn't take a camera so there are no photos this year.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Are you putting your feet up today or do you have family parties still to attend?

Merry Christmas to You and Your Family

2011-12-24T10:00:00.038-05:00

The gift of love.

The gift of peace.

The gift of happiness.

May all these be yours at Christmas

I think this video of Jackie Evancho singing Silent Night is just heavenly. Maybe everyone has already seen her sing it, but just in case I wasn't the last one to crawl out from under a rock and discover Jackie - here it is! Take a moment to sit and savour the beauty of the Christmas message in Silent Night.

I'm wishing you all a lovely Christmas.

The Tree is Trimmed

2011-12-23T13:00:00.002-05:00

Finally! We were waiting for Kate to get home from university to decorate our Christmas tree so this past weekend we did our thing.

I want you all to know that procrastination pays. I saw lots of trees being sold for $35 and we got ours for $20. The other part of that is that we have a fairly wonky tree. It was all bundled up when we bought it so I had no idea what it looked like until we got it home and unwrapped it. We then were able to see that it has a flat side, a hole part way down one side, and had an uneven bottom - until I pruned it that is (you can see the difference from the first to the second tree photo on the bottom righthand side).

We always have hors d'oeuvres for dinner when we decorate the tree. It seems to be just the motivation that is needed to get teenage boys to think decorating a tree is a fun activity.

We had many new decorations to add to our collection this year which is always exciting.

There were some jute bell ornaments that I bought in Bangladesh this summer.

Kim and Paul, my friends that I traveled through Bangladesh and India with, surprised me last week by giving me this ornament that they bought at the Khan Market in Delhi. Isn't it the prettiest and the design looks so Indian. I'm tickled pink to have an ornament from India as I didn't get myself one when I was there.

I even hung the little bag it came in on the tree - can you blame me? How cute it that!

When we were at the Toronto Christmas Market in the Distillery District a few weeks ago there was a booth selling food and ornaments from the Netherlands. I bought myself this Delft blue-and-white ball and am excited to finally have an ornament from the Netherlands - only 35 years after I was an exchange student there.

We always get the kids an ornament every year representing something from their interests or what they have done during the past year. William has worked hard all year learning both the acoustic and electric guitars. He performs at church every Sunday and even did a solo last week. Naturally, we got him a little guitar ornament - well actually two of them since he has two guitars.

Kate is going to University at King's in Halifax and loves it. King's is the oldest English-speaking university in Canada and Kate always says it is like going to school in Hogwarts. They even wear academic gowns to dinner once a month. So it seemed fitting to get an ornament that looks like Hedwig the owl from Harry Potter.

This sweet little ship made of words fit with the maritime location of Halifax so it had to come home with us too. Kate and I hit a 50% off sale at Anthropologie so that is where we bought her ornaments.

I also Christmasified the shelves in our kitchen. Since the kitchen is open to the dining room and I used red and white on the sideboard I wanted to carry the same colours onto the shelves. I also wanted to add a few sentimental things from our travels.

The house tin is from our French friends and I taped a little wreath to it so the tin family could celebrate Christmas too. The two little jute bells are from Bangladesh, but didn't get put on the tree because I liked how they tied in with the red on the sideboard and the orange on the house tin.

The two little glasses on the left come out every year as they were bought in England the year we celebrated Christmas there.

Only a few more sleeps left until the big day. We still have some wrapping to do, but will tackle that tomorrow night. In the meantime I'm wiping my drippy nose and using lots of this so the rest of the family doesn't get my nasty cold.

Are you almost ready for the big day?

Wild White Glue Snowmen

2011-12-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

I work with a class for students with learning disabilities and we like to do crafts with them to make learning fun. Last year we made snowmen using mason jars and styrofoam balls (which you can read about here) and this year we made snowmen using white glue. I saw these snowmen on-line (sorry I can't remember the site) and thought they looked like fun.

To make them, we had the students draw around three circles on the back of a a piece of waxed paper. Then we flipped the waxed paper over and 'coloured' in the snowmen with white glue. After that the fun began with sprinkles and buttons and googly eyes and pipecleaners. As you can see each one is unique and lovely.

We had to leave the snowmen for several days to dry completely. When they had dried we peeled them off the waxed paper and put a magnet on the back so they could be hung on the fridge at home. In the photo we have hung the snowmen on a magnetic blackboard. Each student had to write about their snowmen telling us what their name is, where they live, and what they like to do.

I love doing crafts with the students I work with. They work so hard when we are doing such a motivating activity.

WISH Wednesday #10

2011-12-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

When I saw this wreath posted on Kim's blog Three Peanuts, I just knew it was what I wanted to feature for the last Christmas WISH Wednesday (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) photo.

I've had a thing for the ornament wreaths ever since I first saw one made by Eddie Ross a few years ago. I even bought myself a tub of ornaments to make my own, but it hasn't happened yet (hanging head in shame). Kim's ornament wreath is one step better than most I have seen, though, as she used vintage ornaments so it has that lovely aged feel to it.

Kim also has hung the wreath in the perfect location - layered on top of the trumeau mirror with the lovely wooden cabinet below. The greeny-gray Christmas trees and vintage books arranged on the cabinet are a wonderful compliment to the wreath.

Thanks Kim for giving me permission to share your wreath. Hop on over to her blog to read her tips about how to make the wreath.

Homemade Tourtière

2011-12-16T16:00:00.001-05:00

Every year we have tourtière for Christmas Eve dinner. It is a traditional French Canadian meat pie, and although we aren't French Canadian we have it anyway since we don't really have any traditional food for Christmas Eve. It also helps that our whole family thinks tourtière is delicious.

Recently I got together with my friend Kim to make tourtière for the first time. Now given that we have tourtière every year for Christmas Eve dinner you might think I already knew how to make it - not so! In the past I have always bought tourtière from the grocery store, but I decided this year to try my hand at it and asked Kim if I could join her when she was making hers.

Kim likes to wear a Hanukkah apron when she cooks Christmas tourtière, being the rebel she is!

Kim's mother was introduced to tourtière when they lived in Labrador back in the 1950s (you can see her blue recipe card in the photo below on the right). Kim combines her Mother's recipe with another one that she got from a magazine years ago.

Tourtière is a double-crusted meat pie usually made with ground pork, but may also include ground veal or even beef. Traditional recipes include onions, seasonings, and mashed potatoes, although recipes vary from region to region and family to family.

Kim was making a lot of tourtière as she needed it for their Christmas Eve dinner as well as mini tourtière tarts for a Christmas party. To be uber-efficient we divided up the work and I did the peeling and chopping while Kim did the cooking and adding seasoning and mashing of potatoes. We were a good team and got the tourtière filling ready in jig time.

Here's the recipe we used for a 9-inch double crust tourtière:

Ingredients:
1 medium potato, cooked and mashed
1 lb ground lean pork (0.45 kg)
½ cup boiling water
1 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves
½ tsp dried thyme
½ - 1 tsp dried sage
¼ tsp dry mustard
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1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
dash of garlic salt (optional)
1/2 each red and green bell pepper

Method:

1. Combine pork, water, onion, garlic, and seasonings (down to the dashed line) in a saucepan and simmer for 25 minutes or until liquid is reduced stirring occasionally. Can also be made with half pork and half veal.

2. Remove from heat and if necessary pour off water but keep moist. Stir in potato, mashing to make sure the mixture is well combined.

3. Add all the seasonings listed below the dashed line and mash again.

4. Chill thoroughly. Mash a few mores time.

5. If desired add chopped red and green peppers to give a festive appearance.

6. Fill pastry-lined pie pan with chilled meat mixture, then place top crust over filling. Use a knife to make air holes to allow the steam to escape.

7. The tourtière can be wrapped well and frozen at this point (allow to thaw before baking).

8. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes; reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes until the crust is golden (I'm not exactly sure how long it will take so I will let you know after I've baked mine)

9. Let rest for 5 minutes to facilitate perfect slices. Serve hot.

Since we were making large quantities we had to put the pot outside to cool the filling down as there wasn't room in the refrigerator. Kim told me that they always put the pot in snow to cool the filling down. Given our mixed weather here in Toronto I was surprised that they almost always manage to find at least a little bit of snow to use. Not this year, though, as we have had a VERY warm fall - so we just put the pot outside on a post and went out every few minutes to stir it so it would cool down.

I look like I know what I'm doing,

but I really don't. I was flying by the seat of my pants.

And couldn't believe it turned out looking like a real Christmas tourtière. It's all wrapped up and safely in our freezer waiting for Christmas Eve.

Do you think cooking with such a gorgeous combination of pots helped make the tourtière taste better. I'll let you know after I eat it.

What do you serve for Christmas Eve dinner? I'm always curious because it seems to vary much more than the traditional Christmas Dinner menu.

Style at Home - Christmas Decorating Tips

2011-12-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

My sideboard gets out more than I do. She's showing up again on the Style at Home website, but this time decked out in her Christmas finery. She's hanging out with some mighty fine company too. Hop on over to read the great tips from the other bloggers.

My sideboard and I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to Elaine Song, Web Editor, for the invite. We are pleased and honoured to have been included.

(with apologies for the wonky collage)

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Also I want to welcome all the new followers that have shown up recently from the various Christmas parties. I hope you make yourself at home here - pull up a chair and grab a cup of hot chocolate. In case you missed some of my Christmas posts, I wanted to recap some things that might inspire you:

~ twine and cardboard can be turned into rustic letters like the ones that spell 'JOY' above our sideboard

~ red Sharpie, some dollar store plates, and a little doodle art can made some festive wall art like the Christmas plates over our sideboard

~ have a look at five different Christmas cookie recipes and ways to wrap them so they can be given as gifts

~ to read one of my most Googled posts about the 12 days of Christmas gift box

WISH Wednesday #9

2011-12-14T09:00:00.002-05:00

I had no problem selecting a photo this week for WISH Wednesday (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) - there are just so many things to love about this dining room. You just can't go wrong with a teal, turquoise, and green colour scheme. I love the snowballs hanging in the doorway and the white Christmas trees on the mantel. But most of all I love the words "Joy to the World" printed on the wall map. Is that genius? It combines maps, which I love, and a wonderful heartfelt Christmas sentiment.

Emily Henderson

There are lots of other inspiring photos from this decorating project on Emily's website which you can see here. The living and dining rooms are loaded with ideas, crafts, and gorgeous vignettes. Do you want to see one more picture? I thought so.

Are those snowballs along the top of the curtains and the crazy globe snowmen not the cutest?

Come on in for a Visit

2011-12-12T21:19:00.006-05:00

I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit - welcome.

The front porch has a few Christmas touches - twig stars, shiny balls hung on twigs and placed in the lanterns,

and touches of white on the wreath and the little girl's skates.

Come on inside out of the cold. Would you like a cup of tea?

some cookies?

Let me show you around.

I kept the mantel pretty simple this year - just the spindle Santas and some pine cones. Can't get much simpler than that, but I love it. Those spindle Santas are near and dear to our hearts - each one has a special story which you can read about here.

I did something a little different in the dining room. I've never done a colour scheme before, but really wanted to try doing the sideboard in red and white this year. I love how simple and fresh it looks. (You can read more about the sideboard and see more pictures here).

I've been meaning to show you how I created the plates. I wanted to let you in on a little secret about how easy they were to do. They really depended more on my ability to copy designs and do some good Googling than on any actual inherent talent. Oh, and it definitely helped my psyche to know that I could wash the Sharpie off the plates - I'm not sure why it would scrub off as usually Sharpie is permanent, but when I found out I could remove it I felt a lot freer to experiment and try designs.

The Christmas lights were from an image I found online. The first time I drew the bulbs they were all different sizes and shapes and looked ... well ... not right. So I made a little stencil out of cardboard and used that so the bulbs were similar to each other.

Lighting Pictures

The idea for the Christmas balls came from a Folio Society ad that we got in the mail. I knew I couldn't draw the gorgeous designs they had on the balls so I improvised.

The snowflake picture came from an embroidery design that I found online. I simplified it as well as you can see below.

Green Crafts

And the Christmas tree was a modification of the many scribble trees you can find online, like the one below.

Want 2 Scrap

I'm so glad you dropped by for a visit. We're putting our tree up this weekend so pop back to have a look. We would already have it up, but Kate isn't back from university yet and she's a Christmas-loving girl so we thought we would wait for her.

Linked to Virtual Christmas House Tour at The Inspired Room,
Holiday House Tour at Hooked on Houses,
DIY Ornaments Holiday Crafts Link Party at Centsational Girl,
Christmas Crafts at Bower Power

The Toronto Christmas Market

2011-12-09T23:35:00.000-05:00

We recently went to the Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District with our friends, Kim and Paul. The Christmas Market is still on until December 18th so if you haven't been yet there is still time.

I had never been to a Christmas market before and was looking forward to seeing what it had to offer. It is modeled on the European ones and was everything I was hoping it to be.

There were twinkly lights

and more twinkly lights.

And pretty lanterns festooned with wreaths and bows.

There were little shops along the street

that had Christmas goodies for sale, like these German glass ornaments,

and these glass birds - and an alligator (do you see him halfway down near the right side). How did he get in there with all those birds - looks like trouble to me!

I bought an ornament from the Netherlands. After 35 years I have an ornament from the country I lived in as an exchange student. I always regretted not getting one when I was living there and I've never been back since. I'll show you the Delft-blue glazed ball I bought when we put our Christmas tree up.

There were these strange lights that looked like they were made out of bubble wrap, but they slowly turned different colours and were very beautiful so I forgave them for looking so odd.

There was a ginormous beautiful Christmas tree in the open square

right near the ferris wheel.

There were outdoor fires for sitting by to warm up.

There was beer to drink. And for the first time in my life I tasted some beer I actually liked. I think I need to go back to university as I would be a much better party girl now that I like beer, don't you think?

There were lattes inside a cafe to warm us up (forget the lattes, anyone else taken with those ceiling beams?).

Amazing the difference a few months can make - have a look at where Kim and I where four months ago (here).

Even the CN Tower was in a festive mood.

p.s. Some of the photos in this post were taken by my friend Paul as we took turns with my camera - and to be honest I've now forgotten who took which ones (although I do know this last one was his).

Dribble Drabble - It's for the Birds

2011-12-08T11:38:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you about an obsession of mine. I’m always searching for flocks of birds, especially in the fall and winter - this year I’ve seen a bumper crop of them.

I love how chummy they look lined up on overhead wires.

I love seeing swooping swirling clouds of birds

Kate and I once saw a murmuration – a living cloud of flocking birds - as we were driving to a mall and couldn’t quite determine what the strange dark moving shape was until we got closer and realized it was birds.

I adore this video of a murmuration .

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

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Ever heard of a drabble? Nope, neither had I until William had to write one for English class - it's a short story consisting of exactly one hundred words. William challenged me to write a drabble blog post and that is what you just read. It was a good challenge as you have to be concise and interesting in only a few words. It was also a challenge loading the murmuration video - thanks to Lisa at Wicked and Weird for introducing me to it and filling me in on how to load it on to my blog.

WISH Wednesday #8

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Do you know what I love most about this photo - it's the unusual contrasts. The most obvious mix is the combination of turquoise and red for Christmas, but there is also the rustic branch hung with shiny dainty ornaments, and the modern clean-lined chairs mixed with the rustic vintage table. It's totally a look I would do although I don't want to put ceiling hooks in the ceiling to hang the branch and my table isn't turquoise, but apart from that count me in.

Country Living

Are you a dyed-in-the-wool red and green for Christmas type or do you branch out (get it - branch out...) to unusual colours like turquoise. Do tell?

We are all a Twitter

2011-12-06T20:32:00.001-05:00

I'm glad you liked the 13 Trees of Christmas as much as I did (you can read about them and see lots of pictures of them here). I found all the trees so inspirational and fun. I was surprised by your votes, though. I had assumed everyone would love the same trees I did, and I was interested at the range of choices everyone made. It goes to show you that there was something there for everyone.

Here's how everyone voted (1 point for each vote and a 1/2 point when someone said a tree was their second choice):

#3 Ecosphere - 1
#4 Ships of the Desert - 2
#7 Twelve Dogs of Christmas - 1
#8 We are all a Twitter - 2 1/2
#10 James Herriot - 1
#12 Uccelli in Cielo - 1/2
#13 Partridge in a Pear Tree - 1

And the winner was the beautiful "We are all a Twitter" tree.

Without further ado (drum roll, please) the two trees I liked in equal measure were:

#4 Ships of the Desert - I loved how the train of camels wound around the tree and each one was decorated with a different saddle. I loved the gold and stars and how everything centred around the nativity.

#10 James Herriot - this tree reflected all the fond memories I have of reading his books about being a vet in rural England. I thought it was very imaginative and had such nice touches like the balls filled with feed, his dog waiting faithfully for him, and the book tucked into his jacket pocket.

And do you know what my second choice was - that's right, the people's choice "We are all a Twitter"!

My previous post was too long and too loaded with photos to tell you where we ate dinner, but it was such a hit I wanted to share it with you now. We went to the Okonomi House which is a Japanese restaurant near the University of Toronto (23 Charles Street West Toronto (416) 925-6176).

This was a walk down memory lane for me. When my husband and I were University students we lived in the married students apartments on Charles Street and the Okonomi House is right across the street so it was a favourite haunt of ours.

The place has been up-dated a little since our time though. You will be glad to know that after thirty years the plastic food in the window is gone.

Not only is the food fabulous, but the prices are budget-friendly. My friend and I both had chicken okonomis which are delicious savoury Japanese pancakes. At $6.35 each they were also quite the deal!

Sorry folks that's the best I can do to fix the picture of the okonomi. There's nothing like the look of food under intense orange lights. Here's the original photo -

If you live in the Toronto area it is well worth checking out.

It's Christmastime in our Dining Room

2011-12-05T21:42:00.011-05:00

It finally happened - I found a free afternoon to get my decorating mojo on and put a little Christmas in the dining room.

We usually have a series of vintage floral plates on the wall over the sideboard and a floral batik that my Grandmother made in the frame in the centre (you can see how it looked last winter here). I wanted to use red and white in the dining room this year so the florals had to go. I decided to cover up the batik by taping a piece of linen-like cloth on the glass and exchange the floral plates for something more festive. It was a simple solution that gave a clean, natural backdrop to the red Christmas decorations.

I bought six cream coloured plates at the Dollar Store and discovered that a red Sharpie would not only write on them, but could be washed off with hot water, soap, and a brush. You better believe me when I tell you that this was key to the success of the festive plate project. It meant I could make as many boo-boos and hideous designs as I wanted to, without our six plates ending up costing $600.

I Googled "Christmas doodles" and selected images that I could draw. Given that I can't really draw, this meant a lot of searching for things that were easy for me to replicate. The centre two plates are covered with writing - one sacred and one Santa-related - or more specifically one is the Nativity story and one is from The Night Before Christmas. I have messy handwriting and it came in handy for the first time in my life, as the text kind of just blurred and made an all over pattern.

My friend gave me a box of vintage mason jars a month ago as an early Christmas present and I wanted to incorporate them into the sideboard arrangement. Pretty much anything that was red, white, or red and white got put in a mason jar. I had some red and white candy leftover from a Valentine's Day sale (for shame ...). Now that it had turned rock hard the candy was ready to be put on display. I added red tea lights and a few Christmas decorations for a bit of sparkle.

I bought a couple of metres of cream tea towel fabric with red stripes down the sides to use as a runner on the sideboard. The sides are already hemmed when you buy it which is a serious bonus. It meant I didn't have to do anything to it (given that I didn't hem the ends).

We hung our new red berry wreath centred on the picture frame and added the twine letters that I made last year to the top of the frame (you can read about how I made them here).

I kept the table simple with a red runner and a cluster of white candles (thank you IKEA).

I also got the mantel decorated in the adjoining family room, but I didn't change things around much from last year. I kept it simple so our collection of Spindle Santas would be the main feature (you can read their story here).

The most exciting new addition was the twisted gold ribbon and white pompom snowballs that I added to the underside of the mantel. I linked the snowball pompoms together to make a chain and hung them from some hooks. Ingenious, I know ...

There you have it. We still have to decorate the living room and put up the tree, but we are going to wait until Kate comes home on the 15th to do them.

How's everyone else doing? Is the tree up? Have you decorated the rest of the house yet?

Linked to Tablescapes for Christmas at The Lettered Cottage,
Weekend Warrior at Ask Anna,
First Annual Holiday Mantel Party at From My Front Porch to Yours,
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming,
Mantel Link Party at My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia,
Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style,
Holiday Dining Block Party at No Minimalist Here,
Christmas Mantel Link Party at Home Stories A to Z,
Holiday Vignettes at French Country Cottage,
Dare to DIY at NewlyWoodwards

The 12 Trees of Christmas - Make that 13 Trees

2011-12-04T21:57:00.001-05:00

On the weekend a friend and I went to the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts to see the Twelve Trees of Christmas exhibit. I've never been to the Gardiner Museum before, but it has been on my list of things I have wanted to do for years.

Every year twelve Christmas trees are decorated by decorators and architects. The trees are on view for a few weeks and are then auctioned as a fundraiser.

After viewing all the trees I kept counting and re-counting them and coming up with thirteen. I checked at the front counter and, in fact, they decorated a baker's dozen this year.

The theme this year was "All Creatures Great and Small". It was a great theme as it could be taken in so many directions. Being a very decisive person I have narrowed my favourites down to just two trees. I'm curious to know what ones you like the best so I'm not going to say which ones were my favourites in this post. Let me know what one topped your list - we'll have our own little vote right here.

So here are the trees in the order that we saw them in:

1) IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

The first tree, that is actually in the museum's lobby, was decorated by Cobi Ladner. She's a fellow-blogger (you can find her blog Cobistyle here), the former editor of House and Home magazine, and I kinda sorta met her (which you can read about here).

Cobi's tree was festooned with Japanese lanterns, Chinese take out boxes, butterflies, and Geisha doll ornaments - and all done in bright and beautiful colours.

2) NOAH'S ARK

The Noah's Ark tree was decorated with pairs of balsa wood animals, ramps to load the ark, a rainbow ribbon, the ark resting at the top of the tree, and a beautiful Japanese water scene covering the base of the tree.

3) ECOSPHERE

This tree reminded me of a children's toy - with wooden animals linked together by metal rods.

4) SHIPS OF THE DESERT

This tree was festooned with stars, including a huge glittering gold one on top. There was a creamy net garland like a path of sand, along with a string of camels each decorated with a different saddle. Nestled in the branches near the bottom of the tree was a nativity scene.

5) ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

This tree sparkled with glittery balls in white, gold, and silver. As you looked closer at the decorations you could see all manner of winged creatures including dragonflies, beetles, birds, and butterflies hidden in the branches and balancing on the ornaments.

6) ELEPHANT LOVE

This red tree was made into the elephant itself with the addition of a giant head, decorated feet, and a tail around the back. The decorations on the tree were all elephants - everything from cookies to decorated ornaments.

7) THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS

This tree was decorated from top to bottom in dogs and dog-related things like leashes, dog toys, and even a few cats for the dogs to chase. Under the tree were some presents, including one that a naughty puppy had started to open.

8) WE ARE ALL A TWITTER

There was a nest at the top of the tree and a huge nest at the base of the tree and literally hundreds of green and blue birds in between.

9) CHRISTMAS MY DEER

This tree had painted branches that were supposed to resemble antlers and it was adorned with pink and white feathers.

10) A TRIBUTE TO JAMES HERRIOT AND ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

There was everything farm related on this tree - from livestock to clear balls filled with animal feed to prize ribbons to bundles of hay and a weathervane on the top. Under the tree was a pair of boots and a couple of farm animals and beside the tree stood a coat stand with a barn jacket, complete with a copy of James Herriot's book in the pocket and a stethoscope slung around the neck of the jacket.

11) THE SNOW CREATURES

This tree was bedecked in owls, blue jays, and cardinals - all birds that stay in Canada over the winter. Along with the birds the tree was decorated with red plaid ribbon and red and silver baubles.

12) UCCELLI IN CIELO

This heavily flocked tree set off the greens, teals, and turquoises of the pears, birds, ribbon garland, and the angel at the top of the tree.

13) A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE

This tree was a study in green - everything from the cluster of sparkly partridges at the top of the tree to the glittering pears and baubles that covered the tree.

I'd love to know which tree turns your crank - was it the beautiful and sparkly or the sentimental or colourful?

And so you can remember the choices, here's an overview of all the trees:

Linked to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Please Porridge in the Pot, Nine Days Old!

2011-12-02T10:00:00.010-05:00

Anyone else like porridge? I love it on a cold morning. Nothing fills me up quite like it and it tastes so yummy.

I've recently started using steel cut oats for porridge. They have a slightly nutty taste and have that lovely hard-soft combination that you either love or hate - and I'm on the love side.

The best part about porridge is all the things you can add to it - like raisins, or apples. I've recently read about cooking pumpkin in your oatmeal and I have to say I'm intrigued and want to give it a try. My favourite thing to add to porridge is maple sugar. In Ontario maple sugar is difficult to find. Maple syrup and maple candies are readily available, but maple sugar is something you have to really search for. I love the taste of it on my porridge though, so I try and keep some on hand.

One of the problems I have with any porridge, and steel cut oats in particular, is that it takes so long to cook. Steel cut oats take about 25 minutes of cooking time, which means I don't have time to make it on a workday morning.

However, a friend let me in on a fantastic porridge secret! You can make a pot full of porridge and then put it in a sealed container in the fridge. To reheat it, you put an appropriate sized blop in a microwavable bowl, add a bit of water or milk, smush it a bit, and microwave on HIGH for two minutes. Then you stir, add milk and sugar, and enjoy! I love that I can now have porridge on weekday mornings.

Thank heavens for microwave ovens and friends who tell you their wonderful secrets!

WISH Wednesday #7

2011-11-30T07:00:00.051-05:00

I had another Christmas photo chosen for WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday, but realized yesterday that I didn't love it - I only liked various things in the room, not the whole thing! Then I found this gorgeous image and had to use it instead.

I love so many things about this room it's hard to know where to start. The first thing that caught my attention was the windows. I adore rooms that have light coming in from more than one side as it makes the lighting much more even and pleasant, so this room had me at the wrap around windows.

I love all the natural materials - simple unadorned wreaths hung on the windows, wood furniture and floors, a natural linen runner, and a pleasing arrangement on the table of a pot of blooming paperwhites, some candles, and a bowl of clementines on a large cutting board.

I would love to sit at that table looking out to the birds and trees and watch the snow fall while sipping a warm cup of tea. Perfection!

And if you want to see more photos of this gorgeous home you can go to the original article at Country Living. It was Elizabeth's post at Blue Clear Sky that brought this lovely Connecticut Saltbox home to my attention. It's funny how many of the images I had seen before, but never realized they were from the same house. What a beauty of a house it is too! I think this house looks pretty at any time of year, but especially lends itself to Christmas.

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Since this is the last Wednesday in November, I pulled all the WISH photos together to see what inspired me this month. I can't wait to see a whole year's worth of my favourite photos all in one place. When I study the November photos, there seems to be lots of natural tones with hits of orange, gold, and blue.

Christmas in Toronto: Cavalcade of Lights and Pretty Windows

2011-11-28T10:00:00.262-05:00

On the weekend I visited downtown Toronto to get a little Christmas action happening. It was just the ticket for putting me in the festive mood. The Cavalcade of Lights was on, which is the official start to the Christmas season in Toronto and features the lighting of the massive Christmas tree at Nathan Phillips Square.

To make a rip-roaring occasion of it, they had a fireworks display in green, red, and white all set to Christmas music.

The tree was amazing all decorated in red, white, and silver.

There was music playing,

and a very crowded skating rink,

covered by an awesome star studded canopy.

I really enjoyed all the twinkle lights and fireworks,

but I think my favourite part of the evening was looking at the Hudson Bay Christmas windows along Queen Street. They were amazing! I loved the little stories they told, the attention to detail, the animation, and even the Bay products that were woven into the scenes. In all there were five windows each with a different theme.

Window #1 - This window shows the elves outside, all dressed in coats with Hudson's Bay blanket stripes, tending to the reindeer and checking out how well the sleigh's lift-off properties are working (the sleigh would go up and down as the elf pulled the lever).

Check out the little basins of carrots and apples for the reindeer - how cute is that!

Window #2 - This window shows the workshop with the elves hurrying to get all the toys ready for Christmas. Notice that the clock has months where the numbers usually are and it is almost Christmas Eve. Santa is standing on the balcony overseeing everything with a long list in his hand.

Look closely at the dolls on the bottom shelf - they are Anne of Green Gables dolls.

Window #3 - This window shows the village getting ready for Christmas with the decorated tree and the shoppers. The store is, of course, a Hudson's Bay store and the clerk inside is folding a Hudson's Bay point blanket.

Window #4 - This window shows a pretty Victorian home decorated for Christmas. I assume it is Christmas Eve because there are stockings hung by the fireplace and unopened presents under the tree. However, it must be late at night because the children have fallen asleep on the sofas in the adjoining room and the mice are asleep in their room under the floorboards. It looks like Santa will soon be arriving.

I love that the mice are sleeping in match boxes decorated with Hudson's Bay crests and they are covered with Hudson's Bay blankets. You could see the mice breathing heavily as they slept.

Window #5 - This last window is a "Welcome Home" to Santa after his long night of work. Mrs. Claus has been busy making lots of treats to serve Santa and the elves - the table is laden with goodies!

I love the candy cane railing along the upper balcony and the world map painted on the wall.

And Santa is having a Hudson's Bay blanket draped across his shoulders - just what he needs after a cold tiring night.

I only wish I could have gone back about ten years in time and taken a young Kate to see the windows - she would have loved them. If you live in Toronto I hope you get a chance to drop by and see these gorgeous windows and if you don't live in Toronto I hope you enjoyed the tour. Do you have decorated Christmas windows where you live?

Cookies and Chocolate and Other News

2011-11-25T21:27:00.002-05:00

Well folks Christmas Cookie Week is finished and I have a smile on my face and a freezer full of cookies. I hope you all were inspired. If you haven't already done so, you really should check out the cookies that Angie made over at Echoes of Laughter. Funnily enough, we both made cookies that you flatten with a fork on Monday and chocolate cookies on Wednesday and that was completely unplanned. I really need to try printing tags on Avery labels like Angie does - it looked amazing on her packages.

Just in case you were too busy snarfing turkey and licking the pumpkin pie off your plate over the past few days, here's a complete cookie compendium from this past week:

Day #1 - Double Ginger Chocolate Cookies packed in a decorated Chinese takeout container.

Day #2 - Shortbread cookies hanging on the tree in an origami cup.

Day #3 - Chocolate Chunk Cookies packed in birch log Pringles containers.

Day #4 - Chocolate, Cranberry, Oat Cookie Bars packed in a wrapped box.

Day #5 - White Chocolate and Macadamia Nuts Cookie Mix in a Snowman Jar

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Several of you have asked if I could offer the option of following Sense and Simplicity via email, so never one to turn someone away, I've added that feature. If you read the blog in a reader, then you will need to go to the actual home page (which is here) and put your email address in the form on the right sidebar.

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And finally in other news....important chocolate information. This will only be of interest to people living in the Toronto area, but did you know that there is a Lindt chocolate outlet store in Mississauga. Given that this is the time of year when we are spending copious amounts of money buying copious amounts of chocolate - oh wait, is that only me? Well if you also are planning on buying industrial quantities of chocolate this Christmas then you just might want to save yourself some money while you do it.

I promise that the angels will sing when you visit this chocolate heaven. Some of the items are as low as 50% off and many are 25-50% off and some are retail prices. The chocolate is all fresh, in its original packages, and not damaged.

You can find the Lindt outlet at 7090 Kennedy Road, Mississauga just north of Derry Road off the 410. I thought I saw on the sign that it is open from 9am - 9pm Monday to Friday. The phone number is 905-696-8143 if you want to check opening times.

Have a great weekend. What's everyone up to this weekend? Anyone doing any Christmas baking? That won't be me - just saying.

Linked to Handmade Gifts at Funky Junk Interiors,
VIP Party at Designer Garden