Spring Decor

As promised, here are a few closer-up shots of my spring arrangements. First, the sideboard:

The gorgeous berry bowl was a Christmas gift from my mom and the bunny plate a perfect match I found at Winners.

Funny story: when I picked up that bunny plate, Winners only had two: this green/yellow one and a purple/yellow one. I bought both, and gifted the purple one to my mom with some bunny dish towels. I brought the gift up a few weekends ago and mom surprised me with a gift of her own: a bunny bowl (picked up at Winners). She bought me the pink one and kept the blue. The apple certainly didn't fall far from the tree, eh?

This is the state of my table - I'm studying for SOCRA and have this lovely textbook spread out on the table. Also spread out: the Settlers of Catan card game (Pat and I have been playing a lot lately - so much fun!). In the far corner you can see my "center" piece:

There's the cute bunny bowl from mom (along with some adorable rabbit salt and pepper shakers and beautiful silver candlesticks from Pat's memere)!

Lastly, here's another shot of the boat:

That's right - something else has finally been hung on the wall! Pat found this clock at HomeSense - I think it's a great fit!

Are you ready for spring?

Spring Tulips

We've barely had a winter this year, so I've been feeling in the "spring mood" much earlier than usual. So I rearranged a few things, pulled out a few spring pieces and picked up some gorgeous tulips at the grocery store. Here are the results:

It was a 3 for $20 at Metro, so I rearranged the pink and white-with-a-pink-stripe tulips and the purple-pink filler into two separate bouquets. The one on the sideboard went into a simple glass vase, the other went into the vintage brown pitcher gramma gave me. They make me smile every time they catch my eye!

I'll show you the rest of my spring decor tomorrow.

Superbowl Party Dessert

I know it's been a while, but I just had to share the epic cookie cake I made for the Superbowl party we attended.

It was delicious. Heavy, sweet, decadent - but absolutely amazing! If you aren't a fan of cake but love cookies, this is the cake for you! The top layer is chocolate chip, the middle chocolate chocolate chip and the bottom funfetti chocolate chip (made with a funfetti cake mix). Iced in buttercream and topped with three different types of sprinkles (jimmies, nonpareils and star-shaped sequins, all multi-coloured), this dessert was a huge win!

Here's the recipe.

2016 Goals: January

I promised myself I would "check-in" on my goals monthly - so here's my first one!

16 GOALS FOR 2016:

1. Read 30 books. 3 down.
2. Try 16 new Ottolenghi recipes. 2 down.
3. Try 16 new (loose-leaf) teas. Around 5 down... haven't exactly kept track (I mean, I'm keeping track in my David's Tea Menu but haven't differentiated between December and January)..
4. Put up shelves and organize craft room. Make it inspiring. Started cleaning up!
5. Finish Amber art book - this year I WILL! 
6. Work in sketchbook daily. Not every day yet, but definitely more frequent.
7. Blog weekly. Also getting there.
8. Finish 2 cross-stitch samplers. 
9. Travel somewhere new. 
10. Sign up for and pass my SOCRA certification. Signed up for the April 30th test. 
11. Make an inventory of all my books. 
12. Wake up earlier and practice yoga every morning. I did one day last week... does that count? OK, no, not yet... Next week!!!
13. Make a weekly meal plan and prep veggies on the weekend. Coming up with a rough meal plan each week so far.
14. Get rid of junk we never use (i.e. downsize our "things") and organize storage and spare spaces. 
15. Work on making the backyard nicer (plant flowers, landscape, garden). 
16. Set reminders in my phone to make me check in on my goals at least monthly (and blog about it). DONE! Now I just need to stay on top of blogging about it each month.

Not too bad - I've started working on most goals and trying to keep track of them too! I bought myself an agenda, and that's helping immensely. I'll blog about it soon, but I forgot how nice it was to plan and keep track of everything in one place!

How do you stay on top of your goals?

Sketchbook Pages: 2015 Amber Altered Book

Here are the few pages I completed in my Amber altered book in 2015. None of these feel particularly "done" to me (which may be why I never thought to post about them last year - and why I didn't date 3/4 of them), but I doubt I'll be going back to any of them. New year, new slate, right?

Since I didn't keep track of the steps I took to create these pages, I'm not positive on all the layers involved. I did start by taping the spine with masking tape and may or may not have gessoed before starting. Otherwise, I'm guessing based on the textures I can see.

Autumn Gold

This is my favourite of the four in this post. I love the rich jewel tones. I do remember wanting to make this page all about the fall colours - definitely achieved that goal! I can tell I started with collage and added some major texture with gel medium and a circle stencil. I can see a splatter of India ink and a generous helping of iridescent copper light. I distinctly remember trying to highlight the circle texture with the metallic copper paint.

This is my only page with a date - October 2015.


Chilly Drips

I started with collage for this page too - and definitely used lots of washi tape (I recognize some of the patterns under there). It's possible this is an all-washi tape collage actually. I then muted everything with gesso before dripping turquoise Liquitex paint pen and purple India ink from the top and bottom respectively. Then I scribbled words into all the gaps using a white Sharpie.

It didn't feel finished, so I didn't date the page.. I think I worked on it around the same time as the previous and next pages, but I have no idea what the order is.

Abstract Florals

I was cleaning up my office and came across some old stickers - this page started there. There's no gesso underneath, but there is a heavy layer on top. I used a dry brush and worked vertically for the background, which gave some nice texture in the aqua paint. I wanted very rough, abstract flowers, so I painted those mostly with my finger. Lastly, I doodled wildly with a black pen and silver Sharpie. I was going for a very loose, primitive feel.

Again - it didn't feel done, so no date. Hate when I do that!

Vivid Contrast

This page has quite the timeline. Back when I first bought my turquoise Liquitex paint pen, I initially tried it out on this page. Later, I added some other bright colours (in blocks - I think I was using up paint from other project... a theme for this page!)... and then left it. For years! Over the holidays, I was working on another project and had leftover paint - it only seemed appropriate to add it to this page. First, I covered most of the page with black paint (gritty with fiber paste). Then I added splashes of red, orange, peach, pink and gold. And again, left it. Definitely not a "done" page, but still pretty, don't you think?

This year, my goal is to finally finished this book and start a new one. This time, I'm going to start at the beginning instead of jumping around throughout the book - it was a fun suggestion, but I prefer to be chronological and don't really have those "first page" jitters that this more random style eliminates. I just need to find an older book with sewn signatures and a subject I don't mind completely obliterating - a catchy title I can use helps too!

Have you ever altered a book? I'd love to see and hear about it!

Sketchbook Pages: Randoms from 2015

The last sketchbook pages I posted about were from early spring 2015 - here's a sampling from the rest of the year!

A pretty typical look into my sketchbooks: words and quotes, recipes and lists, doodles, sketched girls and the occasional collage or drawing. Overall though, there isn't that much to show because I wasn't that artistically prolific in 2015. I aim to change that this year. In fact, I already have quite a few pages filled! I'll try to keep more on top of posting those too!

I have a few more pages from 2015 to show - these from my Amber altered book - but they deserve their own post. 

2016 Word of the Year

My yearly thesaurus browsing commenced with:

nurture

And quickly spiralled into:

discipline
refine
support
cultivate
foster
cherish
embrace
forward
progress
ready
vital
alive

Two words kept coming back to me this year: dynamic and sharp. Dynamic is just a really good word - it coveys momentum and progress and just sounds good when you say it. But then, so does sharp. It's short, quick and to the point. It's smart and well put together. It's honed and ready. And as much as I want to be all about movement this year, I feel that being sharp and honing my current set of skills is more important for 2016. I also think it progresses nicely with my 2015 word of patience.

This year I aim to be sharp. 

2016 Goals

Well... I'm kind of dreading this "Goals" recap. I started out the year pretty well, but things quickly derailed when we moved into our house. I actually completely forgot about these goals (and also forgot to create a "30 Things Before Turning 30" list.. which is kind of disappointing, but perhaps it's time to give them up? Something to ponder.. but first, the dreaded recap).

15 Goals for 2015:

1. Read 25 books I already own (as of January 1st).
2. Exercise three times a week (AKA get back into my gym routine).
3. Practice yoga at least three time weekly.
4. Master making pasta from scratch.
5. Eat more healthily: less take-out, less processed/pre-packaged foods, less sugar, less pop, more fruits and veg, bring lunch to work everyday, etc.
6. Find a good farmer's market / exotic food store in order to create new flavours and recipes.
7. Organize my life: downsize wardrobe, craft room, kitchen, decorations, etc.
8. Fill at least six sketchbooks and finish my Amber art book.
9. Finish at least two cross-stitch projects.
10. Practice sewing on my new (to me) machine and serger.
11. Don't buy a single card - make them instead. Try to make gifts too.
12. Blog at least twice weekly.
13. Date night weekly.
14. Travel to a new place.
15. Spend less time online / on my phone. 

What I did manage to accomplish from this list:

• I read over 25 books (but not many were owned prior to January)
• I did eat a lot better (but not nearly as much as I really want)
• I did find some different and more exotic spices and veggies (but just at a couple of local grocery stores - I did find a farmer's market stall though, and it's lovely)
• Pat and I semi-regularly go out for lunch/dinner (or take in, or go to shows, on walks, skating, etc) and I would say it's probably pretty close to weekly. I'll call it a win!

So not bad for having basically forgotten about it altogether, right?

Anyhow, I tried to make my goals for 2016 a little more direct - measurable and achievable. I deliberately added the last one in so that I can feel even better about how many goals I cross out this year!

16 Goals for 2016:

1. Read 30 books.
2. Try 16 new Ottolenghi recipes.
3. Try 16 new (loose-leaf) teas.
4. Put up shelves and organize craft room. Make it inspiring.
5. Finish Amber art book - this year I WILL!
6. Work in sketchbook daily.
7. Blog weekly.
8. Finish 2 cross-stitch samplers.
9. Travel somewhere new.
10. Sign up for and pass my SOCRA certification.
11. Make an inventory of all my books.
12. Wake up earlier and practice yoga every morning.
13. Make a weekly meal plan and prep veggies on the weekend.
14. Get rid of junk we never use (i.e. downsize our "things") and organize storage and spare spaces.
15. Work on making the backyard nicer (plant flowers, landscape, garden).
16. Set reminders in my phone to make me check in on my goals at least monthly (and blog about it).

What are your goals for this year?