jessa's wedding on girls

I know I am late in posting this, but honestly - I forgot.  After watching the finale of HBO's Girls, a few weeks back, I remembered loving the ceremony altar at Jessa's surprise wedding.  It would make a great decoration for an outdoor wedding, or just an outdoor party.  I may have to try it out this summer when we have a housewarming soiree for our new home in California.

source: HBO

new photography packaging!

Yes! It's been a long time coming. I've been experimenting with packaging for my wedding photography for a while now, but with school and everything I was never able to sit down and just work on what I had in mind. Then, my awesome, totally talented, beautiful beautiful sister designed my logo.  If you ever want custom design, seriously hire her, she's currently working on an illustration for a tattoo for someone! That could be you! (or you know, wedding invitations, whatever).  I couldn't just have the pretty logo she designed for me standing all alone in the midst of my random packaging. So this week, I whipped out my water color set and exacto knives and got to it.  Considering I don't watercolor, ever, I'm pretty happy with how the packaging turned out.  In case you're interested:

For my photography packaging I use:

Moo double-sided business cards
Stumptown printing recycled dvd cases
Recycled paper bubble mailer

I try to limit the amount of materials I use for packaging, mainly so that I am not contributing more to the amount of material that is out there in the world. As you can see, all packages are hand-painted, packaged, and mailed by me.  And, because we live in the Great White North, each package will now include a lovely Canadian token... yes you should be excited.

 The foster kitten, Flannery, got a little mischievous while I was taking photos of my packaging. If there are any paw prints on your dvd cases - well, now you know why.

Anyways that's it.  If you haven't been to my photoblog in a while, please have a look.  There are still a few weddings I have yet to post on there, so keep your eyes peeled. I may even blog the packaging on there, too.

how do you guys like the new packaging?  Any thoughts or new ideas? I'd love to hear!

improvisation quilts

Sewing quilts has always been a daunting idea to me. The precision of cutting out perfect geometric shapes and stitching them altogether was never appealing, however I looked the patterns and colors of the quilts and wished I could produce my own.  Then, I stumbled upon Susana Allen Hunter and her improvisational quilts.  In the early 1900s, Hunter sewed beautiful quilts mixed in geometric shapes and colors.  She clearly had an eye for color and pattern and her quilts are amazing.  She brings inspiration to those of us not willing to conform to the perfectly squared quilts.

{source images found here}

fall french toast

Since the beginning of October I have been searching out canned pumpkin puree in the Montreal markets - I have yet to be successful.  So far I've come across canned pumpkin pie mix, but I will never (NEVER) resort to that, hopefully.  I have an assortment of pumpkin recipes on my Pinterest board that I have yet to use this year and it really makes me sad.  Breakfast recipes such as pumpkin french toast or pumpkin pancakes always sounds like the perfect weekend morning, but so far, no luck.  So, rather than sulk and deprive myself of breakfast, I decided to make french toast, 100% from scratch.

To start, I made a light, brioche-styled loaf called Sally Lunn bread.  This can be found on Smitten Kitchen.  I do not normally make bread, as I have a husband that has managed to become quite an expert in bread baking.  However, this recipe seemed easy enough and I prayed that the rising would come through. It did!  The bread baked beautifully and it made FANTASTIC french toast. Hopefully soon I will make the accompanying honeyed brown butter spread.  If you want some lightly sweet bread for either toast or bread pudding, I highly recommend this bread.

P.S. Do you like my maple syrup pot?  You should. It's made by Montreal artist Marianne Chenard. Normally her maple syrup pots have really beautiful illustrations on the ceramics, but this past Puce Pop Craft Fair she had made limited run white ceramic pots with woodgrain like grooves which I couldn't resist.  I love it!  Plus it holds exactly 1 can of Quebec maple syrup, so storage is made easy.

To make French toast a little more "fall festive" I like to add cinnamon and nutmeg to the egg/milk mixture.  Enjoy!  And make sure to take advantage of all the pumpkin cuisine out there while you still can!

preparation for halloween

It's been awhile since I've blogged again - no thanks to work and school, but during this time away from Blogger, I've been thinking about halloween costumes.  After watching Fantastic Mr. Fox again, I decided an easy, comfortable and most importantly warm costume for me this year would be Ash.  It'd be a relatively cheap costume, too.  All you need are some white sweatpants, a white cardigan, a makeshift cape, an "A" felt patch and possible 2 sets of tube socks (2 cut to fit your face).  If you really go the distance, buy this amazing felted fox hat on Etsy.  Here are some findings I've discovered for my costume (as long as I have a party to go to).  What are your costumes going to be this year?
'

Ash costume by hollin featuring elastic pants

American Apparel stripe socks, $8
Forever21 elastic pants, $14
CARDIGAN WITH BUTTONS - Collection - Knitwear - Collection - Woman -..., 46 CAD

beauty diy: wake up scrub

Lately I've been looking into DIY beauty recipes and soaps.  There haven't been too many I've been super impressed with yet, mainly because I don't have all the ingredients and am usually too lazy to go out looking for them.  But!  One recipe that I absolutely love is this body/face scrub.  You will most likely have ALL of these ingredients on hand, and if you don't, well, it's stuff you should always have on hand.

First let's talk about the ingredients: what I love most about this recipe is it gets rid of your used coffee grounds!  Normally I hate just tossing the grounds into the trash, since I don't have a garden I can throw them in, so this is a great recycling tool.  Second, if you don't have peppermint essential oil I couldn't recommend it more.  It is a great soother especially for headaches!  I always put it on for headaches or neck-aches.  Hopefully the rest of the ingredients you have on hand!

Wake.Up Scrub

{Read more at Wholeliving.com: Wake-Up Scrub }

1/4 cup olive oil or oil of choice (vitamin e, jojoba oil, etc.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup pure turbinado sugar (I used my lavender raw sugar, because that's all I had)
15 drops peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita)
1/2 cup used coffee grounds from a freshly brewed pot

• 1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; using a fork, thoroughly blend. Transfer the scrub to a wide mouthed jar, and store in a cool place until ready to use. The scrub will keep for one to two weeks, longer if refrigerated.

GET ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS TOGETHER

ADD COFFEE BEANS TO SUGAR MIXTURE

 COMBINE THE TWO TOGETHER

ADD PEPPERMINT EXTRACT

 ADD OLIVE OIL

ADD VANILLA EXTRACT

STIR EVERYTHING UP TOGETHER!

STORE IN A COOL PLACE UNTIL READY TO USE

• 2. While showering, apply handfuls of the coffee scrub to wet skin in circular motions, starting at the feet and working up. The scrub contains oil, so it's best to do this over a rubber mat to avoid slipping. Pay particular attention to rough spots such as heels, ankles, knees, and elbows.
• 3. After scrubbing, cleanse skin as usual using a mild natural soap or body wash. Pat skin dry with a fluffy towel, and follow with lotion to seal in the moisture.

lockets: coming soon

Been working on some solid perfume lockets!  I had to take a break, because I couldn't stop smelling the perfume everywhere.  More pictures when I'm done!

fabric series

I got the opportunity to buy lots of fabric while I was in the LA fabric district.  I thought I'd take pictures of some before I make fun and crafts out of them!

THE LINEN SERIES

VINTAGE FLORAL PILLOW CASES

DOGS IN A ROW

CATS LINED UP

LINEN FLOWERS 1

LINEN FLOWERS 2

LINEN FLOWERS 3

guest post at I ART U

I was asked by Jen from I Art U to make a garland out of her mini hearts template.  It was super easy and a lot of fun, and definitely spruces up your place for Valentine's Day.  I'm always sad, taking down the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations and really, there isn't another holiday until Halloween that you can decorate just as lavishly for.  My goal for next year is to research lots of Valentine's Day crafts, and have my entire apartment spruced up for the month of February, like this blogger, with her 20 Days of Valentines.

To see the craft and download the template, check out I ART U.  Also, look at her blog and see the other bloggers' version of the heart garland.