Friday, October 31, 2008

and the hallowe'en spirit award goes to....

...this house in my neighbourhood. They really went all out in their decor! I'm sure this will be THE house to visit tonight. And how great is this balmy 20 degree weather for trick or treating? I remember some Hallowe'en nights so cold that we had to wear snowsuits under our costumes. Which of course ruined the effect of our costumes altogether!

Happy trick or treating!

boo-tiful!

Happy Hallowe'en! Check out this boo-tiful cake courtesy of Martha Stewart. These have to be some of the non-scariest ghosts I've seen...they are adorable!

I had a little Hallowe'en 'scare' of my own last night. I opened the cupboard doors under the sink to throw something into the green recycling bin and before I could touch it, the cover lifted and out popped a mouse! I let out such a scream that I think I took five years off my poor husband's life. So we are currently living with a mouse...roaming around free...somewhere in my house. And it's really cute...but ewwwwwww!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

french girl fashion

I have always admired French girls and the way they instinctively know how to dress - the just-thrown-on-yet-really-put-together look. I was happy to find this section on Lucky magazine's website - a glimpse into the street styles of Paris. Such great fashion inspiration here! Since I work from home, there isn't much opportunity to dress up a lot, but maybe - just maybe, these pics will inspire me to change out of my comfy track pants!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Canvas Jam

I'm very proud to showcase another recently completed website - Canvas Jam! This new company allows children to create abstract paintings on large-scale canvases that fit right into their parent's decor. Clicking through the photos, you can see just how proud all of these kids are, and what a great keepsake for parents {not to mention that they get a cool work of art for their walls}.

This company opted for a 'starter' one-pager website that includes some company information, photos, and contact details. As their company grows, they will be adding more pages to the site. And considering all of the photos I have added in the past month or two, it looks like they are well on their way! Be sure to check out the photos - the artwork is really quite beautiful and the kids, absolutely adorable.

Friday, October 24, 2008

together at last

A Teatro Verde flagship store and Anthropologie together in the same building?
I am in h e a v e n.....

the honeymooners: in the amalfi coast

Onto the last leg of our Italian adventure! From Florence, we took a train to Naples {and tried not to get mugged} and then a hydrofoil to Sorrento where we stayed for a few relaxing days. Again, only photos can describe the sheer beauty of the Amalfi Coast. The views were exquisite and entire cities were built into cliffs overlooking the sea!

We took a harrowing bus ride to nearby Positano {think big bus hugging narrow and curvy roads built into the cliffs} but it was so worth the view.

I loved these graphic vintage sign posts.

And below is a postcard from one of Positano's beachside restaurants, Ristorante La Cambusa. I thought the sketchy line drawings were lovely and captured the feel {and height!} of the seaside town.

Here I am in Pompeii with a cold which is why I'm a bit grumpy pants...but that is Mount Vesuvius in the background, the volcano that erupted and covered Pompeii in ash and magically preserved everything in time. It was absolutely unbelievable to walk on Pompeii's street that still had ruts from the chariots!

That is it from our Italian honeymoon...what an amazing adventure. And now that I have the travel bug again, I'm going to plan our next trip...Israel for my sister's wedding next summer with a potential stopover in Iceland!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

west elm

My sister and I checked out the new West Elm store in Liberty Village...wow! I have read about it a lot in design blogs, but I was very impressed. They have such beautiful stuff, and surprisingly it's quite affordable. I loved everything I saw there but would really like some of these honeycomb lights for our bedroom.

Our bedroom, sadly, has been neglected and is the last room in our house to be decorated. I'm thinking it's going to be green, but I'm on the lookout for some bedroom design inspiration. I wouldn't mind it at all if it looked like this, though {from West Elm}:

Or this:Or this!

the honeymooners: in florence

Beautiful Firenze!

The Arno River, Florence

The Duomo

Some 'street art'

Ponte Vecchio bridge at night

Beautiful town of Siena

A beautiful building in Siena

Continuing on from my last honeymooner post...we took the train from Rome to Florence, and during that train ride, I started reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was such a perfect read, as the first 'eat' part of the book takes place in Italy, so I learned a lot of fun facts along the way - one of them being that the Italian language was standardized by adopting the dialect used in Florence.

'Firenze' was gorgeous! A much smaller city than Rome, but so pretty and charming. We saw Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, and Michalangelo's David {I cried}. The best food we had on our trip was in Florence, and that is also where we discovered Grom - the best gelato hands down!

Here are some photos of Florence and the beautiful nearby town of Siena...sigh...I want to go back...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

the honeymooners: in rome

At this time last year, my new husband and I embarked on a honeymoon adventure. My dad had gone to Italy in January of 2007, and when he got back, he told us that we had to, HAD TO go to Italy for our honeymoon - he thought that between my art background and Pete's Italian roots {his dad was born in Italy} that it was a perfect fit. So we gave it a go...and we are so glad that we did! It was a magical honeymoon that started in Rome, moved north to Florence, and then down to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. All the while, we filled our bellies with amazing pasta, pizza, and of course gelato {boy, did our digestive systems revolt!}, and absorbed so much history, art, and beautiful things that it is hard to put into words. So instead, I will share just some of the 1200+ photos that we took on our adventure. Here are some highlights from the first leg of our trip, in 'Roma'...Florence will soon follow...enjoy!

vintage vespa in front of a little flower shop {I loved the little flower shops}

some ruins we just happened upon while exploring Rome

the Colosseum and the Forum {view from Palatine Hill}

view from atop Castel Sant'Angleo

Piazza del Popollo

typical buildings in Rome

Roman aqueducts

The honeymooners

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

marigold + pewter: an autumn wedding

On Saturday, my 'sister' company, inBloom Events + Design, planned, designed, coordinated, and set up a wedding at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg. The colours for the wedding were 'marigold and pewter' and after months of planning, choosing a venue, printing invitations, menus, signs, tags, seating cards, wine labels, choosing florals and linens, it was amazing to see all of the colours come alive together. The wedding was truly stunning!

The weather was phenomenal too, and it was sunny and uncharacteristically warm for October. The beautiful bride and groom {in his kilt} got married atop
'Wedding Hill' overlooking a forest of colourful autumn leaves. The venue, which is both rustic and elegant, was decorated with marigolds and oranges and pewter grays - everywhere was a little personal detail, and everything was perfect. Here are some photos taken as we were setting up...we will have some professional photos of the entire affair to share very soon, but in the meantime you can salivate over these.

Monday, October 13, 2008

remembering my mom

Four years ago today, I lost my mom to breast cancer. I have her hands, which allow me to paint and draw and create. She also gave me her sense of colour and love of design. She loved fashion too, and always said that if you got new shoes and a new purse for each season, then you would always be in style - and she was right! The words are not coming easy for me today, so I will link you to a slideshow tribute that my husband and I created for my mom's funeral, and which has since been used for The Breast Darn Show Period, a breast cancer gala fundraiser that we held last May. Also, here is a beautiful post that my sister Shayna wrote on Friday. You are always near me mom, I feel you...and I miss you so much.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

holiday cards already?

Recently I was lucky enough to be commissioned by a new company in the U.S. to create some custom holiday card designs. The company hasn't launched this application yet, so the name is still under wraps! It will be similar though, to Tiny Prints where customers can choose from a bunch of holiday card styles, and then upload their personal photos and change the message text. Here is just one of the designs I created. They are starting this season with holiday cards, but will also move into baby announcements, etc. I am excited for the launch! I'll keep you posted...

a strange thing happened in glasgow...

While driving home on Sunday from my dad's house, through the wee hamlet of Glasgow {we are very European here in Ontario - we have a Paris and a London too!}, a strange thing happened. I saw a large dark figure up ahead at the side of the road, and I couldn't figure out what it was. As I got closer, I saw it was a horse! It had taken a leap into freedom I suppose, as it seemed very confused and a bit scared. I drove very slowly as I got near, and before I knew it, the horse started to gallop beside my car...it was following me! Not something that happens every day! But I thought it was quite a beautiful experience, as I stared out my side window at the horse right beside me - they really are stunning creatures. I stopped my car and the horse galloped in front of me - at which point I grabbed my point-and-shoot camera and took this quick pic out of my front window. I needed proof that a random horse had roamed free and followed my car! I noticed an SUV driving through the farmer's field, trying to round up the horse so I think it was going to be ok. But that was my bit of excitement while driving through the wee little hamlet of Glasgow Ontario.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

muma mia!

With the leaves changing, it is such a colourful and spectacular time of year in this part of the world. But I have never seen a display of colour as lively as the mums that cover the lawn of a farm just down the road! They must be selling hundreds of pots of mums, in every shape and hue. Their prices are great, so I picked some up in various shades of orange for a 'marigold and pewter' wedding that we are designing on the weekend {more of that to come next week!}. I just had to share the view as it was really quite breathtaking...