What a year! And it's hard to believe it has flown by! But it has been a great one - a year of new independence and much success and I am so happy to have formed my new 'blooming' company only a few months ago. Writing this blog has been amazing too, and I look forward to 2009 and the many new ideas, projects, and ventures that are just around the corner.
Happy New Year to all! And in the meantime, I'll leave you with a postcard of inspiration from one of my favourite stores, Lululemon {click on the postcard for a large version!}. I think it will be my mantra for 2009 to 'dance, sing, floss, and travel.' All the best!
I'm a sucker for good packaging...and yes, I do judge a book by its cover {and sometimes I wander into bookstores simply to stare at book covers!}. Take a peek at this beautiful packaging for Thymes Sweetleaf Baby. Created by the renowned Duffy & Partners, it was actually hand-painted and illustrated which is a refreshing change from computer graphics. So delicate and lovely! {seen via The Dieline}.
How does the Christmas Cactus know to bloom at precisely the right time of year? Its sense of timing is impeccable! This beauty is in the bay window of my dad's kitchen.
My sisters and I are cooking Christmas dinner tomorrow night and we are each taking care of a few dishes. I am in charge of salad, dessert and drinks! I will be making this salad, and perhaps this flourless chocolate cake among other goodies. My sweet neighbour made this cake for me in the summer when I was on a gluten-free diet and it is truly delish. I found this Evian water bottle 'dressed' by Christian Lacroix...priced a tad high, but I thought it would look pretty on the table! Happy holidays and I hope Santa {or the Chanukah Fairy} is good to you all!
...the other day I heard a tip that you can find some great things on Craigslist by using the search term "shabby chic." Check out some of these great finds! The dining set, complete with 8 chairs is only $800...
I enjoy changing up my displays every once in a while, and so this console table usually gets a bit of a makeover every season or so. I decided to go for a white and wonderful wintery wonderland look for the first day of winter! My mom had a huge collection of vintage doilies that reminded me of snowflakes, so they were added to the table as a bottom layer. The branch of cotton look like little puffs of snow, and I have a real thing for naturey elements like birdies and birch bark...so they were thrown on there too. Happy winter everyone!
In October, I mentioned a beautiful fall wedding at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario decorated in marigold and pewter, planned and designed by my sister company, inBloom Events + Design. We recently received the photographer's photos and they are incredible! I am so, so proud of this wedding and how all of the colours and the rustic elegance came together. And how beautiful is the bride, Julia? The photos say it all, so enjoy!
I saw this "To Don't" list today and it made me laugh! With the holidays coming up, I am a little bit excited about having a week or two to do the things that have been on my "To Do" list for a couple of months:
- organize and tidy my office - paint the bedroom - work on my company's website - sort my recipes
and about 15 other things! But every holiday season is such a whirlwind of family dinners, visiting friends, cooking, shopping, and wrapping that it is quite likely that all of these items will end up on my "To Don't" list!
Nicole inspired me, though, to get organized with her amazing closet...how wonderful it is! So if I am able to organize my office and recipes over the next few weeks, I will be a very happy bloomer...
Winter isn't officially here until Sunday, but it sure feels like it has been here for a while! The temperatures in Toronto have been shivery and it looks like it will indeed be a white Christmas. I love this holiday door by Martha Stewart - I'm digging the blue colour and the green-topped lanterns - so pretty and festive without being over the top!
A year ago this week, my husband's grandfather passed away and while going through all of his belongings, my father-in-law found his old passport from Italy. He gave it to me for scanning, and I thought it was such a lovely thing! I love old documents {as you can probably tell from my website} as the handwriting is usually scripted beautifully in ink, the stamps are quite interesting or foreign, and the photos are dramatic in black and white. A far cry from our modern day passports! This one is laid out graphically as if on purpose. I am planning to print an enlarged version to be framed on our wall - it looks like art! And what a lovely way to remember Pete's grandfather.
I'm loving these looks on the J. Crew website...who says that you have to wear black and red and dark colours for the holidays? These beiges and whites are just as festive, and yet refreshing.
Lots of posts today - I feel a bit behind on everything this week and am scrambling to catch up! Just wanted to share a project I recently worked on with my sister company, inBloom Events + Design. Last week, Women in Film and Television-Toronto held their Crystal Awards ceremony to celebrate Canadian women in film and television, and honour the hilarious and talented Catherine O'Hara. They asked us to come up with a stage design that was fresh and modern and feminine, at the same time resembling the Crystal Awards logo - without breaking the bank. Check out the stage, and a table design, above!
Our Mac photo books arrived today! Pete and I created some beautiful hard cover wedding books for our families using iPhoto - it is so easy to do, and the quality of the books are incredible. They will be a nice keepsake, and I'm quite sure that my grandfather will be running out to purchase a Mac as soon as he sees them!
I am a new auntie! My sister- and brother-in-law, Jackie and Brandon, had a beautiful baby girl yesterday named Taylor Leigh. I have to say that Taylor is one of the prettiest newborns that I have ever seen {although I guess I could be a bit biased!}. I am very proud to be a new auntie and you can bet that I will be spoiling her to bits. Welcome baby girl...
I couldn't believe it, but I swung by Urban Outfitters today and found the coveted owl umbrella stand there, so I bought meself a wee Christmas present. But as I was just looking on the Urban Outfitters website for the link, I found a few other things that I heart...this cute little loop-de-loop lace shelf {above}...
My friend and neighbour, Céleste {a children's book illustrator} and I have been holding 'Creative Thursday' painting nights. We are both originally painters, but while running our own businesses, and keeping up with the busy-ness of life in general, we realized that we have abandoned our paint brushes. So we decided to hold painting nights once a week, to ensure that we actually sit down guilt-free and create a piece of art just for fun! It's actually a very therapeutic, much needed break from staring zombie-like at the computer.
Yesterday we went to the One of a Kind Show in lieu of our painting night, in search of inspiration, but here is a little, simple painting that I did last Thursday...it didn't take too much time, but I was happy with the result! I hope to do more of these mini-paintings. They are fun and great practice for my carpel tunnel-ridden mouse-shaped 'claw'. So stay tuned for some more mini paintings in the future, brought to you by the very special Creative Thursdays.
Have you seen the photography of Jan von Holleben? He is a German photographer, who has an ongoing body of work called 'Dreams of Flying' where, inspired by classic children's books and modern super heroes, he creates photos that would exist in a child's imagination. How fun are these?
There is a section on Jan's website that displays 'Dreams of Flying' photos that were taken by kids {below}. This looks like it could be a fun project! {via Black*Eiffel}
What a year! And it's hard to believe it has flown by! But it has been a great one - a year of new independence and much success and I am so happy to have formed my new 'blooming' company only a few months ago. Writing this blog has been amazing too, and I look forward to 2009 and the many new ideas, projects, and ventures that are just around the corner.
