she cooks macro: christine cooks!

Have you heard of She Cooks Macro? It's a Toronto-based company run by the lovely Shauna Trupp. Shauna teaches classes on how to cook macrobiotic food, and she features recipes and beautiful food photography on her blog. I was honoured to design a poster for one of her upcoming events, Christina Cooks! where she is hosting Emmy Award winning Chef Christina Pirello. For more information, please see the above poster or click here. 

I had a lot of fun creating this poster. Shauna is a very positive, upbeat person with a strong vision. And I was happy because I was able to pull out my pencils and pens and draw with my real hand again (and not a computer mouse) which I've neglected to do since, well, the kiddos arrived. Definitely check it out! It looks like it will be a wonderful and inspiring weekend.

this makes me happy

my work: Tara Fingold Interiors website

Two postings in two days? I'm on a roll here! Lots has been going on lately with client work, but I am especially excited to share with you a website I recently completed for a client I've worked with for a long while. Many years ago, I created Tara Fingold Interior's logo, and to this day we continue to work really well together.

When Tara, an extremely talented interior designer, contacted me in the fall about redesigning her website, I jumped at the chance! You should see her work. Jaw dropping! You should see her home. Exquisite! So I was pretty pumped about creating a website that would showcase Tara's work properly in her classic, clean, elegant style.

Please take a peek. I'm so happy with how her website turned out! And take a boo at Tara's designs. Truly her work is outstanding. How awesome is her reclaimed wood wall?! I want to move in.

my new etsy store: olive + iris

Hello! And Happy Hallowe'en, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. Happy Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day too. Oh my. It's been a while. As much as I love blogging, life with two little girls while running a business is quite hectic. And if there is client work to be done, then my blog unfortunately takes a back seat. I'm going to try to catch up though, with everything that's been going on! New designs, my growing girls, and new exciting ventures. 

First off, I just re-launched my Etsy shop with a new name and everything. Olive+Iris is a design shoppe that sells ready-made, modern logo designs that can be customized for businesses, events or anything really! While I am still creating custom logos and identities for clients, this is a great way for me to create designs just for fun and a cost effective way for smaller businesses to attain a logo. 

I am hoping to update the shop soon with some printable invitations and frameable prints. Also I'll be retiring some of the logos once in a while, and adding fresh ones. Currently I'm having a re-launch sale there so please check it out! 

you are my sunshine party: sage is two!

Sage's first Picnic Party, was recently featured in SheKnows Canada and I'm so very honoured to be included in their Kid's Birthday Ideas article. It is a wonderful parenting website. Thank you so much!

Now available in a printable version in my Etsy shop, Olive+Iris!

It made me realize, though, that I haven't yet shared Sage's second birthday party with you. And almost four months have gone by. Whoopsie. This year the theme for her party was 'You are My Sunshine'. I knew I was just begging for it to rain that day by making sunshine part of the theme however we crossed our fingers for an outdoor party at my dad's lovely house near Uxbridge, just north of Toronto. Mother Nature gave us sunshine for the first half of the party and then a thunderstorm for the rest of it, however we were too busy munching on yummy cake and dancing to a mix of Raffi and Guns N' Roses {Sage is a real fan of 'daddy's music'!} to really notice.

I designed the above invitations using yellow, grey, white and turquoise and these colours quickly became the basis for the party's design.

UPDATE: THESE INVITATIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN A PRINTABLE VERSION IN MY ETSY SHOP!

 

Here is the birthday girl! Can't believe she is already two. What a difference a year makes. This lil girl is a real delight to have as a daughter. Beautiful inside and out, clever, funny, kind, wonderful. And no I didn't curl her hair...she would never sit for that long! Those are her natural locks and I'm jealous.

 

 

Lil Miss Sunshine, taste-testing the cuppies before the party started, to make sure they were ok.

Lemonade was served, of course! Hydrangeas, my favourite, were picked from the garden.

The spread. I used lemons a lot for decor too, as they are cheap and pretty.

 

I enlarged my fave photos of Sage from throughout the year and displayed them here and there.

 

Yellow beach balls in the pool.

 

Lil Miss Sunshine's lil sis {2 months old here}.

 

Dessert table and cake {birdie by Ann Wood}.

Washi tape was easily adhered to mini clothespins for the lootbags, which contained a Little Miss Sunshine book, a yellow swirly lollipop and some summery sunshiney stickers.

Enjoying a lolli...indeed this girl makes me happy when skies are grey. Happy second birthday, my Sagey.

finley's birth announcement + at {almost} 5 months

I just realized that I haven't yet shared the birth announcement I created for little Finley a while back. My friend Sarah Leeman of Bean Shoots Photography took this gorgeous photo when Finley was just 8 days old, and I added the graphic touches. I just love the coral, peachy and turquoise tones here and the brick wall backdrop.

Where is this little one now? She will soon be 5 months old! Wha? I know! She is busy rolling around, babbling, blowing raspberries, smiling and laughing, 'walking' around exploring {with the help of mama...ouch my knees and back!} and of course trying to chew on everything in sight. Not to mention getting very distracted and trying to keep up with her big sis. It's extremely hard and never-ending work but so totally wonderful too. I love this parenting thing!

wishbone chair replica

Have you heard of Copy Cat Chic? Well here is my version of it!

I was looking for dining room tables on the Structube website and came across this replicated version of Hans Wegner's beautiful Wishbone Chair, on special for $119! Holy smokes!

Or else you could just go with the original Wishbone Chair, retailing at $849 a piece. Better quality and well-made I'm sure. But ouch!

the beach

We are still in a babyland daze over here. And while Finley is an amazing little lady, it seems my mind, my body, my house are still a bit topsy-turvy. We haven't quite found a rhythm yet but we are getting there! It is certainly busy with two littles but fun in a really chaotic way. I like things to be orderly and tidy and that has gone completely out the window for now! But I am going with the flow and enjoying time with my girls who both seem to be growing way too fast.

On the weekend we visited Frenchman's Bay - only a half hour's drive from our house, it's located on Lake Ontario and has a beautiful beach. Even though we only spent the morning there, we felt like we had taken a mini vacation down south! It was lovely {if you just remember to not look to your left at the Pickering Powerplant} and Sage enjoyed the playground on the beach, throwing rocks into the water and talking to the seagulls. What a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

here we grow again: final installment!

The final installment of my 'here we grow again' belly pics! How is it that this little person was living inside of me just over four weeks ago?!

a blissful mother's day

She is here! Please meet my second daughter, Miss Finley Violet. Born last Wednesday May 9th, I already feel like she's been here forever with us. She just fits! Finley has a wonderfully sweet and chilled out personality which has really helped with the transition we have made to our family of four. I'm hoping it sticks!

As you can imagine, I had quite a blissful Mother's Day.


*Note: any spelling errors or sentences that don't make much sense are due to sleep deprivation :)

here we grow again: 9 months

Yep! We are here folks...in my final week of pregnancy. And while I'm ready to no longer have a 40 pound bowling ball attached to my body, I am also cherishing this last week. I love feeling a baby move and kick and wiggle inside my tum. It truly is quite a miracle. I am definitely eager to meet this little lady though. Will she be like Sage? Or totally different? I can already tell she is more mellow, as she doesn't move as much as her sister did. Sage was like a wild animal in there. I'm thinking mellow is a good thing!

Wish me luck!

{Previous belly pics can be found here}

my work: well-nested interior design and decor

I recently had the pleasure of working with an old friend to create the branding, business cards, and blog design for her new interior design and decor venture. Kerry McRorie has just started 'Well-Nested' and she is such a great talent! Her house is gorgeous, and it is easy to see why interior design is such a natural fit for her. 

We worked together to create her logo, using some of her favourite colours - green and taupe. She wanted a look that was sophisticated, but not unapproachable, as she is open to all sorts of jobs and clients. A natural, textural look was also on the list, especially given her company's clever name. It all came together beautifully! A new website is next, and will be coming soon. In the meantime check out her wonderful blog. Best of luck to you Kerry!

my new iPhone screen

Last week I very nearly lost my iPhone. Apparently I dropped it in a parking lot outside a store {I blame my giant belly...couldn't see it in my lap when I got out of the car!}. I didn't realize my phone was missing until I was at my next stop, and went into major panic mode. I called the store I was at previously using a payphone to see if I had left it there and yes, it was there. Oh the relief!! An extremely kind person had found it, and brought it into the store for someone to claim. Thank you, thank you, thank you extremely kind person! 

I really realized that my whole life is on my iPhone - emails, texts, photos, videos, lists. And since there was a photo of my daughter on the lock screen, I also realized that if it ever gets lost again there is no way for anyone to know who I am or how to contact me. So this is my new iPhone lock screen. Fingers crossed I don't lose it again, but just in case another extremely kind person finds it, I'm hoping this little message will help!

here we grow again: 8 months

In the home stretch guys! I have a caesarian booked in 4 weeks. Can't believe this time has come so quickly, and yet on the other hand it does seem to have been a long haul, especially chasing after a toddler. Despite all of the little get-prepared projects I have in my head, I guess I'm ready! Ready to meet this little one, hold her, and discover who she is. I'm very nervous. But very excited.

One more month to go! Here is my belly photo collection so far...

some free fonts i like

I'm always on the hunt for cool fonts, and the cool free ones are the best! Here are some I recently downloaded: Susie's Hand, Sofia and Matilde.

the view from up here

The good news is - I can still see my toes - somewhat! The bad news is that my feet are already starting to swell! During my last pregnancy I thought my big scary feet were due to the intense July heat. Not so! Sorry Mr. P., looks like bigfoot is back...

here we grow again: 7 months

I'm late with this photo again - I'm actually 31 weeks along! And still so much to do to prepare for the new baby's arrival. We are getting there though! The nursery has been painted so we now just need to put it all together and buy a few more supplies. I'm nervous but very excited that a new little person will be arriving shortly. I just can't wait to meet her.

my work: Katherine Rose Floral Design

Introducing Katherine Rose Floral Design! I recently completed the design of their website - a layout created with fresh greens, periwinkle blues and whites. Click here to take a look at their beautiful floral creations, and their newly launched website.