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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Interior Design Gala, Kick off dinner

This weekend is the Interior Design Show here in Toronto. To kick off the festivities 50 design bloggers and people from the Interior Design community got together for a fabulous dinner organized by Meredith Heron and Sonya Kinkade. This was one good looking bunch --- No wonder CityLine came to film.

Held at the fabulous Nota Bene it was an evening to remember. Since it was so busy and in a relatively small space, the majority of the evenings socializing (at least for me) was done from our seats during dinner. Around me I was seated with some amazing people - the awesome Lauren McPhillips and Margot Austin from Style at Home Magazine, Mary Taggart, the Editor for Ottawa at Home Magazine, Designer Kimberly Seldon, Arren Williams and Sonya Kinkade ...and these were just the people I was sitting beside! A few times I paused and just looked around at the guests, took a deep breath and let the moment sink in. It was surreal to be surrounded by so many people I admired and really just liked as people. Everyone else continued on to the Interior Design Show Gala afterwards, however I stepped outside, hailed a cab and happily headed home to a comfy bed and little Oscar who was waiting for me. Coming up are some photos from the IDS. xo

Photos....(1) Kimberly Seldon being filmed as she tweets (2) The venue, Nota Bene (3) The hilarious Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault (4) Margot Austin and Lauren McPhillips (5) Tracy Moore, host of Cityline filming (6) The camera guy...oh my goodness, I forget his name!

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

Link Love No. 40!

This week passed by in the blink of an eye for me. There is something I am working on but I can't reveal it ‘till March. I have been trying to squeeze the time to work on that into my schedule... and it has been fun! When I am focused on a project, I forget to eat or drink. Time flies by so fast! I have to make an effort to keep looking at my watch, so I won't miss my children’s pick up time.

Another thing I have been doing is to slowly reorganize my house. I have been working on each room, going through the closets and cupboards. I usually have three bags for "Sale", "donate", and "throw away". Sometimes if I am in the "zone", it's easy to part with the things and the clean-up goes fast. If I am not so much in the zone, my mind is blank, don't know where to put what. The whole thing takes a long time too.

Well, for the above two reasons, my family didn't eat very nice dinners this week. I felt a little guilty, so I cooked better meals Friday and Saturday. It should even things out, right? :)

I see in this week’s link party, more Valentine’s crafts, and they are fun! I hope you all are getting inspired by them! Well, here are my favorites for this week...

This is one of those Valentine’s crafts I just mentioned...Fast Daze shared a really fun Wreath, inspired by Tatertots & Jello. She also used the tutorial from “A girl and Glue Gun” to make felt flowers. How colorful and pretty!

Holy Cow!! Talk about big project, I mean, really BIG. Backwoods Cottage shared a STUDIO she built with her husband. Yeah, you heard (read) right. A STUDIO! She posted the step by step photos on her blog, so head over there to check them out! I would love to see the picture of it all moved in and decorated studio too! Amazing job!

You Seriously Made That? shared this pretty headband. I have seen many crocheted headbands before, but I really like this style and the colors of the yarn. Great job!

When I saw the picture of this plate, I was in LOVE! I love Jane Austin and Mr. Darcy... Grey Luster Girl was inspired by Pottery Barn and created this plate. Sooo romantic!

This is also a Valentine project, but without the usual red and pink. I love how A Crummy Marriage Blog layered the fabrics for the letters. What a fun way to make it more interesting!

Thank you all for sharing your great projects! See you at the next post!

Playing

Playing....playing with my camera. Trying to learn how to use it.

I have it on manual...that is a step in the right direction :-).

Aren't these wooden birds cute? I got them at a local nursery this Christmas and used them on my mantel.

The bowl was made by a Louisiana artist from reclaimed Cypress wood.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Welcome Home,

Penny

Hello everyone,

I just popped in to share some colorful pictures of our garden that I took mostly last summer but a few are older ones. I see from reading blogs that many of you are starved for color so I thought I would give you a little shot of color today. I am starting to get excited about the return of the garden but living in Canada I know I will have to be patient for awhile yet, but still I enjoy looking back at past summer with a cup of tea in hand.

The photo above is our allee garden path- the lovely blue is six hills giant nepeta .

The arbor that my husband built several years ago.

Graham Thomas - a beautiful David Austen English rose.

The rose blooming here is Therese Bugnet- a hardy no fuss rose.

our garden in June.

Phlox gives a good shot of color in August and September.

Lots of color in the mid summer garden

I love these tree peony blossoms- they are the first of many peonies to bloom in our garden.

Love that first shot of color in the spring garden!

How I look forward to lilac season!

I am looking forward to picking bouquets from the garden again.

Love this Japanese peony but sorry I have forgotten the name so I call it beautiful!

How I love those big beautiful peony blossoms.

The garden in full bloom.

Miss Kim lilac standards in the foreground and a Canadian lilac behind.

Vile de Lyon clematis growing up around a birdhouse.

August has so much color in our garden.

One last blast of color for you- a beautiful bouquet!

Well, now since you probably already know I love to show off our little bit of garden paradise I am joining Hakan (who has a beautiful rose garden paradise) for Show off Saturday over at Maleviks Rosentradgard in Sweden. This is my first time entering and there is so much beauty-garden and otherwise to see.

Thank you for visiting me today,

Enjoy your weekend,

Carolyn

The Girly Girl Twirl Dress

This weeks Project Run and Play challenge was to take a women's fashion trend, brand, or look and create an outfit for a child. Rather than making a mini-version of an adult look, I decided I wanted to create my own unique look based on several women's fashion trends that would be truly wearable for a child - thus, I created the Girly Girl Twirl Dress.

These were my inspiration dresses for creating this look.........

I have been loving the soft, tiered feminine ruffles, the gorgeous deep jewel-tone colors, and the little lace details that we've been seeing in women's fashion.

I used a super-soft cotton/spandex fabric to create the long-sleeved top for the dress. I also added three tiered ruffles to the end of both sleeves. On the bodice I added tiered ruffles, surrounded by a little lace detail and finished with a gorgeous piece of woven vintage trim.

The skirt of the dress is made from a spandex, ruffle fabric in the a mix of the gorgeous jewel-tone colors. Underneath the dress, I added a pair of black leggings that have a ruffle edge at the bottom (it's kind of hard to see in the photos). I created a head-band from the ruffle fabric and the vintage woven trim. The look is finished with a pair of Chanel-inspired, black patent-leather, quilted ballet flats.

Comfort is key when it comes to children's -wear. I really wanted to create a look that was truly wearable for a child. She could run, jump, play or twirl and be incredible comfortable and stylish at the same time! And I know this dress fit the bill, because Savannah did not want to take it off - she told me it was "SO cozy and soft". Perfect - mission accomplished!!

Head on over to Project Run and Play and vote for your favorite look!

Click HERE to visit Project Run and Play.

Happy Pink Saturday!

I think some of you know that I love teacups and have a pretty good assortment of them. So since it is Pink Saturday I dug out a couple of pretty pinks.

I love the sunshine that we had today after the storm yesterday, it wasn't really a blizzard type of storm like we used to get in the good old days but I know a few little ones who were happy to have a day off from school anyway!

I went up to the sunroom today and gave it a little spring color and enjoyed the warm rays of sun in there.

I took my pretty pink and white china out of the cupboard in there and had a lovely cup of tea.

Those poor little tulips are on their last days but they are a couple of weeks old so it is time for a fresh bouquet.

I love this dainty creamer.

This hyacinth gives of such a sweet fragrance and reminds me of spring.

Don't they look pretty in this cloche?

The pink and white flowered teacup belonged to my husband's aunt. so it is a little reminder of the good times we had with her. The other teacup is one I found at a thrift shop and I love it too.

Usually I am asked about the dark pink teacup when I show it so this is the markings on the bottom.

I do love making collages- maybe you noticed!

Well Happy Pink Saturday and I hope you have enjoyed visiting other participants at How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly for hosting!

Enjoy your weekend,

Carolyn

We think this fabulous light pink shirt from CP Shades would be the perfect shirt for Valentine's Day. Subtle, sweet and comfortable, with that perfect touch of pink to show your festive spirit. And really, you could wear it all year long. Hurry in. They're sure to go fast...