Pink is not just for little girls

From my garden - De tout, de rien

I have always loved pink. To me, it's the ultimate feminine colour and it expresses romance and softness like no other colour. 


In my first studio apartment, I painted a feature wall pink. I needed something to liven up that dingy hole and pink has always had a way of making me feel happy.


When we got married, I chose pink as my wedding's theme colour, in spite of my future sister-in-law's protests. She much prefers frumpy beiges and khakis. (I was thinking of asking her to be a bridesmaid, but needless to say, after those protests, she wasn't asked, lol.)


I painted our first bedroom in our first house in dusty rose. Our duvet cover had large cream and pink cabbage roses. My husband was sweet enough to let me get this out of my system.


And I was happy when we had our two daughters because it meant I could use a lot of pink. And I did. Lots of tutus and ballet slippers. ;^)


Today, I've eased up on the pink in my home, but I love seeing touches of it used in decorating. When done right, it just adds an element of romance to any room.

Love the soft pink with the crisp black - Suzanne Kassler

Here pink is mixed with cream and gold.

Pink is mixed with very trendy elements here. I want that giraffe!

Elle Decor - This gorgeous cream settee pops against the pink wall and vintage elements.

Pink unexpectedly mixed with a cheerful turquoise. Stunning! - Better Homes & Gardens

How rich looking is this room! Just a couple of pink accents to punch up the taupes - Better Homes & Gardens

How about this scrumptious Chocolate Kisses toile knob? It would pretty up any furniture.

A study in contrast: an industrial cement wall is a perfect backdrop to show off the ultra-feminine curves of this gorgeous settee and the rich chandelier dripping with crystals. A beautiful collection of pink and mauve silk pillows punch up the look.

Again, just a touch of pink in the pillows, but it livens up the gold.

Stunning bathroom by Betty Lou Phillips. A perfect way to not commit permanently or invest expensively into one colour is by making all the main elements neutral, such as in this room, and just adding colour with the accessories. In this case, pink towels, easily replaceable, provide the pop of colour.

So opulent looking!! - Suzanne Kassler

Lovely chairs! The gold touches are perfect.

So nice with the grey marble!

I may just have to redo a room in pink after showing you these! 

How about you, have you used any pink in your grownup rooms?

Awake at last and a chair makeover

It is spring. I'm back, baby, ready to post again. Watch out, the big grumpy bear is awake, lol.

I'm touched that my fellow bloggers left me such lovely comments when I posted about my lack of inspiration due to the fact that I was "hibernating". It's not that I was depressed or anything, but I think I do go through a down time after Christmas. I always think because it's such a quiet time of year, here's my chance to get caught up on all sorts of things and finally work on all sorts of projects, but my body has other plans for me. I sleep. A lot. And I putter around with no real direction. It doesn't help that I tend to have low iron.

Anyway, I'm pushing the clouds away and getting back in the swing of things. The blogosphere has been abuzz with talks of the famous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and I was so inspired by the lovely makeovers I have seen done with it that I broke down and ordered 4 colours from Piorra Maison, one of the blogs I follow. Catherine, whose blog it is, is following her dream and opened a lovely store in Montreal and also became a stockist for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I wish I lived closer so I could visit her store, but I can at least order the paint from her, so that's what I did. I have started a few makeover projects with it that I will be showing you in the next little while.

And now let me tell you about this project years in the making that I finally finished.

Here in our city, we have this wonderful bulk pickup programme. You can put out any bulky item you want to get rid of by the curb 3 or 4 days before the city pickup and people can drive by and help themselves and this avoids having a lot of items end up in the landfill.

I have a thing for second hand furniture, particularly for chairs. When I see them left by the curb (or in a thrift store), I want to save them. no matter how sad looking they are. For a while, I was hoarding chairs and I finally just had to give in to my husband's pleas and resurrender some of them to the curb side. Luckily they were all picked up again.

This particular chair I found about 5 years ago. A lot of people hold a garage sale before a bulk pickup day and whatever doesn't get picked up goes to the curb. I had driven by this garage sale on my way somewhere and had seen this chair. Didn't have time to stop. I told myself that by the time I drove back, if it was still there, I would buy it. Well, even better than that, by the time I did drive back, the sale was over and the chair had been left at the curb. Free for the taking.

As you can see, it seemed it had been used as an art project by a toddler.

I sanded it down, primed it and painted it in Simply White by Benjamin Moore. I printed out the word "Sit" on paper and traced the word on the chair using graphite paper. I then painted the word black with craft acrylic paint and I sprayed several coats of zero gloss varnish on the seat to protect it.

It is now a whimsical chair that invites you to sit and pause a while!

Linking up to:

missmustardseed.com

Hibernating

I don't know what it was with the month of January, and now with a third of February. 

No posts. 

No inspiration.  

No creativity. 

My mind was a blank slate. I hate that since things were so quiet on the home front and with my part time home job, I could have gotten back to making jewelry (something I love and that I put on the back burner when we bought this house last year and went through all the renos, the packing, the move, etc.) repainting some of the furniture I have waiting for a redo, taken pictures, crafting, sewing, anything!! Didn't even read a book, hardly went to my drop-in fitness class. 

I want to be so productive, so creative, I long to achieve great things and realize my dreams, and yet, here I sit.

What happened?

It seems like I went into hibernation.

Perhaps I'm part bear and I need that slowdown to recharge my body and my brain.

spreadshirt.com

It was like my life came to a frozen standstill.

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Or perhaps it's just that I need a swift kick in the pants. Girl, enough with the nonsense. 

I need to get off my

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and get the show on the road. 

The groundhog said it will be an early spring, the robins are back already,
 proving him right. 

The days are getting longer, so rise and shine.

How do YOU get inspired?

My Humble Jumble Cookies

Hi everyone, Happy New Year!! I wish you all the best for 2012, mostly health and happiness. The rest is inconsequential.

I had a request from the Fabulous Miss V. over at Vonlipi's Favorite for my jumble cookie recipe, so here it is:

JUMBLES

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
Sugar and nutmeg to roll biscuits in

Method:
Cream butter and sugar. Beat egg whites and yolks separately. Add to butter mixture. Slowly mix in flour. This should be a very soft dough. Roll into balls in sugar and nutmeg.

Bake:
Bake on a greased cookie sheet in 350 F oven for 7 - 10 minutes. Biscuits should not change colour.


I got this recipe from Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. If you're ever in the area, do yourself a favour and take the tour, especially at Christmas time. The home of Sir Allan Napier MacNab, one of Canada's first premiers, it is so magnificent that the locals called it a castle. We took a tour of it a few years back at Christmas and the tour guides are dressed up in era costumes. This grand victorian home was all dressed up in natural greenery for the Holidays and it looked breathtaking. It really appealed to my love of everything victorian.

We sampled the jumbles in the servants' kitchen in the basement, and you could get a copy of the recipe. I have been making them ever since at Christmas. They're particularly delicious with a cup of Earl Grey tea, with your pinkie in the air, of course. Or not.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The Enticing Aromas of Christmas

You know it's officially Christmas when the smell of baking fills the air! Nothing quite like it brings back memories of Christmases past and creates the anticipation of Christmas present.

My neighbours came over Tuesday to bake tourtières, a typical French Canadian meat pie that is traditionally served during the Holidays. For me, the smell of the cinnamon, clove and allspice flavoured meat baking represents one of my oldest and and most cherished Holiday memories.

I decorate mine by adding dough cut with a cookie cutter.

This beautiful girl was supervising...

Thursday was cookies and squares baking day with my girls.

Rolling out the dough for the shortbread

Adding the condensed milk to the Puttin' on the Ritz squares

Here they are ready to go in the oven

 Here are our jumble cookies. This is a recipe from Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. 

It's a delicious nutmeg flavoured cookie.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven.

And finally, Magic Squares! Hmmm, always a hit!

And of course, the best part of all this? Christmas baking has no calories whatsoever. Zero. Nada. None. So go ahead and enjoy!

A Peek at my Christmas Decor

It's December 21st. The countdown is on, but I'm practically done! A few stocking stuffers to buy, a baking day with my girls tomorrow, some house cleaning and voilà!

I thought I'd share my Christmas decor with you. This year, I wanted a tree in the living room as we have a nice, tall window, because I love to see the lit tree at night from the outside. This one is a pre-lit fake one we got on sale last year. I decided to coordinate it with the soft blue accents in our living room, so the tree is decorated in blue, silver and cream, which creates a very soft effect.

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And on the mantel:

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I got these reindeer on sale a few years ago. I love their shape! The big bulbs I found at the grocery store, the lanterns are from Ikea. I put electric votives in them, but forgot to light them! 

The ribbon I had, and the white fabric is from Dollarama. I must explain that in Canada we have this awesome chain of dollar stores called Dollarama. It has a cult following. Even well known designers have been known to discover treasures at these stores.

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In fact, these snowflakes are from Dollarama. I pounced on them when I saw them! 

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 I used a lot of decorations from Dollarama in my tree as well as expensive ones. I'll leave you to figure out which is which!

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I got this beautiful glass ball at Bronner's in Frankenmouth, Michigan. If you don't know what Bronner's is and you love Christmas, you must go visit it, it is THE quintessential Christmas store. It is gigantic! We went in the summer and by the time we left, I was craving eggnog really badly, lol!

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Of course, all my wrapping is coordinated...

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On the chest in the front foyer, I tied these giant cinnamon sticks with a white ribbon.

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This is a little vignette I created in a cloche on the dining room sideboard:

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This ornament below is one of my favourites because it combines a couple of my obsessions. A bottle brush tree and a cloche:

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Told you I was obsessed with bottle brush trees!

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I went for simplicity on my table centrepiece. A set of Ikea candles on a brown tray and a few glittery greens: 

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The tree in the family room is real and more traditional in colour, red, cream and gold:

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Another obsession of mine, cardinals! Isn't this one so gorgeous?

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I can't wait to show you our baking creations on my next post! In the meanwhile, I hope your week is not too hectic. Take the time to carve out some peaceful moments for yourself and your family, that's what it's all about after all and it's what you will remember when all is said and done!

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