Necklace Crush

This necklace is from my favourite handmade jewelry and home accessories designers - Australia's own - Dinosaur Designs. They have become known for their fashion accessories and home decor objects made of colourful resin but have since introduced a jewelry line in silver.
On my upcoming trip to Melbourne I definitely plan on checking it out in person. For now it is available for pre-order as it will only become available on April 22nd.

16 beads coral fan necklace

Latest Poppy - Coral Tall Boy Dresser

This piece has been in the works for quite some time. It looked pretty plain and boring in its original brown state, so I thought that several coats of coral paint would give it the life and vibrancy it deserves.
Six sturdy drawers offers a ton of storage and it's solid built provide a guarantee to last you a lifetime.
This dresser is now listed and available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Jewelry Making Workshop with Torched Studio

*this post has been written in collaboration with my buddy Karen Carrillo from Koocoo and is also shared at Freedom Clothing Collective's blog

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Last week Karen, Emma and I visited Torched Studio, a locally based jewelry studio run and managed by our friend and fellow designer Yvonne Villeneuve. Yvonne is the creative force behind the beautifully crafted and brightly coloured enameled jewelry you can find in our shop. Beside creating beautifully crafted accessories and home decor herself, Yvonne also teaches enameling classes and offers you the benefit of creating your own piece of enameled treasure in just one afternoon. We had so much fun with the process and encourage you to try out the same. You won't be sorry you did.

So much fun to look at Yvonne's stash of jewelry beauties

appropriate reading materials

Emma and I hard at work

Drilling some finding holes for future chain or string

do not use the lifting-spatula-tridenty-thing as a sword... not safe!

Out of the kiln, into the water, into the pickle, wipe with some baking soda and clean and shiny pieces you have!

Like baking you sift the fine glass particles onto your base

last firing (of many!) and then some filing to make all the edges smooooth. 

Fronts

back sides are equally pretty!

finished piece with help string 'chain' and detailing

We took the beginner course but there are several for you to choose from including one where you work with precious metal clay! What!?
Here are the details and listing of classes:
http://torchedstudio.wordpress.com/classes/

Not only is Yvonne a talented artist she is stellar at her social media. Check her out at any of the following:
www.torchedstudio.com 
www.torchedstudio.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/TorchedStudio
www.torchedstudio.etsy.com

Fun Way to Draw Trees

I can't draw for the life of me and am always impressed how beautiful and inspiring the simplest of drawings/illustrations can be. This one is by a British illustrator Eloise Renouf. Check out her Etsy store for more of her whimsical and charming work.

Target vs. Anthropologie

Target has finally landed in Canada. The days when girlfriends would pile up in the car and drive to the US to check what  affordable finds that retailer had to offer are gone. There happens to be a Target store very close to my house, so last Friday I decided to go and check it out. As I was browsing the isles, trying to decide how I feel about the offering and the whole Canadian Target experience, I noticed some similarities with product offerings of Anthropologie, a store I am fairly familiar with, and whose products are celebrated in trendy fashion and home decor magazines.
All of you who have visited and experienced shopping in both stores will agree that the two stores have a very different approach to merchandising and most definitely price points. While Target offers budget friendly solutions for the entire family in a big box format, Anthropologie brings boutique retail experience and targets premium female consumers looking for niche products.
As for me, each of the two stores offers their own reasons to visit and brings forth a different woman in me. While I felt like a practical and savvy shopper at Target, Anthropologie makes me feel feminine and offers escape into the world that is slightly out of the ordinary.

Stitched Mansoa Curtain - $208-$268 at Anthropologie

Threshold Climbing Vine panel - $24.99-$29.99 at Target

Mystic Tieback Bib necklace _ $48 at Anthropologie

Three Rows Drops Necklace - $16.99 at Target Online

Threshold Naomi Mug - set of 4 $19.99 (or so)

at Target

Threshold floral bath towel -$14.99 at Target

Perpetual bloom towels - $8-$36 at Anthropologie

My Yard

When Marc and I bought our house three and a half years ago, we did it partially because of the back yard. It faces south and is sunny from early morning until late in the afternoon. I use the shed in the back to store my painting projects in the summer. This blog will be a way of documenting the changes that happen in the yard every month.
This picture was taken a few days ago, on April 2nd and I can't wait to witness and show you how it will evolve in the next 30 days and then every thirty days thereafter.

Words To Live By

This has been one of those weeks that you wish have never happened, so this is a little reminder to myself that I am happy to share with you. Have a great day everyone.

Plate Wall Inspiration

I live in a semi open concept house in which living and dining room occupy one big space. From that space, on the dining room side, there are stairs leading to upstairs bedrooms, and below those stairs is the wall that I find quite challenging when it comes to accessorizing.
1. it is triangular in shape and does not leave many options or much room to hang art
2. the switch plate is placed quite awkwardly and I don't have much drive to initiate a project in which it would be moved. This switch has the built in dimmer for the dining room lights and allows us to control the lights upstairs, so it is quite useful and can not be covered.

Awkward wall with my messy sideboard top. It is not always like that, but on this particular morning I had not time to move things around

With hese two contingencies the end result will somehow have to balance the sharp geometrical feature of the wall as well as allow easy navigation around the switch plate. I think that decorating with china and creating a plate wall would solve that problem ( round and oval plates  would soften the triangle, not to mention that the wall is in the dining room so it is all fitting).

For inspiration I decided to check out what Pinterest had to offer  and here are the few looks that I found 

fun and appropriate...

I somehow have to get my hands on that fun Marimekko cow plate

 

Situation similar to mine with the exception of the curved wall

I am off from my other job as a shop co-owner for a few days and most of my painting projects are in their final stages which will hopefully allow me to dedicate some more time to finally tackle this problem. If all goes well I am hoping to be able to reveal the end result early next week.

New Poppy

I sourced this little gem a week ago and the design for it came to me instantly. With its straight lines that air more on the modern and contemporary side, I wanted to translate this into the paint treatment I was about to give it. This piece is now available in my Etsy store as well as at Freedom Clothing Collective.

(The flowers were made by my friends Karen from Koocoo, Helder and Jules from RAE Designs jewelry line.

New Knobs

I am working on a few colourful pieces right now and am in need of some toned down knobs that wouldn't steel the thunder of the piece itself but would at the same time be aesthetically up to par. As it happens, Hobby Lobby had a free shipping promo this weekend so I snatched me two beautiful types of wooden knobs. Unfortunately Hobby Lobby does not ship to Canada, so they will have to first have go to my friend's place in Washington, DC and only then make their way across the border. With all that, it may take a while until they actually arrive, but they are definitely worth the wait.