Tomorrow is Halloween!

Since tomorrow is Halloween and all fun involved belongs to kids, I'll comment no further. A picture tells more than thousand words, and this one is over-cute:

Happy Halloween to you!

Tomorrow is Halloween!

Blackboard spray paint labels DIY

Curiosity is my middle name, really. I love learning new things, that's why I love navigating the Blogger Sea: there are so many talented people out there! Just yesterday I stumbled upon Sonja's blog and  found the idea for my next craft project. She used blackboard spray paint to transform her tins and jars - simple and stunning! She was nice to allow me to present her work on my blog. Here is the picture of her storage cans with rewritable blackboard labels:

Lovely, isn't it? I can imagine it would look very nice on the glass jars also. Sonia had another idea for the glass jars:

 

 One thing is sure: I have to find this blackboard spray paint subito-presto, I have some very nice glass jars waiting behind my back...

You can find the instructions when you click on pictures, or find those and many other nice projects on her blog at craft-werk.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Blackboard spray paint labels DIY

Last bouquet from my garden

Every autumn, very late in the season, I pick the last flowers from my garden and make my last flower arrangement. As I looked trough my pictures on the computer, I noted that I have a picture of every one of these bouquets for the last couple of years. As if I wanted them to last even much longer this way. Here is the picture that I took several weeks before the first snow arrived:

Lovely colors, lovely autumn morning light in my kitchen...makes me happy.

Last bouquet from my garden

Purple inspiration for my bedroom

Last weekend I found this recycled glass vase on liquidation table for 3$ only without knowing it's going to provoke an avalanche of ideas:

When we moved to our house four years ago we decided to paint the walls in our bedroom green. It was exciting for someone who newer painted walls in color before (me!) but soon I was very limited in decorating possibilities. So I decided to repaint the walls in a more neutral color this time in order to have always the choice of details and to be able to create different atmosphere rapidly following seasons and mood changes (the latter is starting to get rather embarrassing lately ;-)  So when I saw this picture I knew I found a perfect color inspiration for my bedroom for this winter:

The shine of satin gives me the impression of glamour and luxury and the best of all is that you don't have to be rich to obtain this effect. You can go with fabrics, little paint and some details in purple / aubergine / plum / magenta. That way it won't cost you a fortune (remember: recession design?) and you can still change it rapidly when you had enough of it. And I say you should always look at your place before you go buying like crazy and you might be able to find something usable. Here is what i found in my place:

This is a fabric I bought two years ago without knowing what I'll do with it (happens to me more often then necessary). There are approximately 2,5 meter (approx. 8 feet) of it - difficult to say because of the smock effect and stretchiness. I could double it with a nice and cosy fabric and make a throw.

This little vintage dress waits to be used for a pillow cover and this will be it's occasion to rise.

I can also imagine being able to find some nice lamps to repaint and recover also and to paint my two cheaper than cheap commodes in nice rich glossy purple. And I crave a chandelier for my bedroom for quite some time now. I saw one little, modern and cute at Canadian Tire:

It's name is Opulence (how suitable!) and it's 50% of on sale right now, can you imagine? Just 49,99$! Sold to madame in a purple dress!

By the way, there is a nice article over at my beloved Apartment Therapy site about decorating with purple. Take a look.

Purple inspiration for my bedroom

Imene's 100 posts giveaway

Lovely Imene celebrates 100 posts on her blog A Journey to a Simple Happy Life with a giveaway:

Wouldn't you like to be a happy winner of these beautiful goodies (I would!) Go leave a nice comment on her blog (I did!) for a chance to win.

Congratulations Imene and happy blogging!

Imene's 100 posts giveaway

Don't keep calm and carry on

It was sort of cute in the beginning and I almost bought it for myself. Now it's all over the place and tell us what to do. And I can't even zap away, it's like an Internet pandemic.When it started to show up literally everywhere it started to loose it's charm at the same time, at least for me. Was it just a trend? Admittedly, there were several letters and words decorating trends at the same time. I admit that I would like to see some redecorating now, one can be original and still "in" and modern. No need to desperately copy each trend that shows up around Internet (owls etc).

There is of course always an exception to the rule: the only place with this poster on the wall that I realy liked was over at Moline's:

 

And I'm pretty sure it's because it's YELLOW. And gray. And beautifully arranged. There you have it...I simply adore Moline's style.

You might want to read this also.

Don't keep calm and carry on

For the rainy Saturday afternoon

I love creating with my hands, it gives me enormous satisfaction to see the finished result. There is not much crafting and DIY that I don't like. Exceptions : crochet (plain ugly, in MHO, with place for exceptions but for some reason I can't stop thinking of those horrible crocheted bathroom sets), knitting (waaay to long to see the result). Surprisingly, I'm not a scrapbook girl either even if I enjoy seeing some of the work out there. And quilting is not my thing neither even if I like sewing very much (why would someone want to cut the fabric into pieces only to sew it back together? Quilto Mazo?) Sorry girls, I didn't mean to be mean, it's just that my (sometimes) twisted sense of humor can be persistent like a fat stain. Believe me, I know what it means to love to do something, I have several addictions of my own...
Where was I? Oh, I remember: i just wanted to show you some little things that I plan to do on this rainy Saturday afternoon (the fist snow is almost completely gone). Here is the picture of the things I found in different corners of my home and that deserve attention :

Some are new (Dollar store though, I'm born on the frugal side) some are trifted. I have 3 simple white frames for my main bathroom. I would like to find some cute prints or just photos for it. The clock was on my patio last sommer and the thing in it got warped, paper I suppose. Then I have 3 little cute trifted frames with angels, hearts and lines (sometimes I can't resist kitsch but I'm definitely not a shabby chic fan). Those demand some cute family pictures. There is also a lamp without shade, I have to think of something. Fabric? Paper? Wallpaper rest? We'll see... I'll post finished projects next week

For the rainy Saturday afternoon

First Snow

Don't you think first snow is always beautiful? I still can't believe it's not icing sugar (see? icing, made from ice) carefully spread allover in the night by Snow fairy. When  I was little, it rarely snowed in my city. And if, the sparely white flakes melted  floating  in the air before they touched the ground. I was often disappointed and I dreamed of a day when it will be snowing so much I could go out with my spoon and eat all of it...

Yeah, I remember the time when I was excited about the first snow of the season after I moved with my family to another  part of my country with more white goodness to enjoy. Well, not anymore since I live in Canada and we have tons and tons and tons of snow every winter till may. Now I need something bigger then spoon, say shovel! We have so much snow each year that it would kill the excitement of any winter lover in the first winter. Well, maybe in the second... Nuff said !

And even if I'm not really winter lover anymore, I anticipate with joy beautiful things that come with it. Cocooning is one of them. Nobody speaks of it any more,  it isn't "in" anymore but it is surely one of the reasons I can survive winter here without going nuts. Let's see: you take a basket, you throw in a nice warm blanket and a pair of hand knitted socks, couple of nice books or magazines (deco thingies, hmmm) and you cuddle on the sofa with a cup of coffee or tee, watching the snow flakes dancing in the wind...

First Snow

Everyday Schmuseday

Do you know what "schmusen" means? Yeah, I thought so! It's one of the German words that I conserve in my personal Love Dictionary. Just so you know, German isn't my mother tongue, but I've studied it and I love it - after all, it is the language of Goethe... To translate it in English words like cuddle, snuggle or smooch are used. Attention: not to be confused with "schmooze" even if it does have some connection with "converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make social connection" as in "cuddling" yourself in a conversation.

More than a word itself, I like the mindset behind it, smoothness and goodness, rarity of the moment, emotions and aftertaste of it. You can "schmuse" with your lover, your husband, your children, your mom and dad or other person you love tenderly. You can, you should even "schmuse" with your animal, especially dogs and cats are very big Schmuse-Fans. Even if "schmusen" (pronounced shmoozen,) implies body contact, it never means very intimate relationship, but it implies deep relationship between two beings. You really don't need much to schmuse : just a moment of time and the person you love near you. Schmusen should be prescribed by the doctors, it'so god and beneficial for all involved. Shouldn't we proclaim every day of the week "Schmuseday"? It would be a self medication of sort, no more need for antidepressants. It is free, green, benefits two or even more persons at same time. Start today, start this weekend: proclaim your own oficial "Schmuseday" at home. Make it twice a week after that and you will wonder how it affects you and those near you. You could even create a poster to display it at your place telling everyone that it's your "Schmuseday" holiday. From there, it is literally just one step to the official national "Schmuseday" holiday!

Everyday Schmuseday

Cute (and scarry, brrr...) Halloween decoration

When little French children await impatiently an event like Christmas or Halloween they often count time left in "dodos" - how many times they got to sleep till the day "X". Encore 3 dodos, encore 6 dodos... in our case, "encore 9 dodos" till Halloween. Well, there is plenty time left for both, parents and children to craft something scarry for this day. I stumbled upon a lovely Cathie Filian blog "How To Be Domestic" and found a cute little Halloween project just for you :

Cathy creates, produces and co-hosts the popular lifestyle show Creative Juice on DIY Network and HGTV. You can find her project, and many others, at this link : Halloween: extreme glitter skull

Happy crafting !

Cute (and scarry, brrr...) Halloween decoration

Sidebar melt alert!

I'm in a state of panic, what should I do? My sidebar dropped completely down, right to do bottom and other inexplicable things happened. Well, OK, I am a novice, but this is ridiculous! Heeeeeelp !!! Do you know how to fix this? Please...I really love blogging... I am currently searching for solutions, apparently I'm not alone with this problem.

In the meantime, consider yourself invited to the Wonderful Color Exposition in the basement of my blog, LOL...

UPDATE : ZENITUDE is back in my life!!! As of yesterday evening everything went back to normal. And I even don't know what I did exactly to repair it... I got to admit I tried several methods found on the Web but I really don't know which one worked. Anyhow, thanks to whomever helped me, I'm a happy blogger again !

Sidebar melt alert!

Simple inspirations

Do you sometimes have a feeling that someone said something just the way you thought about it? It happens to me all the time and I love it. For today, I'd like to present you little inspirations found in the Woman's Day magazine (click to see enlarged view):

Smile (you just did, didn't you?) and have a nice day !

Simple inspirations

My froggy's birthday

My bébé celebrated her birthday yesterday, a very important one for me, like every single birthday since the day I looked in her eyes for the very first time. I looooove being mom, especially her mom: she is so beautiful, loving, intelligent and strong. I dare to think that I helped a little making her that way (well, ok, her father contributed too...in so many loving ways). She now lives in the big city 300 km south of her nest. We drove this weekend to see and to hug her and to give her presents and of course her special birthday cake. Here is what it looked like:

And before you even ask me, here is the answer: the frog is sitting on the cake because I call her "froggy". Yes, I'd like to think that I'm a good mother but I admittedly call her names, in many different languages: frog, froggy, froggilein, frosch, grenouille, fröschlein, žaba, žabica...

I don't even remember why I gave her this nick name but we all love it!

We really managed to surprise her with this cake - she had tears in her eyes and she asked  What on earth did I do to deserve this?! Well, sometimes we ask ourselves too: What on earth did we do to deserve YOU?! We love you soooooo much, bébé!

To create this little frog I was inspired by the lovely book 50 Easy Party Cakes from Debbie Brown:

I don't know if the frog survived this weekend, I'll keep you posted on this one...

My froggy's birthday

Decorating with (Love) Letters

The Apartment Therapy website is one of my preferred interior design sites and I read it daily for inspiration. In one of their October posts they presented decor inspired by old letters, postage stamps etc.

I immediately thought of my old letters that I framed in a shadow box and decorated my bedroom wall with it. Those are my long lost young girl letters that my sister sent me to my birthday last year. What a surprise it was ! She found them in the attic of my parents house, carefully hidden behind one of the wood beams. The letters were bound with the red ribbon exactly as I left them there long time ago. And even though I was very curios to read them again - I somehow couldn't do it. And there is also my first love letter ever among the others...

So I took the letters and put them carefully in a shadow box that I had for another project :

Decorating with (Love) Letters

Before and after : my cosmetic drawer

What you need to know about me beforehand : I am not a messie but I'm not a neat freak either. I'm somewhere in the middle, but I can have my days more in the one or the other direction, it depends...

Last week I had my pointer moving in the neat freak direction so I finally saw the cosmetic drawer under my bathroom sink for what it was : a major MESS ! I am so ashamed of it that I can NOT show you a big picture of "before" nor can I show you the complete "before" drawer in its messy gorgeousness, sorry...

Here is the picture of the left side of my drawer before I put my "neat freak goggles":

 To find a cheapish solution I went to the dollar store of course, my wallet isn't comfortable around the designer stores ;-) This is what I found :

 

That is what I call cheap: 3 containers for 1 $. And lovely colors to... Talking about recession design !

And just by chance they fit perfectly in my two drawer compartments. I started with the right side of my drawer and what a difference it made immediately :

Before and after : my cosmetic drawer

His first Halloween costume ever

Would you believe that I am about to sew my first Halloween costume in my very long carrier as hobby sewer ? First of all, where I grew up, we didn't have this holiday at all ! Last week my coworker / friend asked me if I could sew a costume for her 3-year-old son Noah, she wanted to have something more original then things she can by in stores, especially for his FIRST Halloween costume EVER ! I almost jumped for joy ! Of course I will : I love kids, I love sewing, I love Halloween, I love creating stuff of all sorts...
So I send her some pictures with the propositions of costumes for which I have a pattern. She picked this one with her son:

 

This pictures are rather small, sorry, they are the only ones I have. The costume and the pattern are from the Spanish sewing magazine called Patrones, issue 34 from January 2006. Aren't they adorable ?! You really should see all the others too, soooo cute, incredible ! I can post some other pictures,  if you are interested just tell me.

Well, needless to say, I went RUNNING to the fabric store to find all the necessary material (as if I needed a reason to yet another trip to fabric heaven...). I'm so excited, here is what I found :

  I especially love the printed one, I am going to make that lovely Chinese hat from it. Well I love it so much I am going to create Halloween candy bag in form of a Chinese lantern. This is what I'm using as an inspiration :

What I didn't find is a decorative ribbon to sew around the seams of the costume. We don't have lots of choices in my city and I can't order on the Internet because of the time / cost factor. I have only 25 $ to spend for all the materials so I have to find a solution for the ribbon that costs less then 5 bucks ! Sigh... Would you happen to have any ideas on this ? I would be really grateful for any helping suggestion of yours...
I'll keep you posted on the advancement of this project, there are more pictures to come next week!

His first Halloween costume ever

Confession of an image junkie

I have a confession to make, I must share this secret with you : I am an IMAGE JUNKIE ! Those of you who suffer from the same addiction know what I am talking about... My computer is full with pictures, thousands of them, heck, tens of thousands of all sorts of pictures found on the Internet. I love them dearly, I save them, organize them, watch them for inspiration, or just so, because they are beautiful and they can lift my mood any time ! I organize them in folders (or at least I try to...) by interest : deco, toys, craft, vintage, sewing etc. I am especially flabbergasted by so many talented girls out there, from all over the world, who share they talent with as others, less courageous to show off our work. Thank you all, girls !

My family mocks me about this addiction of mine, but, nonetheless, they bought me a brand new computer with loooooots of storage space for my little darlings - did I say that I love them ?

What about you ? Do you have the same (no, I won't say "problem") hobby ? Tell me about it !

Confession of an image junkie