IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

IKEA Catalog 2012

 I never mentioned it but I love, love Ikea for so many reasons. Each year I'm patiently waiting for the new catalog - it's like this old crazy habit of mine, can't help it. Looking trough the new Ikea catalog=joy!
So click on the picture and flip trough the pages chock-full of inspiration...enjoy! 

IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

Fruity Summer Cake Recipes

I was just searching for the recipe to use the raspberries I have when I stumbled upon Sweet Paul's digital magazine. What a delight! This summer issue is full of delicious treats, lovely DIY ideas with instructions and everything is so beautifully photographed too.

If you are not familiar with Paul Lowe's work (I sure wasn't), he is a New York based food and interior stylist whose very successful blog is also worth bookmarking. Get your dose of summer by flipping through the gorgeous summer issue of  Sweet Paul Magazine!

I'm off to make those divine raspberry tarts with mascarpone cream filling. Enjoy your weekend!

P.S. Some more summer delights for you to make : 50 Best Summer Cake Recipes

Fruity Summer Cake Recipes

Simple Photo Editing Software

If you have a blog, you most certainly have to take, edit and post photos. If by any chance you have and use Photoshop, this post is not meant for you. I wanted to share with you the simple and comprehensive photo editing software I use. If I take a photo and it absolutely must be edited before posting, I don't like to spend hours doing it because first, I'm am not overly patient and second, my skills being limited, I can't make it perfect and I don't see need to do so. The software I use is IrfanView. This image viewer and editor is my longtime favorite, and with good reason. IrfanView is simple, fast, and free.

This program lets you open and edit images : cut and crop, apply batch conversions, add, sharpen, or blur effects, create panoramas and change color modes easily. The interface is not fancy but I find it simple and intuitive, it should be easy enough for most users to figure out. It contains simple Erase, Draw, Fill, Rotate, Draw an Arrow, and Color Picker commands. You have to download it and install it on your computer, but it's very light, only 1,5 Mb. You can easily find online an IrfanView tutorial for beginners.

The other one I love for many reasons and use very often is Picasa from Google - great editor and picture manager. This one must be installed on your computer too.

There are also many excellent and free online photo editors. Here is the collection of 10 online Photoshop alternatives for simple photo editing. Have fun!

Simple Photo Editing Software