News

This have been a little quiet over here lately, as they are wont to be sometimes. I have a few updates for you on some sewing and crafty things that I hope to share very soon....but first, I want to show you what's been keeping me so busy.

This beauty is ours! Home ownership has been a whirlwind experience -- we saw it for the first time a few days before Hallowe'en and take possession on Nov. 29th. The whole house-buying process, from viewing to offering to closing, will take about a month from start to finish.  Even though some moments were absolutely terrifying, I'm actually shocked by how smoothly things played out.

We are keeping our current apartment until Jan. 1, so we'll have about 5 weeks to paint, make some minor changes, and move. To say I'm excited is a complete understatement. (Just ask my fella and my parents, who have heard me talk about little else since we signed on the dotted line). I'm hoping to share our progress here on the ol'blog.

Now, I just have to keep my head from totally exploding before Nov. 29. SO EXCITED!

DIY cheese

A few months ago, I picked up a copy of Home Dairy with Ashley English, a cookbook that's all about making your own cheese. I was very intrigued, but totally intimidated by the process. You need ingredients that sounded scary (bacteria! rennet!) and that were hard to track down.

But today I stumbled across something that could de-freakify cheese-making: a DIY cheese kit. All you have to do is add a gallon of milk and follow the instructions. It comes in a couple flavours -- mozzarella and ricotta, goat cheese, and paneer and queso blanco.

If you're as intrigued as I am, you can pick up your own cheese kit on Etsy here.

Perfect summer dinner

It has suddenly become incredibly hot. Hot with a capital H-O-T. So hot that I've been working up a sweat just by sitting on the couch. (Classy, I know). So hot that the thought of turning on the stove top, the  barbecue, or -- God forbid -- the oven -- makes me want to throw a major temper tantrum.

Herein lies the wonder of the cold soup. This recipe requires zero heat to make and is cool and refreshing to consume. I made a big batch of this the other day and have been eating it basically nonstop ever since (which is actually fantastic, because it's pretty darn healthy). Add a bit of focaccia and maybe a slice of cheese or two on the side and you've got yourself a fresh, heat-free, heavenly summer dinner.

Gazpacho My Way (Adapted from "For the love of  Soup" by Janelle Mitchell)

1 can crushed tomatoes
2 ripe, fresh tomatoes
1 cucumber
3 sweet peppers (a mix of green, red, orange, yellow -- whatever you have on hand. Though I like using only 1 green pepper because the other varieties are a bit sweeter).
1 small red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 chipotle peppers, or to taste (If you don't have chipotles, add a few dashes of your favourite hot sauce).
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro to garnish

Roughly chop cucumber, peppers, onion, garlic, and chipotles.

In batches, transfer the chopped veggies into a blender or food processor, adding a bit of the canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and a splash of olive oil to each batch. Puree until smooth.

When blended, transfer each batch into a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper. If it's too thick, gradually add water until it suits you -- but keep in mind this should be a thick, hearty soup.

Chop the fresh tomatoes into smallish pieces and add to the soup. (This adds a nice chunky texture).

Mix well and refrigerate until you're ready to serve. This will keep covered in the fridge for several days.

Serve garnished with the chopped fresh cilantro and, if you like, a little vino on the side.

Enjoy!

Yarn-spiration

One of the inevitabilities of living a crafty life is that is comes with a lot of baggage. (Literally, not emotionally). I have a healthy collection of yarn, fabric, sewing machines, knitting needles, books, and various tools that I can whip out at a moment's notice.

The trouble is, all of these wonderful things need to be stored somewhere. As someone who is currently settling in to a new apartment, it can be tough to figure out where to put all of this STUFF. (My silly husband actually suggested I pare down my fabric stash before the move. Ha!)

That's why I was super jazzed to come across this image this morning:

Photo from wise craft

I love this idea, found at the new-to-me blog wise craft. She originally found it via Living Etc and executed the idea with a big vase from Ikea.I love that it's a storage idea that leans more towards art than utility.

Practical, simple, and beautiful. Perfect.

I'm still alive

It's been awhile, gentle readers. But, I have an excellent excuse: my fella and I are moving back to our hometown in a little over 2 weeks. Our new place is way cheaper, closer to my work, and closer to most of our family and friends. It's also about half the rent of our current home in Toronto. 

We've been pretty lucky with our beloved Toronto apartment -- it's amazingly clean, well-cared for, and functional. However, our new place is...well, let's just say it's going to need a bit of spit and polish before we move in. My brain has been swirling with plans with how to make it a home.

My first idea: mismatched dining room chairs. I plan to replace my current matching set with a bunch of charmingly different chairs, all painted in neutral white. Something like this:

Second, I've been obsessed with this simple balsa wood sculpture thingy since I saw it on Design Sponge last week.

I'd like to use the same materials to make a big Finnish star that we can hang in our new bedroom. They look very complicated but are actually very easy to make.

I'm also working on knitting a pouf for our new living room. (I wrote about my obsession with these way back in September). I'm probably about halfway finished the knitting, then I have to assemble and stuff it. When it's finished, I hope to have something like this:

So, as you can see, even though I haven't been blogging up a storm, my creative juices are stewing. Stay tuned for the finished products!

Quick lamp makeover

I love spray paint. Seriously. There's no better way to change something so inexpensively and so quickly. Case in point: my lamps.

These lamps, purchased from Ikea a couple years ago, were starting to look a little blah. After a few coats of spray paint, they look totally fresh and new. I also picked up a couple of new shades, just for fun.

And, if I ever get bored with the turquoise (which I inevitably will) I can change the colour again. That is the glory of the spray paint!

In other crafting news, I have been busy recovering a few chairs for the living room (including the orange chair I wrote about in a previous post) which I'll share as soon as they're finished. I've learned that upholstering chairs is harder than it looks. It's kinda hard to make it look professional and neat rather than an amateur Trading Spaces project or something. (Not that I didn't love Trading Spaces. It feels a little blasphemous to take a shot at my beloved TS!)

It's interesting to note that a lot of my creative energy is being taken up by taking a picture every day for my Project 365. I have really been enjoying sinking my teeth into photography and challenging myself to find a new shot each day. However, it has meant that I haven't been sewing/knitting/etc. much lately -- not only because I'm devoting a lot of my attention to pictures, but also because it's a bit of a time commitment to take, upload, and edit a photo each day. I have a long sewing to-do list and I'm hoping to be able to commit some serious time tackling those projects in the next few weeks.

Since I have no new sewing projects to show you I'll leave you with my 365 shot from yesterday: some pretty pink Gerbera daisies (which happen to be one of my favourite flowers).

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Urge for orange

I'm going for it, readers. Instead of my usual standby for painting furniture -- beautiful, classic, neutral white -- I'm opting for bright, in-yo-face, saturated orange.

First coat!

This chair was a curbside find with great lines but battered legs and upholstery. The colour is called "Chinatown Orange," which (vaguely racist connotations aside) is a really lovely colour with just a hint of red. I took off the back rest for painting, but since the screws to remove the seat weren't accessible and it will be re-covered it in new fabric, I just left the seat on during painting.

Glossy!

Why orange, you ask? Truthfully, I have no idea. Maybe the bleak winter weather is making me desperate  for warmth and colour. Maybe it's just my evolving taste. But, honestly, for whatever reason, I just had this sudden desire for ORANGE. And I decided to go with it.

Me, shot by my fella, in my sexy paint-splattered hoodie

Since the chair itself is going to be super bright, I'm thinking something in greys and whites for the upholstery. Something like this, but perhaps a little more subtle. (Sidenote: This fabric is designed by Ty Pennington, formerly of Trading Spaces fame. Who knew?)

So there you go. Orange you glad you read this post?? (Sorry. Couldn't resist).



The $117 couch

This is a story about how this...

...turned into this...

...and the whole thing (couch included) only cost $117.

Several weeks ago, I bought a new couch on Craigslist. There was nothing really wrong with our old couch, but my cats had developed a deep love for scratching it and the upholstery was starting to look a little battered. Plus, it was chocolate brown, which showed every single strand of fur that migrated off of our fluffy kitties.

So, with the help of my strong-armed husband, I gave away our old couch and picked up this one. It was listed for $80, but because of some wear and tear on the wooden bits, I bargained the seller down to $60 ($60!!). I rented a steam-cleaner for $50 and spent an afternoon making sure it was squeaky clean.  (That brings the grand total up to $110, for anyone who's keeping track).

For several weeks, I hemmed and hawed about what to do with the wooden part of the couch. It was chipped and worn and definitely needed to be dealt with in some way, but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to have it refinished. Finally, during a free afternoon this week, I decided to seize the day.

I carefully taped off all the edges, then sanded, primed, and painted the wood using some white paint I already had on hand. I used that ridiculously tiny brush to do the whole thing, just so I could be as precise as possible. I had no idea if it would turn out or not, but in the end, I was pleasantly surprised.

I honestly can't believe how well it turned out. I knew I was playing with fire (white paint + beige upholstery = lots of potential for disaster) but I made sure to be very careful with the paint and had some spot cleaner on hand in case I dripped. (Which, of course, I did, but I was able to remove it right away so it didn't leave any permanent spots).

Though most of it turned out really well, there were a couple of places where it looked pretty messy. So, I went out and bought $7 worth of beige cording from Fabricland. I ran a bead of hot glue between the upholstery and the wood, then pressed the cord into the glue to hide all of the not-so-perfect spots.

So, there you have it: a new couch for $117 and a couple hours' worth of elbow grease. I think the white paint makes this couch look so much more modern. I love this style, but it felt a little too grandma-y before the makeover.

Oh, and I also made some new pillows using some Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabric (some of which I had on hand from other projects, and some of which I bought online). So, I guess this project technically cost me more than $117.

 But having a one-of-a-kind, modern grandma-style couch with fabulous colourful pillows? That's priceless.

Wreath-tastic!

I have seen so many cute yarn wreaths popping up all over the interweb lately. Like these ones:

From Take Heart

And this one:

From my internet friend and fellow crafter Creative Kat

So I decided to make my own.

I followed this tutorial to the letter, including the idea to add the little felt flowers. I had the yarn in my stash already and the felt cost about $3 total, so all in all, it was very easy on my wallet. The most expensive thing was the $15 styrofoam wreath form (damn you and your exorbitant styrofoam prices, Michaels!)

This was honestly one of the easiest and most satisfying projects that I've done in a long time. It's basically impossible to screw up. Even the felt flowers, which are the "hardest" part of this project, are very simple and satisfying to make. Plus, the colour possibilities are endless. I made this one to match the red and aqua in my kitchen.

Simple, cute, easy, and inexpensive. What could be better?

One of a kind show

I love the One of a Kind Show. I've gone for the past several years and always find one or two things that NEED to come home with me. This year was no exception. My fella was kind enough to escort me, which made it a) more fun and b) easier to not buy absolutely everything that I wanted. There's nothing like a voice of reason to make you back away from your fourth impulse buy of the day.

The first thing we took home are these cute little mason jar tealight holders, which are made by a local tinsmith. (See his website here). They're currently sitting on our kitchen table.

We also bought a very cool tealight holder for our mantle. (Notice a theme emerging here?) It's actually made from a bit of a recycled barrel from a winery in the Okanagan valley in B.C. I saw these last year and have been thinking about them ever since. (Visit the vendor's website here).

What I love about this is the inside of the candleholder is stained a dark burgundy from the wine, and the outside is marked by the metal that held the barrel together.

Finally, I totally splurged on this lightbox from a young designer named Christie Greyerbiehl. She takes vintage fabric -- in this case, an old bedsheet -- adds a screenprint design, then turns it into a lightbox.

Pretty, eh?

Decking the halls

I've got big crafting plans for Christmas this year. I have this insane idea about hand-making as much as I can, from presents to decorations to edible goodies. That may be about as realistic as those commercials featuring impeccably dressed, well-behaved families sitting beside a perfectly decorated 35-foot high Christmas tree while starting lovingly at each other. But I figure if I get a running start, I may be able to pull some of it off.

First up in Christmas Craftfest 2010: a wreath for the front door. I gathered a whole bunch of red stuff from Ikea, the Dollar Store, and Michaels -- Christmas ornaments, silk flowers, feathers, cool berry-looking things, and a faux-winterized branch. I also made some pom-poms from my own yarn stash (which you can find out how to do here).

A little tip: if you're planning on making a wreath like this, buy waaaay more supplies than you think you'll need. And preferably, stock up at the cheaper stores like Ikea and Dollarama. Michaels can be shockingly pricey (case in point: I bought a solid circle of styrofoam and cut a hole in the centre because all the styrofoam wreath forms were, like, $15. Seriously Michaels? $15 for a hunk of styrofoam?) Oh, and  try to find non-breakable Christmas balls. It would be very sad to spend lots of time and money on a beautiful wreath only to find your hopes dashed by fragile balls. Ahem.

For my wreath, I started with the Christmas balls, 'cause they were the biggest and least flexible. I took off the little silver caps, put some hot glue onto the base, burned my fingers, cursed, then affixed them nose-down to the wreath.

I continued this pattern of gluing, finger-burning, and cursing until it started to look like this:

Then this:

                         

Then this:

Then finally, when I had barely any fingertips left, it was done!

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I don't necessarily think Christmas decorations should be trendy -- I prefer to go the classic route so I can use them for years and years. My favourite parts of this wreath are the pom poms and the little birdie sitting at the base:

Though I won't officially start decorating for Christmas until December, I think this is going to look very nice on our front door. Even my poor glue-gunned fingers agree.