Gimme a break...

I will be taking a blogging break over the next few weeks - don't worry, I have some fantastic guest posts lined up for you over the next little while!
The Mr. and I have had a lot going on lately - some fun-summer-busy stuff, some not-so-fun-at-any-time-of-year stuff. Serious stuff can take a LOT out of you, so we are going to take the next little while to refresh and recharge.

Our plan is to kick back, relax, and turn our brains off. Catch ya later.

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Featured: So Canadian, Eh?

I am SO excited to be featured over at Hodge Podge today!

I met Barbara when she attended Blog Podium back in May. It was so great to meet her in person (by the way, she's as nice as she seems on her blog. And, taller than I imagined!). I was excited to be able to put a real live face to the blog-name and get to know her a bit more.

If you don't already read her blog, you should. Among fantastic projects, and extraodinary pillow sewing talents, she also has a series called "So Canadian, Eh?". This series profiles fantsatic Canadian designers (like Tommy Smythe and Brian Gluckstein), and bloggers too. And today *I* am one of the lucky bloggers to be featured!!



Click over to see my post - and thank you to Barbara for featuring me!



Impressive new collection: IKEA NÄTVIDE

Ikea is introducing a limited edition collection of gorgeous textiles, and it is totally loveable (NÄTVIDE, designed by Anna Efverlund and Maria Vinka)

I adore the "global" inspiration for this collection, and with Ikea you know that everything is at an amazing price point. I'm looking forward to getting to the store to check it out (and hoping it's not as crazy as H&M capsule collections)...but you'll have to "start the car" to get there - it comes out August 1 and only lasts as long as they can keep the shelves stocked.



This is one of my favourites:



This bedding is bold but a lot of fun - duvet cover and pillow cases, starting from $19.99



The cushion on the right is my FAVE...cushions starting at $14.99

How do you like them apples? I love how this is a departure from the typical Ikea style, and can see this being used in a bedroom with a bold theme, as accents in a living room or outdoors on the patio. Love it!

All photos courtesy of Ikea Canada

Curb-find-stools - during

Remember these curb-side stools that I found? (PS the blog date doesn't lie...these were found back in March...seems like I've dropped the ball on that one...woops!)

After hemming and hawing about some fabric options here and here, I ended up ordering some from Hodi and Poppi Fabrics on Etsy. My mom worked her wonders on the sewing machine and whipped up some cushions for these stools (and she even took photos as she went, which will be included in a future post. What a wonderful blogger mom she is!!). Here's a quick sneak peak:

Next step is some spray paint for the base and then you'll get to see the full goodness in action! Patience is a virtue they say... 





Friday faves: PicMonkey

Do you use PicMonkey? It is an online photo editing software with a tagline of "Fearless photo embetterment".

Love it!

Basically it's free, dead easy to use, and has a great range of effects. I've used it mainly to do collages for the 'ol blog like these:

PicMonkey provides templates for collages and lets you overlay collages or photos with text, or labels like the crumpled paper below

PicMonkey is SO easy to use and I love the collage options it offers! Here is what the dashboard looks like:



There are also a range of photo editing tools that you can use to touch up your photos, or add instagram-ish effects to them. The options really are varied and broad.

I think it adds a lot to photos, so if you have some time to play around with it head on over! Otherwise, have a great July weekend everyone :)

*Full disclosure: I was not sponsored for this post, I just think it's a really good product and wanted to let people know about it!



DIY Cake stand

This is a fun (and simple!) DIY project. I have been wanting to add patterned dishes to my kitchen's repetoire for some time. Our every day dishes are white, and our china is cream. I like having white plates, but I also like fun serving platters to liven things up.

Do you know how hard it is to find "fun" (not ugly) serving platters?

Of course, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I kept an eye out at HomeSense for some patterned plates and found this lovely one:

I paired it with this bowl (also from HomeSense):

Although I found my pieces at HomeSense, you could easily do this with vintage finds from an antique store or from a garage sale / flea market.

I cleaned both pieces, and let them dry thoroughly (I'm talking air dry for a few hours just to be sure) (1). I then used construction adhesive to join the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the plate. I stuck some heavy books on top (who else has textbooks kicking around their basement from uni?) (2) and let the adhesive dry for 24 hours. After that I used clear silicone to seal the glue (3).











And here is the final product (you may have spied it in my cinnamon pouf post!) - a DIY patterned cake stand!