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my first poll : black and white or colour?

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Hello! I think I’ve found the antidote to winter blues! I’ve left clues throughout the week, I hope you picked up on them;)  I think it all started with those gorgeous tulips on a dreary winter day and my life hasn’t been the same since. I’ve just been moving a few things around, just for fun, because I like to change things up – hence the reason why I still have nothing on the walls. But that’s another whole therapy session on this blog, so I’ll save it for another day.

Right now I just need a quick show of hands (or better yet – a click on a poll!) what you my trusted friends think I should go with.

(By the way, this polling thing was not working for me which is why my thursday post got delayed so much ;(. (I sometimes wonder why I do this blog anyway – I do not like codes/ computers and anything technological – except for google, facebook and pinterest).

Home office/ guest room daybed with antique dresser in:

Black & White

or

Colour

(It’s cropped in just a bit, and I brought in my coffee table that was temporarily moved into the living room for Christmas and added colour!)

I’ve been having a colour-transformation happening in my life. Yes, I’ve also pulled out a bit of green and a bit of blue from my closet to wear. And I kid you not, I got the cutest knitted dress at the thrift store – in yellow. Yes!

Here in my home office/ guest room (the desk is on the other side of the room) I have pulled all kinds of colourful cushions from around the house I already had, a few I had in the basement closet, unused, and one I picked up on sale for $15 bucks. If you’ve been wondering if I sewed any of them, I must be honest and admit that I didn’t. I would love to one day sew up cushions that would reach my ceiling but that will have to wait.

Remember my outcry about my commitment issues. I am not kidding – I cannot pull myself together and hang any frames on my walls! What is with me? Someone please come over with a box of nails, a hammer and a bottle of wine – and let’s hang for a while ;)

Here’s the truth. I kind of like just the black and white. But I need to make a decision if it should stay black and white or with the colour before I hang my frames and artwork up above. So here’s where you come in. Please vote:

[polldaddy poll=5905958]

ps. speaking of voting – get your votes in for Lifeologia on the Circle of Moms Top Vegan and Vegetarian Moms contest! Thanks for your support. xo


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our holiday home

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Hello my sweet friends. I’m sure most of you are now ready to for the big weekend celebrating ~ arent’ cha? We have a little bit more to do around the house… but Christmas is popping up here and there in very simple subtle ways.

I took many more shots around the house today, from the outdoor decorations, the front door wreath, and a few more dressed-up nooks inside our cosy home… but guess what? I sat down to upload my photos and my card reader just went dead. Hmm…. the hubby is on an emergency run (right? do you believe that? ;) but until then…. when I do get a chance to post more photos of our holiday home  (or any photos at all) you still get a little peek into our home ~ and into my new kitchen…. [UPDATED : I got the card reader! ;)] ~ here are the previously missing shots of our Living Room dressed up just enough for Christmas.

{ yes, I still technically have blank walls since the reno.}

I’m still deciding what should go up, but since we were having guests over I wanted to create a ‘finished’ look. I think I achieved just that with a temporary creative wall feature just for the Holidays.

I took an existing wall frame I already had and hung 3 stockings on top with a combination of twine and organza ribbon for a soft and elegant but still rustic look. I also added a few straw snowflake decorations ~ and voila, it gave the living room that finished look after all. I can deal with the two nails in the wall later ;)

The kitchen still isn’t fully finished but it’s fully functional we are really enjoying it. We are still waiting for shelving, accessorizing and stools ~ hm… I don’t think we’ll make it before Christmas – but it’s OK – this was never a ‘rush’ job. I do hope you like the little glimpse – isn’t it very similar to my inspiration post?

My new love, is this pretty little dessert stand I picked up at the local thrift store. So very pretty and it keeps begging for more cookies to be put out ~ not wanting to disappoint the little sweetiepie, I happily oblige – it is Christmas after all, even a dessert stand deserves to be happy, right?

Ok, so there is more things I love, but who wouldn’t in this case love a warm cuddly wooly blanket to get wrapped around you? It’s a must. Is it not?

On our dining table at the moment, I set out a simple wooden tray with nature-inspired things. I have a cute wooden birdhouse I already had, and placed pinecones chestnuts and a few other seeds/ nuts I already had. I placed one large candle and then some tealight candle holders with red votives in between the decorations. And to finish it off a sprig of spruce added a splash of festive colour and completed our nature tray.

A few other things I love at the moment are pomegranates and clementines ~ they are to get eaten up but they work as great decorations as well.

And I do have to say that I’m really enjoying our Christmas tree this year ~ it has even more handmade little pretty things, I only bought the new horses (that Miss G was holding in yesterday’s post), other than that it’s decorations we’ve had for the last 13 years or so and just kept adding to it.

One of our very special decorations ~ pulled out for the first time this year, are these white butterflies ~ would you believe they are the same decorations we had on our wedding day? (our wedding décor post is here if you want a peek) I kept them wrapped safely in a box (yes, for six years) with a few Christmas docorations and brought them up by accident ~ my daughter saw them and just fell in love. She completely insisted that we have to have them on our tree! So there they are enjoyed once again thanks to one little girl who’s already been in my heart the day we married. She’s brought back such lovely memories of our wedding with these gorgeous butterflies – why did I have them boxed up for all these years? Somehow, the butterflies will need to stay around ~ they bring too much happiness around here ;)

So our Christmas tree, is loosing its ‘perfect’ catalogue look ~ we’re adding more handmade things, more special decorations, mementos from the past, and we’re enjoying its beauty not because it’s picture perfect but because it’s special to us.

There is more I want to show you from our little home…. stay tuned, I may update this post if things work out soon with the card reader ;)

In the meantime, Thank You for being here reading these words – I know it’s a busy time for everyone and it’s nice that you take a moment to check in ;)

I would love to hear about how you decorate for the Holidays. If you have a blog and have written about it, please leave a link in the comments below ;)

May you have a wonderful Holiday Season filled with Love, Happiness, Health, Hugs and Laughter! xo Ella


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make your own pottery-like vase

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One quiet evening, when piano music replaced the rustling daytime noise and a hot camomile tea was steaming up on my kitchen table…. I started to create a simple object from items I had on hand. This craft project wasn’t planned ~ it just happened and evolved  into a beautiful piece of art. I had a nice evening to myself and a pretty table accessory by the morning. Simple is always beautiful.
Create a simple Salt Dough recipe by combining your ingredients: 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1-1/2 cups warm water. I like to dilute the salt in the water first to remove all the crystals. Keep some flour and warm water on hand. A sprinkle of flour will prevent from sticking and a little warm water will act as glue.  Knead out into a shape that would roughly cover your bottle or jar.  With your hands, start wrapping and shaping the dough all around to cover your glass. Pay attention to the thickness of your dough so that it’s even all around and covers the glass nicely without any thin see-through spots. Using the extra dough, you can create shapes, flowers and designs that would get added to your vase. This dough forms easily (like playdough) and it’s simple to create unique shapes and designs.

Once your design is ready, place the item on a baking tray and place in a preheated oven to 250 F. and bake for about 2-3 hours (depending on the size). Watch so it looks dry and does not start to yellow. Turn oven off but leave the piece still in the oven to cool completely, even over night.

Once it cools down completely you can paint your design. I chose a simple white acrylic paint as I wanted to preserve the clean simplicity of the design.

I hope you like this project and you will try it yourself. These would be beautiful as gifts for the holidays and a great fun project to do with kids. I will to do a project like this with miss Gabriella very soon ~ we’ll see what creative spin a 4 year old will put on this ;)

ps. these are not forever, they may crack over time with the change of temperatures or direct sunlight etc. But they are lovely to make and definitely add a great unique touch to a vignette. It’s practically free to make them so it’s still very much worth it ;) Once you’re done with them, just soak and peel off the baked-on dough and give the glass bottle yet another new life. xo

salt dough ball photo from here

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published in a magazine

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I just received an exciting package in the mail – it’s a couple of magazines called Sideroads of Muskoka, which featured my dining room! Sideroads is a local Canadian magazine from Northern Ontario that has an emphasis on Muskoka and country style living.  They liked my photos of our living room from last year’s Thanksgiving dinner which really fits perfectly with a cottage-themed magazine.

I decorated our table and chandelier in real autumn coloured maple leaves, picked with my daughter on our morning walk earlier that day. I have learned that keeping things simple always works and big impact can be created with very little. And I also learned that sometimes, FREE decorations are the best! Thank you nature for your beautiful bounty each season and thank you Sideroads for featuring my dining room in your magazine!

Do you like to decorate with things found in nature? Please share so we get more ideas ;)

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inspirations for our kitchen

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Hello my friends. As you now know we’ve got our kitchen guttered out and there’s no turning back – we are amongst the biggest renovating project our our lives ;)  I’ve put together these photos as inspiration to represent my thoughts and plans for this kitchen. I think a Pinterest account would have helped to do this  (soon soon) but this was just really fun to visually arrange my decorating ideas thus far. So I’ve had a wishlist for a while – not all of it made it, and some items might still get crossed off the list. But for now – everything is going pretty well….

For a long time I’ve dreamed of a clean white kitchen, with a modern crisp black and white feel with a hint of rustic natural woods. A little vintage here and there would get thrown in with the accents to create a timeless feel. And a bunch of fresh cut tulips from the garden in bright pink or yellow would occasionally appear on the new kitchen island – or maybe peonies – or whatever else the season brings into the garden.

Yes a white kitchen. If you knew me, you’d know it was not because I’m afraid of colour. I’ve lived with a lot of colour and I have a rainbow of it in my closet. I use it and work with it daily and still plan on bringing it into my kitchen – -but just hints of it. I love changing things around often and want my kitchen to be this empty canvas where I can re-accessorize in the accents, art, and teaboxes to reenergize the room depending on season or mood. Also, as a designer, I’ve learned that I have a need to surround myself with neutrals when I’m at home, just being or working. A clean, neutral, blank-canvas kitchen that is timeless and beautiful will make me the most happy each and every morning.

What are your thoughts on this look? Do you have some suggestions, tips or ideas? Please share ;)

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