Joy Blog...Ceramic Pitchers

Pictured above is my humble small collection of ceramic pitchers I have aquired from thrift stores.

I use them for flowers, and use them for water jugs at dinner parties. I think their simplicity is quite beautiful.

Below I have assembled some photos that also capture the love of my collection. The photos mostly feature ironstone china which is a glaze-covered earthenware first patened in 1813. I have added Ironstone to my "to collect" list.

Quick Project...painting hallway mirror

I woke up on Family Day last Monday and felt like I had a creative energy stirring, I had to craft something, I needed to paint something. I decided I would finally tackle that mirror in my hallway that I have had forever but just doesn't inspire me anymore. I wanted to paint it BLUE!

I started mixing some colours from my paint collection with some benjamin moore white down cc-50 and added some crafter's acrylic paint, a dab of this a dot of that, no precise measurments.

Within moments the mirror was transformed! I love quick projects! Eventually I plan on painting that cart in the hall way off-white which will look much better I think. I added a few blue accessories to tie it together and it has freshened up my entrace way! Amazing what a little paint can do.

Baby Nursery Inspiration

"There was a never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been browsing the internet since receiving news that baby #3 is going to be a boy. I surprised that it was extremely difficult to find ideas that were original with a modern vintage theme. I like mostly a vintage look with modern touches. Here's a start...

I like this tree wall decal found on www.etsy.com

Classic design of the eames rocker (photo courtesy of flickr)


Love this antiqe dresser, so sweet.

Love the whole vintage feel of this room (source unknown)

(so tweet found on etsy.com)

A collection of coordinating fabrics simply displayed in embroidery hoops! (source unknown)


Instead of a mobile I was considering either the paper laterns (above) or the tissue pom poms (below) Both affordable and whimsical :)

www.etsy.com

I like the colour palette of these buttons and I was thinking about creating something like this (below)

Pink or Blue?

We went for our ultrasound this Friday and as many of you know I had the original intention to not find out the gender of the baby. Of course I totally caved and just had to find out! The ultrasound place we went to announced your gender in a really cool way that I've never experienced where they give you an envelope when you leave and inside will either be a pink cookie or a blue cookie. Alex and I got to open the envelope together and reveal the colour of the cookie, so exciting!!! And what colour did we find?

Do you like how I built the suspense? I know, it was great!

Anyways, we are excited and now eager to plan the arrival of our new little guy, only one day after hearing the news I picked up the teeniest tiniest little sneakers.

Desperately Seeking Sunshine

Yellow is one of the three primary colors. Just looking at it brings me feelings of optimism, joy and cheer. It reminds me of spring and sunshine, warmth and pure happiness. I'm thinking of ways to add a little yellow to my world. Maybe through something as small as adding a little yellow butter dish to my kitchen or a vase of yellow tulips. How can you add a little sunshine to your life?

Gorgeous sunshine yellow pillow etsy.com



retro telephone anthropologie.com

vintage butter dish etsy.com

yellow tulips: photo source unknown

vintage bicycle photo found on flickr.com

cheerful cabinet found on countryliving.com


yellow painted farmhouse bench etsy.com

Valentines Fondue Party!

Alex and I celebrated our romantic night alone a couple days before the big V-day so when the 14th arrived I decided to host a little chocolate fondue party for the kids. We invited Grandma and Grandpa along for the fun. Jalen and Ruby had a blast helping make all the heart decorations, and digging into the chocolate of course.

Jalen decided we needed to make tickets for everyone

Grandpa said "You know it was a good party when you end up with chocolate on your pants!"

Our Valentines Date....a "love" story

The grandparents did us a huge favour and took our lovely children for sleepover so my darling and I could spend the night alone, celebrating Valentines day a bit early I suppose. When they made the offer last week I immediately started stressing, "where should we make reservations?" "Should we go see a movie?" Spending time just the two of us is so completely RARE that I panicked with the opportunity. I left the reservation making till the last minute therefore didn't get the restaurant of choice, but alas, we got a reservation at a nice restaurant. We arrived at the restaurant with super early, parent kind of reservations, 5:30 p.m. to be exact. We are so accustomed to eating early because of the kids, it just seemed right. We settled in to our table and excitedly looked over the menu, so happy to just be alone.

Dining at restaurants with children is a nightmare most times, where we end up shoving the food in our mouths so fast we don't even enjoy it just to get out of there. We took the kids for suishi a couple of weeks ago and it was the most embarassing and stressful dinner of both of our lives. Chopsticks were being used for weapons, soy sauce was Ruby's "weapon" of choice as she loving dumped her "silly" sauce all over her rice until it resembled a silly sauce rice soup. We threatened bedtime as soon as we get home, we threatened no ice cream for dessert, we threatened "I'm going to take you out to the car if you don't stop!" All the while in this cozy, tables too close together restaurant, other patrons gawking at us like we were freaks...lol. We got home and Alex announced to the kids they "weren't allowed suishi again till they were 18", like they cared.

So here we are alone without kids at a nice restaurant, we ordered a seared tuna to start, served with this delicious wasabi drizzle we took each bite and looked into each others eyes like we were falling in love all over again!! I'm not sure if the love was for eachother or the tuna...either way, we were feeling the love. The conversation was easy and the silences I realized were easy too. The silence was enjoyable and comfortable, after so many years and having two children we didn't feel the need to clutter up silence with forced chit chat, and that to me is love. Our entrees arrived, chicken and lobster pasta for me, which i only gave a 3.5 out of 5. Alex ordered a bison steak which he only gave about the same. The food was not amazing but hell, better than wolfing down pizza at pizza hut with the kids.

We finished up dinner and it was only 6:45! What did we want to do to fill our time, I suggested we hit up Loblaw to grab some coffee for tomorrow morning so here we were on our date night at loblaw. We cruised Joe Fresh for kids clothes and I felt happy but there was a voice inside my head that nagged, "this is not romantic" "shouldn't we be at home under the sheets?" "Have we lost that lovin feelin?" I decided to stay in the moment. We didn't need to force any romance, we just needed to be enjoying eachother's company.

Now as many of you know, and some of you might not, I am nearly 18 weeks pregnant. So I generally start yawning at 7:30 p.m. Especially with a belly filled with pasta, i started thinking about crawling under the sheets but not for any other reason than sleep. We headed home and curled up on the couch together, watching first "housewives of Atlanta" and then one of our favourites "chopped" on the food network. We snuggled and I laughed so hard I literally cried my makeup all down my face. Not necessarily the kind of romance that would have been happening in our "pre-kid" days. However, it was comfortable and fun and to me, love is being able to be yourself and love is when you laugh so hard your mascara runs down your face and makes you look like a scary monster, and he still loves you just the same.

Quick Project...Framed Chalkboard

Upon my inspiration searches through magazines and online there is a lot of chalkboard talk. People are using chalkboard paint to turn their walls and doors into writable surfaces. I have even seen entire refrigerator turned into a chalkboard. Now, my project is nothing as drastic as painting my fridge but I like the idea of having a chalkboard to write inspiring words and quotes as I choose. I also think it fits the country/cottage theme of my decor nicely. So I headed to the dollarstore for this affordable and cute little project. The foam board and adhesive blackboard were both $1.00 each! Then I already had the frame here. It would be easy for you to purchase a frame at a second hand store as well. I eventually would like to do a larger framed chalkboard for my kitchen.

Cut foam board to fit the inside of the frame

I used this adhesive blackboard from the dollarstore for a quick fix but you could definitely use chalkboard paint which would probably last longer. If you choose my route, take the adhesive black board and slowly remove the back paper and smooth it over the foam board. Remember to smooth out bubbles as you go. Trim blackboard adhesive using your utility knife and fit it into your frame, if there is glass on the frame, remove it before you put your foam black board in it.

Write whatever message you want inside your chalkboard and display proudly!