movember

It's Movember...support and love the men in your life. 

halloween 2014

Happy Halloween!  

woodland picnic for glitter guide

It's been a while since I have posted, I promised myself I would post more often but life gets busy and my blog ideas pile up.  So here I am posting about a fun shoot I did three months ago - last August - for Glitter Guide.  A sweet woodland picnic...inspired by my love for all things Selina Lake. 

I thought it would be fun to head into the woods, just a few minutes from our home and set up a picnic using vintage finds, beautiful flowers and delicious food.  Cioffi's Meat Market & Deli supplied the charcuterie platter (it was amazing), Vancouver Pie Hole made the mini cherry pies (tiny & delicious), the flowers were from the Flower Factory (perfect as always) & that incredible cake was made by Coco Cake Land !

The kids were so excited to be in the forest (really just a wooded area near a busy park)...it felt magical, especially when we set up a hammock!  Beckett is playing Dave's childhood guitar.

We had a lot of sweet touches like the deer (I have a bit of a collection happening) from Heather Ross & the "Be Happy" banner was custom by Confetti & Sparkle (now hanging in Zoë's room).  I'm in love with the chair from The Cross - it's perfect - the pillows, birds, dishes and gold forks were also from The Cross.  My good friend Nikki Renshaw brought a carload of treasures...like the baskets, vintage throws, books...her eye is incredible. 

This tiffin carrier is so good.  We filled it with berries, wouldn't it be fun to pack a lunch in? It's from The New Domestic.

It really was a lovely day...if only this was reality!  Ha!  Quite a lot of fun to put together...all made possible with help from my friends...Nikki, Linnea, Emily Jo & Olivia.  Kyrani Kanavaros photographed the entire afternoon....I could post a lot more photos!!

I'm a big fan of vintage wooden crates, we have them all over the house filled with toys - they are prefect for Beckett's HotWheels collection!  These ones are from Stepback. 

It's hard to believe we did this three months ago, feels like yesterday.  The great thing about picnics is they aren't just for summer...you could easily do this in fall...I better hurry before the rain really starts here in Vancouver!

I have decided that I need a hammock in my life...this one is from Target. The pillow is The Cross and the bedding (sigh) is St. Geneve and very dreamy.

Happy trails.  xx

cherry vanilla pie

When I was planning my woodland picnic I really wanted to have mini cherry pies.  I called Jenell from The Pie Hole and she created these little beauties...they are so yummy. Jenell was kind enough to share the recipe - happy baking!

Crust Ingredients
2 cups of AP flour
1 tbsp of sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup of butter
1 tbsp white vinegar

Directions
1. Mix flour, sugar and salt together.
2. Cut frozen cube chunks of butter with pastry knife until butter is approximately pea size chunks.
3. Slowly add ice cold water infused with the white vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together. Chill until ready to roll.
4. Let dough cool in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
5. Roll chilled dough and place into pie plate.



Filling Ingredients
3 pounds sweet BC cherries, pitted
1 vanilla bean
3 tbsp arrowroot flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions
1. Wash cherries well. For smaller mini pies, cut cherries in half.
2. Slice the vanilla bean open using the tip of a pairing knife and gently scrape the vanilla bean seeds out.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the cherries, vanilla, arrowroot, sugar and salt. Mix well with  large spoon gently pressing some of the cherries to release some delicious juice! Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes. 
4. Pour the cherry mixture into the prepared pie shell leaving a 1" overhang. Cover with pastry, and pinch to create a decorative edge.
5. Whisk egg and brush the top of the pastry evenly covering all surface area. Sprinkle with sugar and cut several 1" slits for venting. Place in the oven for 10 minutes at 400F and then lover to 350 for an additional 35-40 minutes.

all photos by Kyrani at Kilk Photography

Cool, and enjoy!!!!

poppy's 4th birthday party

Poppy loves My Little Pony, so thinking of a theme for her 4th birthday party was easy. Rarity is her favourite, with Pinkie Pie a close second - Twilight Sparkle is right in there too.  I can name all the ponies. True story. 

Where would we be without Auntie Denise? We actually start thinking of party ideas months in advance, this one was a lot of fu.  Denise made the cake and cupcakes....together we made all the other food.  The Whisk did the cookies, how sweet is the cutie mark on the number 4 cookie?  If you don't know what a cutie mark is you can read more here. Important stuff.

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beckett's 7th birthday party

It's hard to believe that Beckett is seven!! When I was tossing around ideas for Beckett's party I realized that I had already thrown him a party for each of his favourite things. Thomas - check,  dinosaurs - check, cars - check, hot wheels - check. Dave suggested we just have a party to celebrate 7...a good old-fashioned, themeless party.  Perfect.

Once again my good friend Denise (or Auntie Denise) made the cake and food, she likes to remind me that she's a realtor not a baker. Her cakes are insanely delicious, if this realtor thing doesn't work out...right, she's an amazing realtor. Kyrani from Klik Photography took all the photos, best decision I ever made was to have someone capture all the moments. The cookies are from The Whisk, always amazing. 

We hired Bell E. Buttons to face paint and perform some magic tricks, the kids loved the show. He kept them entertained and laughing for a couple of hours, it was great. From these photos it looks like it's just us as the party but we had friends and family over! 

It was a great time, I love birthday parties and from the looks of it - so do my kids! 

zoë's 5th birthday party

While I'm on a roll of birthday party postings...here's Zoë's 5th birthday party - we went with a Fairy theme. The school year had just started and as much as Zoë wanted to invite everyone, I talked her into a small gathering at home.  I realize that hosting birthday parties at home is coming to an end...I really don't want it to - I love having them at home.

Auntie Denise made the cake...a masterpiece in all it's purple/lavender ombre glory. The cupcakes were from Sweet Bake Shop and the cookies were once again from Whisk. I bought the marshmallows at Butter Baked Goods, Denise made the squares and my mom made the tea sandwiches. It was a rainy day & surprisingly dark outside for late September. All of the photos are by Kyrani Kanavaros.

It was a great day and fun to look back on these photos. I'm already planning this year's birthday parties, just tossing the ideas around in my head...hoping I can squeeze in one more year at home! xx