[ handmade cards ]

I LOVE the idea of handmade cards {though I've usually sent out store-bought mostly due to timing and laziness}. But I love that handmade cards allow you to personalize them however you want and make as many as you need at a fraction of the price.

Last year I decided to make some simply ones using my Silhouette {see them here}. This year, I took a different approach and simply used my computer…

I won't pretend that I designed these cute graphics myself ~ I could have but decided to speed up the process a bit and found the LOVE graphic on Pinterest as a downloadable tag freebie {do a search on Pinterest for all sorts of freebies}. Instead of using it as a tag, I thought it would be cute modified into a card so I simply printed off a bunch on a page and trimmed them out…

I went through my stash of craft supplies and found some black card stock that I thought would work and decided that I would write inside with my silver paint pen. But first… I thought they could use a bit of added cuteness so I got out my sewing machine…

…and stitched across the top of each card with red thread. I think it gave them just the right finishing touch.  The office supply envelopes I bought had a faint logo printed on the inside so I designed a little Hello label to hide it... 

I think this year's cards are even cuter than last year's.

Do you make your own cards?

lisa

[freebie via onevelvetmorning.wordpress.com]

[ backsplash reveal ]

WHEW! We're done with the backsplash! And I must say my guy did a great job ~ it turned out better than I expected {which is always a nice thing!}

You may remember the before...

That pinkish tumbled tile was not doing the kitchen any favours ~ it looked drab and dingy. We chose a white bevelled subway tile, a classic look that we thought would marry well with the cabinets and the Corian countertops.

Ok, here's our big secret... we tiled over the old tile! Yes, sometimes you CAN tile over tile depending on your situation. The old tile was so well adhered, there was no way it was coming off without tearing out all the drywall with it all the way around the kitchen, and that would have been a much messier and time-consuming project. {We tiled over our tile in our Muskoka place years ago for that exact same reason}. We knew that the only challenge we would face would be the trim under the windows but we had a plan for that.

We started by cleaning the old tile very well with TSP, then we planned out where to start/stop to ensure that the cuts would work well around the windows and in the corners. Then, off to the races!

Gosh, doesn't that make the old tile look so bad??!

While we were at it, we decided to swap out the over-the-range microwave for a new hood {which is a better idea over a gas range}...

Once all the tile was installed, it was time to grout. I love the trend of grey grout nowadays and wanted a similar look, but needed to keep in mind the colour of our countertop to make sure it worked together. So, I chose Malt which was a medium greyish brown...

Once the grouting was done, all we had to do was refasten the electrical outlets with longer screws, caulk around the edges and build out the bottom of the window trim since it was now flush with the tile. We applied a 1/4" thick piece of wood over top of the existing trim using glue and a nail gun...

...then painted it out. Good as new! {How amazing is that notched cut around the trim? - thanks hun!}

I have to say that I'm in LOVE with the new tile! What a difference it has made. I love the bevels which catch the light and add a bit of sparkle to the kitchen. Even the countertops blend in nicely now. The grout colour is just dark enough to provide contrast without demanding all the attention. A new hood and counter-depth fridge and the entire kitchen feels new...

It feels great to have this project done. Using the bevelled tile was a little tricky, both with cutting {my guy used a wet tile saw} and with joining up in the corners {flat subway tile would have been much easier} but I think it was definitely worth the time and effort. I'm certainly blessed to have a guy so handy!

lisa

[ bye bye tile! ]

I KNOW, you've probably been wondering what's been going on around here.... well, it's got a lot to do with this...

Yup, that's our backsplash tile. You may remember when I talked about undertones when I was painting my kitchen {read the post here}...

Well, getting rid of the peachy paint definitely helped, but we knew that this tile wouldn't be sticking around for long. It looked drab and felt like it was bringing the entire kitchen down.

Today's post is just a teaser but here's an idea of what's inspiring me...

I love classic white subway tile. It looks fresh and never goes out of style. We considered marble tile again {I loved it in our Muskoka place}, but these speckled corian countertops are definitely dictating our choices. Though I would never have chosen these countertops, I'm not about to start replacing them ~ there's a lot of counter! So, we had to decide on a tile that would work with them instead of work against them. 

Hopefully we can wrap up this project on the weekend and I can show you some Afters next week! 

That's what I've got planned for the weekend ~ what about you? Have a good one!

lisa

[via dustjacketattic.tumbler; sulia.com; theinspiredroom.net]

[ project life ]

SO, unless you've been living under a rock {like I was for the past couple of years}, you've probably heard all about Project Life ~ Becky Higgins' answer to photo albums/scrapbooking/journalling for all of us who are pressed for time or simply lazy...

I've never been a scrapbooker and having lived here in Dubai and Ireland prior to that with limited access to fun supplies and goodies, I hadn't heard of this quite brilliant system for documenting life. Thanks to Pinterest {are you as addicted as I am?}, it opened my eyes to how wonderful it is to document all the things going on in everyday life and how easy it is to make a pretty album by just sliding everything into pocket pages.

Even though I have this blog, which has been an excellent place to make note of everything for the past almost 4 years, I thought it would still be nice to have something to flip through, especially to remember our years as expats.

Becky's system includes binders, photo pocket pages and pretty insert cards...

The preprinted cards can be used to write in some journalling notes or just pop in some of the patterned ones to fill in empty spots. It's designed for weekly documenting which I find to be too much, especially since I'm working my way backwards. 

I decided to create a spread for each month instead, sometimes only one page for a month depending on what I actually had going on. Thanks to iPhoto, my pics are all organized by date so that definitely makes things easier. It's a lot of work going back and sorting through pics, organizing and printing them out but I'm slowly making progress. I bought a couple of different pocket pages but didn't bother with her preprinted insert cards ~ Pinterest has tons of downloadable freebies and I created many of my own. It's turning into a hybrid of text added in Photoshop and handwritten notes and some pasting which is making it interesting. 

Here are some cute examples from Pinterest of completed pages...

As you can see, the options are endless ~ you can make things as simple or as layered as you'd like. I may share a couple of my completed pages once I get them done and my journalling notes added in {it may be a while}. So that's what's been eating up my time.

Have you embraced Project Life?

lisa

[ reviving a door ]

THIS SIDE door to our kitchen has been crying out for a new life. Worn out flat paint, some sad looking hardware and cheap white plastic trim was not the welcome home I was after...

While I would have loved to install a new door like this...

it just wasn't in the budget right now. So time to give this old gal a new life...


I chose Behr Marquee paint in Peppery. This paint/primer-in-one is nice and thick and could have almost done the job in one coat but I put on two thin coats...

The thing I love about my inspiration door is that there is no white trim around the window. So I wanted to try to replicate that as much as possible. The window grills were encased inside the window so there wasn't anything I could do about that, but the surrounding plastic white trim was perfect for painting out...

Add some pretty new hardware and tadaaa! A "new" door! I kept the cream colour around the door frame since it matches all the trim around our windows...

I love that the plastic trim almost disappears now. I also like the contrast of the dark grey door inside the kitchen too. It helps to keep everything from looking too white. 

For the cost of some paint and some new hardware, I think this door is looking pretty good now and much more welcoming to come home to.

lisa

[inspiration door via timelesspaper.com]

[ another tova ]

WELL, I'm pretty smitten with this Wiksten Tova pattern and I just whipped up another...

This one is a lightweight black cotton with little fuzzy circles...

After wearing my blue one the first time, I immediately knew that sewing only one wouldn't be enough {read about my first Tova top here}. 

It just seems to be that easy to wear, go-to top in my closet. And the possibilities are endless! Hmm... I wonder what colour I should make next?

lisa

[ making pumpkins ]

IT'S Canadian Thanksgiving this coming weekend {it always seem to sneak up on me since it's so early in the fall} so I thought I'd better get going on a few decorations around here.

I've loved velvet pumpkins since I first saw them a few years ago but couldn't find the supplies I needed while in Dubai. So, now that we're back in Canada, I thought I would finally make a few to add to my antique dough bowl on my dining room table.

This is a very easy project and I had 5 of them made in less than a couple of hours. First, gather supplies...

tips: If you have trouble {like I did} finding velvets, you can use velour or low-pile fabric with a bit of a fuzz ~ really, anything can work if it's not too stiff. If you are using real stems, be sure to clean them well and bake them on a cookie sheet on low temp for a half hour or so to dry them out {or use some plastic ones from a craft or dollar store if you can find them}. The pumpkins turn out best if you use both beans {or pebbles or rice, etc} and craft stuffing to stuff them with. I used glass pebbles I found at the dollar store which I prefer to natural beans or rice if I plant to store them for future years. For glue, I used E-6000 glue but I'm sure a glue gun would work well. 

Trace a plate on the backside of the fabric and cut out...

Sew a running stitch all the way around the circle...

Fill with pebbles about 1/3 and then fill the rest with craft stuffing and pull tight, careful not to break the thread {I used double thread or you can try dental floss for added strength}...

Sew hole closed by pulling edges together and knot off thread. I went one step further and pushed my needle down through the middle of the pumpkin to the bottom to create one big stitch and pulled it back up which added a cute little pinch to the pumpkin shape but this is optional...

Glue on stem and you're done!

You can make them various sizes in a variety of fabrics and they make a charming little grouping. And the best part is, they'll be ready for you again next year!

Happy crafting!

lisa