Christian Louboutin at the Design Exchange Toronto

Hello? Anyone out there?! I know ... my bad! I haven't checked in here in over a month. Life has gotten pretty busy with the wedding creeping up and also summer coming to an end. I think we are at just over seven weeks now! I'm super excited and am no longer feeling nervous or stressed about anything. Things are coming together since all we have are some loose ends to tie like finalizing our day of schedule. I have my makeup trial, second fitting and a meeting with our photographer all next week. My bridesmaids planned an awesome fun bachelorette weekend that I'll never forget (post coming up)! So ... here I am on a Friday night with my paper cutter and other craft supplies finishing things up. I'm proud to say that I'm doing all the decor for the wedding myself (aside from the flowers). Luckily the venue is beautiful on it's own and really doesn't require much. The card stock and signs was initially a challenge but with the fiance's awesome computer skills all is done now!!

Don't worry ... I've been pretty social and haven't let the wedding take over my life! I'll be getting out for a TIFF movie tomorrow with both our moms. I'm super excited for tomorrow night since I'm hosting a girls night at my place. One of my dearest friends and old roomies will be in town for the weekend! So happy I get to catch up with her before she come back for the wedding.

Anyways ... I checked out the Christian Louboutin exhibit at the Design Exchange this week. It was awesome and really changed how I see shoes. I'm really not a heels kinda girl but I still like shoes and now see them as art too (at least some of the Louboutin ones).

Happy Weekend!

~B 

Weekender: Cupcake Decor Class

This morning my friend Tamara and I took a cupcake decorating class at Bakersville. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I can see myself decorating my next batch of cupcakes using some of the skills I learned today. My favourite are the snowman, Tiffany bow and the roses. 

What do you think? 

~B

Arts Exploration: Ceramics

You may or may not know that I'm one of those creative people who always has one (maybe two or three) creative projects going at one time! Right now it's three sigh :) I love arts and crafts and like to challenge myself creatively. Unfortunately I don't get to do that in my everyday job so one of my dreams would be to have some sort of artsy business on the side one day. For now I'm just checking things out to see what I like and what I'm good at. I'd love to find my creative passion and I know that when I do I'll definitely do something with it. So ... I made it a goal of mine about a year ago to dip into  as many creative arenas as possible over the next year or two. I've taken an art class, learned and tried knitting for a while and most recently a ceramics workshop at the Gardiner Museum. I haven't had as much time in the past few months to try different things because of my job, wedding planning and life in general. One plus with the wedding planning is that the wedding business is full of all sorts of creative ideas and people so that's been interesting too and has given me food for thought. I've met with photographers, makeup artists, designers and bakers which has been really educational and inspiring for me.

I loved the ceramics workshop at the Gardiner last Friday night! I was a bit hesitant about going but in the end decided to just give it a shot. I met some really interesting people that night and also made two pieces. What I love about working with clay is that you can make anything you want. I decided to make a bowl and a cup and will return in a few weeks to paint and glaze them. I might even try my hand at the wheel to see how that feels. I think that I'd love to make a cake stand one day. I'm thinking silversmithing next ... we'll see!

Happy Wednesday!

~B 

Art Class Update

Last week's art class was a lot of fun. We each picked a photo from a fashion magazine and drew what we saw. I like mine and think it turned out okay. I have difficulty drawing faces and fingers but am slowly learning. The next step is to paint the drawing which I will hopefully have completed sometime next week. 

Happy Friday!

Art I'm Loving: "Play Me, I'm Yours"

I am completely in love with the Play Me, I'm Yours art project that is scattered throughout Toronto. It's so wonderful to be walking around the city and hear the tune of the piano. I have seen all sorts of people playing and gathering around these pianos and it always looks like they are having a great time. Even more awesome is that each piano is painted by an artist from the 41 countries participating in the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. I was enjoying lunch in Trinity Bellwoods Park with a friend this afternoon when I decided to finally sit at a piano and give it a try. Unfortunately I don't know how to play but that doesn't mean I can't make a jingle and share some laughs!! I love interactive (street) art and wish we had more stuff like this to stumble upon everyday :)

Feeling Creative ...

I am a creative person. As a child I was always doing crafts and using my imagination in any way possible. I am still that way but now my creativity manifests itself differently - usually in the kitchen and in the form of a D.I.Y. project. As much as I love doing creative things I feel like I don't get to do them enough! My dream would be to have a job where I would get to challenge myself creatively everyday. 

I have found the time to do something creative that I have been meaning to do for a while - TAKE AN ART CLASS! I would not say that I am artistic and am not sure if I really have much talent when it comes to painting and drawing but I figured I'd go out of my comfort zone and sign up for a class. My brother is quite a talented artist and I have always wondered what my capabilities are in this area. Unlike some of you, I never took art in high school and have no idea of what I am capable of. 

Despite feeling nervous I headed to my first class this past Saturday. The focus of the class was to learn how to draw faces - where to shade and proportions. I really learned a lot and am happy with what I drew (I still need to work on it). I don't think what I drew looks at all like the model in the magazine but it was a good effort! Prior to this class, I likely would have put the model's eyes way to close too her skull! 

I really enjoyed my class and am anxious to go back this week. I was so inspired to do something creative, I headed to The Paper Place to browse and buy some materials for a project I had in mind. 

I headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon on creative projects. Since I tend to have a racing mind and am always thinking of the million things I need to do/would like to get done I feel that having a creative outlet is vital to my well-being. It helps me relax and tune out. I love it!! 

What your favourite way to release your creativity?

Art I'm Loving: Being Scene

Three Figures in Autumn by Robin Jones

Everywhere a Sign by Peter Mulcair 

Utterance of Addiction by Utter Logic 

Delerium by Laura Laughren

Yesterday I went to the Workman Art's Being Scene exhibit at Hart House (University of Toronto). I really enjoyed this free exhibit that showcases the talent of individuals living with mental health and addiction issues. Above are my favourite pieces.

Check it out if you live in T.O.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I have been off the past two days and start a new job tomorrow. Will be back later in the week to continue my summer travel series :)

This Week ...

The collection of old/new frames, art, pics, material and paper I plan to use to make a gallery wall in our loft. I need more frames and will have to decide which pics I want to develop. If only this process didn't take me soo long!

New reading material

I hope this is correct :) 

I have eaten a lot of fuzzy peaches. Can you say candy overdose?

The lovely view of Toronto I had on an evening walk 

I can't believe I have never been to Sugar Beach!?!? Note to self: Toronto does not have many beaches so this may be a good option for reading/relaxing this summer

I have started collecting the things I will need to grow herbs in our kitchen

The bf took this pic of Vancouver from a float plane on Tuesday. Lucky for me he will be going back for work a few times this summer which means a trip or two to Victoria and Vancouver for camping on the beach and doing some other awesome fun things we never did when he lived there. Excited!

Happy Friday!

This Week...

A sea if tulips in the park

I had zucchini left over from pizza night so I made zucchini bread. I used this recipe

I saw this beautiful swan 

I celebrated three birthdays 

I felt like painting my nails red, so I did 

We put up our new art!

Happy Monday!

Art I'm Loving: RococcoLA Prints

       I'm loving RococcoLA prints. I find myself drawn to the contrast of black and white, and

vibrant colours. Here are my faves:

Bird Releases the Butterflies

The Happy Elephant

Vintage Revolver, Butterflies and Flowers

I am thinking about putting these three prints in my living room. They are fun and colourful, will look great on a white wall AND the bf likes them. Which ones do you like?  


You can check out RococcoLA's Etsy shop here.

Art I'm Loving: Peggy Wolf Illustrations

I adore Peggy Wolf. I love her colourful, quirky and eye-catching illustrations of female portraits. Here are my faves: 

Limited Edition Print: Joe 

Limited Edition Print:Twiggy

Exotic Flower Tattoo

Oh Carmen

Strong Beauty

I have purchased Strong Beauty and Exotic Flower Tattoo and plan to add them to a salon-style display. Which ones do you like? Any Etsy shop recommendations?

You can check out Peggy's Etsy shop here.

Credit for all illustrations: Etsy