A printable download of a 4 x 6 photo calendar card for February.

Hey there friends! Happy first day of February! We’re still in the thick of winter here… snow is falling as I write. Just a short post today to give you this little printable calendar card. If you missed January’s and want to keep up with the whole year’s set, that post is here. 

Free January Calendar Download

Happy New Year my friends!  Welcome to January 2018!

This blog has been sadly neglected this season, it’s true. And I’m just popping in quickly today for my lovely Instagram followers… I’ve promised a free download of the January calendar I posted there, and here it is.

Cozy Night In

A few ideas for a cozy night in with some favourite movies, books, candles and wine.

While many parts of the internet are posting pretty spring bulbs in bloom, buds on the trees and gardens beginning to flower…. the weather here has been dismal, cold, wet and windy. That feeling of needing to hibernate in the evenings is still going strong. So to get us through the end of this season, I thought I’d post a few of my favourite movies and books that have gotten me through the winter so far.  Add in some pretty succulents and a scented candle and your scene is set.  Maybe you’ll find something new to pick up for your nights in too!

Hurricane Lanterns Decorated for Winter

How I decorated my large hurricane lanterns for winter with some leftover Christmas decor and found items from around the house.

We’re in that lull after Christmas holidays, where decorations that were named cozy and cheerful in December are now called clutter. Some people love the tidy-up and back to minimalism. Some people hate taking everything down and find it depressing. I think I fall somewhere in between those two extremes. 

How to Make Birdseed Ornaments

How to make birdseed ornaments for your own backyard birds, or as a pretty and practical handmade gift.  Fun craft to make with kids!

So a sad thing has happened in our neighbourhood over the past couple of years.  An invasive species called Emerald Ash Borer has either killed or made sick all of the ash trees.  All.  Which is a lot of trees, considering our neighbourhood bears the name Ashgrove. 

Rustic and Cozy Winter Plaid Wreath Trio

This has been one of the most beautiful fall seasons around here in recent memory.  The colours continue to hang on to the trees or make beautiful carpets on the lawns and walkways.  The temperatures are getting colder and colder though, and with Halloween now celebrated and behind us, I think it’s okay to start transitioning our mindsets toward winter. 

* rustic & cozy winter plaid wreath trio *

Creamy Curry Cauliflower Soup

easiest grocery shopping ever

I love it when you can create a whole meal around a single vegetable.  Makes planning and grocery shopping so much simpler.  Four minutes in and out of the grocery store.  Buy a cauliflower and dinner’s practically done.  Add some spices (already in the spice drawer),  some stock (already in the pantry or freezer) and some bread (if you’re out of bread, it practically makes itself in a breadmaker).  See?  Creamy curry cauliflower soup, with a side of bread, practically on the table already and you hardly had to think about it.

Candy Cane Shortbread + Christmas Playlist

candy cane shortbread

So when I’m having a complete Christmas moment, and I’m baking away, and the tree is up, I love to have a great Christmas playlist happening that I can sing along with, and love every song that comes on.  If your Christmas playlist needs some mid-season additions, then here are my top three albums for this Christmas.  I could put this set on shuffle and listen to it all day.  I think.  That opportunity hasn’t come up yet!

Photo Finish 8: Two at the Birdfeeder

So I set out on a day of appointments and errands.  Noticing that it’s actually a sunny day…oh, hello Mr. Sun!…I pack my camera and a pair of heavy boots thinking I’ll have time to drive by the park in the ravine to catch a sunny outdoor photo (for a change)! 

Simple Christmas Decorating: Bell Garland

It’s hard to maintain an element of simplicity at Christmas time.  The stores and the internet are bursting to overflowing with everything from sublime to ridiculous, all advertised as must-have and must-do this year.  On the weekend all my bins of Christmas Past came out of storage.  To be honest, I took out a few things and set them up, then closed the bins to be put away.  I played a board game with Personally Junior then we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas.  (The first of many times this Christmas, probably!)  So here for the next little while I’ll be sharing my few attempts at keeping it simple, but still Christmas-y and worthy of the season of celebration.

Snow-Covered Branches

We had the prettiest snowfall the other night.  This is what we woke up to in the morning…gorgeous winter sunlight reflecting off freshly fallen snow.  But oh my gosh was it freezing.  I did head out with my camera to brave the elements and try to capture another one of my winter “moments”.  This was taken right outside our front door.  Proof that there can be beauty in the ‘burbs. 

Then I hopped in the car and headed to a local conservation area.  Did I mention that oh my gosh was it freezing?  I lasted about twenty minutes before my fingers could hardly manipulate the camera anymore.  But it was enough time to capture that pretty combination of bright sun and fresh snow.

I have no idea what this thing is.  But I loved the contrast of the bright red against the bleaker colours of winter weather.  Also in this shot you can kind of see how the wind was blowing and swirling the snow up from the ground and down from the trees.  You know the feeling of ice pellets being whipped against exposed skin?  Yeah.

One last shot.  Nothing snow-covered but this is my favourite one from that little outing.  It did capture the gorgeous winter light.  So there you are.  Some pretty pictures to brighten up your day. 

Are we enjoying winter yet?

Skating

Photo #2 in my series on Capturing Winter…skating.  With a bonus addition of hockey-ness thrown in for good measure.  This is Youngest Son out on our Backyard Rink.  Relatively successful this season.  Although almost anything could be deemed successful after last winter’s epic failure.  But we persevered and good times are here again.  There is something iconically Canadian about skating outdoors.  Home video of Wayne Gretzky as a kid skating on a frozen pond in a Tim Horton’s commercial.  That part might not be true, but it should be. 

Of course not many of us will become international symbols of Canadiana because we skated in our backyards.  And there are trials to be endured.  The leaks before the rink freezes.  The bodychecking and deking of Teenaged Brother.  Tears over falls and bruises and the ever-present unfairness of life with siblings.  The inevitable days of slushiness as the temperature hovers above freezing.  Shouting at The Dog who will take off with the puck at any opportunity…it is so awkward to run through deep snow in skates after a dog who just wants to play. 

But we persevere.  Why?  For a reason to be outdoors in the dead of winter.  For family-friendly fun.  For laughter.  For making memories.  That’s why.

Winter urns, part II

Well.  Here are the humble beginnings of this project.  Is anyone else inspired by this?  (Besides The Dog?)  Pile of materials, plenty of Pinterest pins, endless magazine articles at my disposal.  No excuse not to get the job done. 

But in fact, the best thing that ever happened to me in the decorative urn department, was winning a silent auction prize of having my urns done for me a few summers ago.  My friend of incredible talent and impeccable taste purchased all the plant material and then showed me how to put it together to be stunning and beautiful.  My life has never been the same.  Now I go boldly to the garden centre, choose things like I know what I’m doing, and create as if I were a pro.  It’s a lot of fun.

Here is the front porch after the first one.  Yikes what a mess.  Still inspired?

Can I just say, that as I was working, the temperature dipped several degrees below freezing, the sun disappeared behind black clouds, The Dog ate one of the fingers off my gardening glove, and it started to snow heavily.

Yay!  Done.  One on the front porch, one on each side of the driveway, one on the back deck.  And nothing left.  (Well, one magnolia branch…to be used inside.)  Even had to snip a few boughs of cedar and yew from the yard to finish the last one.  Oh well, that’s what they’re there for.  Hopefully I have done my incredibly talented and impeccably tasteful friend/teacher proud.

Bring on winter.

Urns: Winter edition

Well, this was the scene on the back deck early this morning.  Yes, snow.  And looks like The Dog managed to paw through it before I was able to get my camera out.  So much for fresh-fallen.  But I guess I must concede that winter is indeed on it’s way…

…meanwhile, this is the sad state of affairs in the “decorative urn” department.

Sadness indeed.  Note particularly the entirely dead contents of urn #2, and the incredibly wilted red sweet potato vine in urn #3.  Not to mention, pumpkins.  Seriously.

Clearly something must be done.  Except not today.  Maybe tomorrow?  Nope…Grey Cup party. 

Happily, I’ve at least been inspired by this excellent purchase from my fave local IKEA. 

I discovered these last year.  They are cheap, versatile, trendy…but they sell out like hotcakes!  So if you find them, stock up!  Also available in white/silver combination which has inspired my indoor tree. (Coming soon.)  I’ve used them for PersonallyPackaged, gift wrapping, mantel decoration, centrepieces, flower arrangements…you get the idea.  Stock up.
Urns:  Winter edition part 2…also coming soon.