wrapping

i have a dream to be like martha stewart one day. well, without the insider trading. just saying. i'm too honest and poor to pull any of that crap. it's just that i really enjoy etiquette and manners (even if i don't always follow them to a t...) i enjoy writing thank you notes, and while i'm all for technology, i still love the thrill of getting letter in the mail, handwritten and addressed, well warn from it's travel. sending out my wedding invites was probably my favourite part of the whole planning process. (it was because of them that i fell in love with lepens!) my new favourite, martha stewart inspired endeavour is gift wrapping! i just love all the clever ways you can wrap a gift. it's like getting a present before getting a present! here are a few of my favourites...

scan old pictures onto white paper

so personal so cute!

little bit of glue

little bit of paper dots!

great for christmas!

you could even colour code by person...

plus i love the simplicity...

kraft paper has always been my go to

i love the circulation cards!

i have a library kit with a date stamp and everything

i might switch it up with some air mail twine!

so great for giving books...

what a great idea!

a great recycle for old papers!

so easy, i can do it! 

and no need to buy gift tags!

pinterest-ing...

um, so i found this website called pinterest. i'd come across it once or twice before while stumbling and thought it was cool, but didn't give it two blinks. then one day while going through dozens of saved links in my bookmarks files, i thought to myself 'there has to be an easier way!' enter pinterest. this site is my new best friend. not only does it store great ideas by easy to find picture tabs, you can organize them by category. you can also search and follow other pinners boards for cool ideas.
now, i have an actual binder full of pages i've ripped out of various magazines organized by topic, but it's just such a pain in the butt! not only is it awkward to find something because you have to leaf through a whole bunch of papers, but it takes up so much space!
i've had a change of heart recently, and i've come to learn that less is more. while i love having rows of books lining my shelves, my iPad makes reading, transporting and buying books so much easier! also, i've traded in my print magazines for digital versions (and let me tell ya, they are much more cool than print...they have interactive pages and videos plus you can bookmark pages to glance at later!) and while i love watching movies, my dvd's take up 4 dresser drawers and a bookshelf. so i'm downsizing...moving the dvd's to binders, and renting or buying movies from iTunes. plus netflix is my new favourite thing (it's amazing for whole tv series and old movies...and there's an app for it so i can watch as many movies as i want on the ol' iPad!!)
ok, long story short here people, pinterest is amazing! check it out for your self!

the wonderfulness that is lepen

i have a new love...i have never loved any inanimate object this much...

lepen + me = happily writing forever and ever

lookit all the colours!

most of them sound very generic, but i prefer to use colours like 

oriental blue and amethyst...

i am a pen junky...i'm not going to show you the box full of retired pens that sit forever shunned in my bottom craft drawer (hey, you never know when you could need a pen thats subpar). i used to be a hands down crystal bic girl, but the first time i wrote with a lepen i learned the err of my ways. all of the wedding magazines told me that in order to make the thank you letter writing experience more enjoyable i should get a nice pen to write them with. lo and behold when i was buying thank you cards the store carried lepens (in a side note i had just ordered a starter pack from amazon.com that morning, but they didn't arrive till about a month later...) so i bought a couple in black and lets just say i have since worn them both out! not to get too technical on ya'll but they are the perfect diameter, length and weight to write comfortably and you don't have to exert a lot of pressure to get a nice neat line. 

i'm just sayin...

next on the list...

although i'm all for up-cycling and love the look of mid century antiques (mr. brack likes to call them 'pieces of junk'...) i am very excited about this new series of furniture at ikea. i'm now going to use this time to defend ikea because i've had some discussions with some antique snobs who would't be caught dead at ikea (thats a paraphrased quote...). this comment hurts me. ikea is a great resource for those on a limited budget and they often have great sales on some of their more trendy pieces. i recently bought a really cute dresser that houses all of my paper and crafting supplies for $100! and it's totally cute...see for your self...

i think that dresser needs a bigger lamp...

but the drawers are HUGE! they disguise all my crafting junk!

and i might get some new drawer pulls like this...

how cute are you...from anthropologie.com

there is this amazing website called ikea hackers where everyday people turn ikea furniture into works of art! very inspiring! especially this piece by erin at 'a charming nest' (sorry i don't actually know her, but i was so impressed by the way this turned out i had to post it!)

                                          

three words: a-maz-ing!

anywho, i totally digress...on with the point...i'm constantly nesting and this is the next project...i have this mid century hutch with glass doors that i was contemplating painting, but then that just seems so daunting when i could just get this and wash my hands of the whole situation...

omgoodness look at how wonderful it is!

i wonder if anyone could guess it was from ikea if i didn't tell them...

the yumminess of dutch apple cake!

so, i like to think i'm a pretty good little baker...everyone tells me that my product is yummy, but i'd say the same thing to someone giving me free dessert...every thanksgiving, i try to make something new to bring to my moms house for dessert. she does a big to-do every year (20 ish people, two or three long banquet tables, they've even bought their own tables and chairs for this occasion...) last year i tried a great recipe from the barefoot contessa (check out this link to a past post, which in turn has the link for the pumpcakes...) this year it was a dutch apple cake with caramel glaze. two words: amaze- ing! at first i was a little nervous as the batter is very thick, but it all works itself out in the oven! also, i have to perfect my caramel making skillz...

sorry about the awful colouring, and lack of pictures...

i'll tell ya all about it soon!

bon appétit!

a smidgen under trendy...

i might be a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but i'm ok with that. at first i was pretty sceptical about it in all of its forms. i'm talking about wall mount heads. kinda creepy in their taxidermy form...i've also seen them in paper and faux-taxidermy (also in some weird hipster crossbreeding variations...) but, i'd never see one like this...so i bought him! i'm really enjoying his simplicity. and he doesn't stand out in a crowd, all of a sudden you're just like 'oh, theres a deer on the wall...'

i'm thinking of a move maybe to the backdoor...

i just feel like his antlers need to hold something...

like keys...

he kinda looks angry in this pic...i swear he's treated very well!

here's what you've missed...

So, basically my life has been utter chaios e last few months! Between work, getting back to school as well as getting all married and stuff...I've hardly had time to sleep, and bathe let alone blog! I have had a trusty little notepad on my desk which has some interesting blogging ideas on it..I guess they were a good idea at the time...

Tina Fey's book was wonderful and hilarious, and yes, people laughed at me laughing at the book while on the recumbent bike at the y...but I honestly can remember what I loved so much about it to write a whole blog about it...

Other than the cover which is hilarious...I've loaned this book to about three girls at work and only one of them noticed that the arms are not her own in the picture...well at least I hope they're not

Also twitter...that was short lived when I realized while I can read all of these famous people's tweets, they can't read mine...and no matter how hard I try Lea Michele will not take my advice on glee (side note, her charter Rachel Berry, on the tv show glee {I know the largeness of my dorkdom here...} did infact get back together with Finn, but season three is just so much more amazing that I don't even care about finchel anymore...)

I was really into orange, I think I've already blogged a bit about it... I have since moved on...

I do have a new list that I started tonight. I'm not going to show you any pictures, no spoilers here folks...but let me just say, I have a few new decorating ideas and purchaces, I have some wedding snip bits, I'm in the process of taking up a new hobby thanks to mr. brack