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03/07/10

Mini Centerpiece

Spring is here and the flowers are starting to bloom. However, none of our flowers right now are big enough for a regular size vase. So, I created a mini-centerpiece using a spare spice jar as a vessel. The flowers are crocuses which were the first to sprout up in the backyard. Our rosemary bush stays vibrant all year long and I added a sprig for color & contrast. The cut crocuses opened wide shortly after hitting the water but the delicate, paper-thin petals are starting to expire after only a few days. No worries. We have lots and they’re all free for the picking.

Garden / Make — 1 comment — Posted by: Peter

03/02/10

Scooters & Macarons

I wanted to put together a special package for Valentine’s for Nerissa. While searching through our hard drive, I found a photograph of scooters and macarons Nerissa shot in Paris. It’s a beautiful image and it was a shame it only existed in our digital archives. I came up with the idea of printing and framing the photograph and packaging it with a set of macarons. Unfortunately, sourcing macaroons in Vancouver was more difficult than I anticipated. There was none to be found near home or near work. With a little one in the house it’s hard to sneak out on long secret missions and I wasn’t able to put all the pieces together for the 14th. Luckily, the next special occassion, Nerissa’s birthday, is soon after Valentine’s. Perfect timing since I figured I would need one or two more weeks to get everything together.

I sent a message out on Twitter asking where in Vancouver I could find macarons. I was told La Baguette et L’Echalote on Granville Island or Thomas Haas. I chose Thomas Haas. I then packaged the macarons in a Ladurée souvenir box we bought in Paris; fitting since Ladurée started Nerissa’s macaron obsession. The framed photo and box of macarons were stacked together, tied with a ribbon and, viola, there it is. Bon Anniversaire!

Arts / Food / Make — 1 comment — Posted by: Peter

01/30/10

Chilies from the Garden

Peter gathered all the green chilies we had growing out in the garden and I was surprised to see almost a full bowl of chilies! There was no way the two of us could use that many chilies so we decided to share some and give them away as presents. We gathered bunches of peppers together and created custom packets for each. We experimented with simple paper/tape techniques, different ways to tie thread and finished it off with an ink-jet sticker label.

(Updated: Jan. 30, 2010 with new photos.)

Garden / Make — 5 comments — Posted by: Nerissa and Peter

01/26/10

Bricolage

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How time flies…I can’t believe it was 5 years ago when Peter and I were making journals which we called Bricolage. I had a lot of fun making these journals. I would spend my days searching for great fabrics in the city then would excitedly go home to start making. We were living in a tiny condo in Downtown at that time (I think it was 550 sq ft!) so I would practically use the whole space as my working studio. I had fabrics all over the floor, ironing board in the middle of the living room and stacks of journals in every corner of our condo. It was really great fun! Peter’s job as soon as he got home from work was to make all the pins with the little hand-held pin maker we bought.

When I started making these journals, I honestly didn’t think anyone would buy them. But as soon as the orders started coming, I was really excited that people wanted them. I had orders from Europe, Canada & the States plus I had a store in Belgium that ordered a few dozen. I was happily busy!

After a few months, our journals were sold-out and I was ready to start something new. That was 5 years ago! Now that I am on maternity leave, and spend my days at home, I am ready to start making products again. I am so excited! I’ve started working on it already but things just take a little longer to do now with a baby in the house. As soon as it’s nap time, I quickly run to our studio and squeeze in as much creative time as I can get (vacuuming and other household chores have been ignored…they can wait!). I hope to launch our new products in late Spring or early Summer. They’re not books this time. Stay tuned!

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On another note, our DIY Place Cards have been featured in a design and style blog called Paper n Stitch. Thanks Brittni!

Make — 2 comments — Posted by: Nerissa

01/22/10

DIY Place Cards

I had a housewarming dinner party with my friends from work last year and I decided to make it a little bit more special by making everyone their own place cards that they could take home with them. I chose my favourite origami patterns and created little envelopes by folding the origami paper in half and stitching the side for a more hand crafted look. And to make it even more fun, I put random goodies inside each envelope which everyone excitedly opened to see what they got. It was like Christmas all over again!

I always like dinner with friends to be more interactive and add an element of playfulness to it. These are super easy to make and your guests gets to take home something special that you personally made for them.

Arts / Make — 4 comments — Posted by: Nerissa

01/18/10

Modern Findings

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Our DIY Eames chocolate bars has been featured in Modern Findings – a blog that features all things mid-century modern.

Domestic 2.0 / Make — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

01/08/10

Sewing Day with Sarah-Jane and Isabelle

Girls day with my neices Sarah-Jane and Isabelle meant a chance to spend quality creative time together. We took turns making throw-pillow covers. It was fun, easy and they both get to bring home something memorable to decorate their rooms with. See you soon, Sarah and Izzy.

Kids / Make — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

01/02/10

Tote Bag

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I was able to squeeze in another sewing day for myself so I took the opportunity to make myself a tote bag. I’ve had the book Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter for quite sometime now but I just never had the time to make anything from that book. It’s such a wonderful book with so many easy and fun sewing projects for the home. I’m obsessed!

Make — 2 comments — Posted by: Nerissa

12/23/09

Newsprint Wrapping Paper

We often like to wrap presents in newsprint or butcher paper. It has a nice raw texture and neutral palette. All you need is some nice ribbon to finish it off but sometimes you just want a splash of pattern. A couple months back, YouWorkForThem was clearing out their book collection. They were practically giving away their newsprint zine, “Sentence 01“, for 95¢. A different artist designed each page of the 16 page zine full of abstract black and white imagery. At the risk of offending the artists and author, I bought three copies not to read but for the sole purpose of using each sheet of the zine as wrapping paper. And it works wonderfully. Rissa put the package above together for Doni, Gen & Aoi. Inside is a loaf of home baked cinnamon raisin bread (Rissa’s go to gift for 2009). Newsprint ink tends to run, so if you don’t want ink on your gift, you’ll want to wrap your gift in an additional layer. In this case, Rissa wrapped the raisin bread in cling wrap before wrapping it in the newsprint.

Below is a gift given to Luna by my sister also nicely wrapped in newsprint with a simple pattern of chinese characters. So simple. So lovely.

Arts / Make — 1 comment — Posted by: Peter

12/10/09

Countdown to Christmas!

Fifteen more days until Christmas. Yay! I usually like to make something festive every year to give to friends. In the past, I’ve made cards, notebooks, baked goods etc… This year, I’ve decided to make Christmas cards to send out to our lovely friends. This is the most realistic task I can do as lately, Luna decided that she wanted to be in my arms ALL DAY! So the idea of baking Christmas goods have been scratched off my list including other crafts that needed cutting and gluing. There’s only so much I can do with one arm!

So I’ve been sitting in front of the computer designing these cards the past few days. As I am designing them, Luna is laying in my arms fast asleep & snoring away. But having a baby at home also means that things just take longer to get done which is something I am still getting used to. When she cries, I have to get up and cradle her to put her back to sleep. When she’s hungry, she cries for milk so I have to move to the couch to nurse her. But having her always so close to me is really so special. She will never, ever be this small again.

When I started designing these cards, I wanted to stay away from the typical Christmas shapes, ornaments and colours used to design anything for Christmas. Though, I still wanted it to look fun and festive. The base pattern shapes are taken from Kids & Toys Petite Pattern Book which is full of fun patterns you can customize or use as is. The colours I used are inspired by what I see outside my window. The chilly winter air, smoke from chimneys, fallen branches, pine cones… Yes, this is winter! These cards have been printed using my epson printer on card stock.

I hope to send out these cards within a day or two so it can soon find it’s new home. Happy Holidays everyone!

Arts / Domestic 2.0 / Make — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

11/25/09

Sewing Day

The day I started my maternity leave, I had a list of personal projects I wanted to work on like making throw pillows, designing posters, cards etc… But I guess Luna had enough being cooped up in a dark watery world in my tummy and decided to come out 2.5 weeks early. We were shocked but super happy to meet her early!

Having a baby at home means doing as much as you can while they are fast asleep. While Luna was snoring away this morning, I finally was able to make her throw pillow. I love how easy and fast it is to make one. I plan to make a few more but I’m on the hunt for nice fabrics. Next task on my list: finishing up her birth announcement cards!

Domestic 2.0 / Make — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

11/18/09

Newest Project On-The-Go

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Rissa and I are currently working on Luna’s birth announcement. We sketched up some ideas together on the weekend. Rissa spent yesterday reformatting some of them into InDesign files to print out and mock-up on paper. Other than posing for cute photos, Luna wasn’t actually too helpful on this task. Her favorite activities continue to be eating, sleeping – I think she dreams about swimming in rivers and oceans of milk – and something new: stretching out and exercising her limbs. Maybe one day soon she’ll have fun putting stuff together with mom and dad. We’re hoping to finalize the design and production this week and send off the announcements asap.

Arts / Make — No comments — Posted by: Peter

10/18/09

DIY Customized Chocolate Bars

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Peter and I wanted to make something special as giveaway presents at our baby shower. We were constantly bouncing ideas with each other on what to make, or what to bake… So after days and days of coming up with different ideas, we settled on something so special – chocolate bars wrapped up with our collection of Eames paper!

This is a simple project anyone can do. We headed to a grocery store after work and bought organic chocolates with hazelnuts. But we made sure these chocolate bars were wrapped with aluminum foil as it would look nicer once we customize the packaging. We removed the outer paper covers and replaced it with nice bold prints. Peter was in charge of designing the tags and I voted to be in charge of choosing which Eames paper to use and carefully wrapping them individually and got creative with the ribboning.

Our friends loved them and we were happy to have made something special for them. The joy of making and giving things to friends!

Peter and I always have so much fun making things together. We had music playing, pieces of ribbon & paper all over the table and floor… It makes me realize even more how much I love our studio space as we are able to make things together!

Make — 5 comments — Posted by: Nerissa