New hang tags for The New Domestic shop. I picked them up today and I’m so excited to use them on all our products. I’m so pleased with the way they turned out. Hope you like them!

The coziest wool slippers are finally available in the shop. Made with the softest 100% natural wool yarn. These wool slippers will keep your feet warm and cozy year round. Wear them everyday or pack them up in your bag as you venture out to a cabin in the woods.

Documenting Luna’s life one year at a time. I finally finished Year 3 book! When the book arrived in the mail, it is Luna who is the most excited. She’ll go through the book and scream “Oh, I remember that day!” and “Oh, that was so much fun!”. I also couldn’t help giggling seeing her kissing the photos on the book saying “cute little girl Luna”. Watching her with all that excitement going through photos and photos of her life makes doing this year after year all worth it.

Every year, I start off the book with a little write up summarizing that year. Here’s the intro for year 3:

To my daughter Luna,

Each year, I tell myself this is the best year yet and it couldn’t get any better. But you’ve proven that every year with you is so incredibly special filled with so much love and happiness. I love spending my days with you and watching your personality blossom to be the sweetest and funniest little girl. I love hearing you tell your stories about life at preschool & daycare and about all your little friends. I love watching you learn the simplest things in life but yet, they are big achievements and we are always there beside you applauding you. I love how much we say “I love you” to each other and “you’re my best friend”. We truly are best of friends. You’re the most beautiful little girl I have ever known and I love you to pieces. The pages in this book tells a story of our beautiful life together when you were just 3 years old. You sure are little but the happiness and joy you give is bigger than any of us combines. Thank you for being my best little friend.

Love, Mommy

I’ve noticed that when I tell her stories of her first birthday, a holiday we took… she will quickly run to grab the book and will reference my story to the photos in the book. Amazing. And only her who has the patience to sit for hours looking at the photos in the book one page at a time. After all, these book are made for her to remember our beautiful life together year after year.

If you want to make the same book, I use Blurb to print these books. All my books are all custom design (I’m a graphic designer) but they do make it easy for people without a design background with an easy to follow template. Here are the specs for Luna’s Year 3 book:

- 240 pages- Standard Landscape (10×8″)
- Hardcover, image wrap
- Premium paper, matte finish

You can see previous books here:

Luna’s First Year of Life
Luna’s Year 2 Book

Get yourself ready for summer by grabbing one of our Striped Picnic Blankets. Made of linen & cotton, these Striped Picnic Blankets are large enough to spread out your picnic essentials and lightweight enough to take with you wherever you want to go. Leave it in your car for spontaneous picnics, take it with you on camping trips or lay it out in your yard for an afternoon siesta.

Comes in two colour combinations: Red-Navy & Ocean-Navy. Spring & Summer are truly my two favourite seasons. Happy beach days!

We all know how much moms mean the world to us so we are sending our big love to all the mom’s out there with a mother’s day sale! Grab your mom a special something. She deserves it. Send me an email upon purchase if you want a special note to your mom included in the package. Sale is on selected items only. Sale prices are marked. Big love to all the moms out there! xo, Nerissa

Here are some behind the scenes photos from last summer’s Style At Home magazine photoshoot. It’s always a treat to spend a day with Janis Nicolay. She is not only talented, she is one of the sweetest too. Janis took a lot of photos that day and if you want to see more photos that didn’t make the cut, you can check them out here on Janis’ blog.

If you’re interested to see more behind the scenes photos from another photoshoot. Check out Anthology magazine’s photoshoot of our home that took place in the summer of 2011 here.

We are happy to be in this month’s issue of Style At Home magazine. It was such a fun shoot with talented photographer Janis Nicolay along with Style At Home editor, Erin McLaughlin who briefly stopped by. It was such a casual shoot. There wasn’t much styling done and not a lot of equipment except for Janis’ camera, tripod, laptop & her assistant holding up a light diffuser. Luna was so cute happily playing around the house and sort of posing for the camera at the same time. She liked all the attention.

I have to say, it’s definitely fun for our home to be featured in a magazine. It’s like having someone come in to document our life at home to share our story. It’s a nice memento of our life at this time. I thank Style At Home for doing a fabulous job on putting our story together.

For those inclined, you can also see our home featured back in 2011 in Anthology magazine – A San Francisco based home decor, travel, design & culture magazine.

Click here to see behind the scenes photos.

We couldn’t have been more thrilled to receive the first batch of our wool slippers. Handmade in Lithuania for The New Domestic. These should be available in the shop within the next month or so (or sooner). So check back again soon.

We are currently working hard on some more beautiful things for The New Domestic shop. Hint: They are colourful!

It rains in Vancouver almost 10 months in a year but when the sun comes out, it’s glorious and everyone is out enjoying the outdoors. This weekend, we headed to Squamish for a little adventure. It’s always a treat to drive on the Sea to Sky Highway with its amazing views. We stopped at Shannon Falls to do a quick little hike, had lunch in Squamish town then headed to Porteau Cove on our way home. Happy Spring!

Sharing a few things around here.

1. Some signs that Spring is coming. Our backyard is a total mess right now from the winter season but nice to see flowers slowly growing from the ground. Spring is just around the corner.

2. My easy to make daily breakfast. Toast, Wilkin & Sons cranberry jelly (my favourite jelly right now) and egg with a sprinkle of sea salt. I’m also starting to go through 3191 Quarterly : Issue No.7. It was part of my stocking stuffers this Christmas but I forgot I had it.

3. We finally had a sunny day on Sunday after all the rain we’ve had so we headed to the beach by our house and tried to get some needed vitamin D. Though, it was freezing cold so we were all covered up in our parka trying to enjoy the sun.

4. I celebrated my birthday with some friends over the weekend and I thought I would share some beautiful things I received. Left: Stephanie Simek handmade in Portland, Oregon perfume. Inside the sea urchin shell is a perfume made from grapefruit and basil essential oils. Right: Terrarium in a mason jar.

5. Nigel Slater : The Kitchen Diaries II. It’s a 544 page book with a mixture of recipes, notes and diary entries. It’s a big book to go through but I can’t wait to get inspired and create some beautiful dishes from Nigel Slater.

Most parents are overwhelmed with the idea of traveling with a toddler. I know I have! The first time we traveled with Luna, I was overwhelmed not knowing what to pack and what I was comfortable leaving behind. If I could, I would pack her whole bedroom!

We’ve traveled a few times with Luna since she was born. The first time was when she was 10.5 months old as we took her on a 6 hour airplane ride to Mexico. We did the same trip the year after when she was 1 year old. Then last year at the age of 2, we took her on a 12 hour plane ride to the Philippines. To my surprise, all 3 trips turned out a lot easier than I thought.

Most people always wonder what to pack on a long airplane ride. I wondered that myself and wasn’t quite sure what I needed to bring. But here’s a list of what has worked for us that I thought I would share with you.

What to pack in your hand carry:

Wet wipes. You can never have enough of these. I like to wipe the seat handles, tables, windows & walls (if you have the window seat) and anything I know Luna would touch. People stare at me as I do this but imagine all the germs that stay on the plane!

Hand sanitizer. When you’re traveling with a baby or a toddler, you’re allowed to bring liquids. Just squeeze a bit on your wet wipes and start cleaning away. Get rid of those germs!

Clothes. If it’s a long overnight flight, I like to bring pajamas for Luna to change into when it’s time to sleep (so she knows it’s bedtime), extra socks, leggings, shirts & undies (or nappies). I usually like to bring a few of each and be prepared in case our luggage gets lost. At least she’ll have some clothes that will last for a couple days.

Stuffy & blankets. If it’s an overnight flight and your toddler sleeps with a stuffy, bring it along with a few thin blankets.

Lollipop. Great for take off and landing to help with ear pressure.

Snacks + drinks. I like to bring new snacks that Luna has never had and some extra special ones (chocolates etc) for tantrum emergencies. A small container of water and some juice. I particularly like those organic fruit juice mixed with vegetables. Happy tot is one of the brands out there but they come in a variety of different brands. These are great as they are easy to drink and pack.

iPad + headphones. Upload new games your toddler has never played before.

Activities/Toys. I like bringing an activity colouring book that includes stickers. But to be honest, I actually don’t bring a lot of toys especially small ones as they become a headache. You end up running after them as they roll down the isle and you’re constantly picking up crayons while your toddler continues to drop them on the floor as he/she colours.

Medicine. I like to be self sufficient and be prepared in case illness suddenly happens while on the plane. I bring kids advil, diarrhea medicine, thermometer and band aid. Put them in ziplock bags.

Hope the list above helps. We also have a fantastic Maclaren Techno XT stroller that we love and always take with us when traveling. I love how the seat reclines all the way flat like a bed and the hood extends all the way down. Luna would comfortably nap in it for hours while we would be out and about. I don’t like the idea of having to cut the day short running back to the hotel for nap time. So this is great as nap can happen anywhere.

Here’s the US Department of Homeland Security’s website with info of what you can bring when traveling with children.

Happy Travels!

PS: You might also be interested in reading an older post called Dining Out With A Toddler.

We fell in love with Provence immediately and yearning to go back. I did a blog post on Provence awhile back but it is such a special place that it deserves another one. We were in Provence in early October of 2008. We took the train from Paris to Avignon then picked up our rental car at the train station and drove to a little village called Eyragues where we stayed in a lovely chambre d’hotes. Going in October which is considered off season is great as you get a good feel of the villages without the hordes of tourists. Though, we did get terrential rain for a full day while we were there, but for the rest of the days, the weather was like Spring which made it perfect for walking & exploring the different villages.

With a good GPS, it’s amazing how easy it is to drive around. But we couldn’t get used to the narrow roads which are considered as 2 lanes. Scary especially when you see a truck coming and you somehow have to share the road with it as it passes by. But we managed and it just became part of the adventure.

We didn’t see fields of lavender as it was off season but amazingly, the smell somehow just stays in the air and on the ground and felt like we were surrounded by it. It’s the most beautiful scent.

On that one rainy day we were there, we discovered Cathedrale D’Images in the village of Le Baux. It is an abandoned Roman quarry with multimedia experience of images and music showcasing the works of different artists. The show varies every year and we were lucky enough to be there to experience the work of Van Gogh in this magical setting. But sadly, it seems like they have closed the place down due to a court ruling.

UPDATE: Thanks to one of our readers who left a comment, Cathedrale D’Images is open again and is now called Les Carriéres des Lumiéres. Exhibits for 2013 will feature Monet, Renoir, and Chagall.

There’s so much to explore in Provence and hoping to go back again sooner than later. Though, I know Provence will always be there.

Before traveling to Rome, I did a lot of research & read travel forums online. There were a lot of negative reviews from people not liking Rome. It was either too dirty, too touristy or too hectic. I had been to Rome with my family when I was 16 but my only memory of it was being incredibly hot and having to wear pants and a shawl in the sweltering heat to get into the Vatican. So I didn’t have good memories of Rome either.

But I knew I had to go back and I am glad we did. We LOVED Rome and is definitely one of our favourite cities in Europe. Yes, it’s packed with tourists but there’s a reason for it. I got goose bumps walking in the Roman Forum and standing inside the Colosseum. I remember walking in the narrow streets of Rome getting lost and as we turned into a corner, it opened up into a Piazza and right in front of us was the Pantheon gleaming above us. It was an amazing site. The whole city is like an open museum with ruins everywhere.

One night, we headed back to the Colosseum to see what it looked like all lit up. Lucky us, we happened to be there at the right time. A free outdoor movie was set up with the Colosseum  as the backdrop. We watched Napoléon Bonaparte – a silent movie with live orchestra presented by Francis Ford Coppola. It was amazing. This is the kind of culture and experience I crave for when traveling.

Whenever we visit a country/region, we make sure we only eat & drink the specialty of that region. So we feasted on a lot of pizza, pasta, fried anchovies and of course, gelato. Yum!

While in Rome, we stayed close to the Termini Train station. It was convenient as we were coming from Naples. Once we arrived at the Termini Train station, all we had to do was walk a few blocks pulling our luggage to the hotel.  When leaving Rome, we hopped back on the train to the airport. So definitely a convenient area to stay.

We were only in Rome for 7 days in 2007 and we barely scratched the surface. My parents vacationed to Rome and stayed for a month and they still found it short. I could easily go back  for another week and still have so much to discover. Rome is such a beautiful city and I hope to go back again one day.

Since I’m on a travel mind frame, I thought of sharing with you some travel photos I haven’t looked at in years. Paestum is one of the most magical places I’ve been to. Located in the Gulf of Salerno in Italy, Paestum is off the beaten path from tourists and is mostly deserted unlike neighouring Pompeii. We were staying in Sorrento to visit the Amalfi Coast in 2008 and after reading so much about Paestum, I knew we had to go visit. Paestum is a little harder to get to than Pompeii with a few train rides to take but totally worth the trip.

Paestum  has three well preserved temples, ruins of ancient houses and a museum of Greek artifacts. It is also part of the Unesco-listed temples and are among the best preserved Greek temples in the world 2nd to The Acropolis in Athens. The great thing about it being off the beaten path was we had the place to ourselves. We were able to go up close to the temples, step on original mosaic tiles and really feel the grandness of the place.

But we were very aware to not miss the last train out or else we would be stranded. That would not be fun at all. If you do go, make sure to wear proper shoes that are fully covered. Silly me, I wore flip flops as it was a very hot day and spent my time running away from lizards crawling on the ground. Eeeek.

Positano, Amalfi Coast. 2008

Provence, France. 2008

Paris, France for Nuit Blanche. 2007

Portofino. Italian Riviera. 2006

It’s that time of the year again when I start thinking and planning our vacation this year.  I’m looking back at some of the travel posts I’ve done and looking through printed photos tucked away in a box that I haven’t looked at for years. I’m itching to be somewhere far and to surround myself in a totally new culture, sounds and smell. I want to discover new food, explore new places and be inspired.

When traveling, we love the combination of art, design, culture, food and some beach time. I have a place in mind that would have all of that. It’s far but luckily, our little Luna is so easy going and so adaptable. It’s fun traveling with her. Though, traveling with a toddler involves more planning & packing but put that aside, it’s so fun watching her discover new places with us.

What has been your favourite vacation spot?

Barcelona, Spain. 2006

Bohol, Philippines. 2012

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great Christmas holiday. We spent the first few days of the new year on a mini getaway to Sooke on Vancouver Island. It’s always nice to getaway after all the Christmas festivities and just have time together as a family. Last year around the same time, we did a road trip to Portland and did a design & food tour. This year, we just wanted to get away from the city and find a remote place where we can sit back, relax and enjoy nature. We explored a couple beaches in Juan de Fuca strait, walked on some hiking trails, drove to the little town of Port Renfrew and swam in the hotels pool. It was exactly how we wanted to start the new year.

While in Sooke, we stayed in this wonderful hotel called Prestige Oceanfront Resort. I was impressed with the design and styling of the hotel. Each floor of the hotel is a different theme. We chose the Opulent King with full waterfront view and loved it (we originally wanted the Island Colonial King but were fully booked). If you ever decide to getaway and stay in Sooke, I highly recommend this hotel.

Thank you 2012 for a wonderful year of good times, memories and adventures. It’s been a good one and looking forward to what 2013 has to offer. Cheers to all of you. Happy New Year! -Nerissa xx

All photos from Instagram.

This is the 2nd time I’ve made homemade caramel sauce and it is always a treat. I made this for the Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie I made a few weeks ago. I only needed a bit of it for the pie so we still have some leftovers and have been eating it with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Like any new recipes I try, this is a lot easier than I thought. The only slight difference I made was when I was melting the sugar in the pot, I didn’t wait until the sugar turned reddish-brown as I was afraid for it to burn and I would have to start all over again. I did make sure though that the sugar was completely melted before adding the butter.

Click here for the recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

I love packaging gifts especially over the holiday season. My most favourite materials this year are washi tape & self ashesive colour coding labels. They work perfectly together. With washi tape, you can use it to create simple graphic shapes. In this case, I made a christmas tree shape and topped it with a yellow or red self adhesive colour coding label to give it a festive look.

I packaged this years home baked good for friends with simple white cake boxes, brown paper bags and little red bags from Ikea. Then dressed them up with washi tape and self adhesive colour coding labels. They are so easy to wrap up and so fun too!

1. Wooden Mini Bowl Set 2. Pizzeria Farina house-made chili-infused and oregano infused olive oil 3. Soba Choko 4. Herriott Grace fine rolling pin 5. Half dozen egg crate 6. Two-toned wood spreaders 7. Cast iron enamel skillet 8. Le Nuage 9. Four Wooden mini scoops 10. Heath Ceramics large tea pot 11. Herriott Grace ice cream cone roller

This is the season when I do most of my baking and I love it. Last weekend, we had some friends over and I wanted to make something special. I was craving for both cheescake & apple pie. I thought, there must be a recipe out there that combines the two. So I searched online and found this fantastic recipe for Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie from Brown Eyed Baker.

There are 6 steps to making this cheesecake pie: Step 1: making the salted caramel sauce / Step 2: the crust / Step 3: caramel-pacan layer / Step 4: apple mixture / Step 5: cheescake / Step 6: whipped cream.

When I first read the ingredients list, I felt a little overwhelmed but as I read it the 2nd time, I realized it’s all pretty easy and I had most of the ingredients at home.

Anything I do for the first time takes a little longer. But it’s pretty simple to make and plan to make it again. I made it the day before the party as letting it sit in the refrigerator overnight will make it all taste better. I did the whipped cream the next day just before the party started and garnished the top with more salted caramel sauce and chopped pecans.

This recipe is AMAZING. Believe me. It’s a good way to spoil your friends and yourself this holiday season. Click here for the recipe.

I would be happy to have all of these. Though, I think #1 will just be a dream…

1. Rolex 1960S 18 KT. White Gold Day-Date 2. Organic Long Fair Isle Sock 3. Huttenschuhe 4. Hudson’s Bay Company Collection Diana F Lomography Camera 5. Eda Fair Isle Sweater 6. Dieppa Restrepo 7. Fold Over Satchel 8. Chance Boatneck 9. Kinfolk Magazine Subscription

Back by popular demand and featured on Design Sponge, we have Dreaming of Marrakesh back in the shop! We received several emails from people wanting this bag. We listened and made a short run. So grab yours now before it sells out again. These make perfect gifts this holiday season as well. Cheers, Nerissa xx

On Tuesday, I attended the first winter workshop at Collage Collage. We learned to make Pom Pom Garlands and Wreaths. When we got there, all the supplies were ready for us all stacked up on the long communal table. I couldn’t help but admire the mountains of colourful yarns ready for us to use. I was excited.

Once everyone were settled in, Erin Boniferro, the brilliant mind behind Collage Collage gave us a demo to make Pom Poms with a little handheld tool. We immediately started making our pom poms and by the end of the 2 hour workshop, we made over a dozen pom poms each. We had a choice to either make a wreath or a garland. I chose a garland and tied my little pom poms together with a white yarn. I couldn’t have been more pleased.

I went home that evening with 3 rolls of yarns and my pom pom maker tool purchased at the shop. I made a few more pom poms that evening before going to bed. I’ve been making more since then as it’s extremely addicting. I think my house will be filled with pom poms soon!

Collage Collage opened 3 years ago and located near 15th and Fraser in Vancouver. It is a shop filled with art supplies, little toys, books and prints. It’s like a mix of art studio and shop all at the same time. You will be inspired as soon as you walk in. There’s a long communal table right in the middle of the shop where workshops are held in the evenings and weekends. If you haven’t been to their workshop, check them out as they are so fun. They get filled up fast though! Details are here for upcoming winter workshop dates.

Trees, Bees & Teepees Print $34, Eye of the Storm $46

Bon Journey, Basic Red $86 and Utility Apron $36

Striped Daily Apron $24 and Vintage Linens $27-49

Bon Journey in Process Yellow, Basic Red and Riviera Blue $86

First time ever, we are offering 15% off EVERYTHING in The New Domestic Shop. Yes, everything! This is my thank you for all your support over the past year. Sale starts this midnight Pacific Standard time and is on for 4 days only (Nov 23-26). Discount applied at checkout. All items will be shipped on November 29.

Happy Thanksgiving! xx

Blurb had an awesome offer to make free 7×7 Instagram books via The 10 Cent Designer. It was only a 2 day offer so I jumped on it right away and made myself a little soft cover 60 page Blurb book with my Instagram photos. The hardest part of putting it together was choosing the images – I have so many!

This book is a collection of Instagram snaps that form a vignette of life and memory. Creating this book makes me realize that taking the time to capture the things we do ensures that we celebrate the little things. And it’s those little things that make every day an adventure.

Btw, I’m loving Instagram Profile. Nice to be able to see and share Instagram photos online.

We’ve been asked many times how we are able to dine out with Luna. To some parents, the concept seems unreal. How do you make a toddler sit while you enjoy a proper meal without tantrums or running around like mad?

Peter and I enjoy dining out and trying new restaurants. We’ve always done it before Luna was born and continue do so. The only difference now is we have a little one joining us with the fun. It’s not always easy. She’s a kid after all and tantrums/meltdowns are part of her life. But I think it’s the way it’s handled that will determine a good dinner out or a disaster night out. We’re pretty chill and don’t totally get stressed out when it happens. I think kids can sense how we feel. As long as we stay chill and attend to her needs and shift the focus to something much happier, then a smile suddenly appears and life is good again.

Here are some dining out tricks with a toddler that has worked for us:

1. Dine early. Come early before the crowd comes – 6pm is usually a good time as most people dine around 7:30-8.  This is great especially for cozy little bistros or restaurants with large communal tables. You don’t feel so squished amongst other people and it gives room for a toddler to move around and stretch their legs when they need to. Also, servers aren’t busy yet and are able to attend to your needs.

2. Order a favourite drink. Luna’s favourite is apple juice. That keeps her happy & entertained for a little while and makes her feel special.

3. Dessert. Luna will do anything for dessert. I just tell her if she stays sitting and eat her dinner, she can order any dessert she wants. A little bribery always helps :)

4. Chat & be merry. We always make sure she’s part of the conversation. That way, she doesn’t get bored just staring at the wall. This keeps her sitting down as she happily tells us funny and silly stories.

5. Emergency treat. When the food comes and suddenly she feels the need to get up, run around or become restless and all you want to do is dig into your food – the emergency treat comes out! This doesn’t happen often and that’s why it’s called the emergency treat.

6. Tip well. With a toddler being a little bit more messy with food spilling onto the floor, there’s not much you can do except to tip well and say thank you.

Most restaurants have highchairs/booster seats available and are very accommodating to families. We believe it’s important to enjoy our life with Luna part of it. We love having her around and for her to experiencing the things we love to do. I also think it’s good for children to be accustomed to being in adult like settings. You can’t expect a 4 hour dinner with 2 bottles of wine sipping and chatting the night away. But a 1.5 hour dinner with a couple cocktails, good food, good conversation and a toddler sipping apple juice makes for a great dinner out. That’s really what it’s all about – being together as a family and always enjoying each others company wherever we are.

My little girl is now 3 yrs old – how time flies. We celebrated Luna’s birthday party at Jump Gymnastics over the weekend. It was a fantastic day and it was so nice to see our Luna so happy. She cried when it was goodbye time. She didn’t want to leave nor did she want her friends to leave. Now, that’s a sign of a good time!

We had her party at Jump Gymnastics located on Beatty Street in Yaletown. It’s a fun little place for a party and we had the place all to ourselves. The party was 1.5 hour long with 2 instructors keeping the kids entertained with gymnastics type activities. They jumped on the trampoline, dove in the ball pit, balanced on the beams, sang songs… The instructors were so great with the kids. One of Luna’s friends Cohen told his mom how much fun he was having and it was the best day ever. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? It’s so fun to spoil Luna and her friends on her birthday!

It was an easy party to organize. All we had to do was invite our friends, show up and bring food. Jump Gymnastics created a program activity for the party including a 30 minute snack/cake time in the party room. The party room also had everything we needed – cutlery, plates, cups, platters etc… We literally only had to bring the food, cake and well, cute napkins. They even supplied all the balloons for the kids. Then when the party ended, we packed up and off we went. They did all the clean up. Pretty awesome.

The party was from 1:30-3pm so I prepared fun snacks for the kids & adults to eat. I kept it fairly simple but fun enough for the kids & adults to enjoy. Here’s what was on the menu:

Homemade popsicle rice krispies dipped in chocolate with sprinkles
Homemade lemon cupcakes with butter icing and star sprinkles
Root vegetable chips with hummus
Fruit party tray
Popcorn
Shrimp chips
Vietnamese subs (not a lot of people have had this so I thought it would be a great addition to the menu)
Chocolate cake with pink icing from Whole Foods

All in all, a great party for our Luna. We are excited to enjoy this new phase of our life with a 3 year old!

We’ve had a very busy week with Luna turning 3 and having 4 birthday parties! Part of the fun of organizing a party are the goodie bags – I just love making special things for little people. For Luna’s 1st birthday party, I packaged the treats in a lunch paper bag wrapped in fabric & bakers twine. This year, I wanted to make something special again and more personalized for each child.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on them and wanted to be resourceful. I have a studio at home filled with materials I have collected throughout the years. I was going through my pile of fabrics and thought how fun it would be to make little drawstring bags. They are easy to make and are useful too.

Each bag is personalized with their name printed in front. I had some iron on paper from 10 yrs ago and luckily, I had a few sheets left so I used that to print the children’s names then ironed them onto the fabric.

For the string, I have a roll of red bakers twine which worked out great. There are probably better options for strings but that’s what I had at home.

It’s such a joy to make things for little people especially for Luna’s friends.

Pinterest has become my digital food binder to store & gather recipes found online. I have a giant binder at home where I keep all my collected recipes but I’ve found it less fun going through a binder with no photos, rather, just plain printed recipes on white paper. Totally not inspiring. The delicious recipes gathered on my Pinterest Food Board accompany beautiful photos which I love as the photos inspire me to make them. I have a hard time trying out a new recipe without visual reference. It’s the photos that entice me to give them a try.

Here are some of my favourites that I have tried from my Pinterest Food Board:

Creamy Avocado Pasta. Photo taken from two peas & their pod

Kale Pesto. Photo taken from Love & Lemons

BBQ Corn With Mexican Spicy Butter & Lime. Photo taken from Eat Drink Daily

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, E Peperoncino. Photo taken from yumsugar

Broccoli Kale Soup. Photo taken from For The Love of Food

Raspberry Tart. Filmed by Tiger in a Jar.

Ribboned Asparagus Salad for Kinfolk. Filmed by Tiger in a Jar.

The Cook’s Atelier. Filmed by Tiger in a Jar.

Lasagna for My Cooking Diary. Filmed by Mike Matas.

Classic Pesto for Kinfolk. Filmed by Tiger in a Jar.

The rain is back once again and it’s been a gloomy Friday. I’m back to wearing my thickest wool socks and keeping the house warm and cozy. I think this is a goodbye to summer and welcoming colder days. Usually when Fall & Winter comes, I love gathering with friends at home for a good meal. It’s my favourite thing to do on colder days as there’s nothing more cozy than having a big pot of stew or something warm on as hearty stories are told around the dinner table.

Colder days also means spending more time in the kitchen making food. I’m sharing some of my most favourite food videos that totally inspire me. I can watch these all day. I love the music, styling & production of all of them. They just make me want to put on my apron and stay in the kitchen all day. Not a bad thing to do on colder days.

Have a great weekend! xx

The other week, I came across a recipe book called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfield. It’s a recipe book filled with fantastic ideas of how to sneak in fruits and veggies to little picky eaters. I decided to try out the Applesauce Muffins with Butternut Squash. So easy to make and so good! I baked them in colourful cupcake cups and when I pulled them out of the oven, Luna screamed ‘cupcakes’ with delight and wanted to grab one right away. She devoured a piece to herself and so did Peter. They are so good.

We’ve had the nicest weather here and it’s already October. It feels like spring. We’ve been enjoying our new front yard and making the most of our outdoor living before the rain comes. I really don’t mind the cold weather but totally not looking forward to all the rain fall & winter brings here to the West Coast.

I was busy shooting a new product in our shop called Trees, Bees & Teepees Prints. My most favourite part is styling them for the shoot. I have a small corner in our tv room that gets the best light and that’s where I do all my photos. I love rooms with lots of light!

Now available in the shop – Trees, Bees & Teepees Posters! Hand–pulled screen printed posters on archival paper with water-based solvent-free ink.

Since our Trees, Bees & Teepees tote bags sold out, we’ve had many requests to make it into a print. We listened and we are happy to bring it back in print form. Easy to frame as it perfectly fits an Ikea Ribba (16.5×20.5″) frame.

We loved collaborating with local talented designer/artist Timothy King to hand-screen these posters for us. It’s always nice to work with people who take such pride in their work.

We are excited to be collaborating with talented Timothy King to hand-screen posters of our popular Trees, Bees & Teepees. They are currently in production stage and I can’t wait to get my hands on them! Will soon be available in the shop. Photos by Timothy King.

Lighthouse Marine Park in the summer without all the snow. It’s just as amazing and still feels like a whole different world. I’m glad we discovered this place. It’s our secret gem in Point Roberts, Washington.

There’s a little US town called Point Roberts that is part of Washington state but geographically separated from the rest of the US. It’s practically surrounded by Canada. To get there, you have to drive through Tsawwassen, BC to cross it’s little border or by boat if coming from US waters. It’s a small town and there’s really nothing there except for a few gas stations, US Post, a grocery store, a couple cafés, beach homes, a liquor store and a few mail outlets.

But last year on a snowy winter day, we decided to explore the little town. As we were driving, we spotted an entrance to a beach with a sign Lighthouse Marine Park. We didn’t know what to expect except for a snow covered beach. As we were driving into the parking lot, we started seeing these picnic huts covered in snow. It almost looked like an abandoned Nordic village. We were in awe. So we got out of the car, put on our parkas and explored.

There was absolutely nobody there. The border guards thought we were crazy to go to a beach on a cold snowy day. But look what we discovered. These are picnic shelters set right on the beach. We felt like we were in a different world – like somewhere Nordic. We probably spent close to an hour exploring and taking photos until we could no longer feel our frozen toes & fingers.

I decided to go back to see what it looks like in the summer without all the snow. It didn’t disappoint. See my summer photos of Lighthouse Marine Park here.

Olympic Provisions, is a must-visit on any Portland visit. Olympic Provisions serves food based around their concept of “American Charcuterie” which they make in-house, on-site. If you appreciate businesses with an original point-of-view, on-point branding, inspiring space design, you’ll love it here. Also, take a picture of the MEAT sign – everyone does.

We visited the Olympic Provisions Southeast location housed in The Olympic Mills Commerce Center, a beautifully converted 1920s cereal mill. The building is in the middle of a gritty industrial area where you wouldn’t expect to be a center of artisan activity. Have a walk around the building after your meal. It’s an impressive conversion with a variety of tennants, including a design studio and a tiny, cozy champagne bar.

I created these DIY Garden Starter Gift bags for friends we visited over the weekend who just moved into their new house. I thought it would be nice to give them something they could grow in their garden. So I went to our local garden store and picked out some of my favourite herbs – Rosemary, Sage & Basil then packaged them individually in personalized brown paper bags.

Here are the materials you need: Brown paper bags, pinking shears, sandwich bags, sheets of paper, tape & printer

1. Cut the top of the brown paper bag with pinking shears to a good height. Just enough to cover the plastic containers the herbs came in.
2. Once it’s cut, measure the length and height of the paper bags.
3. Open up Illustrator and make the document the size of the paper bag.
4. Create your graphic/artwork/illustration
5. Tape the paper bag in the middle of an 8.5 x 11″ sheet of paper (you might have to adjust the position of this later).
6. Press Print.
7. Depending on where you want your graphics printed on the bag, you will have to adjust the position of the paper bag on the 8.5 x 11″ sheet of paper.
8. Once printed, open up your bag and place the portion you had cut off from the top of the bag and use it as a base of the paper bag to thicken the bottom.
9. Place the herbs in a sandwich plastic bag. You might have to cut the plastic bag to the height of the plastic herb container.
10. Place the herb in the brown paper bag.

Voila! You just made a beautiful DIY Garden Starter Gift Bag. You can use store bought seedlings or use your own garden clippings. Enjoy!

Do you guys remember these monthly photos I used to do of Luna? I’ve been taking these monthly photos at home but just haven’t been posting them. It’s been a lot easier taking photos of her as she will willingly post & dance for me as I take a billion snap shots. At this stage of Luna’s life, she’s been really into dancing. When we walk into a store with music blasting, she will literally stop walking and will take a moment to dance. It always makes me giggle.

She did ballet this summer for 2 weeks everyday and loved it. She’s been begging since then to sign her up for another ballet class. I’m actually considering sending her to a professional ballet school in September. You know, those schools where they learn to dance real ballet and are taught by teachers who are graduates from top ballet institutions from around the world. They have pretty strict rules though like the hair must be pulled back tight in a bun and ballet uniforms should only be the Mondor brand. Yup, I’m actually considering it for Luna. It’s a full year program starting this September so once we sign up, we have to be fully committed.

But I think it’ll be good for her. Ballet provides grace, good posture, understanding of music & rhythm and creates confidence. I just think it would be so nice for her to have the proper skills and flexibility to be able to move her body to the sound of rhythm and feel free and confident doing it. My mom danced ballet for 18 yrs and was trained for a year with the famous Bolshoi Ballet Company from Russia. So I think my mom secretly hopes for Luna to follow her footsteps and form a love for ballet the way she did.

I’m thinking we’ll try it for a year and see how she does and feels about it…

During our short trip to Parksville, we went to an artisan market and found these beautiful soaps by Carriage 44. It was nice to see well branded products amongst the more folky country look normally found at artisan markets. I picked up a couple of their rose soap and coffee ones as well. They were individually packaged in these simple hemp & paper bags with a stamp of their logo and they smell so good too!

Since moving into our house 5 years ago, we always knew that one day, we would have to re-do our front yard. But moving into an older home meant prioritizing the renovation projects. First thing on our list was renovate the studio space, then replace all the windows, then the big kitchen reno happened last summer. While all of these were happening, our front yard was slowly turning into a jungle. We got to a point where we couldn’t stand it anymore so before summer started, we decided to finally renovate our front yard.

We knew it was not a DIY kind of project so we hired a professional landscape/gardener who has done a lot of work in our area. The whole project took only 3 days. I left for a little holiday to Whistler then came back 4 days later with a brand new front yard. Amazing!

Before starting the project, we pinned a lot of inspirational images we found online. We were going for a modern but yet beachy look to fit our little blue rancher and our seaside neighbourhood (the beach is only 2 blocks away from our house). Our main priority was it had to be low maintenance and a space for us to be able to hang out and for Luna to play freely.

We are extremely happy with it. The new cedar fence created a room like atmosphere to the front yard and made it safe for Luna to play outside without running out to the street. It has become our extended outdoor living room. The french style loungers we found at a local vintage store for only $30 each! The white side table is from West Elm. It’s amazing how an outdoor space can really change the way we live in our home.

Summer is truly my favourite time of the year. I love how the days are longer which makes us all go to bed a whole lot later. We’ve been spending our days at the beach, going for long walks, berry picking, swimming, eating lots of ice cream, going on little weekend getaways and simply enjoying the outdoors. Our home cooking has also changed to more simpler and fresher ingredients and our evening glasses filled with lychee campari (totally my new favourite drink!). How I wish summer could stay with us longer. We continue to enjoy these glorious summer days.

Happy summer to all my lovely readers. xoxo
Photos via instagram.

I was cleaning up my studio today and found a recipe book I’ve forgotten I had. It’s called ‘Brittles, Barks & Bonbons‘ by Charity Ferreira. I decided to try out the Rocky Road Bark recipe as I had all the ingredients at home and looked really easy to make. Here is the recipe according to the book:

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/5 cups pecan pieces (about 8 ounces), lightly toasted

Instructions:
1. Line a jelly-roll pan with waxed paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of hot water, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

2. Stir in 1 1/5 cups of the marshmallow and 1 cup of the pecans. Scrape the mixture onto the pan and spread out with a spatula to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the remaining marshmallows and pecans over the top, gently pressing them into the chocolate to adhere.

3. Refrigerate the bark until completely firm, about 2 hours. Break or cut into chunks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I made a few additions to the recipe. After spreading the mixture on the pan, I sprinkled a bit of sea salt on top and shredded coconut. Enjoy!

Summer is all about quick weekend getaways and doing a whole lot of swimming. Over the weekend, we hopped on the ferry and headed to Parksville (a city on Vancouver Island). We stayed overnight at a cute little place by the beach and went swimming, collected shells, checked out the annual sandcastle competition at the beach, evening & morning beach strolls and explored. I love these little weekend getaways. It’s an easy mini vacation and we get to explore a place we’ve never been before. This is what summer is all about.

Last week, we went out berry picking and came home with a box full of raspberries. I had an urge to bake and try out a new recipe and found this. It was perfect as I had all the ingredients at home. Here are the ingredients according to Smells Like Home:

1½ cups sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon
2 sticks (½ lb) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
4 tsp cornstarch
Juice of 1 lemon

Visit Smells Like Home for full instructions.

I substituted the strawberries to raspberries & later to blueberries. It was really easy to make and makes the house smell really good too! You do have to make sure it’s completely at room temperature before slicing it up to make perfect squares. It was so good that I couldn’t stop eating it. It’s blueberry season and I had a container of blueberries from our local farm waiting to be used so after successfully making it with raspberries, I tried it out the next day with blueberries and it was amazing! In fact, I preferred it with blueberries. But both are so good, it just depends on which fruit you prefer.

Sharing with you a photo a lovely customer has sent us of the Vintage Romanian table runner on her beautiful dining table. I’m always happy to hear back from our customers and to see a little piece of The New Domestic in their home. Thank you Ingrid!

To all of our customers out there, if you feel like snapping a photo of something you’ve bought from us and want to share on our blog, send it to me by email and include any link you may have (blog/shop/portfolio) that I can also share. I love seeing our products in use! xo, Nerissa

These beautiful handmade vintage kitchen linens are finally available in the shop! Salvaged in Romania for The New Domestic. They were made a generation or more ago when they still grew hemp and flax on family farms and then processed it by hand — hand-processed, hand-spun, organic hemp that was woven on authentic hand-looms. The fabric was traditionally made for grain sacks that families brought to the communal mill. Each stripe pattern is the graphic signature of a different family.

Our linens come in various sizes & styles. Since these are vintage, our stock is very limited and once a style is sold out, we won’t be able to get the exact same kind again.

We carry 100% organic hemp linen and hemp/cotton blends. Hemp fiber is anti-bacterial and anti-mold. They have high water absorption and dries quickly.

Visit our online shop here.

For dinner last night, I just had a craving for pesto pasta so I decided to try out this recipe I pinned on Pinterest awhile back. It was so delicious and easy to make. If you have kids, this is a good way to get them eating kale – Luna loved it! Here are the ingredients according to Farmhouse Table’s recipe:

1 bunch kale, washed and leaves torn
1/4 c pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 c grated parmesan, plus more for serving
1/2 c olive oil
salt & pepper
1 package paparadelle, cooked al dente

Visit Farmhouse Table for full instructions.

The recipe calls for Paparadelle pasta which I substituted to fettuccine as that’s what I had at home. I also substituted almonds for pine nuts. Pine nuts might make for a tastier pesto but the cost here is outrageous.

Enjoy & happy eating!