A Year of Pretty - January 06, 2014

It's a shoe. It's a boot. It's today's Pretty Post.

A Year of Pretty - January 05, 2014

Okay, okay . . . I know I've been posting a lot of cup and saucer and high tea photos this past week. But just one more tea party themed post and then I'll move on to something else.

Today's Pretty Post is from one of my FAVOURITE design inspiration sites called Design Seeds. First, I think it's a really awesome name for a design inspiration site, since each idea for design does indeed start with a seed of sorts. The seed grows and changes and grows some more until the designer arrives at the end product; the manifestation of the original design seed.

So what is Design Seeds? Basically, it's a palette search tool based around colours found in an item, such as shown in today's post. Think of it as an elegant version of paint chips you'd find at Home Depot or Rona.

Created by Jessica in 2009, Design Seeds began as a way for her to incorporate her love of colour with design blogging. Throughout her art school training at the Center for Creative Studies and her extensive design career working with companies such as Ford, Reebok and Timberland, Jessica has created original colour journals. Design Seeds is a modern interpretation of these journals.

While the colour palettes shown do not have any specific paint brands associated with them, there are many paint stores that will scan a colour swatch and create a corresponding paint colour. Just keep in mind that what you see on your screen and what is printed from your desktop printer may be slightly different.

Design away my friends .  .Design away !

A Year of Pretty - January 04, 2014

Today's Pretty Post is this collection of pink and gold Marie Antoinette inspired china cups and saucers. The original photo source was from Pinterest, but I traced it back to an Australian website called The Vintage Table.

Established in 2010, The Vintage Table is a boutique vintage china rental and and styling company that you hire to help you stage an elegant tea party. Basically, you call them up and arrange to rent their glorious vintage china and they come and set the table and make it look all fancy-schmancy and high class. Great for bridal parties, corporate events and special celebrations. Or even just because you want to get together with some special friends in the garden over a good cup of tea.

The company began with a woman named Alison collecting delicate and pretty vintage bone china for over 30 years. She began loaning her collections to family and friends to host high tea parties, and thought maybe others would like to do the same. And so the idea took hold, and she has now worked with hundreds of brides, high tea hostesses, photographers and food stylists.

I am inspired by Alison and her company because she has taken her life long passion for collecting and turned it into her dream job. Everyday she gets to continue to do what she loves and share her joy with others to help them create wonderful memories of their own.

A Year of Pretty - January 03, 2014

First, I would like to say I would like to say I survived the year end staff party with no ill effects and no embarrassing stories in circulation.

Here is a gorgeous hutch makeover from Design Sponge. I love, love, love the colour palate chosen; the gold highlights accentuate the details on the doors so nicely. It reminds me a bit of a Marie Antoinette colour theme, n'est pas? That french je ne sais quoi? or as one comment states; Alice in Wonderland.  I agree.

And again, I am still with the china teacups and saucers theme. This just shows a pretty place to store them all while still displaying the favourites.

This photo shows only the "after" transformation. To see the "before", along with other wonderful ideas for giving life to old furniture, be sure to check out the Design Sponge website.

I have a dresser with six drawers and a top shelf that I am using as a china hutch. My dad picked it up as a "big garbage day" find. I think it used to have a mirror in the open space between the top shelf and the set of drawers and it broke so that why it was being tossed out. It's white with black scroll knobs and has much the same shape of the hutch pictured here. While I think I will keep mine white, this photo has inspired me to sand it down, clean it and give it a fresh coat of paint; along with some contrasting accents like the gold shown here on the doors and drawers. Take the hardware off, clean it and spray paint it a matte black or with a pewter crackle finish. Maybe add some moldings along the top like those in the picture.

Darn! I think I just added another project to my list.

A Year of Pretty - January 02, 2014

In keeping with yesterday's Year of Pretty post, I'm continuing the theme of china and saucers and tea.

Here is a beautiful photo from Tanya and her blog dans le townhouse. Specifically, it's from a post called Tea for Twenty where she talks about and shares photos of a Royal Albert set of cups and saucers her grandma owns.

I've often thought about serving an afternoon tea for friends. People just don't host afternoon teas as much. True, there are a number of hotels and restaurants in Vancouver where you can go and have high tea, but it will usually run you about $60.00, and everybody else around you is doing the same thing, and there's a man in a tuxedo playing Gershwin in the background and it's just not the same relaxed atmosphere you'd have if you have it at home in a comfy home with a cat curled up in the corner.

I remember growing up and going to Oma's house for tea. Each of us had our own cup and saucer. Oma's was purple violets, Opa's was yellow daffodils, mine was pink sweet peas and my mom's was white roses. I think my brother's had a scene of an English hunt with hounds and men on horseback in red riding coats.

The tea cups and saucers are now gone, but the memories of those visits are still with me. There are a lot of good memories to be had over a cup of tea with friends and family.

Note: Tomorrow's post may be slightly delayed. Our staff year end party is tonight and expected to go into the wee hours of the morning. As such, I have high doubts I will be mobile before noon tomorrow.

A Year of Pretty - January 01, 2014

Today is the start of a brand new year. As such, I have resolved to be more inspired, to be more creative, and to share more. I also resolve to wear more dresses than jeans but that's another story.

I'm not gonna lie. Most of these posts are going to be from Pinterest. I will try to include original content whenever I can. But I'm finding a lot of posts lately just link to some sort of  holding tank for images and don't really give credit to the original source. ESPECIALLY with recipes (sooo annoying! I then type in the recipe name into Google search, find it and post the original link to the recipe in the comments of the Pinterest post . . I know, call it my good deed for the day).

So, to start, here is today's Pretty Post to share with you: A set of floral saucers from uncovet.com. The saucers are vintage and have some crazing and minor chipping. But I think they are still lovely. Being vintage, it also makes the set unique and one of a kind.

Makes me think of tea and crumpets and all sorts of wonderful conversations with my mom on the sofa in the big bay window of her home.

Dizzy Miss Lizzy - Christmas Baking Begins

It's that time of year again . . .time to start baking for Christmas. One of the cookies we make each year are basically a fruitcake in a cookie form. The original recipe from my great-great grandmother called them Lizzies. My grandmother nick named them Dizzy Lizzies. Now they are referred to as Boozie Fruit Cookies. And they are best made by my dad. So realistically, we call them Dad's Boozie Fruit Cookies.

It starts with soaking the dried fruit and nuts in bourbon, but you can use rum or brandy. Some years we have used Maker's Mark (favourite) or Jim Beam bourbon; other years it's been Appleton Estate rum or Asbach. Next year I want to try using Spice Box Whiskey. In the original recipe, the fruit was soaked for one hour, and only in 1/2 a cup of alcohol. But dad over the years has increased the liquor to a full cup and lets the fruit sit covered for up to seven days; tossing the fruit in the liquid every other day. By the end of a week or so, the fruit has soaked up all of the liquid. This means the fruit will remain moist during the baking, and then help to keep the cookies soft.

These are a great cookie for making early in the Christmas season. They keep well and are excellent for packing and shipping. The recipe makes quite a few (7 to 8 dozen), so we often freeze half the batch and take them out as needed (or craved) throughout the new year. Christmas cookies in July? why not !

Dad's Boozie Fruit Cookies

3          cup      seedless raisins

4          cup      pecan halves

1 ¼      cup      citron, diced

4          cup      candied cherries, chopped

1          cup      bourbon, dark or spiced rum or brandy

¼         cup      butter or margarine, room temperature

½         cup      light brown sugar, firmly packed; plus 2 Tbsp

2                      eggs

1 ½      tsp       baking soda

1 ½      tsp       ground cinnamon

½         tsp       ground cloves

½         tsp       ground nutmeg

1 ½      cup      all purpose flour

In a large sized bowl or other airtight container with a lid that seals, combine the raisins, pecans, citron and cherries. Pour the liquor over the fruit mixture and toss to thoroughly coat. Seal the container. Set in a cool location out of the way. Each day for a week or so, remove the lid and stir the mixture. (Or you can do what my dad does, which is to just pick it up and shake it so that the liquid re-coats the fruit. . . Be sure the lid is on tight!). When there is little to no liquid remaining, the mixture is ready.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter or margarine until light and fluffy. Add in the light brown sugar and continue to beat until well blended. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add the flour mixture and continue blending until smooth. Fold in the fruit mixture. There is not a lot of batter-to-fruit ratio in these cookies, so don't be alarmed if the batter seems really lumpy. It's supposed to be.

Drop by teaspoon onto prepared baking sheets. Bake in a pre-heated slow oven at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or until firm. Remove from oven and transfer to wire cooling racks. Allow to cook completely before storing in an airtight container. 

If you have fans of Christmas fruit cake in your family or friends, then these are certainly going to be a hit for you. They pack all the flavours but without the heavy density sometimes found in the traditional cake. My nephew has been known to polish off a half dozen cookies in one sitting. But then he's going on 15 and 6'3" tall.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays !

(shown clockwise from top are Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread, Chocolate Crinkles, Vanilla Chocolate Thumbprints and Dad's Boozie Fruit Cookies)