Getting Organized with HomeSense

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend.

I've spent the weekend tidying up, after the holidays, and getting a little more organized with help from HomeSense.  Thought I'd start the week off by giving away a gift card for $150 to one lucky person, courtesy of HomeSense!  Here's a look at some of the baskets and boxes I chose....

This burlap and canvas basket now houses the blankets that seem to kick around our living room during the winter. Mixes well with our mid-century furniture. 

Playing cards and small games are now stored in this simple leatherette box. 

Instead of just tossing scarves, gloves and toques anywhere there's space, they're now easy to find in this vintage inspired green metal basket. 

Ah, my office/studio. I spend a lot of time up here, editing images, packaging up prints, and working on sewing projects. It's now officially organized. Love these canvas baskets alongside the metal mesh

baskets. 

Because I don't totally trust storing all my digital images on external hard drives only, I like tossing them onto dvd's as well. I know, it's kind of silly, but at least it gave me an excuse to get these perfect dvd storage boxes ;) 

If you'd like a chance to win the HomeSense gift card, just leave a comment for me and I'll make the draw on Friday January 10th. Contest is open to Canadians only this time around. For another chance to win, enter the HomeSense Neat Storage Solutions contest for a $100 gift card! 

Weekend Observations

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend.

It was the perfect weekend (nothing but rain), to stay in a finally get some things done. This is some of what went on around here...

I think our outdoor furniture should come inside now. Summer is over. 

Finally painted out the dark brown (why did that happen?) wall, and made a blind for my office. Makes 

working a whole lot more pleasant now. I've had this Hawaiian bark cloth languishing in my closet for a years, so thought I'd do something with it. I can only sew uber basic things, so when I say this blind was easy...take my word for it ;) For the how-to, click here.

That was my weekend, along with a project for Poppytalk to be posted this week. What did you get up to this weekend? 

Have a great day! 

janis

Weekend Observations

Didn't get much shopping done. Oh well, there's always tomorrow ;) What did you get up to this weekend? 

Back soon!

Janis

A little Christmas for hump day

Happy hump day! How's your week going so far?

I shot this Christmas story last Christmas, for Style at Home, and it's on news stands now. It was such a dark and gloomy day, so my assistant, Karen, and I had to be on our toes. Long exposures and lots of reflecting! Thought I'd share some of the day with you....

Angela Robinson is a Vancouver interior designer, and she produced this story along with Jamie Deck. They created most of the props - love that. The bird's nest advent calendar was a clever idea!

Angela busy at work, attaching the birds nests while the little ladies of the house observe.

A little Italian treat, baked by the homeowner, to keep us going on this long shoot. 

Erin McLaughlin, editor-in-chief of Style At Home, vacuums up bits of nest before we start shooting. 

The kitchen smelled great. Cookies everywhere. Naturally, I was all over it. Angela kept the decoration simple, with a loose garland of cedar and glass ornaments for the window. 

A glimpse at some of the other handmade goodness that was going on for this story. Love the family's name spelled out in a variety of sizes and types of letters, for the front door. 

After a long day, the cookies/props could finally, be eaten. 

Check out the December issue of Style At Home - full of Christmas inspiration. 

Back soon!

Janis

Baked

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you're having a good Monday. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I was inspired by all things Mexican on our recent little trip to California, so I've baked some Mexican brownies. They have a hit of cayenne, and are moist and delicious. 

Mexican Brownies - makes one 8" square pan (about 9 slices)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup almond meal

2 large eggs, each egg beaten separately

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Butter and flour an 8 inch square pan, knocking out excess flour. 

In a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly until melted and smooth. Remove pan from heat, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. 

Once cooled, pour melted chocolate into a medium size bowl, add sugar and almond meal and combine. Add beaten eggs, one at a time, and beat well with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth and glossy. Stir in flour, cayenne, cinnamon and salt until just combined. Do not over mix. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake for 23-25 minutes or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out with crumbs attached. Cool brownies completely in pan before cutting.  

Chocolate glaze:

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 tablespoons milk

To make glaze:

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk until smooth and glossy. Spoon onto brownies, and enjoy!

Bye for now! Have a spooky night. 

Janis

Baked

Well, that's a wrap for our labour day long weekend. Hope you all had a fun one! We've ended ours with a baby shower (for my new niece, Alice), and some really good cupcakes. I had to make sure the remaining cupcakes went with anyone but me. I cannot be trusted. The combo of almond and orange is just too much.

Almond Cupcakes with Orange Glaze - makes about 48 mini cakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Orange Glaze

2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Food colouring

To make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350f/180c.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add almond extract. In another bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt - stir into butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of milk. Spoon batter into paper lined cupcake tin.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until skewer, inserted in centre of cupcake, comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

To make glaze:
In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients. You want this to be quite runny, not a thick icing. Spread over tops of cupcakes, and eat immediately!

These are so easy to make, and a recipe I use often! Again, almond and orange. Mmmm.

It's so late in the day, so I hope your Monday was a good one!

Back soon.
janis

Sunday Observations

Hope you've had a lovely weekend! It continues for some of us, here in Canada...yeah!

This is what went on around here today. Once again, niece Annika was in our care. Poor child. I had to get heaps ready to go on a little camping trip, hence all the taffy (coming up). Anything to keep her entertained.

That's about that. Have to get back to making camp food. What did you get up to today?

Back soon!
janis

Sunday Observations

What a fantastic weekend. It's been sunny, and I became an auntie for the 10th time! How was your weekend? What did you get up to?

The day started off with an early morning shoot at Granville Island with my husband. We're working on a project for a hotel so it was pretty fun, though a tad early. ;)

I finally found a new bag for my 17" macbook pro. I have to haul it around to my shoots, so it had to be roomy and sturdy.  A little better than the actual computer's box that I've been toting. Love the stripes!

We were hanging out with one of our nieces today, so we thought a game of Toss Across was in order. It's a vintage game, so it's missing some bean bags. We created some new split pea bags.

That's it for today. I'm now sipping a refreshing Main Street Pilsner. Yum. If you live in the Vancouver area, have you had one?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Back soon.
janis
x

Hey, it's Friday!

I hope you all had a great week! I ended up shooting everyday, so I haven't done a lot of blogging, but I have received a lot of really sweet emails from some lovely bloggers. It never fails to amaze me how nice and supportive the blog world can be. I so appreciate your feedback and comments, and for taking the time to check in. So to say thanks.....

I think you know by now that one of my hobbies is baking, as well as shooting the baking process. I'll
be adding a set of 16 recipe cards, selected from my "Baked" posts, in a cloth bag, to my shop next week. As a kind of happy-friday-thank-you, I'm offering one up as a give away. All you need to do is leave a comment, to be added to the draw. That's it. Nothing else. I will send it anywhere in the world. I'll make a random draw on June 8th.

Also, I did a very simple, and inexpensive, d.i.y. over at one of my favourite blogs, Poppytalk. If you have some time, pop over! Here's a sneak peek:

I hope you all have nice weekends where ever you are! Back soon.
janis

Sunday Observations

In my early morning travels, it was a symphony of pink. The blousiest blossoms are out in full force.

 

I also did a little shopping at Olive and Joy. Julie is a talented woman!

That's what I observed in my world. Oh and I also received many last ditch desperate calls from all three major parties, here in Canada. Speaking of 3 major parties, don't forget to vote!