Compact and Cute

I hope your week's off to a good start! I'm leaving for Morocco today, and trying to get a few posts ready before I leave. 

First up is Megan Close' tiny, 1950's "bachelor" apartment, which is featured in the current issue of Style At Home.  Megan, who is the marketing and social media wiz at The Cross, has created a space that doesn't feel tiny, with lots of storage and a perfect little bed "nook". I shot this story with Megan and Stephanie Vogler (co-owner of the Cross). Take a peek... 

Megan built the headboard and tucked her bed into what would normally be used for a dining table. 

Her bed nook is separated from the living room by some funktified ikea drawers. I quite love that yellow dipped pillow. 

What do you think of Megan's apartment? Anything catching your eye?

That's it for today! I'll have a few more posts set up while I'm away. Now, I better get packing ;)  

janis

Spreading The Love with an Umbrella

Happy Friday! Hope you've all had a good week.

I've recently had the pleasure of being part of the The Love Umbrella Project. Thirteen community leaders were partnered with professional photographers to create an image, using at least one heart shaped umbrella, to show how love illuminates our community. 

It was such a fantastic experience. I was so happy to be paired up with the incredible women of Project Limelight. To use their words:

"At Project Limelight, we want to unleash the imagination, awaken curiosity and give children the opportunity to experience the magic of applause. We have set out to develop a program that offers youth living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside a safe place to build and artistic community."

Today is Day 1 of 13 days of sharing the images that were created. There will be an exhibition and silent auction, held in Vancouver, on February 14th. To see the first image and for more information, please check out The Love Umbrella Project.  Help spread the love!

Have a great weekend!

janis

Toronto Observations

I have to start by saying, I love Toronto. Such a great city. I was out there with the boys of Evoke (my husband and brother) for business. We checked out the Interior Design Show,and I caught up with a few editors that I work with all the time, but never see. Here's a little bit of my trip....

We checked out world renowned graphic designer's, Stefan Sagmeister's, The Happy Show at the Design Exchange. I left feeling, well, happy. If you're in the Toronto area, you should pop by!

The 24 hour diner at Thompson Hotel, where we stayed, in a mini blizzard. Neon glowing through snow, is a happy sight.

Met Suzanne Dimma, editor-in-chief of House and Home, for lunch. So nice to catch up with her. Here she is, busy at work on the next issue. Looked like a good one ;)

If you like taxidermy, you will love Weslodge. It's everywhere in this modern saloon style restaurant. To be honest, we didn't eat there, but did saddle up to the bar for a drink. Great atmosphere, decor, and they make a good cocktail. 

We had taken the red-eye to Toronto, and arrived at 7:30am. Ouch. Ended up going for an early lunch at Wvrst, which is pretty much a sausage palace. We opted for the veggie sausages....they were delicious. You can choose from a huge selection of sausages, then decide if you'd like a bun or have it served with curry. Simple and easy. 

The Common Thread, an installation by Quadrangle Architects, was one of the exhibits at the "Come Up To My Room" event at the Gladstone Hotel. For more info click here. 

Another installation at "Come Up To My Room. This was designed by Brothers Dressler

the masters of using reclaimed, found and responsibly harvested materials. 

That was a bit of a whirlwind! I also recommend checking out...

Patria: - a fantastic restaurant. Incredible food and service but it's the stunning, and massive, cross-stitched wall that really got me. 

Pizza Libretto: I don't think I've ever had better pizza. They make a true Neapolitan pizza and it's a great space to hang out in too. It was packed the afternoon we popped by, but we managed to squeeze in at the bar. Great value too! 

For some images of the Interior Design Show (IDS 2013), I posted several over at Poppytalk.

Have a great day!

janis

Jumping on Beds

Hope everyone had a good weekend! What did you get up to? I had a fun shoot with my friend Stephanie, co-owner of The Cross, and her adorable kids, Emerson and Hudson. Lots of jumping, feathers and laughing/screaming. A happy shoot to start off the week!

The Cross has their annual Bedding Event coming up for the month of February. I could use some new bedding for 2013....and it's all 20% off. See you there? 

Heading to Toronto tomorrow for IDS and to catch up with some of the editors I work with, but never see in person. Can't wait! 

Back soon,

janis

Baked

Happy Wednesday! Hope you're having a good week.

I baked my mom's "wacky" cake for her birthday, this past weekend, and thought I'd share it with you...in case you've never heard of it. This was the go-to cake, when we were kids, for the smaller occasions such as St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. The only thing that would change, would be the colour of the butter icing (pink for Valentine's Day, green for St. Patrick's Day. I think you get the picture.) My sister, Wendy, dug out the recipe for me. She had it in her childhood recipe book and had given it a 2 star rating out of 3, at the time ;)

Wacky Cake - makes one 8"x8" square or round cake. I doubled this recipe to make 2 rounds. 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar (I only used 1 cup total when doubling recipe)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vinegar
5 tablespoons margarine, melted
1 cup water

To Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Lightly grease pan with spray oil, and line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa into a large bowl. Add the sugar and whisk together. Make three "wells" in dry mixture. Mix the vinegar and melted margarine together and pour evenly into the three wells. Pour the water over top and stir to combine well. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre of cake, comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Orange Meringue Icing

1 cup berry/caster sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 egg whites
2 teaspoons pure orange extract

Combine the sugar, water and cream of tartar in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 minutes. In a medium bowl, beat 3 egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar mixture, while still beating, then orange extract, and continue beating for another 3 minutes until thick and glossy.

I love this cake.  Have you made a version of this cake before?

Have a lovely day!
janis

Soft and Pretty Friday

It's a beautiful, crisp and sunny day here in Vancouver. I love this kind of winter weather!

Wrapping up the week with a little soft & pretty courtesy of Joanna and Stephanie of The Cross Design.....

More on this home in the near future!

Anything special planned for the weekend? Have a good one!

janis

"Spruce" Up for Monday

Happy first Monday of the year! I hope 2013 is off to a good start for all.

In late November, I had the pleasure of shooting Spruce Collective for the February issue of House and Home magazine (out now). The Spruce girls had to completely de-Christmas their shop so to make it look a little more like "February". Sorry about that Spruce girls, but I appreciated it!

The Workshop is where they hold craft workshops and it's also available for private crafting parties. Such a great idea! The back part of the workshop is where "Trove" sets up shop. All kinds of vintage goodness for rent, and you can even book the space for photo shoots. I will keep that in mind ;) 

Spruce Collective is owned by 5 very talented woman that banded together to create a shop filled with vintage finds, locally made products, books, etc. The perfect place to gift shop. It's located in Abbotsford BC, about an hour out of Vancouver. See you there? 

Have a great day! 

janis

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