IN LOVE

long story short, i'm in love with the lil one.
she's my brother and sister-in-law's baby and she is adoooorable.
so tiny and cute, i can't help but want to smother her with kisses every time i see her.

she lives in a different province so i miss her soo dearly.
but thank goodness my sis-in-law (middle-top pic) has her own blog as well to give us tips on motherhood and other things, be sure to check it out here!
she posts recipes (amazing cook), motherhood secrets, DIY projects and a whole lot more.

just had to say, i love this little one!!

this is the babe i threw a mini baby shower for and gave some baby gift ideas

PERFECTLY MATCHING BIRDCAGE VEIL

my grandma & i made my wedding veil together!

believe it or not, it only costed about $10.

pretty insane when veils out there cost hundreds of dollars.

AND....it matched perfectly with my wedding dress.

where i got the material:

#1. went to a fabric store 

i went to Dressew in Vancouver - 

found the french netting and bought it literally for a few bucks

#2. went to Michaels Arts & Craft store

bought the silver hair comb for another few bucks

#3. got the floral lace fabric from the extra hem of my wedding dress!

i'm short so of course, i had some of the lace cut off the bottom of my dress - 

and asked my seamstress to save me the lace!

the picture above shows the back of the lace and comb where we sewed them to the netting.
the sewing part was easy = just take a needle and white thread to weave in and out through the lace and comb.  when sewing through the netting make sure the thread goes through the squares of the netting.

the more difficult part was measuring the amount of netting you want for your headpiece,
and cutting out the flowers from the lace and arranging them the way you want.

but really, that isn't too difficult at all.
we made this in an afternoon and holds so much more sentimental meaning that i made it with my gramma! 
hope this helps your wedding DIY creativity!

find out more about my wedding and hear the wedding song i wrote for my hubby here

A GIFT FOR A NEWBORN

my new little niece is the cutest thing ever!

vic & i wanted to get her a little present ...not just clothes this time,
something that would last a bit longer and something they didn't have.

SO i made her a little picture on pixlr.com. 

super simple - grab this chalkboard background and draw away!

(i used a tablet to draw the heart vine)

then we engraved her name onto baby spoons.

i still have my "kristen" green and pink baby spoon from when i was a 

kid so thought this would last her a lifetime!

so if you're looking for gift ideas for babies - here are just a couple :)

for more - check out the mini baby shower & some recipes i used for little mia,
or step into our world and see some pics of us holding the newborn babe just a couple weeks old

PICTURE FRAME CRAZE

after a good 8+ months of having these picture frames hanging with no pictures,

i thought it was about fine time to fill them in.

the problem i had - which is why i waited so long was...what if the pictures don't go together?

what if it looks bad and i wasted so much time and money printing them?

do i go colour pictures, or do i go black and white? 
yikes. 

...and that's why i waited so long to fill them.

the neat thing about these pictures is - i spent no more than $2-3 on them ALL.

believe it or not, i found 8 out of 12 pictures online.

google image search baby. haha!

the trick that make your search fast is to know what you want. 

for example, the pictures below: i searched something like "feather black and white sketch" 

the middle maple leaf was the 2nd picture to show up on google for "maple leaf sketch"!

how easy is that!

once you have the picture you want - making sure they're good quality pictures

...super important - but because the picture frames i had were for the most part pretty small...these pictures turned out great!

...you then take your picture - transfer it onto Word - Microsoft Office or a program you're familiar with.  change the size dimensions of the picture to the size of your frame. 

print it off at home with your own printer (!) - and you've got yourself some beautiful wall art.

the question i previously had about whether it should be coloured pictures or not - was soon answered when i started to put pictures in the frames.  at first, i had 8-9 black and white pictures (easier to print, and i like the look), and then added a couple pictures in with colour.  i quickly decided it didn't look good with colour only for a few of them.  they all didn't blend together and the coloured ones popped out much more (my opinion only). so if you like the black and white look, i'd encourage you to stick to black and white for them all!

the only pictures you see up there that aren't from google search are:

1. the top seal with the top hat = that was actually from ikea

2. the middle "love unconditionally" script = was made by my husband, that talented one

3. the bottom left corner messy sketching = was drawn by me and my husband on the plane coming back from our honeymoon - killing time hahaha we amuse ourselves in interesting ways

4. a 4x6 picture of us when we were dating!

.....cheap & so so convenient.

for more: find out what paint colour we used on this wall and the process behind it!

CHOCOLATE, BUTTERSCOTCH, STRAWBERRY LAYERED CHEESECAKE

yuuuuum. this is two different types of cheesecakes put together to make a layered cheesecake!

top layer = chocolate & butterscotch no bake cheesecake
middle layer = the regularly fabulous baked cheesecake
bottom layer = graham cracker crust

baking improvisation to it's finest. i first thought i would just try this baked cheesecake (used only about half the recipe). BUT turns out the layer of my cheesecake compared to the crust was a bit thinner than i expected.
after baking the thing, i ended up with this:

and me, not being satisfied with it...i thought i'd give it a try & add another layer on top.
i couldn't bake it any more or else the bottom layers would burn, so i added a no-bake cheesecake layer. cut this recipe by a third (forget the crust), used half chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips (i'd use all chocolate chips if i did it again - just ran out this time :P)...pop it on top as the top layer (with it all back in the springform pan), and chill in the fridge for a few hours!

add those strawberries on top!

then take the technique of the plastic bag (bottom of this page),
but microwave-melt the chocolate chips in the bag before cutting the hole
& decorate away! (i stuck to only horizontal lines for consistency this time)
but decorate as you wish, i'd love to see & learn new ways of decorating!

the combo of the 3 layers turned out to be mm mm good,
check out the links above and try it out for yourself!