Crayon Hearts

This weekend the hubby went away and the boys and I had some Quality Time together. I would just like to say how much respect and admiration I have for actual single parents, especially those who have to work one or more jobs.  I knew my husband and I were a good team, but you just don't realize how much you depend on each other until your team mate skips town.

Anyway, we did do a few activities besides Netflix...  I had bought a silicone heart mould at the dollar store before Valentine's Day and the boys have a bucket of crayons they never use - they are straight up marker dudes.  I had seen lots of tutorials about melting down crayons and when I suggested it they were pretty excited.  I won't describe the whole process, since there are lots of tutorials online, but the essentials are:

1. Take paper off crayons: this is kind of tedious and your kids will abandon you and your nails will never be the same again.
2. Break crayons into little pieces:  or not so little, depending on your hand strength.
3. Put them in the silicone mould: if you want hearts that are actually shaped like hearts, you may want to skip the dollar store and invest at, say, Walmart.  (Our mould was promptly chucked in the garbage after this craft, and I am relieved to say that none of it remained in the oven.)
4. Back up 3 steps and set the oven to 200 - 250 degrees.
5. Once your oven has heated, put the mould on a baking sheet and pop 'er in.  Plug your nose and watch them melt, slowly, for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Open windows.  Wonder how many toxins are in crayons and look worriedly at your children.
6. Put them on the back porch to cool down.
7. Ooh and Aah as you pop them out of the mould and watch your kids colour diligently until they remember they don't like crayons, get bored, and go watch Netflix.

The weird thing was how the pigment sank to the bottom and all the extra (filler?) wax pooled at the top.  I assume that these were probably not top-of-the-line crayons... I didn't remember anyone mentioning this online.

Me being me, I took out a paring knife and shaved off the extra wax. Then I noticed the shaving were kind of pretty so I took photos.  Then I went and got my hair dryer and experimented with melting the shavings onto paper and canvas.  They looked sort of pretty until they got quite liquidy and the green overpowered all the other colours.  The result sort of looked like someone barfed on a canvas.  I didn't take photos.  But it was kind of fun to get my hands dirty and play around. I also noticed that the heart crayons made it into their stories and play for the rest of the weekend (I think at one point they were alien space ships) so I am calling it a successful craft.  :)

Anybody out there?

Holy Sweet Mother Of Pearl, switching internet hosts is not for the faint of heart*.  That goes double when you are originally on Blogger and don't actually know who is currently hosting your blog!  (It is eNom.com by the way.)  Trying to remember all my passwords (with a special character? without??), requesting unknown hosts to unlock domains, having secret codes sent to you by both hosts - I don't know how people get away with all the crazy stuff they do online when you have to navigate the cryptic-undercover-secret-handshake back alleys of the internet just to move a design blog.  Add to that the fact that all my recent online charges got my credit card blocked (which of course landed me in a whole other realm of security shenanigans), and you have the recipe for one confused and frustrated blogger, with a blog lost in the ether.

But lo and behold, here I am - I guess if you are reading this you found me!  And thanks to everyone who sent me panicked emails and texts wondering what the hell happened to my blog, it made me so happy to know you guys got my back. :)

I am still on Blogger for now, but with Bluehost.  I am planning to move over to Word Press eventually, once I get a business going, but I don't want to let go of this design I worked so hard on, at least not yet. :)

*Apparently you can pay people to figure this crap out for you, if you aren't cheap (and ignorant) like me...

Lil' Ol' Me on National TV

Hearing the sound of your voice on the answering machine is strange.  Watching yourself give a tour of your home on national television in the middle of a live studio audience is... surreal.  Today the house tour I filmed a couple of weeks ago and the "on-air" interview I did last week finally aired.  Well, I shouldn't say finally - I am actually sort of stunned by how fast this all happened!  I have only watched it once - my neighbour kindly lent me her keys so I could bring the kids over to see it as it aired.  They weren't even home, but we don't have cable,  and the boys were thrilled to see their rooms on TV.

I will post more about it tomorrow, but I leave you with the link: http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/2012/11/lisa-mackays-wicked-decor.html

Gosh, my palms are starting to sweat just posting that image!  Thanks to everyone at Steven and Chris, they were so sweet.  The videographer was fantastic, the producer kept me calm and succinct, the senior producer had it all organized perfectly, and Steven and Chris were charming and kind.  It was a fabulous experience - one I never would have thought I would be blogging about - and I am so happy my mom got to be there too! Sadly the online clip doesn't show the studio segment with my mom and I, (neither of us had any idea they were going to mic her!), because she looked great. :)  Oh, and in case you are wondering, no - my house never, ever, ever looks this clean.

Pretty Palette

I posted Emma's bedroom reveal a little while ago and am still thinking about it's beautiful soft palette.  It is so natural and light but also slightly feminine, and the Kilim pillows and woven basket lend an exotic touch.  I had so much fun doing my last Pinterest palette post, I thought I would do another!

Pretty Palette

I saw this amazing photo on Solid Frog and picked out the palette below it, maybe because of the rain today but I am feeling the soft, dusty colours.  It inspired me to put together a few images from Pinterest.

Wow I am really getting hooked in Pinterest, I could make these forever.  Are you on there?  I would love to follow you - let me know!  Or you can find me here.

Virtual Shopping at Zara

Ever have one of those days where you just feel like nothing is going your way, everything you touch falls apart, nobody likes you, you're fat and out-of-shape, you're pretty sure you are going to get fired, you never get to see your kids, and generally you want to go back to bed and try for a do-over (or maybe just stay there)?  No, I didn't think so.  Well when life gets me down like that, I do what any other responsible person would do - I go shopping (and then have a pint when I get home).  But since I really can't afford to shop (and I haven't the time because the husband is mountain biking after work and I have to go home to release the nanny - which let's be honest is the actual reason) I have to find solace in the internet.  Zara is the perfect choice beacuse they are hitting it out of the park this spring aaaaand they don't have online shopping so Mr. Credit Card doesn't get all cranky.

Ahhh... so much better (except for the nagging comments in the back of my mind about width of thighs and length of legs, etc...)

(I think I may have to add parenthesis to my long list of addictions...)

Clementines

I love how the internet is full of visual wisdom...  or wisdom in visual form?  Or... stuff you agree with that is pretty to look at.  Yeah, that.  While winter isn't sucking at the moment (love all this snow), it would definitely be less enjoyable without clementines, wouldn't you agree?  Now... carry on with whatever you were doing before you started reading this inane post... Thanks for the visual, um, thing Melanie.  Artwork by Dan Meth.

Gifted

I am a bit behind on my Google reader, so you may all already be all over this new online mag, but I just discovered Gifted this evening and I love it!  It is published by Ez, the creative genius behind Creature Comforts blog.  There are so many awesome ideas, free printables, and fabulous gift ideas for just about everybody.  But the DIY's are of course my fav, and I grabbed a few screen captures.  Not that I had to - seems Ez is also a marketing genius.  She recruited A-list bloggers to contribute, which of course means mentions and buy-ins from the most read blogs out there.  And I mean this in the most admiring way possible - the stuff from these gals is great, and makes the mag worth reading as well, and the idea is genius.  She also has several cute buttons you can put on your blog to help spread the love, and a whole bunch of blog-ready images on the Gifted flickr page - where you can of course also upload your own take on any of the ideas in the magazine!  I love all of this almost as much as the magazine itself!  Bravo Ez!

Therese Sennerholt

I can't remember where I saw the designs of Therese Sennerholt (maybe See Saw?) but her site is as lovely as her prints.  The designs are so striking, and the styling of the photos is beautiful.  I am still kind of on the fence about word art, but some of these are very tempting (until you convert from SEK!)  Here are some shots of her site and her works:

This one above NEEDS to be owned by my friend Kate.

War on trends

I am gonna guess that you guys are less addicted to design-blog-land than I (my addiction is unhealthy so I am hoping you lead a more balanced life) but maybe you are in the same rehab-worthy boat.  Either way you may have seen several "trends-we-hate" posts out there.  I always read them and partly agree, partly disagree.  I think in the blog age great rooms spark trends faster than you can say DIY, and then the resulting photos are circulated so quickly, and so often, that we get tired of them much faster than we would normally.  And, like fashion, some trends just plain don't work with your space(/ass), while other trends are perfect for you, and will be when they are no longer trendy.  So a trend and its application is often a matter of personal choice and style.

That all being said, I just came across this Trend-Hate post on My Favourite and My Best, and had to laugh my head off.  The trends are all there - chalkboard paint, DIY, chevrons, greek keys, hipster moustaches at weddings - but her take on them is so vehement it had to make me laugh.  I don't know if I love her or am afraid of her.  I don't think I have seen the f-word so many times on one blog.  Awesome.

She has another subsequent post which is also worth reading, as are many of the comments.  So, what is your take on design trend hate?  And/or liberal swearing in blog posts?  :)