Moulding is EVERYTHING - #projectfoyer and #projectgetroomsreadyforkids

I spoke too soon on the baby sleep awesomenss...got a grande total of about 3 hours last night...arg.

Ah well- onwards and upwards as they say.

I've got some updates on #projectfoyer to share.

If you recall, the original design board was full of colour...

...and though I loved that direction, something made me want to go a completely different route...

...probably because I find myself wanting more neutrals in general...in my own home and in others.

So...we moved forward with plan B as it were and things are coming along.

As of now, the pair of black chairs you see in that board have been purchased, the amazing Oly bench is on order and the painting/panelling has been done.

Once again...the befores....

...and hello AFTERS...

...the panelling is ah-maaze (PS, if you need a guy to do this, let me know...my guys is the BESTEST) and I love the newly painted black stairs.

We also continued the paneling all the way upstairs...

...and it's super purdy.

Happy, happy.

Stay tuned for lighting, runner and furniture updates and a final reveal very soonly.

For now, a little peak at some small moulding action at my place...this happened to the basement doors last night...

...yummalicious.

And with that, it's official...I'm totally obsessed with moulding...want to do up my entire house and the walls of pretty much every project I come across.

xo

Giveaway: Windows 8 Tablet, Keyboard Dock and Stylus Brush

So many of you mentioned yesterday that you were dying to get your hands on the Fresh Paint app yourself. Well, here's your chance! The Fresh Paint team provided me with a tablet with the Windows 8 software, a keyboard dock (making your tablet basically a fully functioning laptop), and a really cool stylus brush to give away so you can create your own masterpieces in Fresh Paint.

(one of my recent Fresh Paint creations - I'm loving this app!)

So to enter to win the tablet, keyboard and brush stylus, please leave a comment on this post, sharing what type of painting projects you'd try with the Fresh Paint app. Abstracts? Portraits? Hoping to import a photo in using the "wet paint" function? Feel free to link to inspiration images. We'd love to see!

***This just in! CanvasPop is throwing in a free 12x18 custom canvas print of your masterpiece as part of the give away. How's that for sweetening the pot? :)

Contest ends Sunday May 5 at midnight. I've opened up the comments to allow for unregistered users. The winner will be emailed so please be sure to leave you email address if you're not signed in. Good luck!

Need Mother's Day Gifts? Shoppers Drug Mart Has You Covered!

With Mother's Day quickly approaching, I know you're all on the lookout for some great gift ideas.

Thankfully, my Canadian friends need not look any further than their nearest Shoppers Drug Mart store.

Running from April 27th- May 12th is a Mother's Day campaign...

...that not only gives you 20x the Optimum points for every purchase, from May 4th- May 10th (PS...Optimum points are the BESTEST!) but also provides you with a stunning selection of gifts that any mom would love, love, love to receive...

...what mom wouldn't adore one of these fragrance, cosmetic, and/or spa like goodies?  None I say!!!

Of course, if this sort of prezzie isn't at the top of your list, Shoppers also offers chocolates, magazines, and gift cards of every possible variety.

Basically, there's zero chance of not finding what you're looking for...promise!!!

xo

Playing with Fresh Paint

I was thrilled when Microsoft reached out to me about trying out a new app called Fresh Paint they developed for their Windows 8 touch screen device. Fresh Paint was first introduced in MoMa's Material's Lab, and was met with high acclaim. I was also totally blown away by the realistic look of the painting application.

To practice I referenced this painting and tried my first go-round. Here's the base:


And here's the finished version:

And my second try, with apples:

The dimension of the strokes looks a lot like real oil paint, right? Like any more involved app, it takes some time to figure out how everything works, but after three or four paintings, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on how to use all the functions. I like "real" painting a lot, but it is so much work to pull out all my oils and make a huge mess and then there's the clean up with all those chemicals, not to mention waiting around for a week for the paint to dry. I love that with Fresh Paint, I could make a painting in like 20 minutes while I'm lounging on the sofa. Such a relaxer!

So once I felt like I had the hang of painting with the app and the brush stylus, I tried Fresh Paint's cool feature where you can import any image and the colors become wet paint, so you can manipulate the image and make it look painted. It's like advanced doodling - no creativity or brain work required! So, so awesome.

Since Mother's Day is around the corner, I decided I wanted to use the app to make something special for my Mom (and she already saw the painting, so I'm not blowing any surprises here.) :) I've talked about my Grandma Johnson before, who immigrated from Sweden when she was 19. This photo has always been my favorite of her. It was taken just before they left their home to move to the US.

Grandma Johnson lived to be more than 100 years old. She was independent, headstrong, lovely, intelligent, creative, and loving. We all think of her as the matriarch of our huge family. One of the first and most memorable things we've done since moving to New York was to go to Ellis Island when my parents were in town visiting. We were able to check the scans of the ships' logs to see Grandma's and her parents' signatures. It was really amazing.
I thought it would be fun to see if I could use Fresh Paint to paint on top of the old photo scan and recreate a loose, more abstract and painterly version of the photo in color. To do this, you import the photo in the same way as the "wet paint" method, but this time I layered paint color on top of the black and white image, just using the photo as a sort of template. I liked getting to guess what color her clothes would have been, and it was fun to add color to the room through the rug, wallpaper and furniture.

I think the thing that makes the Fresh Paint app so realistic is the seemingly infinite color possibilities. Every shade you could ever dream up is right at your finger tips.
 
  The brush stylus makes the process feel so real. I was able to smooth out her face and add in more detail in the room.
 
And here's the finished painting. I love that it's not a perfect replica of the photo. This actually looks a lot more like Grandma did as an older adult, which makes me really happy. This is more like how I remember her.

I had two of the finished images printed on heavy cardstock at my local printers for $2 each (talk about affordable art!). I'm giving a framed one to my mom for Mother's Day, and the other I framed in one of my favorite antique frames and hung in my girls' room.

My girls know all about Grandma Johnson and how special she was to me, and I love that they get to see her photo every day in their room.
 


I can't wait to keep practicing with the Fresh Paint app! I've already got a whole folder of images on my desktop that I'm so excited to paint over and print out. :)

This post was sponsored by Microsoft's Fresh Paint app, available exclusively on Windows 8. All opinions are my own. 

Furniture, a Video and a Room

Morning friends.

It's a good one for me...my precious 6 week old did the impossible and slept from 7pm-2am last night...that's 7 straight hours my friend...admittedly, it was in the swing and I know when it comes time to sleep in a bed I'll pretty  much be back to square one but for now, I'm ecstatic to say the least...feel like I could take on the world today now that I've had about 6 hours of sleep...whole new woman I am;)

As for the rest of the weekend, most of it was spent shopping.

Saturday was largely dedicated to a very exciting meeting at one of the most heavenly furniture stores here in Toronto...there's news coming on that front but for now, I'll tease you with some of what's up at Barrymore...

...aka...

"...a place where furniture isn’t manufactured. It’s made by hand, made for generations (since 1919). We are committed to quality you can see: you can watch cutters, sewers and upholsterers with years of training, experience and dedication at work through the large windows in our showroom. Many of the more than 200 styles of Barrymore sofas and chairs are displayed in our Furniture Galleries adjacent to our Factory. A spacious Fabric Room with both natural and room lighting and thousands of fabric and leather samples is available for your convenience..."

This is high end/ridiculously fabulous/quality furniture my friends... investment pieces that can be totally customized and made to perfectly suite your space...gorgeousity everywhere.

A sampling of the goodies I saw/lusted after while there...

1. Can't you just picture this delicately feminine bed in a crisp and modern loft space? The contrast would be heavenly.

2. I'm feeling as though I NEEEEED this silk settee at the foot of my bed...SO gorgeous...I mean the shape...the fabric....sweet jesus.

3. Loving the ginormous scale of this table...hello dinner party of 12.

4.  Such a sweet little vignette ..would be so pretty in a very lucky little girl's room...or mine;)

And saving what I think are the best for last...

5. THIS...

I mean really...could you not drop dead over this...if only I had any place/budget for it ...and by 'it', I properly  mean 'confidante'...that's 'its' proper name...who knew...not me...what I did know/am now sure of, is that one day I will have a foyer or dressing room that perfectly suits one...totes my new life's ambition.

6.  This pink silk ikat...mixed with this sofa's lines...mixed with the neutral chinoiserie wallpaper....just stop it!

So yup....I saw MANY things I pretty much am dying/willing to sell body parts to own.

Moving on.

Sunday was spent shopping for kid's clothes...always fun.

And speaking of little ones, my daughter's TV show director posted this little video on Facebook the other day and since I know it will totally fix the Monday blues (if you suffer from those,) I'm posting for your viewing pleasure.

Hilarious.

And finally...check back later today for post #2...a little Mother's Day special of sorts.

PS...this room is EVERYTHING...

via

I want every single inch of it to be mine.

xo

Dragon's Maze PreRelease

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

This is a reminder that we'll be without any interweb next week as we try to survive the wilds of Northern Ontario - expect us back online 6th May with tons of Magic: the Gathering updates.

Today, for our last post ahead of our so-called 'vacation', here is some coverage of last night's (Midnight) Dragon's Maze PreRelease at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario . . .  
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First up, here's the vid -

 
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We took an Orzhov Guild Pack with Golgari as the 'secret' guild.  Here's the pulls -

Rares - Guild Packs :
• Orzhov - Merciless Eviction
• Golgari - Deathrite Shaman

Rares - Dragon's Maze Packs :
• Pack 1 - Emmara Tandris
• Pack 2 - Catch // Release
• Pack 3 - Blood Scrivener
• Pack 4 - Skylasher + Blood Crypt
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. . . And here's a bunch of pics from the event -

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We had some good games but dropped early because of the trip.  Make sure to get your Dragon's Maze preorders in to MTG Mint Card and get the newest cardboard awesomeness in your paws fast. 
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