DIY: Christmas Tree Ornaments

This week is going to be all about DIY projects-one of my favourite things! If you have a DIY project you would like to share, please email me at eatliveshopblog@gmail.com.

The first project of the week is DIY Christmas ornaments (more ornament ideas to come in the weeks following Christmas). I've always loved everything about Christmas: the decorations, the Christmas tree, the food and the fun spirit surrounding the holiday's. This is my first Christmas in a place of my own which means my very own Christmas tree! Steve and I are going for a rustic vintage feel with the tree and I wanted to make some hand-made ornaments using mason jar lids. And yes my Christmas tree is already up! We put it up last weekend and there are already a ton of wrapped gifts underneath. Can you tell I was eager for the holiday season to begin???


1. The first ornament I made (shown below) I used the outside part of the lid and wrap ribbon all the way around it and then looped it up so it can hang on the tree. I liked the look of the metal from the lid showing, but it also looks great if you keep overlapping the ribbon.


2. The second grouping of ornaments (shown below) I made using the inside part of the lid. I used a center punch to punch little holes in the metal to create different designs. Have fun with the designs and don't worry too much about being a perfectionist!

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Champagne & Cupcake Party Ideas

I always believe that it's the small details that really make an event or party special and memorable. Be creative and use items around your house or visit your dollar store or craft store for ideas and inspirations.

Personalized touches:
-Steve created labels for me that we printed on coloured paper for the gift boxes and cupcake tags.
-I love having take home gifts for my guests and thought these cardboard boxes with cupcake surprises inside were the perfect gift for my friends.




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Other touches:
- A red pashima was used in place of a table runner.
- The plates were lined with printed scrapbook paper..
-Photo holder/clips from the dollar store were used to hang the cupcake labels.

I hope you enjoyed my Champagne & Cupcake Party series! I'm not a professional event planner or pastry chef by any means, so I hope my ideas have inspired you to create and plan your own party!

In celebration of the American Thanksgiving, I'm taking a break tomorrow from blogging. Happy Thanksgiving and have a great weekend!

Photos by Ted Power.

Party Ideas: Champagne & Cupcakes Recipes

Baking 3 flavours of cupcakes from scratch definitely took up the most time in getting ready for the Champagne & Cupcake party. I was really happy with the way each recipe turned out!

The carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing from Martha Stewart were the favourites for the night! To keep the recipe simple, I took out the coconut and nuts and the cupcakes still turned out fabulous.

I'm a huge fan of Magnolia Bakery, so it was no surprise that I decided to use their famous Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream icing recipe. I added in a few drops of blue food colouring to the icing for my red and aqua colour scheme and added silver balls for the touch of glamour.

I decided the last cupcake flavour should be chocolate. I improvised a bit with this recipe and sliced Hersey Kisses in half and placed them in the middle of the unbaked cupcakes to give them some oohy gooey goodness once they cooked! Once the cupcakes cooled, I sprinkled them with powered sugar.

Photos by Ted Power

Champagne & Cupcake Party DIY Projects

Disposable Wall Art
Supplies:
-8"x 10" artist canvas (I got mine from the dollar store)
-printed and/or coloured scrapbook paper (I used a mixture of both)
-double-sided tape
-sticky tack
-1 thumb tack
-wooden plaque (from the dollar store)
-white paint
-sand paper
-polyurethane

Directions for #1:
1. With your scrapbook paper face side down, centre your canvas on the paper.
2. Fold up one side of the paper at a time and secure with the double-sided tape on the wood frame. Be careful with the corners and be sure to keep them neat.
3. Using the sticky tack, place your art on the wall.

Directions for #2:
1. Follow the first 2 instructions above.
2. Paint the wooden plague white (or your colour of choice) and once it is dry, give it a good sand to create an aged weathered look.
3. Create and print out a title label on coloured paper and then glue it to the plaque.
4. Polyurethane the entire plague.
5. Once the polyurethane has dried, secure the plaque to the canvas using a tack.
6. Using the sticky tag, place your art on the wall.

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Wine Charms
Supplies
-jumbo metal rimmed tags
-coloured paper
-a print out of the initials of everyone at your party
-glue
-protractor
-scissors
-hole punch
-ball chains
-wire cutters

Directions:
1. Using the protractor, measure the inside rim on your tags to cut out your letters to the correct size. Do the same thing with your coloured paper.
2. Glue a letter to one side of your tag and glue the coloured paper on the other side of your tag. Once the glue has dried, hole punch at the top of the letters.
3. Measure the length you want for your ball chains (remember you don't want extra slack) and cut them using the wire cutters.
4. Thread the ball chain through the hole punched tag and secure to a wine or champagne glass.





Napkin Tray

Supplies:
-wooden tray (from the dollar store)
-latex paint
-polyurethane

Directions:
1. Paint the tray with colour of choice.
2. Give 2 coats of polyurethane for the extra glossy look.


Party Idea: Champagne & Cupcake Party

I had a few of my closet girlfriends over on the weekend for a night of champagne and cupcakes. It was a night filled with lots of sugar, champagne and laughter!

I was determined to stick to a budget of $50 for the party which forced me to get crafty and creative. I wanted to use items I already had to jazz up the table, so I built the colour scheme around the vintage candy machine we bought at the antique market a few weeks ago. I've always loved red and aqua together, so it was easy to choose the colour story once I decided to use the red candy machine. I wanted the table to have a vintage feel with a touch of glamour, so I added bits of silver to the table for some sparkle!

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From there I went to the dollar store and scored some great finds (look for the DIY details tomorrow). With the help of my good friend Alex, we baked all the 100+ cupcakes from scratch (recipes to follow later this week) which ended up being extremely cost effective. For the Evites I sent to the girls, I simply wrote 'I supply the cupcakes and you bring the champagne (aka cheap sparking wine)', so that took care of the cost of the alcohol for the party. With my items from the dollar store along with the use of some items around the house and baking the cupcakes ourselves, I was able to stick to my $50 budget!








Photos by Ted Power

Pick of the Week: Postlapsaria Skirt


My pick this week is the handmade 'Merrylegs' skirt by Postlapsaria. Made from vintage deadstock fabric and with an elastic waist (hello dinner AND dessert), this skirt is a must have!

Have a great weekend!

It Happened to Me

Today in my cute floral dress, black blazer, and Frye motorcylce boots this happened to me. Alone. At IKEA. Beyond embarrassing.

Wish List: Bootie


I saw this amazing bootie on Coco+Kelley this morning and I seriously fell in love. I've been on the hunt for a cool, sexy, unique, semi-comfortable bootie and I haven't been able to find anything I like at all. This Omelle bootie is everything I want, but a tad out of my price range. Please please please help me find a version for the fraction of the price!!

Wish List: New Desk

After seeing this red desk on Madebygirl last week from Roomservice (I'm sooo in love), I felt inspired to hunt for a new desk to replace my current IKEA desk. I decided to check out Etsy for some cool unique desks. I love them all, so which one is your fav?


Grey writer's desk by Uncommon

Salvaged wood steel desk by Traveisey

Unused vintage US Military folding desk from Fusion Furniture

Zebrawood and black walnut desk by Carlino Wood

Home Tour: Toronto Loft

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The amazing collection of objects in Richard's downtown Toronto loft are to die for!! This 790 square foot hard loft has the original brick walls and wooden post and beam which date back to 1905 when the building was first occupied by a refrigerator company. I love everything about this place!

via Apartment Therapy

Jimmy Choo x H&M


As much as I would of loved to get my hands on some of the Jimmy Choo x H&M collection, I just couldn't bring myself to wait hours in line this past Saturday when it made its drop. My friend Vanessa managed to grab a few pieces and she brought them by the showroom today, so I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through her purchases!

Style Alert: Red Lips

I've always loved the look of a red lip but anytime I attempt it, I end up feeling overdone. I think the trick is finding the right colour (either orange-based or blue-based depending on your skin tone) and keeping your eye make-up to a minimum (mascara and/or black eyeliner). Would you dare go red???



Photo credit: Keiko Lynn, Cupcakes & Cashmere, Stockholm Street Style

Interview With The Sartorialist




A rare interview with Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist. An inspiration to all of us.

Memories


I took my little cousin to the Santa Claus Parade yesterday and it brought back so many childhood memories. It was my family's tradition to go the parade every single year when my brother, sister and I were kids and we loved it! The red noses we got to wear, the hot chocolate, handing our Christmas wish list over to Santa's helpers and finally seeing Santa's reindeer knowing Santa wasn't far behind all contributed to the fun!

It got me thinking of all my childhood memories and my favourite things to do growing up:
-jumping in leaves
-making paper clip braces
-hanging upside down on the monkey bars
-making embroidery and gimp friendship bracelets and then wearing 10 at a time until they fell off
-going swimming at the community centre every day in the summer
-skating on outdoor rinks
-tobogganing
-pretending rocket candies were medicine
-jumping off cliffs into the lake
-pizza dinners every Friday
-looking for Rudolph in the sky on Christmas Eve and leaving cookies out for Santa
-singing with my brother and sister on long car rides
-making up dance routines
-playing red rover
-ice-cream from the ice-cream truck
-colouring in colouring books and not letting anyone else colour in my book unless they were neat (yes I was that kid!)
-painting my white canvas shoes
-shopping for back to school sneakers

What are some of your favourite childhood memories?

Pick of The Week: Rogues Gallery Duffel Bag


Once again, I'm a huge sucker for soft well made leather goods and I freaked when I saw this rugged duffel bag from Rogues Gallery! This handmade bag is one of a kind and features nautical grade hardware, a heavy gauge 2 way zip and a detachable compartment. This is my perfect weekend bag!

Happy Friday the 13th! Have an amazing weekend!

Via Highsnobiety

Colour Swap with The Someday Blog!

Hello e.l.s. readers! I'm Jill of The Someday Blog and I'm so excited to be guest posting for Renee today. Renee and I gave ourselves a little design assignment called Color Swap to share with our readers. We each selected 5 colors to send to the other person from which to build a room and an outfit. What fun! I loved the mix of blues, greys and greens that Renee chose for me...dramatic and playful at the same time. I hope you love the outfit and the bedroom...

And be sure to stop by The Someday Blog today to check out Renee's Color Swap!

xoxo,
Jill

Outfit:
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Bedroom:
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Outfit:

Evergreen Heels - Chie Mihara.

Mohair Cardigan - J. Crew.

Light Grey Tee - Barneys.

Custom Embroidered Necklace - Spin Thread.

Rag and Bone Petal Skirt - La Garconne.

Tights - Gap.

Leather Bracelet - Katie Costello.

Ted Rossi Python Cuff - Bluefly, $30.60

Room:

Area Pins Grey Bedding - Design Public.

Layered Sheer Curtains - West Elm.

Ochre Pillow - Anthropologie.

Pleat Pillow - CB2.

Teal Bench - Room and Board.

Rug - Crate & Barrel.

Number Sign - Anthropologie.

Green Metal Box - Every Eskimo

DIY Kitchen Make-over

I cannot stop thinking about this kitchen make-over from Lauren that was featured on Design*Sponge last week. Steve and I have started house hunting only to find most of the houses in our budget come with horrendous kitchens, so I can fully appreciate Lauren's budget friendly kitchen update. The transformation is truly amazing!




Style Alert: Layering Jewellery

Rules are made to be broken! I love how we live in a fashion world that now exists without rules. Wear what you want, wear what you feel. I've always loved layering my clothes, but now the thought of layering my jewellery is so appealing. Wear 3 or 4 necklaces at a time, pile on your favourite rings and stack your arms with bangles. Have fun with it!






Photo credit: Stockholm Street Style, Late Afternoon, Fashion Toast, Stylorectic, Sea of Shoes