Description:
Adventures in crafty living! Things to make, things to eat, things that inspire, and a few messes along the way.
Contents:
Photography Lighting Equipment – DIY Reflectors
Ever take indoor photos and everything looks a shade of yellow because of the overhead lights? Using flash also generally leaves some. Natural light is great for getting truer colors when photographing just about anything.
One way to control and amplify that natural light is to use a reflector. You’ll sometimes see professional wedding photographers toting round pieces of silver fabric to outdoor shoots. What a reflector does is direct the light in the direction youneed. You can add a little light to a shadowy portion of someone’s face, or the back of an object. They generally come in two colors: silver and gold. Silver is used for cool light, and gold can be used to warm up a photograph. You can buy one at your local camera store or you can make one for less than 1$.
DIY Light Reflector
Materials:
* 1 cardboard box with flaps on the top and bottom.
* White Glue or Tape
* Aluminum Foil
* Gold wrapping paper.
Cut out the front part of the box leaving both flaps attached. Glue gold wrapping paper to one side, and foil to the other. The foil should be crumpled slightly. This allows the light to be diffused nicely. That’s all you need to do. The flaps allow you to stand up your reflector on a tabletop and not have to hold it.
Got zero craftiness? Just use gold and silver poster board as reflectors. Zero cutting, glue, and work.
Here’s a comparison I did on an overcast day inside my apartment, using just a simple Canon Powershot camera. Look at the shadows on the left side of the image (this is where I put the reflector).
I live in Vancouver which is typically overcast and rainy a good portion of the year – this will save me from having to wait for those rare sunny days to get decent light! No more excuses for getting my Etsy store stocked up now.
Here are some more Cheap and dirty tricks for pretty pictures.
And, when your the photos still don’t turn out great, Photoshop levels tutorial.
Pumpkin Gingerbread & Turron Macarons
Happy New year!
Oh... it's back to work! I'm all full of yummy holiday good food, but there's always extra room in there for a little sweetness. We have great cooks in the family but no one is a baker. My attempts at baking don't usually turn out well so I'm constantly amazed by those many talented bakers out there. Cannelle et Vanille is one of those. Just looking at the gorgeous photos makes me hungry and happy.
If I had to pick between one of these
Here's the recipe: Pumpkin Gingerbread.
or one of these...
Here's the recipe: Turron Macarons
I really wouldn't be able to decide! Yup... I'm sure this post will REALLY make you want to stick to those new year diet resolutions. I'm terrible. I'm sorry.
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays! Here's a wintery shot of Vancouver for those of you who don't get snow. This is the first white Christmas we've had around here in a few years and we're definitely enjoying it. I'll be back in the new year with some new designs, plenty of evil plots, and crafty messes. Take care! -Tea
Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap Ideas
Every year I usually end up wrapping all the family presents because I have so much fun doing it. I think its the best part of the whole gift giving process. You can take something ordinary and make it a mystery... something to be touched, and shaken, puzzled over, and dreamed about until the day it gets opened. Wrapping doesn't have to cost you anything but a little bit of creativity. My favorite way to wrap is using brown paper bags turned inside out and wrapped with raffia. It looks very naturally pretty, you're reusing, and most of the wrapping can be recycled afterwards. Here are some other ideas:
Use the newspaper funnies, or foreign newspapers for a neat effect. The black and white print looks great contrasted with bright red or in this case, multicolored strips of origami paper. The ribbons are just strips of the same paper taped into little curls.
 Who doesn't love brown paper packages tied up with string? I saved a couple ends from jeans I had hemmed. It makes a nice alternative to ribbon and I just slipped it over the box which it fit perfectly. No sewing, no taping!
I told you I love wrapping with brown paper bags. In addition to the raffia, I cut up an old calendar for some extra embellishment.
 Not only are you reducing waste because you're not buying wrapping paper, but you'll be wrapping your gifts practically for free!
Pretty Beaded Snowflake!
A few of my friends and family have wintery birthdays, and just this past weekend one friend requested that everyone try and make a Christmas tree ornament - to be cherished forever and used every year. This snowflake wasn't super hard, but it was a little time consuming. I think it turned out very pretty! If you want to try making up something like this, Rings & Things has a tutorial.
Shopping
Phew...I actually finished with all the gifts I needed for family and friends without any last minute stress! Now, as a reward for being so good this year...how about a little shopping for me? I think I'm officially an Etsy addict. Every time I check SugarLotus, I get side tracked and end up shopping! Here are a few things in my Etsy favorites list:
scarf hoodlet by rimadesigns
The Little Seamstres Print by Mikiep
The Marissa Ring by rebecca novotny designs
Wordle Fun
Christmas is just around the corner, and so's the new year. Maybe you've noticed I've been playing with the layout of this blog lately. I've also been trying to find a better definition of what this blog is about and where it's headed in the next year. Enter Wordle. It's a nifty little application that you can paste some text into, or enter your blog url and it will create a little cloud of words. The larger the word, the more frequently it appears. Here's mine!
Funny... why did milk pop up so frequently? Must be all those cooking posts ;)
Christmas Countdown – Budget friendly gift ideas! (Part 3 Spa at Home)
Today we had our first bit of snow for the winter. Brr... Who wouldn't want a little bit of pampering in this cold weather? Here are some super simple recipes and gift ideas. These would also make great wedding favors that aren't very expensive (but look like it)!
Milk Bath Recipes - Milk baths were Cleopatra's secret to great skin.
 Photo courtesy of MyNorth.com
Herbal Milk Bath
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups dry milk powder
2 tbsp of dried herbs. Some ideas: lavender, rose petals, mint leaves, rosemary, or skip that all and use a packet of tea... yes that's right! Cut open a couple tea bags! I imagine red rose, chamomile, peppermint, or green tea would work really well.
Directions: Mix! That's it. If your herbs are in big pieces you might want to pulse them in a blender a few times before mixing it with the milk and cornstarch.
Oatmeal Milk Bath
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups dry milk powder
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup baking soda
Optional: A few drops of essential oils or herbs.
Directions: Blend the oatmeal until its a fine powder then mix with the other ingredients.
Package in jars or zip lock bags just like the rosemary salt with some directions. You'll need only about 4 - 5 tbsp of milk bath mix per bath (that's it!) and you add it to the bath while the tub is filling up.
Coffee Body Scrub - Will leave your skin exfoliated and soft. A great gift for coffee lovers!
Here's the recipe from Bella Sugar.In case you missed them, here are some other budget gift ideas: Ornaments, and Yummy Things. 
An Art Nouveau Wedding
Yes I'll admit, this has nothing to do with Christmas but I couldn't resist. I always liked the look of Art Nouveau, and since coming back from a trip to the Czech Republic I've fallen particularly in love with Alphonse Mucha's work. This is my dream wedding visualized. Everything: the colors are perfect, the setting is gorgeous, and all the guests dressed up to match the theme! It looks like a very fun day was had by all. Now...if only I had an unlimited budget and the chance to do it all again... this would be it... ~sigh~ I can still daydream...
Via The Wedding Cabaret - Check out the post for more gorgeous photos!
 
Christmas Countdown – Budget friendly gift ideas! (Part 2 Edible Gifts)
Here are some ideas for yummy edible Christmas Gifts that are lightweight on the pocket book!
Gifts in a Jar
Image from Thrifty Fun.
You can prepare all kinds of things in a jar: cookie mix, cappuccino mix, cake mix, brownie mix, even soup mix. Best of all, all you need to do is a little bit of measuring; no cooking or baking involved, but make sure to include some directions with the jar. Here’s a site with a wide variety of jar recipes.
Rosemary Sea Salt or Spice mixes
This is a great gifts for food lovers and chefs. I made some rosemary sea salt last Christmas and it was a hit. It not only smelled great it’s amazing on roasted potatoes, chicken, or baked into focaccia bread. This is really simple. Take some coarse sea salt, and pulse it a few times in a food processor, then add in the rosemary, and pulse a few times more. You want there to be some crunchy texture left over. You can also substitute any of your favorite dried herbs for the rosemary.
Here’s a photo courtesy of Martha Stewart. She dresses up the salt in a glass jar, but cheaper way to package this is to pour it into a ziplock bag, fold over a piece of cardstock or scrapbook paper, and staple it to hide the ziplock threads.
A similar idea is to make your ‘secret seasoning mix’ of various herbs. Chicken rub, BBQ spices – you can find all kinds of ingredients online. One of my favorites is a simple Italian herb mix: oregano, parsley, rosemary, and freshly grated pepper.
Baked Gifts
That's a yummy looking photo I found on Flickr.
What are the holidays without yummy cookies and sweets? If you’re a baker you probably already do this. Every year growing up I’d look forward to our neighbors amazing gingerbread cookies! A lovely wrapped plate of your specialties is something no one can turn down, and decorating cookies is one thing kids love to help with. If you’re not a baker (I'm not!) biscotti is one cookie you can make in advance and it’s actually pretty easy, or… you can cheat… and buy some frozen dough, bake it, and LOOK like the best baker in the world.
Snowman Soup
A photo from Craft Sayings.
This is a nice little stocking stuffer for good girls and boys. Here's a recipe.
So those are a few edible ideas for you. I think I'll have one more post in this series... stay tuned for part 3 next week! In case you missed it, here's part 1.
Christmas Countdown – Budget friendly gift ideas! (Part 1 Christmas Ornaments)
The winter holidays are supposed to be a time to celebrate family, but somehow this sometimes gets lost in the panicked rush of holiday parties, and shopping. It can also be a stressful time, especially if you’ve got a tight budget, or a big family to buy presents for.
The great thing is that a thoughtful gift made with love can be far more treasured than one that costs a lot of money (unless all your little brother really wants is a new PS3). My mom still has boxes of artwork we made when we were kids. Every year she puts up the paper star lantern I made one year as a Christmas gift. I made my Christmas gifts for my parents every year until I was almost done University – which was an unusually long time (but that’s another story).
So no need to stress! Here are some budget friendly (and easy) gift ideas for kids and adults.
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