Patterned Wallpaper

 As a graphic artist I've always loved patterns. And colour combinations.

 Ten or more years ago, my brother told me he had lined up at a movie theatre and in the trash of a designer's shop were three discarded wallpaper books. He grabbed them and put them in his car for me. I was tickled! One of the best gifts ever.

At the time I was making collages and artist trading cards so the books came in handy.

 But I've changed direction and the books just sat in my cupboard, untouched.

 I decided to chop them all out and put them in lots on my Etsy shop. 

My favourite of the papers is a collection by Scalamandré called The Grand Tour, a series of designs based on artworks from various countries.

Animal design inspired by the art in the private portfolio of Akbar, the 16th century emperor of the Mughal Dynasty. Love it.

Chinoise Exotique" is a wonderful example of Indochine design developed for export to the European market in the early 1700s .

 My absolute favourite! The mosaics inspired from a wall decoration found in an excavation on Mikonos Island off the coast of Greece. Lovely!

A new interpretation of a classical Scalamandre pattern originally adapted from an 18th century French toile.

I expect that a scrapbooker or collager will buy one of these packets of paper. They are works of art in themselves! To see my shop click here: CinnamonGirlStuff

Dear Mum

 I had a very cool Mum. Yesterday would have been her 89th birthday.
That's her on the left in the shades with her sister Sylvia in Saint John, NB in the '50s.

Mom rode an Indian motorcycle and was one of the first women radio operators in WWII.

She died in 1997 and I miss her every day!

Go Canada Go!

So proud of our Canadian men and women's hockey teams for taking home the gold in Socchi, Russia at the Winter Olympics! Way to go, Canada!

National Cupcake Day for SPCA

 Monday is National Cupcake Day for SPCAs & Humane Societies to raise funds for homeless animals. Here are my donations to be sold by Gordon Campbell at the courthouse in Cornwall (Ontario) located at 29 Second Street W. -- in the lawyer's lounge and at duty counsel office, during the day -- until supplies run out. 

 If you're in the neighbourhood, please drop by and show your support.

Amazing Sunday Meal

 On Sunday we were invited to a meal along with 20 or so other folks.

 Grilled asparagus and homemade chocolate and red pepper bread.

 Squash soup made with last summer's squash.

 Warm baby spinach with feta.

 Arctic char flown in from Iqaluit, cooked on the wood cookstove.

 Roasted potatoes...

 Check out that char!

 Roasted colour carrots.

 Setting up the plates before send off...

The final plate. Gorgeous.

 Richard and Alissia in a deep conversation.

Great conversation and of course, a cat was on my lap. Now how'd that happen?

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Every year I make a valentine for Richard that I frame. Here's this year's offering. Meow!

Buttercream Roses

 Over the years, I've made hundreds upon hundreds of buttercream roses. They look so nice and they taste great too!

I was making some roses for an upcoming project when I came upon a giant rose tip I bought last year and had totally forgotten about. So...I made two huge cabbage rose-topped cupcakes for Valentine's Day. Kinda cute, eh?

Woodsy Weekend

 The weather was perfect this weekend and so we spent most of it outside in the woods.

 We wore our snowshoes and so did this rabbit!

 I found some dead trees for Richard to cut and he got at it. This one he dropped right beside the newly installed picnic table...

 ...but, as Richard pointed out, he neglected to account for one 

big branch that knocked it over.

With the next tree, he dropped it dead centre onto a pair of stacked, plastic chairs that were supposed to be our picnic chairs. Oh well, I'm now in the market 

for a few butt-sized stumps!

Cactus and Gecko cake

 I made this cake for friends Gordon and Natalie who share January birthdays. I especially wanted to immortalize Kartini, the gecko, who passed away at the ripe age of 19. We had intended to celebrate her birthday with great fanfare, but sadly it never came to be.

I decided instead to recreated this little creature out of fondant. 

Here's the real critter in Gordon's hands, a photo I downloaded from Nat's blog.

 At any rate, they kept the sugar gecko and we dug into the red velvet cactus.

When I walked out with the cake, Nat thought I was giving her a cactus as a gift! 

What fun. 

Happy birthday you two!

Cold Day, Soup's ON!

It was darn cold today! A high of -20C with -30C over night. Time to dig around in the freezer and cook up my garden's squash from last summer. Ahhh summer. Ginger-apple-squash soup is pretty perfect at this time of year! The fruits of my labour.

Out With the Old...

 My late father's picnic table finally gave up the ghost. It's been out in the bush for about 20 years and the site of our annual winter picnic for the past five or so years...

The new and improved version is part of a double cedar wall behind the house, that was discovered this past year when my gas range was installed. I figured it would be a perfect, rustic tabletop for a new picnic table. Richard cut down two dead trees as the supports and voila! Chairs will be old plastic outdoor garden chairs that my late mother bought eons ago.
I'll post pix when it warms up a tad and we can have a picnic out in the woods.

Jack's Back Home

 In 2004, Jack and his little sister Jill showed up at my place. Luckily my friends in Montreal adopted them. Sadly, Jill died a few years back but Jack comes back to stay with me for a few weeks every Christmas when his parents vacation down south.

 Jack always had the run of the house with the three girl cats pretty much leaving him alone. But autumn's new addition of Matzo Man made me nervous.
Interestingly enough, they got along pretty well.

Jack mostly stuck to his bedroom but kept opening the door to make sure he could see what was going on in the house. And when guests stayed in the bedroom next door, Jack not only opened his door, he pushed open their door too and hopped into bed with them. See ya next year Jack. Always a pleasure.

Deer beds

 Walking in the woods we can upon a series of deer beds under the cedars.
You could see the outline of the deer's body where the snow melted around him.

 I decided to get into it and see what the view was like.

And when I looked down I saw a bit of deer fur that froze into the snow.
Sleep well my furry friends.

Birdie cupcakes

I love making cupcakes for a bird lover. Particularly when it's -27C outside and these lemony goodies remind me of spring!