Living Room Christmas Crafts - Christmas Blocks

Living Room Crafts - The "Let it Snow Blocks"

These were made from 2" blocks of wood. Luckily I have a handyman in my life, so he simply cut them from a 2x4 of scrap wood he had lying around the house. You can buy similar wooden blocks from Michael's - but they are expensive, 2-3$ per block!

I used fine sandpaper to sand the edges and sides of the blocks, to make for a nicer finish.

I painted them in Vanilla acrylic paint, then tried a Martha Stewart Stencil for the lettering. I would NOT recommend this product. The letters all bled, and the most annoying thing, all of the letters fit on the blocks except the "W" - it hung off the edges. I had to draw a W by hand. Eventually, I traced all the letters myself and did not use the stencils.

I finished off by gluing glitter snowflakes to two of the cubes with regular White Glue. These were purchased at Michael's.

I paired it all with a square vase full of sticks collected from our yard, with 4 added branches of Ashland Christmas Stems (white and red) - from Michael's. Red ribbon makes it complete!

Christmas Crafts - The Living Room

I've been a busy bee lately, working on several Christmas crafts. While I'm not even close to being done my christmas decor, I thought I would share a few pictures and ideas with you today!

I have discovered the secret to successful blogging is to hire a photographer... Unfortunately, I did not.  Here they are anyway!

The Living Room

As we rent, it is difficult to have the house exactly the way I'd like it. Our place has dark floors and dark countertops, whereas I prefer a lighter, whiter feel.  It is an open concept main floor, and this is how we have set up our living room. Our fireplace is in the corner of the room (as it in a centre block town house), which makes it almost impossible to have it as the focus of the room, which I would prefer.

[The decorations in the corner are to go on the tree - which we will be buying tonight!]

DIY Crafts in this room (click on link for How-To's)

(1) The "Let it Snow" Blocks

(2) The Gold Soldiers and Christmas Trees

(3) The Coffee Table Box

(4) The Centrepiece

(5) The Burlap Ruffle Tree Skirt

Other Fun Christmas Finds:

Pottery Barn Christmas Pillow

The Mantlepiece- a work in Progress

Lanterns from IKEA, Garland from Michael's Craft Store

More to Come....

Cara xox

Christmas Transformation has begun!

Officially November - so time to get into the Christmas Spirit!

First on the list - Switch over our Room. So here are the before and after. Still more decorations to come, but even just switching the Duvet and Pillows makes all the difference!

Before (Minus the curtains, they came with the rental)

After: Warm, Cozy plaid flannel!

Duvet Cover and Throw from The Bay.
Pre-lit Tree from The Bay.
Pillows from HomeSense.
Bench, Bedside Tables and Lamp from HomeSense.

We have a headboard on the way too - will update it once we have it installed. It matches the bench at the foot of the bed.

Hope I've inspired some Christmas Spirit!
Much more to come,

Cara xox

A Dublin City Wedding...

I've had a request (albeit from a family member!) to do a post on our beautiful wedding.

Almost 5 months ago, I got to marry the love of my life, in the city that I love, on the hottest day that Ireland had ever had. We were married at the old City Hall, an old building with high ceilings, beautiful acoustics and a very romantic feel. If you have a chance to visit Dublin, this is the kind of place that just takes your breath away.

After an intimate service, Kyle and I were whisked away to Trinity College for photos, while the rest of our guests hit one of the famous Dublin Pubs - The Stag's Head - for a few pints, and a chance to get to know each other better.

We then moved on to Medley, by famous Irish Chef, Andrew Rudd. A modern loft, set up with an open kitchen and gorgeous views into the downtown streets, it is everything we wanted for our modern reception. Our theme was "loft meets winery", which was actually quite difficult to pull off - but in the end, it was absolutely perfect.

I think the photos speak for themselves, all taken by the extremely talented Christina Brosnan (www.brosnanphotographic.com).

PS. Girls - I bought my dress on eBay for 200$ (Ann Taylor). You don't need a 10, 000$ dress to feel like 

a princess. The Jimmy Choo shoes, however, may have helped! 

And these are only a few of the 600+ photos we get to look through! If there is one thing I would recommend to all couples getting married - you will never regret going with a fantastic photographer (even if they cost more), and it really is all about the love and the food!!

At the end of the day, the guests raved about how different our wedding was was [it was intimate, with all cocktail style canapés and small dishes, no sit-down dinner], how amazing the food and the whole food-experience was [they could watch the chef preparing the dishes], and of course, how wonderful it was to walk away with a "take out" box of treats from our Candy Table. [Chocolates made specially for us by Chocolate Barr's in Stratford, Ontario - absolutely AMAZING!]

We had a wedding planner to help coordinate things from 'Across the Pond.' If you are thinking of a 

Dublin Wedding and won't be arriving until the week before the wedding, contact Collette O'Leary 

(at Elegant Events by Collette) - she is absolutely fantastic and knows all the best vendors, etc. 

We couldn't have done it without her!

The day really does go by in the blink of an eye! I'm already looking forward to our 10 year 

anniversary... back to Dublin to renew our vows? I guess we'll have to see!

More photos to follow, as we had a separate photographer for the Dancing Portion of the evening.

But that's it for now, 

Cara xox

Pumpkin Cake - A Recipe to Beat All Recipes!

Firstly, yes. It has been a while since my last post. Luckily, I am done my final exam of the season (sat through 8 hours of boring, awful, vague questions!), so now I can focus on the more important things - crafts and Christmas!

I'm so excited about some of the crafts I have planned, some of which I have started and will post soon, but as one last tribute to autumn, I give you the recipe that cannot be beat for Pumpkin Cake.

This recipe (which is a mismatch of other recipes) was moist, easy to make, and so delicious my husband went to bed with a sore stomach because he couldn't stop helping himself to "just one more piece".

Even by the picture - you can tell this is a winner. It tastes even better than it looks. Just try it.... yum.

Pumpkin Cake
4 Eggs
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Water
450ml pureed Pumpkin
2 cups Granulated Sugar
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bakin Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg/Ground cloves (optional)

Maple Cream Cheese Icing
150g Cream Cheese (softened)
1/4 cup butter (softened)
2 cups Icing Sugar
1/4-1/3 cup Canadian Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Candied Pecans (topping)
1 cup Pecan Halves
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Brown Sugar


Directions - Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Prepare your pan. I used a Bundt Cake pan, and the recipe made the perfect amount to fill it. It would also work well in cupcakes, rectangular, two small round or square pans. Butter and flour your pan.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, water and pumpkin. I use a whisk to get some air into the batter.

4. Add in the flour, slowly. Then add in the rest of the dry ingredients, and mix thoroughly. Mix for at least 3 minutes to incorporate air into the mixture.

5. Pour into your pan (s) and place into the middle rack of the oven.

6. Bundt Cake: Cook for 45-55mins, depending on your oven. It will rise a lot, so ensure there is quite a bit of room in your pan. Check with a toothpick (it is done when the toothpick comes out clean), and do not overcook to ensure it remains moist.
Time will be less for cupcakes or other cake sizes. Check more frequently.

7. Take out of oven. Leave in pan until completely cool (especially if using the bundt pan). If you shake it a little, it will help loosen it from the pan.

              

 

Directions - Icing
1. Blend butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Add icing sugar and blend very carefully to avoid icing sugar going all over the counter! Mix with giant spoon.

2. Add vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup. Ensure well blended by mixing with an electric mixer.

3. The consistency will be quite thick. If you'd like it to be more fluid, add more maple syrup.

4. Add gel colouring if desired - then enjoy decorating your cake! I used a spatula, but there are infinite options, using icing tips, etc.

Directions - Topping
1. Add pecans to non-stick pan. Heat over medium heat for a few minutes, until pecans start to smell and brown.

2. Add melted butter, and ensure pecans are coated well.

3. Add brown sugar, and stir well until caramelized.

4. Remove from heat and spread onto either parchment or wax paper. Allow to cool, then chop up and sprinkle on top of cake.

And you are done. Take photos, Instagram and brag to your friends...
Then grab a fork and dig in!

Hope it turned out!
Until the next post,

Cara xox