Happy November

The last of the leaves are falling here. I had a wonderful bike ride today through the treed streets of Vancouver, the leaves lofting their way to the ground.... I hope you are all enjoying the last days of fall....

Via Spirit Mountain

Why don't I...

Carry out one act of kindness....? ...a day?

Remember the Magnets

I love great magnets - they are useful and beautiful! And, if on your fridge, they are inevitably viewed (along with all the photos) by all of your guests!

Via Marimekko

Below are the magnet creations of two Etsy artists....

Marajane01

panAsh

sjrr4

Ticklebuttons

Although with all of the ideas for magnets, I would have to have a fridge like this one by Vodafone, which is outside the Heathrow airport.....

Via Cherryflava

Sharpie Creations

can I use sharpies on a daily basis at work, how lucky am I?!? I would have to say they are probably my favourite writing tool...Below are some more creative ideas for sharpies.....

Revamp -

My friend had a pair of black boots that were looking kind of tired, then a few days later they looked amazing! I ask her what she did and she said "sharpied them". Apparently she just took a sharpie to it and spruced it up a little! The key is to evenly cover the whole boot and then apply some black shoe polish to make it look more natural!

Refinish -

I just love this armoire by Anne James, as seen on Haute*Nature, and since I love black and white, I thought it would be great to do this to one of my pieces at home but with just a black Sharpie - I would make sure to get ones with different pen tip thicknesses in order to mix it up!

Via Haute*Nature

Wall art -

Who needs wallpaper when you have a sharpie? As seen on Design*Sponge, you can create your own wall texture with just a flick of the wrist, or rather several flicks! It would work great with a stencil, since you won't have to worry about it leaking and ruining the pattern!

Via Design*Sponge

Shirt options -

Since sharpies don't wash out - they are great for making shirt designs - you can create your own drawing on a plain shirt, add a little something (such as an environmental slogan) to an already designed shirt, or try this modern twist of TieDye.

Via about.com

Sleep the day away

I am so looking forward to upcoming two weeks off... I am going to catch up on a lot of things - most importantly is sleep! Ah what I would give to jump into this bed right now!

Via Elle Decor

Jackie Kennedy Onassis

In the spirit of the US presidential campaign, here's a historical White house tiding....

Jackie Kennedy has always been well known for her amazing style - the pin cushion hats, the suits, the hats, and those large glasses. But did you know that Jackie Kennedy also painted and sketched?

Jackie and Caroline

She also restored the White house, making sure to fill the rooms with historically significant pieces and initiating safeguards so that they will be there for many of presidents to come. Such an inspiration to be creative - even if it isn't going to be a legacy in the White house, it still makes a difference!

Heavenly coffee break.

Keeping in the rustic theme I started on Friday, I just wanted to post about this adorable coffee shop in Coleman Alberta. Where is that? Well, for most of you it is middle-of-no-where Southwestern Alberta; but for those who ski, it is just after Frank Slide on the way to Fernie from Calgary. I usually associate Coleman with slow speed limits and fueling options, that is, until now! As I rolled into Coleman I noticed this large sign - Blackbird Coffee. Since I am obsessed with birds right now, I had to pull in, to check it out. And while I don't get why it is called Blackbird, it doesn't make a difference because it's great! On a whole, it is simple and eclectic and down to earth. The serving bar area is open, allowing you to still feel the space of the church with the high ceilings and stained glass. There are stellar antiques in the back, including some really well kept 1950s stainless steel items. The seating is a merry mismatch of chairs, couches and tables. I was almost sad that this was not next to a university since it would have been such a great hang out for students. The lady behind the bar was super friendly, and made up for the fact that they didn't have any skim milk. I just loved how quaint and cute this place was - I couldn't hear the road from inside, and all the details could have kept me there for hours! Unfortunately I had to move along...Next time, however I will make sure to have a few hours to spare for a snack and a browse. I hope they do well and stay there long enough for me to return!

Easy Eco Mondays - Phantom Energy

To follow up on my post on charging stations, I wanted to address the issue of having chargers or electronics constantly plugged in. It is arguable as to how much Phantom Energy is used by leaving chargers plugged in, however I am still a firm believer that every little bit counts! Below is a list of ways to combat this from easy to moderately involved.

1. Unplug the power cord for your electronic or charger from the wall every time you are not using the product.


2. Before leaving on a long trip, unplug all electronics and chargers.


3. Add an on-off switch to your wall socket. They cost about 15 dollars from Home Depot and work wonders. I think their main purpose is for rooms where you don’t have an overhead light but you want to be able to turn a lamp on as soon as you walk in the room. However it would also work well if you had all your electronics plugged into one of these. You would just switch off the outlet when you leave the room.


4. Smart Strip Power Strips. (As introduced to me here by Beth) They have three different types of outlets; one is the Control, some are Automatic, and some are Constants. It works like this: You plug most of your items into Automatic outlets, then you choose an electronic to control the power to your Automatics and plug that into your Control outlet. Whenever you turn off your Control electronic, it cuts the power to all your Automatic electronics. You also have some Constants which are not affected by the control electronic. I think this would make sense the most in a home entertainment unit.


5. Have your outlets wired so that the power to them can be turned on and off by a switch on the wall. This would work quite well for the room you have the TV and stereo in. One flick of the switch and all of your electronics would be turned off!

Hopefully one of these ideas gets you unplugging!

Buy less, DIY more.

I am feeling rather uninspired these days and not from lack of inspirational material; Desire to Inspire, and Apartment #34 have been posting some lust worthy items fore sure! It is just that maybe it doesn’t feel right to lust with the economic turmoil. So I tried to remedy this by looking for some fun DIYs and before and afters on Design*Sponge. And so it is a few DIYs that have started to lift me from my inspiration dry spell and I will share today. Hopefully these can be incorporated into my imaginary living situation to be described next week!

So enjoy these DIYs

The wood clock from Design*Sponge

Design Sponge

I love how this rustic clock can still look crisp clean and modern. I would probably put more numbers on the clock than just 12, but I just love the idea.

The log candle holders - here and here

This idea originally came from my mom, who found a log on the side of the road and dragged it back to our cabin. She explained to me her vision – to have the log standing on its end, and to have 3 large diameter candles sunk into the the top of the wood (by drilling out holes). She would then leave it outside as and light it when we had guests coming over.

Gathering Moss

Unfortunately my dad, not knowing this idea threw out the log, and so the project was never completed. However it had me thinking, has anyone else done this? I searched a bit online and found these two DIYs; they aren’t quite what my mom had described, but still a great idea!

DIY Network

The rustic chandelier

The Chandelier Blog

This appears like it could be a made for minimal effort and skill (which I like!) but still have make a great bold peice! I wonder how it would look with branches that still have the bark on them? And what would it look like with LEDs? Or with fern leaves hanging outside? The posibilites are endless!

Do you notice a trend with these DIYs? They relate to a post I am working on for next week... stay tuned!

Sweater Season Re-Purposed

I just couldn't help but post about these cute items by plytextiles on Etsy. These were just posted on Apartment Therapy today, and it just seemed fitting since I am back at work in the cold arctic! If only I could have a pair of those Favourite Mittens sent up here!

And look what colour combination I found! I love how two different shades of yellow were used, they really make those cubes 3D!

Real Fall Colours

I am sorry that I have been soooo absent! I was hijacked by life! Here are a few photos of the fall colours I have experienced as of late!


An early October weekend in Alberta Canada!

Rasberry Purple and Blueberry Blue!

While this post will probably be useless for those wanting to use it as a guide on what to buy for fall (most of you I am sure have already bought your fall clothes - and the Pantone colour trend has been out for ages) I thought I would share it so that we might be able to make everyday life a little more trendy, say as a presentation background colour, or as an addition to our inspiration boards, or just what we choose to draw with while colouring with children.

So if you are wondering what those colours are called that you keep on seeing pop up on the streets check out Pantone's Fall 2008 Colour Trend. Below is a little collage of what they have...

Made from the images on Pantone's Fall 2008 Colour Trend Report

On a side note - I am excited to see that Mustard Yellow and Dark Grey are in the mix!! Probably why I found so many examples for my previous blog! I am totally using Mustard Yellow the next time I sit down and colour!

Made from the images on Pantone's Fall 2008 Colour Trend Report

Easy Eco Mondays - Carbon Footprint

Carbon neutral – I am sure we have all heard of it. But what does it really mean? From doing a bit of reading, I put it into this analogy…. If the earth was my body and carbon was calories, it would be striving to maintain your current weight. In other words, when I that extra scoop of ice cream (my weakness), I have to make sure to fit in a workout that day. It is the same thing with the planet, when we produce emissions into the atmosphere (ice cream), we should then “exercise” back to carbon neutral. But what is exercise for the earth? Well it can be planning a tree, or composting – but many of times that doesn’t go far enough – so we buy carbon credits (or offsets).

The Carbon Neutral concept hit close to home when I started my new work project – I fly to and from site every two weeks. It was on my first flight to site that I decided to look into Carbon Credits. The best resource I have found is from David Suzuki’s website. He breaks it down quite nicely:

“Here's how it works: if you add polluting emissions to the atmosphere, you can effectively subtract them by purchasing 'carbon offsets'. Carbon offsets are simply credits for emission reductions achieved by projects such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency retrofits. You can purchase these credits and apply them to your own emissions to reduce your net climate impact.” - David Suzuki Foundation

Net climate impact…humm… I have never really thought about my net climate impact… adding up all of my carbon emissions, not just for one day, but say for a whole year! I’m not sure I am ready to face that figure (just like I can’t go bathing suit shopping after Christmas!) But let’s break down my net climate impact for these extra plane rides. David Suzuki’s website has some great resources including this one, which calculates your emissions from driving, flying or you home and offers a dollar amount of Carbon Offsets you need to buy (And it’s a Canadian website!!)

grahamowen.com

My emissions for a round trip flight to Yellowknife (closest Airport to site) from Vancouver (with a stop in Edmonton) are 0.88 tonnes. To off set these emissions could cost me as little as $11.55. That would be the cost of packing my lunch for the trip instead of buying it at the airport! (Although, if you do offset high altitude impacts and only buy a Gold Standard offset then you can be paying up to $34.54, still not completely unreasonable – especially since Westjet and Air Canada have just removed the fuel surcharge)

The only one issue comes when you actually have to buy these Carbon Offsets. You can’t go to the government and go here is my money now offset my carbon! It is a little more complicated… and worthy of it’s own post.

So until the next Eco Monday…. Have fun calculating your carbon emissions!

Anyone have some numbers to share?

California Environment Protection Agency

Ideal Sunrise

This is what I hope to have my morning tea to tomorrow morning. (Yes there is snow here already!)

Via Ben Browder

Here's to a warm cozy fall Sunday. Hope you all have a good one!

The Birds

I into birds lately, especially since I have seen them around a lot... Everything from wall decals, or t-shirts, to jewerlley. So while the real birds are migrating south, I'm going to keep these ones up here all year long!

Below are some ETSY bird finds.

Mingus

Koreandollz

Dalidecal

Imogen

Peaceofpi