A friend of mine has painted her den a blue very similar to Tiffany blue and has filled it with cream and white furniture. The next thing to go into the room is a wardrobe which is brown now but needs a refresh. Should it be red or more white/cream? Which of these colour combos do you prefer? What kind of memories or moods do they evoke for you?

I'm house sitting for people who say they bought the house because of the garden. Can you see why I believe them?

I've had the idea to downsize my journals for a while (anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows that I tend to make a short story long and since I've had that habit all of my life my journals are very full and I have a lot of them!). I found these gorgeous new journals by accident recently and they were too beautiful and perfect to resist!

Hmmm... looking at how many stories are in this box... I might have to go buy more new journals! Even my cat looks skeptical.

The collection is growing. I just love the palettes and the imagery!

For a few years now my mum's been making her sandwiches with a little bit of artichoke dip rather than mayo. It is about twice as many calories as light mayo but it's worth it :)

Another way I change my sandwiches up is to use cream cheese (whipped is the best!) with tons of dill in it.

What do you do to ad some flare to your sandwiches?

First I wanted a serene pale blue/green bedroom so I ended up with a lot of fabrics and a bed skirt and a pillow in those colours. I have a love/love relationship with brown so I also ended up with two sets of brown sheets and beautiful embroidered satin pillow cases that I couldn't resist buying in India. I inherited a blue and white duvet cover that I never would have chosen for myself but really like. And the moment I saw an antique dresser in a shop a few years ago I knew that I was going to buy it and paint it Chinese red.

In my other living arrangements these elements were in separate bedrooms or even other rooms in the house and all worked. But now that I want all of them in the same bedroom I knew it was going to be a challenge. Painting the dresser is not an option because I just love it and the frame I've painted to match. Changing the wall colour is/was an option. Buying a new duvet cover was my plan but I've been keeping my eye open for months and haven't seen anything that has all of these colours in it. I considered making my own duvet cover again if I don't find anything I like by the time I return from my trip to Sweden this summer.

On Monday morning I woke up with the idea that I could make a painting with all these colours in it and later that afternoon I just happened to find two paintings already made! Sorry the photo quality isn't great (I'd never post anything if I perfected all the photos first!) but you'll have to trust me that it all works together. The background of the paintings (a natural linen sort of look) even works with the current and soon to be wall colours! And the paintings were only $30! I couldn't even get canvas and paint for that much! Are you starting to believe how lucky I am?!

The new paintings remind me a bit of two triptychs I did and sold about ten years ago. 

I bought this case because it's got a little stand built in the back which is very convenient if I want to watch something out of the corner of my eye while I'm cooking or if I'm cooking from a recipe online.

It came white on one side with a plastic "chrome" front. The front got chipped quite quickly but I didn't want to give it up because of the stand. I figured I had nothing to lose by repainting the "chrome" part with a nail polish I already had. It worked like a charm and hasn't yet shown any wear.

I only did this last week and already I've had two people say they like it and ask me where I got it ;)

The only down side to this project is that now the white on the back looks awful in compassion. I know Canadian Tire sells a plastic spray paint (I once used it on a lamp). I might try that when I get any more embarrassed about how the white is showing it's age.

The photo is the after. Sorry I didn't remember to photograph a before shot.

A friend of mine decided that she wanted to do something a bit unique for her birthday so she invited a group of us to try white water rafting with her. Of course I volunteered to bring the birthday cake.

The Cake

Rather than doing a traditional cake and then wondering if the icing would survive the trip I decided to do a coconut and pecan pound cake. It's a cake I've made a few times in other pans but I thought it was the perfect time to treat myself to a silicone bundt cake pan (which I had been thinking about for the apparent ease of storage and clean-up). The cake ended up being slightly more oblong that round but I think I'm the only one who would notice. Clean-up was such a breeze that I'm going back to the shop to treat myself to the jumbo muffin pans too.

You can find the cake recipe here. My oven doesn't cook very evenly so I need to turn the cake at about 25 minutes and the last few times I've made it I've poked holes in the cake before drizzling the syrup on, then wrapped the cake in plastic wrap until it was ready to serve the next day. It's very dense and easy to eat with your fingers which makes it great for camping or picnics. It's great in winter fresh out of the oven with a hot drink or  served cold in summer with strawberries and whipped cream.

Step 1. Buy two tables.
Step 2. Clean and sand tables.
Step 3. Paint tables (see first image).
Step 4. Water down some darker paint, apply with brush, rub off with rags (See second image).
Step 5. Realize you detest the effect from Step 4 (even though you've liked it on other projects).
Step 6. Repaint tables.

The tables need another coat. Then I'll post pics. And then I have to consider how they'll work with the new floors and might end up repainting them yet again or looking for something new altogether.

I found my flooring! I told you I'm lucky - the shop has just enough for my space, it's been discounted to less than half of what I had budgeted for, and a friend with experience has volunteered to install it with me! Now that I know the flooring I can choose the paint colour(s) and get to painting which I so love!