Winter Vacation

Collection of photos I took while away on winter vacation. I visited my mom in the northern interior of British Columbia. It was cold and beautiful!

Flavour Infused Sea Salts and Vodka

For presents this year I made flavour infused sea salts and vodka. For the sea salts I made three flavours: vanilla, citrus, and chili. For the vodka I made espresso. I designed the tags on my computer and printed on recycled cardstock, hole-punched them and used twine to attach the labels to the containers, which can be purchased at any cooking or craft store!

Citrus Salts
Sea Salt
Lemon
Orange

Simply grate the lemon and orange zest. Let it dry for a few minutes and combine well with the sea salt.


Vanilla Salts
sea salt
2 vanilla beans
unrefined sugar

Split the vanilla beans lengthwise. Scrape out all the sticky seeds and use your fingers to combine well with the sea salt. Add half amount of unrefined sugar as sea salt and mix well.


Chili Salts
sea salt
4 dried whole chilis
dash of paprika
ground peppercorn

crush the chilis with your fingers and sprinkle in with the sea salt. Combine freshly ground peppercorns and mix well. Add a dash of paprika for colour.







Espresso Vodka
Vodka
Espresso beans
Cheesecloth
funnel

Lightly grind the espresso beans and wrap in cheesecloth. Tie very tightly to ensure none of the ground beans escape into the vodka (if this does happen however, you can filter it out later). I let the beans soak for about three days in a mason jar but you can use whatever container you like. Remove cheesecloth and beans from vodka and pour into bottle using a funnel. You can also sift the vodka through a layer of cheesecloth if any of the grounds happened to escape into the liquor during the process!

Rainbow Cakes

For my 22nd birthday this year I made rainbow cupcakes. They are surprisingly easy to make for how cool they look! I used the recipe found here.

Halloween

This Halloween I was a deer, it was a super simple costume to do and I think it turned out really well! I did my face using my regular MAC make-up, painted white spots on an old brown dress of mine and paired it with brown tights, white socks, and black wedges. I sculpted my antlers out of clay, painted them brown, and crazy glued them to a headband.

Witch Finger Pretzels

I made these witch finger pretzels from the Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook, and they turned out amazing! I also made a cheese sauce for dipping.

Recipe for pretzels can be found here

Cheese Sauce
white wine
smoked gouda
cheddar cheese
flour
salt and pepper

In a pot, cook wine over medium heat. Stir in grated cheddar and gouda until melted. Add flour until the sauce is semi-thick and a good consistency for dipping. Salt and pepper to taste.

handmade journals

These journals are super easy and make great Christmas gifts! All you need is:

-thin cardboard/card stock
-needle and thread
-ruler
-exacto knife
-pens
-paper
-tack
-bone folder

Measure out the size of notebook you want to make and cut it out out of the card stock. Measure out about 4 or 5 pieces of paper slightly smaller than the cardboard (anymore and you won't be able to sew through them. Don't forget that it will be folded in half and double sided so you get more like 20 pages in total!)

Using a bone folder, fold the cover and the pages in half. Poke holes along the spine of both the cover and pages with a tack. Take a needle and thread and sew along the spine twice, like the photo below.



Then take some pens (or pencils, or paints!) and draw something on the covers. I drew monsters on mine.





Even kitties like them!

Pumpkin Patch

details
hat: DeLux
shirt: Garage
jacket: Sirens
belt: American Apparel
skirt: American Apparel

halloween movie night

One of my favourite things about October is... Halloween! Halloween is my favourite holiday and I love hosting festive events. Last night I had a Halloween Movie Night and decided I would post my own "how-to." So! Here it is, my very own step by step on how to host your own Halloween movie night, complete with decorations, snacks, drinks and movie recommendations!

The Decorations



A nice simple table centerpiece. One medium sized pumpkin with little pumpkins and squashes (found at any grocery store or even better, a pumpkin patch!) The black sticks I made simply by collecting dead twigs, pulling off any remaining leaves, and spray painting them all completely black.




These ghosts were made with nothing but an old sheet, stuffing, some rope and a black marker. I cut the sheet into individual squares and stuffed them with newspaper (you can use anything, cotton would be the best but newspaper does work too!) and tied a rope around their necks. Make sure to leave a bit of rope dangling to hang them up. Draw their faces on with black sharpie and tie them to the ceiling with tacks.




Silhouettes are a super simple but really cute decoration... I decided to make bats! I drew them onto black foam paper and cut them out with scissors. It's a little time consuming but something to do while watching TV or a movie.


The Movies

First of all, decide if you want to watch classic horror films, scary creepy thrillers, Halloween favourites, or gory comedies. Classic horror films include anything from the 50's, 60's, or 70's... House on Haunted Hill, Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, etc. If you're looking for something a little more scary, more modern horrors like Silence of the Lambs, or even more recent, movies like 28 Days Later are a good choice. Halloween favourites like Beetlejuice or Nightmare Before Christmas are usually appreciated by everyone. Personally my favourites are the gory, horror-spoofs like the Evil Dead trilogy.




The Drinks



Halloween martinis are yummy and look awesome. All you need is:

-vodka
-sprite
-lime juice
-ice cube trays
-gummy worms
-food colouring

I was able to find black food colouring from Michaels to make these drinks, but any colour (lime green, red, etc) will work. Make sure to prepare the ice cubes the day before by freezing the gummy worms right inside the trays. Place one gummy worm ice cube into a martini glass with one shot of vodka. Fill the remaining space with sprite and squeeze a couple good squirts of lime juice in. And last but not least, add a few drops of food colouring!


The Snacks



-popcorn
-margarine
-sugar
-salt
-candy corns

We made candy corn popcorn! Pop some kernels on the stove in a large pot with some oil, shaking constantly to prevent burning. Once the corn is all popped, throw about 2 tbsp margarine and 3-4 tbsp sugar into the microwave until nicely melted and mixed together. Pour over the popcorn, sprinkle some salt, and add the candy corn. This makes a really yummy sweet and salty combination.

And that's it! All you need to know on how to put on your own Halloween movie night :)

bye bye summer

So it's that time of year again... summer is officially over. As much as I love summer, autumn is by far my favourite season. There is nothing I love more than a crisp, beautiful fall day with everything surrounded in bright orange, red, and yellow, the smell of burning leaves, curled up inside drinking tea with a good book during the rainy days... oh and did I forget to mention how much I love AUTUMN FOOD.

Hearty squash soups, yummy warm stews, baked apples, cinnamon and ginger spice, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkin loaf, roasted pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin-everything.

Oh and halloween is my favourite holiday... I already have the first of october marked off for a full day of redecorating my apartment. be prepared for a month of festive posts!

Happy Late Valentines Day

Vegan Mini Apple Pies

For Valentines day I made my boyfriend some mini pies, which I sent through the mail because he lives in another town. Even if you are not long distance I highly suggest mailing them anyways! Nothing is more sweet than opening your mail to find a mini pie in-between your bills.



These are super easy to make, delicious and only require a few ingredients. Plus, they are vegan-friendly!

Pie Crust
1 1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup margarine
glass of cold water
pie tins

Pie Filling
3 apples
2/3 cup brown sugar
spoonful of cinnamon
teaspoon of nutmeg
teaspoon of ginger
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and margarine together until it looks like small pea-sized lumps.

2. Knead together and slowly add a little drizzle of cold water. Keep kneading/adding water until the dough becomes a soft, but moist ball of dough like the image below.



3. Chill the dough for about 20 minutes. While the dough is in the fridge you can prepare the filling. Wash and slice some apples into small pieces. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.



4. Put the apples in a pot with the brown sugar and spices. Cook until the sugar and spices melt. Mix the cornstarch with a tiny bit of water and add that to the pot to help the filling thicken. Continue cooking until the apples become soft and the liquid becomes thicker and more like a syrup.



5. Once the dough is chilled, roll it out on a floured surface and use a glass to cut out circle shapes.



6. Press the circles into the bottom of the pie tins. Press smaller lumps of dough around the edges until the trays are covered like the image below.



7. Cut the remaining dough into long thin strips for the top crust. Once you have filled the trays with the pie filling, lay the strips of dough on top, crisscrossing.



8. Brush the tops with some melted margarine and sprinkle with brown sugar before placing in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.



If you wish to mail these pies to a special someone, wrap the pie carefully in wax paper. Place it in a box that is only slightly bigger than the pie itself and stuff the remaining space full of tissues, that way the pie won't move around inside the container and squish. Make sure to write "fragile" on the box too!

Handmade Tea and Box

I made this for my boyfriend for Christmas this year.





The teas are all bulk loose leaves which I gathered and placed into individual baggies.



I wrapped each one with hemp and attached a cut-out label.



I painted the box with aspen trees and a little bird.



Feathers, fabric and more hemp for the finishing touch.