decking those halls, baby : sneak peek of my Christmas color scheme!

 

I have a rule that I cannot listen to seasonal songs until Dec. 1st. The idea stemmed from the thought I had that I will have to listen to Christmas tunes for the rest of my life - the same 30-ish songs, by various artists, year after year, for the rest of my (hopefully!) long life. If you're thinking I don't have to listen to those songs, you would technically be right, however, I do some shopping around this time of year in malls & local shops; places where most managers that seem to think that November is the perfect time to start playing said songs. Okay, so I guess my rule should read: I will not play Christmas music until Dec 1st.

All this to say that tonight, I'm breaking my own scrooge-y tradition.... by one day. Tonight I will twist D's arm into helping me decorate our little apartment with garland, stars and general Christmas cheer.You know I'm going to blast Boney M's famous album while sipping hot tea and dancing around the room. It's going to happen. We are going to be decking these halls alllll night. That doesn't sound right. How about this:

Warm sweaters, hot drinks, cuddles and a dog licking glitter off the floor. 

Here are a few of my inspiration pics from Pinterest:

Flickr via Ticklish From A Distance

From The Right Bank via Apartment Therapy

via Canadian House & Home

via Matchbook Mag blog

Did you decorate your place yet? Leave your links in the comments, I love some holiday eye candy.

you'll love her

I came across this quote in the spring via this tumblr and it immediately became one of my favorites. I've never seen the movie and I don't plan to. These words hold enough meaning to me on their own.

I am not quite ready to share this story here yet, but I can say that there is one person who held on longer than most people would have. And I'm thankful for that. I've got a smile on tonight.

he[art]ed : collage artist, Patrick Bremer

Two new series in one week. I'm on a roll, guys! This one is called he[art]ed, named for my love of hearts & art. Can we agree to laugh about ignore the fact that it rhymes with farted? Every so often I'll share an artist or designer I admire and then you'll show them some comment/FB/link love if you like their work. I'll try to include a good mix of local and international artists who use a range of media.

FYI - I'm not an art critic and probably will repeat the same adjectives in every post, but I really just love art, find it inspiring & want to share it with you. Simple enough, right?

First up is Patrick Bremer, a collage artist. When I first noticed collage art via Pinterest I was surprised to find that there are many artists who do a wide variety of paper collage/mosaics. Some backstory: about a year and a half ago I started an art project that consisted of me pasting tiny pieces of recycled magazine paper to a large board of masonite in a pattern. Now, I'm wasn't/am not delusional enough to believe that I was the only person to ever think of doing such a thing, but I had no idea that a community of paper collage artists existed. I thought people just decoupaged boxes and bottles and stuff....

But, I was wrong. Oh so wrong. Patrick Bremer is a British artist who draws, paints and creates collages - mostly portraits. My favorite thing about his pieces are that they have such varied textures and colours. I love to scan his collages to find little moments hidden within - words, faces, signs. Here are my 3 favorite works of his:

Artwork Copyright of Patrick Bremer

Artwork Copyright of Patrick Bremer

Artwork Copyright of Patrick Bremer

The Castle is my favorite of the three. I'm amazed that he can capture the emotion on her face using only the paper. His eye is highly trained for detail.


What do you think of Patrick's work? Which piece pulls you in? If you want to see more of his work please pop over to his website or his facebook page. If you want to spread the art love, share this post, like his page or pin your favorite work (remember to credit the artist & link to his website).

As always, thank you for checking out my blog. I appreciate your visits!

details : from a cozy home in the country

I'm in the country. Today is Remembrance Day and tomorrow is a holiday so we packed up and came to the Musqodoboit Valley for the long weekend. So far we've trudged through the swampy yard (thank goodness my "MIL"reminded me to bring rubber boots!), raked some leaves, watched a raptors game and ate chili.

Here are some details from around their home.

We'll be off soon to visit D's sister. His niece and nephew are so excited to see us that we are heading over around noon instead of supper-time as we originally planned. I've heard I've been promised to his niece to play Just Dance on the Wii. Should be interesting!

I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend. I'm off to let my whiny pup run around in the field.

 

I've noticed lately that designing or decorating a home is all about the details. More than that though, life is all about the details - the moments. Over the next few months I'm going to test out a series called details. Since I don't have instagram or a smartphone to capture my daily life, I'm going to rely on my trust Sony P&S and will share the photos here. I hope you like it!