A Beautiful Mess

Simple Photo-Covered Journal

Hi friends! We're big fans of carrying journals and notebooks over here. Last fall I made this journal and filled it with ideas within a few months! Time for a new journal. This time, I thought it would be fun to make a photo covered design—something super simple with large striking images. These journals make great gifts, because you can customize them for any holiday, friend or family member! This is another post from our Canon USA collaboration. We used the Canon Pro-100 printer to print two photos, slightly larger than our journal cover size. We printed a color and black and white photo from my home for the front and back cover of the journal on this huge semi-gloss photo paper. Again, we chose the Pro-100 for the quality of the blacks in the black and white photo. Plus, the size of the printer made it easier to print both photos on one sheet. However, if changed the orientation of the photo, you could definitely make this work with the MG6320.Supplies needed: A blank journal, 2 printed photos (measure your journal cover and add half an inch to the width and height to get an image that's easy to work with), scissors, fabric, Mod Podge.Step 1: Cover the front cover with mod Podge, leaving the spine untouched. Adhere your photo to the cover. Allow it to dry completely. Use scissors to trim away the excess so that the photo is flush with the front cover. Repeat with the back cover.Step 2: To create a flexible, fabric-covered spine, just cut a piece of fabric 3 inches wide (larger if your journal is super thick) and the height of your journal. Use Mod Podge to adhere the fabric to the spine, pressing it into the dips around the spine. Allow it to dry completely.Here's what the back cover looks like! 

Now I'll be carrying this everywhere with me for the next few months, jotting down ideas. :) If you're not currently carrying an idea journal, you should totally make one too!Have a great day! xo. Elsie 

Dragon Fruit Limeade Cocktail

There are two things that all of my springtime cocktails seem to call for... fresh fruit and citrus! This next drink has both. :)Dragon fruit is both beautiful and tasty. I had put off trying it for quite a while, because I heard some of my friends say it was kinda gross. That wasn't my experience, though. To me, it tasted like a half sweet kiwi. I loved that it was half sweet, because that makes it the perfect fruit to soak in a cocktail!Dragon Fruit Limeade Cocktail, serves one.

1/2 cup dragon fruit, cubed
1 ounce whiskey 
1 ounce triple sec
Juice of one lime
simple syrup, to taste
lemon, lime and dragon fruit 
club coda

In a medium glass, mix the whiskey, triple sec, lime juice and simple syrup. Mix well. Add ice, dragon fruit cubes and top with club soda. Add fruit slices for garnish. Enjoy! Be sure to eat all the fruit cubes when you are done with your drink too... so refreshing and delicious!Are you gonna try it? What's your favorite cocktail for spring? xo. Elsie 

At Work With Rhymes With Orange

Our friends, Stef and Erin, are here today to share their vintage shop Rhymes With Orange. "Hello! We are Stefanie Hiebert and Erin Thiessen of the blog Oh So Lovely Vintage. We are also the proud owners of a mobile vintage shop in a 1956 camper trailer as well as a brick-and-mortar vintage boutique here in Winnipeg called Rhymes With Orange. We have been in this location for the past year and a half. And we share the space with our partner Doug Shand who does the mens' section, while we do the women's clothing, shoes, accessories, as well as housewares from the 50s and 60s! In the next year we will be taking over the space completely. And although things have been great with our partner, we are looking forward to having the space to ourselves. We recently added on a section for kiddos in a tiny room off the back half of the store which used to be a safe, but turns out it's actually the perfect size for kids! Our shop is located inside of the most beautiful old character building that was built in the late 1800s and back then was actually used as a pharmacy! The building even has the original tin ceilings, which instantly sold the space to us. The more history and character a building has, the better." "An average work day begins at 11:00am when our doors open. The fact that you have the flexibility to set our own is hours is one of the most fantastic parts about owning your own business, so we decided to make the hours of our shop 11:00am - 6:00pm from Monday - Saturday. That schedule works well for both our personal and our business lives. So, the first thing we do when we walk in the door is turn on our computers and respond to all emails and then work on any blog posts we have planned for the coming days. Then we usually do some tidying up around the store and freshen up any displays and replenish any product that sold from the previous day. We don't have a set day or time to change displays. We are just always adding to and changing them around whenever the mood strikes or if we get some fantastic new pieces that need to be featured! In the afternoon we usually work on updating our inventory or tagging new product, which we enter all by hand into our computer. Of course all of this is done while helping customers pick out the perfect 60s cocktail dress or helping them find a new piece of Pyrex to bring home with them! There is always a lot to be done and some days can be a bit challenging when owning your own business, but when it's all said and done it's totally worth it and there is nothing else we would rather be doing. Also, getting to work with your best friend every day isn't too bad either! ;)""Our favorite part about our store is that we have plenty of shelving and cubbies that were all custom built thanks to our lovely husbands! We absolutely love making fun new displays, so having all of this shelving to create anything we want is a bit of a merchandising dream come true. We are pretty lucky, in that we have two large storage rooms for extra stock as well as lots of drawers behind our counter to keep paperwork and supplies organized. We are both neat freaks, so we have come up with a system that works for us. But we're always finding ways of improving things around the shop." Thanks so much, Erin and Stef, for sharing your shop with us! You can visit Erin and Stef online at their blog Oh So Lovely, or if you are in Winnipeg you can visit their local shop Rhymes With Orange! xo.

Coffee Shop Oatmeal to Go!

This year has been awesome! It's been a really busy year, full of traveling for both work and fun times. :) I've found myself grabbing breakfast at many a coffee shop, or even the airport. I've come to love, what I call "coffee shop oatmeal." It's fast, delicious and super filling.This also makes a fantastic breakfast for when you need something quick but crave something homemade. This takes minutes to put together and provided that you have a travel mug or bowl, an easy breakfast to take on the go.Coffee Shop Oatmeal, makes one serving.

2/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup mixed nuts (I used pecans, sunflower seeds and chia seeds)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar, brown sugar or honey*
2/3 cup milk

*You can adjust the sweetness level to your liking or cut out the sweetner entirely.Combine all the ingredients, besides milk, in a heat proof mug or small bowl. Steam the milk until piping hot. I did this using the steaming wand of my espresso machine, but you can also easily do this on the stove in a small pot. Whisk the milk as it heats up, incorporting air into the milk so you can get that latte foam. Foam makes this oatmeal seem more like a coffee shop. :) Pour the milk into the oatmeal mixture, give it a stir and allow it to soak and soften for 4-5 minutes.For added flavor you could add fresh berries or dried fruit. Enjoy this along side a cup of coffee and you'll feel like you're ready to take on the day. Or, at least, that's how I feel after oatmeal. :)Enjoy this friends! Happy breakfasting. :) xo. Emma