Travel Tuesdays. Finding Inspiration for the Home.

I don't know about you but I love a pretty, cozy home.

I love to display beautiful things, changing them up for the seasons or as my tastes change. At the moment I am chomping at the bit, ready to switch out to all things fall both inside and out. My Pinterest boards are growing a little every day.

Here's Autumn and Mantles. Pinterest is a great place to find inspiration when you want to do something new with your home decor.

But, have you ever considered travel as a place to find inspiration?

I am always on the look out. New trends, new colours, new crafting techniques. . .

While visiting my sister Tamara, she and I stumbled across the sweetest little restaurant literally minutes from her home.

Welcome to Tracycakes Bakery Cafe. . .

So many things about this place intrigued me. The contrast of a utilitarian blackboard with the creamy white ornate frame

A large mirror that both reflected light from the window

and served as a unique showcase for the menu.

Vignettes that showcased vintage, white and a hint of colour.

Mixing old with new, shiny and matte, white and teal.

Repurposing an old kitchen cupboard door. Genius!

Adding in a touch of black.

Frothy babies breath in a vase.

Glamming things up with the liberal use of silver and glass.

There were so many things to inspire here. The food and it's presentation being one of them.

How hard would it be to arrange my goodies on a pretty tray or cake rack when friends come over for tea?

Or to put a little extra effort into my sandwiches when the Hubby drops by for lunch once in a while?

Could a snack be something besides the quick and easy chocolate chip cookie when the holidays approach?

I will admit, stuff like this can keep me up at night as thoughts whirl around my head. Thankfully there is no rule that says you have to act on all the inspiration you come across. We'd all drive ourselves crazy.

Pick one thing at a time, when you have time. Let everything else percolate for another day.

This is what my trip to Tracycakes translated into in my kitchen last week.

Whites, touches of colour, glass, silver, and a few vintage elements.

I didn't run out and buy anything, these things were spread around my house. All this makeover took  was a bit of time and thought plus a few excellent suggestions from my daughter Holly.

Travel, a gift that keeps on giving. . . ;D

Click to share on our Facebook page.

Quiet Sundays. Psalm 146:6

Friday Favorites. Links from around the web.

Good morning everyone! I hope you've all had a great week.

 I spent yesterday hanging out in bed with the fan on (what's up with these crazy hot temps in September??) and managed to start and finish two books while I was there.  Super self indulgent and just what I needed.

Of course homemakers can't take a day off like that without having things pile up a bit so I thought I would leave you with some fun weekend reading links while I get out the duster and vacuum. I'm hoping if I work fast enough I might have time to sneak in one more book before bed.

If you're looking for crafty inspiration . . .

• A sweet fall banner from Glamorous, Affordable life.
• Craftberry Bush's Drop cloth rose tutorial
• Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday Linky Party (Over 100 links to browse!)
• Pretty Handy Girl's Artist's Inspiration board made from and old window.

and some YouTube fun . . .

• A cold frame hoop house. He is using it to get an early start on the season but they work equally well for extending your season by planting cool weather crops like spinach and lettuce.

• 'Cups' a cover produced by Kurt Hugo Schneider. With Sam, Kurt, Kina and Alex.

• The Piano Guys. Live at Red Butte Gardens

• Victorian Kitchen garden. Episode 9. September.

Now I have to stop hopping around the web and get to work. ;D

Have a fabulous weekend.

PicMonkey. A Free Photo Editor I use to create collages and more . . .

I keep thinking I need to learn how to use Photoshop. There are so many cool things I could do with it.

But my oh my is there ever a steep learning curve!

A fellow blogger gave a class on making 'pinnable' pictures at this year's Blog West conference.

Pinnable pictures often include text or graphics of some kind and that's something that can be done in Photoshop. Assuming you can figure out how to do it. I always seem to need to add text to a picture right this instant, leaving me no time for any figuring out.

Enter PicMonkey.

I admit, to my shame, that I poo pooed this free and oh so simple online photo editor. After all, serious bloggers surely used only the most sophisticated of programs. Didn't they?

Our blogging instructor was a very serious blogger. And used PicMonkey. Perhaps she had good reason?

She sure did. While making my first tutorial a while back I realized I was going to need a 'pinnable' picture to go with it. Something that explained what the tutorial was all about. I still didn't know how to use Photoshop so I googled PicMonkey and just plunged in.

I can't believe I waited so long! It's simple, flexible and free. You can do more than I ever imagined.

I made a collage for Travel Tuesdays.

I made a Facebook banner for our Travel Tuesdays' Facebook page.

I played with effects and banners.

Themes . . .

And collages . . .

And for $33 a year I can add extra fonts and fancy features!

PicMonkey where have you been all my (blogging) life???

Will I ever learn Photoshop???

 Absolutely! I bought an online Photoshop course called Fine Art Grunge and I'm just waiting for the garden to go to sleep so I'll have time to work on it.

One more thing to add to my bloggy bag of tricks.

How did I learn to use PicMonkey? Check out these blogs for their tutorials:

The Coupon Project

The Blog Guide Book

The Blog Guide Book (2)

Something Swanky

Something Swanky (2)

The best part? You don't have to be a blogger to use this. Make a vacation collage or a 5x7 photo collage card of your new baby or the family. Create a cute Christmas card or make an inspirational poster with your favorite picture and quote to put on Facebook. The sky's the limit!

Have Fun!

  * I am in no way affiliated with PicMonkey. I just really, really love what I can do with their program.

Travel Tuesday. Travel and Blogging

I love to travel and I love to blog so aren't I lucky that the two go so well together??

I mean, you get to take pictures of everything and the adventuring bloggers with you do the same.

You get to blog about your sisters and they can blog (or Facebook) about you.

You have a valid reason to take pictures of whatever you think is interesting . . . even if it's just shelves lined with bottles.

Nothing is out of bounds . . .

store aisles . .

Bakery cases . .

 and delicious pastries.

You can buy mile high fruit pies guilt free. After all, you need to 'review it' for your blog!

Back when I first started blogging I got strange looks everywhere I went as I snapped away, chronicling my adventures with my camera. "You're a blogger? What's a blogger???" 

These days social-media savvy businesses often welcome you if you tell them you are a blogger.

This sweet young woman from Kraus Berry Farms in Langley B.C. made me a special waffle to blog about after I missed the process because I got distracted by all the pretty things inside the store. I tried to tell her I had already eaten one but she insisted on making another so I could take it out into the garden and take pictures wherever I wanted with it.

You have to get brave though, as you blog and travel. All eyes were on me as I stepped over the ropes into the garden with a waffle in one hand and my camera in another, trying it first in this spot and then that one.

One thing to keep in mind if you're a new blogger, is that there are certain places that do not allow you to take pictures. When Lisa and I were making our way through Pike's Place in Seattle I went to take a picture of Lisa in front of one of the booths. The owner was quick to ask me not to take a picture of her wares. (the sweetest hand knit children's hats) The same rule usually applies in high end gift shops. I almost always ask no matter where I am. Sometimes especially nice things can come out of it, like my waffle!

Blogging, travel and a sense of adventure go hand in hand. . .

and Tamara is one of the most adventurous people I know.

Hop up on a side saddle in a skirt? No problem!

Can you think of a better place to sit while you taste the locally made wine?

Best of all? Travel and blogging give you the opportunity to meet a whole host of new people, some of whom may even become your friends.

It doesn't get better than that!

Tamara has shared her Travel Tuesday story HERE.

Now it's your turn . . .

Just click on the InLinkz link below and join in the fun!

*Don't forget to link to your actual post rather than your general blog address. You can do this by clicking on your post title and copy and pasting that address to the link. A few other things you can do to liven up the party is to link back to Travel Tuesdays on your blog and visit at least a few of the other bloggers and leave them a comment. Spread the love . . . 


 As promised we have also come up with a way for everyone to share in the fun, even non bloggers!

We now have a Travel Tuesdays Facebook page! If you don't blog, or even if you do, hop on over there and leave your pictures and stories. It doesn't even have to be Tuesday.

Quiet Sundays