By Jen on January 22, 2012
Yay!! They are finally here!! Our much anticipated engagement photos are being posted! These have been long overdue, especially since Luke and I were engaged in September 2007! I guess it shows my procrastination at its best, but in my defense there was a certain look I wanted with our photos and I just couldn’t find it with photographers here in Asia. We ended up holding out until the very last minute and getting them done just 3 weeks before our wedding!
When it came to photographers to shoot our engagement in Ontario Canada there was no question who I wanted, in fact it was the only decision about our entire wedding planning process that I was sure of… I needed to have the amazing Renaissance Studios . Their modern vintage style was the exact look I had been searching for.
Although we were getting our photos done in Canada, we really wanted them to reflect our love for Asia and that we were engaged and live in Hong Kong. What better place to do that then in Toronto’s Chinatown? We also spent part of the day chilling at on one of Torontos cute beaches…kicking myself for not being able to remember the name of it right now though ugh! Renaissance Studios had arranged for us to work with the wonderful and talented Erin Blackwood. She was so much fun to work with and rocked the camera…during the entire shoot it felt like she was someone we had always known. She defo became our new best friend that day ha ha..
Of course we needed to have a bubble tea break… I live for bubble tea!
How perfect is this graffiti?
Luke had fun being a creative director, he found these phone books on the side of the road… and I am still shorter : (
Luke’s Nanny found this vintage 1930′s Hong Kong travel guide on her shelf weeks before our shoot…so perfect.. and odd? she has never been to Hong Kong??
Even though I know waiting for 4 years to get engagement photos is a bit silly… I love that we waited. We got amazing photos that reflect us and not a bunch of typical stiff poses… although I will be honest we were a bit shy to start and there are a few of those in the bunch I haven’t shared. I can’t wait to finish painting our walls and get some of these hung up… the trouble now is which ones???
Posted in Life in general, wedding | Tagged engagement, Luke, Renaissance studios photography, us |
By Jen on January 21, 2012
This weekend Luke and I celebrate 6 years of being together! We haven’t really celebrated this much in the past, actually to be honest we had to look back at the dates on our first photos together to figure out how long we have been together. While we were planning our wedding, people kept asking us how long we had been together and we both kept answering different years ha ha!! We decided that this year we needed to celebrate and take a moment to appreciate the time we have had together.
Luke decided to make it a surprise date and wouldn’t tell me where we were going or what we were doing, just to meet him at the train station at 7:30. He showed up 30 min late carrying a beautiful potted japanese cherry blossom tree.. instead of regular old flowers. So cute! Oysters are one of my favourite foods and so Luke had made reservations at this cute intimate oyster bar for dinner. We spoiled ourself with a wonderful meal and ended the night with fab chinese massages! It was just a great night and a perfect surprise… I am so lucky to have this man in my life~
PS. Stay tuned! In celebration of this special weekend I plan to finally start posting about our wedding starting with our much anticipated engagement shoot!
Posted in Life in general | Tagged date night, love, Luke |
By Jen on January 20, 2012
So I posted the other day about how I am trying to be better at resolutions but I never posted what my resolutions actually are… lets face it that post was long enough!
I have been debating actually doing this post, but in the end I have decided that this would be a good way to hold myself accountable. Maybe some of you have the same resolutions and we can work together…
I have many goals for this year but in keeping with the small steps idea and not overwhelming myself with change I have picked a few goals that I wanted to start focusing on first. My plan has been to work on these throughout January and come February evaluate how I did… what could I work harder on?..what did I do well with? and from there add goals and adjust behaviors.
I decided that January would be all about boosting my energy, getting pumped and excited about changes and just improving my enthusiasm about life.
In order to keep my resolutions in mind and in focus I thought I had better put them out somewhere where I could be constantly reminded of them. I have been hoarding some of these neat Ikea photo frames and though they were perfect for making a little hybrid project.
I love how it turned out! It now sits on my desk right beside my computer where it is always in my face! I also like that it flips. On the back I have made a little check list of these goals broken down into smaller steps, so I can flip it over to make sure I am on the right track.
Posted in Life in general, paper & glue |
By Jen on January 17, 2012
Are we really half way through January already?? wow! Now I will be honest I am super big on new year resolutions, I love them! I always take time at the beginning of every year to write down and reflect on how I hope the coming year will be….but to be even more honest it is usually about this time that keeping up with my new years resolutions begins its fast decline into epic failuredom. However, this year I have decided that 2012 is going to MY year! This will be the year I really stick to those resolutions and accomplish things. I am tired of reflecting back on the year and seeing that nothing I had wanted to accomplish ever became a reality.
I have come to realize that some of the reasons that my resolutions go by the wayside so quickly are that I feel overwhelmed at the amount of changes I want to happen and all the things I need to do to make them happen. I was only ever looking at the big picture and trying to change everything all at once. When I thought about my goals I would become stressed and depressed and would give up if I had failed to keep with the changes.
So, in an attempt to research goal keeping and accomplishing things I picked up the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubins. I am not completely finished it, I keep reading parts then going back, re-reading, reflecting and making notes. It has really been a great eye opener. Gretchen really advocates taking small steps and starting with a few goals. As those changes become habits you can incorporating more of your goals into your life. She also sends the message that its ok if one day you do something that goes against your goal, just try again the next day. She really makes the point that every little step helps… for example I want to reorganize my kitchen but the thought of spending the entire day doing just that overwhelms me and stops me from doing it. Instead, just find a bit of time one day and do one cupboard, then, when you have time again, do another cupboard! I don’t need huge blocks of time to get things done… just work on things when I can! Don’t stress when something isn’t done if you were using the time you had to work on small steps of your goals its ok! Things will get done as long as you keep working away at things! Such a simple ideas!!
I have done exactly this and the happiness, success and determination I feel already has been great. So far this month I have really enjoyed working on my resolutions and really happy to say that things are getting done.. for example one of my goals was to get this blog up and going and to be a better blogger. Did I manage to get it started in the very first week? no.. Did I do my relaunch with all the glitches and changes that I want to have done done? no… before I wouldn’t have been able to sit down and do this re-launch just yet… the perfectionist that I am would have had to sit down and work away for hours in frustration trying to make all the changes I want this site to have only to come across something that got me stuck and give up… never to re-launch! But not now…I am doing it now .. so here is the re-launch! Taa Daaaa!! I am super excited about it and the step-by-step changes that you will see me making over the next few months!
How are your resolutions going?
Posted in Life in general | Tagged happiness, resolutions |
By Jen on March 17, 2011
I am so happy to finally share my great news!!
I am so excited to announce that I have been asked to join the wonderful group of girls over at Creative Soup and be a part of their creative team!! Its a great new site that offers awesome weekly challenges as well as an inspiring monthly class. As part of the Creative team I have had a sneak peek of the challenges and classes coming up, and I can’t wait to work on them and share them with you guys!!
Creative Soup also has a wonderful forum which I love! It is great to have a place to build friendships and be part of an international community of people who love what you love and share inspiration. I hope you will all join me over there and join in with the challenges! You can see the rest of the great team here!
I can’t wait to get my creative soup on!
Posted in paper & glue | Tagged creative soup, design team, paper & glue |
By Jen on March 13, 2011
Had a horrid day yesterday and it really had me worn down and deflated.
I was determined to have a good day today so had my morning coffee while browsing Pinterest ….it is quickly becoming my go to spot for cheering up and inspiration! Thought I would share my pinspiration for the week.. what a beautiful thing to keep in mind whenever I run into ugly souled people again.
Update~ Today is turning into a beautiful day… just received some fun news but can’t share just yet! But I will soon! I promise!
Posted in pinspiration | Tagged pinspiration, pinterest |
By Jen on March 10, 2011
One of my big goals for this year has been to make our house feel like OUR home. We are lucky enough to rent this wonderfully spacious village house in the northern mountain ranges of Hong Kong…space is very rare here. However as spacious as our place is, it is completely ugly and not our taste.
As a creative person, I am very much effected by my surroundings and growing up I always took pride in how my bedrooms were decorated and reflected who I was. Luke, however dosn’t seem as effected by his surroundings as I am… maybe its a man thing.. I don’t know… but what I do know is I have decided to make a change!! Its time our place, rental or not, reflected us, not our landlords 1970′s obsession with gold, cream, pale yellow and poo brown!!… and yes it is that colour scheme in EVERY room except our guest bedroom which is orange, lime green with animated giraffes and monkeys. Now I know some people may be worried because we rent and this place is not actually ours….and considering this I have held off for sometime…but I am convinced that anything we do will drastically make this place better and easier to rent to others when/if we eventually move out. Plus we pay good money to live here… we should enjoy it right???
So I have given myself the challenge of working on one area of the house each month, doing what I can to make this feel like the comfortable home I long for. A place where I can be happy, relaxed and creative in and most importantly reflects who we are.
I have decided to start with our front door since its the first thing you see when you come to our house. Now the ugliness of the exterior lends itself mostly to Hong Kong village house style and not so much can be done, really. However, I am going to try my darnedest to make the front door reflect our love for colour, vintage hong kong and be inviting….
So here is our front door’s before photos….
….ewwwww right??? I bet your wondering what could I possibly do to make that look remotely welcoming… but I have ideas! I plan to bring some colour with plants and nice pots, I have some DIY ideas brewing in my mind, the mailbox needs to go as rain gets in and the lock is starting to fail and as charming as the mexicanesque house numbers are, they are not even correct!!
So here is a little inspiration board I have put together…..
- Love the pops of colour this door bring from Design Sponge.
- Would love a handmade wreath like this one from ItzFitz.
- The old places here have these vintage Chinese mailboxes, I am on the hunt for one!
- Thinking about building a trelis like this from Design Sponge.
- Searching the local nurseries for a climbing flowering vine… I love the effect they have on doorways.
- Quirky welcome mat! Love it… .
- Would love this full of plants! from Terrain.
- How cute would these be with your house numbers? Wood & wool stool’s stuff is so cute!
- Another awesome container from Terrain.
So I am giving myself until the end of the month to get this done. Check back for the results! TFL! ~{Jen}
Posted in Our home | Tagged front door, our home, our reno |
By Jen on February 28, 2011
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the idea of living.” ~ Mariam Beard
Its photos like these that drive my passion for scrapbooking even deeper. This moment was so profound for me and it makes me so thankful that I have scrapbooking to help me document and record this moment.
My entire life I have always been interested and curious about Buddhism. It has been a life long dream of mine to sit down and just chat to monks about their views on life. I have been lucky enough to travel all over Asia and have been able to visit many amazing temples. However, all past attempts to chat to the monks had been unsuccessful due to language barriers or the strictness of the sect… some cannot even look at women.
While in Cambodia visiting Angkor Wat, Luke and I wondered off the beaten path through the jungle to find a toilet or a private tree… when we came across this small village in full on festival mode all around a small Buddhist temple. While shyly observing on the outskirts trying not to make the locals uncomfortable, a monk approached us and introduced himself in perfect English! then proceeded to shake my hand!! I was so shocked! Here was a monk not only talking to me in English but shaking my hand! He proceeded to take us through the festivities explaining the celebration and introducing us to the villagers. He then took us into a locked temple and told us the entire story of Buddha and Buddhist history in Cambodia! He was ecstatic when I asked him to teach me to pray to Buddha and I was ecstatic that he wanted to teach me.
Those quiet moments of Buddist prayer in the empty temple… emptiness anywhere in Asia is rare!… will forever remain in my heart and fill me with emotion every time I think of it. I do not consider myself a religious person. I was not raised with any religious influence and I think because of this the culture of religion fascinates me immensely.
So the whole reason I am telling is this story is because I created this layout this week with Cosmo Crickets fab Circa 1934 paper that came in my Studio Calico kit. I was excited to see how closely the tiled floor of the temple matched the patterned paper…and the colours worked great to!
Also a fun coincidence Studio Calico has brought in the great new Epiphany epoxy button maker into their store! I had the opportunity to play with this at CHA and loved it! Funny I made my buttons with the Circa 1934 paper! This layout was meant to be I guess ha ha…
I used Studio Calico’s fantastic Sunday Sketch for my inspiration for this one… and was inspired to try something new… a horizontal 8.5×11 page!?!? What?? plus this is quickly becoming my first ever 2 page LO as I have plans to make a page just for the journaling with the same orientation!… maybe a whole album in that orientation?? now I am just getting crazy he he he… or am I?
Posted in paper & glue | Tagged cambodia, cosmo cricket, studio calico, Studio Calico Kit, travel |
By Jen on February 24, 2011
Craft Inc. has been out for a while, but I just picked it up along with the Craft Inc business planner on my recent trip to the USA and am I ever glad I did! If anyone needs a little confidence push to take steps towards turning their creative hobbies into a business then this is the book for you. My goals to turn my creativity into a full fledge running business are still very long term, however I still very much enjoyed the read.
Meg Mateo Ilasco has gathered everything she and other successful crafters have experienced and has laid it all out in an easy to understand step-by-step guide. Everything has been so well covered, from realizing your creative dreams, to marketing and pricing, through packaging and shipping, right to outgrowing your home base. She covers everything so thoroughly, yet I never found anything exhaustive like most business books. I loved that everything was organized into small sections making everything short, sweet and to the point. Instead of skimming through and reading sections that only pertain to me at present I read every word! She has written it in such a fun way that I got sucked in and was actually excited to get to the reading part of my day… of course the bright colours and cute illustrations helped too!
The best part of the book for me by far has been the encouragement that seems to drip from the pages. Meg really helps eliminate any of those persistent self-doubts you may have about your creativity and your ability to make your dreams a reality. I also really enjoyed the conversations that this book generated while reading it on the subway from fellow subway riders and people who saw me carrying the book around. Since its hard not to notice its bright yellow cover that basically shouts what its about combined with my feverish note scribbling while trying to remain standing on the constantly breaking train… (you really need to have a hand free to hold on with on the Hong Kong subway trains), I naturally was noticeable. I had people asking me if I was an artist and curious about what business I am starting.
I highly recommend this little gem to anyone who has any inkling to start a creative business. Even though this book is geared towards those wanting to sell their own handmade products, I think that anyone wanting to work within the creative industries or wanting to open your own shop selling others creative products you will find value in Craft Inc. I have yet to break into the Craft Inc. business planner, purely because I have no immediate plans to start working on a full fledge business selling anything just yet. But I have it sitting here on my desk ready to encourage me through the process when I do decide what that business will be.
Next on my book list- Unmarketing by Scott Stratten
Posted in great reads | Tagged book review, creative business |
By Jen on February 18, 2011
I was so excited to get my scrapping mojo going last night after what seemed like months of nothing! So to inspire myself and get that creativity flowing I decided to approach my layout a bit different.
First, I choose to scrap 8.5×11 instead of 12×12… this worked out great for me! I didn’t feel so overwhelmed by the vastness of the page and my wee 2R (2x3in) photo. However I got a bit over excited and forgot to finish trimming the page to size. I didn’t realize until after I had stuck everything down…..oooppps oh well 8.5×12 will add character to my album right???
Second, I told myself to just commit!! Sometimes I get so stuck moving everything around the page trying to decide where things should go I get frustrated at myself for not being able to make decisions and give up on the page . I have told myself to just stick things where I first place them and trust that the whole thing will come together…. and it seems to have… it was hard and I can’t say that I was 100% effective at this new method… I moved somethings around right before taking these photos… he he.
I have to say I am very happy with how it turned out and how little time it actually took me. Most of my 12×12 layouts have averaged me about 5 to 6 hours -starting from finding what photo I want to use to taking final product photo. This one took me only about 3 hours! Plus being inspired by the wonderful Studio Calico team and kit helped a bunch to! Love those guys!
Posted in paper & glue | Tagged Challenges, love, Studio Calico Kit |
