She Speaks ~ brand launch

She Speaks has now launched with a brand new look! Recently Aimee reached out to me and wanted to refresh her women’s brand. She Speaks encourages women to share their stories through speaking and writing. Aimee was also expanding She Speaks to include workshops and resources to help build relationships and community, and wanted her brand to reflect this. After chatting with Aimee about what defines the She Speaks woman, and both of us pinning and sharing images, brands and colours we liked, I put together the inspiration board. Bold purples and greens paired with their softer shades as the colour palette; and glittery gold, twinkling lights, and natural textures as inspiration for colour, social media posts and the overall feel of the brand. Everything fell into place once this look was established!

The logo she chose has a feminine yet strong look. The handwritten “She” suggests an approachable femininity… this could be your story. The “Speaks” represents the strength and boldness of the woman’s voice and message.

It was a pleasure to work with Aimee, and for a brand that is inspiring women to share their stories, while building community and celebrating diversity.

Check shespeaks.ca for the How To Share Your Story workshop in April!

final branding board

I worked with the She Speaks web designer to refresh the website.

 

She Speaks mug and handbag designs

Instagram posts

Facebook images

She Speaks Postcard to advertise upcoming workshop in April.

spicy gingerbread

If you do one thing over the holidays, do this. Make this gingerbread (thanks to my friend Jess for sharing the recipe!). It’s delicious, easy, and makes the whole house smell amazing! Here are some photos of us making some.

Sadie loved making cookies! She could do everything herself.

Wes loved patting the dough, but 5 minutes later he started eating it…

We gave away these cute tins to Sadie’s teachers, along with the recipe.

popsicle sticks and little handprints

We’ve been doing some pretty sweet crafting over here, and I’m really excited that Wes can be in on the action this year! Below are some super simple reindeer ornaments made from popsicle sticks, and then lastly the cutest little reindeer handprints.

Wes went traditional with brown paint.

Sadie mixed it up a little.

I used a glue gun to add the red nose, googly eyes and a simple loop.

Sadie’s finished reindeer!

And below is the handprint ornament. Wes was not into having his hand in paint, but Sadie was more compliant! And just a note, it’s the same hand for the legs – just turn the hand 🙂

supplies

painted pumpkins

Sadie’s teachers encouraged the class to bring non-food items as treats for Halloween, so Sadie and I got crafty with these mini white pumpkins! She thought it was really fun seeing her classmate’s names on the pumpkins and she loved handing them out, although she was a bit disappointed when she opened all of her “treat” bags and didn’t discover any treats! She even tried to take a bite out of a Halloween pencil that she mistook for a lollipop.

She didn’t want to forget her brother!

leaf garland

I helped Sadie make this super easy leaf garland that now hangs in our front window 🙂  The photos below show how!

Supplies:

• crayons
• paint
• construction paper
• hole punch
• twine
• tape

I cut out some simple leaf shapes and she painted or coloured each one.

I punched two holes at the top of each leaf.

I looped twine through each leaf.

Sadie helped me hang it with some tape in our window!

 

Chudleigh’s

What a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend! We checked out Chudleigh’s on Saturday, and although it was totally packed, it was so much fun for Sadie to see all of the animals and go down the huge slides. We didn’t end up apple picking, so I see a Chudleigh’s Part Two in our near future.

One goat’s climbing the ramp, and the other two are humping. Thought I should point that out.

Wes kept playing the pumpkins like bongo drums.

{ fla-mingle with Melinda }

My friend Elaine and I had the pleasure of putting on a wedding shower for our friend a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun! We went with the summer theme of flamingos and palm trees, and the event was called”Fla-mingle with Melinda.” Yolanda’s in Bronte Village was the perfect venue, with its big tropical plants and beautiful summer vibes. Here are some details from the fun afternoon!

I decorated this pretty pink cake with flowers from my garden, and berries from the forest!

showering the beautiful bride-to-be (third one in on the right!)

cupcakes from The Social Cupcake, adorned with handmade cupcake toppers.

“all things grow with love” ~ party favours

Toronto Island

Hello friends! I’ve had way too long of a hiatus from blogging and now have a long list of entries just waiting to be published! Here are a few pics of a trip to Toronto Island with my sister, which has now become an annual summer tradition. It’s been three years now! See 2014 and 2015‘s entries 🙂 We went on like, the hottest day of the summer so ice cream was a must. And so was swimming in Lake Ontario. (judge away. it was hot.)

Sadie adores her cousins!

Last year’s photo on the left – Sadie had just learned how to walk!

Wes loves his Aunt Jen!

pretty captivated by the wildlife show. There was an armadillo. 

patiently waiting for ice cream.

lavender fields forever

There is this incredible lavender farm in North Milton that opened a few years ago called Terre Bleu, and its Instagram feed of a beautiful purple flower field with a giant bright yellow door in the middle was asking for a field trip! I went a couple of weeks ago with my friend Catherine and her two kids, and she took these amaaazing photos. The girls had so much fun running through the fields, exploring the bee hives, petting the horses and enjoying some lavender ice cream, which was super tasty (surprisingly).

strawberry picking

The strawberries are here! On the weekend my friend and I braved the humidity and took our kids berry picking. Since we knew our babies would be eating straight from the patch, it was important for us to find an organic farm, and Organics in Markham was just the place! We were pre-warned that picking was slow and we would encounter weeds. But we each got just enough berries to make some yummy pastries over the weekend, and just enough to give our kids an awesome experience. See previous berry posts from over the years here and here.

tractor ride!

discovering berries

Wes accepting a delicious, smushed berry from his friend P.

picnic-ing in the patch

about the amount of berries we left with ~ not bad 🙂