Home County Folk Festival | 2011

Being my first year here in the city we decided to check out the Home County Folk Festival, and what made it even more of an enticing event was that my favourite artist, Hawksley Workman, was performing on Saturday night.

Here is a clip (not shot be me) of one of his songs from the night! A GREAT Concert!



Hawksley's Site

Shop Local...Online!

I think it is awesome to support local artists instead of buying from large main stream companies and chain stores. So I thought I would do a feature on a few cute local shops that I came across on Etsy. Shopping local is already close to home, and now it can be even closer by shopping local ONLINE, from the comfort of your home office / computer desk!

Here are a few of the neat local online shops I have come across |

London Ontario's Fancy Cuts - They sell adorable iron on appliques for baby's onesies, children's clothes and more! My favourite items are the iron on ties for on little boy's onesies and shirts.


London Ontario's Neck Candy Collars - A neat shop for pet owners who love to stylize their pets in hip and colourful collars. My favorites are the bow tie and flower collars!


Kitchener Ontario's Merrily - A shop that is everything Retro! I LOVE her 50's style aprons, they are very affordable and would be a great addition to a retro bridal shower gift.


Kitchener Ontario's Hawt Home -This shop has beautiful throw pillows in it that are made with funky and vibrant fabrics. They even do custom monograms and words such as 'love' and 'home' and even 'Mr. and Mrs.' pillows making them a great gift option for weddings!


Kitchener / Waterloo Ontario's Craftabulous - She sells some really unique items. My favourite are her 'Love Measures' earrings and pins. She uses various colours of seamstress measuring tapes to make these items, they would be so cute to give to friends who love to sew.


Hamilton Ontario's Adeline's Attic Vintage - This shop has amazing vintage pieces all organized by decade. A great shop for anyone who loves wearing vintage or who is needing costume pieces for an event or photo session.


St. Catharines Ontario's Bombshell Blooms - She creates gorgeous hair flowers that would be great for any occasion and I think would be especially nice for bridesmaids to wear!


My Online Local Shop - KO Two Designs - A shop full of handmade wedding creations.


Do you know of any fabulous local online shops? Let me know about them n the comments area below - or post a link to your own online shop in the comments! It will be great to have a directory of awesome local shops for people's personal and gift buying needs!

Artist Feature | The Sheepdogs

Came across The Sheepdogs preforming on DNTO today!
They are a great Canadian sound and I LOVE their harmony!

A great new sound for the summer - On my Ipod for this long weekend for sure!

My Fave Tune:

Another Great One:

THE SHEEPDOGS - I Don't Get By from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

A Feastival of Folks |

I am looking forward to going to this year's Folk Festival July 15-17 at Victoria Park.

My fav artist Hawksley Workman is performing along with many other great artists such as Emm Gryner and Sarah Harmer.

Artist Feature | Jenn Grant

I came across Jenn Grant's Cd 'Honeymoon Punch' at the library yesterday.

Her album cover was so beautiful that I picked it up and knew right away that I was sure to like it.

And sure enough I got home and popped it in and the music was amazing!

Below is a music video for her song entitled 'Getcha Good' as well as a video of her and her band perfomring one of my favourite songs, "Oh My Heart" on CBC's 'Q'.

Creative Business Woman | Carolyn Hayes

Carolyn Hayes of Seyah Photography is a Creative Business Woman on a budget!

This post is an exciting feature for fellow photographers to read as gives us insight into Carolyn's studio setup and highlights the products that she uses to create some super cute, high end looks...on a budget.

Carolyn's photography set looks like it consists of very expensive flooring that would have taken a long time to create with high baseboard trim and fancy wallpaper, BUT below she describes how easy and inexpensive this awesome look is to create!

First lets take a look at a few of Carolyn's awesome photos taken using the backdrop setup she describes below:

Here are two adorable little girls in front of her backdrops:

And here is a sweet photo of Carolyn's dog also in front of her great looking backdrop:


Here is how she does it!

A Description of Caroyln's Studio Setup:
My studio is a two room in- home studio that has only one room in use at the moment the other is in the process of being renovated. Once it is fully renovated my studio will have a customer bathroom and it's own entrance into the studio so customers don't have to go through our dinning room.

My Studio set up consist of backdrops hung in various way, two plain backdrops are hung with a pole and a chain from Henry's that makes it easy to pull up and down, the other backdrops I clamp to a pole that is attached to two stands, then the baseboard is clamped onto the backdrop and the floor is layed. My backdrops are paper and canvas. The plain black and white ones are paper and the fancy one's with designs that look like wallpaper and wood flooring are canvas. The canvus backdrops are very reasonably priced are from a company in the states. The good thing about canvas backdrops is they are durable and clean very easy, get a little messy during a newborn shoot you can just wipe them off, unlike paper and material backdrops.

I also use blankets as backdrops and also clamp them to a pole with the two stands. I am looking into getting some material to make my own backdrops and also to make diaper wraps for newborn shoots. You can get small pieces of material from Walmart for under $10.00 and they are the perfect size just to tuck into newborns diapers during a shoot.

As for props, some of the props I order from Etsy, and the props that I want that are to expensive or look easy to make I simply make myself (sometimes with the help of my boyfriend) right now we are in the process of making a white picket fence for my upcoming Easter shoots. I also make some of my own headbands.

Photography is one of the most fun and rewarding professions out there.

- Carolyn Hayes

Some photos of Carolyn's Studio Setup:

A pull back shot of the studio

Additional canvas backdrops rolled up easily for storage

Storage unit containing props and equipment for my sessions

As you can see, you can have a successful home photography business and you can put together really high end looks on a budget.

By making her own props/sets, by finding deals on backdrops that look like real wallpaper and flooring, and by having her office/studio in her home Carolyn has definitely done an amazing job of being a 'Creative Woman on a Budget'!

Thanks so much for sharing a 'behind the scenes' with us Carolyn!

Carolyn's photography business serves Hamilton ON and the surrounding areas.
www.seyahphotography.ca
www.seyahphotography@hotmail.com
905-541-7346

Creative Quilter | Debbie Lindsay

Debbie's work is the exact essence of my 'Creative Women on a Budget' post series because her quilting style is what she refers to as 'ScrapPileStyle'.

What exactly does this mean?
Well Debbie creates quilts and also designs and sells patterns that are written to assist quilters to create projects utilizing their leftover fabrics.


Debbie's work is impressive for several reasons:

1. One of Debbie's designs, the “Circa Charmer” (pictured below), was recently published in the Oct/Nov 2010 issue of “The Quilter” magazine. This quilt was designed with reproduction fabrics from the circa era and is a quilt style that would utilize a quilter's stash...to make a beautiful frugal quilt.


2. Debbie has an ETSY shop called
'Scrap Pile Styles Patterns'
where she sells her patterns and some of her DIY projects
sharing this style of quilting with others.


3. Debbie is currently working on publishing her new book "Quilting with Scraps" and she has gracefully shared the introduction to this book with us!
(Read this introduction at the bottom of the post).


Here is a description of one of Debbie's ScrapPileStyle projects:

Cabin Trails Placemat - Skill Level: Easy

This log cabin block placemat is simple and fun to make, with only strips to cut, assembly of this placemat is quick, as sections are cut to length as you attach them. Purchase pre-cut strips or dig through those remnants my detailed instructions will walk even a beginning quilter through all aspects of quilt making with specific instructions that teach how to make and attach your own binding using either square and mitred corners – A potential stash buster project!

- Debbie Lindsay

Why Debbie has a passion for this budget friendly DIY Style of quilting:

"I grew up in the scrap box of my mother’s sewing room, dressing up dolls, dogs and little brothers, completing my first quilt at 16.

A career in financial management, attending college, a family business, and three small children continually outgrowing clothes; piecing scraps together became a way of life. The art of fabricating treasured gifts from remnants became a passion. Wedding and baby quilts have become cherished gifts, each creation stitched with memories, prayers and love.

My lifelong passion of quilting and “making the most of” leftover fabrics inspired me to share this gift by providing patterns that appeal to quilters of every skill level. Simplifying the steps of the process with reference charts and instructions I walk quilters step by step, as they utilize the resources of their scraps, creating unique quilting projects – ScrapPileStyle."

- Debbie Lindsay

The Introduction to Debbie's upcoming book:

Quilting with Scraps...

A Scrap Management Resource with guidelines, techniques and interchangeable patterns.

Leftover fabric is described as: scraps, bits & pieces, a stash, remnants, leftovers, waste, surplus, extra, remaining, additional, excessive… I prefer to think of them as “essential potential thrifty projects”. In today’s “go green” world, making use of leftover material is not only appealing, but in keeping with the “reduce, reuse and recycle” philosophy. Women when faced with hard times found it a necessity to piece every last bit of fabric to create necessities. Fortunately today, most of us are not faced with such devastating hardships; we are however exposed to the adversity of rising costs and overflowing landfills. Learning to utilize leftover remnants is the art of being innovative, frugal and environmentally conscious, reminding us of our grandmother’s words “waste not, want not”.

You will find a broad range of unique and exciting projects; small enough to complete in a reasonable time frame, but large enough to use up some of those highly treasured leftovers! The question becomes what “can we” do with these remaining…excessive pieces of fabric. This dilemma, in essence, was the inspiration that motivated me to put together a book with a unique selection of inspiring quilting projects that walk the reader through an assortment of interchangeable patterns with numerous variations as I demonstrate the potential in utilizing that untapped resource of scraps.

You will find this book an indispensable resource of guiding principles, interchangeable blocks, multiple layouts, finishing options and techniques along with strategies for organizing and integrating scraps into a variety of intriguing projects. Unique, as it guides quilters through the concept of creating their own pre-cuts and project packages. Charts for fabric calculations, binding estimates and guidelines for quilting “scrap pile style”, along with instructions for adaptable finishing and border techniques all clearly outlined for some 38+ quilting projects. From potholders, table quilts and cloths, placemats, pillowcases, front door decor, lap and crib quilts and my most popular “Block of the Month - Scrap Pile Style Quilts”, I’m sure you will find these and many more treasures to quilt out of those colourful, excessive leftovers from that ever overflowing corner in your sewing room.

"How do you ScrapPileStyle?"


Interested in ordering one of Debbie's patterns?

Click HERE to visit her Etsy Shop

Have a question for Debbie?

Email her at | debbielindsay57@gmail.com

Artist Feature | Mindy Gledhill

Just came across the singer/songwriter Mindy Gledhill on Smitten Blog Design's website.

Love the song they had posted by her (below) and I checked out the rest of her work and it just got better! She has such a sweet soft voice and amazing lyrics. It seems like a record that would be a great lullaby choice for baby while still being enjoyable for mommy to listen to.

She has so many songs that would be great for my maternity, baby, engagement and wedding slideshows! Just might have to purchase her record! :D


Credit to Jed Wells for the design and Wendy Whitacre for the photography.

My Business Is Getting A New Logo |

A New KO Two Logo is in the works!

Jill Mitchell is currently working on a new logo for KO TWO!

Below is a sneak peek of an early rough sketch of the logo!

Keep posted to see the final version of the new logo along with two new proof book covers that will be designed custom for KO Two Clients!

A Fabulous Florist | Naturally Beautiful Floral Design

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Looking for an awesome florist in the Niagara Region? Look No Further.
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If you want a florist that will work with you to create beautiful and unique floral designs that fit your personality and style then Naturally Beautiful Floral Designs in the florist for you!
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Naturally Beautiful Floral Designs is an event florist company with a modern and upscale appeal. Whether you require fresh or silk flowers, they will take care of all your floral needs for functions such as weddings, showers, corporate parties, or even just a simple party in your home!
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Let Karen and her assistants at Naturally Beautiful use their design experience and talents to create an impressive and elegant feel for your floral arrangements.
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Visit Naturally Beautiful's website by clicking HERE

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Click on the slide show below to view a sample Naturally Beautiful's Floral Design:

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Artist Feature | Jill Mitchell

Jill Mitchell is one of my favourite local Canadian Artists.

Many of her fun projects can be found on her blog and she recently opened an Etsy shop to begin offering her unique art to the public.

Jill designed a wedding map for me that was just amazing!

It brought all of the unique components of my wedding to life and added a custom whimsical feel to my invitations. (see map below)

Jill is currently designing a logo for my company as well as album cover designs for my client proof books and brag books.

If you are in need of custom design work with a very unique look Jill Mitchell is the artist for you!

She is very creative and can interpert your ideas in a unique and stylish way!

Here is a look at one of Jill's latest creations - Thank You Cards - Click here to purchase your very own from her shop.

Designs by Jill Michell

My Wedding Map Created By Jill:

The Secret Sisters |

I just discovered this amazing sister singing Duo The Secret Sisters!
I love their sound and their old fashioned style!