Airigami

Happy Monday everyone! How amazing are these? Larry Moss is the artist behind these fantastic balloon creations. I can't get enough of Mona Lisa.

Project In the Works

A lot of my holiday projects involved linocutting (or stamp making) and I loved the proces so much that I am back at it. This time for a kitchen print project. It isn't complete yet but here is a sneak at my process and the theme the print will have. I think it will also make a fantastic wrapping paper print!

Happy Valentine's Day

Roses are red!

Chalk Letterer

Whew.... I have been a very bad blogger for the past couple of weeks. There just didn't seem to be enough hours in the day to even think of posts let alone piece one together. I have a lot of projects on the go that I am excited to share with you but for now I will be sharing some of my favourite design finds. Dana Tanamachi seems to be everywhere lately. Well her chalk lettering is anyway. Isn't it incredible!?

What Katie Ate

A few images from the latest post over at What Katie Ate, one of my favourite photography, food, styling blogs.

Adjustable Apron Tutorial

I pinned this apron project a while ago and have been anxiously waiting for some spare time to make it. Well Sunday morning I found the time. The tutorial can be found here. I followed the instructions step by step and found it very straight forward and really enjoyable to make!

I had just enough fabric left over from my accent pillow case project so all i had to pick up was approximately 3 yards of natural cotton ribbon.

The sewing techniques used in the project were very straight forward. And the whole project took only a couple of hours [I think it will take less time when I tackle the project again].

I love the finished product! The apron is designed to be unisex (probably a little too flowery for Dave) so I simply folded the "skirt" portion up and tied the ribbon in the front. The pocket portion is so cute and you could really design it to your own needs. Skinnier  pockets for pencils or spoons, one big pocket or none at all!

There was something about putting on the apron that made me want to bake and bake and bake. A batch of blueberry muffins and biscotti later I can't say enough great things about this Apron project. Thanks Purlbee!

All Day I Dream About Coffee

Happy Friday! Today's Coffee Break photo is taken at one of my favourite coffee spots, my home. This mug is the latest addition to my mug collection. A christmas present from D that sums up my thoughts around coffee perfectly. Have a great weekend!

A Hike By The Ocean

Nothing beats a hike by the ocean. I snapped these on the Kedji Seaside Adjunct trail on the South Shore just after Christmas.

Whimsy Crayon Wrap

This was another Christmas project I did for a wonderful little girl who loves princesses and drawing. I used this felt crayon wrap tutorial as a guide. Because I wanted to use a whimsical floral fabric as opposed to felt I had to alter the process slightly. Once the crayon and sketch book piece was complete I pinned everything right side in and sewed around the edge [leaving just enough room to turn the wrap right side out]. To make the felt flower decorations I used this tutorial. 

This project was really fun to make and I think it would make a wonderful Valentines day gift [or any day of the year gift] for that special creative someone in your life [big or small]. It uses very straight forward sewing techniques and the type of fabric you chose and embellishments make the gift that much more special.

Coffee Break

Enjoying a cop of joe at one of our favourite spots, The Coastal.

Having named my blog after one of my favourite hot beverages I've been wanting to start a regular coffee/Latté themed post for quite some time.

May I present to you... Coffee Break. A regular segment where I will share photos of favourite coffee spots [our own home included].

Happy Friday!

Fuzzy Friends

There are some very special kiddo's in Newfoundland that I really miss being able to see on a regular basis. I thought finger puppets would be a fun present for two little boys in particular.

When I finally decided on a jungle animal theme (a lion, giraffe, elephant and a parrot] I got to work. I cut the body portion from felt sheets, trying to chose colours that matched the animals main body colour. I then needle felted the "fur" and other details onto each side. I had a blast doing this part. I found myself laughing out loud as I made the little faces and they came to life. When Both sides were complete I pinned them right side in and sewed around them. Then I popped them right side out and continued to add little details here and there using my needle felting tools.

I wanted to create some sort of carrying case for them and a quick search on pinterest led me to this great tutorial to make drawstring bags. I just happened to have been given a super cute jungle animal print fabric [thanks maw :)] that was perfect for the job.

This was such a fun project that I am already planning on doing a few more sets with various themes. If you wanted to make your own but didn't want to do the needle felting you could continue on using the felt sheets to cut out the features such as noses and ears etc.

Not a Knitter... yet.

Knitting is something that I have attempted to learn before but just couldn't quite get the hang of it. I have a lot of friends that knit and my grandmother could whip up a sweaters like it was nobody's business. I marvel at their creations and how they make it look so easy. Well, I haven't given up. Knitting is on my list of things to do in 2012. My knitting goal is low, I would really just love to make a chunky scarf and perhaps a hat or two.

As you may have noticed I am changing things up around here. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to continue to change the look and create a better blogging structure. More on that later though.

Any tips from the knitters out there on yarns, needles [I've heard knitting in the round is the way to go], tutorial sites [I have joined Ravelry]?

I am a Dayplanner Keeper

A new year means a new day planner. As much as I love the calendar functions in my phone and computer I am still very much a written calendar keeper. I love writing lists of things to do and actually being able to check things off. I also look for a planner that fits into my bag and that has blank pages for quick idea sketching. The Molskin planners meet all of my agenda needs but when I saw this little planner designed by a major design crush of mine, Jessica Hische, I couldn't resist. This little book is beautifully designed and is an inspirational piece in and of itself. Below are a few of my other favourite planners that I came across.

1.Write Every Day 2.ecojot 3.The Non Planner 4.Molskin 5.Letter C Design 6.Today is the Day
7. Buy Olympia Annual  

Tea Towels for Twenty Twelve

I've been making calendars every holiday season for the past few years. It is project that I look forward to every year as I try to come up with different designs and ways for them to be displayed. This year I thought I would jump on the tea towel band wagon and design one of my own. This is a project that anyone could do so I thought I would share my process in case you'd like to jump on the band wagon as well.

I picked up a few yards of plain cotton fabric from Fabricville and cut out the tea towel shapes (rectangles aprox. 22"x 30"). I decided to get the screen printing portion done first, so off to Fresh Prints here in Halifax the, blank, fresh cut fabric pieces went. I highly recommend these guys. They did a great job! The screen printing process took a few days so while that was being done I started carving the stamps that I was going to use for the graphic portion. I created pine cones, various flower shapes, acorns and leaves and, when I got the towels back, stamped them using permanent fabric paint in the order of the four seasons. Once everything was dry and I was happy with the designs I sewed a hem around the edges, ironed them, and made a brown kraft paper wrap for a finished look.

Holiday Cards

Happy new year everyone! I am a little late getting back into the swing of things on the blog-o-sphere but I am excited to share with you some of the projects that I did before Christmas. We were successful in having a hand-made or bought locally Christmas and I have to say it felt good. The first project I'd like to share is our Christmas card. This is one of a few linocut themed projects I did this year. If you enjoy carving and stamping then this is for you! I discovered that if I sketched my design on tracing paper first, flipped it over, pressed it onto the linocut plates [thick rubberish sheets] and rubbed my hand over it, the design transfered perfectly. You then use a linocut knife to carve away the negative areas, the parts that you don't want to be inked.

My favourite Birdies do Christmas

My favourite birdies from the wonderful blog Little Doodles are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. Here are a few of my favourites so far. I hope you all had a great weekend! Hard to believe that the week before Christmas is here!

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden riiiings

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, seven birds a slimming

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, six birds crocheting

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, eight birds a milking

Top o Tree

We will be setting up our Christmas tree in the next couple of days and I realized that we don't have anything for the top of the tree. I thought of making an owl or critter for the top but I think I will go with an Angel. I took a photo of this guy in Homesense a couple of weeks ago and I think that I am going to use him as inspiration for the angel.

I will have a few posts next week but I am going to be wrapping things up [haha] here at Half Sweet for a couple of weeks to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. The new year will see Half Sweet get a make over which I am very excited to share. Happy Friday!!

Holly Jolly

A couple snaps of our exterior decorations. We were very lucky to have been left a beautiful holly bush in our back yard so although the garland is fake I think that the real twigs of holly nestled in with some pinecones make it feel quite real. We are adding some nice white lights tonight!

Even Princesses Goof Around

I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was one of those weekends that was jam packed but still felt relaxing. I came across this print and couldn't help but laugh. Great for a chilly Monday morning. Found here.

Whooo! It's Friday

This little guy has been a big inspiration for a few of my projects. I also just love everything about the photograph. Happy Friday everyone. I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Inspired by The Paper Wall

While my crafting projects are in full swing I realized that I can't share what I am working on as it will ruin the surprise for certain recipients. I will do a recap of my creations after Christmas but in the meantime I thought I'd share some shots of a few things that really inspired me this year. These are snippets from the paper wall at Deserres Art Store. Some of the paper is frame-worthy! I was inspired by the homemade/hand stamped feel of a few of the designs.

In the Bag

If you are a reader of Half Sweet you know that I love sneak peaks into design processes. This is a great one from J.Crews blog [Their blog is fantastic!]. A look at how their 2011 holiday shopping bags were designed.

A Must Read

From winter storm tips to drool worthy cranberry themed recipes, the new issue of East Coast Living Magazine is full of great winter themed articles. I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful ECL team on a festive table setting story that appears in this issue!

Enjoying a cup of Kicking Horse and the latest issue of ECL magazine in Mahone Bay.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

It was a great weekend [aside from a stubborn plumbing problem]. Lots of crafting, running and time spent with good friends. A highlight was spending Saturday in one of my favourite places, Mahone Bay, with my Mom and Grandmother. The town was bustling with Christmas spirit as the Annual Father Christmas Festival was taking place. Between the shops that were decorated to perfection and the Enchanted Villages in the beautiful old Suttles and Seawinds barn, I was totally inspiring and wanted to rush home and decorate the whole house from top to bottom. Before heading home we refuelled with delicious soup and scones at The Biscuit Eater. In all the years I have been going to Mahone Bay I can't believe I had never been there. It has officially been added to the "must stops" on all trips there in the future. I hope you all had a great week as well!

Soup at the Biscuit Eater, A woodland fairy themed enchanted village, Beautiful display at Zack & Nemo's,
The whole town was decorated!

Masters of the Window Display

I have been wondering what Anthropologie would be creating for their Holiday window displays and they shared a few photos just the other day. Gorgeous and clever as usual.