In the Kitchen with Lamb

I mentioned last week that I would like to start incorporating kitchen adventures (baking, cooking, etc.) onto Half Sweet soooo here it goes! I love to cook and bake. I also love food photography and styling. I hope to get better at both so I am very excited to start sharing some of my favourite recipes! This recipe, Slow Cooked Lamb with Lemon and Oregano, came from the April issue of Martha Stewart and I decided to make it for our Easter Dinner. We love lamb but I had never cooked it before so I made sure to read and re-read the recipe a few times so I knew what I was getting into. It seemed very straight forward... and it was! The potatoes may have stolen the show... totally infused with the lemon and oregano marinade, they were delish! To keep with the greek theme I made Baklava for dessert, honey, nutty, layered pastry goodness! I used this recipe and after reading a few of the comments I made a bit more of the syrup than the recipe called for and I am very glad I did.

Scribbles & Ink

I mentioned last week that I was going to be attending a calligraphy workshop. The workshop had just the effect I hoped it would! I left feeling completely inspired and itching to play with the ink and various sized nibs. Calligraphy is definitely NOT as easy as it looks. I am having fun getting a feel for pen, developing my own style all while trying not to drag my left hand over the wet ink (calligraphy is also a bit trickier for us lefty's). Our wonderful workshop host, Micheline said something early on in the morning that stuck with me. She said that to practise she would chose one word a day and write it again and again. I love this idea and am going to challenge myself to choosing a word a week which I will share! (pressure is on). Below are a few of my scribbles that I did when I got home from the workshop! Thanks again to Andrea at Inkwell and Micheline of Betty & Bing!

Anthro for Earth Day

Happy belated Earth Day! Anthropologie transformed their window displays into underwater masterpieces to raise awareness of the rapid decimation of coral reefs. They are simply incredible! Check out more photos here and here.

Out of the Blog Rut

I have been a very very very bad blogger. About a month ago I found myself in a blog rut... creating posts felt like a chore and I just wasn't sure what I was getting out of Half Sweet. 
Well I am back... rested, rejuvenated, inspired and engaged!!! I won't be posting everyday but 3-4 times a week is the goal. There will be d.i.y. projects, lots of photos, design projects of my own and ones that inspire me and I hope to start throwing some recipe testing into the mix... oh and I can't wait to share my foray into wedding planning as I start to plan for the big day. 

Engaged!! 

I hope you all have a great weekend! This weekend I am taking part in a calligraphy workshop at one of my favourite stores, Inkwell Boutique, hosted by Micheline Courtemanche of Betty & Bing letterpress print shop based out of Lunenburg. I can't wait to share some of my scribbles with you next week!

Micheline's Beautiful Letterpress Business Cards

Beautiful Butterflies

I would like one of each please! Probably some of the most beautiful watercolour work I have seen in a while. Each piece is done using ink, watercolour and bleach. More can be found here.

The Seed Stitch Scarf

I am almost done my seed stitch scarf! I have to track down one more skien of the wool I am using before it is complete so I will save the big reveal until then.

Colour Scheme Spotting

Having a camera on my phone means I am constantly taking snaps of different things I come across... mostly unique colour schemes found in various places. This is a recent one I took on a trip to Fabricville. One of my favourites... blues and greens.

Small Talk Studio

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was filled with little house projects and spending time with good friends.  I just love these prints from Small Talk Studio's Etsy shop.

Inconceivable Cab

The fantastic creative minds of The Helms Workshop recently completed what I consider to be a dream design job. Wine labels... but not just any wine labels... wine labels inspired by The Princess Bride [not the first time I have mentioned my love for this movie]. Oh and great T-shirts too!

Happy Friday!

I am not a knitter... yet.

I mentioned in a previous post this I wanted to pick up knitting this year. What sparked this desire? This scarf. After many "how to" youtube videos, blog tips and books I am feeling quite confident in my knitting. So confident that I already picked up the same blue sky bulky alpaca yarn used in my "dream" scarf. The dream scarf is made using the seed stitch. This is done by purling then knitting  repeatedly for a row and then purling your knits and knitting your purls on the next row [then repeat]. I've been practising this using thinner yarn that I had around the house. This shot is of my seed stitch practise piece.. soon to be my first scarf! Dream scarf progress to come!

Chickadee dee dee dee

This chickadee print was one of my creations at the NSCAD extended studies letterpress workshop I took a few months ago. Well... the type portion was done at the workshop. Since the workshop I have been wanting to add another element to the print and so I decided to carve a chickadee using my speedball/linocutting tools. I had some gold block printing ink that I thought would look great and I really love the sheen that it gives off. Speaking of Chickadees, we had one visit our bird feeder this weekend! We were very excited as the bird traffic at our feeder has been extremely low.

Roald Dahl's Stamps

Oh I love love love these. Just seeing the book titles and the distinct illustration style of Quentin Blake on these wonderful stamps, released by The Royal Mail to celebrate Roald Dahl's classis children's books, took me back to reading them as a kid [or having them read to me]. My favourite's include The Twits, The witches and The BFG.

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!?