New Year’s Eve at The Gladstone Hotel

Hi. I hope you've had a great first week of 2018! All is fine here, in spite of record breaking cold weather we've been having in Toronto, which has meant facing the probability of frostbite within only a few minutes of going outside.

Photos Throughout the Christmas Season 2017

Hello, hello! I hope all who celebrated had an excellent time over the holiday season.For us, this year the holidays felt nice and long, because we had several small get-togethers with friends and family, rather than one big party. So, this spread the festivities out over a few weeks.If you'd like to see, here's a little look at what we got up to ...The fun began with an evening of dinner and a movie with Meghan.We started with some "Mushroom, Goats Cheese, Feta and Puff Pastry Appetizers" that I made. (I ended up making these twice over the holidays, hoping to get a photo in daylight to accompany the recipe that I'll be sharing soon. With the gloomy skies and the sun going down at around 5, I failed on getting a good shot though, so I guess I'll have to make them again!)

How to Make a Gift Bow Using a Hair Comb – V2

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/how-to-make-fancy-gift-bows-using-a-comb-part-two.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-37997 blk-brdr">Greetings! It being the Thursday before Christmas, I imagine there are some people out there who will be wrapping gifts this weekend. Here's a way you can add a handmade element to your presentation.This is actually an add-on to a previous post How to Make a Fancy Bow Using a Comb, in which I demonstrated how to make a ribbon gift bow using a hair comb as a tool. Of course, we're talking about a comb that has been dedicated to the use of bow making, right from the get go. In that other post I showed you one way to use a comb to make a bow and today I'll be showing you a second way. With it's tiers of ribbon, today's bow is a bit more fancy than the previous version, but it's also a tiny bit more challenging to make. It's not too difficult, though, and anyone who enjoys making things should be able to whip up a few of these in short order.I've learned from experience, that people will reuse handmade bows, so, while they take time to create, they are never a waste.

Out to a Great Concert : Austra at The Velvet Underground

One afternoon in early February, Nick was listening to some streamed music while he cooked. A song came on (this one, Future Politics) by a band I now know is Austra, and I was online in a flash, finding out who they were and when we could see them perform live. The reason I know this happened in early February was that, to my dismay, we had just missed them in concert at The Mod Club in late January. I also discovered that the band was based right here in Toronto.

I'm not sure how I missed them since their synth-pop sound is right down my alley, but I sure wasn't about to miss their show at The Velvet Underground that happened last Thursday.

Making Something Small With Something Really Big : Christmas Bauble Ornaments

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/small-christmas-tree-decorated-with-handmade-baubles.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="640" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-37919 blk-brdr">Here's an idea for people interested in making ornaments to decorate a small Christmas tree. Personally, I love little trees and have a few of them, some vintage and some newer. Most years, I forego a big tree and set these out on tabletops and cabinets. They make excellent accent lamps, gently casting light in dark corners when strung with either electric or battery powered twinkle-lights.However, one thing about tiny trees is that it hasn't been all that easy to find attractive small-scale ornaments to decorate them with. Several years ago, I found some lovely vintage glass ones on ebay, but see that, nowadays, small ornaments are in high demand and get multiple bids, going for high prices. And the small newly manufactured ones I've been able to find in the shops, haven't been very pretty and are often cheaply made out of plastic.So, when I spotted these wonderful strings of extra-large pearlescent beads at "Hi Beads" on Queen Street West, I knew just what I'd do with them. (I included "Hi Beads" in this post about the several bead shops found on Queen West near Spadina)Not being near Queen Street shouldn't stop you from making some of these small baubles though, as these large pearl beads, often called "Gumball Pearls" are easy to find online. I saw several vendors on Etsy who carry them -- here is an example.To give you a sense of cost for this DIY, the strings of 16 x 24mm beads was $5.99 each and the headpins and beads were about $2.One string of beads would easily have made enough ornaments to decorate a small tree, but I couldn't chose just one colour, so went with two stings, and have some beads left over.As for the jewellery making tools, you probably have all that you need in your household tool box, except for the round-nose pliers that help make round loops in wire. You could use regular needle-nose pliers to make your loops though, as long as you weren't particular about having them perfectly rounded. If you would like to get some round-nose ones, you can get them for $7 to $10 at any shop that sells beading supplies ... my mini ones go for $7 at Michaels but I had a 50% off coupon so got them for $3.50. I've used them a lot this past year and they work well.