recipe: lemon squares {& happy easter!}

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend, have eaten plenty of chocolate bunnies and that it's finally starting to fee like spring, wherever you are!  It was actually above zero in Winnipeg yesterday! Hooray!

One of my absolute favourite warm weather desserts are lemon squares.  I love love love citrus-y things. I could eat lemon curd with a spoon, and have done so, on multiple occasions, actually..

Anyways, I present to you my most favourite recipe for lemon squares, the epitome of picnics, sundresses and carefree sunny afternoons!

Lemon Squares. modified from here.

Crust:
3/4 C. butter, room temperature.
1/2 C. sugar.
2 C. unbleached flour.

Filling:
4 eggs.
1 C. sugar.
zest of two lemons.
juice of 3 lemons (approx. 3/4C.)
1/4 C. unbleached flour.
1 tsp. baking powder.
1 tbsp. icing sugar.


    1_grease a 13" x 9" pan and line with parchment paper.
2_beat butter and sugar until fluffy, approx. 5 minutes.  add flour and mix until incorporated.  it will be super crumbly, so don't worry!  press into your prepared baking pan and bake at 325 degrees until golden, 25 minutes or so.  if you're using a glass baking pan remember to always lower the temperature by 25 degrees.
3_make the filling.  in a mixer beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thickened.  5-8 minutes.
4_add zest, juice and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  
5_pour over your crust and bake at 325 degrees until set, around 25-30 minutes.  let cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into squares.  Enjoy!
Have a splendid week in the sunshine! xo, T.

d.i.y. tassel necklace.

So apparently it's supposed to be spring now.  Winnipeg doesn't seem to know that though, currently there are 10 foot snow banks outside my window and there were flurries of snow when I went grocery shopping this morning.  Even though our city doesn't seem to be very welcoming of warmer temperatures I am very very ready for some sunshine and some colour to start popping up in place of all this white - that is also now brown, grey and sandy :(.  But since the colour is not yet appearing outside I decided to bring it into my wardrobe with this ombre necklace of mints, greens and aquas - these colours make me happy every time I see them!
This necklace is super simple, and will have you feeling like spring in no time.  It's fairly impossible to not instantly feel happier when you're wearing something so colourful and fun!
what you need:
_embroidery floss in a variety of colours.  I chose to do a ombre gradient. Do whatever makes you happy.  one skein of thread makes two tassels, so decide how big of a necklace you want ahead of time.  mine has 15.
_chain.
_needle nose pliers.
_scissors.  preferably sewing scissors.
_bobby pin.

What you do:
_2: figure out what kind of pattern you want.  I chose to do a chevron shape with a gradient of mint to aqua and teal.
_3:take your loop of embroidery floss and snip one end so that it is now multiple single strands instead of one  long strand.  divide it into two.
_4: taking one half of your thread slip your bobby pin onto one end making sure all of the ends of your floss are threaded through.  
_5:using the pin as your needle, thread your floss through one circle of your chain, starting in the centre.
_6:pull it half way through so that the length of thread is folded over the bottom of the circle of chain and there is an equal amount of thread in the front and back.
_7: cut a length of thread of the same colour and tie it around the top of the tassel to secure it, as close to the top as your can.  tie a double knot and snip the excess thread.
_8:repeat the above steps working your way outwards until your necklace is completed.  make sure all of your knots from step 7 are on the same side so that you have a back and a front to your necklace.
_9: using your needle nose pliers open the end ring on your chain and slip the ring on the other end through, using flat nose pliers to clamp down on the open ring to secure it.  clip off any excess chain.  If you like you can now use your sewing scissors to trim your tassels into any desired shape, I chose a chevron, or you can simply just clean up the messy edges and leave the ends even.
I hope adding this pop of colour to your day makes it feel more like spring, whatever the weather happens to be at the moment!
Also, notice all the pretty pictures?  They were taken by the very lovely and very talented Mackenzie Loewen.  You can find more of her awesome work here. xo, T.

d.i.y. necklace frame.

So, this January I moved into a lovely new house with a lovely roommate and lovely upstairs neighbours!  It's  pretty awesome and it's really fun getting to slowly decorate our little apartment.  One thing that is not so awesome is that I don't know where half my stuff is. Still.  Three months later.  This is mainly due to the fact that I didn't take half my furniture with me and therefore half my belongings are thrown into the shelves of my closet in a giant mess.  This is one attempt at fixing that.
Not only do these pair of frames keep all of my necklaces and bracelets untangled and visible (if I can't see it I won't wear it) but they also add a bit of sweetness to my empty walls!

You may rememeber a similar d.i.y from a while back when I made a earring frame as a Christmas present.  This is almost the exactly the same process; ugly frames, pretty paper and a piece of wood, except this time I used Krylon pistachio spray paint instead of primer to paint my frames and hooks from Home Depot instead of nails.  You can find more detailed instructions in my previous post here.
I can't wait to fill up my house with other sweet little projects! xo, T.

The delight is spreading..

So, when I came back from my *ahem* "short" little blog break I expected things at the most delightful adventure to have fallen rather quiet.  I was rather wrong.  While I was away a few craft projects got featured on various other blogs and instead of having zero page views, I had...thousands!  It was a fantastic surprise and I thought I would share a little bit of the excitement with you!

Over at Stephanie Gerber's blog Henry Happened you can find my embroidered locket d.i.y, right in the centre of 30 other sweet necklace tutorials!

You can also find it posted on March 14th on Cloth Magazine UK's facebook page here!


Over on Babble you can find my painted heart tights d.i.y - one of my first d.i.y.'s on the blog! - in their Trendspotting: 12 Awesome DIY Tights article.

Lastly you can find my vintage book bunting d.i.y. over at Saved by Love Creations as part of her paper garland round up!

And thanks to all of you for sharing the sweetness! Happy Spring! xo, T.

d.i.y. beeswax candles.


Guess what?  I'm back..and with crafts!  After multiple months, moving, going to Mexico, breaking up with people and having it snow a million times, I finally have a camera and a sunny living room in which to take pictures.  I could not be happier.  There are so many pretty things I want to share with you!

As a child I was slightly a bit of a pyro, mainly in the area of candles.  Bonfires were fun, but candles, candles were so awesome!! (This probably has something to do with me being a child of the 90's, I can't help it.) There were candle making parties; where if you had a hair dryer, sheets of coloured beeswax - and if you were lucky, some glitter - you could amuse yourself for hours rolling candle after candle.  And then there were the charm candles!  Layers of different coloured wax, each containing a different charm that held a different meaning.  I would sit in my room burning multiple charm candles willing them to melt faster so that I could have whatever pretty thing lay inside..and then would promptly lose the tiny plastic object five minutes later.  I was a fire hazard. My mum was not into charm candles.
While I no longer spend hours watching wax melt, I still love candles, especially beeswax ones.  They smell amazing and are naturally pretty, without the glitter. and the fake fragrances & colours. and the charms...

They are also super easy to make!  All you need is beeswax, wick and some jars.  The trickiest part is tracking down the wax, we are lucky enough to have a honey factory here in Winnipeg that also supplies wax.  But if you can't find it locally, then there are lots of sources online...and of course there is always etsy.
Beeswax Candles.
Note: I bought 2 pounds and made 4 candles, of varying size (the largest is 500 ml.)  But you can make as many as your heart desires.
You need:
_glass jam jars in vary sizes.  check thrift stores for cheap vintage ones!
_wick. (mine is a roll from Michaels.)
_beeswax.  check out the Bee Maid website here.  We have a factory here in Winnipeg, but you can also order their wax online!
_a old glass bowl.
_a hammer and a chisel.  I'm serious.

1.  break your giant chunks of beeswax into smaller pieces so that they melt properly.  This is where the hammer and chisel comes in.  I tried it with a knife, it sucked.  The chisel is the way to go.  If you don't have a chisel you can also use a flat head screw driver.  Break the wax into roughly 1" pieces.
2.  melt the wax in a double boiler.  This is where the old glass bowl comes in, since after it's covered in wax it will forever be a bowl for wax and not a bowl for food.  stir occasionally.
3.  prepare your candle.  cut a length of  wick about an inch longer than your jar.  wrap the extra inch around a pencil. set aside.
4.  using a measuring cup (again, once you use it, it is forever a craft project measuring cup and not a food measuring cup) fill your jar with wax.  I filled mine to the base of the rim.  insert the wick into the centre of your candle while the wax is still liquid.  I find it helpful to dip it once, lift it out, let the wax harden on the wick and then put it back in.  it stays straighter this way.
5.  the wax will go from a golden brown colour, to a light yellow, to a more golden yellow when it's finally cooled.  When your candle is hardened and cool to the touch trim your wick, light, and enjoy!  And repeat until you have a happy group of candles!
My house smells so wonderful now!  And these little projects help distract me from the fact that it is still winter here.  With signs of more snow.  Lame.  But at least the spring flowers are starting to come into the flower shops! yay tulips!
I can't wait to share more pretty things with you. xo. T.