our white christmas tree!

So sorry, Bloomers, for being so MIA. Lots going on for the Bloomers, including a surgery recovery and two little babies. I'll get back at it regularly with inspirations in January, I promise :) In the meantime, Craigger and I set up our white Christmas tree and I wanted to show you all! I love the way it looks in our house. I am inspired by Scandinavian design where everything is very crisp, white and clean! More pics of our house to come in the New Year. We've been working VERY hard on it, and I think you'll like the results.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Bloomers!!!

xoxo
{like gossip girl, hee}

the real martha

note the cookies on the end - these are the tastiest things that ever were.

the lovely leaf tag

Our very own Lynn Bloomer made these FANTASTIC Christmas prezzies this year. I'm serious, Lynn Bloomer should have been the real Martha Stewart, but she may be even better than the real Martha, because she's not only uber-talented and artistic, but she's sooo fit and also super beautiful. How can one person have it all?! Anyway, she made this gift from scratch and I was so in love with how it turned out. The wood dishes are from Loblaws (very useful going forward!), she made the cookies from scratch (and the round one with the chocolate dot in the center is seriously the most magnificent thing ever to hit my taste buds), and she found the leaf tags from...I don't remember where...and she bought the ribbons too! Lynn LOVES purple and green. And we do too!
Thanks Lynn Bloomer. You are seriously the best.
Oh and photography by her daughter Katie - who is also so sweet and stunning and talented that she deserves a blog post all on her own!!

meet the monkey!

Noam with sock monkey brother Blimey

Super Shemesh!!

My friend Julie made him this adorable little acorn outfit!!

I like his GQ pose on this one...future model perhaps?

A family friend made each of us a beautiful quilt using my mom's clothing and I've been waiting years to wrap a baby up in it! He was so calm during this part of the photo shoot I am convinced he could feel his Grandma's hugs.

My little mensch!

I thought it was time to really introduce you to the new monkey in our lives...Baby Bloomer #2...Mister Noam Ethan Shemesh! In case you are wondering, it is pronounced "No-Am" not "Gnome" but sometimes he looks like a little gnome when he is grumpy so its ok to call him that too. We had a wee photo shoot the other day and here are some of my favorite pics...of course I had to dress him up for some ridiculous shots...please don't call child services he was really very comfortable and accommodating! And a big thanks to my friend Kate for your awesome photography skills and for putting up with all the costume changes!!

my rocker outfit

I bought this outfit last March for the Star Awards...but it was too cold :( And then I tried to wear it to Ryan and Tahlia's wedding in July, but I was too tired after setting up to make myself look nice (and I had to sleep about half an hour after the wedding started)! I love my rocker outfit. And no one will ever get to see it. My little ballerina dress from Urban Outfitters, my Jimmy Choo rocker bracelet from H&M, and my rock star shoes! And crazy hairs. And it's all quickly going on out style. Cry cry cry. Until now!! Craiggers took photos of my rocker outfit for funs, and now you get to see!!. Do you like my rocker outfit? I sure hope so! I REALLY wish I could have worn it out somewhere...but I suppose this will do :)

{photography by craig morrison}

i feel like a ROCK STAR in these shoes

urban outfitter dainty little ballerina dress with rocker shoes and jimmy choo cuff!

thanks to Shayna Bloomer for finding my cuff! my hairs aren't usually that crazzzzy ...

teensy $3000 cottage renovation!

Sorry for my absence, Bloomers. I was knocked off my feet with surgery. And while I'm certainly not back on my feet, I'm sitting up at least! And browsing the net. And finding cool stuff. Like this neat little Victorian cottage in the Catskills that this girl, Sandy Foster, made over (from a run down hunting cabin), using only $3000! It's so teensy and cute. It's a bit girly girl on the inside for me, but still gorgeous all the same...well done indeed! {from Nate Berkus' blog via Sandy Foster's blog}

before:

after:

inBloom featured in Wedding Bells Mag!

Last February, Joelle and Melanie Bloomer (with Joelle being quite preggers) created a whole bunch of funky "boho chic" flower arrangements for a Wedding Bells Magazine photo shoot, using our own little vessels and vases. The issue finally hit the shelves (it's the spring/summer 2011 issue!), and we are sooo happy with the outcome! Check out the spread! {pic from Wedding Bells Magazine}

socks for my chairs?!

i want my chairs to wear these!

I LOVE these, and would like to purchase a pair of they grey argyle socks for my new white mismatched dining room chairs!! The best part is that they're called PERSONALITY socks. With all my friends now living in Europe, I do think I might be able to swing this!{from Incredible Things via DesignSpray}

...and in a fit of passion...

...Melanie Bloomer paints her door yellow! Now, it's a magic door...
{thanks Jessica for the help!}

DIY Blinds!

Remember the post from awhile ago, where I found out how to make your own Roman Blinds for cheap {thanks to the Little Green Notebook blog}? So, Lynn Bloomer and I tried it out on my new house! I ordered some beauty fabric from Tonic Living, purchased two pairs of cheapo $3 blinds from Walmart. Total cost for 2 blinds = $56 (but I think I ordered too much fabric...so will make a table cloth out of that!). We definitely made some dumbo mistakes along the way, but it was so much fun and my new blinds look marvy. What do you think?

Step 1: Buy the crappy Walmart Blinds.

Step 2: Measure measure measure, cut cut cut (definitely open to dumbo errors)

Step 3: Uh oh what do we do next?! I don't get it!! Good thing Lynn Bloomer is an architect.

Step 4: Ohhh we have to cut out all the ladder-like strings

Step 5: Rrrriiip

Step 6: Oh my, I have glue stick envy

Step 7: Glue them together with the enviable glue stick!

Step 8: Put 'em up...ta da!!

painting interior doors

Original inspiration for painting our interior doors comes from Nate Berkus' apartment, which I will never cease to love (from Oprah.com):

I posted this one before, from Remodelista. This one's more of a subtle colour:

Fun fun fun, I want at least one fun door in my house:

Black is neat too:

Here's some red and yellow for Shayna Bloomer:

Can't tell if this dark blue or black, but i love it nonetheless:

{pics 6 -9 from Little Green Notebook}

This post is for my Craigger. You see, I have my heart on painting the interior doors of our house a funky colour, and I want to show him how cool it looks before I do it (lucky for me that he's always open to my crazy ideas)! I'm having a bit of trouble picking the colours though. I know I want the front door to be a nice funky yellow, but I think having ALL the doors that colour is waaayyy too much. So, maybe I should keep all others white?! But that does not adhere to my need to de-suburbanize, so the thought of white doors really does upset me. So, I'm thinking that maybe I could do them a complimenting shade of yellow that is very, very light. Or maybe a light grey? I don't know! Any suggestions, Bloomers?

my future kid's room

Look how cute this baby / kid room is! Love the natural manzanita branch with origami mobile hanging from it. I love the funny monster paintings on the door too. I am so going to do this one day for my little munchkin! {from Lynn Bloomer via Emmas Designblogg}

who is taylor swift's stylist?! damn they're good.

Ok so, seriously, this girl can't miss. Or her stylist can't miss. I mean, she is an angel, there is NO doubt about that. But her makeup is always flawless. And her hair. I had a conversation about this with Joelle Bloomer on the weekend, but then last night on the America Music Awards, it was a whole different perfect look! My favourite look is the red lips - she does this right! She makes it look really classy, not vampy at all. I think I'd like to take some pointers from Taylor.

Red lip Taylor:

Neutral Taylor:

{this was her at the AMA's last night...I hardly recognized her in straight hair and bangs!}