Mars

A cameo from my handsome husband for the month of March. A little way of honoring our anniversary coming up. My sweet lumbersexual man ready for an outing at la cabane à sucre, pocket knife, iphone, and cozy knits. 

Here are some of his favorites: 

Merino wool Watch cap from Mercantile

This jacket

An Antler sweater

(because he's jealous of the one I knit for our daughter)

An old Banana Republic shirt I bought him 

A pocket knife 

Redwing Heritage boots (he should buy, if you ask me) 

Janvier

2015! Already!!! 

I'll be posting free desktop calendars every month again. Hopefully on time, each month.

 For January, I always love my dose of cozy knits, introspection, calm and hot beverages. I'll try and incorporate some local (or not) favorites into these monthly drawings. I'm also taking this chance to just draw pretty girls and women (and maybe a man or two?) well dressed and stylish. I have mostly children work line up this year so it will do for a nice change. So here it is! I hope you enjoy it :) 

The coolest chunky knits

This shawl I want to knit

Those mittens I should finish 

This really cute café in a town we love

The perfect winter boots

Noémiah Fall-Winter 14'

Photo: Instagram Noémiah (@missnoemiah)

 Isn't it funny that the last post I wrote before taking some time off with my baby was about some work for Noémiah... and now first one is all about her as well! I have started working again since earlier this fall, but there is not much I can show yet. This gorgeous collaboration took place in late spring and summer, and her De Glace collection is now out, so I can brag. 

 I designed some patterns for her, but she ended up using this single motif instead. It embellishes some pieces, embroidered in shiny gold thread.. and Also a cashemere scarf. What more could I ask for? This collection feels much more mature, Noemiah has found herself... and it's really a pleasure to be working with her after all these years! 

Photographe : Stephanie Lou 

Assistant à la photographie : Damien Thiberge 
Maquillage : Catherine LeMay 
Décor : Justine Roy et Joanie E. Roy 
Modèle : Valérie Collette

Winter

Oh ALLO!! 

 Sorry for the long winter pause, but I have been very busy with you know... giving birth and taking care of a new born. ;) 

 I wanted to share the last image I did for Studio Espace Mukti before leaving for mat-break. It was meant for their winter season. Which is over by now... right, winter is over soon....please? Is it just me or did this one seemed to drag and drag, almost May and the temps are finally trying to come up a bit. I love Espace Mukti's yoga classes, the pre-natal yoga really helped me feel mobile in the second half of my pregnancy. Until I was put on modified-best-rest but that has nothing to do with the yoga. I actually missed it a lot.  I also took a baby massage class this spring. It was really magical and I'm so glad I have those knowledge now, I highly recommend it. :) 

 Talking about babies... here are some pics of my tiny lady. Baby Estelle Ursa was born on February 11th. She was 7.8lbs and 19" She has been amazing since, the loveliest most easygoing baby I could imagine. Don't get me wrong, taking care of an infant is the hardest thing I've done, ever. But she is usually in a great mood and that helps a lot. 

Calendar : Décembre

Ouh!! I'm late for this one! Ending the year in a real classy way ;)

Hopefully you like it just as much and I'm all forgiven already... 

 Are you psyched for Christmas yet? We holding on as best as we can on getting our tree since I like it to be still fresh and fragrant for *actual* Christmas day and New Year's eve.. But soon.. soon we will go get it!! I'm really giddy about the holidays this year. The Christmas playlist has been our go-to music for the last weekends and we are more and more looking forward to it each day. Here's a song from one of our favorite albums, She & Him's A Very She & Him Christmas :

xo !

Mardis Manger : Marmalade

I'm alive!! 

 I know I'm letting this blog rot.. big time. But I have my reasons*.. and also, like always, I'm busy.. Which basically just means that I have work - which is really a good thing! - and also that I'm not too good at managing my down time around hobbies, life, and coming up with blog posts. But I'm not gonna ramble about that, since nobody is holding their breath to read me here.. 

 I wanted to make a quick and maybe a bit underwhelming announcement about the calendar... Let's just face it, I don't know if I'll ever sale prints again ;) It really does not fit into my current schedule. And coming up with a paper calendar felt so intense.. So time consuming. So.... I'm not going to! I need to stop feeling guilty about what I decide to do, and not do. I'm at such a sweet spot in my career where I can finally decide what I'm doing... I should just embrace it! So, I will probably make monthly desktops like I did for 2013. Stay tuned, if you have been enjoying those. 

 But in the meantime, I cooked marmalade for the first time ever this morning, and it's delicious. I shared a photo on Instagram and someone asked about my recipe. I thought I'd quickly share it here!! 

Orange & Pomegranate Marmalade 

 I started with this recipe from Ricardo. But since I could not follow a recipe properly to save my own life.. I modified it quite a bit.. So here is MY recipe ;)

• 3 big oranges 
• the seeds of half a pomegranate 
• 2 cups of sugar 
• 2 cups of water 

 First of all you cut off all of your orange peels with a knife, and try to dice the oranges using just the flesh. Make sure you keep as much of the orange's juice as possible. 

 Slice your peels thinly and blanche them. (put in fresh water and bring to a boil, strain) Repeat that 3 times. It's suppose to take care of the bitterness. I find that the end result is still a bit bitter, but just the right amount of it. 

 Then, add your orange flesh, the pomegranate seeds, the sugar and the water to the peels. Bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 1h30. Stir often and keep an eye on it so you can make sure you get just the right thickness. You can always do the cold plate test.. but frankly I never really get it.. 

 I also added some star anise and a cinnamon stick. I didn't let them in there for the whole simmer, the taste would have been overpowering. I just tasted from time to time, and removed them.. maybe 45 minutes in? And THAT'S IT!! Not that complicated. Slightly longer then regular jam.. but seriously.. it's pretty good... And citrus will be in season for a while ;)

You can see the quantity it made.. If you'd like to make more, just double the recipe! 

Jams always make nice gifts. Maybe bring a pot next time someone's having you over for dinner? 

*Subject for a whole other post...

Novembre

Oh hey! November is here.. As usual, October flew by. It really is starting to feel like winter around here. We even have some chances of snow this weekend... 

I have a lot of work lined up in the coming weeks (I'm really thankful for this very busy Fall work-wise!) So excuse me for the sparse posting... I'll try and update with some 2014 Calendar news soon. 

Les giboulées de mars...

OUH!! Just in time! 

And I am so done with this yucky weather... 

True Colors

When all is still snowy, and most of the time slushy.. don't we just crave tulips and brighter colors!? Here's to the last stretch of winter!! 

Calendar : January

I hope you all had a very very merry Christmas. I did, it was pretty lovely. Lots of fun and amazing gifts. So spoiled. :) 

xo

Click on the image for full size desktop. If these files don't work well for you just comment, and I'll try and make it up.

On Being Thankful...

I have a lot of things to be thankful for this year...

 Cooking turkey for friends is just one of them. 

The font Curlz is another one. 

Mercredis Wedding OCD

This new blog post category is pretty catchy, now isn't it? 

Mardis Manger : Home Made Sage Tea

 I think anybody that knows me, or lives within a 2 miles radius, or reads this blog, is aware that I was pretty sick with a bad case of man-flu last week. Cough, cough and bad cough that won't let you rest. Days that drag while high on sirup, flu meds, constant cépacols intake AND Aérius (yeah, remember those seasonal allergies? They don't give a dang) So at some point I decided to come up with a more natural feel good concoction. Well informed adults around me (read: my mother, and my mother-in-law) advised me to use fir balsam oil as much as needed, it's a good remedy for viruses. Eucalyptus oil is also pretty common to help with bronchi congestion. 

Here it goes! I figure other people will get sick eventually during the winter season, this might be helpful!

 Get yourself some fresh sage. I find the taste of sage very soothing, and it helps better the flavor of the strong oils. If you have fresh eucalyptus, you can also use that. I heard that thyme is super good for sinus congestion, if this is what is going on with you, use thyme!! Even dry leaves will do, but use a lot. Personally, I was more chest-congested, and did not have any thyme at home. (I am aware that you might not have any of those fresh herbs at home, when you are sick, dry thyme is probably your best option!!) 

You can rub your chest and back with those. It actually feels reeeeaaaallyyyyyy gooooood. Seriously, it was the only thing that helped me come down. 

 As well as a couple eucalyptus oil drops, and 1 or 2 fir balsam oil drops, put some spoonfuls of honey in the mug you'll be drinking from. If you have a bit of a difficult palate, be generous on the honey. Those flavors are strong, and the sweeter your tea is, the less bothering they will be. Also, honey is great with sore throats. DAH.

 Once your water has boiled, infuse your sage leaves with a tea bag of your choice. I went with mint tea.  Mint is great to help clear your bronchi, and sooth your stomach. (that might be angry with all those pills...) It's also usually caffein free, which will let you rest once you're done drinking this hot baby.

xox

March & April

Taxe-time... and rain, rain, rain. 

Janvier :: Sketch

 Here is my sketch for the month of January! Youpi for calendar 2013'. This time around, for color inspiration, I decided I was going pick my palettes out of some of my favorite instagrams of each given month. ( I am guilty, I do love instagram like your average hipster.) 

 This is a picture I took last january, and does it really get better then slow cooked oats, homemade jam that was given to you, and a cappuccino made by your man? It does feel silly to talk about such wintery things.. But you gotta do what you gotta do!