Christmas and Eames

It's July - and swelteringly hot - so in my world at least it means the Holidays have started. Last week the fireplace was lit and the house was filled with lots of sparkly decorations, a white tree, two models, a photographer (hi John Cullen!), two assistants, an art director (hey Jason Kang!), a wardrobe stylist, a hair and makeup person, plus a couple of extra folks who were roped in to lend a hand. And, we were lucky enough to have smartypants food stylist Ashley Denton on set too, who took a couple of secs in between shots to snap a few pics of the goings-on with the Instagram app on his iPhone. They turned out super-cool, so I thought it'd be fun to share them (there's more on Ash's Instagram stream here).

Yep, it's all very Christmas-y, but in that last shot you'll see something far more practical, the Eames Hang-It-All that's now installed in the front hall to handle a slew of jackets, trucker hats, dog leashes, and towels (for our occasionally mucky Whippet, Spot). It was a splurge for sure - after shopping around I found the best price for a new one on eBay - and, funnily enough, it's the only Eames piece in the house. Happy Holidays!

A flower battle

So, I get asked to do lot's of fun things in my line of work, but some are definitely more fun than others. If you catch the current issue of Canadian Family you'll see a crazy huge feature that I got to work, shot by John Cullen, and yes, it was crazy fun - Three completely bananas days in-studio involving the CF crew, models, kids, food and crafts, and, in the midst of it Jen Reynold's (the mag's Editor-in-Chief) threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to come up with a centrepiece for $25.

Easy? Maybe, except her's was to be all gorgeous and fresh, while mine had to come entirely from the dollar store. And so here are the results. My 3 fake flower topiaries (glue gun fake flowers onto melamine plates, then attach bamboo stick and plant them into terracotta pots), versus Jen's fresh poppies, ferns and ivy loosely arranged in a vintage metal vase. Which is your fave? Vote right here!