Wave Your Flag, Eh!

Hey guys!

Happy summer! Hard to believe it's already mid July?! Why can't winter fly by so quickly? The weather has been amazing eh? Although our poor boat at the cottage is floating in the bare minimum level of water because of the lack of rain, they (although I'm not exactly sure who "they" are) just keep draining our lake to feed the other lakes. So, while I'm not hoping for rain, I kind of am...well at least for the nights. It can rain all night if it wants, with gorgeous blue skies for the day :)

What did you guys do for Canada Day? Most of you know that Mr. Fix-It and I got married on Canada Day and this year we celebrated 11 years :) Feels like yesterday. I always wear my veil on our anni ;)

DIY GARDEN STONES

Hey everyone!

It's been a little "here and there" the past few weeks. Isn't the end of the school year bananas? Every year I seem to forget that June is just crazy busy. The kids have been busy with spring activities, school is ending, I'm in a new job and it's been busy with figuring out vacation plans, camps for the kids etc. Yup, first world problems. However, it still makes things a whole lotta crazy. 

Oh and wanna hear something fun? On Wednesday, at the crack of dawn...literally! I'm going to be on CTV Morning Live, here in Ottawa as a hair model. FUN! If you're up at 6:50, my locks will be getting styled for the summer with KerMax products. Then, I'll be on again, sharing some fabuloso ideas for your summer entertaining with Sabra hummus. Double tv fun!!

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a really cute and easy DIY for your garden. My kids did these cement patio stones for their Poppa for Father's Day. They're easy, inexpensive and adorable. Promise.

DIY: PAINTING PLASTIC FURNITURE

TGIF!! Hope you all had a great week! I have an easy DIY this week that can totally transform your outdoor space.

BIZ LAUNCH! THE KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL SHOP!

Hey guys!

FINALLY! The time has come to let you all know about my little love nest that I've been working on. I'm thrilled to announce my new biz...

The KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL SHOP...

Keep It Beautiful Shop

Obviously, you know how much I love textiles and my ultimate favourite home decor accessory is the throw pillow. I've created high quality, 100% Canadian made throw pillows for your home. I believe all spaces should be beautiful because who doesn't feel fabulous in a gorgeous room. I've spent a long time researching the perfect manufacturer to make my pillows because, as you know, I believe in quality, well made, gorgeous products. 

The pillows are fun, cheeky, make your heart smile and will look gorgeous on your bed, in your living room or your favourite chair. 

I design all the pillows and they're custom made to order in Montreal. 100% Canadian made! The fabric is either high end canvas and or super soft velveteen fabric. Major snuggling power.

I'm also always open to custom designing the pillow just for you. If you have a particular saying or colour of pillow, I can do that.

Just so you know, the pillow cases do not come with the inserts.  BUT, my fav inserts that fit amazing in these cases are the 20X20 from Ikea. You can either go with the down filled or the polyester but for $6.99 the Ikea down are my fav! They fill out the pillow amazingly!

How do you get your hands on these fab pillows? 

Just head over to my Etsy shop. I've officially launched it today so please feel free to visit the shop anytime :) 

http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/keepitbeautifulshop

or you can type in "keepitbeautifulshop" in the Etsy search bar

I would love to see these pillows in your home. I know you'll love them. These ones have been huge hits with my kids...

and I have the love pillow on my bed and the "hello gorgeous" on the chair that I usually write all my blog posts in.  

So that's it. I'm really excited to start this up and will probably sell some of the pillows in a few local stores here in Ottawa. I love these pillows and I know you will too. Contact me anytime if you have any questions - keepitbeautifultoday1@gmail.com

Thank you so much for waiting so patiently for this launch. Love you all. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. 

fresh.fabulous.sophisticated.

Keep it Beautiful.

Sibling Rivalry is Real and Netflix Can Help!

Happy Friday guys! Ready for the weekend? It's one of my favourite weekends of the year here in Ottawa. Tomorrow is the Great Glebe Garage Sale where the entire neighbourhood hauls their junk out of their basements and litters their driveways with stuff. The expression, one person's junk is another's treasure couldn't be more true at this event. There is stuff everywhere to be had and for the DIY lover, it's paradise. I'm on the hunt for an old dresser for our baby girl. It's almost time to move her into a big girl room and I would love to give an old dresser a facelift. I found this chair at the big sale a few years ago.

It's also Ottawa Race Weekend where the city encourages thousands of runners along their race journey. Mr. Fix-It and I are both running the 10k. Well, he's really running it and a couple of girlfriends and I are doing the walk/run...well more walk ;) I digress.

Having three kids is busy. Really busy. The kids are always together. They love each other and play together a lot. It's comforting that they stick up for one another and travel as a team. However, they aren't best of friends at all times. There are days that they can go from playing happily to wham! tackling each other or calling the other person a name they think is awful. A popular one that we've heard the last couple weeks is "you're a bum head" ;) Yup, none of this is the end of the world but obviously we talk to them about this behaviour and remind them that words hurt. We also have a few Netflix shows that are good reminders to the kids to be kind to one another.

The Hive - Episode: Babee's Room - Buzzabee and Rubee compete over who Babee (their new sibling) gets to room with. Mom and dad must explain to Buzzabee and Rubee that Babee needs to grow up before she can share a room.

Puffin Rock has a good episode about following the rules - Mama tells Oona and Baba to stay close as a storm approaches. After ignoring her advice, Oona and Baba get stuck in a seagull nest during the storm.

Self-love is always good to fuel into your kids' souls. It's our responsibility to do our best to engrain that into our kids. We want them always to feel special, powerful and to love themselves. The Adventures of Puss in Boots has a great episode that reminds kids that they are awesome.

Feel free to keep these Netflix shows on hand when you need them. As for Mr. Fix-It and I, we're almost finished the Scandal marathon...I don't want it to end it's so good AND I've had a sneak peak at the upcoming season of Orange is the New Black and it doesn't disappoint!

Have a fab weekend. I'll let you know what I find at the garage sale. Wish me luck in the hunt for treasures.

Keep it Beautiful.

   I'm part of the Netflix Stream Team. Every month I remind you how much I love the Netflix addiction and want to encourage you all to love it too. All the words and thoughts are mine.