Mod Mischief

The previous tenants left us their dining table. The Ikea Ingo table wasn't quite what Chris and I wanted for the kitchen, but we decided it would be perfect as a coffee table. Inspired by Will Means' nightstand and  several octopus tables, we set out to give the Ingo table new life. We sanded it and cut down the legs. Chris put together a stencil image in photoshop and we printed it off and laid it out on the table. We cut the stencil out of acetate and painted around the edges. Then we painted the whole thing a sexy black. Finally we peeled off the stencil and gave it a shiny coat of polyurethane. The finished kraken table!

The tta’s first party was this weekend, on the eve of my birthday. Inspired by the Lewis Carol craze, we hosted an Allison in Wonderland Tea Party.  What we ate: I was still baking and assembling sandwiches in the kitchen when the guests started to arrive. We served mint cucumber tea sandwiches smoked salmon on rye toasts prosciutto and goat cheese tea sandwiches deviled eggs (we used whole grain Dijon and it looked so pretty!) and for dessert lollipop flower cupcakes , and eat me cookies (made with this great recipe from Martha )   Most popular drink: Well, it was a tea party. But on top of the orange pekoe and earl grey, we made skittles vodka . The shots didn’t make me grow any taller but they did have certain magical qualities. How we set the stage: Freecycle delivered in a big way! Chris and I lucked into an entire box of silver teapots, serving trays and cream and sugar sets. We picked it all up the day before the party

Nim and Noi sharing a kleenex box

You know I love watermelon. You know I love me some Death Stars . How could I not  love this ? From Kuriositas via Notcot Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed... it is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

It's springtime in Ottawa and now that the snow has melted away, Chris and I were able to try out our new jumping stilts. Trust me when I say that after this video was shot, we got better. We managed to walk all the way home without falling or stopping traffic. After it got too dark to play with our stilts, we went out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. All our usual pubs were full so we ended up at the Imperial .The food was fantastic and the ambiance was awesome. I can't wait to go back. One too many green Beaus ?

Way back when, inspired by the awesomeness of this and this , I started cutting butterflies out of records. They looked awesome and I had plans to have them flying up the walls of the Hoos, but cutting them out with a hot knife was extremely tedious and with everything else going on, the project got dumped into a box at the back of a closet. After seeing these gorgeous photos , I might just have to dig them out again! via Design*Sponge & Style Me Pretty

Nicolas Sarkozy I don't get it either.

I really need to learn to check my camera settings before taking pictures... Chris and I took a break from the heavy metal this weekend to check out Toronto's Vintage Sale . While, once again , we didn't find much to fit us, we did see lots of great clothes and some awesome hats. We came home with a Henry Heath Limited collapsible opera hat. Isn't it dashing? With a smaller selection and many of the same vendors as the Ottawa Vintage Sale, I don't think Toronto's sale would be worth the 5 hour drive on its own, but it was nice to squeeze in some shopping on our workshop weekend.

It makes me so happy to know that my Ludo costume instructable helped make this possible.           The Luminous Pariah was so kind to send me these incredible photos!

  welding the petals together The second weekend of our metal workshop in Toronto was a huge sucess. Chris and I completed a found metal flower and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out.   Pretty!   Someone said it was very Flaming Lotus Girls and I couldn't imagine a greater compliment. Unfortunately our humble flower isn't rigged for flame effects. Chris, looking like Prince Ronald but not minding me being dirty and smelly.

When we were down in Toronto last weekend we stayed at the Hotel Selby . Built in 1888, this historic hotel was once home to Ernest Hemingway. It is definitely not wheelchair friendly (Chris and I could barely squeeze into the elevator), but for a discount hotel it had a lot of charm.    

That ring of railroad spikes? I made that. Chris and I spent the weekend in Toronto rummaging through a scrapyard and playing with power tools. As part of a metal sculpture workshop, we're working on a found metal sculptural piece with a group of Ontario burners .   Sparks! Grinding away  (just look at how shiny I got those bolts!)