Category — The Shop

How is your week going so far? Mine’s been pretty good, although I feel like I could use a life coach trying to balance it all  some days. Or maybe I just need a good housekeeper. Now that’s a good dream to work towards! Do you ever feel like you’re just running in circles juggling all of your hats but not making any real steps forward? Lately I’ve started focussing on what I have accomplished each day rather than what I haven’t. It’s much more encouraging that way, wouldn’t you agree?

As promised last post, here are some more pretty images from the shoot I recently styled with my partners at Spruce Collective. Photographed by Mikaela Ruth, we had so much fun displaying our collection of Trove Vintage Rentals for our new Bohemian-inspired look book…

Trove Vintage Rentals for Spruce Collective. Photos by Mikaela Ruth.

Trove Vintage Rentals for Spruce Collective. Photos by Mikaela Ruth.

Trove Vintage Rentals for Spruce Collective. Photos by Mikaela Ruth.

Trove Vintage Rentals for Spruce Collective. Photos by Mikaela Ruth.

And just in case you thought we were all sipping champagne behind the scenes, um no, it was far from glamourous. How many Spruce Girls does it take to set up a backdrop, you might ask? Four, apparently! But we gained a new fan, well at least Mikaela did. This handsome fellow couldn’t keep his eyes off of her (or maybe it was the desserts?) and he actually showed his pearly whites for me when I pulled out my phone. No Photoshop, scout’s honour!

So, there’s a good taste of our vintage rentals for you and I posted more on Monday, in case you missed them (click here). You can see more over at our Trove website (click here) or pop by Spruce Collective to see them in person. Enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll be back to chat on Friday :)

Well hello and good day! You may notice a fresh new look here on the blog, put together by Australian designer Tabitha Emma, and I am so happy with the final result! This update had been on my mind for quite some time and the timing was suddenly just right. I’m loving all of the watercolour details and the clean layout. But enough about me, what do you think?

Today I thought I’d feature a styled shoot that I’m really proud of. My shop, Spruce Collective, has a large (and still growing!) inventory of vintage rentals and we thought it would be fun to show brides-to-be how to mix and match pieces in a variety of wedding scenes.  My partners and I (minus Jessica who was otherwise occupied giving birth to her adorable son Elliot…a very good reason to miss out!) spent one very loooong day staging several different scenes for our  Trove Vintage Rentals look book. Captured beautifully by Mikaela Ruth Photography, this was our vision of a romantic, Bohemian Farmhouse inspired wedding…

All photos by Mikaela Ruth for Trove Vintage Rentals, a division of Spruce Collective.

We packed up everything and trucked it on over to the quaintest little hobby farm that you ever did see…frolicking lambs included! And I think you’ll agree with me when I say that the barn loft is stunning. Fun fact: Kevi (one of my Spruce partners), got engaged here…fitting, right? You can see more of our rental inventory here too…click here.

Rustic benches made by Tack Woodwork & Design. Flowers by Confetti Floral Design.

All photos by Mikaela Ruth for Trove Vintage Rentals, a division of Spruce Collective.

All photos by Mikaela Ruth for Trove Vintage Rentals, a division of Spruce Collective.

These are just two of the looks that we shot for Trove Vintage Rentals but here is the final result….

Rustic benches made by Tack Woodwork & Design. Flowers by Confetti Floral Design.

I’ll share more lovely scenes with you on Wednesday but until then, enjoy this sunshine! You can see more of our rental inventory here too…click here.

I had such a fun weekend in the city! Had a great girls night out with 2 dear friends on Friday night before meeting up with my Spruce girls at the Terminal City Club on Saturday to set up for the first Hush wedding show. The venue was beautiful and it was such a treat to be part of such a glamourous event! It was even more fun to take a little “vacation” with my partners and really enjoy each other’s company outside of work. Well, I guess we were technically at work but it sure didn’t feel like it! Yesterday, we woke up in our hotel room to glorious sunshine and spent the day walking Gastown (Jessica is such a trooper at 36 weeks preggers!) and visiting some of our favourite shops….

A glimpse of our vintage rentals at Hush

Stunning quilts at Orling & Wu, handmade in Sweden.

We had a couple of hilarious attempts at Vancouver Photobooth

All of the fun (not to mention high heel-wearing and furniture hoisting) have caught up with me so I’ll keep things short and sweet for today. What did you get up to over the weekend? Could you believe the difference between Saturday’s monsoon rains and yesterday’s sunshine? Fingers crossed that it sticks around for at least a few more days…see you Wednesday!

As promised, I’m here to share some pretty pics and DIY’s from Sadie’s seventh birthday party that we hosted at Spruce last Friday. She’s been planning her crafty party in the workshop for months and it was so cute watching all the four-seven year olds trying to be ladylike in such a grownup space :) Because our back room is already so pretty, I didn’t even think about actual party decorations until about an hour before the kiddos arrived…whoops! But lucky for me there were plenty of creative supplies on hand! I rolled out a kraft paper runner for the tea party table and painted it with as many sweet sounding words starting with S that I could think of. Then I “borrowed” some goodies from around the shop (Jessica made the heart/string art and Monica strung the vintage doilies), brought in some fresh flowers and ordered child-sized High Tea from Tracycakes. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself…

Another last minute decision was our DIY craft. Sadie and I had originally thought we’d try making polymer clay bead necklaces (like these) but without an oven at the store, I thought it might prove too tricky. We then decided to pick up terra cotta pots from the Dollar Store for her friends to paint until we started setting up for the tea party with our stash of mismatched cups and saucers…light bulb! We’ve got a number of Pebeo Porcelaine paint pens on hand from past classes and we have a wide variety of permanent markers, which also work great on porcelain. I happened to find some strong multi-purpose glue in the storage room that is strong enough for ceramic and had already purchased spring bulbs and divided them up into smaller pieces. So basically, it cost me the price of the plants…win win! It didn’t take long for Sadie and her 7 friends to get busy…

Step 1: Draw directly onto the teacup and saucer with Pebeo pens or permanent marker. Images will be much more durable if baked in the oven, according to instructions, but I wasn’t too worried about  things being dishwasher safe for this craft. This is Lilah’s saucer below ;)

Step 2: Use a minimal amount of ceramic-strength glue to affix teacup to saucer. Press firmly and let dry for one hour, or according to instructions.

3. After glue has dried, plant spring bulbs or other flowers gently in teacup. Lightly water.

4. Top with a gold critter of your choice! These ones were ones that I spray painted gold for a past terrarium class…love the hippo!

And voila! A messy but fun little party craft perfect for kids and adults alike! Pretty cute, right? Most importantly, the birthday girl was happy as could be!

We’re doing a pretty awesome giveaway over at the shop starting later this morning, alongside some amazing local businesses. CheddarBooth and Mikaela Ruth Photography got the ball rolling on this contest to win a styled Afternoon Tea Party and we were thrilled to join in! We’ll be hosting the winner an seven of their lucky friends in our workshop and Tracycakes was the obvious choice for the decadent treats that will be served (they are only a few doors down from us at Spruce and their food is sooo good!). Mikaela popped by the other day to snap these stunning promo shots for the contest…

All photos by Mikaela Ruth Photography for Spruce Collective

All photos by Mikaela Ruth Photography for Spruce Collective

If you live in the Abbotsford/Vancouver area, don’t hesitate to enter! Here’s how:

• Like each sponsor on Facebook (CheddarBooth, Mikaela Ruth Photography, Spruce Collective & Tracycakes) and comment on at least one of their contest posts, telling us why you want to win and who you want to bring
• Share the contest link on your Facebook page(s) for an extra entry
• Tell your friends…the more friends that enter, the better the odds that they’ll invite you!

And that’s not all…we’ve got runner up prizes too! If you don’t win the grand prize tea party, you’ll still be in the running for additional prizes from each amazing sponsor: $300 off your next CheddarBooth booking, $200 off of a photo session with Mikaela Ruth Photography, coupons for cupcakes and high tea at Tracycakes and a party-themed gift basket from Spruce Collective…hooray!

All photos by Mikaela Ruth Photography for Spruce Collective

 So if you live nearby, don’t forget to Like, Comment and Share on each of our Facebook pages to enter. And if you live far away, well too bad but I’ll be sure to share pics of the winners at their beautiful soiree :)  And it’s suddenly the weekend, what are your plans? I’ll be at Indie I Do with our vintage rentals (which I’m really looking forward to) then we’re off to a local ski hill Sunday with the kiddos and some friends for sledding and some winter fun. Cheers :)