Saturday 31 December 2011

Jumping in with Both Feet!

It’s hard to believe that 2011 is only hours away from being over!

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And now we’re jumping into a New Year… with both feet… ready to make things happen for ourselves and our new Network! Picture1

Happy LifeA New Year means making plans and making things happen! So what would we like to make happen in 2012?

  • Continue to pull Members together for occasional lunch and/or dinner gatherings
  • Host BLEND:2012!!
  • Organize and host blogging/photography/other workshops

What about you? What would you like to see our Network do in the New Year? Is there something in particular that you feel the Network should accomplish? How does the group ensure that our out-of-BC Lower Mainland Members feel included in what we plan?

Please share your ideas and thoughts! :-)

beautiful-happy-new-year-2012-in-different-styles-1

Wishing you, your loved ones and friends health, happiness, success & prosperity in 2012!!

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Wednesday 21 December 2011

Christmas inspiration from Ikea

Merry Christmas everyone! We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your support & friendship this year. We are so excited for the things to come in the New Year! With just a few sleeps till Christmas, we are madly running around to finish off those long lists. Are you feeling the rush as well? Here are a few beautiful and inspiring holiday images, from none other than Ikea: if you're in need of last minute gifts, wrapping, or table top decor and accessories you will likely find it there!







Don't you just love the styling in these images? Visit Ikea.ca to see more lovely tabletop, giftwrap, and decor inspiration. And from our homes to yours, may you have a wonderful & safe Christmas holiday with those you love.

with Barbara, Victoria, & Karla

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The Perfect Excuse to Get Together!!

There’s no doubt about the fact that our members love to get together, and we look for almost any excuse we can find to do just that!!

Christmas Post 1 Christmas Post 2

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Christmas Post 3

So can you blame us if we insist on getting together to celebrate Christmas?!

This coming Saturday afternoon, December 10th we’re gathering at Jodi* & Darryl** Bueckert’s lovely home and we’re going to have yet another fantastic time… because that’s what happens when we all come together!!

We also eat. MMMM!!

And this time we’re each bringing a nibbley to share. Cheese & crackers, veggies & dip, cookies, cake slices… just scrumptious stuff, I know it!

In the spirit of sharing and giving, members attending are also bringing both a $10 donation for the Union Gospel Mission and a non-perishable food item (or items) to be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Members – and our lovely blog readers – not attending the party are encouraged to make donations to similar community organizations!! xoxox

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We promise to take lots of photos and share our fun with you!

Members… if you’d like to attend and you haven’t RSVPed yet, please get in touch cdn.dlbwest@gmail.com

Merry Christmas!

Victoria
w/ Nancy, Karla and Barbara
cdn.d&lbWEST Organizers

* Jodi Bueckert’s blog: The Simply Inspired Home
** Darryl Bueckert’s blog:
DBueckertPhoto
Other mentioned members: Nancy Marcus of Marcus Design and Colleen Sawatsky from Vintage Home

Friday 18 November 2011

Let’s Talk Blend!

Finally a long overdue re-cap of our fabulous event!

On Saturday, Oct 1, our blogger soiree we called Blend 2011 came to life! We held it at The Loden Hotel, a fabulous boutique hotel downtown Vancouver. The food was amazing and the company equally superb!



The event was sponsored by our premier sponsor, Ikea Canada.
We were spoiled by fabulous food, wine and drinks.

Photo: Darryl Beuckert

Photo: Sari McNamee

Many of our Network Members who attended wrote about our fantastic Blend 2011 party so be sure to check out their posts!! You’ll find we’ve listed the posts in reverse alphabetical order by blogger name for no absolutely particular reason. LOL! We’re crazy like that!


What a wonderful, energy-filled group we had join us for Blend!


Guests:



Michelle Morelan
Dawna Graham
Lily Ellis &
Rachel Janzen
Albarosa Simonetti
Maria Killam &
Irene Hill
Darryl Bueckert
Astrid Thomson
Tamara Komuniecki
Corey Klassen &
Vanessa Vera Plaframan
Victoria Lambert
Rosa Pearson
Andrea Johnson
Dale Kosowan
Heather Ross
Barbara Matson
Michelle Mollinga
Tracey Ayton
Karla Adamatsu
Yvonne Vanderkooy &
Peter Vanderkooy
Sharon Laxon & Gary Laxon
Ashli Malinek
Nancy Marcus
Erica Reed Cook
Tracey Kofoed
Jennifer Findlay &
Mark Findlay
Janis Nicolay
Sarah MacMillan
Jil McDonald
Lesley Stenning
Sherri Birt
Sheila Zeller
Megan Close, Darci Ilich & Stephanie Volger
The Cross
Carol Smyth
Sari McNamee
Jodi Bueckert
Amanda Swanlund
Danielle Hardy
Heidi Nyline

Our Special Guests


Madeliene Löwenborg-Frick
IKEA Canada
our Premier Sponsor!
Andrea Mills
IKEA Canada
our Premier Sponsor!
Jen Knight
IKEA Canada - Coquitlam
our Premier Sponsor!
Suzanne Dimma
Canadian House & Home
Mark Challen
Canadian House & Home
Kelly Deck
Kelly Deck Design
Shauna Levy
IDS Toronto
Delta Faucets Via Twitter



 Zoe Pawlak and Jen Knight, PR Ikea Coquitlam

Photo: Sari McNamee


Photo: Sari McNamee

Jil MacDonald with Barbara Matson from hodge:podge, and one of the four organizers of the CLDB West Network.

Photo: Victoria Lambert

 More gorgeousness… designer Carol Smyth from The Design Pages and Meesh Mollinga who’s blog is i dream of chairs.

Photo: Sari McNamee

Photo: Sari McNamee

Photo: Sari McNamee


Not only did Ikea Canada sponsor the whole event but they brought famous guests with them as well. Suzanne Dimma, editor-in-chief for Canadian House and HomeMark Challen, VP of Communications {also a fabulous designer} and Kelly Deck from Kelly Deck Designs, our local HGTV star and the next "Sarah Richardson" of design!

Photo: Sari McNamee

Photo: Sari McNamee

Suzanne Dimma and Mark Challen

Photo: Sari McNamee

Organizers, Nancy, Victoria, Barbara and Karla with the fabulous Mark Challen!

Photo: Sari McNamee

On the left we have Kelly Deck with our own Michelle Morelan of A Schematic Life. Michelle used to work at Kelly Deck Design so for her, this was a terrific opportunity for her to catch up!


Lighting up the other half of the room, Heather Ross again along with talented graphic designer Rosa Pearson from FlutterFlutter


How fantastic that Sarah MacMillan of Prairie Perch could come join us all the way from Saskatchewan!! She’s pictured here with Tamara Komuniecki, editor of Delish Magazine. Tamara took photos of everyone’s shoes and shared them with her followers on Twitter. What a fun idea that got us all laughing and modeling our lovely heels!!


Looking AbFab, designers Maria Killam from Colour me Happy, Heidi Nyline, Warline Painting and Jil MacDonald of Reflections Interior Designs.


Andrea Johnson (From My Living Room) and Astrid Thomson (Delight of Design) brought even more glam and design talent into the room!


Found hanging out in the back room (we suspect they liked to be nearer to the bar and food {it was soooo good!!}!) Sari found…

Photographer, shop-owner and so much more, Heather Ross who writes Heather Ross : The Natural Eclectic, Michelle Morelan again, as well as designers Amanda Swanlund of Twenty One | Two and Brillante Interiors’s Albarosa Simonetti.


It’s hard to see her in this photo, but the woman also staying close to the bar ;-) all while surround by good friends, Yvonne Vanderkooy from Layers and Layers, a blog AND a fabulous designers resource centre.


Here we have Carol Smyth again only this time she’s mingling with Sharon and Gary Laxon. Sharon is the other very important half of Layers and Layers :-)


Going black & white you’ll find Sheila Zeller with Jennifer Findlay of blog and on-line home “lovely stuff” store Nicole Jane Home and from Edin’s House, and one of our CDLB West organizers, Victoria Lambert.


Many of our members are interviewing and writing blog posts about some of the fabulous Designers taking part in IDSwest.



The highlight of the evening was the drawing of all the fabulous prizes!

A detail post about the prizes and sponsors will follow..


As fun as blending at Blend 2011 was, it was made even more fun because of our door prizes! Thank you so much to those who donated items to give away:

IKEA Canada:  $1,000 Ikea Gift Certificate – Darryl Bueckert
Delta -Bathroom Faucet:  Sheila Zeller
Delta – Shower Head: Erica Reed Cook
Delta – Kitchen Faucet: Tammie Brown
Nicole Jane Home:  $100 Gift Certificate – Deena Easton
The Cross: Designer Guild Pillow - Barbara Matson {thanks to Madeleine Lowenberg-Fisk}
Nancy Marcus: Art Print - Rachel Janzen
Tracey Ayton Photography:  Lily Ninkovic Ellis
Zoe Pawlak:  Print - Michelle Mollinga
Vintage Home - vintage mirror - Sharon Laxton
Sari McNamee - Photo Canvas Art - Jennifer Findlay
Kerrisdale Design - Laquered Box - Dawna Graham
Delta - Book: Domino:  Jodi Beuckert
Delta - Book: Undecorate -  Tracey Kofoed
Delta - Book: Pale and Interesting - Suzanne Dimma
Delta - Book: Tricia Guild - Amanda Swanlund
Delta - Book: Thomas O'Brien - Danielle Hardy
Ikea  - Vase: Carol Smyth
Bracelet from Mo Funk Designs: Albarosa Simonetti


Even our special guest, the lovely Suzanne Dimma with her prize, "Pale and Interesting"


The drawing of the $1000 Ikea gift card  - which Darryl Beuckert won!

{That is his wife -Jodi, in the white dress}

Tracy from My House of Giggles with her prize and Astrid.



Erica from Moth Design with her Delta Faucet shower head!

Photo: Victoria Lambert

Many of our guests were tweeting with @beigeisdead (on behalf of Delta) in the hopes of wining their Tweet Prize… and Sheila Zeller won a bathroom faucet!! @beigeisdead announced Sheila’s win live on Twitter and I helped by posting this photo for the Twitter world to see!! :-)



So many beautiful/handsome faces and simply wonderful people!!!

We can speak for everyone in attendance – and we hope for all of our Network members – when we say… everyone is excited to be part of the growing CDLB West Network!!!

What an absolutely wonderful, fantabulous evening we all had!!

Many of us were still energized after the party so we took things up to our suite…
including some left over yummies from the buffet table!
We chatted, laughed and just enjoyed ourselves until our beds were calling to us.



Then it was off to bed for us organizers – these are the sweet slippers placed lovingly beside our bed by The Loden staff and we just had to share!

Pitter Patter           Renew Revive

Perfect words as we scrambled into bed (i.e, pittered and pattered), shut our eyes and got our much needed beauty sleep (yep… you got it… renewed our energy so we would be revived come morning) :-

The next morning a few of us enjoyed a fantabulous buffet breakfast at the Fairmont Pacific Rim down the street!


We are excited at the possibilities the future holds for our network and members.

If you are a design or lifestyle blogger in Western Canada {BC, AB, SK, MB}
shoot us an email to get added to our list!



Barbara

and
Victoria, Nancy and Karla