Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Marzipan Scones

This is one of my favorites and always seems to excite the rest of
 the world: delicious Marzipan Scones.  

the original recipe is from an old Quaker Oats cookbook that 
I found in a second hand store many many many years ago,

instead of using raisins I used Marzipan. I would think you can
 use any scone receipt and do that.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

VISION BOARD


when thinking about how I want my brand to look like I turned to the main idea of my actually business "THE VISION BOARD" here is the outcome that I though I share with you.



If you would like to create your own Vision Board and would like to get together with 
a group of other like minded, I will host a vision board workshop in the middle of June. If you want to join sent me you e mail and I will make sure you get an invite.
Ullikavisual@hotmail.com

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

vertical garden

This project was inspired by a post that I saw on ReNEST (www.re-nest.com). 
The side view of my deck is not the most appealing and I kept on wondering what I can do with it. I saw these ideas for vertical gardens and one was using gutters. What a brilliant idea I thought  and voila here is my version:
 This is the before side view, not so nice:(

To make this happen I went to the
 Re Building Center on Mississippi Ave ( in PDX) because I wanted to use something that was low in cost and also I did not need to get something new.I looked through the scrap pieces of gutters and these are the three pieces that I found that worked in the length.

I screwed the gutter pieces into the vertical  wood  planks and for stability used old blind hardware that I also found at the Re Building Center and screwed under the gutters.


.....added holes, so there would be sufficient drainage....

...... added organic potting soil....

 .....went to the neighborhood nursery and picked some lettuce. I figured lettuce would work great as start up crop...

...and this is how it looks now.

 Hope you  like it ;) this took me about 3 hours from start to finish. If you want more Ideas go to the link I added in above. ReNest is by the people that also do the ApartmentTherapy site and I get a lot of inspiration from them.

Friday, April 22, 2011

my moo mini cards

while researching on line I found this great company that makes business cards, mini cards etc...
I ordered a box of 100 to see how they would turn out and here they are:



this is the box that came in the mail

You upload your own pictures or design on one side, you can have up to 100 different images. Next step you ad your personal info on the other side, you can also choose different designs here. 
This an example and what got delivered to me :

 

 
I love these and it is a great way to share your portfolio or art work.
Have people go through and choose there favorite design and they will remember you, I am sure of it ;) 
Here is the web page info:

Thursday, April 21, 2011

brain storming.....


After spending the last couple of weeks educating myself about starting my own business and  knowing that I have to come up with a solid concept and business plan I decided to default to a brainstorming technique that one of my favorite co workers tough me:  
use sticky tags.
We did this during crunch time, towards the end of a project, to be able to quickly identify what is left to do and how we can tackle it so we can hit the deadline.  In this situation and since I have limited wall space they ended up on my front window.
I now ad to them every day and each row is its own subject and part of the plan. The top row left to right is the Mission statement.









From there I went back to my" rather large" chalk board and created a one month calender and weekly to do list. That way I can keep myself  in check and don't miss any of the events, workshops and appointment. I know it is rather old fashion (and I do have an IPhone) but this is really not about technology this is about going through the process in a very conscious way. I have always been a visual person and this is how I work best. 











To top it  off and  since this will be part of business I started creating a vision board for the business concept and also for the design of the actually space. This is a lot of fun and one of my favorite parts of the process, it is like being in a candy store, at leased for me ;)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Time for the farm table ....


It has been a long winter but slowly but surely every day we think more and more about when we can eat outside again. That is why I looked through pictures today and found these from last year. 
Can you all see the delicious food that will be served  on this table this summer ?? I can :) it is right around the corner. I will keep you posted and the invitations will be in the mail soon .....

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

......the rather large chalk board cont....


Today I finally  got around conditioning the chalk board.
I followed the description on the can rubbing the side of a pice of chalk over entire surface
and erasing it (I used an old t-shirt )






The first attempt writing on it, I sure have to get used to it, looks a bit mmmmm
shapeless ;) First try, will see how we will progress........

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

the rather large chalk board

Here is the semi end result of one of the projects that 
I was doing this week. I painted a 4'x 8' birch plywood sheet
with chalk board paint. I still have not hung it but that should
happen the next couple of days. I also still need to wait a few
days before writing on it, more to come .......... 

before

after

Friday, March 25, 2011

front porch planting


Stopped by my favorite nursery,  Garden Fever, yesterday and together with one of there employees put together this plant selection for the front porch . Now I just need some soil and maybe a little bit less rain to plant it all.
 If you want to visit the nursery go to www.gardenfever.com 

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Week1

I figured the best way to start off is to create a weekly to do list . My plan is to drag a  4'x 8' birch plywood sheet out of my basement and paint it with chalk board paint. The idea is to be able to quickly chuck down ideas and keep a TO DO list  at my finger tips. This is the wall that I am going to use,I will post some progress pictures later.