Tutorial - Latte Sprinkles

I've developed a latte addiction very recently and I average 2 homemade lattes a day. It's just so easy and satisfying! I have a particular obsession with tea lattes because there's just so many variations and options! I just love that fluffy cloud of frothy milk that sits on the top of my drink but I've felt like it's been lacking a bit of...decor. So today I'm going to show you how to make your own adorable latte sprinkles! Why do you need to DIY latte sprinkles? Simple. You cannot just throw full sized sprinkles on your lattes because it will fall right through your froth!

Here is what we're going to make; Toffee & Dark Chocolate sprinkles


My inspiration? I visited a DAVIDsTEA store and noticed these adorably packaged sprinkles and instantly wanted to make my own mix. They come in 75g bottles and cost $15.00 for 2 or $8.50 for one. They offer Chocolate Sugar Sprinkles as well as Golden Sugar Sprinkles (it grinds up gold flakes!). How do they work? Well, there's full-sized sprinkles in a grinder and it's as simple as that!


Here's what you will need:

-Small Grinder (must be refillable)
-Zip Lock Bag
-Dark Chocolate Chips
-Toffee Bits
-Gravy Boat
-Masking Tape
-Pencil Crayon (or any writing utensil)
-Adhesive Label

Tutorial - Tea Advent Calendar

It's been a long time since I been around, it's been a long time but I'm back in town! haha, I'll stop now. Anyway, It's been forever since I've blogged but I've decided that I'd make my first comeback post a good one. I hope it lives up to my words...but I'm pretty excited about this project.

Most of my friends and family know that I'm a tea addict. I think there's also something that happens when Autumn rolls around, my obsession gets stronger. It must be that I feel the fall chill in the air and crave a warm drink in between my palms.

Maybe you understand how I feel? Do you start talking about tea and mention things that the average person cannot relate to? For me, my own sister doesn't get me...so I decided to make an awesome little handmade gift of tea for her to share my obsession. Then maybe by Christmas, she'll be hooked? One can hope so.

Today I'll be guiding you through the process of hand making a tea advent calendar

It's a cup of tea for 25 days counting down to Christmas!

Let's begin with discussing my inspiration:


24 days of tea from DAVIDsTEA: their yearly Advent Calendar that retails for $34.50.
I would say it's their most popular collection and usually sells out within a day of being released (both online and in-store). I was physically holding a box on the day it was released but I knew that my collection of teas was already too big. I've also tried the majority of the teas in the set already. So I talked myself out of it. Later that day, they were practically sold out everywhere. You can find yourself a set for about $70 - $100 on sites like eBay or Kijiji (a Canadian site like Craigslist)!

So why spend up to $100 on a box of 232 grams of tea when you can customize your own? I'm sure you or your giftee would much rather have a calendar that is filled with hand-picked flavours of tea. Plus, not only can you personalize the set to taste, you can customize it around allergies and dietary restrictions.

I think that's enough talking, how about we get started?


What you need:
-25 wooden Clothes Pins (plastic is fine too)
-Printed Napkins (or Wrapping Paper)
-1 sheet of Card Stock/thicker paper

-White String (25 pieces x 6 inches)
-Twine (approximately 40 inches)

-25 miniature Adhesive Labels
-25 miniature Zip Lock Bags
-Black Permanent Marker

-25 different types of Tea

-Gift Box or Bag

-Scrap Paper
-Scissors
-Stapler
-Ruler
-Pen
Optional:
-Chisel-Tipped Permanent Maker or Paint (Colour of your Choice)
-(Tag-Shaped) Paper Puncher
-Colourful Pens

Giving Thanks

Hey everyone, I hope your weekend was good and to those who got to celebrate Thanksgiving, you may feel as bloated as I do right now. Haha, it was an amazing weekend spent with friends and family - I love this time of year. Just some photos I wanted to share:


Syl and I attended a family Thanksgiving dinner with approximately 60 guests. We were very well fed, that's for sure


Gobble!


Syl and Matt's (crowd pleasing) Broccoli Cakes


The desserts! There were a total of 14 pies!


Can't stop laughing at this picture


A terrifying fish

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Thanks for reading! <3

Skulls & Booze

Late night blogging - the best kind!
It's been a long day because for half of the week my bedroom was a mess. My main closet shelf collapsed (my shoes & clothing caused it) and I couldn't have it repaired until today.
My wardrobe was on my floor but since it was repaired - I've been cleaning up as well as bringing out my Halloween decorations! During a quick break, I snapped some photos of some drinks that I felt were Autumn inspired. Have any recommendations?


Flying Monkeys City & Colour Maple Wheat Ale, Black Creek Pumpkin Ale, Crystal Head Vodka, Somersby Blackcherry Cider, Mini & Crystal Head Vodka


Can't wait to try this


I couldn't not buy this one...


Crystal Head Vodkas


I have 4 bottles of this and I haven't had a chance to try it! Syl has though and she shared her thoughts. Sounds interesting


I had my bottle signed by Dallas Green (City & Colour) :)


That time I went to buy the Flying Monkeys City & Colour Maple Wheat Ale and met Dallas Green. Wearing my Bone Machine 2.0 Catsuit by Black Milk Clothing


Photo from the other day. FYI: Strongbow Cider < Somersby Cider. LovelySally Babilonia Leggings


Hours of candle melting up in here.


btw...my skulls are out!

Happy weekend!

growing greens

Every year we've been growing herbs, fruits & veggies in our backyard. It's transformed from a little hobby into a big part of our lives. We usually buy little starter plants in May and we transplant them into our garden or into larger pots. This year we decided to take things a step further; we started our entire garden from seeds! Back in April, Matt built a "grow box". He built a rectangular box with a light inside that is mounted on a chain-- as the seeds grew to little sprouts, we could raise up the lamp. It was super cool to grow these little guys indoors & get to watch them everyday as they sprouted little leaves. :)


We started in individual biodegradable pots


These tomato seeds were dyed so you could tell which were which heirloom variety!




our planted seeds in the grow box

AFTER ONE WEEK:

baby spring greens


baby beets

AFTER ONE MONTH:

spring greens growing lots more!


baby kale! Yum :P


thyme


jewel toned beets (you can call us beet farmers now)


heirloom tomatoes

Since these photos, we've transplanted all of our plants outside! We'll post more photos of our garden soon ♥

Lime Coconut Cake

I've been really food-focused lately & I think it's obvious if you check out our pinterest account. I always seem to forget to take photos of the process of cooking and baking though because I'm usually rushing to make everything as quickly as possible... so that I can eat as quickly as possible. I had a bit of a day off, so I took my time and snapped some pics in between steps.















Lime Coconut Cake Recipe
Gourmet, March 2009. via Honey and Jam
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated Key lime zest
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups self-rising flour (or just add 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to all purpose.)
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon rum (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter an 8- by 8-inch square or 9- by 2-inch round cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Toast coconut in a small baking pan in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.

Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool to warm, then turn out of pan and discard parchment.

Whisk together confectioners sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum (if using, if not use milk) and pour over cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

*note*: I replaced the milk with coconut milk because it was just in the fridge & seemed like it'd work. I also ended up omitting the glaze entirely and just baking the cake with the toasted coconut sprinkled on top. :) This cake was amaaaaazing.

Happy Friday!

business as usual

Hey guys,
We've been claiming to be REALLY busy for the past few weeks but we haven't really elaborated on what we've been actually up to! We've taken on a few extra projects in relation to our fashion line and we've also been trying our best to not be such home-bodies & getting outside & doing things. I hope that in the next couple of weeks we can catch you up on where we've been :)



To start, I wanted to tell you about one specific project we've been working on.
A group of students from McMaster University (my alma mater!) asked if they could focus on our business for a Master's level entrepreneurship project. We completed a quick interview over email & then they asked us if we would like to go into their class to speak about our unique business! We were so flattered but were a bit nervous about speaking to an MBA level class about business. We lack a background in business and aren't great public speakers either but after speaking on the phone with Dr. Honig, we felt much more comfortable. He reassured us that entrepreneurs are so accustomed to talking about themselves and their companies that we would surely be able to speak to the class for a full hour.

So a few weeks back, Samantha & I threw on some trendy blazers & went to speak at a university lecture :)
It went well & the students asked us lots of questions about L&B. & no one was mean to us. haha
Plus, we received two lovely leather folders as a commemorative gift. Thank you Dr. Honig!

Currently, the students are working with us to give us some form of a business consultation & recently came to our studio for a meeting, armed with a half dozen cupcakes for us!






They weren't just any cupcakes either! They're from Westdale Cupcakes in my old area when I used to live in Hamilton ♥

I just wanted to give you guys a quick primer on what we're doing right now because I'll be asking for a bit of help in our next post! In return for the favour though, we're already doing another giveaway so keep an eye out!

Thank you all so much for always reading & commenting!
and thanks to the students at Mac that are working with us right now to improve our business :)