cosy bedroom vibes with parabo press

Ohhh baby, fall is finally here. Not sure about where you live, but here in Toronto September-October is this kinda awkward time where none of us know if it's going to be hot af or starting to get chilly. We had some really random hot days in October that served no purpose other than to truly confuse the heck out of all of us!

But, it seems as though fall is finally here, in fact the last few days have really been quite chilly. I'm talkin' time to wear slippers inside and put extra blankets on the bed kinda chilly.

We're getting our home ready for hygge season and that means little new additions and ways to switch it up and make sure we're even cosier than ever before.

Pete and I were trying to decide what to put above our bed. We knew we needed some sort of print or photo but couldn't decide. After looking through some photos of last years trip to Joshua Tree we realized that was the *exact* print that would be perfect for our above our bed (so we can dream about Joshua Tree every night, obviiiiii)

As soon as we decided on the photo to get printed, I hit up my favourite place to print beautiful photos - Parabo Press! What a dream. And since I am such a visual, crafty, kitschy kind of gal I still absolutely love to get actual prints made. Nowadays it's so tough to even find a place that prints photos, and this is a way to not only do that, but do it from your own home (while in your jammies!)

I'm always beyond excited to receive my prints from Parabo and this was no different. The packaging is beautiful and so unique and the quality of the photos are top notch. This print turned out perfectly and it was just what our room needed. 

If you've been saying forever that you want to get some prints done, then let's make it happen! You can use my code HEYXO for 25% off your prints // offer valid until October 31st!

HAPPY PRINTING, BABES!

it's bbq season + rufus teague!

B B Q   S E A S O N   I S   *F I N A L L Y*   H E R E!

I'm absolutely loving this beautiful Spring weather here in Toronto. I've got to say one my favourite parts about Spring & Summer is cooking delicious meals on the BBQ! Pete and I are so lucky to have our cute little back patio that gives us the opportunity to hang back there, host and of course cook up some delicious food on the BBQ for ourselves and our guests.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a blogger event at Barque (one of my favourite places to eat in the city!) for all things BBQ. In other words, this was the event of my dreams! I loveeee BBQ, in fact I'd say it's probably my favourite type of food.

I got to learn all about Rufus Teague BBQ sauce and ohhhh baby, am I glad I now know it exists. The chefs cooked up all kinds of delicious plates using their BBQ sauce, and they were all incredible in their own ways. Also, how can I not mention the fact that their was a fountain of BBQ sauce! I mean, seriously? The best! Chicken Fingers dipped in Rufus Teague = heaven on earth.

The three flavours we tired were Honey Sweet + Touch 'O Heat + Whiskey Maple ♥

Everyone at the event left with some sauce and spices and Pete and I have basically been putting them to use every night! On Sunday night we made fajitas on the BBQ with Touch O' Heat. They! were! so! darn! good!

Follow Rufus Teague on Instagram + Twitter for some serious BBQ inspo for the Summer!

I thought I'd share a little somethin' delicious to make with your Rufus Teague BBQ sauce!:

BBQ BLTA WRAP:

Brown Sugar Bacon 

8 pieces thick cut bacon

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tp of rufus teague meat rub

1 whole wheat tortilla

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced 1/2' thick

1 head of boston lettuce

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 tbs rufus teague honey sweet bbq sauce

Directions:

set oven at 400 Degrees

massage bacon with brown sugar and rufus teague meat rub (allow to sit for 3-5 minutes)

set bacon on wire rack + place in oven. allow bacon to crisp up and get crunchy

while bacon is cooking in the oven, slice up veggies

remove bacon from wire rack, cover with foil and retain heat

warm up tortilla in microwave.

once tortilla is nice and warm, slather on a heaping tablespoon (or more!) of your rufus teague honey sweet bbq sauce

add your bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado. wrap it up + serve up with some more bbq sauce!

Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Rufus Teague

 + this is a sponsored post. please note that jules only chooses to work with brands that she loves, believes in and best reflect her personal brand & blog +

Negroni Bay Recipe!

OH  HELLO,

g   o   r   g   e   o   u   s!

This is exciting, two posts in one day (omg!) and boy does it feel good. It's only "6pm" and I feel like I've totally crushed this Sunday. That extra hour has been really good to me.

One thing I got to do this weekend was make one seriously delicious (and beautiful) cocktail. As you probably know, Pete and I absolutely love hosting people to our home! We enjoy preparing our house, lots of snacks and of course that always includes delicious cocktails for our guests to enjoy.

Today I'm sharing with you a great & simple cocktail with Georgian Bay Gin (my favourite!) This is a good one now that the weather is getting cooler and more cosy. Hope you enjoy!

Negroni Bay:

3/4 oz. Georgian Bay Gin

3/4 oz. Italian Sweet Vermouth

3/4 oz. Aperol

3/4 oz. Cointreau

2 Dash Orange Bitters

* Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir (or shake!) with ice. Strain into an old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with orange zest.

Enjoy with friends & people you love! This was so delicious. Pete and I loved it and will definitely be making it again when we have friends over at our place. 

parabo press + 25 FREE prints!

h  a  p  p  y    t  u  e  s  d  a  y

I wanted to share some photo's of the beautiful prints I recently got from Parabo Press -- they are beyond wonderful. And I've got to say, I am so glad that places like this exist because I am personally a lover of printing my photo's, no matter how old school this may be.

I've always been one to take (and print) photo's and I love the evolution of prints and what they've become over the past few years. There's so much room to get creative and create some really special keepsakes, gifts and ways to commemorate special moments.

I've been especially excited about ordering prints since the wedding (of course!) and I've ordered so many for us, family & friends! 

Today I am sharing some prints I recently ordered from such an amazing company - Parabo Press! I absolutely love what they create and was beyond thrilled with how my prints turned out. Not to mention they literally have the most beautiful packaging EVER(!!!) Also, I made a 2017 calendar all of my FLOWER photo's *swoon*

& since I love y'all so much I am offering you 25 FREE prints if you use the code JULES at check out! Now for my next adventure? Finding a way to organize & display all of these cute prints!

wedding thank you cards from MINTED

Um, so Happy NOVEMBER! Not quite sure how that happened but it's here, it's happening. This is a (very) long overdue blog post I've had planned for y'all. Another wedding post because let's be honest, weddings are truly the best am I right?

I was so beyond excited to work with Minted again on some of our wedding stuff! This company is so magical and lovely and every time I work with them I come back happier and more excited than the last time. We knew we were going to do our Thank You cards with Minted, and it took us a long while to decide on the perfect photo and theme for our card!  This was the last step in wedding planning (omg, so sad) and we wanted to be sure that it still stayed within the theme and vibe of our wedding day. I also wanted to make sure these all got out to our friends and family from all over before sharing the design with you all.

In case you don't know who Minted is yet, you should absolutely take a peak on their website because what they create is so so beautiful. (I just caught myself exploring their home section now that we bought a house - ahhhhh!)

A bit more about Minted...

"We believe that great design lives and thrives in the hands of independent artists that people do not have access to through traditional retailers. Minted uses technology to allow consumers to discover great creative talent, making Minted a place where artists can learn, gain exposure, and build their businesses"

"Minted's community of independent artists and designers are located in 48 states and 43 countries. They are illustrators and textile designers, painters and packaging designers, marketers and stay-at-home moms. Some have design degrees, and others are participating in Minted competitions to learn design for the first time. They share a deep love for creative expression, personal development, risk-taking, and most importantly, paying it forward by helping each other."

Once again I am so happy with how these came out. They are on beautiful thick matte paper, and the rose gold letter press is like a dream. You can see the photo above is our Thank You card framed (with a little confetti of course!) Love this idea for a cute keepsake ♥

Now, I must go so I can look at all of the beautiful Christmas card templates and try and decide what Christmas cards we'll order this year! 

Original photo from our amazing photographer Jess!

Minted Christmas Cards!

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's here, it's finally (almost) here. My favourite time of the year, what I wait for alllllll year long - Christmasss! Oh I am so happy. Even though I LOVE Christmas more than anything, I still wait a bit to get my decorations up until it really feels real. For me, the official "kick off to christmas" is The Toronto Santa Claus which is usually mid November. Since the parade just happened this past Sunday I am definitely feeling those special Christmas feels ♥

This is my third year in a row ordering my Christmas cards from Minted and once again, I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and am beyond excited to start writing them out to some of my favourite people! There are so many different templates and styles to choose from but this one really stuck out for me, I absolutely love the font, and knew I wanted to use one of our engagement photo's for the background and am happy with how it turned out.

Minted is a design marketplace of independent artists from around the world! I love the concept so much and it's something I am always really excited to support. I love that it's a place where artists can learn, gain exposure and build their businesses. Especially since I am someone with a similar dream.

All holiday cards are available with matching envelope designs and recipient addressing! (free for a limited time) and on top of that, there are tons of other adorable things to add in too! I got some custom gift tags that I will share with you soon, and adorable stickers too!

For more inspiration on all the beautiful prints, cards, photos, stickers etc - get connected with Minted:

Instagram // Twitter // Website

* this is a sponsored post. please know that jules only chooses to work with brands that she loves, believes in and best reflect her personal brand & blog *

My "save the dates" from Minted!

o h      H  A  P  P  Y     d a y

Happy Friday & long weekend, beautiful! This has been a long week, and I've been awfully tired so it's been going by really slow. I could not be more excited for this weekend in the city! I've got lots of fun on the go this weekend, but more so lots of work to do! Time to seriously crush it (some exciting stuff to share with you very soon! It has to do with my cute by jules brand & ETSY!)

Today I am BEYOND excited to finally share with you all, our wedding SAVE THE DATES! As soon as we got talking about what we'd do for our save the dates, I knew I would be ordering them from Minted, because they make the most beautiful things and of course, these had to be perfect! I've had the pleasure of working with Minted before and I'm so excited to share these with you guys!

There are so many adorable templates, and I took some serious time looking through all of them to find the one that I felt was really "Pete & Jules" - the one we chose was actually a template for a Engagement Party, and with everything on Minted you can customize the text for your prints. This one is just too cute! I LOVE the Oh Happy Day message at the top (and people have mentioned that it looks like my writing!) the colours are sweet, and the pearly paper is devine! And of course, we went with the gold glitter envelopes because DUH!

We've finally got (almost) every save the date in the mail and this is a big "to do" to cross off of our list. A bunch of different little things went in to completing these save the dates, and I will do another post with the other goodies soon! Here are some photo's! Thanks for Minted for these and for fuelling my love of things beautiful and cute. If you don't know Minted yet, check them out below!:

// Minted Website!

// Minted on Instagram!

// Minted on Twitter!

// Minted on Pinterest!

// this is a sponsored post, please know that i only work with companies that i love and feel truly fit my brand. this blog gives me the opportunity to grow, be creative and stay inspired, thank you for reading and following along with me!