outfit post : introducing Mr. Hildebrand

I am honoured to introduce & feature Mr. Caleb Hildebrand for the first husband post! 

This handsome man is all mine (Clara) and I really could not be happier =) We've been married for almost one year! Time certainly flies when you're having fun.

This man makes me laugh & smile till my face hurts and I am so incredibly blessed to have him in my life. We have so much fun together! From being students together, travelling to Mexico & Africa, camping, fishing, and all sorts of other adventures, we have had such a great first year as a married couple and I look forward to growing old and grey with this man. 

& for the sake of this outfit post... Caleb is wearing a Gap shirt, Gap khakis, Steve Madden shoes, Winners belt... and my favourite piece, suspenders I found off Ebay for a couple bucks =)  Isn't he just dashing? I'm proud to say that we just celebrated his graduation with the family last week, and we've been so blessed that he was able to get a job right away with a great Engineering company here in Edmonton. We've been so blown away with how God has provided for us as a young married couple!

Hope you enjoyed getting to know my man a little & the change-up in our outfit posts! 

ps: clara ♥ 

wanderlust : kenya in black & white

I had an absolutely incredible time in Kenya and am excited to show off some black and white photos of this gorgeous country & its people. First off, Kenyans are probably the most FRIENDLY people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They were so welcoming, gracious, and lovely that you can't help but fall in love with them! That being said, the corruption that exists in this country is despicable. 

This photo is the remains of what used to be the Mitumba Slum, which housed over 35,000 people. Last fall, the Kenyan government gave the people of the slum less than 24 hours of notice to evacuate and then bulldozed the entire place down. This place is particularly special to me because my husband's  family & church in Medicine Hat helped build a church, orphanage, and school in this slum alongside a local pastor. Thankfully, though all these buildings have been destroyed, the peoples' spirits aren't broken. In fact, they're praising God that nobody was harmed and are praying faithfully that God will provide for them. I was so blessed by them & truly have so much to learn from their attitudes! 

This little boy, Peter, was just so precious. He's one of the slum kids from the orphanage and has such a tragic story. First, his biological mother abandoned him and his 2 older sisters. His father took care of them, but when he got remarried, the new wife threatened to kill the kids. So Peter's father dropped off his 3 kids at the Mitumba Slum Orphanage and abandoned them... such a tragic beginning to life, yet Peter and his sisters have so much joy and are so thankful to Pastor Shadrack and his wife Violet for taking them in and have totally flourished in their new home. Praise God! 

After spending time working with Pastor Shadrack in Nairobi, Caleb and I had the incredible opportunity of going up to Northern Kenya to visit the Samburu and Rendille tribes. The people there were so lovely and I just fell in love with rural Kenya! 

I also had the great fortune of having my birthday while I was in Northern Kenya and was blessed with this lovely breakfast and note =) 

I absolutely adored how the people adorned themselves with bright, colourful, beaded jewellery!

They are such beautiful people!

We met some beautiful people in Korr that were absolutely in love with Jesus. What an encouragement! We were so blessed to see God working in such a remote area (not that we ever doubted that He could!) and we felt so encouraged by the missionaries we stayed with and the local believers. It was a completely different world, yet the hearts of the people are totally the same.Overall, our trip to Africa was a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience. We definitely feel called to go back in the future and can't wait for that day to come! Keep the people of Kenya in your prayers =) 

ps: clara ♥ 

diy: twine bottle vases

I'm not sure if pinterest was the best thing ever created, or the thing that will lead to my eventual demise.  I love spending time collecting DIY ideas, recipes and fashion tips.  Lots and lots of time, some might even say too much time. 

So I guess it is a good thing I have this blog to motivate me to actually make some of the DIY crafts I pin. 

This beautiful vase idea came from Wait Til Your Father Gets Home.

It uses twine to upcycle old bottles (I used a Baileys bottle, a beer bottle and a wine bottle) into beautiful and rustic looking vases.

Supplies:  Glue gun, glue sticks, bottles, jute twine, and scissors

1.)  Take your glue gun and glue twine all the way around the bottom of your bottle.

2.)  Keep wrapping twine around the bottle.  (I didn't use glue for all the twine)  After every 5 or 6 full wraps I would put a line about an inch wide of glue.  You can glue all the twine to the bottle if you want, but I found if I wrapped it tight that it wasn't necessary.

3.)  When you get to the neck of the bottle, the twine may start sliding up, so it may be a good idea to use glue for all the twine.

4.)  Glue twine all the way to the top of the bottle.

5.)  Get creative with what you put in the vases.  I used daisies, ferns, chives and other assorted flowers!

I love the interesting look of these three very different shaped bottles!

My mother was kind enough to let me steal lots of flowers from her garden.  She created a unique bouquet of ferns, snowballs, and chives!  It was my favourite of the three.

A big thanks to Kelsey for helping with this, and taking most of the photographs.
Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

ps: jordyn ♥ 

tasty tuesday : no bake berry cheesecake

*cue trumpet fanfare*....welcome to Clara's FIRST tasty tuesday!!!

 I will admit that while I do enjoy baking, cooking is definitely my first love... but I absolutely LOVE that you can get really creative with baking and I always have so much fun trying to make my creations look as beautiful as they can be before they're devoured! (I also had a lot to live up to since Jordyn & Kelsey have made so many wonderful and delectable looking creations in this section of our blog!)

I found this wonderful recipe while surfing on pinterest the other day and thought it would make a perfect summer treat. So with just a few tweaks & additions from the original recipe, here's what I ended up with...

No Bake Berry Cheesecake

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup of softened butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups of cool whip, thawed

1 can of frozen berry juice (12 oz) ....really, you can use any flavour of juice you'd like! 

1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 stick of cream cheese

raspberries / strawberries / blackberries

*** mason jars

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Mix until well combined. Press the crumbs into the bottoms of mason jars (approximately 8) or into an 8x8 pan... (Note: KEEP THE LEFTOVERS! They're a wonderful little touch to add to the topping!) 

2. In a large bowl combine cool whip, frozen juice, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Stir until smooth. Spoon onto graham cracker crust.

3. Freeze for 3-5 hours. Let thaw 10 minutes before serving. 

4. For the topping, add dollop of cool whip, sprinkle with the leftover crumb mixture, and add fruit! 

I love that a) you don't have to bake these and b) that you can store these up in the freezer and save them for another day! They also make the perfect gift for friends & family. Not that I need another excuse to buy mason jars...but really! they're so fantastically cute and useful, how could I not love them?

& because I absolutely adore my dessert plates (from Anthropologie), which were part of my Christmas gift from my wonderful husband, I just had to take a couple creative shots... =)

Anyways, enjoy this summer treat and make it yours by using your favourite fruit to make it!
I've already gifted a couple and have served them for a dessert night with friends and they were a big hit. I totally recommend you make it at least once this sumer! ;) 

ps: clara ♥ 

weekly wrap-up: friends and vintage finds

This week absolutely FLEW by....and I can hardly believe that it's June already!

Last Saturday, my mom took me to the most amazing vintage market that was going to be here for just one day!  It was one of the coolest places I have ever experienced, and I felt so at home among so many lovers of antiques, old furniture, vintage treasures and more!  

The place was packed!  And I was very thankful that I'm not claustrophobic at all!

I picked up so many business cards of fellow diy-ers, crafters, and bloggers...and I'm so excited to have discovered new blogs that are powered by people in my area!

The photo above show me discovering an old Mansfield Holiday II 8mm video camera....it was love at first sight! 

So many lovely details!

I also picked up an old Kodak Duaflex, which I've been searching for since Christmas!  I've been looking at a lot of "through the viewfinder" (Ttv) photography, and this will work perfectly.  I can't wait to give it a go!

{for more info about Ttv photography, photojojo has a great article HERE}

Thanks goes to my ma for such a wonderful {and successful} day!

I was also able to get together with my lovely friend Jenna to help with some wedding crafts!  She's getting married this July, and I'm so honoured and excited to be able to stand up for her as a bridesmaid!

Finally, my old roomie came over for a visit, and of course we just had to bake something!

It's very strange not to see her every day anymore, and we had A LOT to catch up on!

I hope you've all had a lovely week!  

ps: kelsey ♥

outfit of the day: geometric dress

I definitely have an addiction to dress shopping...and spring and summer are definitely perfect seasons to go crazy over them.  I have a specific love for dresses (well...anything really) which come from Urban Outfitters, although their sale rack is where I find most of my items!

The pocket watch necklace above is one of my favorite pieces of jewellery, although I'm on the lookout for one that tells the time for real!

Another love of mine at the moment is mustard yellow, and this cardigan adds a nice pop of colour to any outfit.

ps: kelsey ♥

diy : art frame chalkboards

1. Collect old art frames! I picked mine up at a thrift store close to our place.
Try & find frames that have  elaborate & interesting details =)

2. This is optional, but take out the glass & art in the frames and paint them (or spray paint, which is what I ended up doing). I chose white because I felt it went better with our home decor,
but I was really tempted to leave them in their original brass/gold...maybe next time.

3. Chalkboard paint away! I painted about 4 layers of chalkboard paint onto the glass that came with the frames I picked up. It worked wonderfully! I waited 5-10 minutes in-between each layer and a full half hour after the last layer before I used chalk on my new chalkboard... can you tell what song was stuck in my head all day?

4. Lastly, put all the pieces back together, and voila! You've got some gorgeous,
original chalkboards to  hang up in your home and spice up your walls. 

Here's the kind of chalkboard paint that I used for this project: Rust-oleum Specialty Black.

  I've decided to hang mine up right by our dining table and always have a bible verse on the biggest frame to serve as a reminder of the Maker all things good & beautiful. Enjoy! & happy weekend =)

ps: clara ♥