Hanging a Map or Poster Inexpensively

Two things that I've always loved are traveling and geography. Over the last 10 years I've traveled to a number of places I've dreamed of traveling to since I was a child, like Europe. I love geography because you can learn so much about other countries and cultures. And I love maps for decorative purposes too.  Because of these reasons I wanted to decorate with a map, but not a overly colourful or childlike map, but one that could fit in with our existing decor.

I was lucky enough to track down a map style that I thought would look good on the wall of our living room.  The map had neutral colours and was designed by National Geographic and called "Executive style".  The problem was it was a huge map, over 70 inches by almost 50 inches!  How was I going to hang it and not "break the bank"?

I thought I'd at least get a price quote from a professional framer, so I waited for a sale that was 65% off and thought this was the best sale I was ever going to get, so I went in for an estimate.  Would you like to hazard a guess on the estimated price of a basic frame and mat for this map?  The price quote was $725!  I found a perfect map for under $50, but would have to spend $750 to display it?  I had to find another way.

I had an idea based on carpets and tapestries that are hung in museums.  I thought, why not come up with a way to hang this map similar to the way tapestries are hung.  After going for a walk through a home improvement store I came up with hanging the map on a drapery rod, with another smaller rod on the bottom so the map would stay unrolled.

The steps I followed to display the map are:

1. Hang up the drapery rod, like you would if you were hanging drapes.  I decided to hang the map in my dining room, because it went with the beige paint colour, the wall was large enough to display it and we could look at it while eating dinner!

Draper rod hung on the wall

2. Position the map on the ground facing down and secure the edges of it with something heavy at each end.

Map on the floor, stretched out and secured

3. Position the smaller rod at the bottom of the map, leaving enough space to roll it around the rod and tape it in place.  The purpose of the rod at the bottom of the map is to keep the map rolled and weighed down and not just hanging loosely.  Make sure that the map is secured around the rod straight so that it hangs neatly.

Wrapping the map around the smaller bottom rod

Taping the rod in place

4. Repeat this process in Step #3 at the top of the map.  Leave a little bit more room at the top of the map to wrap around the rod at the top because it is the drapery rod and is more wide.

Taping the top drapery rod in place

5. Hang the map by the top rod by carefully raising it up onto the rod hangers that were secured to the wall in Step #1.  Stand back and make sure that it is hung straight and centred along the rod, and also centred on your wall.  Now admire it!

The final map, hung on the wall

6. If you are just hanging a map or poster, than your work is done!  At this point I adhered small coloured stickers on the cities I've visited, so did my husband and we also put stickers on cities we visited together and the 2 cities we've visited so far with our son.  We used different coloured stickers to highlight each group of cities based on who visited them.

The map with stickers on visited cities

I think hanging a map or poster this way is more unique and interesting than always framing everything.  Similar to hanging art by just mounting the canvas, this let's the map or poster be the focal point and speak for itself.  An attractive frame isn't the main attraction, it's the map instead!  Also, this method of hanging a map or poster is far less costly than framing it professionally or framing it yourself.  Looking up at the map also never fails to cheer me up because it reminds me of all the places I've traveled and the great memories had on the trips.  It especially helps now because we're not traveling as much recently because my son's so young.  I hope you enjoy this project!

Wordless Wednesday - Jan. 16 - Boys & their remote controls

My son got lots of great fun and educational toys for Christmas.  He plays with some of them, but not for long.  What he loves to play with most is the TV remote control.  Anytime I put it down, he notices and crawls to it.  Now I try to hide it so he won`t grab it!

A new toy? For me?

What is this thing?

OMG! I get to control the TV with this?

Now I have to share my new toy...

Mock Tiramisu - Easy, quick & with a few ingredients!

I came up with this recipe after the holidays because I had a few perishable ingredients in small quantities that I didn't have any regular use for.  I only use 35% cream in desserts and I only use Lady Finger cookies to make Tiramisu, not to eat as snack cookies....

So, to start with, do you have some leftover 35% whipping cream? First of all, poor you, (joking of course), I should say lucky you!  If you also have coffee or espresso, or a coffee liqueur, (depending on the day you're having) and cookies like either Lady Fingers or Nila wafers, that are hard cookies which easily sop up liquids.

If you have 5 minutes, you can make this into a great weeknight dessert.  I'm describing making single serving desserts, however you can follow this recipe and make it in a large bowl, just increase the ingredients appropriately.  

Ingredients (based on 1 single serving):

1/2 cup of 35% whipping cream
5-8 Lady Fingers or Nila wafers
1/2 tbs. of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp of pure vanilla


1. Get a small ramekin or other dish and break the cookies if needed, in order to fit them in the dish, in one layer.  You'll need about 5-8 Lady Fingers depending on the size of your dessert bowl.

2. Pour over slightly cooled brewed coffee, espresso or coffee liqueur, about a couple of tablespoons.  Set aside to let the cookies absorb the liquid while you whip the cream in the next step.

3. Whip the whipping cream, by pouring 1 cup of 35% whipping cream, 1 teaspoon of powdered/confectioners sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  To quickly make great whipped cream, put the mixing bowl and whisk in the fridge so they get really cold.  This will speed up the whipping process.

4. Spread a few tablespoons of the whipping cream over top.  Sprinkle on either cinnamon or cocoa powder.

5. Repeat the layers again - cookies, whipping cream, until you reach the top of the bowl.  Chill in the fridge for at least one hour.  Enjoy on a cold, gloomy winter day with a hot coffee, espresso or cappuccino!

Yah, me!  I published my first recipe! Enjoy!  You know I did! :)

Wordless Wednesday: My cats are not happy with me today!!

I admit it, I love having a fresh Christmas tree in the house.  So I usually get it later in December so  that I can keep it up until the first week of January.  My cats are happy with that arrangement also. They both like to sit under the tree because in the winter they don't get to go outside much, and my tabby also likes to drink from the tree.  At least they don't like playing with the ornaments....yet....

So when I took the tree down the cats weren't too happy.  Here's Cooper taking a last relaxing sit under the tree:

& here's Sinatra just getting mad...

& madder about the tree being taken down!!

Christmas Craft - Handmade Cookie gift container!

Every Christmas one of the things I look forward to the most is baking.  Even though Christmas time is so busy and we're all running around going to parties, catching up with old friends and family, shopping and cooking, sometimes it's nice to slow down and bake!

Every year I'm a part of a Cookie Exchange with friends, where we each make many dozens one type of cookie.  Then we get a dozen of everyone else's cookie that's a part of the exchange.  It's fun because you're only baking one type of cookie, but end up with 4 or 5 types back, depending on how many people are in the exchange.  But this post isn't about Cookie Exchanges, it's about an idea for making a festive container to hold the cookies and give them as an edible gift!

Since I've been supplementing nursing with formula and solid foods I've had a lot of formula containers that I thought I could reuse for something.  At Christmas time I thought, why not use them to hold edible gifts like cookies or candies.  By using the container you can keep the cookies, etc. fresh and give them in a cute container that the person can keep.  So here's how I did it:

Step 1: Clean the empty formula container and rip off the label.  I left the sticky strip on the container that held the label on because it would help to hold on the Christmas paper in the later step.

Step 2: Cover the container, not including the top in white glue.

Step 3: Cut out a piece of Christmas wrapping paper to fit the tin.  Wrap the paper around the tin and make sure it sticks well to it and has the least amount of wrinkles as possible.  It's easier when you have better quality, thicker paper, because then you'll have less wrinkles.

Step 4: Optional -I painted a light coat of gold paint on top of the wrapping paper because the paper had a few wrinkles I wanted to minimize.

Step 5: Decorate the top with any Christmas-related crafty felt or "bling" or anything like that in Christmasy colours like red, green, gold or silver.  I chose to glue on some red and green stars, and "bling" that I picked up at the Dollar store.

Step 6: After waiting for everything that was glued on to dry and set, all you have to do is add some tissue or wax paper into the tin and put in your edible gift - cookies, chocolate, bark, etc.

And there you have it!  A nice handmade container to display the great baking you did and that is part of the gift!  You upcycled a container that would have ended up in the garbage and made it cute and useful.  Merry Christmas!!

Easy & Quick Christmas Craft! Photo ornament!

I love making crafts, using my creativity and reusing or upcycling things I have around the house so they don't get wasted.  Since I have started feeding my son solid food (mush!) I have so many small glass baby food jars around the house.  I've recycled a number of them and then kept some for a future project when I got inspired and had an idea finally.  The jars sat on my kitchen counter for around a month until I thought, I don't have to use the whole jar, why not just the top? And then I thought of adding in a photo of my son's first portrait sitting when he was 5 months old, and from there I made a Christmas ornament.

Step 1: Paint the jar top with a "Christmasy" colour of your choice, red, green, metallic...I chose gold since that was a paint colour I had on hand and it's a colour commonly used to decorate at Christmas time.  I just picked up that paint at the Dollar store.  Paint at least 2 coats to ensure the boring original silver and any writing on the jar top is fully covered.

Step 2: Cut the photo you intend to use into a circle that will fit the jar ornament.  Make sure the photo you choose makes sense with the size of the jar top.  The faces should be a good size so you can see them from far away, so not to small or too large.

Step 3: After you have let the paint dry fully, fill up the jar top with something you have on hand, such as a few pieces of cardboard or pieces of folded paper, etc.  I used a piece of styrofoam that I cut to fit the jar top.  After filling up the jar top up to the rim, spread some glue on it.

Step 4: Glue the photo on the jar top.  In order for the photo to fully adhere I put something heavy like a book on top of the ornament and waited about an hour before going to the next step.

Step 5: I glued some small coloured "bling" around the edge of the ornament to partially frame it.  I used red and green Christmas colours.

Step 6\: Cut a piece of  ribbon that is long enough to wrap around the jar top and have some ribbon leftover to create a loop that can help you hang the ornament on the tree.  I added a small bell to make the loop look more festive when it is on the tree.

And "tada" you have a personalized photo ornament you can be proud to add to your tree or give as a gift.  I think I'll make one every year with the annual portrait I'm going to get of my son!  So happy crafting and let me know if you make this craft and how it goes!  Enjoy!

Taste of the Season Niagara Wine Tour: Part 2

After much travel to twenty-eight different and unique wineries in Niagara on the Lake, I was full, feeling no pain and ready for the cold weather and holiday season.  On our 1 hour ride home, thankfully driven by our designated driver, we talked about the highlights of all the different pairings and which ones stood out for us.

Since I've been going on this wine tour annually I've learned a lot more about wine, but still haven't caught up to his knowledge and I'm all about how does it taste to me, do I enjoy it, is it paired well with the food.  The pairings I like are mainly based on an immediate emotional and physical reaction, not analyzing the wine or food too much.

My Top 3 Pairings

3. Cattail Creek Estate Winery - 2009 Pinot Noir paired with Wild Mushroom and Pancetta Ragout, topped with crispy onions- What can I say?  I'm a sucker for crispy onions...and bacon or pancetta, so this sounded great from the start.  I like mushrooms, if they're not the regular white, button kind, so the fact that wild mushrooms were part of this recipe also made it great.  It was such a great combination of flavours, and textures and when paired with a red wine made it even better.  The earthy flavours of the mushrooms with the salty pancetta and crispy onions were more than enhanced by the wine.  At first glance, since the only meat in this recipe is the pancetta, I thought a white wine would be a better choice, but after tasting it, the Pinot Noir was a perfect choice!  Now I have to learn how to make crispy onions!

2. Riverview Cellars Estate Winery - 2011 Riesling paired with Vegetarian curry - When I think of white wine pairings I think of pairing it with chicken, fish or vegetarian meals.  Seeing this pairing of vegetarian curry and white wine peaked my interest because it sounded like a great idea from the start. It was fabulous because the vegetarian curry had just the right amount of spiciness and the white wine was crisp with a little sweetness so it was refreshing after the spicy curry.  I'm going to try to recreate this recipe at home because I liked it so much!

1. Inniskillin Wines - 2008 Vidal Icewine paired with Asian Inspired Chicken Wings- Sometimes the pairings that sound the simplest turn out being the best, as with this pairing, in my opinion.   We arrived at the winery when they were making fresh wings, just out of the kitchen which was even more of a treat and I'm sure added to their fabulous taste.  The wings weren't greasy and they had a tangy, salty, sweet glaze on them, but they weren't over sauced.  Pairing the wings with the Icewine was ingenious because it highlighted both the sweet and salty flavours.  The Icewine was fabulous and complemented by a specially made Icewine glass.  The glass would allow for you to drink the Icewine and have it hit the back of your mouth not the tip of your tongue, which would make it come across as too sweet.  It was such a well done, not over done pairing.  I'd love to have the recipe to the wings too!  

Most Unique and Memorable - The most unique and memorable treat at the tour was the Ice wine slushie at The Ice house!  It was so decadent because ice wine is so sweet and the perfect chill just makes it better. So and ice wine slushie was such a cold, sweet treat.  At The Ice House you could get your pairing with a tasting of ice wine in a regular cup or as a slushie.  I chose the slushie!  Next time I serve Ice wine at home I'll have to try to make it a slushie and the Christmas season may just be the time to try this out!

All in all, there were so many great pairings and wines this year and I can't wait until next year.  I might try out the Wine and Chocolate festival in February or wait for the Wine and Herb festival in May.  All I need is to get a babysitter again and start planning and dreaming!