I’m Danielle.
I’m a wife, an educator, a sewist, and an artist. My favourite thing to do when I’m not creating is to spend time with my husband and our best buddy, Oliver.
But creating is such a huge part of who I am. For years, I’ve dreamed of exploring and sharing that creativity in a professional way, but it never felt possible. Until now. And I’m so excited to go on this journey with you.
Here’s what we’ll be exploring together at Mix Measure Make:
Mix – Finding that perfect mix of new and vintage, colour and neutral
Despite an initial resistance to anything old through my teen years and university days, I’ve since learned to love and appreciate antique and vintage pieces. They bring such unique charm and warmth to a space and were often made to last. I’ll give you tips on finding vintage treasures of your own, and show you how they can be useful and not just clutter.
Another thing I’m passionate about is colour! While I love how soothing all-neutral rooms look, I always end up choosing colour for our spaces. Particular colours and colour schemes can really add vibrancy to a space and impact our moods. I’ll show you my approach for adding colour to rooms.
Measure – Transforming a suburban house, one DIY skill at a time
My husband and I are recent first-time homeowners of a small, blank canvas of a suburban home in Ontario, Canada. We’re on a journey to transform and bring charm to our 80s house with paint, wood, fabric, and our own two hands. I’ll share DIY projects and makeovers as we learn many new skills – with any tricks and mistakes made along the way.
Make – Exploring the joy of creating things by hand
Growing up on the Canadian Prairies, I was inspired by my mom and other women in my family and community to be creative from an early age. As I’ve grown older, I’ve advanced my skills beyond working with toilet paper rolls, tissue boxes and construction paper to try many different crafts. I started some hobbies because I was bored. It was actually my husband who encouraged me to learn to knit when I had more spare time during university than he did. I re-taught myself to sew (after a brief experience in Grade 8 Home Economics) in order to solve a problem, such as sewing curtains to fit our windows. I was inspired to try other hobbies, such as quilting and crochet, after seeing someone else’s creations on the internet. And most recently, I began learning to oil paint as a way to cope with anxiety during the pandemic.
No matter the reason for beginning, I firmly believe there’s no such thing as too many hobbies and I’m always game for trying a new skill. As an educator, I hope to inspire you to explore your creativity as I share my projects and also help you learn new skills through tutorials. Making things with your hands can be so rewarding!
Meet Me – Getting to know me better
I’m completely unbiased (of course) when I say we’ve got the most adorable dog ever. Oliver’s an almost 9 year old Welsh terrier and continually finds new ways to show how smart (and stubborn) he is. He takes his job as Chief Quilt Tester very seriously.
I’m a board game aficionado. A party’s not a party until games are involved.
I am left-handed for both writing and cutting with scissors. But I’m ambidextrous enough for other things that sometimes I get confused and can’t remember which hand I use for certain tasks . . .
I’m a recent houseplant collector and I find it so much easier to keep them alive than my outdoor plants. Likely because there are no squirrels in our house.
I don’t drink coffee or tea and never have. I know I’m weird. Naps however . . . those are more my style.
Another favourite hobby of mine is baking. While I adore anything chocolate, I really love making pies. I enjoy the tactile feel of working with pastry. My favourite kinds of pie to make (and eat) are pecan and rhubarb raspberry. Luckily my husband is a fellow pie-lover as well and we chose to serve pie instead of cake at our wedding.
I will admit that I’m pretty nerdy because I love math and will do logic puzzles for fun. Resizing a quilt block with lots of calculations involved? Bring it on! (But really, it’s not that hard – I’ll teach you!)
And More!
Thanks so much for dropping by. Check back regularly for more inspiration, tips, and tutorials.
Or better yet!
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See you around!
–Danielle