photography – McLaughlin Designs

Energizing Juice

elisa — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 05:00:16 +0000

A couple of years ago I purchased a Jack LaLanne Juicer. I find that when I have juice regularly I feel so much better. I thought I would share one of my favorite juice recipes. You can add different amounts of each item depending on how sweet, tart, or spicy you want your juice to be. Not only is this juice packed with nutrients, it is energizing and detoxifying.

Energizing Juice:

Peeled Ginger: 1/2 inch to 1 inch slice (I peel my ginger with a spoon, it is very effective)

Apple: 2 medium sized Granny Smith apples

Lemon: 1/2 medium lemon (juice the peel also there are many nutrients that are found in lemon peel)

Mint: 2-4 stems of mint (pineapple mint pictured)

Kale: 2-4 leaves (purple kale pictured)

Chop up the kale and the apples into manageable pieces and start juicing.

I find that I get the best results when I sandwich the kale and mint between a few slices of apple. Add a piece of apple into your juicer, don’t feed it all the way through, then add your kale followed by another apple slice. This allows the kale and mint to be more thoroughly juiced.

If you would like to know more about the nutritional properties of each food in this juice you can check out the links below.

Ginger is great for digestion, helps with inflammation, it has also been said to have an antioxidant effect.

Granny Smith apples are high in Vitamin C, help regulate blood sugar, they are high in potassium, and help with your digestive tract.

Lemons are amazing! They detoxify you, are high in Vitamin C, stimulate the liver, and strengthen blood vessels.

Mint detoxifies your skin, aids in digestion, and aids in respiration. (I originally had 3-5 stems in the recipe but my skin broke out after having that much mint. Now I know it was due to the detoxifying effect mint has on your skin. Go easy and watch for detoxifying symptoms, breaking out headache, gas. They will go away after a week but if they are severe drink less of the juice)

Kale can help lower cholesterol, it has Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and is rich in Antioxidents.

Re-Potting

elisa — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:38:02 +0000

Creativity sometimes bursts forth in an unexpected outpouring, often because I feel overwhelmed. Somehow being creative allows me to feel a sense of control. When the laundry is overflowing every hamper and my children are wild and unruly I turn to seemingly unimportant tasks, such as re-potting plants. Sometimes they need the extra space and sometimes I just need a change of pace. Regardless, I frequently find myself moving plants from one location to another. Most recently I re-potted my crassula dubia (thank you Google!) using one of my milk-glass bowls and adding a rock and some ceramic mushrooms that I purchased on Etsy. Succulents always do so well in my area this time of year—despite being re-potted on a regular basis.

I found these tiny ceramic decorative mushrooms on Etsy. Rebekka, creates these “Dainty Ceramic Mushrooms” and they are perfect for potted plants and terrariums.

Succulent Garden

elisa — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:29:04 +0000

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted last. Things have been so busy. I turned 28, yikes! May has flown by so quickly. Summertime is here and because I am living in a warmer climate I can finally plant a succulent garden. I decided that I wanted to start by first getting my current plants to grow a little larger. I bought almost an entire flat at Home Depot.

I took several of the plants out of their small pots and moved them into larger ones. This way they have room to grow and I can move them if they need more sun or less.

Each succulent comes with a label that explains how best to care for that individual plant. This is helpful information as not all succulents need the same amount of sun and water. Plant them in succulent specific dirt (purchasable at Walmart or Home Depot) to get good results.

Some of the succulents I combined in larger pots to make smaller succulent gardens for my home. I love having them in my house it makes everything lighter and more peaceful some how. I guess plants have that effect on me.

I have found so many unique succulents. They are so fantastically beautiful and I am horribly addicted. Here is my favorite of the day.

My other reason for potting all these succulents is I am going to use them in the new location of our coffee shop. I can’t wait to see how they look!

Knit Bow Tie

elisa — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:24:00 +0000

I have had the idea for a while to make a pattern for knit bow ties. All three of my children were asked to be in a friend’s wedding. She had found the most amazing newsie hats at the Gap. I asked how she felt about the boys wearing knit bow ties and she loved the idea. Here are some photos of the bow ties. I will post more of the wedding photos when the photographer posts them.

BOW TIES ARE COOL! Need I say more?

He is obviously thrilled to be dressed up.

I matched the color-way (MadelineTosh DK Robin’s Egg) to the invites and the bridesmaid dresses. The smaller bow tie was for my 2 year old son, and the larger was for three and a half year old son.

If you don’t know how to knit I am happy to knit custom bow ties for weddings. Just email me for pricing [email protected]

Holding daddy’s hand.

I also crocheted matching headbands for the two girls to go with the bow ties. I am anxiously awaiting photos from the wedding because all the kids were adorable. After the wedding, since I don’t think my boys will be wearing their bow ties very often, I switched things up and made them into bow clips for Fiona.

I am also writing the pattern to include sock weight yarn with several different styles of bow tie. For adults as well as children. Here is an earlier style I knit up for my sister.

Stay tuned for more…

Inspiring Coffee

elisa — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:16:26 +0000

I personally love achieving the highest quality…one might even say art…in every part of my every day life. Having kids has not allowed me to be as creative in my cooking but I make up for that with my latte art.

Before I got married I was a barista for several years. No, I did not learn to do the above latte art at Starbucks. It would be safe to say I am self taught, which I am sure means I am not doing things technically right. Though I am self taught I have definitely been inspired by outside sources.

I discovered a few years back Third Wave Coffee which is the concept of making coffee an “artisan foodstuff like wine,” the journey of finding the highest quality coffee and making coffee more than just a commodity. Seattle seems to have started this movement but Portland OR has taken it to the next level in my opinion. I included a few pictures of a few of my FAVORITE third wave coffee shops in Portland OR. If you are interested in finding a shop close to you you can check out this awesome website espressomap.com. This website has many third wave coffee houses mapped out all over North America.

One of my absolute favorite coffee shops in Portland is Coava Coffee Roasters. Here are a few images of the inside of the shop. I am SO inspired by the architecture of the building that Coava is in it is one of the more beautiful spaces I have been in.

At Coava there is no drip coffee instead they the pour over method. This is one of the best ways to make coffee and it is so easy!

The bar is made out of bamboo because the shop shares their building with a bamboo showroom. Pretty amazing construction if you ask me.

I wish I had Coava down the street from my house so I could create in this inspiring space.

While I was at Coava I purchased a Chemex coffeemaker and the Kone coffee filter. I love making coffee in my Chemex it has the flavor of a french press without the coffee dust.

One of my other favorite Portland coffee shops is Extracto Coffee Roasters. They were kind enough to sell me a 5 lb bag of their freshly roasted coffee and that is what my cappuccino was made out of in this picture. It was delicious!

A few bags of coffee that I have already emptied. If you happen to find a coffee shop near you or already know of one please tell me about it!

If you live in San Diego, California and are looking for a great coffee shop be sure to check out Kaffee Meister. The owners Mike and Leslie are very special people to me so make sure they know Elisa sent you!

DIY: Braided Bohemian Headband

elisa — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:14:08 +0000

Another headband tutorial! Be sure to check out the Single Strand Lace Headband and Double Strand Lace Headband. For this tutorial this is what you will need.

Materials:

20 inches of three types of lace or ribbon. You may want to double up if one of your strands of lace or ribbon is significantly narrower than the others. As you can see in the picture I used two strands of the narrowest type of ribbon to even out everything.

Scissors

2.5 inches of elastic

Sewing Machine (glue will work also)

EXTRAS:

If you want to make the flower extras you will need. A silk flower, a button, some extra ribbon, a couple of wooden beads, and a crocheted doily. I purchased all my items from JoAnn’s Fabrics.

Ok, Lets get started! Tape your three equal lengths of ribbon and lace to a flat surface.

Braid the lengths and tape them together at the other end. The length of the braid should now be around 18 inches. Pull the taped ends off the table and fold it around the end of the braid so both sides are now taped.

Sew the ends of the braid to either end of the elastic. If you have a sewing machine make sure you do two rows of stitching on each side for the extra reinforcement.

Once you have done this you can add some ribbon around the outside of the place where the braid and the elastic intersect. As shown in this picture.

Now you have a beautiful braided headband. If you want to add the flower so it looks just like the picture here are the instructions for the extras.

Take your silk flower apart. Pull the center from the petals and carefully separate the petals.

Fold up the doily and as you sew the button through the hole in the center of the flower also sew the doily to the back.

Also sew your extra pieces of ribbon to the back. I threaded a few wooden beads onto the ribbon and tied the ends before I attached the ribbon.

Once you have attached the doily and the ribbon to the back of the flower tie all of your extra frill to the braided headband.

Wear and enjoy!

Dandelion Photo Shoot

elisa — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:59:59 +0000

My sister, the world traveler, is in the states for a month or two and has been visiting me. We are like minded in our love of photography. My sister Natalie is a, singer, dancer, writer, actress, and photographer. We both love fashion and creative photo shoots. It is so refreshing to have my sister with me because I can envision a photograph and create it WITHOUT being my own model. We found a beautifully huge dandelion while out on a walk. It inspired this photo shoot. I used it as a bit of a product shoot also the fingerless gloves pictured are a new pattern I have been working on and will shortly send to be tested. I am continually inspired by my surroundings and I hope these photos inspire you to create.

And a few more…

Cheers! More photos to come…

Full Frame Goodness!

elisa — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:33:58 +0000

So my husband and I recently decided we wanted to move up from a cropped frame sensor camera Canon 20D, to a full frame camera Canon 5D Mark I. This may not make a lot of sense to most of my readers. It basically means that I now can get more out of all the lenses I already have. I LOVE my new camera. I can’t wait to experiment with all the possibilities that come with it. Here are some photos taken with the Mark I.

I have fallen back in love with crochet. I love knowing both how to knit and crochet. The last year I have focused completely on knitting you could call me a bit knit obsessed if you like.

Recently, most likely due to the warm and sunny weather, I have rediscovered my love of crochet. It feels so freeing to be able to whip up summery accessories. Here is a dainty lace headband I crocheted. I am hoping to have a pattern for this available in the near future.

Just in case you were wondering yes those ARE feather extensions! I figured out how to put them in myself and have been feathering many of my friends hair. It is so much more reasonably priced when you do it yourself. I will try to get a blog post including a how-to soon. Or you can just come over have a cappuccino and let me put some in for you!

Latte art! I love cappuccinos…being a mom of three sometimes I will have several a day. I have been practicing my art. Here is a pic of my most recent cappuccino with latte art

For those of you who knit only do not be distressed I have not abandoned my knitting for my renewed love of crochet. Here are a pair of fingerless gloves I knit up recently. I will be working out the kinks in the pattern and then be posting them for testing. These were knit up in “Knight” color-way by SkeinYarns on Etsy. I cannot get enough of her yarn. This is the marino/cashmere blend, seriously the softest yarn I have EVER used.

Also a pic of me and my girl. Sweet Fiona who loves to eat dirt, wear skirts and flowers in her hair, and destroys anything she comes in contact with. I love this girl!