Our Featured Blogger { This French Farmhouse }

We are thrilled to bring you our newest featured blogger for August!  We are pretty confident you’ll be swept away by all the little goodies, just like we are…

Mini Coconut Cheesecake!

I started being creative as soon as I could hold a pencil, spatula or a pair of scissors in my hand (which was not easy seeing as I am left handed and the world is out to get me.) I made mock magazines, took photos and stood on a stepstool to make homemade donuts.  As I grew up I became increasingly interested in the visual arts, eventually went to school for graphic design and now own my own studio, Pixel Soup Creative. But, when I am not designing logos, I am taking photos and blogging about my life in Redmond at www.ThisFrenchFarmhouse.com

French farmhouse Peonies!

Bedroom treasures…

My blog is made up of the  the things I love, the things that inspire me, and the things that I’ll remember 50 years from now.

Amalfi, Italy

Grilled artichoke…delicious

I share this life with Justin, my best friend and husband, and our sweet and smiley baby boy, Sage Michael. Our family is also composed of chocolate labs Huck and Chili and chickens Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. We love to work on projects together and travel the world.

First there is the house…

We live in Redmond, Washington – about 20 minutes east of Seattle. Our craftsman cottage was built in 1947 and sits in the middle of a country acre. It’s a lot of work, but we have never had more fun making a house a home. Since we bought in 2009, Justin and I have worked together to bring the property back to its former glory and rejuvenate the country setting with a lived in, yet refined French Farmhouse style. Give me three shades of white paint and some 220 grit sandpaper and I’ll shabby chic the car if you’ll let me. We jokingly refer to it as the “Shanda Foisy Signature Farmhouse Finish.”

My bedroom…

Then there is the food…

I started cooking with my mom as soon as I could stand. Years of making homemade breads, curries and learning to brine a chicken prepared me to work as an apprentice pastry chef under Julie Hoagle during high school. While everyone else was in after school sports practice – I was furiously trying to perfect the ‘airiness” of my Madeline Cookies. I seriously considered culinary school, but in the end decided that the hours and lifestyle of being a chef were not for me. While design helps pay the bills, cooking is still my passion. When I’m not working in my studio or on the house, you will find me in the kitchen; cooking, styling and photographing (I’m still learning!), and most importantly, eating with my family.

and the Arts and Crafts…

I try to squeeze in as much creative time as I can, but the days seem to go by much faster now that we have a child. Although I’m not opposed to putting the baby in the front pack while I paint a picture or wander through a flea market looking for things to re-purpose. I do my best to make home-made gifts for Justin and our family. At the end of the year we like to give “Our Box of Favorite Things.” It is usually made up of mostly cheese and alcohol, but our family doesn’t seem to mind.

The { ever growing } Bucket List Take a food styling class in Brooklyn from Béa Peltre Kiss a boy on a bridge in Paris Go to Tanzania and South Africa Learn to ride a motorcycle Grow an organic vegetable garden Write a cookbook Eat Panang curry in Southern Thailand Have a farm sink in my kitchen Watch my son ski with my husband Eat Pizza in Naple Be on “This American Life”

Have a luxurious and treasured filled day,

 Trésors De Luxe!

www.tresorsdeluxe.com

Tracie Louise Photography!

We’ve selected Tracie Louise as our very first honoree on “Featured Blogger of the Month!”   We’re sure you’ll see why we think she’s remarkable, just like we do…

Clevland

I think I was born with creativity running through my veins…  but for over 3 decades, I was an artist without a medium.  I tried many things over the years, from art and craft, to drawing and painting, and even writing.  But nothing seemed to gel.  I always loved photography, from the very first instamatic I took away on 4th grade camp, to the High Schools 35mm SLR, I borrowed and played official school reporter, recording all the most important scholastic events.  At one point in my early 20′s, I even imaged that I might be able to be a photographer.  I went to the Photography Institute to inquire about enrolment, but backed out at the last minute, for fear of not being able to make the grade.

Dicky

In the years to come I still loved to snap things on holidays.  I never really understood the point of going somewhere different and exciting unless you were going to photograph it.  I thought I was just recording the events of my life… I still didn’t see that this is what I was born to do.  Any time I saw a person without a camera, I just didn’t get it.  I still don’t.

Finally at age 45.  My youngest son bought himself a digital SLR.  I was excited for him, and secretly envious of his new purchase. I borrowed it every chance I could, just to experiment and take pictures in my garden.  Finally my son decided that he was never going to get the same enjoyment out of the camera that I was, and he allowed me to have it.  I was so excited.

A few months later my husband and I went on a trip to the USA.  I was snapping everything in sight, naturally.  We stopped at several of those Tourist Information Centres and took brochures away with us.  Whilst riffling through the pages of the glossy tourist magazines,  a thought occurred to me…. someone is taking those pictures!  Why couldn’t that someone be me?

I came back home to Australia and started Tracie Louise Photography.  That was 15 months ago.  In that time, I have eaten, slept, breathed, and absorbed all things photographic.  My style has developed into something hopefully a little unique and definitely much more artistic than it once was.  It’s still early days for me yet.  But to say that I have found my passion would be an understatement of epic proportions.  I spent literally decades trying to figure out what I was “meant” to be doing with my life, when it was under my nose the entire time.  Finally a clarity that only comes with hindsight.

Ready to Launch

And this experience of not discovering my passion until relatively later in life, pushes me to inspire others to find theirs, much sooner.  I have never had a dream before, a goal, a mission.  And so I am driven by the idea of influencing others to reach for their own stars, whatever they may be.  Whether you are a teenager or you are in your 80′s, it is never to late to peruse a dream, to be all that you were meant to be.  My hope is that my images inspire others to seek beauty where they might not otherwise see it.  And to share a little of myself and the way that I look at things along the way.”

Sunrise 2

For more information : http://www.tracielouisephotography.com/

XX ~ TDL!

Have a luxurious, treasure filled day @ www.tresorsdeluxe.com!