Hired to plan an event for a special friend, I was inspired to create a garden, Midsummer Night’s Dream style event (without the donkey head). The birthday girl, with her own sparkle and love of fairies and gardens needed a party to match. The catch? It’s was March in Toronto.

Renting out Grano, an Italian restaurant on the city’s Young St. with a great menu for our guests, I worked to find a balance between the space’s private dining decor, and my vision of classy garden event.

Using fresh apple and limes in place of traditional centerpieces; mason jars, tealights and sheet moss as room accents, the room came alive and was a beautiful backdrop to the celebration.

Photos by Marc Crabtree

In my free time I love to cook and bake. A few years ago canned soup was a challenge and since a diet overhaul I’ve found a love for healthy food! Inspired by my favourite food blogs I now love to change and adapt for new treats and often messy kitchen adventures.

Adapted from this recipe, I can find a way to make anything taste like pumpkin pie.

A fun new ingredient for me: coconut flour! It smells yummy and absorbs liquid like no other. A little different from conventional flours it creates more of a paste like texture with a hint of coconut.

These little buttons are 5 calories each (without the seed topping) in a single batch of 16 buttons.

Ingredients:
2tbsp coconut flour
2tbsp canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
Stevia or other sweetener, to taste (I used half 1 package)
Pinch each of salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger
1/8tsp baking powder
3tbsp almond milk
Roasted pepita seeds

Directions:
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add canned pumpkin and stir.
Add almond milk 1tbsp at a time, incorporating to create the dough.
Form dough in to large marble size balls, use a fork to flatten on a silicone baking mat (or parchment paper).
Decorate each cookie with a pumpkin seed and bake for 15 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Holts Muse Launch Demo Video

Created for the media launch of holtsmuse.com, this demo video highlights the functionality of the Wordpress site being shown on loop through the duration of the media launch event.

Working with Oddly Studios’ Creative Director and Motion Graphics Editor to produce this piece, the demo video was one element of a multi-platform initiative to catapult the highly anticipated Holts Muse name.

View the Holts Muse site here.

As Project Manager for the FGI redesign, the goal was to create a clean site that could be maintained by the distinguished Board Members through articles and event announcements. In line with the development team, Jesse Hodson with my creative direction photographed the board members for the new site with beautiful results.

The site launched at the 2011 year end conference with much enthusiasm from the Toronto fashion community. With weekly updates, mail subscription and a twitter feed, the site was elevated from a text base page to a community hub for this respected fashion authority.

View the Toronto Fashion Group International site here.

A campaign to target University students was launched where users would gain “credits” as entries in to a contest for participating in site features. With desktop English and French sites built in tandem with a bilingual mobile experience, four sites were created for Philips Groom U. Developing the wireframes and user flow, I worked to identify logic flaws and drop off points having creative adjusted before the development began. With massive registration and an on campus PR initiative Philips saw great success with Groom U.

Managing the creation of big box flash ads for msn.ca in tandem with a Facebook hub, I had the experience of working with a seasonal and social campaign. The Facebook page launched December 1st of 2011 and had hit 16,506 Likes as of January 6th. Google Analytics tracking combined with Facebook Insights showed the impact of the campaign and the strong user acceptance of the “Share a Moment” application. A “What People are Saying” aggregator within a tab showed the social reach of Bailey’s during the holidays across.

Click the image to view larger on Flickr.

With the completion of the Fashion Group International site (see Fashion Group International: Site Redesign & Board Member Photoshoot), I created a twelve page manual for maintenance of their new tool. This document provides step by step instructions on posting content, uploading media, creating events and moderating board member profiles. Using screencaps from the Wordpress content management system and flags, the document is an easy guide and can be referenced by seasoned and new Wordpress users alike.

After being presented with a concept and participating in a brainstorm session with technical and account teams, I launched in to a combined wireframe and user flow to show a visual representation of the project in its early stages to the client. Upon approval, creatives began design work where I then managed the development team in creation of a Facebook application to support the Holts Muse multi-platform campaign (see Holts Muse Launch Demo Video).

Click the image to view larger on Flickr.

Working for a digital fashion magazine brought me to working closely with Public Relations companies. Attending events of product launches and sneak peeks to seasonal fashion and beauty trends found me exploring the city with camera in hand. From a PR to PM perspective, this experience has helped me gain a big picture understanding of brand acquisition and retention.

Click images to view larger on Flickr.
Header image in article from Scotch & Soda.

Click the image to view larger on Flickr.