Darlington Studios » Family + Fun

Happy Birthday!

Melanie — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:58:10 +0000

A Birthday Design by Melanie

My birthday is in a few weeks!!! Every year, around the first day of Spring, Paul starts asking me what I’d like to do for my special day. And every year I am at a loss for words. However, this year, I dared to be different. I created a design board filled with relaxing experiences and birthday fun! After emailing it to Paul, I realized that I loved it so much, I wanted share it with all of our friends.

1. A Cookie Dough Drizzle Cake from Marble Slab. Um, yummy … Need I say more.

2. The Polaroid z2300 Instant Digital Camera. I love old Polaroids, but I always wished I could have the option of choosing what photo to print instead of being at the mercy of the camera. Now I get to choose. It’s perfect! Plus it has a sticky back for posting.

3. Take it with you wine from Stack Wines. I saw this in my favourite magazine, Real Simple, and loved the idea of totable glasses of wine. They just look so darn cute!

4. Retro mini eco-journal notebooks, as seen in the latest issue of a wonderful magazine I was recently introduced to at our photography convention last month, Click. This set of 4 notebooks are decorated with images of plastic cameras, rotary phones, boomboxes and video games.

5. High tea at Barrie’s very own tea shop English & Miller. I haven’t dined there yet, but I can’t wait to try their tea and scones. Fancy, huh?

6. Hot yoga at Moksha Yoga Barrie. If you’ve never been to a hot yoga class, you should check this South-end studio out. It’s wonderful!

7. A relaxing massage.

8. A delicious Oliver & Bonacini Cafe Grill meal at Blue Mountain. Yes, please!

9. The Vinyl Collection 550-piece jigsaw puzzle, also featured in Real Simple magazine. I, recently, reconnected with my love of puzzles over our winter vacation, and what could be better than this nostalgic find?

10. A beautiful day of serenity and silence at Scandinave Spa Blue Mountain. Watch out for the quiet monitors! They will shush you!

11. A Salted, Caramel Mocha minus the salt (as the salt is seasonal) from Starbucks. If you register your Starbucks card online, you get a free coffee on your birthday! Bonus!

12. Faithlife, a study Bible app. This is a great way to really delve into the word of God and learn more about the scripture. I love it! And did I mention it’s free!?!

Keep in mind, I am not planning to do everything on the list for my birthday. This could possibly end up being a week-long celebration for me because there’s no way I could possibly fit everything I want to do on the list all in one day. I may not even get around to doing everything, but it’s nice to dream … and design.

For Chocolate Cookie Lovers Only

Melanie — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:16:46 +0000

About three years ago, I found an amazing cookie recipe in a weekly flyer from Bulk Barn. I immediately went online and saved a PDF of the recipe for future use. Ever since then, around Valentine’s Day, I bake these delicious chocolate cookies with homemade cream cheese frosting for my family. Well, last week, I was telling someone about how incredible these cookies taste, and wanted to send them a link to the recipe online, when lo and behold, I discovered the recipe is nowhere to be found!! The page had expired. Oh no! Now how do I pin it on Pinterest with no link?!?! Soooooo … I decided to post this recipe online for all those cookie lovers out there. You’re welcome.

I have no idea who originated the recipe, but whoever you are, you are the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this sweet treat!

CHOCOLATE LOVER’S COOKIES

Yields 32 cookies

1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup Callebaut bittersweet wafers, chopped into
small pieces

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup mini M&Ms or Smarties

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa in a separate bowl. Slowly add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop in mixture by teaspoonful 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes, then remove and place on cooling racks.

In a microwave, melt white chocolate chips for 1 minute and stir. Microwave another 10-20 seconds at intervals, stirring until smooth; cool.

For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Beat in melted chips. Smooth on the cookies and sprinkle with M&Ms, or topping of your choice. Enjoy with an ice cold milk (or soy milk) beverage!

Note: Leave a comment and let us know if you try the recipe! We’re convinced you’ll love it!

First Love | A Valentine Story

Melanie — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:46:44 +0000

Valentine’s Day is officially over, but we’d like to extend the holiday to share a little love story with you. It’s about our son, Noah, and his first love… bowling.

Yes, that’s right. Our 2-year-old son is in love with bowling. It’s his favourite activity. If we would allow it, he would bowl from sunup to sundown. He is the proud owner of several bowling sets, all sponsored by grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunts, and great uncles. He even knows the alley lingo. He can tell you about a strike, when to pick up a spare and how to avoid gutterballs.

When we’re visiting family, and they don’t have a bowling system on hand, he’s been known to find cups, discarded paper towel tubes and soccer balls to create his own bowling set. He’s built a bowling alley fashioned out of snow for outside fun, and even molded Play-Doh into a mini bowling set. He loves the sport that much!

As you’ve read, he’s not fussy when it comes to styles of bowling. He will bowl at a 5-pin alley, bowl using a plastic or foam bowling set, or bowl on an iPhone, iPad, and, most recently, a XBox Kinect video gaming system. We just had to share this with you because it made us smile. Hopefully, this delightful short film will brighten your day.

Awana | Harvest Bible Chapel

Melanie — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:17:13 +0000

Our faith in Christ is important to us, individually and professionally. We love the Lord and the fact that we attend a church that honours God and His Word. One way that we choose to serve God is to use our photography and video for church ministry. Recently, we created a short video for our Children’s Ministry Awana program. Awana (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) is our church’s mid-week ministry for children in Senior Kindergarten through Grade 5. It is designed to disciple children and encourage a strong biblical foundation in their lives.

We filmed the Party With The Pastors – Kids Style event last month. It was such a blessing to produce this short video and we hope that it educates others on the benefits of this amazing program. Awana is held Wednesday evenings at Timothy Christian School from 6:30pm-8:15pm. For more information, contact Harvest Bible Chapel in Barrie.

Noah’s First Haircut

Melanie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:58:25 +0000

Sunday was a huge day in the Darlington household. It was the day our youngest member, 15-month old Noah, received his very first haircut. What a big boy! His mane was getting to be a bit unmanageable, so we both decided it was imperative for him to go to the hairdresser. Noah sat up straight and behaved like a pro throughout his visit. We were so proud of him.

We decided to bring a camera and some other gear to document this momentous event in our young son’s life. They probably thought it was a bit extravagant setting up a miniature studio in the middle of the salon, but it was worth it! Our baby’s growing up!