Shop Update: First Batch

The first batch of new pieces are up on the site. They are scattered on the "new arrival" page, but once I get everything up on the "new arrival" page all the pieces will be...new. Below are links to the new styles:

Lilly

Flora

Marge

Parker

Anemone

Camille

Moon

Gourmet Girls: Halloween

Last week was Gourmet Girls Halloween party. We kept it simple and did a potluck---ghoulish style, of course. The party favors were my responsibility, and I made witch broom favors. You can find the instructions on how to make it here. It's really easy and cheap. They added to Halloween decorations and I filled with orange, yellow and brown candy.

How awesome are these chocolate spiders?! Incredibly good and completely edible--even the shell!

Go to Gourmet Girls to see the complete list of food and recipes.

Sneak Peek

It's taking me a while, but I have new jewelry pieces to put up in my shop. I'm going to try to update with new arrivals on a day-to-day basis until I get them all up. I'll post here on the blog. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of some of the bracelets that I love, love, love.

Costume Ambition

When I was little, my mother would take us to the fabric store, we'd pick out a pattern for a Halloween costume and she'd make all our costumes. One of those fond memories. Well I decided to be to ambitious and sew all my children's costumes. Be mindful that my sewing machine doesn't see the light often. Well, I'm happy to say that I finish one costume last week and will be finishing up the second in the next couple of days. Sad thing is that I started about three weeks ago--slowly but surely I got the Little Red Riding Hood done. One thing that was fun was Stella helped me with the process. She learned how to iron fabric and patterns, cut patterns out, put pins in fabric and how to thread the sewing machine. Maybe next year she'll sew it yourself.

Gilt

Have you heard of the website Gilt? Think of it like an online sample sale for fabulous designer finds. One thing though is that it's an invite-only member website. I've been on the waiting list for the last two weeks, but got word that I should have access to all the mecca deals by today! I've heard that you have to act fast because quantity is very limited, sales only last for a period of time and goods get snatched up. And they are selling houseware--bonus! So, click here to get yourself register and get in before Christmas shopping.

Below is an image of some little boy clothes that my friend bought through Gilt. Adorable!

Living Healthy

Last week I attended a health seminar by a master herbalist and certified kinesiologist. The class was focused on healing herbs, essential oils and homeopathic medicine that you should always keep on hand and in your home. The class was so informative that I ended up staying well after the seminar to ask the teacher questions and add to my novel of notes. I left wanting to make some lifestyle changes and treat my body more "green"--lessening the amount of chemicals and processed foods that my body and my children take in. If you are into herbs or want to gain more knowledge, I'd definitely say take a class to understand the benefits. Herbs can lessen the amount of doctor visits, so I'm for it. Here are a few websites that I know sell quality herbs and essential oils. Also, Simply Healthful is a good reference for recipes and a healthy alternative way of living.

Mountain Rose Herbs
Herbally Grounded
Vickie Sorensen's Nature Works

Stone Barns

When Fall arrives, a trip to Stone Barns is a requirement. It's a perfect place to visit on those gorgeous fall days. The scenery is picturesque. The farm animals are all out. The Harvest Fest is held with homemade goods. And all food at Blue Hill Restaurant is from their garden. If you are in the New York area it's a place you don't want to miss.

Pesto Sauce

Guess what? I still have random vegetables growing in my garden. But my basil plants are at their tail-end. So I decided to make a huge batch of pesto sauce using the Simply Healthful recipe. Since the recipe doesn't require any cooking, I decided to use freezer jars to store the sauce for future use. And to make good use of my extra freezer that I bought over the summer. Also, it only took me about 20 minutes to do the whole process. I made it while dinner was cooking.

Ideas by Heart

I thought this video clip by illustrator and advertising student Annika Backstrom was really neat. It shows how advertising ideas come to life and gives you a small inside glimpse of an illustrator's mind. Go take a peek.

{via Eat Drink Chic}

Dwell Baby & Kids Sale

Head over to White Canvas Designs to get a designer discount of 30% off Dwell Baby & Kids!!! I'm so excited to take advantage of this offer since baby is coming soon, and I haven't bought any baby girl items for six years! It's going to be a treat. And not to mention all the baby showers I need to get presents too. The ordering details are on the post. Hurry! The sale ends October 31st.

Vintage Back-to-School Dinner

I'm apart of a group called Gourmet Girls that get together once a month to have a multi-course gourmet dinner complete with an invitation, theme, decorations, menus and party favors. Sounds like a lot of work, but luckily I can enjoy attending except for the one month that I have to host. Anyway, it began last month with the theme "Back to School". It was so much fun. I met a lot of new friends. And the food had a school cafeteria theme like bologna sandwiches, peanut better and jelly, grill cheese...but everything was delicious and not your usual recipe! Click here for the recipes.

The dinner was held by candlelight on my friend's rooftop deck. So the pictures aren't the greatest but you get the idea. I loved the centerpieces and tabletops--stacked vintage books with leather belt and an apple.

Love these food labels. Those are erasers!

My favorite was PB & J sandwiches, which was actually made out of brown sugar bananas, nutella and peanut butter.

Vintage lunch trays!!

Pretty View

I think I need to start putting fresh flowers by my kitchen sink. It would probably make doing the dishes easier.

{image from Anthology}

Halloween Decorations

We decorated the house this weekend for Halloween. As per my kids, I needed to make it a little more spooky then my borish decorations from previous years. Hey...I keep it pretty tamed. I'm not too into the scary side of Halloween. I was excited to get out my Martha Stewart Halloween glitter set that I bought last year at the end of the season for 50% off. It sat for a whole year and I'm glad I didn't forget about it. I made a glitter Halloween banner that should last a few years. And the kids glittered up some plastic skeletons that we used on a wreath that I spray painted black. Cobwebs and plastic black spiders are an easy Halloween decoration. As you can see, I'm not too into kitschy holiday decor that just adds clutter. But that's just me!

We picked up some tree branches from our Sunday walk that I also spray painted black and then added paper crows from the Martha Stewart line. More cobweb and spiders on the family picture frame and the black chandelier. I think that's all I'll do this year. Next year I'll try to spoof up the exterior.

Tea Party: Entertainment

Like I said before, Becca did an amazing job entertaining Stella's tea party guests. After all, this is her profession and she does children's tea parties every weekend. So, she's a pro. And it was fun watching her do her magic. Becca needed a place at the beginning of the party to talk to the girls about tea party manners, so I created a little "conversation" area with a large blanket and pillows.

The girls loved the intimate setting and Becca's fancy suggestions. There was a lot of giggling going on.

Next the girls got all fancied up for the tea party. The invitations requested them to come in their best fancy dress, which they did. We moved Stella's vanity outside so Becca could display all the makeup and perfume.

Then she brought all her fun accessories like long pearl necklaces, flower hats, white gloves, rings, purses, boas, sashes. They also got to decorate wooden fans.

After the girls looked fancy and were eager to have the tea party! But first they did a little mini fashion show, and I got individual pictures of each girl striking a pose.

Finally they got to sit down and have the tea party.

I thought it was a hoot because they all looked like little old ladies chatting away like long-time friends and of course using proper table manners.

Becca did all the food. Tea-size ham and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly in filo dough shells, fruit skewers, chocolate-cover strawberries and cream puffs. All bite-size. Becca suggested serving lemonade in the tea pots and putting red water in the creamers and sugar cubes in the sugar jar. This was a huge hit because the girls would pour the red water into their yellow lemonade and it would turn into pink lemonade. Sugar cubes to sweeten it up a little more.

The girls did not want the tea party to end, but alas we brought out the cake.

And sang Miss Stella a happy birthday.

Phew! That was a fun party, but I'm so glad it's over. I couldn't have done it without Becca! If you have any questions, let me know. And if you live in the DC area and need a party place for your little girl, check out Tea with Mrs. B. I highly recommend it!

Tea Party: Decorations

I have so many pictures from Stella's tea party that I'm going to have to do two posts for it. Today I'll focus on the party decorations since Becca gave me that responsibility. I was happy to obliged. Thankfully the weather held up after a week of rain and it was a gorgeous Fall day. To my relief, we were able to hold the entire party outside!

I rented an eight-foot children's table and chairs, and we squeezed 16 girls around it. I found matching gingham fabric to the invitations and sewed a tablecloth. From my tissue paper supply box, I made four paper pom pom garlands and strung it across the table. They were supported by six-foot wooden stakes that I spray painted pink.

I gorilla-glued cheap teacups and saucers together to make a tall flower centerpiece. And made a lollipop garden centerpiece with "stella's tea party" labels.

I had a 12-piece teacup and saucer set that I bought a few years back and finally got to pull out for an official tea party. Any additional tea sets Becca supplied from her tea cup collection. She also supplied cotton tea napkins and tiny silver spoons and forks for each place setting. All fine china! No paper products at this tea table.

The dessert table was kept pretty simple. Becca brought up beautiful tablecloths that she uses at her tea house and luckily some of them matched the decorations. I made a paper teacup garland and a "Happy Birthday Stella" banner. And labels for the candy jars because every birthday needs candy! The cake and cupcakes were made by Sono Baking Company. I wasn't that impressed and am still on the search for the perfect cake bakery. One thing that I did like about the cupcakes were the little teacups were made out of white chocolate. Yum!

Tomorrow I'll post party entertainment detail!

Here's the link for the invitations.