While I think that throwing extravagant birthday parties for kids can at times be a little over the top, I do think that when you use your creativity without spending an arm and a leg is worth celebrating! I love the party ideas form One Charming Party! I first saw the Baking Party a while ago through an e-mail from Amy Atlas. I love everything about a baking party! It makes me want to throw one for myself. Couldn’t you imaging a party with 4 of your favorite creative bloggers, surrounded by sprinkles, icing, and cookie cutters! How fun would that be….who says you have to be a kid to have a themed birthday party..lol. Anyhow, if you are looking for some fabulous ideas for your kiddos next birthday bash, then One Charming Party is a sure link of inspiration. PS: They also have free tutorials and printables!
You see the cute little necklaces below..they are made out of ribbon and gum-balls..haw fantastic!
I love everything about an art party…so colorful! The cake is superb and the color-wheel cupcake toppers are so cute!
Denyse Schmidt is one of my favorite quilters! Her color palettes are fantastic and this video via Pottery Barn is so inspirational! I can picture myself sitting at that lovely Brother machine of hers. A couple of her designs are for sale online and through catalog via Pottery Barn.
Who doesn’t love Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa! She’s such a gem and I can always count on her recipes, especially when it comes to desserts! In this video she’s making Profiteroles, which are basically pastry dough balls filled with cream and even sometimes ice cream that’s drizzled with chocolate or caramel or a raspberry sauce! Yum!
PS: I also love how Ina’s always feeding her husband! he’s always so cheerful to eat. I guess I would be too if I were married to Ina! I am always begging…ahem, I mean asking my husband to taste test my experimental recipes (hey, who else is going to give e proper feedback..the seven year old?)….sometimes good, and sometimes bad, but he’s a trooper for playing along.
I really love the rooms featured here. I cannot wait for the day that we have hardwood floors throughout our lower level! Carpet and I, especially the lush rough kind, have somewhat of a bad relationship..lol. Although I can imagine that the mopping and sweeping would be somewhat of a hassle, especially with 3 kiddos. I think I would much rather prefer to sweep and mop than tug out the vacuum cleaner and scrub away stains! Anyhow, Don’t you love the dining room! The lighting, the table, and that bookshelf! Oh, I love that bookshelf!
This past Sunday I roasted a chicken that was flavored with lavender and glazed with fig preserves. I knew that I wanted something comforting and cheesy to go with it but I also knew that I did not want it to be macaroni and cheese. Most people love macaroni & cheese, but I’m just not that big of a fan! So, I decided that my comfort dish would involve cauliflower, portobello mushrooms, butter, and lots of cheesy goodness! It was quite fantastic and you know you have a winner win the 7 year old says: “that was so good, that was better than macaroni and cheese”…lol.
I simply boiled some cauliflower in salt water and once tender I took them off the stove, added lots of butter, a tad more salt, fresh black pepper, shredded monterey jack & cheddar and crumbled up some portobello mushrooms. Stirred it all together, put them in small ramekins and baked them until the cheese was bubbly! You should definitely give this a try, it’s scrumptious and just as comforting as traditional macaroni and cheese!
It never fails to amaze me how much color can effect your mood! I am inspired by color from many different things whether it’s food, nature, or textiles, I just can’t get enough of it! I ran across the portfolio of Interior Stylist Irina Graewe. I thought that the photos in her portfolio were great examples of how colors can really set the tone of your mood and energy level. For instance, the set of blue photos give me a dreary, old, Victorian feel. While the white and cream photos makes me feel light and low key; and the rooms with pops of pinks gives off a feeling of warmth, energy, and fun! I find that I am inspired by aqua-blues, pastels, bright whites, and earth tones! What colors inspire you?
Hi Guys! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was pretty good. We finally got our downstairs painting completed..woo hoo!
Ok, on to other news. You know, it’s quite funny, we really do not celebrate most holidays traditionally, but I must say that the artist in me cannot help but to be attracted to holiday colors and packaging and décor. I mean really, how can one not have the slightest urge to make something sweet and heart shaped, or dye eggs even if you do not celebrate Easter, etc.? So, let us just say that we tend to bake around what I have affectionately coined as “Love Day”, as we do often, yet we use the ready available red white and pink and a dash of chocolate. I mean, if we baked and crafted with such colors and said I love you on any other day, does that make one less celebratory of the original holiday? Who knows, but what I do know is that I whipped up some pretty yummy red velvet cake pops this weekend! I was rather lazy and did not bake the cake from scratch..totally boxed it up this time around. I would love to make some carrot cake pops or maybe some chocolate ones dipped in ganache…yum! While dipping them some of them fell of the stick(tip: do not make them too big & make sure your chocolate is not too cool.)…but no worries..I just covered them in chocolate and decorated them to look like little chocolates. I also used a heart shaped cookie cutter and poured the melted candy chips over it to make make mini heart shaped cakes!
These little cake gems are so easy to make and can offer the creative imagination so many sweet ideas when it comes to decorating them. Above is a video that pretty much sums up the cake pop process. The first time that I ever heard of a cake pop was through Bakerella…Isn’t she amazing! Anyhow, I hope this video inspires you; and if you have kids then they are going to love them and you for making them, whether it’s “Love Day”/ “Valentines Day” or not! They would make the perfect little treat for a kids birthday party don’t you think?
Sometimes when life grabs you by the hand and swirls you around in circles you tend to loose track of time. It can throw things at you that you just don’t expect and either you have to grab it and go with it or you can drop it and loose your focus and growth. I cannot believe that it has been 7 months since I have blogged! Heck, missing a day feels like an eternity in the blog world, so you can imagine how not blogging for 7 months can feel. It feels like it was just yesterday that I announced the birth of our baby boy in May of last year and now I can happily say that we have moved into our first home! Yipee! The picture above is of the winter snow on our street. (Sidenote: while snow is quite beautiful and majestic to look at as it falls it is a pain in the “patooty” to shovel. Being from the south we were totally dumbfounded.)
The move caught us by surprise, we were not planning to move into a home until a year from now, but the stars aligned in a different way and we moved into our little abode last September. It’s your run of the mill cookie cutter house in a cookie cutter neighborhood but we are working diligently to make it unique! In fact I just got a wall put up to enclose the sitting room which is now my craft studio. Long gone are the days of sharing my creative space with living and dining rooms! It really does feel great and I cannot wait to get everything organized and decorated and to take pics to share with you all. I have so many ideas and we are still on a budget so I must tap in to some creative decor remedies!
Anyhow, I cannot begin to tell you how amazing you all are. Many of you chimed in to check on me and stopped by to comment on many of my previous posts. You sure know how to make a girl feel special. I wanted to blog many of nights, yet having a 7 year old who we home-school, a 1 year old, and a new born was just daunting to my creative energy. By the end of the day I just wanted to zone out, and when I did try to blog I just found myself staring at the computer screen at 1am or so feeling so disappointed that I once again did not fulfill any creative endeavors. So, to make a long story short… I’m back, and I am beyond ready to post some creative inspiration for both you and I to enjoy!
Ok, I will be back shortly with lots of loveliness. Hoping you all have a fabulous, emotionally sunny, and creative weekend!
There is nothing more classic than an all white room accented with pops of juicy bright colors! I love these interior photos taken by London based photographer Rachel Whiting. I am constantly debating whether I should paint our walls back to white. I love how fresh and clean it makes a room feel and how you can change up the feel of a room with accent pieces!
It has become evident that I have a love for French furniture. I had no clue of this until I started blogging here. If I had to sum my decorative taste up into two styles, I think that I would choose North/West Africa and French. Talk about two totally different spectrums, yet I plan to fuse these two style in my future bedroom and possibly in our little girls room as well! Anyhow, I thought you all would like to do a little mini window shopping at The Bella Cottage in North Hills, California! I love these pieces!
I am not necessarily the girly girl type. I mean I am 5 years overdue for a “professional” mani/pedicure and I have to be dragged out of the house to go wardrobe shopping for myself, but there is one girly item that I am dying to have in my future home…a pretty antique vanity! Just the thought of having a special place to go and sit and pamper myself amongst scented perfumes, beaded jewelry, the fragrance of eye shadow and blush, and random collections of trinkets, makes me feel all giddy and fashionably inspired!
So, with that said, i thought it would be fun to gather up a few images of vanities that I LOVE! I am especially fond of Kelly Rae Roberts (psst…be sure to check out her home & studio tour section) white vanity with the blue floral upholstered seating..oh my!
So, what about you ladies..do you you have a special decorative spot to get yourself ready for the days and nights?
Oooh! Don’t we all love Lotta Jansdotter! She’s only one one of my favorite textile designers! Here are a couple of easy and fun tutorials that I found. Yay!
Currently the hubby and I are trying to cut down on our carbs (well, he is, I on the other hand have had my fair share of bread, donuts, and cookies in the past few days), so as of lately, most of my dinners simply include lots of veggies and a protein, which is either chicken, ground turkey, or fish. The other day I put together this dish that consists of: baked chicken, thinly sliced tomatoes, potatoes(cut into small squares), asparagus, white corn, and sweet green peas. I just sauteed the potatoes until they were tender and then added in the remaining veggies. I cooked them in a bit of olive oil, water, and butter until the asparagus turned a bright green and lightly seasoned them with salt, yellow curry powder, and a dash of garlic powder.
The chicken is seasoned with: salt, pepper, coriander, yellow curry powder, brown sugar, a dash of allspice, ginger, and Hungarian paprika. This is by far one of my favorite meals and it was so easy to fix. I think I am most successful with dishes that are light, colorful, quick, and layered with spices! You should definitely give it a try with your own twist! We drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top to add a little kick to it!
Not to long ago a high school classmate of mine had a lovely baby girl named Nora and I simply fell in love with the creative photography that the photographer used to capture their little bundle of joy (aren’t they fantastic?)! The talented woman behind the photo shoot is Tessa Frye Swarthout of Light, Love, Laughter Photography. I love her pieces within her portfolio that carry a more soft vintage feel and when it comes to photography, I adore the use of Black and White and sepia tone!
Here are a few of my favorite pics from Tessa’s wedding portfolio. You can view more of her work by visiting her website and Blog.
Tessa is based in Atlanta, but she travels all over the world to capture your special moments, so if you are in need of a fabulous baby, family, engagement, portrait, or wedding photographer, then be sure to head on over and let her know!
