craft: a summer purse

Did you know H&M sells infant and toddler clothing? Cause they do and they are super cute and affordable. Plus I have a love for European anything so dressing my son in European inspired clothing is something that makes me laugh and smile. I always get suckered into the low low prices and end up with something funky that has me scratching my head. On our last trip I think I went a bit overboard cause my son has been sporting some wacked out stuff. And not like “that’s cool” we’re talking “OMG, what did I do.” Going forward I’ll need to practice better restraint.

On our recent trip for some H&M toddler clothing I picked up a bag for myself that was $13. I think I must have been having a moment where carrying my fancy purse had me feeling bogged down and frustrated. So I thought, nice summer bag and it’s cheap. Before I knew it I was also holding a fist full of faux flowers that are intended to adorn your hair. They were cheap enough so I got a few and decided to make a craft project out of my goodies.

Well this trip to H&M was about two months ago and I’ve been a bit slow to complete a few different projects. Sunday I decided it was time to get going and made an effort to work on a few things. With a bit of pins and hot glue I came up with this. Despite the flowers having a loud plastic center I do like them.

What do you think of my summer purse? I myself just love the flirty-ness of the flowers. The way the petals curl is simply perfect.

purse and flowers from h&m

finished purse

home decor: plates

source of image unknown

flowers: pink

My mom unexpectedly came to town last month. Some of you may remember that we had childcare issues and she flew in to rescue us. That unexpected visit happened to correspond with her birthday. My lovely husband wanted to give her flowers on her big day so I selfishly request one of my favorite – ranunculus.

 

My wonderful husband picked up these beauties. Don’t you just love them?

Birthday flowers for mom

Pink Ranunculus

recipes for june

Icebox Cake

I recently visited my dear friend Stacie who was gushing over this new recipe she had made – Brown Sugar Meatloaf. I don’t know, something about brown sugar + meatloaf wasn’t wowing me but I could tell she loved it. Then, not really feeling energized to hunt down a recipe for June; I decided my husband really needed Brown Sugar Meatloaf on Father’s Day. How… lazy of me. Well, my lazyness was a good call on my part – he loved it! And yes, I liked it to. My husband kept calling it bar-b-que meatloaf due to the slight sweetness it has. Honestly though, that sounds gross to me. But despite how it sounds, the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming which is what I had feared. It really was yummy. My son refused to eat it but all was not lost, my husband quickly swiped up the pieces my son wouldn’t consume. I do think other kids would like this – just not my kid who is on a food strike.

I did make a few changes to the recipe per the comments. I used one egg rather then two. I used a bit less milk and added a packet of onion soup mix. I did use the full amount of brown sugar even though a lot of commenters suggested cutting back. What I did was place half the brown sugar on the pan and then the other half on top of the loaf. Since I prefer the ends of the meatloaf I made two small loafs rather then one large loaf. It’s pretty easy and not too many ingredients, which is how I prefer things. I will definitely be making this again. 

 

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Brown Sugar Meatloaf with brown sugar glaze

 

I’m also trying to bake one new recipe a month. A while back I saw a recipe for Icebox Cake in Darby’s blog. I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. So I made it and delicious it was! I highly suggest making this. It’s the perfect summer cake since it doesn’t require any baking and you sever it cold. All you’re really doing is layering chocolate wafers with heavy cream that has been whipped to the consistency of whip cream. Do that about 8 times and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day you have a cake that taste like Oreo goodness. It took my husband 3 days to finish the cake and all I heard him say between bites was “Oreo goodness, Oreo, goodness!” And I myself am not an Oreo fan but I’m a fan of this cake.I styled my cake to this (see my cake above). I did worry that the exposed parts of the wafer might not soften up but they did. This version required 2 boxes of wafers but I used 1.5. I also made extra whipped topping since I wanted a lot. I then shaved a broken wafer over the top to add some visual interest. Pretty, right!

Icebox Cake with Wafer Shavings

I know, I’ve been absent. I’ve had a lot on my plate, which makes me think this might be a good segway into a food post. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve set out to cook one new recipe a month. I thought Father’s Day was a perfect opportunity to test out something new.

happy fathers day

may 2009

Happy Fathers Day, Fred! Thank you for being a phenominal dad to our super duper cute son.

xoxo

Rebecca

crafts: gift wrapping

In the last few months I’ve attended a few events that requested my presence accompanied by an offering (or gift if you will). Now I really enjoy gift giving but I like the act of gift wrapping a bit more. What I absolutely don’t like is that I myself am highly organized but my wrapping supplies are completely unorganized. Living in a New York City 1000 square foot co-op means I don’t have that much stuff but being a bit obsessed with the sport of wrapping I have enough stuff. Did I mention that I live in New York City? Let me translate, I live in a small enough space that at present I can’t keep my supplies all together and – it’s frustrating. Let me explain in depth as this is pretty much the scene every time I wrap something…

Go to master bedroom closet, reach way back there to grab rolls of wrapping paper. If I’m lucky, no articles of clothing will fall. Stand on tippy toes and reach way up there to get a box of ribbons. Uncertain which ribbon I’ll want to use bend over desk and grab the other box of ribbon way down there. Go to master bathroom and grab scissors. Hmm, scissors not there. Go to kitchen and open junk drawer. Grab second pair of scissors after looking through a lot of junk. Go to second bedroom and hunt up there and then down there for a possible box to place the gift in. Empty handed? Start searching all other closets – entry way closet, linen closet… Start man hunt for tap because I can never find the flippin’ tape! Thirty minutes after starting the apartment wide search for wrapping supplies, settle into chair at the dinning room table. Realize the table could use a good wipe down before starting and thus shoot off a few curse words under breath. Once settled begin complaining to self about the poor overhead lighting. Run into the inevitable snafu and excuse yourself to begin searching again in the closet/bathroom/kitchen or other closet where maybe that thing is. Finish wrapping gift. Once done remember you had that cute appliqué that you’ve always wanted to use but can never remember you have since its way under that thing in that other closet.

Seeing all this written out makes me realize there is one plus to all of this – we have a lot of closet space. That isn’t usually the case in New York.

But seriously, every time I wrap a gift this is the scene that plays out in no exaggeration. And no matter how many times this scene plays out I never seem to remember how long the whole process takes and thus find myself scrambling to finish things. And because we have a small child, I can’t leave things out when I’m done. So after the apartment wide search is over and the gift is wrap I have to start the apartment wide “put things back where they belong.” It’s exhausting and frustrating and makes me a bit pissy.

So yeah, my creative juices aren’t at their peek these days. All this has left me feeling less then thrilled with the things that I’ve been wrapping. On another bright side, I’m slowly moving things around in my home so that I can make space for all my supplies to be in one spot. And something I love more then gift wrapping is getting organized.

This is a farewell gift I gave to my cousin. Since I had to travel to another state to deliver it (with a baby and baby supplies) I kept it simple. I love the pairing of aqua and lime green and how the polka dots from the paper are picked up in the ribbon. And the ribbon has wire in it so you can control how it moves. Wired ribbon is quickly becoming my favorite accessory to work with.

farewell gift with polka dot wrapping and ribbon

farewell gift, wired ribbon

 

This gift was for a baby shower. There is something about birds and the birth of a child that just seems like a perfect fit to me. And I loved the colors in this paper and how it allowed me to use a ribbon with pop. I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the end product. I think the ceramic tag is a bit small for the size of the gift but I couldn’t bear the thought of cutting the ribbon off and thus having to trash it to start over so I left things as is. Live and learn.

gift for baby shower with ceramic tag

 

Are there any other people reading that get giddy about wrapping paper? I hope I’m not alone in this obsession.

spotted: crate and barrel

Crate and Barrel flower arranger

If you like flowers but need help with arranging them then I highly suggest picking this up at Crate and Barrel. The aluminum container has a “frog” at the bottom, which is basically upward facing nails that hold your flowers in place. I used a similar container when I took my Ikebana class and I love it. It gives you complete control over flower placement. The best part is the price, this item is on sale and currently marked down to $4.95.

Online description –

The art of flower arranging made easy. Our aluminum flower arranger provides maximum control by holding stems in place in a vase or low, shallow bowl. Sharp teeth protrude upward from the base, providing a solid grip for creating classic or Ikebana arrangements.

Crate and Barrel Picnic Basket

And I’m half tempted to pick some of these up. Organizing my craft supplies is weighing heavily on my mind. Wouldn’t three of these stacked on top of each other filled with ribbon and such look perfect. And since I have to carry my supplies from room to room this would make things easier. I just wonder if it’s too small.

home decor: benches

image via Living Etc, July 2006

 

image via Living Etc

Did I mention that I really want a bench for the new dinning room table that I hope to buy (one day).

fashion at the met

images from The Met

image from The Met on flickr

Last week my husband and I went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right now on special exhibit is The Model as a Muse: Embodying Fashion. I sorta felt like the exhibit covered the evolution of fashion since the beginning of fashion magazines with my favorite error being the 70’s. I guess I’m a fan of big hair! If it hadn’t been for the swarms of people I probably would have ogled over all the photography a bit more. The clothing was fun to see as well but I can easily get lost in the photos.

Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the twentieth century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from 1947 to 1997, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who epitomized their epochs.

The exhibit ends August 9. You can see more images here.

home decor: dreaming of tables and chairs

When we moved into our home three years ago we didn’t own much furniture. We had to get a lot of stuff with not that much money. In a moment of bad judgment I saw a sale on a table and I snatched it up. 

Now I’m not a fan of circular dinning room tables. I like them in other people’s homes but not mine. And there isn’t a good reason for this.. it’s just some quirky dislike I have. So in that moment of bad judgment we got a circular table. We have an open living plan so the kitchen, dinning room and living room are connected. For the sake of good flow I thought it was our only option – a circular table. And it did provide for good flow BUT three years later and I’m still not a fan. Those three years have also given me a new perspective and I realize that we can still have that good flow with a rectangular table so someday I hope that happens. I know it won’t be anytime soon but I’m already giddy over the thought that one day that damn circular table will be gone.

I’m not certain what our new dinning room table will look. Maybe something a bit more rustic in a wood grain that isn’t espresso. It would be nice to break up some of the repetition of dark wood we have in the space. And I would like a bench on one side with fancier chairs on the other side. Though I like the look of more industrial chairs in metal as well. Acrylic chairs, I love those as well. Whatever we pick I will certainly be mixing it up while keeping the look light and spacious. 

via Living Etc.

via Living Etc.