Category Archives: Design

Be Work From Home Chic!

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1.  Aritzia Shrunken Blazer ($195)   2. AE Chambray Shirt ($39.50)   3. Tommy Girl Origami Bow Top ($34)   4. J.Crew Toothpick in Spearmint ($125)   5. J.Crew Toothpick in Light Citron ($125)   6. Tory Birch Patent Ballet ($180)   7. Etsy Large Handmade Mint Green Leather Hair Bow ($7.50)   8. Made by Girl BFrend Bracelet ($55.00)   9. C. Wonder Leopard Calf Hair Belt ($14.99)

I showed you a sneak peek of my office last week. Now that it is all done, I find myself never leaving! Trying to launch a new business, design a website, and create a lot of test product became suddenly even  more enjoyable in my sunny new space. I made sure to stock it with everything I need to feel comfortable and taken care of. So with that, I thought I would share with you a few little tips on how to make working from home an even more enjoyable experience…

1. NUMBER ONE! (it’s important) Treat yourself to a beautiful space. If this is going to be where you create, do it big.

via

If you need ideas, my Office pinboard has tons!

2. Always have candles burning, or spray with your favorite scents. It makes you feel all warm and cozy

Anthro Candles are my fave indulgence.

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3. Get out of those jammies. If you are going to wear sweats, make sure they were sweats you would wear around your friends. Better yet, get dressed for the day! The outfit above is classic and comfortable.

4. Work hard, but not too hard that you forget to take care of yourself. Take a moment to have a bite to eat, and always keep water near you.

Each morning I bring my breakfast up from the kitchen. One of my favorite treats, cereal in my Ikea Pokal Tumbler with a long milkshake spoon. The ceramic keeps the milk so nice and cold!

I also make sure I fill up a pitcher of water with ice and keep it somewhere on my desk.

Little details are important, and styling your space, and yourself properly shouldn’t get swept under your chevron rug! :)

I am still waiting for mine to arrive from this Etsy shop!

Try to enjoy every minute of your day. If you love what you are doing, it is never work!

xox

Framing Your Favorite Things.

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There are a lot of ways to add a personal touch to your walls, my favorite way is finding illustrations of your favorite things, favorite quotes in great typography, or of course images that make your heart go pitter patter!

Lately I have become totally obsessed with sketching using my new Bamboo illustrator tablet.

So obsessed that I couldn’t help but share some of the original art work I have drawn up for my wall of frames in my office.

Totally stinkin smitten.  *dreaming up a little etsy shop*

Stay tuned for a fun “How To” on putting together a framed piece of artwork that is guaranteed to add pizzaz and pops of color to your walls!

xoxo

We’ve been busy!

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Every girl needs a proper creative space, don’t you think? 

Without further adieu, a little peek into the makings of our new office, craft room, photography studio, prop closet.

and where The Fresh Issue will be published from from now on!

We have so much more to do, and oh so much more to share! I mean, it has been a while….

(we’re baaaack chickies!)

Make Your Own 2012 Calendar!

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One of the first blogs I ever had the pleasure of reading was Young House Love. I came upon it looking for some kind of DIY house project (I think?) and if these two aren’t one of the rulers of that kingdom, then I am not sure who is. An adorable couple, with an adorable little girl, and a house which we all get to watch them transform. It sounds simple, but sometimes simple is just what you need to be awesome. 

This year, I really loved the template they posted for their 2012 calendar. It’s a DIY kind of deal, you just download the file. 

They used B&W images, but I thought it also looked pretty neat matching it with some of my images of complimentary colors!

What do you think? … Want to join in the fun?

Visit YHL love HERE and download the file!

 

Handmade Holidays: Cupcake Wrapper Christmas Lights

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Today was one of those cozy days. Those never get out of your hello kitty PJ days. The kind of day where you eat a bowl of cereal at 3 o’clock and that was your first meal of the day kind of days… Rain does that to ya.

So, on a cozy, it’s okay to get glitter and paint all of over your PJs kind of day, I decide to relax and enjoy and afternoon of DIYing.

After a weekend of baking, I had a bunch of extra cupcake wrappers hanging around. Normally I would shove them back in my giant under bed bin (yes, I sleep atop my baking supplies – sweet dreams, duh.), but this time I had a better idea. Inspired by something I saw in the December issue of Martha Stewart Living – I wanted to use the wrappers to just up the very predictable strand of christmas lights that I know we all having laying around these days.

Along with the cupcake wrappers, I grabbed a few other awesome crafty things.

Glitter, Martha Stewart all surface paint, white feathers, clothespins, ribbon, yarn, and adhesive spray.

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Handmade Holidays: Christmas Ornaments.

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I have always dreamed of having a house full of Christmas trees – all decorated with different themed ornaments.  

I have also always lusted after fake white christmas trees. Should I have kept that a secret? :)

If I had the time this year, I would totally spend the day decorating an entire tree with these gorgeous homemade ornaments – an idea I scooped up from this weekend’s Free People event. 

Do you want in on the fun? Well, you should! All I wanted to do was sit at that table all day churning out ornaments. The crafty accessories were endless… Buttons, bows, cloth flowers, ribbons, thread, knitting yarn, paint, GLITTER, feathers and more. It was a color enthusiast’s heaven … let alone a do it yourself heaven. 

And did I say that there was glitter. Because, there was glitter. The best kind of glitter, Martha Stewart glitter. I have been trying to find a reason to spend the $25.00 on one of her kits. They are so neat!

But what was even more fun to use, were the actual ornament component. In the past I have used clear glass ornaments – painted them, or filled them with trinkets, but these are oh so much better. Plastic, that are split in half, and click together in place, making your options in decorating them endless.

You could stuff them, paint the inside of them, or just leave them whole and decorate the exterior. 

Buy a set of your own in assorted sizes and get to decorating here! I promise, you won’t want to put your paint brush or your sequins away.  

And speaking of color – a beautiful video, by a beautiful girl studying color. You’re amazing Miss Ali. 

A How to Holiday.

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Is it just me, or did Christmas come a tad bit early this year? Somehow I convinced my Dad that two days after Thanksgiving was THE DAY to buy a Christmas tree for his house. The house has 10 foot ceilings, so I am pretty sure, even when I am off to my own house, and my own tree, I am still going to love buying that monster. We literally bought a christmas tree in shorts, definitely a first.

But, just because my life became (prematurely) christmasy, does not mean I have stopped basking in the beauty of Thanksgiving. I didn’t get a chance to share it with you guys… except for the prep leading up to the big feast… so better late than never right? 

Let me begin by thanking Pinterest for the endless ideas and great inspiration. That stinkin website, I tell ya – a real life changer, right?

We had two tables set up this year. I am privy to this one (it’s in the sunny breakfast room, much better photo opps). 

Want to create this yourself? All you need is your magic wand and:

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Where do you feel thankful?

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Given the choice between keeping or breaking a tradition – I always stick with keeping it.

Except for one of the most insane Thanksgiving meals I’ve ever had at The Breakers in Palm Beach… like insane, like I had sushi and mashed potatoes on the same plate, and we walked away with freshly baked pumpkin pies to take home …. Thanksgiving is always a comfy cozy home thing.

In the post-divorce era, aka like 6 years ago, Dad and I decided we would create a Thanksgiving our way.

Dad is the savory, I am the sweet, and two years ago, a few days before Turkey day – this guy became chaperone of the whole operation.

Sleeping on the job, as usual.

There are lists and notecards and calendars for preparation all filed away in a little manila folder.

Quite a collection after all these years – but so necessary when it comes to seamless execution. Each day has it’s duties.

At the beginning of last week we ordered almost 45 pounds of Turkeys at the Farmer’s Market. I baked up 8 trays of cornbread, to be dried for stuffing. There was some serious produce shopping – but only for certain goods – potatoes, yams, sage, onions, leeks, peppers, lemons, chestnuts. A big Costco trip. And of course, some baking pantry restocking for me.

Today – 5 days prior to the big 30 person shindig – we prep all of the little things – this an onion and leek casserole.

The homemade apple pear sauce is in the freezer.

4 bowls of Dad’s cranberry and mission fig sauce is chillin.

Along with the vacuum packed sleeves of chestnuts – 15 pounds – which dad cooked and shelled already.

There is also no time to waste getting together what I need to decorate the house and the tables. Ash and I went for a long walk today collect a bunch of my favorite season’s most beautiful attributes. 

.. all of which required some serious bathing when we returned home. ew, bugs.

We also stopped at one of the most beautiful hidden little places. 

The sound of the water gurgling was like an instant chill-pill. 

If you want to check out more of the vision I am going for with this year’s family tradition – check out my Thanksgiving PinBoard. 

There’s a lot of this (Elle Decor). 

And THIS (Design Sponge).

I also just ordered a big roll of this off of Amazon this morning – to arrive, fingys crossed by Wednesday. 

Wait till you see what it will be used for. 

Eeee. 

Do you have family traditions for Thanksgiving that you love as much as I do? share share. favorite recipes? favorite dishes? 

Feel Good Friday.

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Welcome to the weekend loveys! Time to spill all of your spooky plans for the next two days. Any cute costumes in the works? Fun holiday theme parties? What kind of candy did you buy for your trick or treaters?? My personal faves are sour patch kids and mini reese peanut butter cups. Yum. Have you ever made your own PBcups? If you need something fun to do this weekend, check out my recipe for how to make them at home. I myself try to forget I know how to make them because they are oh so addicting. 

Take a look at my fun project for the weekend! I will be babysitting my three little munchkins overnight, and a graveyard cake is definitely on the to do list. I am thinking of adapting the idea and to use a collection of cupcakes instead of a cake or pudding – I love the idea of chocolate covered strawberries as pumpkins, white chocolate covered nutter butters as ghosts, and milano tombstones. I always have so much fun with little helping hands… 

Now for this week’s feel good friday clicks!

for those of you reading on iphones, ipads, or in emails… click the bold word

Food 52 shares their favorite 8 homemade halloween desserts.

Why didn’t I think of this!

As if I could fall any further in love with Anderson Cooper. Food+AC = Love.

Learn how to party like a … Culinista?

How bout doing as my boy Irvin does and host a homemade  ice cream social with friends?

Get into the mind of your favorite Chefs. Don’t mind if I do(wnload).

George Banks’ house and therefore, my dream house, is for sale. 

Have you ever seen a WAVE of WINE? Yea, neither had I. Woah.

For my city readers: make your bike totally steal proof.

Twinkle Twinkle little flower.

One of my favorite vintage Apple commercial. 

And finally …. 

A cookie that will send you to rehab?

Have a relaxing weekend my little boys and gouls.

Boo!

images from Bon Appetit and The Special Recipes.com

Room for Improvement.

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For those of you that follow me on Instagram @fabulousfoodie

OR 

Twitter @gradtogourmet 

you already know about yesterday’s attempt to paint away the blues.

As they say, there is always room for improvement – and in this case, that “room” was my bedroom in my new apartment (although I myself need some serious improvement from this pathetic sick sad mess I have been posing to be these past few days). With this room I am  going for the tiny, chic look, and basing it all off of one chair Natalie and I fell in love with while furniture shopping.

I posted this photo to facebook about a week back to ask for help on color choice. 

How ahmazing is this chair?! All Benjamin Moore colors, and all fabulous in their own right… 

It was tough, but I choseeeee ???

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