10/20/2011
05/30/2011
It's Curtains!
Today I finally stopped in to the fabric store by my house. I went in looking for glitter and some glitter vinyl for some projects I am working on. Once inside I was overcome by all of the amazing goodies. I have never seen so many sequin, faux fur and sparkly fabrics in my life. They even had ostrich feathers and boas. I wandered around for WAY too many hours and felt so inspired. I found myself wishing I had projects for all of the goodies there. I don't, but I will be fixing that soon!
I DID get some fabric that I used to make curtains tonight. We have this awkward little square window in our living room. It let's in too much light when we watch TV and since our house is on a busy street, people could peek in. Ewww. But now we have some fun little homemade curtains to secure our privacy!
Now I want to make curtains for every room. There was a gorgeous peacock blue panne velvet there just begging to hang in the bedroom.....
04/14/2011
Perk up your cleaning
We all may dread the weekly big scrub of the house but there is no need to if we surround ourselves with fun and cute cleaning items.
My dear friend Alice was lamenting that she didn't have any cute cleaning things so I gathered this little collection just for her. I think every housewife should have these beauties in her arsenal.
I am personally adding this flrty little apron to my wishlist. Oh, and can we talk about the accessories? PLEASE! Go get yours over at Carolyn's Kitchen.
Don't settle for a boring plastic dish rack. Go fancy! Check out this gorgeous rack from ModCloth.
I'm a huge fan of these O-Cel-O sponges and they are the only ones I use. Mostly because they are just so darn cute and the retro patterns make me happy when I'm scrubbing away at stuck on food!
Switch out your regular slippers for these bow adorned "Slipper Genies" and let your puttering around the house also MOP the house. I have no idea if these work but how cute are they? Ok, I'm really tempted to try them
And let's not forget the best accessory of all. Our beloved Martini Glass. Now that you've made your house sparkling clean, sit back and enjoy some of your favorite beverage in this gorgeous glass.
03/10/2010
Tupperware Mania
I really really want to host a Tupperware party and I think I am going to! I've reached out to my nearest representative and hope to hear back shortly. I have visions of a themed party. All of my lovely ladies shall come in their best vintage look, we'll sit around and eat some delicious treats that I make from my vintage cookbooks. We'll have a gimlet or two and "ooh and ahhh" over some candy colored Tupperware!
Oh, and have you met the Tupperdiva? This site makes me so happy. It has Tupperware Catalogs from the 50s and 60s. I dare you to visit and not squeal with delight. I did! When I was researching how to contact a representative I noticed that you can host ONLINE parties as well. Would you like to attend an online Tupperware party? I'm not sure how I'd make it as much fun as an in person party but I sure will try. So tell me, would you come?
Living Retro
I love my lovely modern loft but I do daydream about having a gorgeous vintage house all decked out in retro-finary. Lately I've been drooling over some pretty inspirational pictures from lots of great sites so I thought I would share them with you one by one.
I cannot wait to check this site every day. I love watching the transformation as people find tarnished vintage fixtures and furniture and then bring them back to life. They also have an amazingly inspirational photo gallery. I haven't explored the entire site yet because there is SO much to check out. The Forums look like the place to be though! I also have to admit that I would just love to sit down and have a chat with Pam, I think we'd get along famously! How could you not love the lady behind Save The Pink Bathrooms?
I've got lots more favorites to share both here and at Love, Dolly. So keep checking back. Now enjoy some pictures from Retro Renovation and be sure to head over there and check out the site.
Adventures in Infomercial Land
As I mentioned I've been on a little hiatus because we recently moved into a new place. I've been busily working to get it set up and feeling like home. I'm almost there, but one thing that's proven tricky is our lack of space. We moved from a small two bedroom house to a 2 bedroom loft. Where the house had lots of little nooks to hide things, and even a storage unit, the loft has very very little hidey space.
I've been struggling with what to do with my "out of season" clothes. Normally, I'd just pack them up in storage boxes and put them away but the precious storage space we have is now taken up.
After tiring of clothes and shoes piled up in the corner of the bedroom I decided to try out two products that had been wooing me from afar.
They're famous little beasts from the land of late night infomercials: Shoes Under and Space Bag.
I admit, I tried one of the "knock off" Shoes Under from The Container Store to begin with. The plastic was stinky, the zipper kept sticking and it was just a smidgen too tall for under my bed. Disheartened and sweaty from dealing with a sticky zipper and packing and unpacking 12 pairs of shoes I decided to try the real deal.
I picked up Shoes Under from my beloved and I have to say I wish I had done this ages ago. Where the other brand's plastic was stinky and stiff, this one was less stinky and more malleable. The zipper is a sturdy metal one, not a plastic one that catches every few teeth. Best of all, it FIT UNDER MY BED. That's right darlings, my bed now has SHOES UNDER. I bought two and they are perfect for the shoes that I don't wear on a regular basis. I don't have to go dig them out of some far off box if the Mr and I decide to out for a night on the town either! I can spend more time on my hair and less time finding my shoes.
Excited by my journey into "As seen on TV" land I rushed to meet Space Bag. I used to watch in awe the Infomercials that showed a massive pile of blankets and pillows being reduced to mere inches with just a little switch of the vacuum. I always thought it was too good to be true. But hey, Shoes Under hadn't let me down.... maybe Space Bag would be just what I needed.
I returned again to the giver of all things good; Target. There were quite a few Space Bag boxes to choose from and, giddy with thoughts of all the things I could reduce in size, I grabbed the 5 Bag Combo Set. The box contained 2 Medium, 1 Large, 1 XL, and 1 "travel" size bag.
Wait, travel? I hadn't even considered that. Imagine how much lighter I could travel! I could actually fit everything I need for a weekend in a carry-on bag! Space Bag was opening up a whole new world to me and I hadn't even TRIED it yet!
Tonight when I came home from work I looked at that tiny box of Space Bags and prayed to the Infomercial gods. I had probably 25 dresses to store, some belts, and a couple of sweaters. A real mish-mash of clothes with no other homes. I have to admit darlings I didn't place the articles in the bag as carefully as I could have. Things were mostly folded but I by no means did a professional job of packing. Quite honestly you probably aren't supposed to pack belts in there but I did anyway. I wanted this stuff out of my way.
It's essentially a giant Ziploc bag. You unzip, stuff, zip and re-zip (to be sure it's airtight). Then you stick the hose end of your vacuum cleaner into the plastic opening, turn it on, and watch things disappear. I actually let out a little excited squeal as I watched the massive pile getting smaller and smaller. If any of you have one of those vacuum food sealers it's a pretty similar set up.
Ooh, and according to Amazon.com you can even get Space Bags in COLORS! Imagine the color coding possibilities there!
That was it. Easy-peasy. I'm happy to report that my giant corner of clothes is now nestled safely under my bed next to my good friend Mr Shoes Under.
At the Car Show
Just dropping in to share a pic or two from the 11th Annual Bombshell's Booze, Broads & Hotrods car show. It was a great time. Lots of AMAZING pre 1965 hot rods and pretty gals. :)
Online Cooking
I'm finally back up and running and trying to get back into the swing of things. I lost a lot of info in the great tech meltdown of 2009 so I'm still trying to get everything back into their right place. I'll resume regular posting soon but I did want to pop in and share this little beauty with you.
Have you checked out The Mixer? It's an online cooking school from Betty Crocker! I just found out about it today and am so excited. It's free and has great instructional videos, recipes, and some places to talk to other students. I'm definitely going to be taking a few classes. What do you think?
Have you embraced technology when it comes to cooking? I spend many hours digging through online cooking blogs and saving recipes that I want to try. I do love having a lovely "old fashioned" recipe book but there's something very easy about bookmarking a recipe, bringing the laptop into the kitchen, and cooking.
I have my staples (Better Homes & Gardens, Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, All Recipes etc) but my absolute favorite thing about the internet is that it's like one giant cook book. Think about it. It's full of family recipes from so many different times, and from all over the world. It's full of new ideas, and old favorites! If you tried, you couldn't get through every one. Amazing.
I know you are all itching to know my favorite reads so here you go:
I love The Kitchn because it's a great mix of recipes, tips, and reviews.
Pink of Perfection is a total culinary crush for me. Sarah has an amazing way of writing about food and an uncanny knack for coming up with just the perfect recipe!
Smitten Kitchen grabs your right away with the amazing photos. If you can pull your eyes away from them then you'll find out that the recipes are delish!
If you're in a bit of a cooking rut then you should check out Eat Make Read. Kelly tries lots of different things and you'll never get bored!
I have a ton more, and if you like these and would like for me to share more, then just let me know!
Happy Valentines Day
I want to wish all of you a very Happy Valentines Day. I hope your day is filled with Pink Champagne, flowers, chocolate, and lots of love! I'm off on a surprise Valentines trip but I'll leave you all with some retro Valentines goodies.....
Looking for that perfect valentine's gift? This year, give her something she'll remember forever, without putting too large a dent on your wallet. Hop online and find fashionable jewelry for affordable prices. Discover everything from loose diamonds to stunning engagement rings, from the comfort of your own home.
Be my Valentine?
Butters has his Valentines bow tie on and would like to know.... will you be his Valentine?
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