Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Clean closets make me happy...

Ive been out of the bloggoshpere lately. I've been working on a few different side projects, starting to design new jewelry styles, and getting to some much needed organization done!

My newly organized & clean closet makes me so happy every morning!

I bought this Expidit bookcase at Ikea for $69.99!! I love it!!

And the pile of stuff so far of what I'm getting rid of. A TON of this has tags still attached. Whats wrong with me?!?!?

 

 

Friday, June 25, 2010

Brooklyn fun...

Last Saturday the boy and I did some wandering around Greenpoint/Williamsburg. One of the things I love about Brooklyn is the randomness you stumble upon. We wandered into the Crest Fest in Williamsburg and enjoyed some interesting treats...

ART

DRINKS!!

Who wouldn't want a margarita from a guy blending it on a bike!!

check out their web site www.bandofbicycles.com to see their upcoming events!

CRAFTS

Dishonestees. A t-shirt line by two friends of mine. Check out their other great shirts @ www.dishonestees.com They also have a line of clothing "Dishonest Apparel" soon to be out in Lord & Taylor!

 

JEWELRY

Really interesting stuff by Erica Dray. She also makes Sterling silver jewelry. I'm loving these earrings I found on her website www.erikadraydesigns.com

These letter press necklaces are great. Made out of different metals with an old Fashion Letterpress. I don't think they have a website but the line is called "Fundamental Jewelry"

I was unaware I was giving out tattoos, hehe

John just looking studly in his Ray-bans. I'll take one please! <3

And ME prob a bit tipsy...

Hopefully this sat we will stumble upon some fun BK things again!!

Monday, June 21, 2010

A little DIY project....

Was home this past weekend, and my sister is just ALL about my little creations. LOVE HER <3!!! And she reminded me about this little note pad I made for her and all my aunts this past Christmas. I had personalized each one with a little sketch of them with their names on top and a little quote fitting to them. For instance, my aunt who is such a lush, hers said "Don't forget the olives" with a little sketch of her holding a martini glass.

My sister's (pictured above) was actually a notepad that doubled as a mouse pad for her desk, the rest were shopping list pads with magnets for the fridge. I'm currently making one for my jewelry line so I can add little thank yous to each order I send out.

Here's how to do this...Its really easy if you have a cad program like Illustrator or Photoshop.

1. If you can draw, sketch whatever your little heart desires, If you can't you can use images off the Internet, scans of magazine clippings OR use a personal picture and fit it to the following dimensions on your cad program. (I used an allover print)

Mouse Pad - 7in X 7in or  Longer Shopping notepad 3.75in X 9.75in

2. Inside the area filled with your picture (that you sized to one of the above dimensions) make a white box at 85% transparency with about 1/2in space all around. Then play with whatever other little images you would like to see around the white box (I put a sketch of the recipient)

3. Write whatever you like on the top of the white box. Your name, your favorite quote..anything. Then Put the lines all the way down spaced about 1/4in apart

4. Print about 20 of each template on whatever type of paper you like, And cut them apart. It helps if you have a large paper cutter so you can cut a bunch at a time and they will be the same exact size. You can get one relatively cheap at Michael's or Target. Or you can just take a trip to Kinko's. I'm pretty sure they have these there that people can use.

5. Cut a slightly thick piece of cardboard the same size to use as backing. Michael's also has black heavy presentation boards that you can use. This is what I used.

6. Using thick paper clamps, clamp your 20 or so sheets along with the backing together making sure the edges on the top (the side you will glue) is nice and even and flat.

7. Take a glue gun and smear a thin layer of glue to the top, using a tongue depressor or a plastic knife to even it out and make it nice and smooth.  Let it dry. The pages will tear off nice and easily.

8. If your making a shopping list buy magnets, using your glue gun, glue about 2 on the back of your pad (the sticky magnets don't hold, from my experience the glue gun works best)

9. If your making a mouse pad on the cardboard backing glue a thin line of glue with a glue gun to the top and bottom to prevent the pad from sliding around your desk.

10. YOUR DONE! your own personalized note pad!

Workspace Needed!

I'm in the process of getting rid of things I don't need and making room for things I do. One of them being a desk! I'm in serious need of a work station for freelance design, blogging, jewelry making, sewing or anything my little creative heart desires! So I have the perfect space for a medium sized desk and possibly some shelves and a small drawer unit. I came across this amazing desk during my on line quest for something glamorous but not too over the top and a touch modern bc my apartment building has super modern finishes.

I emailed the shop in Palm springs and unfortunately they don't make this desk anymore! How tragic!! The sales guy was super helpful and even suggested something else. But now I'll have to use this as an inspiration piece...and the quest continues...

But honestly if I had a spare bedroom (and really who has that in or around the NYC area?!?!) I'd be inspired to go ultra glam like Khloe Kardashian's office

Just needs some more vintage touches in there and it would be perfect!!! I love Glam with eclectic mixes of old used things.

 

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Julia James!!

Went to the shop this Sat morning, was SOO excited to see my jewelry on display! And Julia was wearing her "Monte" bracelet too!!!! She even put the "Kennedy" on display in the window!  What a way to start off a beautiful weekend!!! Here are some pics...

Some other beautiful things in the boutique...

If you live in the BK or the NYC area, really this boutique is adorable! Of course I'm excited my jewelry is being sold here but I honestly love this boutique for other reasons as well. Def worth the trip to Greenpoint!

Julia James

200 Franklin Ave Greenpoint Brooklyn

P 347.763.0065

 

Friday, June 18, 2010

Justina Leigh - NEW STYLE!!!

I've added a new style to the line, The "HENDRIX"!!! I love this one!!! I had it on on my "Wednesday Attire" Post...

There will be prices coming soon on the site as well as how to order!!!

ALSO the line is now customizable with your LUCKY # !!!! I thought this was a great way to add some individuality to the pieces, so you can really call it your own. You can pick your birthday month, your wedding date, or just your lucky number! I can add these charms to any piece just let me know!

xoxo

M

Thanks for all the great feedback!!

Just a quick thanks!

Whoever looked at my blog and then looked at my jewelry site and Picked out the "Ryan" and then called Julia James boutique asking if she carried that style THANK YOU!! That made my day getting that phone call from Julia!!!!

P.S.

working on that tonight for whoever you are!!!

xx M

Closet Clean up!

This is the sole reason (no pun intended...ok yes pun intended who am I kidding) why I shouldn't hang on to any shoes I really don't wear. This isn't even including the coat closet with two hanging shoe organizers and the shoes along the floor in that closet as well! I'm on a serious mission for some organizational supplies bc as you can see I really can't walk in there! So for now I'm just trying to keep it neat until I can make it over to Ikea to purchase some supplies for shoe storage and bag storage. Will keep you updated!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Wednesday attire....

Was feeling a little girlie today and I really wanted to wear my New "Hendrix" necklace I designed the other night. So this is what I wore today, My Zara skirt with a big belt and my Aldo wedge booties...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Its a bootie....no wait its a clog.....

Whatever it is I just put it on my Transitional fall wardrobe wish list!!! My newest obsession The Sam Edelman "Faye" Clog.........Who am I kidding?? its not going on the wish list its being ordered asap.

Michael Kors "Gansevoort"...

Still in the process of cleaning out that closet and I stumbled upon these Michael Kors "Gansevoort" brand new in the box!! That I purchased back in Feb. There's seriously something wrong with you if you buy shoes keep them in the box and never wear them for months!....I have issues I know!

I've never worn them, not once!! While I do LOVE them and just tried them on few times, asking my boyfriend what he thinks about 100 times (poor guy) I decided I don't need them, want to keep them, yes just to look at them in my closet but I just have way to many shoes! So I put them up on ebay.........or wait......do I need them? AHHH I'm so indecisive I guess I'll just see how they do on ebay!!!

 

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Glitteriffic take 3

This is my latest glitter experiment.

One coat Essie "Lilacism" one coat Sally Hansen in "All That Glitters" and then one coat of Sally Hansen in "Strobe light" and of course Miracote fast dry top coat.

Seriously I feel like I'm 10 again, But at least now every  girl at work is doing it too! :)

What I really want now....

This fantastic striped maxi dress from Forever 21!

The ad appeared in my in-box yesterday and not 10 min later was the dress in my shopping bag on their on line store! You know how those really great items sell out super fast!! And at $19.80 I wont feel guilty if its not great quality. I'll just toss it in my beach bag if that's the case.

Monday, June 14, 2010

3:00 Pick me up

I know its been a while but this is a good one! I adapted this recipe I found on my Favorite Food Blog Smitten Kitchen for Strawberry Ricotta Tartlets.

I most definitely didn't have time to make graham crackers from scratch but I figured just the boxed kind would be good enough and I didn't want to used processed granulated sugar so I used my tried and true agave nectar which was perfect for this recipe because it gave the strawberry mix the perfect syrupy texture and I added bananas bc well I LOVE bananas esp with strawberries! My adaptation came out great, super easy and super fast and I'm having them as a snack for that 3:00 lul here at the office! Of course I brought some in to share! Here's my adapted recipe

For the Ricotta mix

1 1/4 cup ricotta

2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar

mixed very well

For the strawberry mix

1 1/4 cup strawberries - sliced

2 tablespoons agave nectar

1 good squeeze of lemon juice

mixed well and let stand for 15 min or so

Then I sliced a banana thinly and after putting a smear of the ricotta mix on the graham I added 3 slices and a spoon full of the strawberry mix.

I would assume one can use any kind of fruit of their liking on top of the ricotta mix and it would taste great! I think next time ill try making a various fruit mix, with blueberries and raspberries, and maybe even pineapple! But these are so tasty! They sorta taste like a strawberry shortcake! YUM!

xx M

Sometimes I like to look like a cupcake....

I have an affair to attend the second week of July. I know that's a bit away but if you knew me you'd know I like to plan my outfits well in advance and if I don't I'm one cranky lady bc I always think I could have come up with something better had I given myself more time. So I've been perusing some shops here and there and this dress from the garden collection at H&M caught my eye. I love the dramatic pleats at the neckline but unfortunately the color is a blush pink which I feel is a bit inappropriate for a wedding rehearsal dinner, or any event that is in honor of the bride to be. But I couldn't see myself passing up this dress bc it was just my size! Then while rummaging through that messy closet of mine I spotted this puffy salmon colored skirt I've been dying to wear but havn't had the right event. My intention was to wear this skirt with a simple baggy screened tee but a thought popped in my head, that dress might look great worn as a top tucked into the skirt and a big belt to tone down the look! I have to say I'm quite pleased with the ensemble It reminds me of a cupcake! I can't wait to wear it in July!

Dress from H&M Garden Collection

Skirt from H&M

Vintage Belt bought at a thrift shop

 

I'll finish off the look with my blush pink Chanel, my Aldo "Fawson" pumps, and my Justina Leigh "Charlie" and "Monte" Bracelet. Def no necklace with this look!

xxM

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Mini Me Jellys

I love the Vivienne Westwood for Melissa jelly heels. They're quirky and fun. I personally own these "Lady Dragons" in peach with big black hearts and and a pair of red with red bows. And a pair of black flats with tortoise shell bow.

But how cute is it that they now have mini me versions for Babys!! Just to die for! If I had a little girl I'd have to get these!!

You can see the latest versions here www.epaulet.com