Mantles are for decorating… it’s the heart of the living room, and usually the heart of the home. Back in California, we never used our fireplace (at all), but here in North Carolina, we turn it on and actually use it! Here is our current Christmas mantle (in our very first home!)…
And here is 2008’s mantle…
At the store, we had a few fake mantles sprinkled around… Here are a few Christmas Mantles from the years gone by….
… and our very first Christmas tree back in 2003…
Here are some random mantle displays..
Birthday mantle
Explorer mantle
Valentine’s Day mantle
Valentine’s mantle close up Halloween mantle
Ocean-themed room mantle
Hard to see, but this is a handmade freestanding mantle that we had in the store (made by Robert… who we miss!)
Here is my Mom’s mantle and Christmas Cupboard…
I love all the pink and green! She has a pink Christmas tree, too… hopefully she’ll get that picture to me, soon :)
If you have an awesome mantle display, email it to me and I’ll post it here! :) Happy decorating!!
Take a bottle of sparkling apple cider, wine or champagne and add a big bow and an ornament… it’s festive, cheerful and easy to do! We sold these at the shop a few years ago… at first they were props, but then they flew off the shelves. (Thanks, Babs!)
Or… you can be super adventurous and make your own flavored liquor… We got some homemade Kahlua one year as a gift… it was fantastic! Check out this Kahlua recipe. (Thanks Beth & Morgan!)
If you are lucky enough to be in the Los Angeles area, why not check out Galco’s Soda Pop shop and get everyone some nostalgia in a bottle (I think they ship, too). Bubble Up, Nesbitt’s, Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle and my favorite… Mint Julep soda. We carried these at Violets are Blue for a while. It was so much fun to watch people light up as they grabbed their favorite childhood soda… and even more fun to watch them wince and say “I don’t remember it being this sweet!”
Just look at the outside of the building and the magical fluorescent lighting… time stands still when you are in there… literally! :)
Now I want to look up peppermint martini recipes (anything with a fancy sugar rim), investigate items that can be put in mugs and stock up on gourmet coffee from A Southern Season (If you are ever in Chapel Hill… GO). And someone out there, not naming any names… will be getting a gallon of blueberry syrup from her favorite gourmet eatery, The Cracker Barrel… that’s sort of a beverage, right ? :D
Oh, and I just bought some pumpkin eggnog at the store… it’s a little (or a lotle) overwhelming, but isn’t that what the holidays are all about? ;)
I got the bug to make some paper chain… I used some fancy scrapbook paper and regular ol’ construction paper…
I sat on the floor and cut out small 6 or 7 inch strips and started gluing…
and gluing…
Until I had a chain that was about 10 feet long!
I put that on a little antique gold tree and added some of my favorite ornaments…
I can see why this project would be perfect for kids… I went into the crafting zone and forgot what I was doing… I wanted to make an 8′ chain and ended up adding an extra 2′… just because it was fun. And I used colors that would compliment my office so I could hang it in here after the holidays. Paper chain just graduated to all-year-round decor.
So maybe when you need some quiet time, ask your kids to make you a paper chain… oooh…. 60 feet should do it! ;)
When one is deciding on what kind of dessert to make, and the birthday girl for whom it is going to be designed for tells you… “Chocolate”… that gives you some latitude.
I also know that she likes cannolis & champagne and peanut butter… so I picked two and ran with it.
My only experience with a trifle… old black and white drawings of parfaits, cakes and trifles and that episode on Friends where Rachel makes a trifle with ground beef… mine did not have meat… I promise ;)
I started with a layer of champagne cake, followed by a layer of champagne custard…
Followed by a brownie layer then chocolate mousse… then some more champagne cake…
Then… cannoli cream and chocolate shavings
Not a traditional trifle… more like a parfait I suppose. I didn’t think fruit had any place in this creamy paradise ;)
About a gallon of trifle was made… after dishing it out to 7 of us, we had waaay more than half of it left. And, to my surprise, nobody wanted to take any home.
I got a similar reaction to my trifle that the folks on Friends gave Rachel… I know the thing tasted good (unless lies were told), but the 12 egg yolks, 4 cups of cream and umpteen tablespoons of butter made everyone’s head spin. Oh, and this was after a pre-Thanksgiving birthday meal which we consumed less than an hour beforehand.
The entire meal… 8-10 sticks of butter. Oh yeah. Rock on.
I think she enjoyed it, though :)
I know I was grinning from ear to ear… before promptly entering into a butter-haze. (Best mug ever… on a mug)
Here’s the reaction to Rachel’s trifle-gone-wrong on Friends…
Sadly, the end was cut off… but… at least the “it tastes like feet” bit was in there!
I am making a Pumpkin custard trifle/parfait for Thanksgiving… I shall report back! :)
I asked myself… if I could do anything in my new office… what would it be? Answer: Wallpaper every inch… every stripe a different design and cover the ceiling, too. Make it as chaotic and inspiring, yet as calming as possible.
Ya, sure… that’s practical.
Instead, I took a brush to one wall and covered it in flowers… and I covered a few pieces of furniture in flowers, too. It’s sort of a compromise, but there are still 3 walls ;) hehe!
As you can see, Meg’s new sniffing spot is to my left when I’m sitting at the computer. She loves to perch here and watch the neighbors come and go.
This is my favorite stripe of wallpaper (it took the longest to paint)… we even did a time lapse animation of me painting it… (it’ll be online soon!) The inspiration for this design came from an old pillowcase I found at SunThrift in Sunland, CA. :)
I took the old awning from the Violets are Blue candy section and put it over my drafting table. A chandelier, some tissue pouf balls and ribbon… voila… a creating cave!
And… my cupcake, etc collection. Some “My Little Ponies” have been added to bring back the I-am-seven-years-old vibe. Remember when you would play for hours with a bright piece of plastic with a tail… and talk to them like they were real? Good times. (Secret… I still do that, you know, talking to myself thing… but only when I’m painting…)
There’s still more nooks and crannies to share… but they all need another coat of paint… or twelve :)
Why oh why am I (and so many others) continually impressed when looking at artful cupcakes and cakes? I could browse photos of incredibly decorated cake for hours… why is that? :) I can also watch an Ace of Cakes marathon and be thoroughly content. (And I would love to work with Duff & Mary Alice and sit in one of those fancy blue chairs!)
Any sort of iced confection reminds you that a celebration or party is afoot. Butter, eggs, sugar and flour… covered in more butter = party cornerstone = joy.
I saw a cake today via boingboing.net that got me in the decorating mood…
This “Starry Night” cake is a creation by Megpi on Flickr. I love that this was done with icing and it looks painted on in a happy free form sort of way. The colors blend so beautifully and you can tell that Megpi has some formal art training. So awesome. I’m happy that it’s not fondant, because fondant seems scary to me.
I’m intimidated by fondant… it seems that you get one shot and if it’s not perfect on the first try, you have to start over. I have 2 boxes in my pantry just waiting for me… but… alas… it frightens me. Even with the decade of fimo abuse I took, I just can’t seem to get the fondant out! (ooooh, has anyone done a fondant cane like fimo?? I’m sure someone has… but fondant dries out quicker. I had some crazy elaborate fimo canes… hmmmm). Here’s an example of some fimo canes (Thank you Nogadin on Flickr for this image):
Just for inspiration… Here are some other fun cake and cupcake pictures…
Blogging used to be an obsession. I always had my camera ready and I would fiddle with paragraphs and story ideas in my head all day long… I loved it. I even own a shirt that says “I’m blogging this”. Every detail of life found its way onto the pages of this blog.
But… life happened. A third move in 18 months, a new business endeavor, I joined the time abyss known as Facebook (hehe) and really… I’ve just felt out of the creative loop for months and months now.
The exciting part is that this move will be the last one for a while. We bought our first place… stressful, exciting, overwhelming, exhausting… I had no idea the planning and emotional turmoil involved. But, we are so thankful…
First on the agenda was to paint the walls. For those of you who have been in my store you know how much I love color. Once I get unpacked, I’ll share pictures. 15 gallons of paint… oh yeah :)
My office… 8 colors. One wall is going to be covered in hand-painted flowers and some of the furniture got a fresh coat of paint and flowers, too!
Here’s my desk…
This was actually pretty easy to do… all those black lines were done with a sharpie… so it was almost like coloring. It was a lot of fun :)
I have SO much great Halloween stuff to show everyone… my goal is to have that up this week and start on Christmas the following week. Everything has been in a topsy turvy holding pattern… I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things, I’m not sure where to start!
I’ve missed being here, in this little blog editing box. I hope everyone has been well… and happy!!
