New Blog Header (again)

Since I've started blogging again I've been toying with the layout and various elements of the blog. I failed out of computer programming but with the help of google changing fonts, colors, sizes, etc is so easy I can't help but tweak.

My first blog header used a gorgeous William Morris design aptly named Tudor Roses.


Image via moma

When I started blogging again I had a header all ready to go. During my summer at the Walpole I bookmarked tons of little drawings that friends of Horace had done, including a watercolor design for a frame by Mr. Bentley.


shown here in the folio in which it resides
Image via the walpole

Leah, my delightful sister and sometimes co-blogger, rejected my new header. So it was back to the drawing board, or rather the many amazing collections Yale houses. I was researching at the Yale Center for British Art for my thesis (the thesis I'm supposed to be working on right now) when I came across the paintings of Jacques-Laurent Agasse (1767-1849). Most famous for his paintings of animals, Jacques-Laurent Agasse was a Swiss painter who spent most of his adult life in England painting pictures of dogs for wealthy patrons. He also painted exotic animals like zebras and clouded leopards.


Image via the YCBA

Given the many hours I have spent researching the symbolism of flowers in early modern England, I was particularly taken with Agasse's studies of flowers. And so, with some help from picnik, a new blog header was born.


Image via the YCBA, editing by me

DIY: Sequin Party Clip

While I was ordering my sequin heart from ban.do I happened upon their sequin party clip set and instantly fell in love. But the more I looked at them the more I thought I could probably achieve a similar look on my own. I had some sequins lying around from another project so my first attempt is silver, but I'll definitely be trying this again with different colors.


Supplies: sequins, hot glue, felt, and a barette

I spread the sequins out so they would be easy to pick up, slathered some hot glue on a piece of felt and went to town. I did several layers to add depth.

Home Improvement: Part 1

Our apartment is so close to being finished, we just need a few more things for the walls and I think we will be officially done. The biggest thing we had to change about the apartment was the open loft area. My dad suggested building a wall of insulating material and covering it with fabric, and after two days of cutting, gluing and stapling it was done. It's the first thing people comment on when they walk into the apartment!


Messy apartment on move-in day


Dad measures and cuts in the hallway


The project was made slightly more complicated by the odd measurements of the space we were filling, so we had to glue an extra strip to the top of each board


Leah taking a break from stapling


Stapling


Cutting


A finished panel!


Moving


The panels are kept in place with hooks on the ceiling




Tada!

DIY: summer sunglasses

I'm back! After a fantastic 5 weeks in Italy and a relaxing weekend in the Hamptons with R. I have just enough time to get in one DIY project before I'm off to my next adventure: rafting down the Grand Canyon with my family!

This project was super easy and inspired by these Sonia Rykiel pearl sunglasses. (Quick note: I attempted this two times. The first time I did not use flat-back pearls and just regular beads but they fell off very quickly. I highly recommend finding flat-back pearls if you'd like to try this project.)



These were all over the blogosphere a while back but I didn't have time to try making my own till this week. I was able to find flat-back pearls at a wonderful bead shop in Chicago, enBeadia and they're having a sale! I chose light grey and blue pearls instead of plain white.




Here is my first attempt:


And here's the second:


I'm off to pack for the river, I don't think my pearl sunglasses will survive the rapids so they're staying home.

DIY: pom pom headband

I am obsessed with these headbands from Sonia Rykiel.

I'm thinking of using this DIY from once wed to make a slightly pared down version.



There is also a great yarn pom pom DIY here. Decisions, decisions...

P.S. I also have a test on thursday which is going to require a great deal of studying so posting might be light for the next few days.

Dainty Desserts

It is one of my favorite days of the year, the Oscars are tonight! Tomorrow I will share with you my favorite dresses of the evening, but first, some beautiful desserts.
We had a party at our house last night and I talked my Dad into letting me prepare all of the desserts, promising that they would be as good as our favorite bakery. Having made this promise, I knew I had to make the best desserts I ever had.

The recipes I used came from two excellent cookbooks. Gale Gand is a Chicago pastry chef who writes great cookbooks. Four of the recipes I made came out of Gale Gand's Just a Bite. The mini cupcakes were from Martha Stewart Cupcakes and the hazelnut mousse cake came from Epicurious.com. Epicurious is a great resource for all chefs. It allows you to do very specific searches for different kinds of recipes and generally has great ideas.

And now on to the main event:


I started out with Vacherins, which are little tiny meringue cups filled with whipped cream and topped with a raspberry.


They have a great delicate texture and a really quite pretty to look at.


Next, are a great little treat called Lemon Cream Daisies.


They are little cups of puff pastry filled with a lemon mousse with a little sprinkling of pistachios on top.


If you live in Chicago, you are familiar with the Frango Mint, the most delicious chocolate mints in the world. These are called Chocolate Mint Tiddlywinks and are basically a large sized Frango Mint.


I think that they're very striking looking.


I am a huge cupcake fan, I love all kinds. However, most adults are not big fans of cupcakes so when they are all having seconds and thirds, you know that they are good.


These particular cupcakes are filled with salted caramel and topped with dark chocolate frosting. They are fairly labor intensive but it is worth it. Martha Stewart is a genius!


If you want to make an impression when serving dessert, grab a brulee torch, I promise people will be impressed.


These are individual Banana Brulee Spoons. They are made by filling a spoon with custard, dipping it in Honey Powder and bruleeing it with a torch and then topping it with a banana slice and giving it one more dose of heat.


Finally, Gianduja Mousse Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Crust.


It is an incredibly delicious cake. I made a stencil for the top by cutting a snowflake out of wax paper and then dusting the cake with powdered sugar.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I spent my weekend. If you would like any of the recipes, be sure to post in the comments section and I will post them to the blog.

Enjoy the Oscars!

Rain rain go away

It has been raining for three days, and it's hard for me to feel inspired when going outside means getting drenched and staying inside means homework. But I have been making some new little barrettes and headbands. Still only have photobooth, hope you don't mind!

Lace flower pin


Pink flower bobbypin (this has been very useful for pinning back unruly bangs in the rain!)


Moss headband


Closeup

It's raining, raining

My chalkboard raindrops are here, and I couldn't be happier! It was kind of hard to get good pictures of the whole thing, but I think these capture it well!

I special ordered these from Lauren of Bradensgracewallart on etsy. She was a joy to work with and seemed just as excited about the project as I was. Thank you so much Lauren!

She wears flowers in her hair

Still no camera, but I have to show you my new DIY, so I braved the photo booth camera again!

It's snowy and gross here and I wanted to make something which would remind me that spring is just a hop, skip and a jump away. Luckily the ladies over at 100 layer cake also had spring on the mind, and they featured this super simple tutorial for making fabric flowers a few days ago. (http://100layercake.com/blog/archives/4402)

This DIY took me 11 minutes. I know because I timed it. I am a dork. I followed the instructions exactly except that my petals were all funky shapes because I can't cut for my life, but I like the way it turned out.