Emmy fashion inspired finds

I can't believe it has taken me this long to look at all the photos from the Emmy's! Here are my finds inspired by my favorite Emmy red carpet fashion from this year - the lovely Jennifer Love Hewett, January Jones, and Mila Kunis.Top right, floral headband by LoveandDreams
Bottom right, Rococo shawl by TickledPinkKnits
Top right - Chocolate chip mint soap by sunbasilgarden
Bottom right - Mint jubilee dress by babooshkaboutiqueTop right - Noir petals and butterfly hair pins by MGMart
Bottom right - Isabella side chair by ReclaimTheThrone

Bringing the NYC Home to the ATL - Magnolia Bakery Frosting Tutorial

I am absolutely in love with (a) cupcakes, (b) New York City, (c) the Magnolia Bakery in NYC. I have tried out their vanilla, red velvet, and chocolate cupcake recipes (that I found online) at home, and they are amazing. The vanilla is so good - not too sweet, light, delicious. Here is a video tutorial for their vanilla frosting.

Mystery Shoe Clip Givewaway

It's a giveaway day! Leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win a pair of hand made shoe clips by Nicolita Love. Please leave an email address where you can be notified if you win. I will choose a mystery design for the winner. Winner will be announced on Monday, so you can enter until Sunday, October 4. Good luck!

New this week

My mom and I spent a lovely Saturday together, yard sale-ing and making new shoe clips. It was raining cats and dogs again in Atlanta, so it was cozy to stay in and make some new things. And here they are, new in my shop this week...

Real World Anthropologie Style

Anthropologie is like the motherland to me, but I rarely can afford anything unless it has a serious discount. Usually, I can get some ideas and inspiration, and then find a way to do it myself or buy it cheaper. Check out a couple of their new items I found (top photos), and then what I found on Etsy for a price that a normal human being could actually afford (bottom photos).

Anthropologie Globe (top left) - $298
Vintage globe from Etsy seller 26olivestreet (bottom left) - $46
Anthropologie China Cabinet Clock (top right) - $128
Blue Plate Clock from Etsy seller StoryTimeClocks (bottom right) - $29

We have a mobile cupcakery!

I never thought I would see the day - Atlanta now has our very own mobile cupcakery, Atlanta's Love 'n Cupcakes! Basically, it's like the ice cream man, only less creepy, and with cupcakes. Sadly, they are not making regular routes, but you can rent the truck for special events. And this is no ordinary cupcake truck, it's a Mercedes with a flat screen TV. I'm not sure what the TV is for, but it sounds fancy.

Weekend Deals at My Etsy

This weekend - Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, 20% off all items in my shop. Enter the promo code "Weekend Deals" at checkout. Save your cash for a cocktail this weekend.

House Stalker

I love a good house tour, it's so fun to see how people (real people) decorate their homes. I have to admit, I also really like it when I get a glimpse in someone's house when I'm taking a walk in my neighborhood. (Totally not in a stalker-ish way, I promise). This is a great house tour from Apartment Therapy called Amy's Apartment.

Look at you, fancy shoes

I made two new sets of shoe clips with an eye on season and the upcoming holidays. The metallic clips with the feathers reminded me of the fall, maybe to wear to Thanksgiving dinner? If you dress up for it - if your family eats in anything with an elastic waist, don't bother. The red roses would be great for a holiday party. Does the fact that I put up something like this in September make me as bad as the stores that have a Christmas section before Halloween?

Golden Girls pendants - Thank you for being a friend

I just finished the first installment of my new "divas" pendants, beginning with the greatest icons of the 80s, the Golden Girls. Sophia, Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose - thank you for being a friend. These would be such a cute present for your besties.

It has been said that the Golden Girls are the original Sex and the City. Dorothy as Miranda, Blanche as Samantha, Rose as Charlotte, and Sophia...as Carrie? Maybe without the fashion sense. Although I hear straw purses are coming back.

Which Golden Girl are you?

Check out the pendants on my Etsy. More divas to come!

My treasury!

It has taken days and days, but my treasury finally got uploaded!!!

Go visit! - I Love Music City

Hooray for Pumpkin Spice

The pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks! Hooray! This means it's really fall. I look forward to enjoying one during my next session of Target therapy.

In honor of the pumpkin spice latte, here are a few of my favorite pumpkin items on Etsy -
poppy chairs
felt pumpkins
pumpkin skirt
fall leaves

Sew-sew

Mid-way into my shoe clip and yoyo sewing frenzy - I realized how important a pin cushion is. I was literally on pins and needles - it's never good when you can't find the needle you were just sewing with. I need a good pin cushion, and found an adorable one! So harvest-y.

Building an Ark

It has been poooooouuuuring down rain in Atlanta for over a week now. Just when you think it can't possibly rain any more...it does. In it's wake, the rainstorms have flooded many a basement and cars, but the real victim of the storm is my sweet little dog, who refuses to go outside and get her paws wet. Too bad she's not toilet trained. She would rather suffer than mess up her hair. A dog after my own heart.

Cross your fingers for my plants, which are drowning, drowning, drowning! P.S. The bottom picture is of my backyard. I'm starting to gather animals two by two.

Everyone Loves a Parade

Here in the ATL, we love two things most - brunch and a festival. In the spring, summer, and fall it seems like there is a new festival every weekend. Inman Park, Candler Park, Virginia Highlands, Grant Park, National Black Arts Festival, Sweetwater 420 festival...the list never ends. This weekend is the East Atlanta Strut, complete with a fabulously eccentric parade of Atlanta's finest. Who doesn't love a parade with a drag queen and king on a float?

And the Seed and Feed Abominable Marching Band?

What's New

My new love is making shoe clips, and I am working on a new pair - the little green ones below that sort of remind me of something Dorothy would wear in the Emerald City. I'm also playing with some new fabric flowers, although I'm not sure yet what these will end up being. A brooch? A really fancy shoe clip? Put it on a head band? We will see...

I also got a very exciting package in the mail yesterday - my fabulous mini Moo Cards with my shop logo on them and info on the back. They are too cute and were totally inexpensive. I'm going to include them in my packages, and keep them in my wallet, in case the crafting fates align me with someone looking for my wares.

Free Mystery Gift with Purchase at My Etsy

Through the month of September, get a free mystery gift with any purchase at my Etsy shop for blog readers. Just type FREE GIFT as the promo code at checkout. A brooch? Headband? Shoe clip? Who knows?

Can you handle the suspense?

I'm Loving This House

I am enamored with the house tour at Mabel's House. I desire to make my home more like this. Gorgeous, eclectic, colorful, unique, totally cozy.

Carrie Bradshaw on a Budget

Like a good city girl, I love love love shoes. While working at a nonprofit affords many benefits, such as feeling like you are contributing to the world, making a difference, and allows a lot of creativity....it does not leave much in the budget for fancy new shoes. Well, not as frequently as I would like.

Enter the shoe clip! I'm not sure when the shoe clip had it's heyday, but most of us gals are on a budget. These are a great way to make any shoe new. So very Carrie, without becoming the "old woman who lived in a shoe".

I made these shoe clips, they are in my Etsy shop now. Every girl has a right to shoes.

Cupcake Tour of Atlanta - Highland Bakery

I love a cupcake, but I haven't done a proper cupcake tour of Atlanta. If I see them in a bakery case, I will buy them, however. Lucky for me the Highland Bakery in Inman Park has mini-cupcakes. I sampled the chocolate, lemon, and Italian cream (after I had egg whites and wheat toast, hopefully offsetting the consumption of said cupcakes). I swear it's not just because I'm Sicilian, but the Italian cream was my fave. Everyone knows southern girls love a red velvet cupcake, but I had to pass because I'm partial to my own recipe.

My new favorite tool

My grommet maker is my new favorite tool. Grommeting is my new favorite hobby. I realize this is not normal.

Yoyo Fever

I apparently have yoyo fever. I played with the yoyos I made over the weekend and made his creation, which I will be wearing today. A statement necklace to be sure. I think it says, "I love yoyos." What do you think?

How to Monday - Yoyo Flower Brooch

This weekend I discovered the joy of sewing a yoyo. My mom tells me my grandma used to make them for hours while she watched TV. With a stack of fabric scraps and a pile of vintage buttons and beads, this was a simple and fun project for a Sunday afternoon. Here's a basic how-to...

Supplies - Fabric, two sizes of circle patters cut out of poster board or card stock, needle and thread, buttons, pin clasps.

Step 1 -Cut circles out of complimenting fabrics.

Step 2 - Sew a thin hem with a running stitch around the circles.

Step 3 - Pull the thread to scrunch the hem together.

Step 4 - Turn the smaller yoyo upside down on the larger one, stitch a button or beads in the center, and the pin clasp on the back. You're done!

My Inner Donna Reed

A cupcake can be a ray of sunshine in your otherwise dreary day. I think I might put on an adorable apron like this, turn on some Doris Day ("Sentimental Journey" anyone?) and make some of these Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes. Ward, where's the Beav?



Recipe - Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Topping:
7 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1/2 c crushed pineapple
6 maraschino cherries, sliced

Cake Batter:
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter
1 egg, separated
1 cup of sifted cake flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c pineapple juice
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan and add brown sugar. Cook over low flame until well blended, then stir in crushed pineapple, reserving juice. Pour about one teaspoon of this topping into the bottom of each greased muffin cups and add a sliver of red cherry.

To prepare the batter:
Cream the butter, add the sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat egg yolk and add. Sift the flour, baking powder and sift together; add alternately with the pineapple juice. Add vanilla. Beat the egg white until stiff and fold into the batter.

Pour this batter over the topping and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 25 minutes. Cool, then turn cupcakes carefully onto a cake plate, pineapple side up. Makes 2 dozen mini or 1 dozen regular cupcakes

I'm Loving Music City

Honky tonk Etsy finds...

I'll Fry Away

Fried chicken is required eating in the south. Here in Atlanta, if you want the best fried chicken, you go to Watershed where it's only served on Tuesday nights and is usually sold out by 7:30 PM. The legendary chicken takes two days to make. And it doesn't hurt that you might just end up dining next to owner Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls. On a family outing for my mother's birthday, we got the very last plate. Emily came into the restaurant, and our frazzled server let us know he had accidentally given us the plate the chef was saving for her. Our chicken was famous by association.

Anthro-Inspired Wall Art

I could get lost in Anthropologie for hours. I would love to fill my home with their linens and housewares, but it's soooo expensive! I usually leave empty handed, but full of ideas for anthro-inspired projects I can do at home for much, much less.

I found this fantastic fork and spoon wallpaper on their website...for $620. (No mistake, six hundred)


Get the same look for much less with these wall decals for $30 at Home Stickers - and peel them off when you're ready for a change.

Dolly-isms

"It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."

-Dolly Parton



Watch Dolly's classic 1974 performance of "Jolean" here.

I'm Loving Everything Dolly