Spring Preview

 After walking through Martha's craft department, I just had to come home and play with my glitter and flowers. Here's a preview of some new spring products - listed here.

It was fun creating again...

Now to clean up the glitter!

Creating for spring......my winter bliss.

See more winter bliss over at Melissa's Inspired Room.




Also check out Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered.

My Stuffed Pepper Craving

Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers
I had to have them. I found this great healthy recipe on Ellie Krieger's page on The Food Network site.
I made some orzo with sauteed garlic and feta on the side. So good!
Find the recipe HERE. Let me know if you try it.

Oh, and did you notice my pepper mill?

How could you not?

My mom likes to buy me kitchen gifts. So for Christmas, I told her I would love a nice pepper mill. I said "you  know, like the ones they use in the restaurants."  So she took me literally and went to the restaurant supply and bought me one just like they use in the restaurants! We had a lot of laughs over it but we actually use it every day. It took some time finding a home for it, but we really are enjoying it!

NYC and Martha Part 2

First, a couple more pics to share...
Waiting for the Martha show to begin with Alison of Jackets for Jobs, Holly, and Carolina of Art on Wheels.

This is the last night - dinner at Co. - most of the group is here.

This trip has had so much meaning to me...
The new friends...who I will keep in touch with and meet again!

The great staff at MSLO...how welcoming they were and their acceptance of us at their offices.

And the inspiration I have received from this whole experience to create a new line of products.

Also, my husband has come to realize something about me and my business - that I am not motivated by the dollar but to help and inspire others.  (which is true, but I do need to find a balance between both, or I'm going to have to get a "real" job!).

More on the Dreamers into Doers group to follow!

NYC and Martha

The last week has been a little hectic but so much fun.  First I spent 3 days in the city with my daughter for her dance competition. They did great and we had a little free time, so I had to pop in to one of my favorite stores to get lost in - Tinsel Trading. It's actually the first time I've made it into the store - I usually visit them at the Gift Show so it was so much fun to actually make it to the shop. It's beautiful in there!

Then it was time for the 2-day NY Shelter Event sponsored by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia through the Dreamers into Doers group. What an inspiring and emotional event. Thanks so much to Alexis Tirado of MSLO for all of her hard work to make the event such a special one.

It began with a 2 hour cooking demo by Rachel Gaffney of  Rachel Gaffney and Lisa of the Polka Dot Pound Cake Co. They were so much fun to watch. And what yummy food they made for us.

That afternoon, about 30 of the residents of a local shelter came to the Martha Stewart offices for a catered lunch. They all looked beautiful and were so happy to be there. It was an emotional afternoon as some of the Dreamers in our group had gone up and told there stories of struggles. This part of the event was to hopefully inspire the ladies that are going through a hard time that they too can overcome their horrible situations and that there is hope for them.  We also presented them with more donations (organized by Terry Grahl of Enchanted Makeovers) and told them of the many great things that were sent to the shelter. They were so appreciative!

The following day we were given a tour of the Martha Stewart office operations. It was so great, the staff was so welcoming.  I did take some pics but I'm not sure that I can share those (I'll have to check on that).  We saw the many kitchens, craft rooms (glitter heaven!), designers, photo stylists, editors, the amazing prop rooms-furniture, china, glassware, candles, cake stands, you name it, (holy cow - talk about organized!).

After the tour it was off to the taping of the show. And guess what, it was the travel show. Six amazing vacations were given away at random during our show. And one of our dreamers (who happened to be sitting right next to me), won a trip to Singapore. And everyone in the audience received a Kindle, among other things.  Martha herself even posed for a group photo with us. It was a great experience, my first time sitting for a show. It's scheduled to air on February 19th.

Joey Kola, the audience warm up guy - hysterical!

That night we were invited to a dinner at one of Martha's favorite pizza restaurants in Chelsea. It was called Co. If you're ever in the area - Great Food!

I've met some great women this week and we're already talking about planning the next get together.
Just 10 of us here- there were 40 all together. See more photos HERE on the Dreamer's site. And you can read the bios of all of the amazing Dreamers HERE.

Leaving the Indigo Hotel was hard-cool place, cool staff.

For now it's time to get back to reality...
Back to work.
With new ideas, new energy...

Click HERE for Part 2.
Click HERE to read about our donation.

"In with the New"

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday January 15th 2010 as we present "In with the new" at Make Mine PInk.

I just received some more Burlap and Linen Wired ribbon in 2 1/2 and 4" widths. 

Find it HERE.

I'm still preparing for the NYC Shelter event at the Martha Stewart Studio. 

I promise to be back to work on new creations for the shop when I return. 

A great way to start the New Year!

Our home has been a little sign factory since New Year's Day.
We just finished the 54 inspirational signs we are donating to the NY Shelter project.
(see here for more info).
It was a great project for the kids to help out. If it wasn't for their help I wouldn't have finished in time. They were amazing and so excited to be a part of this project. Oh, and my husband too. He was my sander, sealer and hanger attacher. He's actually finishing up the last few as I am typing. A special thank you also to Advantage Payroll Services of LI for their monetary donation towards the supplies.

Tomorrow they will be shipped off to the shelter, one for each apartment.

Some inspiring words for the women and children living there that are victims of domestic violence. And in less than 2 weeks, along with 39 other women in business, we will have the chance to meet with some of the women.

To think, this all started as a group of us were talking about getting together to meet one another until Terry Grahl of Enchanted Makeovers came up with the idea of possibly making a difference at a shelter as part of our get together.

Here's a little slide show of our work in progress.
Thank you Terry, for giving our family the opportunity to help out!

Click HERE for Part 1 of the event.
Click HERE for Part 2 of the event.

Want to make these yourself?

You need:

Unfinished wood plaques

Primer

Base color paint (I used eggshell interior house paint)

Antique Brown Glaze

White paint

Stencils

Stamps

Graphite Paper

Paint Pens

Sandpaper

Foam stencil sponge

Matte Varnish

Hanger

Steps to take:

Sand, prime and base coat wood.

Once dry, apply glaze and wipe off before it dries. I like to leave a little extra around the edges.

Then, I used my background, damask stencil. I centered it and applied a little white paint. Then, I wiped it down because I just wanted a faint design in the background.

Next, using graphite paper, I traced my quote onto the wood with a stylus. I then used a paint pen to fill in the lettering.

For this project, since I was making so many in a short time, I used rubber stamps to add a little element to each sign. I used brown acrylic paint and a foam stencil sponge to pounce a little paint on the stamp and applied to the sign.

After that dried, I lightly sanded the stamped image and my lettering, just because I liked the way it looked.

Finally, we stapled a jute rope on the back to hang and applied a Matte Varnish for protection.

Have fun with these!

Oh, and see more crafty projects at Today's Creative Blog.

Also, visit A Soft Place to Land for more DIY projects!