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!

Happy New Year - A Year in Review

I would like to wish all of my readers a very

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Hope you enjoy the photos -My Highlights of 2009.

A new puppy! Welcome Bella.

You know I love to cook!

Completed projects at home.

A sample of my work this year. My creative outlet.

Summer memories. The East End...

Northport, LI

A favorite concert with mom.

Shades of Autumn

Merry Christmas! 

The giving....

The decorating...

And finally, an important highlight this year is being a part of this group and the NY Shelter Project. 

Thanks so much to all of my customers and friends that take the time to read my blog, get to know me and leave such beautiful comments.

 I really appreciate it!

Please visit Cindy at My Romantic Home for her

 Year in Review Party.

And make sure you stop by Melissa at The Inspired Room for her Best of 2009 Party!

And Layla at The Lettered Cottage for her "Favorite Blog Post of the Year" Party.

NYC at Christmas

Our youngest has a birthday right after Christmas. So, this year we thought it would be nice to go into the city for the Radio City Christmas show. She loved it! We go every few years and they really do change the show up so it's different and still amazing each time.

Her favorite part... the 3-d movie clip at the beginning of the show...hmm....we could have saved a bunch of money just going to a 3-d movie!

I just have to share a pic of the gorgeous tree suspended from the ceiling in the lobby of the theatre. It's made from 10,000 Swarosvski Snowflake ornaments. Isn't it gorgeous!

After the show we headed over to Ellen's Stardust Diner on Broadway for lunch. She really enjoyed this place. The waitstaff are all aspiring singers and perform in between serving their customers. They're really very good and they make a big deal when it's your bday.

Of course we had to go see "the tree" at Rockefeller and even though my daughter was not happy about it, I had to visit one of my favorites Anthropologie. 

At the end of the day she said it was the best birthday ever - except for the shopping!

Merry Christmas!

This last week has been a fun and crazy one. I was excited about the thought of being snowed in and baking all weekend when the blizzard covered our area with 2 feet of snow.  Then came Monday and a snow day for my kids and a 2 hour delay for Tuesday! I love it when they're home but my list of things to accomplish those days was reduced.

And then shopping at the most popular supermarket in town with all the great Italian specialties is always an adventure 2 days before Christmas, but the hills of snow in the parking lot and ground of ice and slush just made parking and getting to your car with your wagon full of food even more fun (ha!)

Oh and that reminds me, my husband just wrote another funny post on his blog The Honey Do Chronicles. Check it out if you can use a laugh!

So anyway, I did finish my shopping (finally) and we did a lot of baking. I love filling little tins of homemade treats for my kids' teachers. I found most of the recipes I made this year at Martha Stewart's website. I had to stop printing after 7. But they're all so good.
See my post on last year's dipped peppermint sticks here.

There is always something I had planned to do but ran out of time for and this year it's making each of my guests one of these ~ my new white dove ornaments which never even made it to the website either.
Am I the only one that has an overambitious list of things to do and make?

Now to finish up wrapping (click here some wrapping ideas) and start the cooking! Christmas is always at our house which I love but I am looking forward to resting on Saturday....

Wishing you all,
Happy Holidays
and a Merry Christmas!