Flickr Friday

1.Orange Leaf Glass Pendant with Silver Plated Chain
2. Baaad Pin
3. Bat!
4. A Princess Whisper

Daily Snapshot : tiffzippy

Hello Sweetie

In general, I would say that I'm the type of girl that likes to play it cool. I don't tend to fall for overly sweet things where my wardrobe or my home are concerned, but every once in a while, though, I do get a hankerin' to doll things up a bit. What I like best is if I can use a few items that will add some frill without a lot of fuss. Take the vintage goods here, for example - they've all got some solid element (like stripes or a neutral hue) that counter their frills which keeps the overall look from being so sweet as to be sickening.

xo, Caroline

p.s. If you're still on the hunt for a Halloween costume - 1) you are cutting things awfully close aren't you? and 2) that black dress with the tiny hint of lace around the neckline would make a great starting point for the most fabulous Wednesday Addams recreation, don't you think?

clockwise from top left: thrush I regal vintage I thrush I finding fabulous

Going Indian

in honor of my little sister's halloween costume!
she's going as a lovely indian girl.
as in, girl from India, not Native American.

i'm going as her piratical escort. ;D
from top left to bottom right:
glittersniffer, peacevessel, southindiabazaar, freehandmehndi (alt)
whosesarinow, artinsomnia, oftheoceansdeep, fashionbadshah (alt)
pelican6817, beachwraps, beatomicbeauty, LiliesOValley (alt)
BlueLotusCollections, Makins, SUASH, bazaarbayar (alt)

namaste!
yobo

Daily Snapshot : theoldcupboarddoor

Daily Snapshot : PoleStar

Interview & Giveaway with Fashion Touch

Fashion Touch is a Canadian shop that caries a great selection of handmade accessories. The shop is run by Elena and specializes in hand knit scarves, scarflettes, wraps and capelettes. They are perfect for the up and coming winter season and would make a wonderful gift for a loved one. For more about Elena and a chance to win one of her very popular knit bracelets keep on reading!


1. Tell us a bit about how you got started knitting scarves and accessories.
I have been creating for as long as I remember. My grandmother was a very creative person, but my mom taught me how to knit and crochet. I have also graduated from the Art and Crafts School and Creative Housekeeping is one of the compulsory credits in Russian Elementary school (where I grew up).

2. Your wraps and capelettes are lovely! Does it take you a long time to come up with a design and create it?
Thank you for your kind words. It does take some time to create them, but I constantly have so many designs in my mind so I have to track them in the notebook. A scarf like this http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32900633 probably will take up to 5-6 hours to make.

3. I see that you carry some Exotic Yarns. Would you tell us a bit more about them and how you came across them?
I am fortunate to have my family in Russia, so I can go travel there and in Europe at least once a year. There are much more yarn manufactures in Germany, Austria, Turkey and Russia than in North America. Their yarns are different from what is offered here, that is why I called section in my store Exotic Yarns. Each yarn that is offered I have carefully selected and fell in love with, every one of them is a little treasure to me, I have tried to work with each of the yarns offered and that is what I would recommend.

4. Is your work sold on or at other venues?
I have currently have a boutique at http://fashiontouch.etsy.com I am also planning to expand my business to the local store in the nearest feature and custom and wholesale orders are always welcomed at fashiontouchme@yahoo.ca

5. What pieces from your shop would you recommend to someone who is doing their holiday shopping?
Since Holiday Season is enough cold in most of the places and everyone would love to be snuggled and warmed, there is nothing better than nice scarf, scarflette or wrap as a gift to someone you love and care about. So I would say, almost every item from my store is a great gift for someone on your gift list.

Elena is giving one of our readers a chance at winning her best selling item: Dewy Moss, Designer Crocheted Bracelet, US15.00, Such a deep and luxurious colour combined with shiny onyx beads brings memories of old fairy tales. Once again, this bracelet/cuff was made with love and care. I pay attention to the details, to maintain the high quality of my items. All items are smoke free! It can be made with the length of your wrist and approx 2 inch wide.

To Enter:
Post a comment below about your favorite item from Fashion Touch.

For additional entries post a comment below for each of the following that you do:
- twitter about the giveaway
- blog about the giveaway
- blog about Fashion Touch etsy
- follow the Fashion Touch Blog blog
- follow Fashion Touch on twitter (http://twitter.com/fashiontouch),
- heart Fashion Touch on etsy

Contest is open to participants worldwide and ends on Nov 1st, 2009 at 11:59PM PST.

Apple Pie Bars with Almond Streusel Topping

So this genius creation came about because my mom bought a gazillion apples and I REALLY wanted apple pie but was too lazy to do it the traditional way. My favorite way to eat it is a la mode!

Apple Pie Bars with Almond Streusel Topping

Crust:
1 cup butter, cold and cubed
1 3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup icing sugar

Filling:
4 medium sized cooking apples, cored, peeled and sliced thinly
4 tbsps of butter
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cut flour
1/4 cup butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup almond slices chopped

Preparation:
Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Using two knives or a pastry blender cut butter into flour and sugar. When pieces are small, pinch with your finger tips until it forms a crumbly mixture.
3. Press into a lined 9x13" inch pan and bake fro 20 mins.

Topping:
1. While the crust is baking, melt butter and sugar in a medium saucepan or pot. Add the apples and cook over medium high until the apples are soft and caramelized (about 20-25 mins). Stir often.
2. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Reduce heat and let the juices evaporate and thicken.
4. Spread the filling over top of the warm crust.

Streusel Topping:
1. Cut butter into flour and sugar until crumbly.
2. Add chopped nuts
3. Sprinkle over the filling and bake for an additional 20 mins.

Cool for about 2 hours (or just dig in), cut into bars and enjoy!

Notes: You can add raisins, cranberries or other nuts to the streusel topping if you wish.

Daily Snapshot : BijouxOdalisque

Daily Snapshot: yukijewelry

Daily Snapshot: TheReliquaryShop

Getting Creepy

Halloween is coming up quick, and while I'm not a huge fan of dressing in costume for the occasion, I love the idea of adding a few eccentric touches to an outfit to add a little bit of a creepy vibe. Any of these pieces would work well towards capturing the exact look I'm thinking of.

vintage society lady black fur collar cardigan from Regal Vintage

80's Vintage Spider Web Shape Sunglasses from What the Funk

black velvet party flats with big satin bows from magic carpets thunderstorms

Three Creepy Ugly German Dolls from Time Passages

xo, Caroline

wrap it up!

i'm wire wrapping 20 crosses for the choir at church.
lovely donated services, because we haven't got enough of the crosses we used to have, and anyway, those are old and falling apart.
in honor of the wrapping, i've made this almostery:
From top left to bottom right:
jpbeads, ShaktipajDesigns, emilygrayjewels, hilarykoster (alt)
GailaviraTutorials, lizix26, bettystephens, TotallyCrosses (alt)
kmaylward, MarbelleCampa, VisionsInBeads, TotallyCrosses (alt again)
Tsupreme, UnStrungSisters, ssandeelee, visionquest (alt)

*runs back to wrapping*
--yobo

Daily Snapshot: umecrafts

Daily Snapshot: imyourpresent

POM is so Wonderful.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Blue Derkin asking me to sample POM Wonderful's Antioxidant Super Teas. For those of you who don't know, POM Wonderful is a company that produces a line of 100% pomegranate juices, teas, bars, pills, shots and ice coffees which contain POMx an antioxidant super extract that is found in the very pomegranates they grow and juice.


The POM Antioxidant Super Tea's come in 5 wonderful flavors including: Pomegranate Lychee Green POMx Tea, Pomegranate Blackberry POMx Tea, Light Pomegranate Hibiscus Green POMx Tea, Light Pomegranate Wildberry White POMx Tea and Pomegranate Peach Passion White POMx Tea. They come in tall, clear, and super portable plastic bottles that are recyclable or reusable and each serving contains a less than 3mg serving of caffeine (which is perfect for me as I am pretty sensitive to caffeine).


I've only had the chance to try out 2 of the 5 flavors as the grocery store I go to seems to only carry two flavors at a time but they are fantastic and I am hooked! The first one I tried was the Pomegranate Lychee Green POMx Tea which had a really light naturally sweet lychee taste that was very refreshing and the second one I tried was the Pomegranate Peach Passion White POMx Tea which reminded me of eatting fuzzy peach candies as a child. They were both quite flavorful and I will definitely be drinking them again in the future.


One of the things I really like about the POM Wonderful is that they have a recipe section on their website which allows different and creative ways to consume their products. I'm looking forward to incorporating their products into my meals in the near future! I hope you give their products a try as they are great tasting and great for your health too!

ArtbySusmitha/Veganosaurus Giveaway Winner

is lucky #17 pippirose. Congratulations! I hope you have fun picking out some goodies at artbysusmitha or veganosaurus.

Scones vs. Biscuits

Sweet scones are my favorites especially in the mornings! They are sweet and cake-ish, soft, moist and slightly crunchy on the outside. :) As I was making them the other day I started to wonder what the difference between scones and biscuits were because they're really quite similar in the way they are prepared.

After some googling I found that scones typically contain sugar, eggs and cream, they are a bit more fluffy and cake-ish and are served with tea along side jam and creme fraiche whereas, biscuits are generally more savory, buttery, flakey, made with buttermilk and occasionally call for sugar. They are typically served with gravy or (in my opinion) with a greasy dish such as breakfast sausages or fried chicken. I think that whether they are called scones or biscuits depends on what country you live in. In some countries scones or biscuits can be both savory and sweet.

Here's the recipe I used from epicurious.com:
Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scones

• 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons; preferably Meyer)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional if using fresh cranberries
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse, or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries or dried cherries
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup heavy cream

• Accompaniment: crème fraîche or whipped cream

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Serve scones warm with crème fraîche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.

Notes: I used regular lemons because the grocery store doesn't sell meyer lemons and I don't live near a specialty grocery store. I put in extra lemon rind in and they smelled and tasted fabulous! I used dried Crasins even though cranberries are in season because I've never worked with fresh cranberries before and I didn't want my scones to be too tart. They were super yummy and I will be making them again.

Daily Snapshot : moodlites

Flickr Friday

1. Whistle necklace
2. Spice
3. Sakura Earrings
4. Mr.Loveskull

Daily Snapshot : 2dy4

ArtbySusmitha/Veganosaurus Giveaway Ends on October 18th

Daily Snapshot : missmouse

Bows & Bandits

When preparing these posts I almost always hit up etsy for vintage inspiration and ideas. It's a no brainer really since it's marketplace setting make it super easy to peruse a huge number of retailers all in the same place. (Plus, I must admit that having my own shop stationed there makes it easier to forget other venues). It's also nice that, in my experience, most sellers are willing to ship worldwide which is not something you see as often in other e-shops. That being said, I would hate to miss out (or have you miss out) on other fabulous vintage finds because I'm stuck in an etsy rut so the plan is to branch out a bit.

I first came across Bows & Bandits some time ago, and it's been a shop that I come back to fairly regularly because of the fabulous selection of vintage clothes. (I'm particularly keen on their dresses). They are always carrying several items that I fall in love with, and the model-less photography makes it easy to focus on just the clothing. More good news: While the company is based in Austria (be still my heart!), they also offer worldwide shipping. Hooray!

all available at Bows & Bandits

xo, Caroline

p.s. It would seem I'm also being inadvertently inspired by fall what with all the lovely browns I've chosen to feature. Happy October!

Get thee to a nunnery!

well, ok, so these are cathedrals and abbeys, not nunneries, but whatever! ;p

i have an architecture paper that's due in early november, that i haven't started yet.
it's on either classical or gothic architecture. now, i'm pretty sure that everyone and their MOTHER will be doing the statehouse, so i'm planning on some gothic architecture being the central point of my paper.

and so, without further ado:
From top left to bottom right:
DeepCreekStudios, rebeccaplotnick, kcwgallery, EyeShutterToThink (alt)
Claireeyedesign, CookePhoto, AlteredAbbey, bBrookover (alt)
SpookyAction, andescruz, VenusInBloom, Aztek721 (alt)
shanegorski, racergirl1313, downanddirty, TravelingChariot (alt)

*off to The Pontifical College Josephinum to take pix*
--yobo

Acorn Lovin'

When I was a child, there were big huge tall oak trees in the front of my elementary school and I was fascinated with the acorns that fell from them. I loved that some were green and some where brown and some were tall or fat and that some had caps and others didn't. I was obsessed with collecting them. I would bring home ziplock bags, boxes, and backpacks full of them until my mom told me I couldn't have any more and I had to throw some out because I had so many! I don't collect acorns anymore but I still love them.

1. Polymer Clay Acorns by joojooland
2. Fabric Wooden Acorn Keychain by TheCupcakeGirls
3. Felted Acorn Ornaments Set of 3 by kbuchheit
4. Double Acorn Rubber Stamp by norajane

Daily Snapshot : amandaarcher

Interview & Giveaway with artbysusmitha and veganosaurus

This week's feature interview is with Susmitha of artbysusmitha and veganosaurus. To find out more details about how she runs two shops keep on reading!


1. Tell us a few things that most people don't know about you.
I'm a tea person. I am at my most active after sunset and late into the night. I *need* to put a smiley face at the end of my name always. I write the alphabet 'o' in a clockwise motion. I have the secret desire to play the character of Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night someday.

2. Why do you sell your art in two separate shops?
I started out selling all my creations at the Art by Susmitha store but then I felt my little monsters and animals warranted their own unique brand and so Veganosaurus was born. It was my clever husband who came up with the name. :)

3. Do you find it difficult to promote both your shops?
Not at all. Even though I have separate facebook pages and twitter profiles for them, most of the time I end up promoting both the brands together. I have a common newsletter and a common art blog. And I have the etsy minis to both the stores on my personal blog. And everything is consolidated onto my website. So most people who know Art by Susmitha, associate Veganosaurus with it and vice versa. And that's the trick, as long as the stores are constantly associated, promoting one is as good as promoting the other.

4. I see that you belong to a few street teams. What has been your overall experience as a member of those?
I try to be active in some little way in each team I belong to but I do tend to be more active in some more so than the others. The teams closest to my heart are Vegan Etsy, Cruelty Free Etsy, Etsy For Animals and Pagan of Etsy. There are many advantages to being a member of a street team but the best part is to be able to meet like minded people and work towards a common goal. It builds a good support system and it's a lot of fun too.

5. What is the best part about your work and what you do?
I am my own boss and my work time is essentially my play time. :) I create *only* when I'm feeling a burst of creative energy and never because I *have* to. So my work constantly brings me joy and that energy is reflected in my creations.


Susmitha is giving away a $20 gift certificate to spend in your choice of one of her shops.

Ways to enter:
1. Sign up for her mailing list by entering your email below. You must be a mailing list subscriber to qualify for entries #2 and 3.

Subscribe to Veganosaurus

Email:

2. become a fan of http://www.facebook.com/artbysusmitha
or http://www.facebook.com/veganosaurus
3. you can visit either artbysusmitha or veganosarus and comment on your favorite item in a comment below this post.

This giveaway is open to everyone. Giveaway ends Oct 18th 11:59 PST.

Daily Snapshot : makalewakan

Daily Snapshot : boopiecreations

Shop Red Leaf Giveaway Winner

is... #39 stylistdiva@gmail.com! Congrats :) Thanks to everyone who participated. Stay tuned for a new giveaway that starts tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Since it's Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fitting to do a post about pumpkin pie! I made these little tarts about a week ago for the first time using the filling recipe from Bakerella's pumpkin pie bites except I had modify it a little because I don't read and I bought pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree. (Basically, the pie filling already had pumpkin pie spices in it so I only added about half a teaspoon). I cheated and used store bought pastry tart shells because I was too lazy to roll pie dough but they turned out so good and I saved a lot of time! Oh, one thing you should note about the original recipe on Bakerella is that it makes enough filling for 48 mini tarts and not 24! I learned that the hard way! I doubled the recipe because I thought it would only make 12 larger tarts but I ended up with 24 tarts (3 inches wide) PLUS an 8 inch pie! If you like pumpkin pie this is a quick and easy recipe you must try!

See my vintage mixer? I think it's older than I am. lol I really need a new one... one of the metal mixing prongs keeps getting stuck in the batter and falling out when I am mixing!

I hope you all enjoy a lovely dinner with your family today :)

Shop Red Leaf Givewaway ends Oct 11th!

Be sure you enter for a chance to win these goodies from ShopRedLeaf!

Flickr Friday

There's quite a few little monsters hiding out in our flickr group!

1. Zumba monster necklace
2. Love & a Sandwich Buttons
3. Mommy's little monster
4. Meet the Chublubbins!

Daily Snapshot : corinegrant

yobo must not have a calendar.

because she can't tell that it's thursday now.
which means that, once again she's late posting an almostery.
geeeeeeze, connie's gonna be seeing red soon, if she doesn't get her act together!
from top left to bottom right:
verabel, happydayvintage, sosovintage, sadieolive (alt)
goingquackers, ItalianCountryGirl, madlight13, SurrenderDorothy (alt)
SurrenderDorothy, Oman77, FoundVintageStyle, SurrenderDorothy (alt)
jessjamesjake, kokopellisales, gethappy, 1glassydealer (alt)

*slinks off to go flog self*
--yobo

Daily Snapshot : paperacorn

Keys Please

I have a real problem when it comes to antique skeleton keys. I cannot leave an antique shop without buying at least one, and I'm always on the look out when perusing garage sales and thrift stores. I seem to have amassed quite the collection over the past few years, but I just can't help myself from looking for more.

For me, the part romantic part creepy aspect of a skeleton key is just perfect for harnessing the feel of fall. Here are some very lovely options brought to you via etsy. I'm salivating a little just looking at the photos.

Old Tyme Notions

Ashbury Lane

Caracurse

xo, Caroline

Daily Snapshot : monkeyandsquirrel

I Heart You: Studio Tempera

Okay seriously, Studio Tempera is an AMAZING shop! How could I not feature them as this week's "I heart you" shop? A mother and daughter team that designs and make lamps out of gourds from their studio in Turkey. The colors are stunning and glisten like swarovski crystals. I've never seen anything this cool.