Styled by Jess

Printic Photos

Are you addicted to Instagram? Do you have 1,000’s of photos on your phone? And they’re all great photos but just sitting on your phone? Well, I say yes to all 3 questions. So, I was excited when Printic reached out to me to let me know about their app. For just $1/photo (free shipping!!) you can print all your fave IG and phone photos.

So easy – you download the app, select your photos, and order. You can even add little captions at the bottom!

I ordered a few of my recent faves, but it was a hard choice – good thing they’re only $1/each. I got them like 2 days later and immediately hung them on my home office wall.

And they came in a cute little hand-stamped envelope!

*Disclaimer: I received complimentary goods for this post, however all above opinions and thoughts are my very own.

Z Style

So, I kinda love to dress my little Z – that’s probably pretty obvious. But, she’s always on the move and moving rather quickly for that matter, so it’s hard for me to take photos that really show her outfits that I put together. I decided it would be fun to once in a while show you a little Z style. I don’t buy her ready-made outfits per se (like the leggings that specifically match the tunic) but rather a mix of neutral basics with fun pops of color that can be intermixed with everything. Make sense? Then I can buy fewer clothes but still mix it up so she’s not wearing the same thing every day. Have I mentioned she’s always moving? I like to dress her in comfy movable clothes too because she’s always running, climbing, and we go to the playground at least 1x/day (what will I do this winter?!).

For the first Z style I wanted to share one of my faves. I should also mention I don’t really like to dress her pink – and that’s hard to do. When did it become nearly mandatory for girls to only wear pink? Uch. Don’t get my wrong, she does have pink but it’s usually the accent color of an outfit or socks.

Chambray shirt Zara, similar (from the boys department – don’t you love that elbow patch?), Vest from Old Navy (old, bought on clearance this summer), Leggings from American Apparel, Knee socks (it’s cold here already!) from Old Navy, and shoes by Livie & Luca.

Thanks for letting me share my Z style with you!

Vacation Memory Collage

Not all vacations are created equal. There are some where a souvenir t-shirt and/or magnet is all you need for memories. But, there are some vacations that are so amazing, so memorable, so once-in-a-lifetime that they require something special. For me – that would be a childhood trip to Hawaii, a trip with my family to Vancouver and Whistler for an awesome ski trip, and of course – my French honeymoon with my husband!

Well, we had such a great time on our London/Scotland trip in June that I have been wanting to do something special to commemorate the trip. I decided to put a little photo collage together and show you how I did it.

You’ll need: Paper cutter, colorful paper to back the photos, vacation photos, photo corners, scissors, puffy tape, double sided sticky tape (I had tons of these squares leftover so I used them), memory box frame (not pictured), and a large sheet of paper for your background (see below).

Start by mounting your background paper. I suggest a map of where you were or a print that reminds you of the location – I found this sheet of London paper at the Paper Source, it’s a little busier than I would prefer, but I thought it was perfect to help commemorate our trip.

Mount the paper by folding the edges and taping on the back. Don’t forget to cut your corners so it folds smoothly.

No mount your photos. I used photo corners because I like the look, but you could just tape your photos to the paper. I start by putting the corners on just 2 corners of the photo (these photo corners just stick when dampened, so easy) and then add the last 2 to make sure they are straight. I used a paper cutter to trip the paper and just left a very small margin of red paper around each photo.

Voila! Repeat with each photo you’ll use. I like to use a few different sizes of photos to keep the collage interesting.

When you’ve mounted all your photos, lay them out on the background paper and when you like the set-up turn the photos over and put the puffy tape on back, flip over and tape on.

Last, I hand-wrote a little sign with the trip dates.

Put the frame back together and hang on your wall. What a great vacation memory!

PS. The beautiful Scottish Highlands are not represented in this collage because we had a couple amazing photos that were framed up on our frame collage wall all on their own!

Couple Things…

Tomato and Halibut Soup

Fall Flowers for my birthday!

One afternoon my Z was too quiet, I went in the kitchen and she had found a pack of gum (?) and unwrapped every. single. piece.

Z’s 2 balloon is going strong. I still can’t believe she’s 2…

On my birthday I decided to wear my new winter hat, it’s bigger than I remember when I bought it.

iPad addict.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Carrot Cake and Cake Frosting Tips

So, here is THE Carrot Cake recipe we made for Z’s 2nd birthday party. We’ve tried a few carrot cake recipes and none are as good as this one. And can you believe it comes from All Recipes? Nothing fancy here! This recipe is not healthy, you are now warned. But, one step to make it not so bad is we substitute half the oil the recipe calls for with applesauce. Also, if your task is to grate the carrots, well – there’s a full workout right there because let me tell you, grating 3 1/2 C of carrot is a big deal on your arm. A few other notes on the recipe: I add another teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2C more carrot, and omit the pecans. Got it?

Grating the carrot.

Mixing the batter.

https://vine.co/v/hjZQHlHMWKw/embed/simple //platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsFolding in the carrot.

Then the fun – make the frosting! The easiest recipe for cream cheese frosting: mix 1 stick room temp butter with 1 8 oz block of room temp cream cheese. Mix in 3C confectioner’s sugar and 1 Tsp vanilla. Perfect cream cheese frosting!

And now I thought I’d share some cake frosting tips. Last year when we had Z’s first birthday party I made a traditional round 2-layer cake and I wanted to learn how to properly frost a cake so it was fully covered in frosting with a smooth finish, neatly on a cake plate. First step. When you’re flipping your cake onto whatever plate you’re going to serve it on, put parchment paper underneath. This is the best tip ever from Ina Garten, so smart.

Then, it’s time to frost. Here’s the next genius tip, this one I got from craft blogger extraordinaire Jordan from Oh Happy Day. First, apply a thin layer of frosting on your cake called the crumb layer. Don’t fret if it literally comes out crumby. After the crumb layer stick the cake in the fridge for 1/2 an hour.

Take the cake out and apply the rest of your frosting and you’ll get a smooth (cake crumb free) final layer of frosting. Why didn’t I think of this?!

Last step, remove the parchment paper when you’re done frosting and your cake plate will remain clean and tidy. Beautifully frosted, yummy cake – enjoy!

Perfume

I was going to title this post “I Have a New Scent” but – well, then you would start to think that I smelled and that seems to have a negative connotation… Anyway! Remember I needed perfume advice? Well, after some careful testing from your suggestions to pop into Nordstrom for some samples (thanks for that hint M and A!) -I tried kate spade’s live colorfully, Marc Jacob’s Daisy, Chanel #5…but none of those were me. I decided to go with my gut and get the Jo Malone Wild Bluebell. My husband likes it too, and well, since he is close to me quite often his vote really counts.

For my birthday the other day I opened a lovely box with a nice big bottle of Jo Malone Wild Bluebell. It’s a lovely light scent, just perfect for every day. That’s right, I’m not going to save my perfume for the occasional use, I’m going to make this my signature daily scent. What is your daily scent?

Ps. I also got this Zara sweater for my birthday, my hubby must read this little blog or something!

We Had a Purse Party

Over the weekend we hosted some family to celebrate Z’s 2nd birthday! I had a purse theme with purse invitations, purse party favors, a purse-decorated cake, and a few other purse items for decor. Our Z had a blast – she pretty much had the exact face on all afternoon as she does in the photo above! She really got it this year, that this day was all about her, she got presents!, and all her faves were there. What a fun day…

And here’s how the purse party looked….

The whole purse scene. I used balloons in the color scheme tied to mini purses as the backdrop and basic decor.

Close-up of the cake and the purses made from melting chocolate and purse candy mold. I made a carrot cake, btw, and just searched my blog for the recipe and cannot believe I’ve never shared it here. It’s really our fave carrot cake so watch for the recipe later this week.

Remember I made these Vanilla Bean Sable Cookies for a less-sweet dessert? Well, this time I made them with purple, green, and orange sprinkles to go with the color scheme. And our Z loved them.

And, since only 3 kiddos came to the party I only made 3 of the purse party favors and filled them with special treats for each kid.

We had a blast – happy birthday sweet girl!

Couple Things…

It’s birthday week in our house! We kicked it off on Wednesday with our Z’s birthday and some mini cupcakes from our fave local cake shop Cake.

Her best gift was this bed that’s supposed to be for her dolls…

Halloween was great this year! Z dressed as Dorothy and even carried around a little Toto dog. Her fave part was after she went trick or treating and she watched for other trick or treaters come to our house.

Today is my husband’s birthday – we wrapped his gifts yesterday just to torment him a little. =)

Birthday week continues…we have Z’s purse-tacular birthday party tomorrow and then my birthday Monday – the fun is not stopping in this house! Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

We’re going to trick or treat tonight rain or not, our little Dorothy and Toto the dog are so excited!

Happy Halloween! You can make your own ruby slippers, too!

Fall Vegetable Chowder

Guys, we are inundated with fall vegetables from our CSA right now. So, when we got this recipe as part of the email blast telling us what was in our farm share last week, we were psyched with how many veggies would be used! This soup is really a curry chowder – which might sound weird, but trust me! This chowder is light, flavorful, and so healthy with all the veg. It’s a must try this fall!

Jenny’s Autumn Farm Chowder
from Piccadilly Farm

One bunch of leeks, washed and chopped
1C cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (original recipe called for ground pork or lamb)
1 Tsp curry powder
2lb gold potatoes, chopped into cubes
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
1 quart chicken stock
2C milk
(recipe called for 1C grated cheddar, I omitted this)
2 bunches kale
s&p to taste

Saute leeks in butter. About halfway through stir the curry powder into the leeks.When the leeks are cooked and softened add the chicken stock, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Add more stock until the veggies are just covered. Simmer until veggies are just tender. Add chicken.

Add the kale and milk. Cook until kale wilts, a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. This makes a thick chowder.

Enjoy!