BEMZ DOES BEDROOMS!

Remember when you were a child and you had a favorite doll, but sometimes they needed a new outfit to freshen things up?  Now the Swedish company Bemz has given us a TON of new options for slipcovering our furniture to match our mood - it's like clothing for our furniture!

They've been offering slipcovers for popular IKEA sofas and chairs for a while now, giving us options other than the banal khaki, white, navy, or red that so many retailers are limited to. They actually have some APPEALING fabric choices, which is nothing short of a novelty in our mass market color-phobic society. They offer Belgian linen, makers such as Designers Guild (yippeee!),  Marimekko and more. Now, they are adding something I am very excited about......upholstered bed slipcovers and bed skirts. I love upholstered beds, but haven't been able to work up a heck of a lot of enthusiasm for the blah options that are affordable. Well, Bemz has changed all that - with a fabric range of more than 180 different colors and patterns, the only hard part might be picking a favorite. They are offering 10% off all bed skirts through October 9th.

Check out Bemz here. 

Have an outstanding weekend as well!

BRIGHT BOOKS

I have a notebook obsession and these little numbers from Campo Marzio are floating my boat!

Find them here 

NEW KEEP CALM PRINTS & SPECIAL PRICE!

Limey

Cloud

Bermuda Pink

Delray Aqua

Mackinac Lilac

Due to the sustained popularity and relevance of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" slogan, I have tweaked and revived my own design and am introducing some brand new colors (as well as ready-framed prints for $58-contact me here to order). Great to keep in mind for gift-giving and the upcoming holiday season.

 I AM OFFERING AN INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL JUST THIS WEEK OF 15% off the regular price of all Keep Calm prints with this code at checkout: KEEP15

Also, a new version below for all those of you who still value mom's advice AND an elephant version I designed a couple of years ago to benefit a charity that helps girls in India (these are available in all of the regular Keep Calm colors above). Check them all out here.

"Call Mom" version in Julia's Butter

Indian Elephant version in pink

Indian Elephant version in indigo

BUNK BEDS WITH VERVE

I caught a recent episode of the Home by Novogratz program on HGTV and loved their makeover of a bedroom for triplets in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.  Cortney Novogratz designed these ingenious bunk beds to save floor space for the active toddlers.  Bunk beds are such a smart and popular solution for kids or guest areas where you need to sleep several people.  I also loved the photo mural of the adorable triplets that filled up the facing wall. I was impressed with the new show that's now on HGTV and find the energy and enthusiasm of the Novogratz family to be very inspiring. I was happy to hear that they will be back for yet another season!

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND!!

MORE ROOT VEG MANIA

I am now officially on a root vegetable kick! I promise this is my last post on root veggies for a long time. Thanks to everyone who left a comment or recipe last week - you inspired me!

I tried roasting beets for the first time and all I can say is that it certainly won't be the last.

These vibrant little jewels are amazing, especially garnished with a little goat cheese. Prep is a cinch - all you do is trim the ends, wash well and throw them in a small baking dish with some olive or vegetable oil (light coating) and a little salt and pepper. Bake for about 1 hour at 350 or until beets can be cut through center with knife and no elbow grease. Truly amazing. But, the fun doesn't stop there.......

After trimming off the beet greens, I washed them thoroughly and then chopped them roughly, adding them to a little vegetable oil and garlic I had going over medium heat in a pan when the beets had approx. 10 minutes left to cook. 

Add some kosher salt or sea salt flakes and some freshly ground pepper while gently flipping in the pan and you've got a treat that is definitely addictive! I decided to go with a little sprinkling of goat cheese with the greens as well - yum. Would you try these? 

THANK YOU!

Dolce Dreams

Chocolate, Shoes and Coffee

Laura Casey Interiors

Brilliant Chic 

Prescription Craft Often 

The Pink Pagoda

This BlueBird

The Ministry of Pie

Did you have a nice weekend?  

The rainy season here in South Florida is ending and even though the highs are still in the low to mid 90's, the blue skies are brighter & clearer and it no longer feels like a steambath.  I am glad that Fall is on it's way! 

I'd like to thank of all these great blogs for their recent posts featuring my work.  Please stop by these sites and let them know I sent you. The support shared in this crazy blogging community is priceless!

 Thank you all so much and hope your week gets off to a great start.

COFFEE IN COLOR

I never really drank coffee until about 6 years ago, but it's now an integral part of my morning routine.  It jump starts my day and sharpens my focus.  I recently spotted this new line of coffee makers and appliances from Kmix, carried by DeLonghi here in the states and available here now at Bloomingdales.  The line comes in 8 great hues, I just couldn't resist posting the magenta!  Kind of a nice departure from the standard black or white to give your kitchen a little burst of color.
HOPE YOUR WEEKEND IS A GREAT ONE!

RAVISHING RADISHES

I have to share my latest passion with you, my faithful readers!

Are you ready?  It's radishes.  Yeah, I know radishes are not something most people get excited about. But, they are a great source of potassium, only 2 calories a piece and have been known to lower blood pressure. Not to mention, their skin is a very attractive color. As you've probably gathered by now, I am a foodie and therefore enjoy sampling new foods and new things with old foods.  Radishes raw make an excellent snack, but I had never tried them COOKED before. Oh my goodness, they are delicious!  All I did was heat a bit of oil (either light olive oil or canola works best) in a saute pan, trim the ends and chop the radishes in quarters lengthwise. Then sprinkle generously with Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper. Saute' for a couple of minutes and then add a little balsamic glaze until browned (about 6 minutes).  Unbelievable! I am on a root vegetable kick, so we'll see what else I can experiment with....any good tips for me?

LUXE-FUMES PAINTING NO. 3

I hope that you had a nice weekend! 

Today, I've got the third painting in my new "Luxe-Fumes" series for you. It's a French Creed fragrance - Fleurissimo - and is painted in painstaking detail with acrylic on wood gallery panel.  The background is done in a rich periwinkle blue strie. The original is for sale, and prints as well (for large posters by special order - contact me here.) These pieces are great for a bathroom, dressing room, heck, any area. Wouldn't it be great to give a friend a painting or print of their trademark fragrance? Go here to buy or get more details.

ACQUIESSE CANDLE GIVE-AWAY WINNER!

No, I haven't been sleeping on the job! 

I apologize for being late in announcing the winner of the Acquiesse Candle Give-Away.  Thanks to the sheer inept-ness (is that a word?) of my internet provider, Comcast, I was cut off due to a coding error and then told it was my issue and I needed a new modem.....after buying a new modem and hooking it up, I called to register it and was disconnected after waiting for an extensive period. Back to waiting for several days under the shroud of gross mis-diagnosis just to get a "real" person to deal with my problem, it was discovered that my modem and system was perfectly in order after all, and it was a bug in their system that had randomly cut off my service! The technician that came out was very nice, I think he was almost as frustrated as I was for being sent out on a call that was completely unnecessary and having to wait for ages on his phone to get the "code" to unlock my system again.

 4 days down the tubes with no apology, no compensation of any kind. Classy, don't you think?  My entire business being web-based, it crippled me. Ok, rant over. I am looking for an alternative ISP at the moment.

Regardless, I am just happy to be up and running again - it's amazing how you can take the basics for granted

and I am just appreciating being able to work efficiently once again!

OK, you had to read all of that just to get to the good part.....

Carrie Waller of Carrie's Creations has won the candle give-away via random.org. 

Big thanks to all of you 

who entered and a huge thank-you to Acquiesse for their generous sponsorship!

Enjoy your weekend!

NOT YOUR GRANNIE'S STENCILS

How tremendously clever and stylish is this stencil design from Royal Design Studio?

I fell in love with it and am trying to decide which surface I could put it on.....these aren't your Grannie's stencils, kids! Check this design out here. 

HARWELL PHOTOGRAPHY

I just wanted to share a few recent shots from my brother's extensive portfolio. He has won numerous awards and specializes in weddings, fashion and lifestyle photography. He is based in Atlanta and has a studio there, but frequently travels on location. These photographs were all taken in and around Rosemary Beach, FL and you can spot my youngest nephew above munching on a donut! Check out Jeremy's website here. 

Wishing all of my US friends a great Labor Day Holiday Weekend and 

all of the rest a wonderful weekend as well!