What a Wonderful Weekend

The Blogging Your Way NYC Road Trip weekend has ended and I'm my brain is still buzzing from these two creative and inspiring days. I can't thank Holly and Leslie enough for including me in this special event and for having faith in my abilities to offer guidance to their precious students. It was an exciting test of my camera/photography knowledge. I was actually pretty impressed with how much information I did know. Go me.

It was a busy two days so I wasn't able to take many photos by I did bring my newest toy with me and was able to grab a few shots. No folks, these aren't instagram, they are the real thing.

Check out this post by Audrey Smit sharing her experience at the workshop. It's a great break down of the entire weekend and she got some great shots of Holly and Leslie in action.

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway - Winner!

Congratulations to... Melissa O! You are the winner of the Spanish Steps dress from Shabby Apple. I will be emailing you soon to get all of your information.  For the rest of you that entered but unfortunately did not win Shabby Apple is offering a 20% off coupon code until March 28, just enter designevo20off at checkout.




Happy Shopping!

Happy Friday!

The weekend is almost here and I am particularly excited about this one. I will be spending Saturday and Sunday as a Teaching Assistant at Holly + Leslie's NYC Blogging Your Way workshop. I am really looking forward to spending the weekend surrounded by creative individuals and learning a lot from Holly and Leslie.  If any of you are attending this course please let me know so that we can meet. 




I actually plan on starting my weekend early. This afternoon I will be visiting the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Cindy Sherman exhibition and this evening Nick and I have tickets to see Richard III at the BAM Harvey theater in Brooklyn.  


What are your plans for the weekend? I hope your weekend will be as wonderful as I'm sure mine will be. 

A Leap Day Triumph

I decided to take this extra day of 2012 and use it to tackle one of my prior failures. My first attempt making French Macaroons was abysmal. The end result of my baking efforts was essentially Nilla wafers. Tasty yes, but not macaroons. The macaronage was runny and the pied (or foot) never formed. I blame some of my failure on inexperience and the rest on this cookbook, I don't recommend it. Undeterred, I decided I needed more guidance so I took the French Macaroon workshop offered by the Dessert Truck. It was a great experience and I really learned a lot though the process taught at the workshop was kind of tedious so I was not very confident that I could recreate my classroom success at home. 




That is until I discovered this blog - BraveTart. The author totally demystifies the entire macaroon making process and after I read her 10 Macaroon Myths and 10 Macaroon Commandments posts I was ready to tackle the Macaroon Recipe. The results are night and day from my first attempt.  I can't wait to try them again. I think I slightly over-mixed the batter because my macaroons could have risen a bit more but overall I'm really happy with the results. It helps when you have some guidance that doesn't make you feel like there is some vengeful macaroon god waiting to thwart you and leave you with cracked or deflated macaroons. 




How are you spending your extra day of 2012?

Giveaway! Shabby Apple Dresses

I'm so excited about today's post. This is the first sponsored giveaway for Design Evolution. I've been approached several times in the past but the products never seemed to be a good fit for the blog.  I was contacted by Shabby Apple, an online shop for women's dresses, skirts, and accessories, and asked if I would be interested in a giveaway where one of my readers could win a dress selected by me. After five minutes of checking out the Shabby Apple site I said yes!




With interesting collection names like Mad Hatter, Set Sail, Roman Holiday, and Academia I couldn't resist the vintage dress silhouettes. The dress shapes look like they are flattering for many different body types. I've really been a slacker about getting dressed up more often so this giveaway has also inspired me to pick up a few dresses for myself. Here are some of my favorites:




Besides a large collection of vintage inspired dresses, Shabby Apple has carries a bunch of great skirt silhouettes. I am anti-shorts so come summer I wear skirts often.




Without further ado, the giveaway! One reader will win the Spanish Steps dress pictured in the dress collage above.  It is the cream and tan dress modeled next to that adorable red vintage Vespa.  All you have to do to win the dress is visit Shabby Apple's Facebook page here and "Like" them. Make sure to leave me a comment letting me know that you've done so.  The contest will be open from now until Monday, March 5th at 12pm.  I will choose one winner at random.  The contest is only open to U.S. residents.



And as an added bonus, Shabby Apple is offering all of you a 20% discount code so you can shop to your hearts delight.  Enter designevo20off at checkout to receive the discount. Coupon is valid for 30 days.

We're Tying the Knot!

After I shared the exciting news that I will be getting married this year I promised to share some of the wedding planning details.  The first project I tackled after securing the location was creating the Save the Dates.  I knew I wanted to make the Save the Dates myself and when I came across this card I had the perfect jumping off point.


Concept by Christina Moralego
I change the color scheme, fonts, wording, and placement of text but the idea of recipient actually tying a knot when they open the card remained. 








It was a fun surprise, family and friends seemed to really enjoy receiving these Save the Dates.

Stitch on Two

I recently received an email from Kate Maloney Interior Design about a the new decor shop opened on the second floor of their design studio.  Stitch on Two, located on 875 Main Street in Cambridge, MA, is filled with an eclectic mix of furniture and antique accessories. Inventory is ever changing so visit often.



The store is open Fridays and Saturdays and also by appointment so contact the shop to plan your visit.



Also be sure to check Kate Maloney's portfolio and her blog The Velvet Fantastic.

Reader Question: Help I'm Doubting My Fabric Choices

I received an email from a reader looking for help picking out fabric to upholster some recent ebay/craigslist scores, here's what she had to say:

"I recently purchased these wonderful pieces at rock bottoms prices on eBay and my local thrift store. In the proposed setting is a mid century modern navy blue velvet sofa, a brass bar cart, a pair of brass and glass coffee tables and a pair of wooden lamps (without shades). I was initially thinking of upholstering the console in distressed leather and the stools in Schmachers' aquamarine Chiang Mai dragon fabric BUT I'm beginning to second guess myself. Additionally there are NO existing window treatments or rug."

I actually really like the fabric that she choose to recover the stools but I thought it might be helpful to have a few more options. Distressed leather sounds great for the console, I would stay with the original plan for that.

The reader's first choice is the Chiang Mai dragon fabric and I think the coral flowers are a nice compliment to her navy velvet sofa so I stuck with that color combination but choose the Hot House Flowers fabric as my top choice because I liked the cream colored background. Two other options, a suzani and another floral, could also work and are less expensive than the top 2 choices.

With the rich colored sofa and bold patterned stools I thought a textured neutral rug would help bring balance to the space. I've always been a big fan of this pebble rug from West Elm.

What do you think of this fabric options? Which one would you choose? Can you recommend a fabric option for these stools?

Related Posts

Reader Question - Becoming an Interior Designer

Reader Question - What is the Best White Paint?

Delightful Deal - Hammered Aluminum Bowl

This hammered aluminum ANGENÄM bowl from Ikea designed by Nike Karlsson has a delicious matte black exterior contrasting the glam gold interior and it's only $24.99.

Related Posts:

Delightful Deal - The Perfect Carry-on

Round Up - Petite Accent Tables

The Tippler

tip·pler

¹  noun

a person who imbibes intoxicating liquor (aka - a drunk)

A Tippler is also a new pub in the basement of Chelsea Market with a cool speakeasy vibe (there is no sign out front) and a menu of innovative cocktails, craft beers, and architecture to drool over.

The space, just recently unearthed after over 100 years, includes locally salvaged details like reclaimed water tower wood and train rails from the nearby Highline entrance.

If you plan a visit be sure to try the Caipasutra - don't let the list of ingredients scare you, turns out garam masala is a delicious beverage addition.

Photos care of thetippler.com