Random musings about fashion, travels, cupcakes, and handcrafts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Jardin et Maison
The recent warm weather on the East Coast and the new trend of floral prints has me remembering a trip I took to Granville years ago. If you're not familiar with Granville, it is a seaside town along the Normandy coast of France, best known as the birthplace of Christian Dior. In fact, his family's ancestral home and the surrounding gardens have been converted into a museum. I had the pleasure of taking a trip out to Granville while I was in Europe, and visiting the museum and gardens. I now realize that I would love to live in a little seaside town on the Normandy coast in a pink house (you'll know what I mean when you see the pics below).
Fashion's Hidden Genius
Armani, Chanel, Louis Vuitton....these are names that are instantly recognizable by people regardless of whether they shop these brands or not. However, Chado Ralph Rucci is not a name that most people outside the world of his couture clients would recognize. Trained under Halston and Balenciaga, Ralph Rucci is an American designer with a discrete sense of luxury and an amazing attention to detail. Never a slave to trends, Rucci designs clothes that are elegant, timeless, and incredibly artistic. A painter and sculptor at heart, these passions tend to make their way into his designs. He mainly sticks to a neutral palette of black, navy, brown, ivory, and taupe, and only occasionally introduces a pop of color into the collection.
Here is a smattering of some of his designs over the past few years.
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Flower Pom-Poms
I made these flower pom-poms for an outdoor party I'm throwing in a couple of weeks. Instead of using fresh flowers that will wilt in the hot summer weather, I decided to make these. They are colorful, whimsical, and are a great take-home for guests. The theme of the party is a Mexican Fiesta and these pom-poms are also in keeping with the Mexican tradition of paper crafting.
First, unfold and layout 5 beverage size napkins in whatever color you would like. I used hot pink. Bulk napkins can be purchased fairly cheaply from party stores or warehouse clubs.
Next, start to fold the napkins accordian style. This means you fold on one side, then flip over and fold on the other side. I made the folds approximately one inch in size which added up to six folds in total.
Next, use a twist tie, pipe cleaner, or ribbon/string to secure the folds.
Using a scissor, scallop both edges of the napkin. You can either make them rounded or spiked. I made these rounded to look like petals. Spiking the ends tends to look more like a leaf.
Then, stick a bamboo skewer (approximately 8 to 12 inches long into one of the center folds and secure with either glue or with the pipe cleaner or twist tie. Starting at one end, gently start to pull apart the layers, one by one. In the end, you get this beautiful bouquet of flowers! I'm currently using a couple to liven up the living room.
Another idea is to make the bottome napkin green so it looks like the leaves of the flower peaking out from underneath.
Note: If you would prefer to hang these, you can attach floral wire or a long ribbon to the twist tie/pipe cleaner and hang from trees, tents, etc. You can also use larger dinner napkins or tissue paper to make bigger pom-poms. For larger pom-poms, I would suggest using 8 to 10 pieces of tissue paper or dinner napkin per pom-pom.
First, unfold and layout 5 beverage size napkins in whatever color you would like. I used hot pink. Bulk napkins can be purchased fairly cheaply from party stores or warehouse clubs.
Next, start to fold the napkins accordian style. This means you fold on one side, then flip over and fold on the other side. I made the folds approximately one inch in size which added up to six folds in total.
Next, use a twist tie, pipe cleaner, or ribbon/string to secure the folds.
Then, stick a bamboo skewer (approximately 8 to 12 inches long into one of the center folds and secure with either glue or with the pipe cleaner or twist tie. Starting at one end, gently start to pull apart the layers, one by one. In the end, you get this beautiful bouquet of flowers! I'm currently using a couple to liven up the living room.
Another idea is to make the bottome napkin green so it looks like the leaves of the flower peaking out from underneath.
Note: If you would prefer to hang these, you can attach floral wire or a long ribbon to the twist tie/pipe cleaner and hang from trees, tents, etc. You can also use larger dinner napkins or tissue paper to make bigger pom-poms. For larger pom-poms, I would suggest using 8 to 10 pieces of tissue paper or dinner napkin per pom-pom.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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