Sailor Jerry Pin Up Magnets (part one)

2013 in retrospect

This year I spent Christmas here in NYC instead of traveling. While I certainly missed being among family and friends for the holidays, It was nice to get a chance to kick back and have a relaxing break from the usual hustle and bustle of my day-to-day in the city. I sent out cards, wrapped presents, caught up on all my TV shows and got a lot of "out with the old in with the new" cleaning up done before the new year.

2013 was a fantastic year for me and I couldn't be more grateful for it. I got my first drill, reupholstered our mini bar, visited Martha's Vineyard and Asbury Park for the first time, made a surprise visit to PR for my dad's birthday, got my very own KitchenAid mixer (Thank you Riki!), helped launch two new wines and got a promotion at the end of the year. I truly don't know how I am going to top that but I'm certainly looking forward to more adventures and new projects in the year ahead... and speaking of new adventures, we'll soon be looking for a new apt and planning a trip to Hawaii. 

Bring it on 2014!

How to Tuesday: Lined zippered pouch out of an onion bag

We tend to go through a lot of onions in the kitchen so I always grab large bags of them at the grocery store and they come in these mesh bags (see in the far left) which have always struck me as DIY project waiting to happen. The font and graphics on the front are really cool so I knew I really wanted to use them in some way for some time now. I  finally decided on an idea this week and  set out make a pouch with it and some leftover fabric. Came out pretty polished for a first try, Riki saw it at home and thought I'd bought it! 

Want to make your own? Click below for a picture heavy step-by-step on how I made it:

Hand Stamped DIY round up

I've seen some cool stamped designs on band records and shirts over the years but to be honest I haven't really given the technique much attention before in my own projects. I know, I'm pretty surprised myself, after all stamping, along with stenciling and screen printing (the latter two of which I've done my fair share of experimenting with) are pretty much at the heart of DIY in many ways. So here's a round up of awesome stamp and stamping related projects to inspire you (and me) to get into stamping everywhere and everything. 

Enjoy the hell out of it.

x

Cocktail time: Tiki drank

EASY TIKI DRANK 

Word on the street is that today, August 16th is National Rum Day so debuting a new cocktail series on the blog is only appropriate! "Cocktail Time", the new series of posts will showcase tried and tested cocktail recipes from my very own home mixologist, and boyfriend extraordinaire. For more on him and his experience on the category read his profile below.

It was purely a coincidence that the first recipe he sent through is a rum cocktail but I personally can't think of a better way to celebrate the "holiday" and kick off the weekend than with a delicious tropical tiki drank in hand! 

Cocktail recipe after the jump!

Finds: Pyrex Glamorama

Vintage Pyrex ad found via Vidalia's Vintage

I've always really liked the look of vintage pyrex, its durable, inexpensive and comes in quite a few cool colors and patterns. I never set out to look for pyrex in particular but was stoked when I stumbled across these cool mugs.


I noticed one of these guys sitting there unconsciously and held on to it for a second before deciding it wasn't worth getting because it was a single mug. Then, as fate would have it, I unearthed two more from a pile of glass and ceramic ware. They just had to come with me at that point.

Pyrex comes in a ton of cutesy and quirky patterns but I don't think I've ever spotted any striped sets like these before. If I'm ever so lucky as to find more you better believe i'll snag em' to add to the collection. Would be awesome to have a full set!

As cool as the mugs are my true pride and joy in the pyrex department is this amazing mid century coffee carafe. Its full on atomic awesomeness. I mean, seriously... how kick-ass is this?

I saw a similar carafe (sans the warmer) in a vintage store in Martha's Vineyard awhile back and was kicking myself for not having taken it home with me so I scored the internet for one and found this beauty, which pretty much had every original piece except for the box (SCORE!). The warmer rack on the bottom still even has candle wax for keeping coffee warm. It will likely be more of a special occasion or display item for me but it's still great to have the full piece.

I scream DIY

It's been incredibly hot outside lately here in New York and if you too have been enduring temperatures fit for a heat stroke, I feel for you. I do love summer, don't get me wrong - I'm from a tropical island, where it is humid and hot all the time but when it comes to NYC heatwaves it feels like all the concrete absorbes the heat making it even hotter. I'm always totally blown aback by how incredibly unbearable it can get sometimes but can you guess what makes it all better? This magical thing called iced cream.