The Perfect Holiday Party

This time of year brings together all of my loves, decorating, baking, cooking and entertaining.  This was the year of the Black Christmas and the theme carried into our annual holiday party.  With the tree twinkling in the corner there wasn't much left to do but to string up some lights and garlands and add little pops of life with poinsettias all around.  I have managed to keep some of my poinsettias alive from years past and now they are a bright shade of green, mixed with some new additions of bright white poinsettias add life throughout the house.

As for any party, the menu is very important.  I have stashed away some sure fire recipes but I also did a lot of research and brainstorming on Pinterest to find some new and exciting recipes.  I kept the menu mainly finger foods to make it easier to stand and mingle.  I love tartlets and crostinis but I also added some more substantial meat entrees.  The menu went as follows..

Porcini and Rosemary Crusted Beef Tenderloin with a Port Wine Sauce
Swedish Meatballs (from Ikea, always a favorite)
Kale Salad with olive oil and salt
Mushroom Tartlets with Garlic Herb Cheese
Red WIne Caramelized Onions & Goat Cheese Tartlets
Grilled Caprese Kebabs  (added tortellini)
Baked Brie with Balsamic Rosemary Cranberry Sauce
Goat Cheese Toasts with Walnuts, Honey and Thyme
Smoked Salmon on Mustard-Chive and Dill Butter Toast

The next important element for a perfect party is a signature cocktail.  This year I went with a Pomegranate and Rosemary White Sangria to keep things light, fruity and festive.  I made this the night before so that it had at least 24 hours for the flavors to blend and meld together.  I don't like really sweet sangrias and this one was light while being boozy from the cointreau and savory from the rosemary.  There was also a variety of white and red wines and beers cooling on the porch.

Lighting is important for setting the right mood.  I kept the ambient lighting low and strung lights around the interior to add a twinkle and sparkle.

We brought up the porto-bar which was perfect for our cocktail and wine station.

I hope your next party is successful and full of cheer.  Happy Holidays! 

Spread Holiday Cheer

peace&love

Rebecca

to decorate a #BlackChristmas

This is always my favorite time of year.  It's a time when I can transform the house into a magical wonderland.  Adding sparkles into hidden corners and garlands and lights everywhere.  Every year is a opportunity for new color combinations and arrangements.  This year I chose an unconventional Christmas color, Black, and I had a lot of fun with it!

Almost as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is done and I am able to move again, I set out in search for the perfect tree.  It's not such a difficult task since my Grammy has the final remains of an x-mas tree farm on her property.  This year I searched for a rough and rustic tree.  I am getting tired seeing perfect trees everywhere and I wanted to give life to a Charlie Brown tree.

Some staples for my tree and the interior are lots and lots of tinsel.  I love to drape gold and silver, yes I mixed both together, all over the house.

I've always wanted to use a popcorn garland.  The matte look of the popcorn perfectly complements the shine of the tinsel and gives my tree the rustic feel I am going for.

I used three types of garlands, tinsel, beads and popcorn.  I draped them in swags, asymmetrically yet balanced around the tree.

This is where I had a lot of fun with the spray paint, black ornaments.  I took some old ornaments and burnt out light bulbs and sprayed them in high gloss and stain finishes.  

The black ornaments add a nice contrast to all the bright lights and gold ornaments.  My trees always has at least three different sizes of lights to add an extra twinkle.  My secret is to wrap a strand around the trunk of the tree to add a twinkle from within.

My new favorite thing is black and gold shells.  They make a surprising and classy arrangement in a glass bowl or use them to class up your presents.

As a quick and simple decoration I gather all of my glass vases and glasses and fill them with the leftover ornaments and lightbulbs.  Depending on your color scheme and theme, you can fill these containers with almost anything!

As always, don't forget the gift tags.  These simple gift tags are perfect on any present!

Be Inspired. Be Bold. and Spread Holiday Cheer

peace&love

Rebecca

hey becca

Introducing the hey becca collection.  This collection is comprised of various woven, hand woven and sewn textile samples.  With the palm as my inspiration, all of these patterns and textures somehow reflect this beautiful plant.

To complete the collection I included not only textural woven samples but also palm prints.

 I also experimented with some reclaimed materials for the recycled section of the collection.

 All of my natural dyes to show different color ways that are available.

 The woven interiors part of the collection where walls are woven to create softer wall treatment applications.

This first quarter at SCAD has been amazing.  I have learned so much and my ideas and goals have grown.  I still have a long way to go, this is just the surface of the patterns and textures that will be created.  I look forward to my next quarter where I will continue to create palm inspired patterns and start to incorporate them into the interior and furniture design.

Be Inspired. Be Bold.

peace&love

Rebecca

to weave a wall

Be Inspired. Be Bold.

peace&love

Rebecca

To Dye For.. purple basil and mint

This week I experimented with herbs as my source for natural dyes.  I had read that different herbs produced different colors so I thought I would give it a try.  At my local farmers market I found purple basil and mint and decided that was a good start.  Just like most natural dyes the plant material needs to be chopped up and simmered for 20 to 30 minutes.  After I added the chopped herbs to the pot I realized that it would be a good idea to contain them in a cheese cloth. Oh well, maybe next time.

Purple Basil.

Mint.

As the herbs simmered I cut my samples.  I love seeing how the dye reacts to different materials.  Most of these samples are cotton but some are blends.  The instructions say to presoak the fabrics but I never do, I will have to experiment in the future to see if it makes a difference.  Most people presoak in soda ash.

I made four sets of samples for the two dyes. Half way through I took out one of the samples out of each bath and added a mordant, alum, to see its effect on the dye. 

The final results produced a very subtle color. I really enjoy these soft colors, but it just depends on the application of the color. Not everything needs to be bold, and I'm a sucker for subtle shades of gray.

As you can see, the alum made a difference in the purple basil dye, enriching the purple. It's remarkable the similarities between the rest of the dyes. I would be interested the results in mixing herbs in the same pot to see what colors emerged.

Be Inspired. Be Bold. Be Natural.

peace &love

Rebecca

To Dye For.. red cabbage

Recently I've been really curious about natural dyes and after some research in have been amazed at the variety of natural resources that produce a wide range of colors.  Most of the natural dyes can be grown and most are probably already in your garden.  Others are compost dyes which are usually the skins or peels of different items, like onion skins, avocado skins and even coffee grinds.

I found this great head of cabbage at the local farmers market and thought this would be an easy dye to get started with.

With some research I learned that red cabbage dye does best with a mordant to keep the dye colorfast.  A simple mordant is alum and can be found in your cabinet, or the grocery store.  I also learned that modifiers could be used to alter the colors.  So I decided to do two batches, one with a modifier of salt and one without.

So I chopped up the cabbage into 1 inch chunks and filled the pots with water, I wasn't really measuring, just what looked like enough. I let this cabbage soup simmer for about 20 minutes, until the cabbage started loosing its color.  Towards the end is when I added the alum, about 1 1/2 tsp for each pot.

I then assembled my samples.  I was curious how the dye would react to different fabrics so I cut up a bunch of strips.

For my next project I want only the tips to be dyed so I rigged up this contraption with clips and string so the fabric pieces could be suspended in the dye.

After the dye is ready your supposed to strain out the cabbage but I left some in, to lazy to strain it out.  I suspended the fabric for about 20 minutes then turned of the heat and let it sit for a while.  At about the 15 minute mark I added the salt to one of the pots.  The salt was supposed to turn the dye more blue, but I did not really see a difference.  If citrus is added it should turn the dye more pink.

After I got to my desired color I took the fabric samples out the cool off then rinsed them out.  I was surprised to see this brilliant purple color emerge.  I almost didn't want to rinse it out, knowing most of the color would leave.

This is the final results, a beautiful lavender and tips dyed perfectly just as planned.  It's amazing that a simple produce item can produce such delicate blues.  I can't wait to see what colors other items in my garden can create!

Be Inspired. Be Bold. 

peace&love

Rebecca