It was a most excellent summer weekend around these parts. From the top:

Bongo Lounge in the West Village serves all their drinks in vintage glassware.
Neon feet with an old friend.
Mint chip ice cream from Van Leeuwen in the park.
Corn at the farmer’s market! Corn at the farmer’s market!
Extremely cute mini eggplants purchased mostly for cuteness (rather than for actual culinary plans).
Channeling my inner eighth-grader with a multi-color mani.

*Are you on Instagram? Find me there as brettbara! xoxo

This year my Ukrainian egg obsession merged with my desserts obsession… and Ukrainian egg cut-out cookies were born!

A few points to share:

*Black icing is pretty gnarly. You need to add like two whole containers of black food coloring to get a really black frosting, and by that point it tastes too bitter to eat. So in the future, I’d make a few cookies in black for display, then make more with different-colored backgrounds to actually eat.

*I used royal icing for these, and a #1 tip for the piping. (I don’t own enough #1 tips for all of the colors I was using, so some of the colors were done in #2 and #3 tips, and I think those look too heavy. I’ll definitely stock up on #1s next time I’m at the baking store.)

*I’ll share my recipes for royal icing and cut-out cookies and how-to’s in another post… I’m rushing to finish some deadlines but wanted to share these photos before Easter passes me by! Hoppity hop!

Earlier this week, Grace at Design Sponge posted about some adorable cat-themed makeup she’d received as a gift. When I clicked through to check out the full line from French fashion company Paul & Joe, I let out a yelp of kitty-themed delight. Dapper cats wearing pink top hats, surrounded by every manner of cute cat cosmetics? I mean really!

There are eye shadows embossed with kitty shapes, eye liner to give yourself kitty eyes, blush in tubes with kitty heads, lip sticks with kitty paw prints, pressed powder with kitty silhouettes… and cute kitty-themed color names like Glamour Puss, Kitten Claws, Catfight and Purrr-fect. In short, it’s total catlady nirvana.

Needless to say, Fifi and I are quite smitten with the whole line… and I think I know what I’m gifting myself for my upcoming birthday. Meow!

I don’t know from whence it came, but suddenly this bubblegum pink is taking over my life. In the past four days it has managed to infiltrate my world from every angle, and let me tell you–it’s been delightful. First, I innocently picked up this luscious cake of Cascade Magnum (in color 9478).

Then this Yolo paint started going up in my living room…

Then I made my first-ever attempt at macarons and I swear I didn’t color them pink to go with a theme, it just happened! Really, it did.

They were awfully cute to make.

I was 86% happy with my first macaron attempt. (I’ve heard so much about how difficult they are to make that I was fully prepared for my first batch to be a failure.) I literally screamed with joy when I peeked in the oven and saw that I had achieved the elusive pieds, or little crispy feet at the base of each cookie. But, I also got that pesky tip on each cookie rather than the desired perfectly smooth dome top, so I have to work on that. I’m going to try more recipes. I’ll report back… I may be obsessed with macarons now!

Somehow, the green-tea filling in the macarons seems to have introduced a green theme into the mix, because then…

I snagged this extremely cool succulent with ruffly pink-edged leaves.

And then I fell in love with this chair. Can we just talk for a minute about how much it looks like that succulent?! I would snap this piece up in a second… if it didn’t cost $7000. Sigh. I’ll have to keep this one in the dream file for now.

Last year, walking the show floor at Quilt Market (a trade show for the consumer fabric and sewing industry), a fresh, bright and hip-looking booth caught my eye. Lo and behold, it was the Colette booth, the company that produces a popular line of garment patterns for fashionable sewers–an adorable collection of retro-inspired pieces that are classic and hip at the same time. I’ve always been a fan of Colette patterns, so I was thrilled to meet the company’s founder, Sarai Mitnick, and discover that she was just as lovely as her designs!

Sarai and I got to talking and discovered that we both had our first sewing books coming out. (We also learned that we are fellow catladies.) Today, I’m thrilled to feature Sarai’s just-released book, The Colette Sewing Handbook! Congrats, Sarai! (Fifi loves it.)

Now, I don’t say this often about a craft book, but when I sat down to flip through this book and check it out, I found myself reading every single page from cover to cover. This book is packed full of information to help you learn everything you need to know to sew garments. It really has everything the newbie or intermediate sewer would need to either get started or take their garment sewing skills to the next level.

I love that Sarai really breaks down everything you need to know to start sewing garments–she gives you all the basics, but also goes into enough detail to make sure you’re learning how to do stuff right, and get super-professional results. There’s everything from basics like how to sew darts to learning how to use a pattern…

To really great step-by-step instructions taking you through each portion of creating the garments…

To my personal favorite, a fantastic section on learning how to alter patterns to fit you perfectly. (I learned so much in this chapter!)

And just as you would expect from Colette, the garments themselves are totally cute. As a bonus, each one is designed to help you build your skills (love that).

I totally want to make this skirt this weekend.

And good news! Sarai’s publisher has offered one copy of The Colette Sewing Handbook to giveaway free!! To enter, leave a comment and tell me, do you currently sew garments, and if so, what do you sew? And if you don’t, what would you most like to learn to do?

Sorry, this contest is only open to those with a US mailing address. Winner will be determined by random number generator on Tuesday, January 24.  This contest is now closed.

Congrats to winner Megann H, who reports she is a newbie who’s sewn basic garments for her kids. I hope this book inspires you to keep on sewing. Megann! xo

To pick up a copy of the Colette book right now, you can buy it here.

Oh, and happy Friday, all! (If you’re new here, don’t worry–this is her happy face.) xoxo

I was out window shopping yesterday and I fell very hard in love with the kMix line of small appliances from DeLonghi. I mean omg, right? They’re just too cute, and they appear to be well-made while being fairly reasonably priced too. I don’t even drink coffee, yet after looking at these I feel that I very seriously need a coffee maker, and most likely an espresso machine too.

I actually do need an electric kettle and a toaster, so maybe one of these will find a home with me. We’ll see. I usually take a long time to make decisions about these things. You know–toasters. Life and death decision kinda thing.

I thought I’d share some great DIY ideas I’ve come across recently on Pinterest. So many ideas, so little time! Here goes:
Wrap Japanese washi tape around simple candies for instant adorableness! (I recently went on a washi splurge at cutetape.com and I do not regret it. Washi tape is like fancy stickers for grown-ups. And by grown-ups I mean those of us who act like eight-year-olds.)

Love this for large-scale, cheap DIY art. Just paint a bunch of canvasses white, add some stripes (heck, maybe with the washi tape you just bought), and you’re done. Classy!

This is a toy horse spray-painted glossy white! What what! How can it look so good? I want to spray-paint a whole menagerie for my credenza. Then maybe cover them in glitter too. (DIY for the white horse shown here at DreamGreenDIY.)

More easy large-scale artwork. Just make some big circles on the wall and paint them in. Love it.

How cute would these be for small holiday gifts, party favors, or just party treats? Just fill plastic spoons with tempered chocolate then arrange pretty candies on top. I love this so much. Just picking out the candies alone would be so fun. (from DeliciousDeliciousDelicious)

Are you on Pinterest? If so let’s be friends! Follow me here. xoxo

Now that my new (vintage) credenza is almost all painted and made-over and ready to roll (more on that soon), I can finally unpack the remaining boxes in the dining room, and I got some chairs so that I (and guests) can actually sit and eat at my table–my thoughts have turned to a light fixture for that room. Currently there is a sad Ikea paper lantern-type pendant lamp in there, and as much as I try to like it, and as many ideas as I’ve come up with to give it a DIY makeover, that thing is bad and has to go. Which brings me to the big question of the day: what kind of light fixture will I get?

Ultra modern avant-garde minimalist? Blown glass with a nod to baroque but clean and modern? (In a funky color, or black?) Industrial and deconstructed?

A grown-up Jonathan Adler chandelier (currently on sale; worth the investment)? A simple drum pendant? A vintage-y scalloped cascading glass deal?

I dunno. These are just a few I’ve been staring at online so I thought I’d gather them all up in a post so I won’t forget about them. I’ll let you know how it all shakes out.

I do know one thing for sure, and that’s that I’m fairly certain there’s a large black and white photograph of a horse in my future. I can’t fight it. This one is White Dews by Taca Zhijie Sui from 20×200. It’s just so dreamy.

How about these yarny chairs? Pretty cool. I came across this photo somewhere online and I believe (to the best of my foreign language limitations) that I’ve traced it back to its original source, a Japanese craft blog called Plain Living. The site is in Japanese, but it’s worth a visit just for the photos alone – lots of adorable crafts, beautiful food, and great photography. There’s so much amazing craft inspiration coming out of Japan right now, and this blog is a good place to start soaking it all in.

So, I think the creator of the blog Plain Living is the person who made these chairs (if anyone has any other info, please let me know in the comments). From looking at this photo, I have a feeling the chair on the left was made by working crochet surface slip stitch through the spaces in the metal chair, with roving. At least that’s what it looks like to me – what do you think? The chair on the right could be the wrong side of the surface slip stitch, or it could be that the roving is just woven in and out through the metal spaces.

I totally want to try this — all I need is a wire chair. Hmmmmm…..

How amazing would this technique look worked on one of these babies? Unfortunately these are a bit spendy for me right now, but a crafty girl can dream. 1. Eames Wire Dining Chair, $629; 2. Knoll Bertoia Diamond Lounge Chair, $988; 3. Knoll Bertoia Side Chair, $501; 4. Knoll Bertoia Asymmetric Chaise, $6,187 (I think this one would be downright spectacular with a sweater!)

But all hope it not lost. There are many knock-offs of these types of mid-century wire chairs, and even the authentic ones can often be found vintage at a reasonable price. Consider me officially on the hunt.

Thanks to a tipoff from CraftZine I recently discovered Australian artist Dominique Falla. And I want her to be my new crafty best friend.

Dominique makes art using a variety of tactile mediums, relying heavily on thread, sewing and stitching motifs, with a lot of typography thrown in. Pretty much a dream to a girl like me.

The above piece is made with nails and thread. I’m absolutely mesmerized by the way the color changes on this piece.

Embroidered quilt blocks.

A typeface based on Fair Isle knitting, then embroidered on paper.

This is from a series of 26 pieces where each letter is made using a stitchery or craft technique that starts with that letter. (A is for Applique, H is for Herringbone Stitch, R is for Ruching, etc.)

And finally, lettering made from the negative space formed by a cluster of gumpaste flowers (part of a large cake).

Stitching, crafting, typography AND cake? Oh my. Dominique’s work is so inspiring – I’d love to make huge nail/thread mural on my big, empty dining room wall… but I think 2000 nails in the wall might really send my landlord over the edge.