The Everyday Posh

Pinch Me! I am Martha Stewarts Dreamer Into Doer of The Week!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:44:00 +0000

Yesterday on our bonus day I was named Martha Stewart's Dreamer Into Doer of the Week!! I am so honored! I am on an amazing journey and I can't wait to see where life takes me next. I am so happy to have such a support team of friends, family, and community! Thank you so much for helping me achieve my goals!
Love and Blessing!
Brigitte
Come on by and see the interview and feature!
http://dreamers.marthastewart.com/page/doer-of-the-week-brigitte-klotzek-obringerdoer-of-the-week-brigit?center=856244&gallery=874704&slide=874907

Candy Land Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:10:00 +0000

What a party!! After receiving the game "Candy Land" for Christmas my daughter was all about having a Candy Land themed 4th birthday party. We had so much fun with the planning of this party! We sent out invites to her preschool class in the shape of cupcakes like the ones on the game. The cupcake came out of the wrapper to reveal the invite.

Yanna and I got more excited as the RSVPs started to come in. The party was officially on! Although after getting involved in a number of other activities this month my budget for the party was significantly cut down for this party. So I knew that I would have to edit and really channel that DIY goddess from within. One of the best parts were the giant lollipops! We purchased some really fun donut shaped balloons from Party City and picked up some PVC pipe from Home Depot. We attached the balloon to the PVC pipe and wrapped it with cellophane and some ribbon. We made the base out of cardboard and tin foil. Our livingroom looked hilarious with 15 of these standing all over the place. It was awesome to see the kids faces light up when they walked in and saw lollipops bigger than they were! Each Lollipop ended up costing about a $1.00 a piece!

My mother-in-law Jane and my mother worked side-by-side assembling these party hats that I designed. They were so sweet on the kids! Although, I have to admit, they didn't last long on their heads! Especially on the boys!

I was really inspired by a backdrop that I saw on Pinterest for a flamingo party. I had the 4" circle die for my sizzix ready to go and punched out circles to my hearts content. Jane was then put in charge of putting them up onto the strings. She may still be seeing spots today and may never want to see one again! While it was a little tedious to put together it cost about a total of $5.00!! What a bang for the buck!! I used the Candy Land Font for Yanna's banner.

For food we did all sorts of things and one of the things that I learned about myself...I am not a baker! But hey, I am still learning in my quest of domestic goddessdome. My sister found an amazing bakery Just Baked and brought some delicious buttercream cupcakes. Jane helped me by putting together the cake so that we could decorate. While I was going to dabble in marshmallow fondant we used the M&Ms that we had sorted. It ended up going together quite quickly! I went back to one of my favorite things making chocolates! We did giant chocolate dipped marshmallows, chocolate covered oreo cookies, chocolate covered hearshaped marshmallows, and these amazing cake pops made with crushed Oreos!! The kids seemed to really love everything including the fruit!! We of course had to make rainbow fruit kabobs!

I am also really proud of the candy display. It was so easy. We tiered styrofoam that you would use for floral arrangements and made an arrangement of lollipops!

For activities we played musical sugar dots, gumdrop bowling (beware, boys also like using giant bowling pins to bludgeon each other with) we decorated cookies and played freeze dance. We tried to have them run off the sugar as much as we could! The parents loved me! I sugared up their kids and sent them home with more candy and noise makers!! They LOVE ME!! (Ok, you may want to say a few prayers and send some positive thoughts my way for all of the curses that may have been sent)

All in all it was a total success!! Granted next time I may hire a party planner and I will stick to the designing aspect to save some sanity. But I had such an amazing time for an amazing daughter, with my amazing family and friends!! Thank you so much I love you!

I will post some more pics soon with some tutorials on things like the backdrop, lollipops, display, and the song list that my sister put together with all candy related songs!!

As always, Stay inspired and Stay Posh! Hugs!!

Etsy Newsletter Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:27:00 +0000

It has been some month!! Just as I was knee deep in candy land party planning my computer started to go nuts! When I went to look it was all from my wonderful Etsians! I knew that had to mean that something of mine showed up somewhere and here it was! The Etsy Newsletter Jackpot! Etsy's Gillian Herring released the "Let The Good Times Roll" Newsletter with my Harlequin blossom box in it. I love it! And for all of you who found me due to this, welcome to my crazy world! :-)
Happy Fat Tuesday!! I hope that you Packzis were worth every calorie!! Mine sure were!

Cotton Candy Cake Pops

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Yes, I did something horrible!! This planning of the candy land party had made me go mad. I now have a...COTTON CANDY MAKER!!! AHHHH! Not only that, but it is not just any cotton candy maker...oh no it is not...It can make cotton candy out of hard candies! So I can make Chocolate, Caramel, and Coffee cotton candies! You want to know something even funnier? I don't even like cotton candy! (I know, my blog following has just cut in half with that statement) But, something about chocolate cotton candy and I may be made a believer. But seriously, what is a candy land party without cotton candy!? Hmm? Ok...

So needless to say, I have been playing with my Nostalgia Electronics Cotton Candy Maker (Oh, it works with sugarfree candy as well!) and I have been trying all sorts of things out. From making my own paper cones to of course using what I have like the paper straws I recently used for the gliders! Yet another great use for them!

Then I put the cake pops that I was working with into the darn thing and look at what I got! Oh yes, cotton candy cake pops! Soooo happy! So stinkn cute! I also discovered something new. The cake pop stands are little funnels! I got a ton of them with this sand art kit for my daughter so now I have a use for them!
Overall a good day if you ask me!

Well, I shall continue play around with things!
In the meantime, stay inspired and stay posh!!
Hugs,

Brigitte

Freebie Printable - Straw Glider

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:37:00 +0000

What do you get when you have two preschoolers, a biologist, a GM exec, a lawyer, and a graphic designer at a Halloween party at a science center making a paper plane with a straw? A bunch of adults acting like little kids throwing planes at one another while the preschoolers stare at them wondering what is wrong with them and then ultimately a free printable designed to share with everyone in time for Valentine's day...whew! That was a mouthful!
So in my quest to become a rock star mom, I took on planning Yanna's preschool Valentine's day party. My hubby outright said that I didn't have enough time to Mrs. Davis and I kicked him under the table and said that I would love to:-) But planning became a little more complicated than anticipated since I tend to sometimes make things rather complex and I had to think more in line with a 3-4 year-old. Plus so many projects for Valentine's day is geared to girls. The other day my package from ThinkGarnish.com arrived for the Candy Land Party that I am planning for later this month and right on top were the paper straws that I ordered. I then remembered this project that I did at the science center! It is normally made with two loops, but I tried to make it more "valentinesy" (yes, that is a word!) by trying to do a heart shape in the back and it worked!! You have got to try this at home with your little one, or gee, do it even if you don't have a little one!

Start out with downloading the Straw Glider Printable Template from my shop for FREE! I have instructions on the sheets now as well.
You will need:
- Straw Glider Printable Template
- Straw (I love the paper ones)
- Scissors
- Tape

Cut out the strips. You can cut these down as well and try out different sized loops. The big loops tend to glide the easiest while the smaller loops tend to go faster.

The the circular version tape strips to each end of the straw. Roll the paper around, overlap edges and tape. Done!

For the heart shape, fold the long strip in the middle and tape the straw to the middle. Curl the top around to form a heart shape and tape together. Add your front loop to the straw and Done!!

Hold it like a regular paper plane and throw! I mean, how easy was that! You will be pleasently surprised at how well these things fly! I think that this is going to work out well for one of the projects! I hope that you enjoy them too!

As always, Stay Inspired and Stay Posh!

Candy Land Party Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:05:00 +0000

After receiving the Candy Land Game for Christmas, Yanna asked for a Candy Land Themed Birthday Party. Oh yes, parents are going to love me when their kids go home hopped up on sugar! I think that I may also go up a dress size or two with just the planning. We have been having so much fun!! Here are the invites that we sent out today. The cupcake invite comes out of the cupcake wrapper. We placed them in some cello bags with twist ties and name tags. I was really happy with how they turned out. We have such fun things we are planning for the party. You can see some of my inspiration on my Pinterest Board

http://pinterest.com/theposhevent/candyland-birthday-party-inspiration/

Eeep! We are going to have so much fun!!

The Printable Shoppe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:30:00 +0000

As you may know I have been building The Printable Shoppe site forever and a day. Then I wised up and hired Stephanie from Sweet Boutique Design. Best idea ever. It was so nice to talk to someone who knew what she was doing. I would come up with an idea for the site and she would tell me what it is called! She is great to work with and we came up with a fabulous site with all sorts of awesome features!
- All of the digital items have INSTANT downloads!
- All items earn reward points towards other items
- We now can offer gift certificates, and amazing coupons
- A bunch of freebies
- We have an affiliates program
There is so much more! Now I just have to fill the shop up. I am chugging away at it. Between the whole family being sick and my computer crashing, things got a little slow for a moment! But these are the joys of working from home!
You will find new products in the shoppe everyday now. Our Etsy Shop is still in full swing.

Stay tuned, we have some more fun news on the way! Always something to keep me busy!! But we are having fun!

Stop by The Printable Shoppe and let me know what you think about it so far!
The Printable Shoppe

Party Patisserie: City Chic Girls Night In

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:11:00 +0000

Isn't this party stunning! Debbie from the Party Patisserie put together this fun party for her girls. She used my printable blossom boxes as bags! I love it! And she also used the Posh Dots Place Cards. She has a great blog. Check it out and share some love! http://partypatisserie.com/2012/01/party-theme-city-chic-girls-night-in/

Bold Damask Blossom Box

Posh Dots Printable Place Cards

Feature in Meetings and Conventions Magazine!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:11:00 +0000

Today Jennifer of Meetings and Conventions Magazine contacted me to let me know that we were featured as the Daily Hot Idea! I love the idea of our products being used at meetings and conventions! I already got a bunch of ideas from their site. I think that everyone can use their tips no matter if they are planning a small meeting or huge event! Be sure to check them out!

http://www.meetings-conventions.com/dailyhotideas/dailyhotideas.aspx

Thank you so much Jennifer!

My Papas Split Pea Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:28:00 +0000

You may hear this all of the time. That certain soups are better than the other. People argue on who has the better recipe. Blah blah blah...Well, I am not here to say that I have the best pea soup recipe in the world, no, but I will say that it is the BEST SPLIT PEA RECIPE IN THE UNIVERSE! Ok, now that I have that off of my chest I can continue. Granted this may be since I grew up on this recipe, but my father has always made the best soups. I mean it is just ridiculous! Back in the day when wind would get out about my father making soup, people would start showing up at the house. We would have 20 people sitting around just to get a bowl of his soup. The two that he is particularly famous for are his Split Pea Soup and his Lentil Soup. He also does a mean Chicken Noodle and the most delicious Kale...but those will be other posts. As I gain experience in my quest for Domestic Goddessdome I have been slowly attempting to learn his recipes. This bitter cold weekend I felt was the best time to learn a soup! Oh my oh my, delicious! Just the perfect soup for the cold days. This will practically serve 20 people or 10 people who want second servings...Maybe 5 super hungry soup fanatics! So get a big pot! (This is a great soup to freeze for later use) I use a large pressure cooker I will look at the size and put it here. This makes life easier! The picture doesn't do it justice. I finished when it was already dark out and didn't want to set up my light box, so ya know, it works right!?

Ingredients:
1/2 lb Bacon cut into small pieces (make sure it is particularly smoky!)
1 large onion chopped (I like the sweet onion for this)
1 lb Smoked Kielbasa slices (did I mention we are making a bunch of this?)
1-11/2 cup baby carrots (you can cut up large carrots if your prefer)
1 Stalk Celery with leaves chopped
a few sprigs of parsley chopped with stems and leaves
1 lb smoked ham cubed
1 bag dried split peas
1 ham bone or pig hock (I used to think my father would say peacock!)
Water
Pepper and Salt to taste (you probably will not need the salt)
(optional: Potatoes)

Heat up your pot. Put the bacon and smoked kielbasa into the pot to brown as they start to release fat add the chopped onion. Let that cook down a bit until the onion is caramelized and transparent. It may almost look like it is slightly burning on the bottom. Don't worry. Once all is browned up add a few cups of water (3-4) and bring to a boil. Add your carrots (you can throw the baby carrots in whole to make things quicker). Put in your chopped celery, parsley, cubed ham. Let it boil for around 5 mins to let the flavors infuse a bit. The pour the whole bag of split peas in and place your ham bone or pig hock in. Cover with water until your pot is about 2/3 full. Bring to a rolling boil as you stir to make sure that nothing sticks to the bottom. Place pressure cooker lid on according to manufacturer's instructions and bring up pressure. Once pressure is built to the point where you can hear the steam, turn down the heat to about half and let it cook for 15 minutes. After 15 mins take off heat and take off lid according to your directions. (if you have never dealt with a pressure cooker before, BE SURE TO READ THE DIRECTIONS! if one of those blow saurkraut into the air and all over your legs you will never move so fast to remove your pants in your LIFE! Trust me on this one!) Stir the pot to make sure that the newly hydrated peas are not sticking to the bottom. Make sure that everything is mixed nicely and is quite loose (if it is thick, add some more water). Bring back up to a rolling boil and place lid back on. I am paranoid, so I tend to do this every 15 minutes for an hour. The soup is finished when the meat on the ham bone or pig hock has pretty much fallen off of the bone. If the soup is still a little too liquid let it cook a little longer without the lid making sure to stir it occasionally. Your soup will be complete!
Make a pot of boiled potatoes (salt the water) Place some potato in your bowl and put a few ladles full over them. Yum!!
Get yourself a bowl and enjoy!
As with most soups, this soup is even more flavorful the next day when the flavors are infused throughout the soup.
I really love this soup! I hope that you do too!!
As always, stay inspired and stay Posh!

Things that I wish that I knew before hand...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:52:00 +0000

My dearly beloved husband in his attempt to make me more comfortable in my studio, fried my computer. My work horse computer that has made it possible to start a business at home and contribute to my family finances. Yes, my third baby. NOTE! Never plug a heater into the same surge protector as your computer!!
I called my computer guy and he pretty much laughed saying that that same thing happens all of the time. He explained to me that they would start by checking the power supply and replacing it. If it is the motherboard he would have to change the power supply and the motherboard. So I was looking at between $90.00 to $325.00 to get my computer back up and running.
Well, remember how several posts back I explained that I am a "I can do that myself" kind of gal? I decided to look up power supplies for my computer. Spent a night reading about them. Then spent a night learning about installation and Electric Magnetic Static safety precautions. I found a power supply on Amazon for 30.00! I felt like I was a ... genius! I waited patiently for the part to arrive and the day finally came! My husband was my moral support and forbidden to touch the computer. (I figured then I could only blame myself) I slowly began to take apart my computer. I mean what was the worst thing that could happen??
After a tense hour of what could only be described as watching a surgery on one of those medical dramas, I was done! Success!! I plugged everything back in and had a vomit bag waiting just in case I totally killed the machine. I turned on the power and TADA!! Everything started up and DID EXACTLY WHAT IT DID BEFORE. Nothing showing up on my screen. Siiiiiigh. Well, positive points...I didn't make it worse, I had successfully taken a computer apart and put it back together without passing out, and now I know how to replace a power supply.
I ended up having to go to the computer guy after all. He opened the computer up with no hesitation tilted it to the side and said, "Yep, your motherboard is busted."
Yes, he was able to tell within two seconds. He then showed me these little nobs coming off of the motherboard that were domed out. This means that they are bad. Well, gee! Would have been nice to know before I went through all of this!! Oh well, here is a picture of my computer as I was taking it apart. I zoomed in on the little dodads to show you. Maybe if this happens to you, then you can save yourself the time and just go straight to the computer guy.
I ended up purchasing a new computer and they spent two days transferring my data. I then spent another two days adding back all of my software and personal touches. I am glad to report that I am now back to business!

Haute Aprons

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:29:00 +0000

I have been looking for cute aprons for a while. Today as I decided to look around, I found a whole new take on aprons, glamour aprons! High-end aprons for the hostess with the mostest! (and, well the money to spare as well!) Above is a duprini silk apron by Elizabeth Cokin Productions for $200. It is beautiful, but I am unsure about how I feel about a dry clean only apron. I may have to throw more elaborate dinner parties! Here are more by her below ranging from $125-200

The one below I really want! It must be all of the frills! COOKie by Lukrecja in Poland $300

I also really like this apron by Anthropology. Not as glam as the ones before, but super cute!

So what do you think? Would you wear any of these aprons? Which one is your favorite?

Tangerine Tango - Pantone Color of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:45:00 +0000

It looks as though it will be a bright year! Tangerine Tango was named 2012's Pantone Color of the Year. Orange always seems like a contraversal color as it seems that you either love or hate it. Since I tend to look pretty darn good in orange (if I do say so myself) I love it! And how can you not when you see some of these things in orange!

Doesn't this just cheer up your day! I particularly want the purse. I have held it in my own to hands and it is divine! My birthday is coming up, so gladly get it for me!

I will be adding Tangerine Tango to my color list this year in my shop. It is sure to brighten my collection!

abstract geo necklace by Ezza Exclusive
Aldo Eggenberg Peep Toe Heel
Prada Nappa Stripe Bag (drool)
Chesterfield Tufted Winged Chair
Safari Orange Pillow
Posh Dot Orange Printable Gable Box by The Posh Event
Modern Damask Printable Pyramid Box The Posh Event

Soy Crepe Experiment...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Every weekend I make "german pancakes" or crepes for breakfast. It is something that started when I was a kid and my papa would make them for my sister and I. Every now and then we attempt changing an ingredient or changing ratios just to see what happens. Usually they are quite disastrous. Wheat flour for instance, not very good, my father thinking that he had a good enough blender that would pulverize an egg shell that he dropped into the batter to powder...all time disaster! So I am glad to report, that as long as that debacle is on the books, I most likely will always come out with something better when experimenting...unless I try concrete?
So this week I tried replacing half of the All Purpose Flour with Soy Flour (I chickened out and couldn't replace all of it yet) and I replaced milk/creme with half and half. The idea came from me reading the book The Fat Belly Cure by Jorge Cruise where we are to keep our sugars to 15 grams a day and only have 6 servings of carbs a day. I would really like to not have to give up my crepes! Well, they were not bad, but I have a hard time calling them crepes. They reacted differently when cooking them and ended up being significantly thicker than crepes should be and on the yellow side. But both my husband and Yanna ate them all up with no problems and said that they liked them. I am still fighting this sinus thing so I really can't taste anything! Ugh!
Anyhoo, here are the crepes that I made (the unscientific way, I will have to measure this out in a more standardized way one day) I use an actual tablespoon not the measuring tablespoon. We have done this with different sets over the years and it seems to always work.
3 eggs
3 Tablespoons Sugar or Splenda (yes, I know, splenda is against the fat belly cure but baby steps!)
1 1/2 cup half and half
3 Tablespoons All purpose flour
2 Tablespoons Soy flour
dash of salt
I use a stainless steel pan instead of a crepe maker. (once again, if it ain't broke...)
melt the butter in the hot pan
pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan and swirl it around to spread thin
when the batter is no longer runny on top take a spatula and flip
after a min start making your stack!

I think that I will keep experimenting with this idea and will keep you posted.
Good Luck!!

New Year, New Ideas, New Set Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:03:00 +0000

Happy New Year!!

WOW! What a year 2011 was!! I think that I have survived it! (I am still not sure, ask me in another week when this darn sinus infection is gone!) With the past few weeks being out of this world crazy, I mean like ,get ready to jump out of a window, crazy. I have had some time to re-evaluate what I want to do and how I want to do it. I have always been someone with a ton of ambition, when I come up with an idea it's a big idea and I come up with tons of ideas. It has always been my blessing and my curse. Mix that with the fact that I tend to have the attention span of a raccoon (oooooh! shiny new thing to do!) life can get pretty...interesting. I want to accomplish SO much, I want to try so many new things, learn so many new things, share so many new things, all while being a good mom, wife and shop owner. Lately it has just felt to be too much and I want this SO BADLY! So I have decided to step back a bit and reorganize. I need to get myself healthy and organized so that I can make this all a reality. Everyday Posh will be getting a little overhaul. I would love to show how every day can be posh, I believe that this is doable and plan on figuring this out! I love coming up with projects that people can do to add a little more poshness to their lives, but with this comes a lot of trial and error which can be hilarious to say the least. I myself am still a domestic goddess in training and do not have much help to figure these glorious ideas out all of the time especially with a baby on my hip. So I hope to share this all with you on here. What works, what doesn't works, what blew up and caught my kitchen on fire, what my husband just looked at, smiled and nodded and ate anyway...ya know. I am opening up to my imperfect perfect life to you. I hope that you will join me for this journey I am now embarking on and will contribute to it! I want to hear your ideas, suggestions, corrections and well, hopefully a bunch of encouragement! I will need it!

I am going to be working on:

- getting organized while being a mom and business owner

- loosing the baby fat...holiday fat...ok, everyday fat (it just sounds better when you give it an excuse name)

- phasing into a more healthy lifestyle with the family

- coming up with new ideas and products for my shop and to share

- getting my new shop The Printable Shoppe finally launch!!!

well so much more! Let me know what you think and join me!
New Year, New Ideas, New Set Up, New Successes!

Big Hugs!
Brigitte

Super Cute, Super Mini Donuts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:45:00 +0000

For the love of all things small! (Ach du liebe bissien! as my dad would say) I am having so much fun with this mini donut maker! How stinkn' cute are these! I received the Smart Planet donut maker and was at first rather skeptical. It received mixed reviews and looked like the George Forman grill I had back in college! I was advised NOT to use the enclosed recipe, so I looked up a bunch of baked donut recipes and made a hybrid of my very own and this is what I came up with! They are way smaller than I had ever imagined them to be. One can fit on a teaspoon. But who cares! They are so cute and are now considered by me a "diet" donut!
Granted, if you have the baking pan you can use that as well, but then you are not making 6 donuts every 4 mins!

Vanilla Spice Super Mini Donuts

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground clove and salt. (You can sift it if you have a sifter, I just mix it all up).
Add the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla to the mixture.
I melted the butter and then warmed the buttermilk in a bowl added it to the mixture.
Then hand mix the batter with a spoon until everything is combined. Don't over do it. I let my Kitchenaid take the night off with these.

I placed the batter in a ziplock bag and cut the tip off to pipe into each cavity. I closed the machine for 3.5 mins each. They were ready when they bounced back when pressing on them.

For a donut baking pan I saw to bake at 425F for 5-8 minutes then let stand for 4-5 mins.

I had another bowl with 4 tbsp melted butter and another bowl filled with cinnamon sugar. I dipped the donuts into the butter then threw into the other bowl and shaked it until covered.

For the glaze I used
1 cup powder sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 table spoons milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Then I added food coloring until it was the color that I wanted

MUST TRY THIS!!! Oh just wait until you see some of the other goodies I have been doing with this thing!!
In the meantime, Stay inspired and stay Posh!

"Sweetly" Spread awareness! Breast Cancer Awareness Month

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:07:00 +0000

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I am sure that you all know someone who has been affected by this or have been affected by it. For October, I ask that everyone joins together to "Sweetly" spread awareness by baking some pink cupcakes for your friends, family, coworkers, strangers... To help decorate (as you can tell, I am not skilled in icing as yet, still working on that) I have provided some FREE Printable Think Pink Cupcake Wrappers and Toppers to use! Please spread the word! Maybe we will have pink cupcakes in every state! Hopefully one day soon we can look back and see Breast Cancer as something in the past.

To learn more about breast cancer a great resource is Susan G Komen http://ww5.komen.org/

Go to my site for the Free Printable Cupcake Wrappers and Toppers. http://www.theposhevent.com/fun-free-projects.html Please be sure to send me pictures! I would love to post them on the blog and on facebook! Feel free to also share your stories on here.

Thank you for you kindness! Think Pink!
Hugs!
Brigitte

Yes! I have Chevron Designs!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:41:00 +0000

Chevron Place Cards

I have been asked quite a bit lately about doing my printables in a chevron design. And now I have started to add them to my shop. I absolutely love how they are turning out. I have them all available in my new standard color list of 17 colors! Chevron is one of the biggest things this fall and would make a great addition to your events! Come by my Etsy Store and check them out!:-)

(Top Left to Right to Bottom) - Chevron Wine Glass Slippers, Chevron Napkin Rings, Chevron Gable Box, Chevron Pillow Box, Chevron Pyramid Box

Join me on Pinterest!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:12:00 +0000

Oh my, I am addicted to Pinterest! So many great ideas and inspirations shared by everyone! From the super cute, to great home ideas, and fashion statements! I am starting to put my own boards together. Come on by and see!

Posh Inspirations: Office Chair Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:22:00 +0000

We have been crazy busy over here! This is great, although I also really miss my sleep! We have been working on three very exciting projects. Plus my Yanna started preschool!! I can't believe how time flies! We have been looking into office chairs for the studio for some time now. But it seems as though they are either drab and boring or they are ridiculously expensive. So while doing my daily looksie on Pininterest I got inspired to do it myself! Being a DIY girl, it somehow passed me to think that I could just do an office chair makeover myself. So this weekend I picked up some fab fabric and started small.

Everyone, meet my folding chair from college (hey, small budget, small space) notice the great craftsmanship of my father's duck tape repairs. She's a beaut! And a great starter chair before I tear apart my office chair and end up having to sit on the floor if it is too much to do.

I took the chair apart with a screwdriver. Placed the chair seat and back onto the piece of fabric (1 yard) and cut out what I thought would work. I wrapped the chair pieces in fabric then took the trusty staple gun and started to shoot it. I followed where the existing fabric was tacked down. I placed the trim back on and then screwed each piece back onto the frame. Voila! My new folding chair!

Here are some other fab chairs that people have done.

On howjoyful.com she did an amazing job with her office chair! I love how she even thought about painting it. I have taken some notes for my office chair! She has a tutorial as well on her site.

Lindsay with BetterAfter.blogspot.com may be THE place to go to see what you can do with old furniture! I am in awe of the blog! I really love this little office chair. I am going to have to redo my couches after the inspiration for this site!

Megan with Doityourselfdivas.blogspot.com has this sharp number! Plus a great layout of all of the materials you would need to do this. Definitely check it out!

Well, I will probably be distracted now and will look up fabrics to redo all of the chairs in my house. Reupholstering may be my new love! I would love to see your projects!
Be inspired and Be Posh!

Freebie: Reward Stickers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:09:00 +0000

My daughter has learned the word "No" in the biggest way. "No, I don't want to clean up my toys", "No! I don't want to take a nap!", "No! I don't want to hold your hand in the parking lot!" Siiigh. I tell you, if you have a child you probably know this all too well, if you have more than one child I have a new respect for you and please give me pointers! If you don't have kids, you probably still all of your hair and you still have some free printables you can use! We came up with a deal, for every good day where she listens and picks up her toys before bed she will earn a ribbon. After she earns 5 ribbons she will get a prize. I cut them out and ran them through our Xyron sticker maker. She was super excited today to earn her first sticker and I was super excited that she was more cooperative! We will see what will happen the next few days since as Yanna said "5 DAYS!? That is a LOONG Time!" You too can reward those you are proud of with these fun stickers. Great for teachers too!! Enjoy!! You can find these free printables Here.

Inspiration: Martha Stewart Chocolate Cookie Icebox Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Martha Stewart and her team are always amazing to me. What a great idea for a cake! If you have weeks like I do, especially like the one I had this week! You know what it is like to want to be able to do a special desert for your family outside of a scoop of ice cream or a pudding cup (poshified: added sprinkles of course). Icebox cakes go together so quickly, you just won't have that excuse anymore and you will look like a champ when you bring something like this out. I have made icebox cakes with graham crackers and strawberries which is also delish! But, come on, chocolate chip cookies! Yes Thank you! You can find the recipe on her site Martha Stewart.com . If you are short on space in your freezer you can cut down the recipe I have also made individual icebox cakes which works great for space as well! So stop licking your screen and make it! I in the meantime will attempt to make this with every cookie I can think of! Wish my hips luck!

Photography Tips and a Free Printable!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:16:00 +0000

I have been so honored by the response to my photography on both my shop and my blog! Thank you so much. I have been asked a number of times of what my secret was and thought that it could be a cool blog post! I have always loved photography from very young. My first camera when I was a child was a 110mm Rainbow Brite. Now if you are reading this and do not know what a 110mm camera is, that is forgivable. Now if you are saying, "who is Rainbow Brite?" ahem! Anyhoo... My father kept me up-to-date with my camera equipment throughout the years from space-age looking gadgets to your basic manual SLR. (He shares the same passion for photography as I do!) I always wanted to keep learning. So I took classes in college, and to be honest, hated them! I loved the exploration and figuring out for myself what worked and what didn't and coming up with my own ideas. Taking classes got me to over think exposure times, proper lighting, types of photography...So I tried to deprogram myself a bit and go back to what I like. I worked with an automatic film SLR camera for the longest time which I loved. But then I started to drool over the new pro digital SLRs! I figured that getting one of those you can't possibly take a bad picture. LOL, well granted it is great to have a great camera, but you still need to know what you are doing. And now, these days, they are so many great cameras out there that are so affordable. I love my big DSLR but lately I have found it easier to travel with my husbands smaller point and shoot which takes just as great pictures. The only difference being the ability to have full control.

One of the biggest tips I have for everyone would be to use natural light whenever possible. Harsh flashes throw off the balance of your picture and washes everything out. You will often notice the background being really dark and the subject being washed out. Instead take pictures outside in the shade or even better on an overcast day. Also try taking pictures by the window. If you have to use a flash, try using a diffuser. You can also use a reflector to add lighting to your subject. The other day I was making strudel and had a pizza pan on the counter. My husband walked into the kitchen to talk with me and his blue eyes really popped! So I used the pizza pan yesterday when I took pictures of Clara! Check it out! So hey, you can always be creative with equipment.

I like keeping the background simple or to blur it to really keep focus on the subject.

I love black and white photography and learned in school that in photography we should look to have a true black and a true white in the composition. Automatic cameras tend to figure this balance out for you. You wont always have a true black or white in your picture and sometimes you will get an odd hue in your picture due to this. So a trick that I have used with my product photography has been to use this card. It has a true black, mid grey, and white stripe. This is great when I just want to take my pictures quickly without a bunch of set up or the lighting is changing often (when you are outside) then when you bring the picture up on your photo editor you can auto-fix your exposure or play with the histogram. (I play with this often since I like high key photography when you almost blow out your picture with light.) In Photoshop you would go into adjustments and open the histogram. You can then take the black dropper, go into you picture and then click on the black stripe and your picture will adjust and darken to make sure that the stripe is full black. You can do the same with the white dropper and white stripe. Or you can just hit Auto:-) and let it do it for you.

Granted I am sure that there are all sorts of other things you can do to accomplish this. This is just a little trick that I use that seems to work for me when I want to be a little lazy:-) So I hope that it works for you and that I made sense!! I am including the card as a printable for you to use:-) Check for it in my Free Printables!!
Happy Shooting!!

Semi-Homemade Goodness: Blueberry Goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:53:00 +0000

I love baking from scratch when I can, but sometimes I just do not have the time. But hey, we can still make things a little more posh! I made a fabulous blueberry sauce for the campout from scratch and decided to use it for just about everything.

Sauce
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup honey
2 tbs orange juice
water

In a saucepan combine the blueberries, honey, and orange juice. I added just enough water to not quite cover the blueberries. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 mins or until the berries are falling apart. Place a colander in a bowl and strain out the large pieces. Squeeze berries against the colander to get more juice out. I then take the sauce at this point and just bottle it. Keep what is left in the colander, my husband loved it on pancakes and I used it for the turnovers! You can then run the sauce through a strainer if you would like it a little more runny. And you can take it one more step by squeezing it through some cheese cloth if you would like more of a syrup.
I bought some small wine bottles at our local winery with some tasting corks to package everything up.

Blueberry Turnovers
I love Pilsbury! They now have turnovers. You can purchase the cherry or apple set that comes with the dough and filling for 2.00 which makes 6 turnovers. Well, as much as I love Pilsbury, I prefer a more homemade filling.I followed the instructions on layout out the dough. I then added a spoonful of blueberry pulp and some sauce. We decided to add some of the cherry filling as well. Fold it over and bake as directed. Done!

For the almond I dusted the dough with cinnamon. Inside, I lightly buttered, sprinkled cinnamon, brown sugar in each. I put a slice of almond paste (I had a bunch left over after the buckle! and it's yummy!) folded the dough over, baked as directed...Done! I mean really how easy! I then put some of the glaze and slivered almonds on top.

Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
If you can do it with raspberries, why not blueberries. And with Good Seasonings homemade salad dressing kit, it is even easier! The bottle has lines on it for the water, seasoning mix, vinegar, and olive oil. Add 2-3 tablespoons of blueberry sauce and finished! The kit cost about 2.00 in most groceries and even comes with a packet or two of seasoning/dressing mix. With the salad we added some dried blueberries on top which made it just that much better!

Blueberry Lemonade
Get ready for this...this is a tricky one. I love Simply Lemon Lemonade. I have two kids to look after and a business to run, so while I am sure squeezing your own lemons would be great. Between lemons being almost a dollar each here and me trying to spare myself some time, buying the juice finished is faster and cheaper! Now here we go. Open the bottle, pour a glass of lemonade for yourself and enjoy. Ok, no that you are refreshed, pour a half a cup of blueberry sauce into the bottle of lemonade. Put cap back on and shake vigorously. Tada! Blueberry Lemonade. I took it one step further and strained it as I poured it into the bottles to get some more pulp out.

So I left the science to someone else and came up with some pretty and yummy blueberry items! It's now blueberry season here, so hopefully for those of you with a ton of blueberries to use up, this will help!

Be Inspired: DIY T-Shirt Makeovers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:53:00 +0000

I really need more hours in the day. So many things to make so little time. I love these DIY T-shirt makeovers!
You can do more with a t-shirt than just turn them into rags when you get a hole and now you have an excuse to stockpile t-shirts when you find a great sale! From beautiful and expensive looking ruffled shirts to scarves, to even underwear?! Who knew!

Beautiful Tutorial Via JaynSarah

I love Tea Rose Home Blog! Beautiful tutorials on how to make shirts like this.

Christmas gifts? Via Mamma says Sew

Via Pininterest Tutorial on Analog Me

Ok, This is crazy! But hey, why not!? Great first sewing project if you ask me. Why? well if they are ugly, who will know? That being said, if they turn out great, will you show them off? If so, you didn't get this idea from me:-) Check out the tutorial on Craftstylish.com