Archive for the ‘Browns’ Category

May 29th, 2013 No Comments

Weddings: Favors, Think Outside of the Box

It seems like favors are expected at weddings now, but you certainly don’t have to give favors if you find yourself at a loss for what to give. The best favors though are the ones that are personal to the bride and groom or the location of the wedding. A great example of this are these salmon favors that a bride and groom gave to their guests at their Anchorage, Alaska wedding. The families caught and packaged their own Alaskan salmon to give to each wedding guest. A simple label printed on their computer finished it off. If you like … Read more

May 28th, 2013 No Comments

add this week’s seashell color palette to your table this summer

This week’s palette may not be one you’d automatically think of when you think of summer entertaining. Sometimes these creams, tans, rusts and pinks are associated more with fall. But as you can see taking cues from the beach and seashells, this soothing palette is wonderful for summer tables. If you didn’t realize I have a shop too with tabletop, decor and garden items, all personally selected by me. If you haven’t already, please head over to take a look.  It’s my favorite items and vendors collected from all my years of editing and styling for magazines. Our Read more

May 27th, 2013 No Comments

this week’s color palette: seashell inspired tans, pinks & neutrals

As the official start of the summer season starts today we were inspired by seashells. Nature is a wonderful place to start when you are looking for a color palette. It can be from the colors in an object, like this shell, or a larger landscape in general- for instance if you are looking at the ocean you have the sky, the many colors of blue in the sea, the white or tan sand, the green or straw beach grass- these can all inspire a palette. We have selected Benjamin Moore colors to help you apply this palette to … Read more

May 20th, 2013 No Comments

our color palettes & stories: a look back at a wonderful year

Time is flying!  We totally missed our one year anniversary of the blog we were so engrossed in our stories! Last year on April 9th our first post went up. It was one of my favorite color palettes of black, peach and pink (pictured below). Here is the link to read the full post. But soon after we posted this rich color palette of pinks (pictured above) from famous baker Ron Ben-Israel‘s sugar flowers. Yes, I said SUGAR flowers. Those flowers are hand crafted out of sugar by Ron. I worked with Ron on many cake stories for Weddings magazines and these … Read more

May 17th, 2013 No Comments

Benjamin Moore introduces a new paint line: The Williamsburg Color Collection

Exciting news for paint and design enthusiasts. Benjamin Moore and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation have collaborated on a new collection of paints, featuring 144 colors that were actual hues from the 18th and 19th century called The Williamsburg Color Collection. Together they researched historic paint production methods and relied on 90 years of paint research that has been done to recreate colors that appeared more than 250 years ago. Sales of the Williamsburg products support the preservation, research and educational programs of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the not-for-profit center for history and citizenship. This foundation was responsible for the restoration … Read more

April 19th, 2013 No Comments

entertaining with victoria amory: 3 recipes for her apricot & almond gourmet cooking sauce

Every Friday in April, celebrated cook and TV personality, Victoria Amory, has been sharing recipes for her new gourmet cooking sauces available on hsn.com. Last week Victoria also introduced soups and other dishes like chicken parmesan.  With all these prepared foods now available it’s like having Victoria come to our home and cook for us personally! We love it!

April 11th, 2013 No Comments

interiors: 2 great paint color tools from benjamin moore

If you are planning on a renovation or just like to paint rooms, furniture etc. every so often, I find a very helpful tool to have on hand is the Benjamin Moore Color Preview Fan Deck. For $25 it can save you trips to your local store for swatches and keeps them all together by color family for years and years. Also available in Fan Decks are their Color Stories, Classics & Historical and Affinity collections. You don’t have to be a designer or set decorator to keep one of these on your desk! Another great tool is the … Read more

March 29th, 2013 No Comments

chocolate easter eggcups

With Easter this Sunday we thought we’d share a fun recipe today from Donna Hay- her Chocolate Easter Eggcups. Let us know if you make them and send us a picture if you do! Directions:

March 9th, 2013 No Comments

we just couldn’t get enough bacon- so to top off the week here is vosges haut-chocolat’s maple chocolate pudding with bacon spoon recipe!

Maple Chocolate Pudding with Bacon Spoon Recipe   (courtesy Vosges Haut-Chocolat) This sensuous and sizzlin’ appetizer marries the savory and salty taste of crispy bacon with the sweet, rich taste of maple pudding with a hint of vanilla. These are wonderful hors d’oeuvres for breakfast and dinner, and they’re perfect for entertaining. – Katrina Markoff, Founder, Vosges Haut-Chocolat Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 50 min.

March 8th, 2013 No Comments

vosges has…yes, bacon chocolate! Katrina Markoff was way ahead of the recent trend

In my quest for bacon food pairings this week, I found that Vosges Haut-Chocolat has a lot of bacon paired foods. So I went right to founder Katrina Markoff to get the inside scoop on this bacon frenzy. Katrina first paired bacon with chocolate back in 2007 with ‘Mo’s Milk Chocolate Bacon Bar’, followed by ‘Mo’s Dark Chocolate Bacon Bar’ in 2008, then followed the Bacon Toffee… and the line has grown based on popularity and customer demand. Vosges line now includes bacon baking mixes, caramels and truffles. And the website also offers unique … Read more