HOLIDAY BAKING – COOKIES vs CUPCAKES
Round cupcake pill box.
I was reading in the paper that a cupcake only bakery in LA has been going after other cupcake bakeries for infringing on their name and polka-dot motif – good thing our little cupcake design isn’t all about the sprinkles! Cupcakes are very in. There are cupcake cookbooks, jewelry and giant
Cookie lovers pill box.
cupcake cake molds. which sounds a bit unclear on the concept of a
cupcake!
Lot’s of people love to bake and cupcakes offer up a lot of opportunities for creativity. Plus, who doesn’t love a little portion controlled sweetness?
Fun in the kitchen ornament.
This time of year baking becomes an obsession for many. My daughter is testing cookie recipes for her holiday give-away plates. I have been asked to share a recipe in an online cookie exchange.
I have never been able to master candy making, but I am a cookie making machine during the holidays. this year, though, I may jump into the cupcake frenzy.
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IT’S FALL
Fall leaves decor on dimmer knob.
Our studio is located in a very nice business park. We have lots of big shady trees that are turning color.
A pumpkin or other fall themed night light adds to seasonal decor.
we can look across to hills which are slowly being covered by grape vineyards. When I am driving too and from the studio I go past a field which is planted at various times of the year. Just now they are harvesting pumpkins. Down the road is a very famous corn maze. They usually have pumpkins and farm animals and similar attractions for kids.
A round pillbox with a turkey makes a fun hostess gift.
A couple of years ago we looked out the window to see a flock of turkeys walking down the street. Someone must have called the folks at the corn maze and they rounded them up and took them back, but one turkey had eluded them and lived in the “wild” of the business park for a couple of years. We saw her several times a year strolling around, but she has either been captured or otherwise occupied lately.
The farmer’s market is full of crisp apples and tall sunflowers, but I miss the
Give a sunflower Christmas tree ornament.
strawberries…there are still lots of bright green veggies in the market and last week I still found some fragrant basil. The market gets smaller as the fall goes on. My daughter likes to go with me to get cupcakes and other baked goodies.
Christmas tree ornaments for cheer team.
And there is football, and cheerleaders and Homecoming dances. That is the stuff my daughter is enjoying this fall. My husband and I took a long bike ride Sunday and enjoyed the late blooming roses in the park. A cool wind blew from behind as we took the trail home. Tom thinking of having a beer and me a nice bubble bath.
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MY DESIGN OF THE DAY
Every summer Kyle spends a few weeks in a designing frenzy. When I started working at Kyle Design about 5 years ago, there were 100 design choices, we will have over 300 in a few weeks. Her new designs are
Dancers gold pill box with pink iridescent color.
frequently based on customer suggestions, her own inspirations and trends she notes from our website.
The new designs always get us all excited – fun to have new things to see and to see how people use them. But we have some really cool long time designs, too. So I am going to feature some of them before the new designs come in and steal all the attention.
So, todays design is…#93, Dancers. (Okay – so I am a big So You Think You Can Dance fan.) But the Dancers design has always been a favorite. It has a great feeling of movement. It is both modern and traditional in feel – sort of a folkloric design that appeals to lovers of Judaica.
My youngest sister has 3 little girls who are in dance -and I gave her a Christmas tree ornament with the
Silver tree ornamant with dancers design in aquamarine.
dancers design to represent them.
The cool thing about our business is that any design can be added to any of our items. So if you want to have a night light with a dance design, you can have it. Or a dance flask, or a business card case for a dance teacher, a pill box for those pain relievers for a new dance student, a compact mirror with a pretty dancer to check her lipstick. And on and on. We also offer many different items and colors appropriate for male dancers, too, like money clips and metal wallets.
So for all those dancers and dance fans – consider the Dancers Design for a nice gift from us.
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MAY DAY
When my kids were little I tried to get them into celebrating May Day as I did when I was young. They were not as enchanted with this holiday as I was. Perhaps because I grew up in the warm and sunny San Joaquin Valley and they grew up in gray, rainy Seattle.
We alway had flowers growing and ready to pick and put in little baskets which we
had made. We would then go to friends and neighbors doors and leave the flowers tied to the door knob – ring the bell and run away. A great opportunity to play doorbell ditch without negative consequences!
Now, I have never gone ’round a May Pole to celebrate the beginning of spring. Nor have I been a member of organized labor, although I appreciate their efforts to make the work day a standard 8 hours. I understand that May 1 is also a saints day and a 
national holiday in some countries for various reasons. I applaud all those reasons to celebrate today. I will commemorate the day by cutting some of the early roses in our garden and making a nice arrangement.
You can bring flowers into your home or give as a gift by choosing a flower themed gift! Make the rose yellow or the iris blue – customize to your taste.
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MORE DECORATING FOR RENTERS
We are lucky renters. Our landlords really like us and have said we can do anything we want to decorate 
the house. The first year we didn’t do much beyond putting more plants in the garden. I took down and stored some window coverings I didn’t like and recovered a couple of valances leaving the original fabric underneath. I just folded the fabric over and used thumb tacks to hold it in place. That way I can just take it off when we move on.
Last spring we painted the kitchen, one wall a golden yellow and and the other a nice aqua. The kitchen had some well worn wallpaper which was driving me crazy. It peeled off easily and since my husband is a very precise painter and he does not trust me to do the job he would do (fine with me.) So, I just had to remove the switch plates and clear the counters and my job was done.
Now I have pulled the dirty, peeling wallpaper off the powder room walls and it is time to paint in there, too. We are going to continue the aqua in that room. It shares wall with both the yellow and aqua from the kitchen, but I have always wanted an aqua bathroom. I bought red towels and bathmat which will really pop against the blue. The switch plates were cruddy ivory plastic, and I replaced them with shiny chrome to match the faucet and towel rack. Now I want to do the same in the kitchen. Changing out switch
plates is an easy and inexpensive job which can really upgrade a sterile apartment or condo. You can even keep the original plates and put them back up when you move.
Our 14 year old daughter is looking at paint sample for her room. She loves pink and polka dots and peace symbols. She has talked her dad into a hot pink wall with a peace symbol. I am staying out of this one, but I am going to get her a nice bubble 
design night light with pink glass because it is like dots. She will also be happy with a peace symbol switch plate! I can choose from any of our 4 pink colors to customize it to match her decor. I also want to change out her light switch for a dimmer. She likes to have her lights on at night and a dimmer will allow her to chose comfortable lighting for studying and for sleeping. We have a huge variety of decorative dimmer knobs, but I think I will just put in a toggle dimmer. If you choose a decorative dimmer knob to replace an existing dimmer device, you can also take it with you when you move!
For more ideas for Renters – checkout our Squidoo pages.
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DINNER WITH FRIENDS
We were
invited to dinner at the new home of my old friend and her significant other. They purchased it together and we were their first guests. It is an older ranch house which has been updated beautifully. It sits on a large lot with a terraced garden, large trees and an inviting hot tub. I am looking forward to their house warming party planned later in the spring when the nights will be warm enough to sit outdoors.
He made some potent Margaritas to start us out, she served some tasty guacamole and
we commenced to talking. I am not sure we stopped talking for a minute, even to savor the wonderful dinner. She made some great seviche with scallops and salmon. It was so fresh and spicy that I just had to have another margarita.
Next she grilled some lamb chops which she served over corn pudding with 3 different salsas. The salsas were green, yellow and red, so you can imagine how amazing these plates looked – and the taste was just as good. Yum.
So it was a great evening out with friends. Good food, wonderful company, an inviting setting and an invitation to visit again.
I wrote an article a while back about hostess gifts. When you have received an invitation, take a look and consider taking an out of the ordinary gift!
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IMMERSED IN THE BOLEYNS
My book club read “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Phillippa Gregory before I joined. The current selection is the follow-up novel “The Boleyn Inheritance” but everyone said I 
should read the first one first, if I could read 1000 pages in 4 weeks. The plan was that we would all go to the movie when it opened – and we did tonight.
So I have been immersed in the 16th century all month. The books read practically like romance novels, but have a sprinkle of history, politics, sociology and religion which give them some real historical heft. Of course, I was aware of Ann Boleyn – or Ann of a Thousand Days. I knew how it was all going to turn out, but I have gone to the internet to look up several things to put more of the story in context and to understand some of the terms used.
Women were treated abominably – big surprise. Women were treated badly throughout history, however we tend to think that especially true of the less educated and privileged. In this story we see that noble women were used as pawns to raise a family’s position. And they used the sexuality of these young women very openly. And by young, I mean 12 and 14 years old “sold” into marriage, offered as mistress to the King in exchange for money and property and rank. The movie ran through about 14 years of history in 2 hours and so condensed the story to a nearly unrecognizable degree. That is the problem with movies based on stories which are long and complicated.
I admired the way they changed it, but a lot of what made the book an enjoyable read was
lost. The costumes were lavish, the settings were lovely. The mood of the movie was darker, more somber than the book. Not much of the merry making and courtly love were evident. In our book club discussion over dinner, we all agreed that we enjoyed the movie – but as usual, liked the book more.
Gifts for your Queen, Princess, King and Prince can be found here! Click here for gift ideas for your book club.
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THE YUMMY MUMMY MOVEMENT
I suppose January brings out my cranky pants. It has been gloomy and rainy and I just want to wrap up in 
something big and soft and plop into a chair with a good book until spring. The last thing I need is to learn that I am supposed to be aspiring to be a “Yummy Mummy”. Apparently I ought to be wearing stilettos to the petting zoo and smokey eyes to the supermarket.
They say it is a matter of retaining your “self-image” after marriage and motherhood. That I can relate to. When I had my twins I had only just stopped working in a fairly professional environment 2 days before. But the silk blouses were not going to stand up to burping, the pantyhose made no sense at the playground, and I had given up sky high heels in my 20’s.
When all 3 of my kids were of ages where I could step out of their lives more, I did take a look at my wardrobe and wonder who I had become -after 12 years at home with kids, the power suits and little dresses were way out of style.
Many who have embraced this “movement” think that we are to maintain our sexpot selves and remain clad in couture of the moment, designer jeans and carry budget busting handbags. This sounds a bit like the peer pressure my 14 year old daughter faces, not something grown women need to foist upon each other.
So I checked out the website of the Canadian based Yummy Mummy Club – and guess what? Their motto reads:
What Is A Yummy Mummy?
A true Yummy Mummy struggles to find the impossible balance between the single sexpot she used to be, the woman she’s become, the professional she works hard to be, the wife she aspires to be and the mother she has to be. Basically, she’s confused and exhausted.
Now that I get. So why has this be interpreted by so many to be about designer this and sexy that? I understand that these are different times and that many successful women have children and continue their careers and consider their appearance an important asset – but I don’t get this need to look “hot” at any age and circumstance.
I know there are those moms who love to be told they look like their daughter’s “sister”. Who love the MILF label. I feel sorry for those women. I consider them stunted, not empowered – not in the way I wish for my daughters.
Take a look at some great gift ideas for the women in your life – yummy or mommy, sister or friend. We have hundreds of designs to satisfy every woman’s interest!
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For more gift ideas for Mom, see our Squidoo pages.
PERK UP YOUR RENTAL APARTMENT
My son has moved into his first apartment. He just couldn’t take another semester of dorm life and managed to find a rental close to his school in Monterey which was affordable enough to pass the budget imposed by dad.
So we have been checking Craig’s list and garage sales and made a trip to Ikea. For the first time he has a bed larger than a twin size and gave up his tattered denim bedspread for something a bit more sophisticated. He was never one for plastering his walls with posters – in fact he asked for one of the framed Miro prints we have to put in his apartment.
All this takes me to the subject of fixing up a rental space – and there are so many things you can do to personalize and upgrade the look, without spending a fortune or breaking the rental agreement. Thinking in terms of the lighting, you can replace the switches with dimmers to add more flexibility to harsh overhead lighting. Then frame it out with a decorative switch plate. They are easy to install and then remove and take with you at moving time.
I love these new wall decals you can put them up in any space to add personality, then just peel them off when you move or just want a change. They really make short work of all those white walls.
I have given night lights to practically everyone I know. You can brighten up a dark corner or light the way to the bathroom at night. With more than 100 designs to choose from, there is one for every personality or theme. This on matches my son’s little red car.
For his kitchen he chose black laminate dishes and cups, flat ware with red handles and red and white dish cloths and pot holders. So I added a refrigerator magnet with veggies on it to remind him of his mom.
See our Squidoo page for more ideas.
Technorati: apartment decorating, custom switch plates, decor for rental, dimmer switch, Milano decorative switch plate, night light, nite lite, refrigerator magnet, switch plates, theme switch plates, veggie, wall decals
WHAT WE WANT IN 2008
At the end of the year, there are always articles telling us what is out and what will be in. There are forecasts about fashion colors and home decor trends and now that we are food obsessed – the latest must try cuisine.
I have always been a bit wary of these lists and forecasts – unless, of course, something in my life fits the trends – then I feel very hip. At Kyle Design we see a lot of variation in what is selling and we always speculate about it. This month we are selling a lot of Polished Chrome switch plates. Late last year we were selling tons of white switchplates. The 2007 trend forecasters told us last year was the year of Oil Rubbed Bronze for kitchens and we didn’t sell very many of that finish for wall plates all year.
So what will happen in 2008? Trend spotters see the green movement going home, the interest in all things luxurious, cool metals, contrast and peaceful, spa like atmospheres.
We know many people like to carry the themes of their home decor into details like custom switch plates. Our Art Deco switch plates and our Craftsman switch plates are perennial favorites. We have added some new designs which have gotten some attention, especially the Bamboo design. I think the bamboo would look nice in a home with
Asian themes as well as in rooms where you want a tranquil, spa feel. Our custom switch plates can go upscale and funky – whatever you wish. I’ll be writing more about decorating themes in future entries.
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My Art Filled Life 