Day After Day I Keep Hangin' Round

It's a bit late for this year but how about 2009?! Here are some incredible advent calendars on Etsy that I wanted to share with all of you ...

This is actually my favourite of the week. I'm mixing things up by starting with it ;) It's by .: nouveaudesigns :. I love it because of simplicity.



Next up is this gem by .: designstash :. The boa is awesome!!!



This muffin tray advent calendar is all magnet based. .: AllThingsArtsy :. suggests placing surprises under each day!



.: Pearl & Pirate :. has put together a felt stocking for every day in December before Christmas. Fill them with treats or use simply as decor!



And the mother of all advent calendars? Check out this one by .: scrapcolors :. It's absolutely incredible!!!



During the holiday season I remember always having a special calendar as a child. It's a tradition I want to keep for generations in my family!

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I have been a very, very bad blogger. Please forgive me. But it's all for a good reasons! 2009 is shaping up to be a very busy year for decor and we've got a bunch of things on the go and they're all good news for all fabulous brides!


For 2009, Vivian's Decorations & Designs will be chic-er than ever (yes, I made that word up) We've decided to leave the invitation design to the ever so fabulous Susan and venture into flowers, silk and fresh to help make your wedding planning and life easier. We'll be working with Mirella from Rainflower Company to provide you with the great decor, beautiful flowers, reasonable pricing and the best in customer service!

We'll also be launching our luxury line of decor for the everyday bride - Luxury Brown. The decor elements will be feathers , luxurious fabrics (satins, taffeta, embroidered organza etc), "diamonds" and more. Whole packages will be available, or if you want just a touch of luxury, items like ostrich feather centrepieces will be available

In January, we'll also be launching our new website! Yaaay!

We'll also be continuing our Top 5 things you can cut from your decor tips, so stay tuned!

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Moisturizer!

In today's cosmetic-pharmaceutical world, commonly referred to as Cosmeceutical, there are hybrid moisturizers for every skin challenge. Cosmeceutical companies say that In contrast to cosmetic skin care products, which work to beautify the skin, cosmeceuticals will alter the structure of your skin and how it functions. 



A basic cosmetic skin care moisturizer will hydrate, come with a built-in sunscreen or a hint of color if that's all you need. While other, more advanced cosmeceuticals will exfoliate, smooth fine lines, or reverse the signs of aging. Some contain lightening ingredients that fade age spots, and even out skin tone. Others firm the skin, promote cellular renewal, or contain the same natural extracts, vitamins and minerals that we put in our bodies.



With so many formulas addressing so many issues, where do you start? 



First and foremost, select your moisturizer (s) based on your skin's type.....dry or dehydrated, normal, combination, or oily. As mentioned last month, texture is key to comfort so pay particular attention to the consistency of your moisturizer. And remember, the oilier the skin,choose more lightweight and fluid formulas , and the dryer the skin, opt for more rich and creamy textures.





Then factor in your chronological age PLUS your skin's estimated age. The oilier the skin, the slower the natural aging process and the drier the skin, the faster the natural aging process. Minus a few years if you're oily and add a few if you're dry. And, if you've had considerable sun exposure over the years, add much more since the suns harmful rays are responsible for 90% of our skins pre-mature aging process.





Once you determine skin type and age, you can then begin to look more closely at what you really want to address. A skin 25 years and under with no sun damage may focus on a regime with anti-bacterial ingredients and opt for moisturizers that regulate oil and water. While a more mature skin 45 years + with sun exposure may find herself on a layering program with products to fade broken capillaries, age spots or hyper pigmentation. 



Look closely to assess things like your skin's all over tone. How even is it.....is there sun damage, redness or discoloration? Is the texture of the skin thick and rough or is it soft and spongy? Are there new or existing fine lines.....where are they located and how deep are they? And visually, does the skin look translucent or transparent? These factors and more play a major role in your buying decision so it's important to determine your challenges in advance.





Other issues women face are budget, time they have to spend on themselves and getting the best bang for their buck in terms of simplicity and functionality. For this you want to seek the advice of a skin care expert or retail beauty consultant. They have extensive product knowledge and can save you time, money and energy with their recommendations. Help them help you by being prepared with a wish list of what YOUR particular concerns are. The more aware and educated you are about your skin and it's condition, the more the consultant can assist. 



And finally, whenever possible, touch, smell and try the moisturizer before you buy it. I am a firm believer that all beauty products really are kinesthetic and must be experienced first!

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Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire of my stove is delightful. So in light of the impending transit strike in my city and the desire to cocoon at home with good food since it's all snowy and wintery out there at the moment, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite recipes with you. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing for me in this space, if Susan doesn't mind? since I'm as much a cook as she is an Etsy shopper.

And let's face it ... food is a huge part of a wedding.

MM loves to eat and is very happy about his lot in life as my future husband, since I enjoy cooking but am not fussy about it. Must be the former farm girl in me - my favourite meal is still a good rare roast beef, with mashed potatoes, green beans with butter and almonds and an apple cobbler/crisp for dessert.

Speaking of Apple Cobbler, my grandma's recipe is the one I make and I've had it up on Recipezaar for ages. It always gets good reviews and I love that darn appley-cinnamony-oatmeal goodness so darn much!

My favourite cooking blog is over at 101 Cookbooks.com. What I like about this blogger is that she's vegetarian, offers vegan options, but isn't preachy about, and her recipes feel homey, almost vintage. Like this week's post about Caramelized Onion Dip. She's updated the classic dip that my mom served to people made from Lipton Soup Mix.

I could see serving this at the wedding. Heck I had originally thought about using my own recipes for the wedding. serving classic roast beef and a fancier version of my own cobbler (with vanilla bean baked in and freshly grated cinnamon). But that was back when it was a fall event. Now I'll have to think about what I want for a spring shindig. Yummy!

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Rain Down On Me

I was lucky enough to receive a note from the fabulous people at .: Rainflower Company :. the other day. Mirella takes ordinary flowers and makes extraordinary pieces of art out of them ... and she's put together a contest you may be interested in!




Here are the details straight from her site:

Rainflower Company is in the spirit of giving, and has put together an amazing contest for one super lucky couple! We are giving away up to $1000 value in Fabulous Fresh Fleurs for your wedding day! Pretty Fabulous!!! What do you have to do to win? Just tell us why you should win in 150 words or less of course, and please include a picture of the happy couple. If you or someone you know is getting married in Toronto or the GTA between the months of March and December 2009, you are eligible to win! Please visit www.rainflowercompany.com and click on the contest button and fill out the form with all of the required information to enter! Contestants will be judged on several criteria, including creativity, wedding theme, location, and overall how badly you want this. So don’t hold back, let your creativity bloom and have some fun with this!
(The lucky winning couple must be willing to have their photos published on The Blog, Newsletters and any other press/media coverage.)
*Contest closes January 30th, 2009 with the winner being announced February 2nd, 2009. Good luck to all participants and we can’t wait to see your submissions!

Check out some of her work!

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Pairing Up and Joining Hands

This question is actually adapted from a meeting I recently had with a lovely woman. In case any of you have been wondering the same thing, I thought I would share it.

Susan,

People at work and a few friends are making fun of me because I’m looking into getting my wedding invitations already (wedding is mid-July). Am I doing this too early?

Thanks,

S

Absolutely not.

Yes, you could do with waiting until closer to the date to get everything done but there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t right now. Let me break it down for you …
Most people take about six months from start to RSVP return for their invitations. Sure, you have more time than that but for the naysayers around you, remind them of these things:



Mid-December and first part of January = holiday craziness. Don’t even pretend you’re going to get a lot done at this time.

When we thaw out of the snow (or warm up … whatever Mother Nature decides to do with us this winter), you are going to have so many other things to do than worry about invites … and possibly the wedding. You may have spring fever!



The design process itself is fun and you may want to start as soon as you can. If you know your colours aren’t changing, where’s the harm in getting started early? What you may want to hold off on (let’s say until April) is printing. That’s just in case any details change at the last minute. With my company, depending on the job, printing and assembling will take between two and four weeks.

Invites should go out as early as possible for you to beat the summer rush (might I suggest early to mid-May?). Remember you’re allowing for Canada Post twice (your mailing and then your guests mailing back the RSVPs). Within Canada, give it two weeks each way to be safe.

Your RSVP return date should be roughly a month before your wedding (early to mid-June) so that works out perfectly. You’re giving Canada Post the delivery time and your guests a couple of weeks to reply.

Looking back on all of those things, you’re right on track! Let everyone know a professional said so ;)

Cheers,

Susan

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Late summer wedding- September 2008, Toronto

Jess- I posted a while back about a wedding in September here in Toronto, showing a little behind the scenes- well, today I received by mail a lovely thank you from the bride along with a cd of flower themed pictures from the day that I though I’d share Here is the gorgeous bridal party- The bride chose an unusual bridesmaids dress colour , that allowed us to bring in some coppery red details with the flowers


Take a look at the centerpieces all set up



I should mention these photos were taken by Brooke and Eric Lagstein for BE creative Photography, based in Wyckoff, NJ.

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What I Like About You

This Friday's Footwear is a bit of a continuation from a couple weeks ago. It's also a bit of an Etsy continuation. I found all of these shoes there which was nice and easy ;)

If you have a pair of shoes that are kind of blah, a great idea is to paint them (or have someone do it for you!). Check out these designs ...

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You Spin Me Right Round

Last week I was going to feature a certain seller on Esty but she was busily re-doing her shop. This week I'm glad to see she's back so I can give her a shout out!



It may seem a bit different for this blog but stay with me ...

This seller is none other than Jessica Blaine Smith's MOM!

.: kerryspins :. (also known as Kerry Burke) has a fab collection of hand-spun and dyed yarns and products ... like these "Crazy Socks" that I think were inspired by her daughter ;)



Please make sure you check out her shop and be sure to say Jessica sent you!!!

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Just My Own Imagination Painting Scenes

PRESENTING ...

iStock Photo's Free Picture of the Week ...


Any thoughts? I actually think it's funky!

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Wedding mirage

In the beginning, wedding planning seemed so straightforward. I’d done the hard part in finding MM, my sweet, smart, funny, caring , sexy, witty hardworking military man of a fiancé. All the details related to the event that would make us Mrs and Mr would be a straightforward project like any of the others I’ve done in current and past careers.

As I saw it, when you strip away the rituals and the history of this human event, a wedding is just a project. So, like any project, we’d make a list and start ticking off things. Pick a date, define a guest list, find a place and a planner and a dress, choose attendants and a colour scheme, and then arrange all the other details as they come.

It started off lucky. I won Susan’s fabulous contest and so netted myself an amazing and wonderful woman as my wedding coordinator aka my project manager. MM and I quickly agreed upon and engagement ring and ordered it and we agreed we wanted a fall wedding so we chose a date. We had some small snags with defining the guest list, picking the attendants and learning how much MM wanted to be part of the planning process (“a lot, but not all the time” was his contradictory response). The engagement ring took a month longer to arrive than we’d anticipated (though given I was the one who proposed I shouldn’t have been too surprised). But overall it started out so well.

Then life and the military happened. My thesis started looming – would I get it done in time to start my PhD next fall? MM started having to travel a lot for training as he prepared to deploy overseas next spring to serve in Afghanistan. The military machine started changing its mind as to when he should serve, which threw the wedding date into question. So we moved it. Then we found out that the best man and 80% of the friends’ side of the list would be heading overseas when MM got back. Absent best man? Can’t happen. Date move again, by another six months, putting the date so far into the future that it felt like a mirage.

Now with it a spring wedding rather than a fall or winter one, I started questioning our colour scheme. Eggplant and bronze in May? Really? (...Though Susan has a great response here to this apparently common dilemma). And a fully lace dress for a breezy spring afternoon? Maybe not? Back to the drawing board on the dress hunt.

Add to that the difficulty Susan and I were having finding a venue for our day and next thing I knew, this project called a wedding was rather severely derailed. The whole event started feeling impossible.

This was all in October and the first bit of November. Fast forward to now.

I’m still stoked about our wedding, still pining to be Mrs MM. But wedding planning is a bit at a standstill. I feel like I’m holding my breath, waiting for the new year, the new releases of venue dates, the new dresses, the new announcements of deployment dates, the continuation of work on my thesis. Six months into this engagement and nothing is done, little is decided. The wedding is decidedly on, but just doesn't feel like it's happening. It will happen, it just doesn't feel quite real at the moment. It's my personal wedding mirage, out there in 2010, just waiting for me (with Susan's expert guidance and MM's occasional involvement) to get on with it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for us. It has a date attached to it and a desire to just make it happen. Soon. But not right now.

Welcome to wedding planning for a military fiancé.

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Don't Be Afraid To Let Them Show

Hi Susan,

FI and I are getting married in spring 2010. That leaves us a good amount of time to plan (right????????????). The problem de jour is I love deep, luscious colors. They're not exactly appropriate for spring. How do I go about finding more spring-like shades I like?

Thanks,

Kelly in a Conundrum

Dear Conundrum,

Let me get this straight.

You're getting married in the spring with the birds chirping, skies cleared up and everyone in a great mood from being out of the snow.

You're not hip with pastels or other stereotypical spring colours though.

You're trying to determine what colours you should have on YOUR wedding day.

Are you noticing where I'm going with this yet?

To be blunt, who cares about 'spring colours'? If you prefer eggplant, burgundy, emerald, rust ... go with them. Just because you're getting married in a different season doesn't mean you have to conform. It's your day ... one you're going to remember for a very long time (especially with all the photos being taken) ... please do yourself the honour of surrounding yourself with your favourite things. This means favourite colours, favourite foods, favourite music, favourite everything!!!

And if you don't want a colour scheme at all, be bold and take that step. I wish more couples did :)

Keep reading,

Susan

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I Want To Be Brave

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

All weekend (even though I'm technically on a mini-vacation) I've been having network problems. It's all very mysterious as it's only pertaining to my email and website ... and me! I've been told all of you can see things just fine but for some reason I can't. This means I'm having some troubles viewing emails. If you've sent me something and I haven't replied back in due time, leave me a comment here and I'll get back to you from my personal account.

And if you're having troubles viewing my site or blog or emails are bouncing back to you, kindly let me know :)

Oh ... and send patience my way, please ;)

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It's Not Unusual ...

I was going to make a designer shoes post for Friday Footwear this week when I stumbled upon these gems ...


They're heel-less shoes by Manolo Blanik. I'll spare you on how much they cost though. Just admire them ;)

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Ahead By A Century

Hmmm ... ahead of my times?

If you watched Oprah yesterday you noticed some thrifty gift-giving ideas (go .: here :. if you would like a recap). The first one is something rather near and dear to my heart! Some may remember my .: Valentine's dilemma :. last year. It seems my husband and I turn almost everything into a bit of a theme. Anyhow, one thing I forgot to mention with that post is I also include something a little extra every year ... reasons why I love him. It would be logical and easy if I just put them in a card or book but no. Instead I type them out in about size 12 font, cut them out in strips, make them into tiny scrolls and then stuff them within the gift. Usually I do about 100 of them. Sounds silly but it's honestly the best gift. For hours I sit and think about why he's special to me and in return he feels even more appreciated throughout the year (he doesn't open them all at once).


I'm sure I've repeated myself in one or two of the reasons over the years but it's always fun to actually read, "I love you because you taught me the easy way to chop green onions" :)

PS ... Oprah is giving a free CD download until tomorrow. Check it out .: here :.

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Call Me Call Me Any Anytime

Coming to you from the What-Will-They-Think-Of-Next file ...

The iPhone has an application for all of you brides-to-be out there. Actually, they have more than one but for today's post we'll just show off one of them ...

If you have the iPhone and you would like to spend that whopping 99 cents (U.S.), ANDEsigned has designed a ticker just for you. .: Wedding Day :. will count down the days (hours, minutes, seconds) until the big date.


But that's not all!

After you say, "I DO!" it will actually count how long you've been married.


I imagine my husband would roll his eyes and make a comment about *knowing* we've been married for a long time ;)

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Weak In The Knees For You

As promised, I'd like to share with you a hot designer I found via the show Who Are You Wearing?. I was watching Episode Two and one of the contestants immediately drew me in. It wasn't her designs at first but her demeanor ... there was just something about her that I sincerely liked. Then I found out her niche is bridal dresses ... eco-friendly gowns. Let the love fest begin!!!

The designer in focus is .: Morgan Boszilkov :. and I'm happy to say she did wonderfully on the show. Melissa Rivers was the celebrity of the episode and after sketching, measuring, designing and assembling her creation, Morgan was chosen as the winner (yay!).


After the show I immediately went to Morgan's site and was blown away by her gowns. I contacted her shortly thereafter to see if she would be so kind as to write up a guest spot for the blog ... and she sent a great write-up back. Without further ado, here's Morgan ...

I have always been environmentally conscious and try to be eco-friendly in both my personal and business life. When I decided
to start my business, I looked around to see what eco-friendly dresses were available. I was surprised to find so few green options available! I knew that I would make beautiful gowns that are better for the environment.


My collection is designed to be everything that a bride dreams of in a wedding dress: elegant, beautiful, well-made, luxurious. And it also happens to be eco-friendly! I believe sustainable fabrics are not limiting, but have endless potential for creating fabulous designs.
When choosing an eco-chic wedding dress, a bride should find out what makes the dress eco-friendly. She should find out if the designer uses sustainable fabrics and if the dress was made in a socially responsible manner. Another thing that some designers do is to donate or give back to the environment or to communities in need. I recommend that a bride finds a style that flatters her figure and one in which she will feel beautiful just like with regular gowns. A bride can be beautiful and still make an eco-chic statement!

I am inspired by everything in nature. I have also found that traveling in Europe and Asia has broadened my horizons in terms of design concepts. I returned to the United States with so much creative energy and inspiration after being abroad.


I use sustainable fabrics such as organic silk and Peace silk, Hemp/silk blends, bamboo and organic cotton blends, organic linen, and organic cotton. It is very exciting that the availability of eco-friendly fabrics is growing. There are new gorgeous fabrics coming onto the market all the time, expanding design possibilities. When searching for eco-friendly fabrics, I also seek suppliers who are socially conscious. The natural fabrics are so beautiful and feel wonderful. I can't look at polyester in the same way anymore now that I have been working with sustainable fabrics for so long. I find the natural fabrics to be more luxurious than synthetic materials.


I hope to expand my line and offer a greater range and variety of dresses each year. I am constantly designing and look forward to showing my next season's collection.

Thank you so much, Morgan! *I* look forward to all of the new designs and hearing about you in the headlines!

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