My Chic Life

Season's Greenings

Now that Turkey day has trotted, let’s talk Christmas. While Thanksgiving is notorious for overcooking, Christmas is the holiday for overspending. On Thanksgiving we waste food. On Christmas we waste, well, EVERYTHING. This year, Chic Readers, let’s each try to find one area where we can cut back and NOT WASTE ANYTHING. I have 3 ways to do this.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas...

1. Make your own wrapping paper. Get a few brown paper bags, cut open the seams so that you have one big flat piece. Flip to the blank side that has no writing or logos. Cut a kitchen sponge into the shape of a star. Dip in gold/red/green paint. Stamp sponge on paper. Repeat. Allow to dry. Voila! Beautiful and Eco-Friendly wrapping paper.
2. Decorate your tree using only found objects. Take a walk through the park. Collect sticks, pine cones, dried leaves, and sprigs of berries (preferably non-poisonous if you have kids, pets, or curious significant others). Take your goods home and spray paint a few items gold or red for some color. Use wire ornament hooks to hang your eco-ornaments on your tree.
3. Buy charity gifts. Visit Charity Choice and choose from over 100 Charities to donate to. Put the donation under your receiver’s name and they will receive monthly updates about the progress of their cause. Make sure to tailor the cause to the gift receiver. For example, Ivan likes cats so I would donate to Alley Cat Allies in his name. Prrrrowww…

Happy Green Holidays Chic Readers!

Between work & play, family & friends, who has the time to take care of a pet? Dogs drool and cats scratch. Fish die and gerbils smell. Despite all of that, I yearn for a little creature of my own to have and to hold. Something that loves me unconditionally and cheers me up when I’ve had a rough day. Is it possible to reap all of these benefits without the responsibility and commitment of owning a pet??

Sphere Genius!

It sure is. I’ve seen these spherical wonders at a few boutiques around town and then imagine my excitement when they popped up at my local Anthropologie?! The original EcoSphere is the world’s first totally enclosed ecosystem- a complete, self-contained and self sustaining miniature world encased in glass. Or, in layman’s terms…a living thing that takes care of itself!

adopt a pet shrimp!

These EcoSpheres make great office pets, favors, and gifts! Trust me, your sister will totally appreciate it when you give your niece an EcoSphere and not a hamster for her birthday. EcoSpheres require no cleaning and only minimal care and the little shrimp inside can live to be 7 years old! They can keep you company for years to come without robbing you of your freedom to take a spur of the moment weekend getaway.

EcoSphere sitter? EcoSphere kennel? Nope.

EcoSphere love? Absolutely.

Hello there chickens! Let me introduce you to your new “roost”!

Feather Your Nest

I happened on this home furnishing company almost by accident and I’m in love with their line. The opening of their website says it best “We are delighted to share with you our passion for creating things that are affordable, beautifully made and entirely special.”

Tree Hugger!

I couldn’t agree more with the description. Please look at their actual website just to get an idea of their cool factor, and then head to Velocity Art Designs to shop until your hearts content.

You may get distracted though, VAD has about 9 million things to buy, all of which you’re going to love as much as these branchy candlesticks!!

La Vita Bella

Check out this adorable home furnishings website I found!! I’m absolutely obsessed with the burlap pillows, and the antique sings… it’s oh-so shabby chic without smothering you in rosey printed sofas and doilie covered everything!!

Sugarboo Designs is the work of a cutie-pie husband and wife team who hand make everything they sell. I want to buy, at least 12 things of their website right this minute!

Love it!

Alter-Rations

So I was flipping through the latest CB2 catalog to harkin my mailbox and I found these galvanized steel corrugates. How fantastic are these things??? I’m dying just thinking about what ultra-modern or super-rustic or just unusual wedding ceremony I can use them in.

Can’t you just see these as alter pieces overflowing with amraanthys, and curly willow and a ton of unique greenery? Their fun texture and color could be used about 50 different ways, and you could totally rock them out on your patio post-nuptials. We love anything with multiple uses!

funny bones

I know it’s kinda weird but I have a strange obsession with skulls and skeleton related things. Wait, let me elaborate a little before y’all think I’m some sort of Satan worshipper. Are any of you Chic readers familiar with Dia de Los Muertos? Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated by Latinos that  focuses on gathering together to remember friends and family who have passed away. Sounds sad, right? Not even! Friends cover graves of loved ones with flowers, their favorite foods, and other fun things their dead friend would have appreciated.

The art that goes along with this holiday is fantastic! It’s bright and colorful and features skeleton’s dancing, drinking, eating, and just being generally merry. I love it. BUT it’s hard to find here in the states and sometimes all I can find are overpriced, crappy imitations…sigh.

no bones about it

Imagine my delight when I discovered Skellramics at a recent art walk while visiting the fam in San Diego. These ladies share my obsession with bones, skulls, and basically just skeletons participating in hilarities. The best part- they are based in The Valley and some local shops sell their goods! 

Their prints and paintings are amazing but they also carry ceramic goods like magnets, boxes, and mugs. Gentlemen, if your lady has any sort of taste, skip Tiffany’s and get her a Skellramics skull ring. That’ll really tickle her funny bone. There are skulls galore on www.skellramics.com. Check them out- they’re spectacularly spooky and absolutely kooky.

No ifs, ands, or BONES about it.

To Go-Go

I was smitten with the gingham to-go containers but I died a thousand blissful deaths when I found the Andy Worhal plates!

Need unique napkins, perfect invitations, bedazzled anything?? Please look no further! Plum Party might be the cutest little party website I’ve yet to find.

They honestly have everything you could possibly think of, and really, it would take so little to spruce up your dinner party or the next book club. Plus for those of you who are challenged in the entertaining department, they have items grouped together so you’ll be perfectly coiffed and taking all the credit even if someone else put it together. It’s like buying an outfit off the mannequin for the party set!

Drink Up

Unique gift: check

Affordable: check

Recycling, vintage, adorable: check, check, check.

I just thought these were too cute to not give some love to the designers at Yava Glass 

How great would it be to go to your new boyfriends place for the first time and have him bring your vodka cran in one of these? The remade-bottle vibe makes them safe for any heterosexual male but the design means you AND the gays will still totally approve of his taste.

The regal part of me has always wanted to sit for a portrait, but the quirky part of me can’t fathom what I’d do with a piece of artwork so banal. Solution: Monkey Museum! From what I gather, it’s a group of artist (who may or may not be married, not sure because the verbiage on their website could either mean that they’ve been brought together by one singular artistic vision, or that they are in fact legally married) who create your very own self-portrait as a monkey, or monkey family. They have monkey cats and monkey dogs… and pretty much, will paint anything into a monkey. It’s the epitome of unique and zany and I’m dying to see a monkey Dave and a monkey Rachel on the wall at the end of our hallway!