{shoplove: crown+cole, rooftop fibers, & a giveaway!}

Happy Friday Everyone!!

I hope you are all having a fantastic start to your weekend. If you’re at work…no worries, the weekend is just a few hours away! Over here at JKrabbits Today we have a fantastic feature on two shops by one very talented lady, Ms. Steph Miller. I stumbled upon her shops awhile ago and fell in love with several of her pieces. They are super chic and perfect for so many occassions. I contacted her and did a little interview and she graciously offered to giveaway one of her pieces to a lucky reader! All you have to do is click on the logos for her shops on the right side bar of my blog (or on the ones in this post)and leave a comment here below with the name of your favorite piece and where you would wear it. Simple enough. Also, Ms. Miller is offering 15% off all items in both of her shops, just use coupon code: jkrabbitsshoplove. Both the giveaway and coupon expire two weeks from today (one giveaway entry per reader please J). I will randomly select a winner from the entries and announce him/her shortly after the giveaway closes so stay tuned to see if you’re the lucky one!

As for that interview…

Me: What inspired you to start these lovely shops?

Steph: Well, for starters, creating has always been a part of who I am. When I was younger, the go-to gift for me was always a craft kit of some kind. I did them all: woven pot-holders, painted ceramic tea-pots, cross-stitch bookmarks, earring kits, drawing instructional books, Christmas ornaments. I also learned how to sew from my mom. In high school, theatre became my obsession, and in college, I majored in theatre with a focus in lighting design.
Now, I work as an ESL teacher, which has turned out to be the perfect career for me in that it caters to my love for performance and creativity. However, I still love to create tangible works of art, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started making jewelry last December. Once I started, I couldn’t stop! Selling my jewelry pieces allows me to create again and again without overwhelming my own jewelry collection, and I love having the freedom to experiment. Some of my most eccentric designs have found happy wearers, which I think is really cool.

Me: What are some of your favorite pieces?

Steph: I just taught myself how to make metal tassels, which are trendy this season, so I’m excited to add them to my shop! I made one with red enamel chain for Crown + Cole that I love.
In Rooftop Fibers, I have a turquoise + pyrite cube necklace that I may eventually steal for myself if no one buys it!
But my absolute favorite is a turquoise leather and brass fringe necklace from Rooftop Fibers. I love the contrast of the soft leather cord with the sharper metal.
I’m also addicted to soft, Santa Fe tones or deeper colors like dark coral and forest green, so items in those colors tend to be my favorites.

Me: What three words describe your style?

Steph: I think that my two shops have slightly different vibes, but there is definitely some unintentional cross-over. But if I had to describe each of them, or my goal for each of them, it would be:
Crown + Cole: simple, confident, sharp
Rooftop Fibers: eccentric, fun, bohemian

 Me: Which piece would you recommend for a first date?

Steph: Probably my Daphne necklace from Crown + Cole. Think pearls with an edge. Instead of traditional pearls, I used dark teal freshwater pearls and accented the long strand with a brass-tone metal tassel.

Me: How about for a Sunday Funday with the girls?

Steph: A pair of orange enamel heart earrings from Crown + Cole. The color is so fun and vibrant; I’m dying to make a pair for myself for summer beach trips!
And really anything from Rooftop Fibers! That shop has lots of fun, colorful options for summer.

Me: and now a lil about you...

Me: What is your theme song for the moment?

Steph: Usually, I prefer low-key bands, but at the moment? I’d have to say “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida. Life is always going to have tough moments, but facing the future with optimism is important, and something as simple as an upbeat tune can remind me to smile and change the tone of my whole day. And I have a lot of exciting plans for the next year, so I definitely have a “good feeling”!

Me: What is your go-to karaoke song?

Steph: Me + karaoke will never happen! But if I had a much better voice, I’d sing Rumor Has It by Adele. Every time it plays on the radio, I can’t stop myself from belting out the lyrics.

Me: Whose brain do you want to pick?

Steph: Florence Welch. Her song lyrics are so rich and complicated, I would love to see her thoughts in action and hear her ideas about the world. Or just chat over cups of coffee.

Me: A glass of wine? An ice cold brew? or a fancy mixed drink?

Steph: How about a fancy mixed ice cold brew? My favorite is the lava lamp from Flying Saucer: Harp, Stout, and Framboise.

Me: If money were no option, where would you live?

Steph: Somewhere secluded. In the mountains or along the coast. Exotic destinations are great for vacations, but I prefer simplicity and nature.

Isn’t she sweet? Happy weekend everyone! Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow so live it up!

So long for now...

Mrs. E

{diy: peacock guestbook}

For our wedding, we tried to incorporate as many unique and original details as possible. One of those details being our guestbook. I woke up from a dream one night and immediately wrote down this idea---a peacock guestbook. I like peacocks a lot; they’re so beautiful and colorful. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we could have our guests sign feathers and create one of those gorgeous birds. I searched for several ideas but couldn’t find anything I liked; then this idea struck my bride brain. It worked out well---even though not everyone quite understood how to sign their feather (oh well). The end result is beautiful and now we have a lovely piece of artwork for our home. We have several unsigned feathers left over as well that future guests can sign. Below is a little tutorial on how to create one of these for your own event/home. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!  

 

Peacock Guestbook How To:

 

1. Get a large canvas (as large as you want you peacock to be) and paint the background whatever color you want, and your peacock’s body in the foreground.

2. Lay a little guestbook banner across the top, for some flair.

3. Cut out large curved raindrops from cardstock and stamp a peacock feather on top in whatever colors you’d like your feathers to be.

4. Lay your feathers on top of each other, creating a pattern. (We actually laid out the loose feathers at our wedding for guests to sign during the reception; you could do it either way)

5. Look over the pattern you’ve created, making adjustments whereever necessary.

6. Once you’re happy with your pattern, take a glue glue and glue your feathers down to the canvas. Don’t add too much glue, just little dabs.

And you’re done! Hang it up somewhere lovely. Such a handsome peacock needs a good place where he can show off feathers.

You can even frame some instructions for you guests. It is a very unique guestbook afterall.

{isn’t he just gorgeous above our mantle?}



{easter camp trip}

{our little group}

This post is a little overdue…but ahh, here it is J

To celebrate this Easter we headed up to Lake Hartwell, SC with our family and friends for a mini camp trip. Jesse and I haven’t gone camping in over a year so this was a real treat for us. Usually we really rough it, but our friends introduced us to a new form of camping---glamping. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is basically just fancy camping. No long hikes into a campsite in the middle of nowhere, no digging holes for, well you know…, no hanging food in trees in order to avoid attracting unwanted visitors. No this camp trip was like a mini-vacation---we were really spoiled. The bathrooms (with showers) were only a few steps away, we had electricity and running water at our site, and our friends had an oven, yes an oven!, in which we cooked most of our meals very efficiently. It was quite relaxing and allowed us to spend less time on the menial tasks and more time enjoying each other’s company---which is really what you want to do on Easter weekend. I don’t know if Jesse and I will camp like this very often (afterall we do like the solitude that those rustic campsites provide), but I think we will definitely try it again! This was also my parent’s first camping trip (which they were very excited about), so glamping was definitely the ideal way to introduce them to the wilderness…haha.

{the pups packed up and ready to go}

We arrived Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning. Friday was pretty laid back as we just got everything set-up and made dinner. Saturday was more of an active day. We woke up bright and early (7 am early…ack!), started a nice fire, and cooked up some breakfast burritos. After we filled our bellies, we parted ways to enjoy a few different activities. Some of our group went to check-out the Easter egg hunt hosted by the park, while a couple others went fishing. Dad Ellis and I went on a 7 1/2 mile bike ride around Tugaloo State Park (where we were staying) to check out our surroundings and burn off those breakfast calories.

{sasha waking up jesse…he wasn’t too happy about that}

{haha}

{the morning crew}

{starting a fire}

{gentlemen}

{lubs}

{my pops and me}

We all met up around lunchtime and shared our adventures from the day. Afterwards, I took a little siesta in Jesse’s hammock whilst listening to some Eric Hutchinson (I did get up at 7 am afterall). Jesse, his brother, my parent’s, and our friends headed back over to the lake for a little walk. Dad Ellis took in some sunshine while reading his daily paper. Such a perfect afternoon.

{soaking in my vitamin d}

{my hubs}

{comfy?}

{gathered catepillars; anyone know what kind they are?}

Dinner on Saturday was untra delicious. We made thanksgiving foil packets---herb roasted turkey breast, stuffing, & gravy. We had fire roasted corn and cranberry sauce on the side---yum-my! For dessert, our friend Mark made a blackforest cobbler in his dutch oven. It was incredibly good! That night we gathered around the fire, roasted a few marshmallows, and shared stories. No scary ones unfortunately---maybe next time.

{sooo good}

{jesse with hus super cool swedish torch}

{take 1}

{take 2…much better}

{now that’s a fire!}

Sunday was pretty easy. We had a very nice breakfast and cleaned up our campsite. We didn’t leave before going on one last adventure however. Have you ever heard of geocaching? It’s kind of like treasure hunting. There are geocaches hidden all over…even in large cities, and you have to follow map coordinates or clues to find them. There is also a really cool app that shows you the gps location. Once you find the geocache, you can take the treasure you find (left by the previous discoverer) as long as you replace it with something. That way the geocache stays active. We figured out there was one close to our campsite so we decided to go and check it out. We had to hike up a hill, and search around a bit, until finally we found it casually hidden under a pile of logs. It was very exciting to pry open the box and see what treasures were hidden inside (which surprisingly there were several). We even got to log our names into a little book to document we had found it. We followed the rules and left our own treasure behind---a cracker challenge…hehe.

{on our way to the geocache…it was so nice out}

{the hike up}

{the pups were excited}

{we found it!}

{official rules}

{so many treasures, so hard to choose}

{the log book}

{our geocache contribution}

{the cracker challenge}

{returning the geocache}

{our reward}

What a lovely camp trip. We had such a great time with such wonderful company. I can’t wait until our next camping adventure! Maybe we will do more geocaching.

So long for now,

The Mrs.

{fancy appetizers: caprese salad bites}

Hello again! As I mentioned in my earlier post from today, this weekend we had friends over for our first cookout of the season and I put out some delicious summery appetizers for everyone. I made sweet & salty appletizers and little caprese salad bites. I love caprese salad but didn’t feel like making a gigantic salad, so instead I put these little babies together. It took me no time at all, and my guests appreciated the cute presentation. Bonus---I got to use fresh basil from my herb garden!

To make them all you need to do is:

1) Take a big leaf of sweet basil and lay a cherry tomato and mozarella ball on top, preferrebly on the side that curls inward.

2) Spear a toothpick from the top of the leaf, through the tomato, mozarella ball, then out the bottom of the leaf.

3)Place your little caprese salad bite on a plate or in a tiny glass (I used teeny libbey dessert glasses---thank you Derek for the lovely christmas gift)

4) Drizzle some balsamic glaze on top.

Does it get any easier?

{yum}

{fancy appetizers: sweet & salty appletizers}

Hello everyone! This weekend we had some friends over for our first cookout of the season. We had good food, lots of laughs, and of course some competitve games of cornhole. It was really nice outside so I wanted to incorporate some fancy appetizers with summery flavors. I call these sweet and salty appletizers.

To make them all you need to do is:

1) Slice some green apples thinly.

2) Roll up half a piece of thinly sliced prosciutto and lay on your apple slice.

3)Scoop a little goat cheese on top of the prosciutto---you can pipe it onto the prosciutto with a nice tip if you want to make it extra fancy.

4) Drizzle some honey on top.

5) Arrange nicely on your plate.

Easy peasy and super delish!

{does it get any easier?}

{happy may!}

Just stopping by for a minute to say hello and happy may! Get out and enjoy some sunshine---it’s good for you!