February | 2012 | Sarah Ana Designs

Archive | February, 2012

Busy Weekend!

I am slowly getting through my 30 Before 30 list!

This weekend I completed 4 things off my list!

To start off the weekend I hosted an intimate, impromptu dinner party (#21). I invited over 2 of my friends from my studio for some homemade vegetarian enchiladas and some wine before we head out to a concert! The enchiladas were delicious (if I can say so myself)! And the company was even better!

Dinner is Served

Veggie Enchilada

Saturday was a busy day. I taught myself how to do Gel Medium Transfers, watched Casablanca and bought a red bra.

I have never owned a red bra but everyone seems to think that red bras are pretty sexy so I thought I should probably try it out. haha. I went to Winner’s and got a great deal on one. Item #9 is off my list.

Gel Medium Transfers are quite cool. I watched this youtube video to see how to do them.

Here is my attempt.

Gel Medium Transfer with paper half peeled off

This was really fun to do. Mine is not quite as nice as the one in the demo video but I now know what I can do with this technique. #15 is completed.

Lastly, I watched Casablanca. I always hear things about classic movies like Breakfast At Tiffany’s and Casablanca but I have never seen them. I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to hear all the famous lines that came from the movie also like “Here’s looking at you kid” and “We’ll always have Paris.” #18 is completed.

I still have 17 tasks to do! I am going to have to get my wriggle on!

Tags: 30 before 30, Casablanca, dinner party, gel medium transfer, vegetarian enchiladas

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Categories 30 before 30

“Pearls are Always Appropriate.” Jackie Kennedy

24 Feb

I have been working on a new body of work that is inspired by my love of the 1920s and all things flapper. If I could chose any time period to go back to this would be it! To begin my research I recently watched 2 movies. They were both so inspiring and visually pleasing. The first was The Artist which takes place in Hollywood at the end of the 20s and early 30s. The second was Midnight in Paris which takes place in modern day paris with trips back to the roaring 20s.

In the 1920′s beaded and lace dresses offset the flappers boyish figures and short haircuts. Pearls were very common. Long strands of pearls (sometimes layered) were typical of the times. “Pearls mirrored the feelings of the women who wore them, jangling around freely while they danced the Charleston, evoking a lassiez-faire attitude with a dash of sexuality thrown in.” www.diamonddame.com

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Flapper-Girl

I love everything about this era. The clothing, the music, the art, the attitude, the atmosphere. I want to capture this in my jewellery.

For this new body of work I have been working with lace and pearls. I am still in the design phase but I have made up two pieces so far, a pair of simple lace hoop earrings and a lace and pearl bracelet. For the later, I had to re-learn how to string pearls. With the help of a few online tutorials like this one on Pearl Knotting Techniques I was able to re-teach myself. (And I was able to cross number 26 off my 30 Before 30 list.)

Below are pics of my new pieces. Next I am thinking a long layered pearl necklace…

Sterling Silver Lace Hoops

Sterling Silver Lace and Pearl Bracelet

…what do you think?

Tags: 1920s, 1920s inspired jewellery, flapper, flapper jewellery, pearl, pearl bracelet, wedding jewellery

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Categories 30 before 30, Jewellery

Here Comes the Sun…

21 Feb

This weekend was Family Day Weekend in Ontario. I spent a nice, long weekend in the company of my Dad, Mom and 1/3 of the sisters up in Collingwood where my parents live. It was a gorgeous weekend! Quite a bit of snow fell on Friday night and Saturday morning but after that it was perfect. We spent the weekend doing crossword puzzles, scoping out good sales, watching movies and enjoying the fresh air outside.

I decided this weekend was the perfect weekend to watch the sunrise. Looking out the sunroom at my parents you are faced with a spectacular view. You can see both the bay and the mountains. It’s beautiful. On Sunday I woke up at the crack of dawn only to find that there was a thick layer of clouds and no sunrise to watch.

Monday was much better. At around 6:40 a line of orange appeared on the horizon. There were still clouds in the sky but they looked like curtains being pulled up to reveal a magnificent backdrop of pinks and orange. I cozied up with a cup of tea and watched until the fiery colours dispersed amongst the clouds. Gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the photos I took don’t do it justice.

Looking towards the mountain

Looking towards the bay

What a great way to start the day! Do you ever just sit and watch the sunrise?

Tags: 30 before 30, collingwood, crack of dawn, sunrise photo, watching the sunrise

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Categories 30 before 30

If I Could Style…Paige Duke

17 Feb

This week’s If I could Style character is Paige Duke of the reality t.v show Sweet Home Alabama. (Since it is reality t.v. I guess she isn’t so much a character as she is just herself!)

Paige Duke

I have never really gotten into reality t.v. dating shows (though I did enjoy the show Beauty and the Geek for the brief time it was on). I don’t watch the Bachelor or Bachelorette. However, one evening my sister discovered Sweet Home Alabama and now we are both hooked! Now in its third season, the show follows one single country folk as they search for love amongst 11 country and 11 city prospects. It’s different from other reality t.v dating shows. Maybe it’s because the country boys are super cute and real gentlemen!

Paige is this season’s leading lady looking for love. Paige is beautiful inside and out. She is super sweet, fun, down to earth. It’s no wonder she has all the guys head over heels (spurs?) for her.

Her style is feminine and fresh with some country flare. Pretty dresses in floral patterns, denim and a fantastic pair of cowboy boots are staples in her wardrobe.

For Paige I chose an outfit that is sweet, feminine and a little bit country. Ever since I started watching the show I couldn’t stop thinking about how my SarahAnaDesigns Bow Bolo Tie would be perfect for Paige!

Jean jacket from Forever21

super sweet eyelet and denim dress from luckyprlformia

Blue suede cowboy boots from greencorndance

Bow bolo tie by SarahAnaDesigns

1. Forever21 – $35.90 CDN (photo credit forever21)

2. LUCKYPRLFORMIA on Etsy – 55$ USD (photo credit LUCKYPRLFORMIA)

3. GreenCornDance on Etsy – $160 USD (photo credit GreenCornDance)

4. SarahAnaDesigns – $60 (photo credit SarahAnaDesigns)

Tags: bolo ties, bow bolo tie, forever 21 jean jacket, greencorndance, luckyprlformia, Paige Duke, Paige Duke Style, Sweet Home Alabama, Sweet Home Alabama season 3

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Categories If I Could Style

Please, Mr. Postman

17 Feb

The other day I sat down and I crossed number 2 off my 30 before 30 list – Write a friend a letter.

It took me a while to decide who to write. I didn’t want it to be someone who I talk to every day. I also wanted to have enough to say in a full letter. Then the perfect person popped into mind. My friend Em from my university years in Montreal. She has been off teaching in Korea for a number of years and with our busy lifestyles it is sometimes difficult to keep in touch. I decided to write her a nice letter filling her in on what is new in my life.

There is something very satisfying about writing a letter. I love sending quick notes off to people and I send cards quite often but writing a letter really takes some thought and reflection as to what are the important things going on in your life that are worth telling someone else!

I enjoyed writing a letter. Maybe I will start to do it more often.

Happy reading Em!

http://collectiblesxgifts.com

Tags: 30 before 30, letter writing, snail mail

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Categories 30 before 30

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Feb

photo credit tube2u.com

Tags: jewellery, Sweethearts, Valentine's Day

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Categories Uncategorized

A Cluttered Desktop is a Cluttered Mind.

12 Feb

I can’t stand it when there are a million folders on my desktop! Ok, maybe not a million, but lots. I can never seem to find anything! So today I thought I would knock another task off my 30 before 30 list and clean up my desktop cus’ you know how the saying goes, “A cluttered desk(top) is a cluttered mind.”

This is my desktop before. Maybe it doesn’t look so bad to some people but hidden inside these folders are more folders. And inside those folders are even more folders. It’s like one of those stacking dolls. The worst thing for me is that I will have the same file or picture in about 4 different folders saved under different names! I don’t need all these files! So today I narrowed it down to 9 folders on my desktop and I trashed a whole bunch of useless folders. Now everything has a proper place and I know just where to find what I am looking for. There is still more work to be done but I feel like I am off to a good start!

Let’s just hope it stays this way!

Tags: 30 before 30, clean desktop, de-cluttering

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Categories 30 before 30

Truffles!

12 Feb

Yesterday I woke up and asked myself “What can I complete off of my 30 before 30 list?” and the first thing that came to mind was make truffles! Since it is Valentine’s Day this week and it was my friends birthday yesterday I thought it would be a great occasion to make them.

So I got up and I looked up how to make them. There are lots of recipes out there! I chose the one with the least ingredients for my first attempt! I then enlisted Alexis to help me make them.

These ones are quite basic and pretty tasty. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. We found cute little tiny muffin cups to put them in at the dollar store.

Ingredients:

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons Amaretto
Coatings: Could be whatever you want really. We chose to make ours with cocoa powder, white hot chocolate powder, icing sugar and for the birthday girl we even covered one in coloured sprinkles!

1. First we put the condensed milk in a pot (double boiled). We slowly added in the chocolate chips until melted.

2. When the chocolate and condensed milk were smoothly blended together we removed the mixture from the stove top. We divided the mixture into two, adding vanilla to one batch and spicing up the other batch by adding some Amaretto. We placed the mixture in the fridge for 2-3 hours so that it could become firm.

3. Once the mixture was firm we shaped it into small balls and rolled them in whichever toppings we liked.

4. Ta-Da!

5. We even packaged some of them up to give as gifts!

Next time (and there will be a next time!) I may even get a bit fancier. I think maybe an orange flavour would be nice with a candied orange curl on top? or maybe a hazelnut? What do you think?

Tags: 30 before 30, easy chocolate truffles, how to make easy truffles, truffle making

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Categories 30 before 30

If I Could Style…Jess Day

8 Feb

Zooey Deschanel has always been my favourite. Maybe it’s because she is beautiful and down to earth or maybe it’s because I see a bit of myself in the characters she plays – quirky, artsy, comical. I love her sense of style and humour. I was so happy when I learned she would be starring in her own sitcom New Girl. This show is super funny. I really love it!

Zooey plays Jess Day, a cute, bubbly school teacher. Jess is always dressed in colourful, girly, retro inspired outfits. 50′s style dresses in block colours, feminine blouses and mini skirts are staples to her wardrobe.

I have chosen 2 outfits that I think reflect Jess’s bright, cheerful fashion style. For her accessories I would choose my S’wag dachshund wrap bracelet to reflect her humorous, quirky side or my bow bangle in antiqued brass to reflect her feminine, flirty, girly side.

Outfit #1