I can’t remember how I came across this blog, but I was completely charmed and immediately submitted a photo of my mom (that’s her in the straw hat).

The “My Mom, the Style Icon” blog is written by Piper Weiss, an editor and writer featured in the likes of the New York Daily News, VH1 and bestweekever.tv. She came up with this the idea of creating the mom-as-style-icon website as she came across some amazing old pictures of her mom in the 60’s: “She was dressed in the most incredible frocks and she had a real attitude. I instantly realized I’d rather look at pictures of her than any model. So I posted them to a blog to show my friends. It took off a few months later and now I get submissions from all over the planet.”

I love how, through this site, we can revisit the fashion of some of the last decades, as seen on real women, also known as our mothers. It’s fun to be looking at them through a different lens, that of vibrant, stylish and sexy women, not just as “mom”.

Piper has a “major” fetish for the 70’s: “There’s something cartoonish about that era. Lots of colors

Read the full story »

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor

Before Christmas I went to visit my BFF Anne-Marie in Chicago and she treated me to a chocolate tour she found on Groupon (she loves Groupon and wrote all about it here). It was a walking tour of downtown Chicago and it was a wonderful way to see the city while sampling some amazing chocolate treats. One such treat was a delightfully and creatively delicious chocolate bar from Chocri, a German company that customizes chocolate bar(s), each made-to-order. At the time, the company had not yet launched in the U.S., but Chocri is here now, with perfect timing for Valentine’s Day gift giving.

Chocri offers over 100 toppings to choose from to go on either dark, milk or white chocolate. For Valentine’s Day they suggest romantically inspired chocolate bars, such as the Sweet Seduction made with white chocolate, candied rose petals and real gold flakes. Or you may want to make one of your own creations using the traditional fruits and nuts or go for something more on the adventurous side with chives, caraway seeds or jalapenos. For the kids-at-heart, there are gummy bears(which were on the very first Chocri chocolate bar ever made) or M & M type candies. All the chocolate bars are handmade in Germany and shipped to you.

I love that they only use the best ingredients, starting with organic or fair trade chocolate from Belgium. The co-founders, Franz Duge and Micha Bruck, believe that the best quality of chocolate means not only the best tasting but also the most ethical chocolate. Meaning that, at every level of the chocolate production, there also has to be fair working practices. What I also love about Chocri is that they donate a percentage of their revenue to an organization that supports children of the Ivory Coast called DIV Kinder. The connection between the Ivory Coast and chocolate, you may ask, is that most of the cacao, the main ingredient in chocolate, is produced there.

Check out their website at CreateMyChocolate.com to give that special someone a real treat. They will be impressed that you know exactly what they love in a chocolate bar… On Valentine’s or any other day!

Note: Ladies, please feel free to forward this to the men in your lives that need gift ideas and inspiration this Valentine’s Day.

The “picture is worth a thousand words” cliché is enduring for a reason: because it’s so true. Which is quite a relief for those not so poetic because now, simply handing over one of these little jewelry pieces should say it all. Well, actually, some pieces here conjure images that can be left to interpretation, which interpretation should really be left to the gift recipient, after all…

My Friend Roze has molded and cast bubble wrap to produce these quirky necklaces where only one bubble (featuring a semi-precious stone of your choice) remains unpopped. All pieces are handmade from reclaimed silver or 14k gold. Here’s the necklace and the rest of the collection.

A visual interpretation of where the heart lies (literally) is  actually… romantic. But thankfully, this X-Ray necklace definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. Named the Tell Tale Heart Necklace by Tilly Bloom, it was found on 1000Markets, right here.

Who doesn’t love snapping open a fortune cookie? Especially one this tiny that carries its own heartfelt message. For Valentine’s Day, I’d most probably choose the “You are loved beyond measure” necklace but a personalized message (also an option) would most definitely win her over.  See all Amy Peters adorable mini Fortune Cookie Necklaces here.

Key to my Heart. C’mon, can’t get more literal than that. But, this piece also says “Cross my Heart”. So if you don’t get your point across with this one, we just can’t help you. By Isabel Rose, a lampwork glass jewelry artist on 1000Markets. Here is her shop.

Jenny and Jimbob package their mini tongue-in-cheek pendants in colorful gift-ready matchboxes. You can go either way with these from choosing the light switch pendant with the suggested message “a major turn on” or the vacuum cleaner pendant that implies that “love sucks”. Either way, completely adorable.  You can see all their cheeky pendants here.

I’ve seen Laurie Pollpeter Eskenazi’s ceramics at a couple of art fairs in the Chicago area and find her work completely charming. Given the time of year, I wanted to mention her ceramic hearts as perfect Valentine’s Day gifts. Whimsical, colorful and utterly delightful representations of the Valentine’s Day symbol. And, as a décor item to be displayed in permanence, just one of Laurie’s colorful ceramic hearts can exude the expression of lovely feelings all year round.

You can read about Laurie Pollpeter Eskenazi’s training as an artist here and shop for her ceramic hearts (and her other inspired ceramic work) here and here.

Lovely, n’est-ce-pas?

I wrote about Kickstarter this past August. It’s a crowdfunding vehicle that matches creative projects/dreams with the individuals – people like you and me – who are willing to fund them. You can find all sorts of fascinating projects on Kickstarter; lots of film makers, musicians, writers and artists of all kinds have projects listed. I’m backing four of them at this moment and wanted to give a shout out to this particular one: Lumi Co.. because I’m quite certain that they will be revolutionizing the textile industry.

Indeed, take a look at Lumi Co. This brand new start up company is up to BIG (huge) things. It is headed by the very young (22 year olds) but incredibly brilliant and determined product design students, the team of Jesse and Stéphan.

What’s Lumi? It’s a totally unique, groundbreaking printing technology. Why is it so special? Lumi’s process isn’t derived from any other existing printing technology. It enables printing with photo-realistic qualities, on any NATURAL material (even over texture). This has been previously impossible. Sure, there are ways to print on textiles, but the only known process are screen printing for natural textiles (which limits the quality & authenticity of the printed image) or sublimation which can only be done on synthetic materials, with a whole lot of harmful chemicals. Natural materials cannot be printed using the sublimation technique because it would burn and destroy them.

In contrast, Lumi can print the exact, unaltered image in an eco-friendly way on ANY natural material. This is truly ground-breaking. The image is permanent, wash-fast and eco-safe.

How do 22 year olds come up with something like this? Well, you need one very passionate young

Read the full story »

Need to stir things up a little this Valentine’s Day? You might want to pop in any DVDs from the Intimacy Spa collection and see what happens…

Taking a tasteful approach that features real life couples, the Intimacy Spa DVD series proposes six different titles aimed to boost a couple’s intimacy. ‘Cause it’s a well known fact that increased intimacy makes for healthier, more satisfying relationships. The titles include the almost sedate variety like Sensual Massage for Couples, Sensual Yoga for Couples, Sensual Fitness for Couples (I’m trying to imagine the exercise routine) and Sensual Thai Massage. And then, for good measure, the collection includes a couple of more racy DVDs such as Sensual Pole Dancing, and Sensual Strip Dance (I feel like I’m back in Vegas).

I like that each DVD has been developed with the counsel of an expert in its subject field, like Mishabae on the Joy of Partner Yoga. You know, it gives the whole thing a little more legitimacy.

Cool gift idea for a couple to give each other. You can get the Intimacy Spa DVDs here.

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor

Just before Christmas I went to Chicago to visit my friend Anne-Marie.  She took me to the One-of-a-Kind show, which features artists from all over the States and Canada.  It was quite a show and discovered all sorts of neat things and met some very interesting people. One of the people I met was  Annie Duggan. She and her sister, Mary, started a company called the  DugganSisters that helps people transform their lives.

After both women recovered from various illnesses and injuries, they decided to share their amazing transformation stories and to dedicate themselves to helping others transform their lives also. Their stories are truly amazing.  One of their passions is healthy breasts and they started the DON’T BE A BOOB campaign  linking breast cancer and bras and the role of the lymphatic system in maintaining good health.  They preached about how bad deodorants were but found natural deodorants quite  ineffective.  So, the Duggan Sisters, naturally, went about creating their own deodorant called LifeStinks™ . Their LifeStinks deodorants are made with 3 simple ingredients: aluminum free sodium bicarbonate, tea tree oil and lavender or cedarwood oil that are made with the highest quality Australian botanical oil infusions.  They do not stain and completely rinse off clothes.  It goes on dry to keep you dry and requires no mid day touch-ups.

I had to try this.  My mother-in-law, Betty, is a breast cancer survivor and I knew I had to get her a LifeStinks kit. I told her the story and she confided in me that she’d always hated wearing store-bought deodorant but felt she had little choice because the natural stuff never worked for her.  She absolutely loved the Lifestinks product!  Not a big fragrance fan, she still found the lavender very pleasant (I personally love it, but then I am a fan of essential oils).  She stayed with us for a month during Christmas and never looked back at her store bought deodorant again. In fact I found it in the bathroom waste basket after she had left. Now that is a testimonial!

You can buy the LifeStinks Deodorant right from the Duggan Sisters’ website where you can also read more about their amazing stories.