Know someone who’s not so lucky with her amorous relationships? That wants to forget all about Valentine’s Day and instead vent a little? Or a lot. Here’s a cute gift line for those who live with many of the “didn’t put the cover back on the toothpaste” type of annoyances.

The Would It Kill Him® line features the edgy yet vulnerable Miranda June character. She is Laura Brucato’s creation and artistic outlet, used to unleash frustrations gained during a series of unfortunate romantic relationships. Actually, Miranda is very much Laura’s alter ego. Miranda is the one who fully expresses the extent of her emotions, thoughts and frustrations… concerning men, in this case.

Though Miranda originates from a place of disgruntlement, she takes us to a place of humor, where her spunky little character expresses what we are so often thinking: Would it kill him to put his clothes in the laundry basket, not on the floor next to it? To not forget my birthday? To look at me when I’m talking? To put down the toilet seat? To tell me that he loves me? To take me out once in a while?

The list goes on and on, with one would-it-kill-him saying after another to illustrate whatever shortcoming the schmuck-of-the-moment might be exhibiting. T-shirts, mugs, greetings, magnets, bags… if you can’t say it, Miranda June has no problems expressing it for you. To note: Miranda, the oh so stylish one, is represented in a new illustration for each would-it-kill-him scenario, and each of these is identified by a series number. Perfect for collectors. Though I can only hope that collected Mirandas do not, in any case, constitute a collective representation of jerk-of-a-boyfriend experiences!

Personally, mine would be limited to “Would it kill him to ever start the dishwasher?”

You can find the whole Would It Kill Him collection here on Zazzle.

So, I’ve been married 21 years now – to the same man, thankyouverymuch. We have a great trusting partnership of a marriage. It’s filled with laughter, kids, housework and more than enough joy to compensate for all the challenges. I’m imagining and planning on my husband and I growing old together. Which is why, when I was offered to review the couple’s relationship book by Marty Babits, I could not connect to it and passed. However, I’m thinking that the article below sent to me by the author’s publicist might be worth sharing. Though some of the tips are cliché and mostly obvious, others are not so much and, in any case, a reminder to be more romantic is perfect timing with Valentine’s Day looming this weekend (It’s on Sunday!).  Though we ALL know that we should be “renewing” our relationships every day of the year, right?

Personally, #7 has always worked for us. It’s a classic.

Read the full story »

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 »