By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Just in time for Father’s Day, a do-it-yourself kit beer making kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Whether your patriarch is familiar in the kitchen or not, this no-brainer, easy-to-follow process allows even the I-can’t- boil-water type to make high quality and complex beers on top of the stove.
Brooklyn Brew Shop’s user-friendly beer making kit uses only fresh, whole ingredients, such as cracked barley, hops, spices and yeast, and follows the traditional brewery method to producing beer that has been used for centuries. This kit includes a one gallon reusable glass fermenter, chambered airlock, thermometer, tubing, [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
I have always been attracted to the aesthetics and ornamentation of the various cultures around the world. The more ancient and the more “exotic” it is, the more it speaks to me. Which is why I was found gaping, high in visual nirvana, when I came upon the Images d’Orient collection.
Peggy Raphaël Dabar is the designer behind this collection of tabletop gems. She is from Lebanon and studied design in the United States. You can see the homage paid to her Mediterranean heritage in the various collections at Image D’Orient, the company she and her brother [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
As you know The Succulent Wife’s team loves a good story. And there’s even more to love with a company that has a motto that goes “Every day we strive to turn discarded items into beautifully designed and functional products”.
Rewined Candles is the brain child of Adam Fetsch. When Adam worked as a sommelier in a popular local restaurant in Charleston, SC, he observed cases and cases of bottles just being discarded. Not recycled in any way, shape or form. Just simply thrown out in the trash. Seeing beauty in the wasted bottles, he came [...]

If you are anything like us, you would rather poke yourself in the eye with a silver monogrammed butter knife than have to buy at gift from one of the generic bridal or new baby gift registries. So what if they need “it”? Let someone else be beige and get “it” for them.
We much prefer unique, handmade and bespoke gift ideas. Like custom dinnerware from Dishique Boutique, a company started by adorable Chicago couple (see them here) Megan and Jason who wanted to offer high quality and unique dinnerware for entertaining.
As a wedding gift idea for the new couple, we [...]

Though all of us are curious about our roots and sometimes even fascinated by our family history, genealogy used to be perceived as a dry artform practiced by the retired folks, i.e. the ones who really had the time to delve into the research and the connections and the research again.
Well, here’s a company that is making genealogy look fresh and sexy! Just like the people on the family tree branches were at one time – or the tree wouldn’t exist. the company is called My Tree & Me and it designs and modernizes genealogy charts.

It’s easy to order: Choose [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Is someone on your gift list a serious dog lover?  If so, you will love, love, love the work of artist Amelia Santiago. Amelia has successfully combined her love for animals and being an accomplished artist into a career that she is very passionate about. She creates exact replicas of the family pet into fine art needle felted animals.
All sculptures are made with 100% wool. Amelia examines as many photos as she can to “get to know” each pet. She studies them closely to really capture their personalities when creating their needle-felted likeness. On average, [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Last year Anne-Marie wrote about attending local art fairs in Chicago and she shared where to find some of those artists after the fair season in a two part series here and here. This is one of many passions that Anne-Marie and I share. We love and appreciate artists that are not only creative and talented but also have such a devotion to what they do. When Anne-Marie and her family came to visit us at our cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, I wanted to introduce her to one of our local art fairs. The Muskoka [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Sarah Elbert came up with the idea of her Lil’ Masterpiece necklaces when she saw her niece’s artwork on her sister’s fridge. She felt that the drawings were absolutely adorable and wanted to come up with a way to keep some of them forever. She started experimenting with her Precious Metal Clays and found a method that transfers the actual drawing onto the surface of precious metals. Her first Lil’ Masterpiece necklace was lovingly made for her sister. After her sister received so many comments on her pendant, the Lil’ Masterpiece line was born. Sarah [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I love these bags. In fact, Scott if you are reading this, I would like the Hipster Flat Bag for my Birthday. The company, U.S.E.D. (Unlimited Supplies from Everyone’s Discard) makes these bags completely from discarded seat belts and seat belt buckles, reducing the amount of waste that goes into our landfills.

This family-owned Canadian company was started by a mother/son team. They head out themselves to the auto wreckers to cut out the seatbelts from wrecked cars. They do all the cleaning of the belts and buckles and then sew the bags themselves. Since these [...]

Ever wanted to try that luscious emerald green eyeliner but didn’t feel like risking $18 in case it didn’t work out? Might you or someone you know be a sucker for sample makeup? If so, you’ll want to hear about Birchbox.com.
Birchbox is a subscription service that will send its monthly subscribers a lovely, hand-packaged box with four to five luxury beauty samples. Cost? $10 per month and it includes shipping. The samples include well-known brands like Laura Mercier, NARS, Stila and Phyto. They also include lesser-known, hard-to-find, niche and prestige brands. Beauty samples can include makeup, skincare, body and hair [...]