Sharing a few finds for Valentine’s Da – gift guide for women, baby, toddler and little girls.
Valentine’s Day Style
Rounding up a few favorite Valentine’s Day finds. I purchased the heart mugs as they reminded me of the Emma Bridgewater ones.
You can shop the image below:
10 Gifts for Valentine’s Day
Sharing some of my favorites for Valentine’s Day. You can treat yourself #lovethyself or perhaps a special someone can make a little purchase for you!
Every year Diptyque comes out with a limited edition rose scented candle and EVERY YEAR for the past 4 years now I cannot help myself and buy it. They smell so good! Also, they have a pretty design on the candle!
I got this pair of slippers for Christmas and they are the cutest! I love the little pom pom! I got them in pink, but it seems pink is sold out at a lot of places (besides the link above, try here). You can get them in chestnut/cream here.
These sunglasses are dupes for a more famous designer version
4. Heart Blouse
Not all Valentine’s Day wear needs to be pink! I love this cute blue heart blouse!
I love Longchamp handbags because they are so versatile and lightweight! They travel easy too! For Valentine’s Day, I like this pink color!
6. Cute Valentine’s Day Loungewear
The above set is by P.J. Salvage which is super comfortable! I also like these heart joggers by the same company.
7. Vintage Valentine’s Day Notecards
Send a vintage Valentine to your Valentine (or friend!)
8. Julie Vos Pink Jewelry!
Love this collection! Left to right: Earrings, Bracelet, Necklace. I own the necklace in this color and the earrings in two different colors!
9. Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Now who doesn’t love chocolate covered strawberries? These actually ship via Amazon and have 1000 reviews rated as 4/5 stars. They are cheaper than Sherrie’s Berries.
If you want to totally splurge, I recommend the Gucci Princetown Mule or Loafer! I own the loafer and looooove it. The Mule didn’t look as good on *my* feet… I wrote my review comparing the two here.
Vintage Valentine’s Day Tiered Tray and Blog Hop
I love Valentine’s Day! While we have actually never technically “celebrated” it by going out to dinner or whatever the commercial pop culture tells us to do, but I LOVE all of the pink and the excuse to drag out my more feminine and frilly items!
One of my favorite blog hops that I participate in is the Vintage Valentine’s Day Blog hop hosted by Amber at Follow The Yellow Brick Home! I am sharing my vintage tiered tray as part of this hop!
If you’re doing the hop in order, welcome from My Thrift Store Addiction. Isn’t her Valentine’s so pretty?
Last year I started decorating my tiered tray that I have had for several years and it used to just sit in the closet. I decorated the top tray with my antique Staffordshire swans which are actually inkwells. I had saved the heart ornaments which were on one of my trees and left them out of the box for this occasion.
I perched my vintage resting angel on top of a vintage looking chocolate box. I have also displayed a few of my vintage tea cups, various other chocolate and candy boxes, and a new favorite rose scented candle. Even unlit, it smells amazing!
On the other side of the tray, I have a velvet bejeweled strawberry. Another favorite rose scented candle rests on the bottom.
A different tea cup sits on the middle shelf. An antique red transfer ware creamer is displayed on the bottom.
One last look at the tray! I love the little angel! If you missed it, yesterday I shared my Swan Valentine’s Day Table for Two.
Next up on the Vintage Valentine’s Blog Hop is Virginia Sweet Pea. You’ll love her pretty Valentine’s decor!
You can also visit anyone and everyone participating in the vintage Valentine’s Blog hop by clicking on the links below!
Swan Valentine’s Table for Two
This year for my Valentine’s Day tablescape, I used a beautiful swan as the centerpiece.
The swan was purchased for Christmas, actually. I had planned to have him sit under the tree. Then I saw the feathers. We have a cat. Cats love feathers. So I perched him high above the refrigerator for Winter. I thought he would be perfect for Valentine’s Day, since swans are so romantic (except in real life, they are pretty much mean divas).
This year I set the table for two! We never go out for Valentine’s Day. We always stay at home for a night in. We prefer to cook and ignore the crowds, over priced specials, etc. Plus, I think my husband can cook better than many restaurants! Married a keeper!
Despite everything I just said above, this year we were walking in the mall as we passed a chocolate shop with its heart boxes and I told him, one day I hope you’ll get me a box of Valentine’s chocolates. He said, nope, never. OK. I’ll get my own. So I did.
So last week, I went to Ladurée, which if you’re not familiar with, is famous for its macarons. I wrote about my experience visiting the tea room in Paris here. They have a few locations in the USA now. Two are in Southern California – The Grove and Beverly Hills.
So I went and bough myself a pretty pretty box of macarons. I adore the rose on top!
The box sits on top of a stack of antique and vintage plates.
The rest of the items on the table I already had and pulled out of various cabinets. If you’ve noticed, there are a few Staffordshire swan spill vases in the center of the table as well.
I hope you enjoyed our Valentine’s Day table for two and have been inspired to spend your Valentine’s day at home for a nice dinner in!
Vintage Valentine’s Day Tea Party
Today I’m so excited to share with you a pretty in pink vintage Valentine’s Day tea party as part of a vintage Valentine’s Day Blog hop!! ! If you are coming over from Adirondack Girl At Heart, welcome!
You can add your Valentine’s Day posts at the end of this post up until Valentine’s Day!! Also, a big thank you to Amber from Follow The Yellow Brick Home for arranging this blog hop!
For this tea party, I used my favorite tea pot – this Mackenzie Childs tea pot! I love the black and white check against the pink and green!
I gathered up my vintage tea cups for this tea party. The tea cup with the wreath is actually a chocolate cup – but I don’t care! Tea, chocolate… we can drink what we want from it! The cup is by Dresden.
The black plate on the bottom left is from Juliska and I love that it appears vintage – but it is microwave and dishwasher safe! (similar one here)
A Valentine’s day tea party would not complete without chocolates! These truffles I purchased solely because I loved the box! haha! The lace runner is antique – keeping with today’s vintage theme!
For the centerpiece I used an antique American brilliant cut glass pitcher. Want to know a secret?? The tulips here are actually faux tulips – great for using in cut glass vases because there are no water lines left over that are difficult to scrub out!
A tea party at Petite Haus would not be complete without macarons and madeleines! When I don’t feel like baking them, I buy the madeleines at Costco and the macarons at Trader Joe’s.
I realized that this little tea party is a great idea for bridal showers. Jordan almonds are in the little pink box below.
Carnations are such a pretty flower with a fresh scent. They last a long time too – great budget option for flowers. I love using vintage tea cups as vases – also a great idea for bridal showers.
One last look at my little tea party. The little pink plate is vintage Limoges. Okay, enough pictures! It’s time to eat!
You can check out my Valentine’s Table from last year here.
Valentine’s Day Decor Idea with Chocolate Boxes
I finally took down all of my Christmas decor and set out my Valentine’s day decor . I had Winter decor out for about a week – then got sick of it and pulled out the pink! Is it Spring yet??
I put together this little Valentine’s Day vignette on the kitchen island.
I left out a few Christmas ornaments of sweets – they were the perfect colors for this vignette! It was unintentional… I was putting Christmas away and had set these on the island. I pulled out a few things for the vignette, and the ornaments just went with it!
So here’s an easy way to decorate for Valentine’s Day... pull out your old chocolate boxes! I save cute little boxes and use them in my decor. The bottom pink box is from Angelina’s (in Paris) and was a truffle box. The other two held jordan almonds from Laduree in Paris. You can also look for vintage ones in antique malls too, that would be very cute!
The little pink box here is not a sweet box but it was too cute for me not to buy! I confess, sometimes I just buy boxes because they are cute! The green box in the background held macarons from Laduree.
I set out my little bud vases and have carnations and mums. I am loving the pops of color here. I am sick of Winter whites and evergreens. I’m ready for pink!
Pink Decor Inspiration for Valentine’s Day
As Valentine’s day is just around the corner, I rounded up some pretty pink decor inspiration.
Sometimes Valentine’s Day decor is just as simple displaying your perfume with some fresh flowers.
source – White and Faded
Or maybe displaying some cute chocolate boxes from Valentine’s in the past.
source – beautiful interiors and 18th century style
A look at my Valentine’s Day table from last year with fresh flowers and pink tinted mercury glass candle holders.
You could display all of your pink and red collectibles in one cabinet.
source – Ana Rosa Tumblr
Or, you could get a cute pink dog bed!
source – French Bedroom Company
Oh one of my favorite tables from years past – I just adore peonies!
And the rest? Just pretty pink images I just had to share since pink is my favorite color! Enjoy.
Valentine’s Day – Love is in the Air!
Today I am participating in a Valentine’s Day Magazine Challenge!!
I am joining Katherine from Katherine’s Corner for this challenge and blog tour. The challenge was to create a romantic style, Valentine inspired magazine cover. We could use a magazine cover was like as inspiration or just create our own!
My magazine inspiration was a Victoria magazine with a soft romantic Valentine’s Day theme. And of course, I *love* macarons!
Below is my interpretation:
And this was my inspiration:
Here is a look without the wording on it below.
I had fun recreating this magazine cover! It allowed me to practice some photography skills.
Take the tour with us! There is no voting for this challenge.
Katherine is drawing a name at random and the winner will receive a hard copy or Kindle copy of the book, The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith.
It made me appreciate how much thought goes into every picture that is shot for a magazine!
Enjoy the tour and Happy Valentine’s Day!! (if links don’t load, click the “An Inlinkz Link Up below)
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Pink Fashion Picks for February
Let’s look at some pink fashion inspiration for February and this coming Valentine’s Day and Spring!
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
1 // Adidas Originals… in PINK! WHAAAT?
2 // Beautiful gold and pink Kendra Scott earrings!
3 // Saint Laurent Love Heart Bag! How cute is this!
5 // Pink Ruffled Dress – LOVE this dress!
6 // Draw attention at your feet in the gym with these super trendy APL sneakers!
7 // Beautiful Morganite ring!
8 // Faux Fir Pink Jacket!
9 // Pink Saddlebag… it’s a steal at $55!
10 // Pink Hunter Boots... perfect for stomping in puddles this Spring!
And here are some other pink favorites that I adore:
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Romantic French Country Pink Tablescape for Valentine’s Day!
Today I am sharing this romantic French Country Tablescape in Pink for Valentine’s Day!
I am in love with the color pink right now and this Valentine’s Day table reflects that!
For this table I used my tulipiere as my centerpiece. It is framed by antique candlesticks, mercury glass candle holders, and bud vases.
The fresh eucalyptus branches add a nice touch. I love these little bud vases – I will never get sick of them!
For this Valentine’s Day pink look, I was going for an ombre effect on the tulipiere with tulips and spray roses.
My favorite part of this table is how it looks at night with the candles glowing!
The pink mercury glass candle holders were from my wedding! We had them on all of the tables just like above and it was so pretty at night!
The bud vases look so cute with the tulips in them!
I did not set the plates and silverware out just yet… but we have been dining here! It takes an ordinary meal to an elegant one if you dine by candlelight!
Romantic French Country Pink Tablescape for Valentine’s Day
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Pink mercury glass candle holder (similar), and here
How to Create a French Country Vignette for the Holidays in 5 minutes!
So today I thought I would share a few simple ways to create a French country vignette for the holidays… and it should only take you a few minutes!
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
Start with a French Floral Centerpiece as a “base”
My focal point is this pretty bouquet of roses and seeded eucalyptus in a French pitcher. Flanked on the sides to balance the scene are some antique French candelabras. If you have a French teapot, vase, pitcher, etc just fill it with flowers and voila! Instant centerpiece!
French Country style frequently has flowers and floral motifs so a bouquet of fresh flowers is perfect! Mix old things and new things. The pitcher here is new while the candelabras and French buffet are antique.
Now that you have your “base centerpiece” as above, here is how you can change it for the holidays.
Fall
Add some white little pumpkins. That’s it! Done! Your Fall decor does not have to be over-the-top. Just a few pumpkins here and there is enough. These ones actually came from our garden. They are the only pumpkins that grew this year!
I told you it was easy and fast. It still looks French Country, doesn’t it? This works for Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. You don’t have to choose pink flowers, I just happen to love pink.
Christmas
For Christmas, I simply went outside and cut a few small sprigs from our redwood trees. I then tucked in a few little ornaments into the sprigs to make it a little more elegant.
If you have any evergreens in your yard (or nearby), just clip a few little sprigs and you are pretty much done with this vignette! This took me approximately 5 minutes, walking to and from the tree included!
(And, ironically, these pink ornaments just happened to be at the very top of the very first ornament box I opened! ha, what luck! Because that could have turned into an hour adventure!)
Creating a French country vignette for the holidays is really quite easy. You can copy the look with a white pitcher and fufu candlesticks too! I think the key here to the French country holiday look is using natural elements.
Pretend you are walking out of your Maison de Maître into your garden to pick your flowers, pumpkins, and pine tree sprigs… you know, your French country style also needs to have the right attitude!
Valentine’s Day
You can carry this into Valentine’s Day too. I have these cute little French boxes that I set next to them… let’s pretend they are full of chocolates from my valentine! Also a little velvet bejeweled strawberry adds to the scene.
Overall, these different holiday vignettes were actually very cheap to create! Most of the items came from the garden, and I could have simply picked some roses from my garden too but my pink ones aren’t blooming right now. I owned all of the items already, so just go rummage through your closets (or “shop your house”) and create a little vignette!
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French Table Setting in Pink
What I love most about Spring are the pretty flowers! I picked up some pretty pink ranunculus from both the flower market and my own garden and put together this Spring French table setting!
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When putting together this table, I initially used my Juliska “Country Estate” plates. But then I looked up on my bedroom wall and thought, ah ha! And the pink plates came down from the wall.
The plates are by Meissen and the pattern is “Purple Indian”. Based on the mark on the back, they are from around the 1850s!
The pink goblets are a recent antique mall score. They are vintage and made in France.
The table cloth is antique. It is a Madeira table cloth. The table cloth is made of organdy, applique, and embroidery. I’ve taken a close-up to show you the pretty details!
I love my vases! I hauled back the little bud vases with people from my trip to Paris last year. The pitcher in the center is new (an early birthday present!!) and is also from Astier de Villate. I just LOVE my new pitcher. The other little bud vases are Juliska and are retired.
I couldn’t stop photographing the flowers. They are so photogenic. Did you notice I hid some geraniums in the little bud vases?
This was the first year I have grown my own ranunculus. They are so pretty out in the garden; I hated picking them but then I brought them in and didn’t regret it!
I’ll end this post with a treat, would you like a raspberry macaron?
A French country Spring table setting |
Pink Inspiration for Valentine’s Day
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I would put together a post with some pink themed inspiration. I know we’re all dying for some color after the blandness of January!
La Cornue |
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from Peonies & Orange Blossoms |
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this flower is called “Falling in Love”… how appropriate! |
linking up at: amaze me monday The Scoop! Metamorphosis Monday’s Inspire Me Tuesday Wow us Wednesdays! Share Your Style Thursday Favorite Things, Thoughts of Home Home Sweet Home Feathered Nest Fridays Foodie Friday & Everything Else Best of the Weekend Share it One More Time
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Valentine Heart Macarons – Rose Raspberry Macaron Recipe!
I’m really excited about today’s post. As you know, I LOVE macarons. I have a wonderful recipe book from Laduree I received as a present one year. The book is seriously so cute but it is full of wonderful recipes.
I wanted to try the Rose Raspberry Macarons! It took some planning on my part – I ordered rose water from amazon ahead of time. Let me tell you though – not only do they look cute but they taste good!!
I was a little worried how they would taste with the rose – as sometimes things with rose in them taste too much like I’m eating the flower, but these ones are nice.
Printable recipe here
Materials needed
•silicone spatula
•parchment paper or silpat
•electric mixer (or strong arms!)
•a food scale
•a piping tip and piping bag (I like the tip ateco #806)
•Food coloring (gel or dry powder works best, not the liquid grocery store stuff)
•a macaron template, use the heart one here
Laduree Macarons Recipe
275g ground almonds
250g powdered sugar
210g egg whites
210g granulated sugar
1. Mix almond meal and the powdered sugar in a food processor. Be careful not to grind too long, otherwise it will form a paste.
2. Sift the almonds and powdered sugar. Set aside.
3. Weigh out granulated sugar.
4. Weigh the egg whites. Beat them slowly on a low speed until foamy. SLOWLY add the granulated sugar to the egg whites as you beat. Once all mixed, increase speed to medium and beat until a firm meringue forms. You want a firm meringue with glossy peaks but not stiff peaks. They should defy gravity and remain in the bowl if you turn it upside down. If you tilt your bowl to the side and they are sliding out, keep beating.
5. Add the food coloring gel and mix.
6. Then fold in 1/3rd of the almond/sugar mixture into the meringue with a silicone spatula. Once combined, add another third of the almond mixture. Add last bit. This batter requires more deflation during this step since it creates such a poofy meringue.
7. Add the batter to a piping bag. Pipe in rows using your template onto parchment paper. You can download the heart template I created here.
8. Pick up the pan and beat until the counter. The cookies need to rest on the counter between 30-60 minutes. They are ready to go in the oven when they are dry to touch (the shell shouldn’t stick to your finger)
9. Set the oven to 300F.
10. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, one sheet at a time. They are done when they look kind of matte and seem firm when you lightly tap on them. You can always rescue a slightly overcooked one with the maturation process that comes later, but you cannot rescue an undercooked one!!
11. Remove from paper once completely cool. If they stick to the paper, they aren’t cool yet. Or you undercooked them.
Rose Cream Filling
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 1/2 tsp (50g) water
- 3 large (75g) egg yolks
- 9oz (250g) softened unsalted butter
- 2 tsp rosewater
Directions
- Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan, and stir until sugar dissolves. Then bring to a boil. Cook until temperature of the syrup is 250F.
- Fit your mixer with the whisk and whisk the egg yolks. Then, with the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour the hot sugar mix into the bowl.
- Increase the speed and beat vigorously until temp of the next mixture is 104F.
- Gradually add the butter in pieces.
- Continue beating until the mixture is cool, smooth, and creamy.
- Add the rosewater and stir to combine
Raspberry Filling
- Buy your favorite OTC raspberry jam – seedless tastes much better! Or you can make your own.
Assembly of the macarons
- Spoon a little bit of raspberry jam onto each macaron (or pipe it on if you’re feeling fancy).
- On the other side of the macaron, smear some rose cream (or pipe it on, if you’re feeling fancy).
- Place each side of the shell together.
- Refrigerate the macarons for a minimum of 12 hours before serving in an air-tight container. They taste MUCH better if you do this!
Recipe adapted from Laduree’s Macaron cookbook.
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