After almost one year of Wicked Domestic, we’ve finally upgraded to a wonderful new look! You like? Elizabeth and I have been working with Krystyn from Krizzy Designs for a couple of months to perfect our new look. I hope you all like it! And a special thanks again to Krystyn for all of her hard work!
- Jackie
Throughout this dreary, neverending winter, I’ve been in the habit of treating myself to a fresh bouquet of flowers each week. It’s such a nice way to brighten up a room and lift your spirits. Trader Joe’s has some really beautiful buds for small dollars. Can you beat $3.99 for a decent bunch? Or $6.99 for a pretty great one? It’s totally worth it. In my quest to keep each bouquet fresh and thriving from one grocery store trip to the next, I’ve googled ways to keep cut flowers fresh.
There are a plethora of different suggestions out there, such as:
* put a penny at the bottom of the vase
* add bleach to the water
* put sugar in the water
* add lemon juice to the water
* mix vinegar in with the water
* put an aspirin in the bottom of the vase
[Is there anything more lovely than a hydrangea?]
In my experience these past few months, this is the most effective way to keep flowers fresh:
* change the water every 2 days or so, and use cool/cold (not freezing) water
* ration the plant food that comes with the bouqet so that you add a little bit to each new batch of water
* each time you change the water, rinse the stems well, removing any slime and loose leaves
* each time you change the water, trim the stems just a bit and at an angle
I’ve found this combination of efforts to really work well in keeping my flowers alive longer. Of course, it does also depend on the quality of the flowers and how fresh they are when you buy them.
This photo was taken after I’d had this bouquet for 2 weeks! TWO weeks! If you really scrutinized it, you’d find that some of the blossoms were a little worse for the wear. But overall, it was still in really good shape.
If your home needs a little lift, invest in a beautiful bouqet. With a little work, the flowers should stay fresh for at least a week!
- Elizabeth
What almost as fun as cooking and crafting? At home spa treatments that is! You most likely have a ton of ingredients in your cabinets and fridge to make for some stellar face masks and scrubs. Last week I was feeling kind of lazy and didn’t want to hoof it over to CVS to buy my beloved St. Ives facial scrub, so I googled to see what I could throw together for an at home version. I found a wicked simple corn meal and rose water (I just happened to have rose water, but feel free to use regular water, milk, yogurt…whatever) and it was amazing. Better than St. Ives! So it got me thinking….what other at home spa treatments could I conjure up?
Corn meal and rose water facial scrub:
mix together 1/4 cup of cornmeal and whatever liquid you have. I had rose water which gives it a great smell. You could also use milk, yogurt, water. Apply the scrub to your face and scrub away. Wash with warm water and you’ll be sparkling clean and fresh in no time!
Oatmeal and milk moisturizing mask:
combine 1/2 cup plain rolled oats and 1/4 cup of milk (or water or yogurt) and gentle mush up the oats so the mixture becomes a paste. Apply it to clean skin and leave on for 20 minutes.
just take a small amount of olive oil (probably 1 tablespoon) and apply to each cuticle and massage in. Done! No need to wash off!
mash-up an avocado and apply to dry hair. If you have a lot of hair, add an egg yolk and/or olive oil. Keep in hair for about a half hour, under a towel or plastic shower cap. Your wintery bone dry hair will drink with the moisture!
the aspirin acts as an anti-inflammatory and also removed dead skin cells, so this is perfect for puffy eyes. Crush up 5 aspirin, add a touch of water to make a paste and apply. Leave the mask on for 20 minutes and wash off with warm water.
Hello glowing hair, skin and nails! We’ve missed you since last summer.
When I had told my friends about my new face scrub, they all chimed in with some great at home tricks they’ve use: beer for dry hair, mayonnaise for dry hair (quiver) and the list went on and on. Take advantage of what you have in your cabinet! These at home treatments are considerably less expensive than the products you buy at the pharmacy and I think are just plain better because there aren’t any additives or toxins.
- Jackie
In an attempt to not share every wedding related detail with you readers, I can’t help but share a few wedded ideas from time to time. In my (what felt like an eternal) quest to find myself the perfect wedding shoes, I simply needed to share my brilliant beyond brilliant idea.
I’m totally in love with the whole blue wedding shoe idea, as your something blue. As I’ve seen in many wedding magazines and blogs, brides have gone wild… WILD I SAY…with funky colored shoes and I wanted to jump on that bandwagon. I didn’t necessarily want to go the blue route, but definitely wanted a great color that would go with my wedding colors (light sage green, dusty pink, light blue). That’s when I turned to Etsy.com for inspiration. And inspiration I got! There are a bunch of amazing DIYers (do-it-yourself) who make homemade shoe clips that you order (or in my case customize) in a color or pattern of your choosing, to then clip on your shoes. Beyond brilliant!
So when I contacted the wonderful Linden Lovebirds to inquire about customization with the fabric of choice, I was tickled when she said it was a go! They have a ton of already made shoe clips, but because my bridesmaids dresses are a pattern (plaid to be exact), I thought it would be awesome to match my shoes to the girls’ dresses! I sent along the swatches and my made-to-order shoe clips were created in mere days!
I found a great pair of light pink peeptoe pumps that ended up matching perfectly. The shoe clips are such a great and super fun accessory to add to shoes to give them a little bit of umph. If you have a pair of boring old heels that need a little lift, these ab fab shoe clips are sure to please. I can’t wait to dance the night away in these cute little puppies!
- Jackie
Okay, so I know that early January may not exactly be booming with weddings, but here’s a gift idea for those just-engaged-brides or for those of you looking to give a creative bridal shower gift! I found these amazing personalized wedding dress hangers on etsy.com and they are the perfect thing for brides to hang their wedding gown on for a fabulous photo-op.
The maker of these hangers advises you to not necessarily hang your wedding dress on this hanger for a long period of time (since the weight of the dress may bend the hanger) but it’s perfect for day of photos and bridal party ohhing and ahhhing.
My cousin Katherine is also getting married, so I thought I’d jazz up her wedding day hanger situation.
A steal at $25, this is the perfect add-on bridal shower gift. To create and purchase your own personalized hanger, here’s the website. I can’t wait to put this to good use in September! 
- Jackie
It’s go time. Christmas is a mere 5 days away and you’re freaking out because of all the gift you still have to buy and wrap, all the last-minute goodies you have to bake aaaaand you’re still lugging out the Christmas decor from last year…am I right? For a table centerpiece or hearth decoration, I wanted to share with you the one I made this year. All I did was take a quick walk in the woods outside of my parents house, gather up some pinecones and pine tree branches and I was ready for arts and crafts time.
I wish I had some nice sprigs of holly or bittersweet, but alas, I had to work with what I had. So use whatever you can find…even if you’re gathering twigs and whatnot between heaps of trash on the city streets, I’m sure you can find a few holiday-esque wonders.
So I gathered up everything and arranged it in a bowl. Viola! Instant Christmas cheer.
Happy decorating!
- Jackie
What do you do when you have a wine drinking problem and a crafty soul? Make a homemade cork board! Problem solved. I’ve been quietly collecting the rogue wine corks from every bottle of wine that’s been opened in my house for a few years now and socking them away in a bag in hopes of making a cork board. I’ve finally collected more than enough corks and I was on my way. I love the look of a cork board made of…wait for it…actual wine corks (imagine?!). It chronicles your (perhaps not so healthy) fondness of the grape and makes a bold statement saying “That’s right people, I drank all of this!”. Sad or awesome, it makes for a whimsical addition to your home. Here’s what you need (besides a substance abuse problem):
wine corks (you can buy unused wine corks online, but seriously, what fun is that?!)
an art canvas
crazy glue
It’s super simple, what I did was just arrange the corks in a pattern of two vertical, two horizontal and just repeat.
Glue the corks down and you’re good to go! Depending on where you will be hanging the board, you might want to glue corks on the side of the canvas as well, in order to hide the sides.
If you save the corks from fancy bottles of vine from your favorite restaurant or from a recent trip to a winery, this project could become something that’s sentimental to you. For instance, one of the corks in the center of my board has my engagement date on it because it was from the bottle of wine one of our friends sent to Chris and I the night we were engaged. Another cork is from the bottle of Beaujolais that I used when I first attempted Julia Child’s famous boeuf bourguignon.
On the actual corkboard, I tacked up images, objects and quotes that I like. There’s a photo roll of Chris and I, an image of peonies that are beautiful, a picture of my sister and cousins when we were young, my favorite picture of Chris when he was a kid and a quote from JFK that I love. Put up anything that makes you happy!
You can be crafty and have your wine too!
- Jackie
Like many gals in their 20s, I’m starting to attend many bridal showers and baby showers. So when my soon to be sister in law’s baby shower was being planned, I wanted to do something special for her. I decided that I wanted to make her something super cute, but also useful, so I made a diaper cake! For those of you out there that haven’t been to many baby showers in your day, this may sound a tad bit weird, but it’s a wicked cute (and a thoughtful) gift to give. Basically what it is, is baby diapers that you roll up, wrap an elastic around it and configure into what would be layers or tiers of a cake. Confused? Yea, I was too. Here’s what I did:
50 or so diapers (I used size 4 or 22-37 lbs)
same number of small elastics
2 extra large elastics
2 baby bottles
a cake stand
ribbon and other decorations
First, I rolled up all of the diapers to have them ready to go. Then take one of the bottles and unscrew the top and put the top aside. (I gave Kerry all the left over diapers and bottle tops separately so she can use them later when she dismantles the cake).
Create a ring of the rolled up diapers around the bottle, and secure with the large rubber band (you’ll notice that the bottle sticks above the diapers, that way when you put another tier on, it will be secure). Repeat this step until you have three rings of diapers around the bottle. This will be the bottom tier. Once you have the large rubber band holding that securely, set it aside.
Take the same steps to create the second and third tier, and insert the second bottle in the middle.
Once you have the cake set, measure out ribbon the wrap around the tiers to hide the elastic bands and secure it in place with crazy glue or double-sided tape. Then, I stuck some pretty fake flowers into the opening of the bottle. I also got a little wooden monogram from A.C. Moore and super glued that to the ribbon (not the diaper, since the baby will be using them!) for some added cuteness.
I loved the way the cake turned out. I didn’t plan on buying patterned diapers, but the box of them I got at Target just happened to have them, so it was a stroke of luck that it went with the rest of the theme (thank god they weren’t pink!). You could really go nuts with all the different decorations you could use…craft stores like A.C. Moore are littered with the stuff. The gift was useful and a pretty centerpiece for the baby shower.
- Jackie
Call me Cape Cod obsessed, but I love everything having to do with the Cape. Every year since I was born, I’ve been down the Cape for the majority of the summer (you know, until I was forced into adulthood and full-time work 
). There’s something about the Cape…is it the sweeping dunes?
The humid, salty air? Is it the weathered shingles on the cottages?
Or maybe the smell of the beach roses.
Whatever it is, I’m my happiest when I’m there. It’s no wonder that I try to bring as much of Cape Cod back to my apartment in Boston. Granted, I live on the beach here in South Boston, but it’s just not the same (sorry Southie ). Anyways, when Chris and I moved into our new apartment last fall, I had some major decorating to do since our apartment is so much bigger than our old place. One of the things I wanted to do was incorporate my love of Cape Cod (and particularly Buzzards Bay) into my decor. I love the look of nautical maps, so I found on a the NOAA website, very affordable maps from everywhere in the world. These maps are technically supposed to be used for legit navigation, but this chick isn’t doing any solo sailing in Buzzard’s Bay anytime soon, so it must become artwork! So I went to a craft store and found the biggest frame I could and hung it up in my upstairs hallway and I think it’s looks pretty fabulous. So many of my guests come in and look at the detail and try to find where their summer cottage is in Falmouth or on the Vineyard.
Since I couldn’t find a frame quite big enough for the print, I had to cut off a few inches off two sides of the map, which wasn’t a big deal because it didn’t go to waste!! I ended up decoupaging the remains onto this little box that we use for keys. I had even more of the excess map left and I decoupaged that into little coasters! Never underestimate the power of decoupage my friends. I unfortunately don’t have an image of the coasters because I gave them as a gift, but they were super cute.
My point of all this, is that artwork doesn’t necessarily come from art.com or a fancy gallery. You can take items that you love and make them art. Create a shadow box with sentimental items like ticket stubs from your favorite shows. Or if you have a cool old vintage guitar, put that in the corner of a room to show your rocker side. You’re home should be about you and what describes the person you are, so have fun with it!! Don’t take life (or decorating) too seriously!
- Jackie
When you get to a certain point in your twenties, I feel like you hit a period of time where all you do is go to weddings, bridal showers and bachelorette parties. All of these events are super fun, but when you are involved in the creative process, you’ve got to try and step it up a notch and make everything memorable. One of my oldest friends, Amy, is getting married in Newport in mid October and just this past weekend, we had her bachelorette party and bridal shower. Since my friend Joan and I are bridemaids in the wedding, we were in charge of the shower favors - a job we were thrilled to have. I don’t know about you, but I hate cheap, useless favors that I throw away the second I get home. I’d rather get no favor than something that’s silly or useless. So, Joan and I thought it would be fun to do something edible, yet super adorable…mason jar cupcakes! We made a lot of these little cuties since it was a large shower of 50 or so guests, but you can make these for a small number as well.
The favor turned out to be quite cost-effective at around $2 each to make. We got the mason jars at the supermarket and the pretty paper and raffia at A.C. Moore. To make things easy on ourselves, we used boxed cake mix and cans of frosting, but you can of course feel free to do everything homemade. For the number of cupcakes we needed, we ended up using 4 boxes of cake mix and 7 jars of frosting. We could have used even more frosting too. So…now that you know the facts, here’s what we did:
Mixed up the cake mix as the directions indicated.
Then we filled up the jars (sprayed with Pam) about 1/3 of the way up the jar. Note: the batter doubles in size, and you still want room left for frosting, so 1/3 of the way is just about right.
Once the cupcakes are done baking, we put the jars in front of a fan, which was super important because they would have taken a lifetime to cool otherwise.
Once they were completely cool, we filled up a large zip lock bag with the frosting and piped it in. We then smoothed the frosting so it looked pretty from the outside.
While the cupcakes were baking and cooling, we traced and cut decorative paper for the tops of the jars. Joan found these wicked cute pads of paper at A.C. Moore (they were postcard sized and a ton of different patterns).
We then put the top of the jar on, slipped on the fitted paper and screwed on the lid. Super cute, right?! We couldn’t get over how perfect they were turning out.
Look at all the different patterns!
Once we topped all the cupcakes, Joan cut lengths of raffia that we could tie around the lid. She ended up being allergic to the raffia, but seriously, what else is new? Joan is allergic to everything.
Finally, we took our little homemade label, hole punched it, and strung the raffia through and tied it up!
The favors were a big hit at the shower. They looked great on the table and everyone was excited to take home something that they could savor later on! It was definitely worth taking the extra time and effort to make the cupcakes, than to buy something online. It means much more and is a fun thing to do with a friend!
Congratulations, Amy! We can’t wait for the wedding!
- Jackie
Wicked Domestic
