Wine Country Love Affair – A Visit to Hillebrand Winery

Posted on July 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

I’m no oenophile, but I am a huge fan of wine country architecture and style. The other night, we took my in-laws to Hillebrand Winery in Niagara -on-the-Lake to celebrate my father-in-law’s upcoming 70th birthday. It was a lovely evening all around.

The Hillebrand grounds have exactly what I love about wine country style – a perfect blend of old and new, a perfect balance of natural and refined.

I got a lot of ideas to use for improving our yard, when the time comes.

I absolutely love this raised patio dining area. The stone steps and facing are rustic and beautiful. The wrought iron railing would be a huge improvement over our chainlink!

Beautiful raised patio at Hillebrand Winery

I don’t want to completely cover our patio, since it’s often foggy where we live, and we love every little bit of sun we can get, but an open pergola would look great, and I love the look of the grape vines growing up the posts. It would be a bonus if we actually get some grapes!

Grape vines on a covered walkway at Hillebrand Winery

I also got inspired by some practical tricks for great-looking pathways without a huge price tag.

Below are a surface used for walkway and patio made from stamped concrete that looks like flagstone and also a path of packed dirt and gravel with a simple grey brick border. Both look great without using expensive materials.

concrete stamped to look like flagstone

Simple walkway of gravel with grey brick border

Inside the restaurant, I was taken by these big interior windows and wondering how I might incorporate something like that when we redo our kitchen. It could be a good way to connect go the living room.

Interior windows are so charming and carry natural light through a space.

The food was delicious, and the setting was perfect. We slipped out to the garden with the kids multiple times between courses to run around in the grass, keeping everyone happy.

Playing at the Winery

Here’s a wonderful dilemma to have: besides the gorgeous wine country gardens, I also love a gardens with an Asian theme – the stone lanterns, bridges, Japanese maples, and bamboo. I’ll have to figure out how to blend these into the perfect outdoor space soon!

Here are some pictures from the garden at my dad’s house. It was planted about 15 years ago now, and it has grown in beautifully!

Lush garden with stone lanterns and Japanese maples

Beautiful layers of green form the perfect backdrop for this garden with stone lanterns, paver stepping stones, and Japanese maples.

Cheers!

“Jewels”

Helping Kids Write Great Cards

Posted on June 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

A brief and belated post from Father’s Day. I wanted to share the cards the kids and I made for hubby. This is not an original idea for cards, but I really enjoyed trying it with the boys and look forward to using it for other holidays and birthdays.

We took each letter in “Father’s Day” and wrote an adjective or short phrase about hubby that started with that letter. I think this project was good for helping the kids expand their writing skills. It was an easy template for them to create something more personalized and creative than a standard “Happy Father’s Day.”

Here’s the example I made:

Father’s Day card idea for kids

As you can see, our six year-old started with this concept – he wanted to write “awesome” for the “a” in “dad,” spelled it phonetically as “osum,” and then got sidetracked into other adjectives that started with unrelated letters. The result was very sweet.

Father's Day card by kids at Jewels at Home

Father’s Day card by our six year-old. He did all the spelling himself – “fantastic” came out a little more clearly than “awesome.”

Our eight year-old came up with some cute phrases as well as impressive vocabulary words.

Fun way to help kids write great cards at Jewels at Home

Our eight year-old came up with some sweet and creative words and phrases to describe his dad.

And last but not least, baby J’s contribution:

Baby J’s card for dad

Some other ways I would love to use this idea would be

Using the letters of a friend’s name for a birthday card
Finding words and phrases to summarize our year in a holiday card based on the letters of “holiday,” “happy new year,” “joy,” “love,”… the options are endless!

Love,

“Jewels”

Buggy Birthday to You! Bug-themed Kids’ Party

Posted on June 19, 2012 by jewelsathome

It’s so rewarding to throw a kids’ birthday party. Children are so naturally exuberant about their special day already, and you can take your theme completely over-the-top, if you have the inclination, time, and energy!

Throwing a sixth birthday party for our middle guy earlier this year was especially fun, as I had been out of party mode for a while with the baby, and the birthday boy had finally emerged from his terrible 2-3-4s and was busy charming us again, so it felt great to celebrate him. He loves nature – it’s amazing how he will notice the smallest flower or animal and stop to point it out to us – so I wanted to do something with that theme. And I decided to do it at home, which is easier for preparing a lot of decorations and activities, as well as when there is a younger sibling’s naps to work around.

A bug-themed birthday was perfect for our little nature-lover.

Activities
I did some searches on the internet and found Insect Discovery Lab with great reviews! They have also done presentations at our kids’ school, so I knew they would be well-received. There are other traveling bug shows, and even reptiles, but the latter was a bit much for my squeamish side. Even with Insect Discovery Lab, I had to wonder (but it turned out fine!)

Insect Discovery Lab put on a fun show for the kids! I watched from a safe distance!

In planning activities, I had in mind that I wanted to make the birthday boy a quilt. Long-ish story, but we ended up unexpectedly buying a class quilt for our oldest at the school fundraising auction a couple of years ago. It was definitely not premeditated, more like second-degree over-spending. In any case, having just bought a fixer-upper of a house, I had to tell our birthday boy that we would not be buying his class quilt this year (unless some form of auction manslaughter were to happen), but I promised him I would make him a quilt instead. I cut blank quilt squares for his friends to draw on using fabric markers, and I’ll be joining them into a quilt, hopefully some time before his next birthday!

Each party guest can decorate a quilt block - by Jewels at Home

Blank quilt squares for the kids to decorate with fabric markers.

The other activities were found at Oriental Trading: we had were insect tattoos – some of the older kids helped out with this – and suncatchers. I set up the tattoos and wet towels, and some of the older kids helped the younger ones get tattoos. The suncatchers were popular but a bit messy. I later read a tip to use markers, which would have been neater, though probably not as colorful. Next time, I would put them on individual paper plates for people to paint and transport home, because the paint does take several hours to dry.

Temporary insect tattoos. I provided some damp towels, and the older kids helped out.

Suncatchers from Oriental Trading Company

Food
As I mentioned, for someone who works in a biology-related field, I’m pretty squeamish, and a lot of the ideas out there for bug-themed birthdays are a bit gross (think plastic bugs in food). So, I set out to find ideas that were more abstract and focused on the “cuter” insects like ladybugs, while not being too cute for a six-year old boy.

Some of the best ideas I found were those around Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s a bit young for the six-year olds, but it worked. These apple and cheese caterpillars were inspired by Cute Food for Kids, where there are many more great ideas. I dipped the apples in orange juice to keep them from browning during the party.

Hungry caterpillar apple and cheese snacks.

The cake was inspired by a beautiful one posted at Week of Menus. I loved the look and taste of the whipped cream and fresh fruit, and it seems healthier than a standard frosted cake, even if it is still, you know, cake. I used the same idea to make a baby shower cake with a ducky for my friend.

Whipped cream and fresh fruit for a bug-themed birthday cake by Jewels at Home.

We also served farfalle “butterfly pasta” with cheese and hot dog-spaghetti bugs.

Favors

For the treat bags, I used these cotton drawstring backpacks, also from Oriental Trading Company. I’ve done this several times, and I think the quality has gone downhill a bit in the past few years, but they still make nice reusable bags. My kids often pack their “going out” toys and activities in here, if they need to be occupied at a restaurant or accompanying one of us to work for a few hours.

I used puffy fabric paint to personalize the bags and added iron-on appliques to fit with the theme. These iron-ons were adorable, but I actually did have some problems with them falling off with some wear from the kids. In the past, I used appliques made with fusible backing on plain fabric, which I outlined in puffy paint, and they held up better.

Drawstring backpacks decorated as treat bags by Jewels at Home.

Drawstring backpacks personalized as treat bags.

Iron-on insect appliques

For the party favors, I lucked out and found some inexpensive bug-themed books and pencils. I also made little snack bags filled with cookies and dried fruit and pinned with a clothespin, to make the look like butterflies. I first saw the idea on this board on Pinterest.

Inexpensive finds for party favors

Butterfly snack bags for party favors.

It turned out to be a very fun birthday party! There are so many great ideas out there, and I didn’t have time to do them all, but I collected some more options on a Pinterest board that you can check out, if you are looking for ideas to do your own bug birthday party!

“Jewels”

Kindergarten Graduation Party!

Posted on June 15, 2012 by jewelsathome

School is out! I feel sad about this, but there were points this year where I began to resent the winter holidays and the end of the school year. Somehow, the things that I normally love – like preparing gifts and planning parties – just became too much of a good thing. There were too many late nights and deadlines. But, we survived, and we did have some fun along the way, too, of course! I’m thinking about how to make the next rounds less hectic, and I have to say that traveling right after school ends may not be the best idea. No point in adding packing suitcases to the already long to-do list!

One of the big events of this month was planning a Kindergarten graduation party with my friend Ari. Our children just completed their K year, and we wanted to celebrate this big achievement with them. We started with some ideas from this article Ari found over at Yum Sugar: Fun Party Ideas for Your Little Graduates. Plenty of inspiration there, though we didn’t want quite that much sugar!

We held a small park playdate for our kids and their closest buddies after the half day of school.

Yummy Treats

Since, it was after lunch, we didn’t need a lot of food, but we knew the kids would need some fuel after all that running around.

We had fruit in ice cream cones, an idea I had spotted on Pinterest:

Serve fruit in waffle cones for a healthier snack. You could add chocolate or nuts to the cones for a treat! We served the fruit on the side, and let each person scoop their own, so the cones wouldn’t get soggy.

Cupcakes were the sweet indulgence. I made the cupcake toppers using coffee stir sticks and paper. You can download the PDF I created in Powerpoint here: Kindergarden graduation cupcake toppers. It’s actually in color, but I didn’t have easy access to a color printer, so I printed them in black and white and added color in the background papers.

Cupcakes with Kindergarten graduation toppers.

Download printable: Kindergarden graduation cupcake toppers

Decor and Favors:

These bubbles were Ari’s idea, and it was brilliant and adorable! We made the hats out of construction paper and yarn, and it looks like the little faces are wearing graduation caps! A lot of the parents were taking pictures of the bubbles, since we certainly had no hope of getting the kids to line up for a picture.

Bubbles decorated for Kindergarden graduation.

The party favors had a school theme, with these bookmarks that Ari created to give along with some pencils and notebooks.

Bookmark graduation gift.

Kindergarden graduation favors

Looking back on the chaos of the week, I’m really happy we did this for the kids. Once the planning and work was done, it was a fun way to unwind at the end of the school year.

Welcome to summer!

“Jewels”

Inspirations from Daily Life – June 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

I’ll keep updating this post through June and plan to start a new post each month with some of the photos I’ve taken of inspiring projects and scenes I’ve encountered in daily life.

Coffee can napkin holder

This would be great for a picnic buffet. The Cafe du Monde can is especially cool, but you could print vintage labels for a similar feel. Could also cover cans in coordinating labels for utensils, and your casual summer party is complete!

Low water landscape
We only have a small patio at home, but here’s how to add a ton of beauty and charm with little maintenance. It’s a dry creek with grasses and a pergola above.

More ideas to come!

“Jewels”<

Inspirations from Daily Life – May 2012

Posted on May 22, 2012 by jewelsathome

I’ll keep updating this post through May and hopefully start a new post each month with some of the photos I’ve taken of inspiring projects and scenes I’ve encountered in daily life.

With all the great decorating blogs and Pintetest, there is certainly no shortage of ideas for design and projects on the Internet. Still, it’s a treat to walk around and find beautiful inspirations in our regular routine.

Kids’ Furniture

These fabulous chairs are in our kids’ school library. They have pages from old children’s books torn, aged, and decoupaged. You could get very creative with these. My friend and I were talking about making a set for the school auction with drawings from the students and their names decoupaged. You could do the same thing for a special teacher who is having a baby, as a shower gift from the class.

Baby Shower Cake

This was actually the practice run for my friend’s baby shower later this summer. On a marble chocolate and yellow cake, I spread whipped cream and created a duckie picture out of strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple. It tastes fresher and lighter than a traditional cake with sugary frosting, and you can’t beat the cute factor! I’m collecting more cute ideas for the main event!

Brick ceiling with exposed beams
This beautiful ceiling has a homey timeless feel. Seen at Portobella restaurant in Carmel, CA. We have beams at our house that have been painted white like the ceiling. I don’t think stripping them is in the budget, but we’re thinking of painting them a dark color for contrast.

Brick-lined ceiling with exposed beams

Rustic outdoor canopy/strong>

This alluring outdoor seating area is in the Anthropologie store. I love the intimate and idyllic feeling of a canopy over the table.

Rustic outdoor gazebo with canopy at Anthropologie store.

More ideas to come!

“Jewels”

Creative Banners and Cupcakes for a Cause

Posted on May 10, 2012 by jewelsathome

Bake sale! Don’t those words just conjure all good things? The smell of fresh baked treats, hanging out with friends at the sale table, raising money for a good cause… add to that the fact that I was asked to make some crafty signs to advertise our bake sale, and I am in heaven!

For the past four years, a group of my coworkers and our friends have formed a team for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’ve always been excited by this event, but I was hesitant to join – partly out of the logistical hurdles of training and walking with small kids at home – and partly out of a fear that after working with people with cancer in my job and having lost my mom to breast cancer, participating in this event might lead to emotional overload. I can’t explain why, but for some reason, this seemed like the year that I wanted to make the Avon Walk a part of my journey.

As part of our fundraising and team-building, we are holding a bake sale this year. If you are in San Francisco and can come by the UCSF Cancer Center at 1600 Divisadero Street tomorrow (Friday, May 11, 2012) from 12-3, you can support our team and taste what I guarantee will be a delicious array of treats. We will be outside the cafeteria on the lower level.

The Signs:

These were certainly not works of art, since I threw them together at the last minute, but I still had fun with the design. I had some cake-themed papers from a large pack, so those were the inspiration for the colors. Of course, the pink also tied in to the Avon and breast cancer awareness colors.

I made the cakes stand out from the poster by folding a paper “spring” on the back. And the little pennants give a sweet homemade flavor, just like our desserts!

I hope our homey bake sale signs with the cheerful pennants attract lots of hungry customers!

The Goodies:

The slight incongruity of selling sweets to raise money for a health-related cause has not escaped me. While I will no doubt be indulging in the brownies and truffles some of my friends have planned, I decided to offer a slightly healthier option, with the banana bread recipe my mom used when I was little. This recipe is in a notebook she gave me when I got married. It has a lot of our “comfort” recipes from childhood and blank pages to record my own. I’m so very glad I have this book. I’m sure it’s just the description she transcribed from the magazine or recipe book, but the sentence “Very ripe bananas and slow cooping are the secret of this banana bread” makes me feel like my mom is sharing a secret just for me.

I love seeing my mom’s handwriting in this recipe notebook she gave me when I got married.

Banana Bread:

Very ripe bananas and slow cooking are the secret of this bread.

4 medium very ripe bananas

1 1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

3 1/2 c flour (I mix some whole wheat in)

1/2 c oil (you can use butter for a richer taste)

2/3 c buttermilk (you can substitute yogurt or add a tablespoon of vinegar per cup of regular milk and let the milk sit for five minutes)

Peel very ripe bananas. Combine with sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat at high spee for 1 minute (can use blender)

Mix in eggs, one a time; then mix in flour

Add oil and buttermlk Combine and beat for 2 minutes

Divide batter into two loaf pans

Bake in preheated 275F oven for about 1 3/4 hours

It’s hard to get a lot of very ripe bananas, at least in this house, because they keep getting eaten. This recipe calls for four, so if we have one or two overripe bananas, we put them in a bag in the freezer to save up until we have enough for banana bread or hubby’s amazing banana waffles.

The new thing I’m trying this time is chopping some of the bananas into chunks and folding them in at the end with the chocolate chips. I had banana bread from Tartine Bakery on Guerrero, which I think is very possibly the best bakery in the city, the other morning that had the small chunks in it, and they were caramelized and delicious!

Chunks of banana mixed into the batter for a fruity flavor and sweet caramelized morsels.

I love this bread with walnuts and chocolate chips, but we appear to be out of walnuts tonight, so I will have to “make do” with chocolate chips only. Hubby recently articulated that he thinks nuts ruin baked goods, while I think they make them – they’re crunchy, rich, and I love the bit of bitter taste of walnuts against the sweetness of a cookie… obviously he’s wrong, right? He did make me a batch of chocolate chip cookies with nuts for my birthday, and he presented them to me, saying, “I put nuts in these, even though I don’t believe in it.” That’s love.

Sweet dreams!

“Jewels”

Antiques Faire and Sunday Streets

Posted on May 7, 2012 by jewelsathome

I usually complain about my kids getting me up too early, but this morning, I voluntarily (more or less) rose before the rest of the family to head to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire with a couple of girlfriends. As I mentioned at the end of the rummage sale post, this is a huge flea market-style event that is held the first Sunday of every month. There is an unbelievable number and variety of finds, and it’s even a fun place to “window shop,” since you’re out in the fresh air by the San Francisco Bay.

Click the picture to go to the Antiques Faire website.

It was a beautiful morning turning into a hot day as we wandered around exploring. There is definitely something for everyone there – every style from shabby chic to mid-century modern, and price from pennies to thousands of dollars. I can’t say I’m not a little sad that we didn’t find anything fantastic like a Henry Link Bali Hai dresser or Faux bamboo armchairs (which are my two current obsessions), but I also realize that it’s not a sustainable habit to bring home major pieces of furniture every time I go, so I’m not completely disappointed. It was also great to have a little time to chat with my friends when we are not running around busy with kids and work.

I did find an old wooden tray for $5 that I’m going to dress up with some paint and/or decoupage, so keep an eye out for that project. My friend picked up a cute pair of trays, so we’ll transform them together and post the results.

Wooden tray with metal trim for $5. Waiting for a project!

And I also found this Japanese sake jar that makes a great vase and display item for the living room.

Sake jar for $20 makes a pretty vase for the living room. Hubby says he wants to use it as a cup.

After the antiques fair, our family went to Sunday Streets in the Mission. Through the summer, San Francisco closes some streets to cars and opens them to pedestrians, bikers, musicians, and other entertainers. It was so fun for the boys to be able to bike down the street, and there were many great spectacles, including elaborate bicycles with bubble blowers, pianos, and more.

Such a cheerful afternoon, with this lady spreading pink bubble joy and music, biking up and down Valencia.

Well, it’s a good thing this guy was moving very slowly with his piano-bike, as he was playing as he went!

I’m just finishing gathering some details for the post on upholstering chair seats, so that should be up in the next day or two!

Hope you had as lovely a weekend as we did!

“Jewels”

Rummage Sale Finds: The Pleasure of the Hunt

Posted on April 22, 2012 by jewelsathome

There is hardly a finer feeling than being outside at a flea market or rummage sale on a beautiful day and finding a great deal on something lovely to bring home. Finding used items is not just about saving money – though that’s wonderful, too. It’s also about the personality and dimension that a mix of old and new things can bring to your space.

Today is one of those rare and perfect San Francisco Saturdays, when the sun is bright and hot, and there’s just a gentle spring breeze in the air. We took a family walk out to our neighborhood rummage sale. They call it a “collectibles” sale, but I think that’s a bit generous. The older boys brought their wallets, dreaming of a great Beyblade (if you have no idea what that is, just ask any five- to ten- year old boy!) or Lego find in the toy section, so we all felt the anticipation! We stopped at a fountain along the way, and our oldest shared his pennies, so they could make a wish.

When we arrived at the park for the sale, the boys were in and out quickly, after determining there were no Beyblades to be had. They did indulge in some muffins and lemonade from the bake sale, though. Our oldest later reported that he felt very grown-up, purchasing his own snack and that it was a very satisfying outing for $2.02 (the $.02 having gone into the fountain).

Hubby spotted these vintage board games in the toy section for $1 a piece, and they look ultra cool. They’re dated 1960 and 1958. Here they are on the game table in our den. Can’t wait to try them at a family game night!

Game of the States from 1960 and Gettysburg from 1958 for $1 each! Looking forward to playing these!

Now to my treasures! Nothing big, but I’ve been looking for accessories for our living-dining room, and it was a great place to pick up a few inexpensive items that feel like they have a story behind them.

$5 for this decorated wooden box with a little key.

The metallic spray paint gives a great glow very quickly!

I used Krylon grey primer both for priming and a very light dusting over the silver, to give it a more aged look. The silver paint is very shiny!

The new-old silver box on the nesting side tables in our living room. Not sure how long this vignette will stay safe from toddler curiosity.

Total of $11 for these five plates. They will hang on the wall in the dining room.

Today was a ton of fun, but for serious treasure hunting, you cannot beat the Alameda Point Antiques Faire, held the first Sunday of every month. It’s enormous, with row upon row of serious antiques vendors. I went on January 1 this year with a friend, and it was a wonderful start to the year, wandering in the fresh air, enjoying the view of San Francisco, gnoshing on Jamba Juice and kettle corn, and striking bargains! We plan to go back in May, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Click the picture for the Alameda Antiques Faire website.

“Jewels”