After 12 years of tasting subpar baked goods, I was lucky enough to experience a donut from Babycakes this morning. Little did I know this lower east side vegan + gluten-free bakery would rock my world. I seriously had trouble leaving with only 3 baked goods in my hand. So far, I’ve eaten the donut (a 10 minute, out-of-this world, cinnamon, buttery, finger-licking good experience). Later I will enjoy the chocolate mint cupcake, and perhaps tomorrow while at the Gift Show, I’ll nosh on the cranberry-apple toasty. I’m going to have to fit in a few extra runs while I’m here–all for good reason, of course.

This past weekend, we took a trip to the Cape to photograph our new letterpress-printed wedding invitations we’re releasing at the end of February. Although we were intimidated by how many pieces we had to shoot (we had limited time), it turned out to be a great success. Thanks to the sun and clouds for perfect lighting, and to my mom for supplying us with a wide variety of props, protein packed meals and two days of free babysitting.

A pre-8am trip to the flower market…

Once we arrived in Orleans, we spent day one outside mostly. It was a gorgeous day, so we hit the beach and used the sand, lobster traps, sea grass and water to our advantage.

It snowed on day two–all day long.  After a poached egg and half a grapefruit, we set up in various rooms around the house.

After we finished our work, we headed outside to enjoy the snow. It ended up snowing about 5-6 inches on the Cape, a coastal storm. It was a long drive home, but kale soup and a turkey sandwich from the Land Ho helped.

We can’t wait to show you our new wedding invitations! Stay tuned…

Now it’s time to actually put the star together. Tools required for assembly: glue gun, styrafoam ball with rebar insert, dyed wooden skewers. See steps below. Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind: As you insert the skewers into the ball, we recommend inserting them until they won’t go in any further (about 1/2″); each skewer should be about 1/4″ apart (roughly).  As you work, the strings from the glue gun will become entangled between the sticks. It’s easy to pick out once the star is fully assembled. We’ve posted a picture of the result, but we’ll wait until the booth is finished to post more shots of the overall effect.

And, as we gather our collection, they start to look really cool together!

Just when we think we can take a breather after the holiday season is over, the gift show sneaks up on us from out of nowhere! Preparations are in full swing for the New York International Gift Fair at which we’ll be exhibiting at the end of January and mid-August. This time around we are attempting to pull together a new and improved booth. This new look is made possible by one particular hand made decor element: Sticky Stars. We will be sharing how to make a Sticky Star over the next week or so. To be honest, we’re still figuring it out ourselves. Here are a few shots of the first few steps: dying the sticks and preparing the base…