Happy Friday!

Happy Friday and congrats Will and Kate (how gorgeous did she look??)!

Royal Bachelorette Party

While we may be two mama's in the suburbs and Kate a soon to be a princess we know deep down in every girl is a party girl just waiting to happen. If we were BFF's with Kate (which we know we would be if only we'd met!) we'd thrown down an epic bachelorette party for her, full of Kir Royal Martinis and general naughtiness because if anyone needs a night of pure craziness and getting wild it'd be a future princess (we hope she's able to get some fun in with all this scrutiny!) From top left:

1. Bridal Nightwear by Agent Provocateur, $650
2. Silver Easy Spin Pasties, $22.50 (had to include these for the marketing as "easy-spin" alone)
3. Adorna Paddle Agent Provocateur, $170
4. Love Baby Grand Sleep Mask

From the Desk of A.J. - Top Five Princesses OF ALL TIME

Prin.cess-noun
*archaic : a woman having sovereign power
*a female member of a royal family; especially : a daughter or granddaughter of a sovereign
*the consort of a prince
*one likened to a princess; especially : a woman of high rank or of high standing in her class or profession


We think there are many more sides to a princess (we hope!) than the ones listed above…but in all fun here are the top 5 Princesses according to Pinky Swear Designs:

5. Sarah Ferguson, aka the first Fergie. I always (and still do) feel for the fiery red head. The weight battles, the scandals (past =toe sucking, present= bribery), the royal snubs…it really was as if Sarah down the block married a Prince.

4. Princess Leia- I grew up wanting to be Princess Leia. She not only was a princess, she got to hang out with Luke and Hans and fight evil with a light saber…and she was the only chick in an all boys movie.

3. Princess Buttercup…just because anytime I can reference The Princess Bride, I do;) Bow to her! Bow!

2. Princess Grace- Uh, because she was absolutely beautiful and lived up to her name.

1. Princess Diana-of course she’s numero uno. Kate has some big shoes to fill, but according to everybody, she’s got a great head on her shoulders, knows who she is and has a supportive family…let’s hope for her sake its enough. The thing I most admired about Diana is when she spoke of her boys. She seemed to become stronger overnight when she had them. Flinging her arms open to welcome them…what better way to “shock” the family;) Lets hope Kate brings some life back into that/those castles as her mum in-law did.

Here’s to you Kate. May you be stronger than the family, politics, and media…and when all else fails, don’t forget your light saber.

Teapots & Teacups

What's a week devoted to English royals with out some awesome tea accessories? Searching for teapots and teacups I learned that there is a teapot for everyone out there. I saw vintage teapots, formal teapots, utilitarian teapots, shabby chic teapots, steam-punk teapots, teapots shaped like airstream trailers, you name it, someone makes it. I tried to think of a way to categorize the teapots I found, or make a cohesive collection before I threw up my hands and just went with ones I thought were cute. So the following teapots and cups passed my very scientific "cute" criteria (I follow a complex algorithm that measures the amount of time it takes me to squeal or think CUTE! and divide that by something or other):

1. Wise Owl Ceramic Teapot, $25
2. Turkish Delight Tpot, $38
3. Wedgewood Intaglio Teapot, $160
4. Madeline Teapot, $73
5. Afternoon Tea Tpot, $35

1. Sweet Dreams Cup, $20
2. Hidden Animal Cup, $24.99
3. Afternoon Tea Cup, $18
4. Leila Cup, $20
5. Shizi Katoh Deux Mug
6. Oresund Mug, $12

From the Desk of A.J. - Let the Festivities Begin!

I distinctly remember watching Diana and Charles getting married. I woke up and walked into the living room and there was my mama watching it on TV. I sat down and she said “look meja, now she’s a princess”. I remember oohing and awing at her dress and thinking wow…there really are princesses.

OK…I was all of nine when they got hitched, so that fairytale wedding was right up my alley. Flash forward to now…and the nine year old gal in me is right there again soaking in all that glorious royal wedding hoopla and luuuurving it!

Friday I will be glued to the tube (with my mama at my side & grandpa lending a hand with the boy wonders;) ooohing and awing (in our hats!) as yet, another, princess is born. We’ll be noshing on some scones, sandwiches and having a spot of tea from the Art of Tea. Yep…this site is amazing and has every kind of tea for every kind of quench under the sun. I’m laying down humungous hints for their tea of the month club for mama’s day to the Hubs. Friday I will sipping on cinnamon fig, coconut pineapple, and their classic organic black tea…just so I don’t have to hear any backlash from the Queen Mum;)

This week, we’re dedicating our blogs to everything royal and delicious in honor of Kate and Wills (which we hear after Friday…we can’t call her Kate anymore but I’m pretty sure we can still call him Wills;) Pinky style of course;)

Cheers!

Happy Friday and Easter!

Hope you have a great Easter weekend, full of jelly beans, Peeps!, and one of my favorite movies ever, Easter Parade. I dare you not to love this movie. SO many great scenes/songs/ and the DANCING, oh the dancing! (and all those awesome costumes aint bad either)

Happy Easter!!

Wee Gardens

I've been trying to think of thing to put in the kid's Easter baskets that aren't necessarily "toys." We have enough toys, and to be honest my kids get at least three Easter baskets a year (thanks Gammie and Nanny!) and all that little stuff adds up quick. When I was little we often got swim suits and summer gear in our baskets and I think I'll continue that tradition, but still want to include something just for fun. I started thinking maybe the Easter bunny would bring the kids gardening stuff for our house and came across these. So cute and fun! I think JoAnns carries this line, so I may swing by and see if they have it. I think though, this could be an easy and fast DIY too with all the little doo-dads you may already have around the house. I may just buy each kid a pot, a house (those tiny blank birdhouses they sell at craft stores would be perfect), some seeds and dirt and call it a day! Find these online here. And for more tiny garden inspiration, google "fairy gardens" and be ready to be awed by the cuteness! :)

Spread a Little Love

Ginger Blue

I've been incredibly blessed to have extremely healthy kids. Beyond a few colds, the "worst" medical thing that I've ever had to go through with my littles was a broken arm and subsequent surgery. When my son came out of surgery, groggy and hysterical from the sedatives I sat there watching a mom trying to comfort her crying baby in an incubator next to us. And it hit me like a ton of bricks of how lucky we really were. Thinking back on that moment makes me that much more amazed when I think about my friend Sarah, and her beautiful daughter, Ginger. Ginger has cystic fibrosis, an incurable diseases that wreaks havoc on her tiny lungs and has the potential to make even the tiniest of colds fatal. Sarah approaches each day with her daughter with grace, humor, gratefulness and laughter. And she has been tireless in her goal to raise money and awareness for research into a cure for CF.

In May, Sarah and her family and friends are walking in the Great Strides walk in Redlands, CA to raise money for research into cystic fibrosis. She is half way to her goal and I'd love to see her make it all the way. Check out her fund raising page here to donate (every little bit helps!) and to read more of their amazing story go to Sarah's blog here.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! I've been itching to get some Easter decorations up, but really wanted to try to use stuff I already had. And of course Her Most High Priestess Martha Stewart was a great inspiration. I saw this egg garland and decided to try my own. I quickly decided that I didn't want to use as many eggs as she did. Instead I staggered the eggs and used some left over crepe paper to make pompoms. Strung them all up on some twine, and voila. Easter garland. The hardest part was getting the eggs out of the eggshells, but I only broke one (and I used a good old fashioned sharp stick and my mouth, not a fancy "egg blower" like Martha says, I'm scandalous like that). After that I walked around my house and pulled things that seemed spring-ey to me and re-merched the mantle. I think it turned out cute, my husband thinks its weird (something about it being weird to decorate with real eggs). What do you think?

Beth's Bags

Spring Easter Wreath, $26

I'm so in love with these cheerful, retro wreaths and pin cushions from Beth's Bags. They make me happy just looking at them! See more in her shop here.

Vintage Sweet Vintage Deer Pincushion, $26

Vintage Majorette Pincushion, $28

New Design!!! The Banner Necklace

My little sister had the sweetest roly-poly cute-as-pie baby you've ever seen on 1-11-11 (cool birthday, right?). She's been major support for us here at Pinky Swear Designs, both emotionally and physically, helping us out at our shows, rocking out in our booth with us. So as soon as she named her bundle of joy we wanted to make her something. She's a simple jewelry kind of gal, she rocks a vintage wedding ring, a tiny x-small charm from us and not much else most days (jewelry wise! she wears clothes! :P) I gave this to her for her birthday yesterday and she loved it! We love it too. So simple and sweet.

In fact we loved it so much, we thought we'd add it to our shop! Get your own (just in time for Mother's Day!!) here. ;)

Happy Friday!

Woke up with this song in my head. Its one of my all time favorite songs, I can't play it just once, I have to listen to it at least seven times in a row. And its perfect for this sunny, bright morning.

Hope you have some fun plans for the weekend, I'll be celebrating my sister's birthday with some epic Just Dance 2 tournaments. Oh! And mine! ;) (I got a little sister for my third birthday) So Happy Birthday to me and Happy Birthday to Jessie!!! Love you much!

Order of the Week - ID Bracelet

Our ID Bracelet, simple, sweet, and personal. Order your own here.

ReadyMade Magazine

I'm a firm believer in DIY when it comes to most projects, so one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a subscription to ReadyMade. Its always full of amazing DIY projects, yummy recipes and fun articles with some great designers. I'm loving the projects in this month's edition, submitted by readers for the ReadyMade 100 contest. I'm itching to make these bell jars (so perfect for Easter decorations!!) and I love the look of the paper lamps! Check out all the winners here.

Happy Friday!

Look Up! The Billion-Bug Highway You Can't See from NPR on Vimeo.

Thought I'd share this short video to start off your weekend. My kids and I love listening to Radiolab in the car. It never ceases to amaze me that even when the topic seems really abstract they still listen and retain so much more than I thought they would. If you want a place to start, I recommend the Parasite episode, its gross and cool and amazing.

Download Radiolab podcasts here or use the NPR News app and find Radiolab on WNYC. Have a great weekend!!