Day 116 ~ Break until New Years

We are on break until New Years Day, but promise to return with fun recipes, fantastic handmade DIY's, fabulous fashion finds, and are completely excited about our Valentines spread..  

Thank you for a amazing 2012!!

Day 114 ~ Christmas Break

 ~ Christmas Break ~

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year! Italy Ava is taking a small break to be with our family and friends. We will be back after Christmas! 

Day 113 ~ Polka Dots

Polka Dots

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=polkadots

Day 112 ~ Johann Michael Rottmayr

Johann Michael Rottmayr

Johann Michael Rottmayr (December 11, 1656 – October 25, 1730), was an Austrian painter. He was the first notable baroque painter north of Italy.

My mom surprised me recently by having a lady look into her family tree.. I wanted to share my great, great, great, great grandfathers fascinating story with you!!

 A couple of weeks ago I received this email from her:

Laura through a lady that I’m working with from Germany, she uncovered that this famous man is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather.

 He was the artist that drew many religious pictures in European Catholic churches.  It must be gene because because so many in our family love to draw and I would look at decorating as an art as well.  He was and Austrian but born in Germany so my dad was not German.

His first name was Johann but he used his middle name for his first name Michael.  The reason the last name is spelled different is because it was very common when you arrived in the United States to spell your last name the way it sounded.  Some of Michael drawings were of Jesus murals in Catholic churches and he also worked for a Prince.  His mother taught him how to paint as she did wood sculptors.  The person that sent me this information said Michael was Austrian and was born in Germany.  Do you see any resemblance to Grandpa?  She said if I went to Vienna I would be treated like celebrity.  It has not sunk in that he was not a shirttail relative but a Grandfather.  He was so famous he was put on a postage stamp.  I will send you more

Johann Michael Rottmayr (1654-1730) was the first native-born Austrian painter of the 18th century to achieve preeminence over the Italians, thus beginning the great century of Austrian baroque painting.

Johann Michael Rottmayr born in Laufen, a small town near Salzburg, on Dec. 10, 1654, probably learned the rudiments of his craft from his mother, who was a painter. About 1675 he went to Venice, entering the workshop of Karl Loth, an expatriate Bavarian, with whom he remained for 13 years. About 1688 he returned to Austria and soon entered the service of the prince-bishop of Salzburg, Johann Ernst Graf Thun, who favored German artists over the Italians, who still dominated art north of the Alps.

Rottmayr's lifelong friendship and collaboration with the architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach began in Salzburg. Rottmayr painted altarpieces and frescoes for most of Fischer's buildings in Salzburg—the Church of the Trinity (ca. 1702), the Church of the Hospital of St. John (1709), and the University Church (1721-1722)—as well as for the Residenz (1689, 1710-1714) and other secular and religious buildings in the city. The two men also collaborated at Frain Castle (Vranov) in Moravia (1695), creating, in the so-called Ancestral Hall, the first of their huge oval cupolas, where through painted illusionistic foreshortening and perspective the impression is given of seeing the open sky filled with mythological beings glorifying, in this case, the family of the owner. Rottmayr's early style, though very much like that of his master, Loth, is characterized by his own bright local color, massive forms, and strong movement.

Rottmayr moved to Vienna about 1699, where he continued to work with Fischer on such projects as Schönbrunn Palace (1700). But Rottmayr also began to receive other commissions, notably the fresco decoration of the Jesuit Church in Breslau (1704-1706) and of the Liechtenstein Summer Palace outside Vienna (1706-1707), as well as paintings for the Council Chamber of the Vienna City Hall (1712).

In Vienna, Rottmayr's style became more fluid, with subtler, more ingratiating color and more harmonious compositions, suggesting the influence of the works of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck available to him there; yet it retained the strong plasticity and dynamic movement of his early years. During the first 2 decades of the 18th century he was the leading painter of Vienna and the Hapsburg domains. Although he continued to work intermittently elsewhere in the Holy Roman Empire—Salzburg, Franconia, and Bohemia—his work from this time on was largely in Vienna and its environs. He decorated the interior of the church of the monastery of Melk with frescoes and altarpieces (1716-1722), and in the Karlskirche in Vienna, Fischer von Erlach's most famous creation, Rottmayr painted the Glorification of St. Charles Borromeo in the dome as well as the entire fresco decoration of the church (1725-1729). One of his last important commissions was the frescoes for the church of the monastery of Klosterneuburg outside Vienna (1729).

A painter of great imagination, Rottmayr imbued his essentially idealized figures with a robust liveliness and naturalism of great appeal. His color, especially in his maturity, is often of enchanting beauty and refinement. The visionary effect of his ceiling paintings is sometimes reduced by the massiveness of his figures, but all are eminently effective in their swirling compositions.

Rottmayr was ennobled in 1704 with the title "von Rosenbrunn." He died in Vienna on Oct. 28, 1730, almost literally with his brush in his hand

Day 111 ~ Cheerio Treat

Cheerio Treat

Just in time for the Holidays, this treat is super simple and very tasty! It only took 30 minutes from start to finish. I didn't add chocolate to the top of mine, but after they were done and I was snacking on them, I thought hello, chocolate drizzled on top would have made these snacks so much tastier! But that is just my opinion :)

Ingredients :

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Corn Syrup ( the clear one )

1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla

5 cups Cheerios ( I used multigrain )

Gather up your ingredients 

Measure out your sugar and corn syrup 

Combine them into a large sauce pan

Bring to a boil over medium heat, allow to boil for one minute and remove from heat

Add peanut butter and vanilla to the mixture and mix away

Add the cups of cheerios in a bowl 

Top off the cheerios with the peanut butter mixture and stir stir stir! 

Make them into some what of a ball shape and place them on wax paper or foil to cool off and dry a bit

You can add the chocolate on top after you place them on the paper to dry. Just heat some chocolate chips up in a zip lock bag in 30 second intervals in the microwave. Snip an end of the bag off and drizzle right over the cheerios, then let them dry for a bit longer and you can place them in an air tight container or eat them up!

Day 110 ~ Christmas Garland

Christmas Garland

We love that extra detail here in the store, so for Christmas there's no better way to add a little more sparkle of creativity than with Christmas garland... There are so many options out there for you to buy, but you can be really creative and make a bunch as well. Wrap this around your tree, porch area or even attach to an entry or door way in your home!

This is a super cute DIY you can make. Using fabric, felt or even pretty paper & a few balls....

 

Kids would love do help make this one. This would be so much fun to make as a family, you could add it any place...

 

 

Who doesn't like felt balls?! These are so so cute. Easy to make, you can attach them with glue to string, or glue them together for a faster process...

 

 

Of course some delicate snowflakes attached to vellum paper and string. Very pretty..

 

I love love love the look of these. Natural and organic looking.

 

 

I'm not sure if I would have time to make these christmas trees, but I know we have some cute ones similar in the store from EJ Sweets and you could attach them to string. So much fun for a window or even on a tree!

 

 

Not sure what to do with old Christmas cards? Simply make them in to bunting! Cut out the cutest part of the card, attach it to ribbon or twine and you are done!