Juicin'

Take a closer look at these amazing vintage juice glasses on Etsy here:

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve

We love a good canister.

(floral canister source)

Both Stef and I own multiple sets of canisters, so I guess you could say that they are a bit of a weak spot for us. What's a girl to do? They are so colorful and cheerful and are super handy when it comes to organizing a kitchen! Which one is your favorite?

 Shop the canisters here: one, two, three, four, five, six

Shaker style.

As I'm sure you all know by now, we are both huge suckers for a cute salt 'n pepper shaker set, and we are totally smitten over this batch of vintage milk glass ones! I really want to get a new set for my new kitchen but I can't decide which because they are all so darn cute. Which set is your favorite?

Shop here:
one  //  two  //  three  //  four  //  five  //  six  //  seven  //  eight  //  nine  //  ten  //  eleven  //  twelve  // thirteen  // fourteen  //  fifteen

XO, Stef

Cranberry white chocolate cookies.

I don't know about you guys, but I have been spending a lot of time in my kitchen this month. Actually I have been spending a lot of time at home in general. Maybe it's the cold weather that is forcing me to hibernate, but either way I kind of like it! Especially the fact that I have had the chance to test out some recipes that I've been meaning to try! The other day my good friend, Sigrid, came over and brought me the most delicious cookies that I instantly needed the recipe for. They are cranberry white chocolate chip cookies and they are absolutely to die for! Next time you have the urge to bake something, give this recipe a try. It's simple and it seriously won't disappoint.

YOU WILL NEED:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup oats or macadamia nuts (whichever you prefer!)

***

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars together until smooth. Then add the vanilla and egg.  Sift together the flour and baking soda. Spoon the flour mixture gradually into the creamed sugar mixture. Stir in the cranberries, white chocolate, and oats (or nuts.)

Drop by heaping spoonfuls, about 2 tablespoons, onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet a time for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool then enjoy!

***

original recipe found here.

Happy baking! XO, Stef

Organization idea: Mason jar spices.

There is something about the start of a new year that gets me feeling so motivated. I have finally started tackling those pesky jobs that have been put on the back burner and saved for a rainy (or snowy) day. Well, the snow has been falling and the wind has been howling, so I figured what a perfect time to start organizing my kitchen cupboards! I also decided that each weekend I am going to organize one room in my house and this past weekend I started with my kitchen.

I don't know about your kitchen, but my pantry and cupboards seem to get pretty outta control very quickly. Before I know it I find myself starring at four Cheerios boxes that are all about 1/8 full and a bunch of random ziploc bags of assorted spices that have been purchased with one specific dish in mind and then once that dish is completed they get tossed to the back of the cupboard and totally forgotten about. Well I finally decided that enough is enough! 2013 is going to be the year of organization and more experimenting in the kitchen! So I started by giving my kitchen a complete overhaul. I found a cupboard full of empty mason jars that were taking up precious cupboard space so I decided to use them for spice, nut, seed, and pasta storage! By doing this I freed up so much more cupboard space and now all of my cooking ingredients are so much more accessible.

Another bonus? They look pretty darn cute. Definitely a step up from my stash of random ziploc bags. I hope this kick-starts your week and inspires you to venture into tackling some of your rainy day jobs!
XO, Stef

We love pretty platters.

Not only are serving trays great for presenting your favorite appetizer, but they are also perfect for adding little pops of color to your shelves! Here are a few of our favorite vintage platters that we found on Etsy:

Shop here:

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2012 in a Nutshell.

Here is a round-up of our favorite posts and highlights from 2012!

JANUARY:

-We celebrated our blog's first birthday! Yay!

-Our vintage boutique Rhymes With Orange also had it's very first press feature! So exciting!

FEBRUARY:

-We shared a cute DIY post on how to make your own scalloped felt iPad case.

-We each gave our tired old dressers a makeover and shared the results in this before & after post.

MARCH:

-We posted a simple tutorial on how to properly set your table with your favorite retro dishes.

-It was Stef's 25th birthday!

APRIL:

-We were lucky enough to go on a month long trip to Thailand, Malyasia, and Bali with our husbands! (photos found here: part 1, 2, 3)

-We also shared a little taste of Thailand with Erin's Tom Yum Soup recipe.

MAY:

-Our little mobile shop got a lot of amazing press in May! We were featured on Conde Nast Traveler as well as the MSN homepage! What an honor!

-We also did a fun spring outfit post with our cute new B.A.I.T. shoes!

JUNE:

-It was Stef's 3 year wedding anniversary in June so in honor of that she shared her 

wedding photos!

-We also made a fun DIY retro wood wall art post.

JULY:

-Our favorite thing to do in summer is eat outside so we shared some tips for hosting outdoor dinner parties.

-On Canada Day we had our first event of the season with our trailer, Olive! It was also one of the hottest days of the year!

AUGUST:

-Erin celebrated her 2 year wedding anniversary in August and shared her wedding photos!

-Stef and Emery went on a little summer trip to New Orleans!

SEPTEMBER:

-Come autumn we decided it was time to give our shop a little facelift so we bought an old hutch and gave it a makeover and we had fun creating back-to-school displays in our front window!

OCTOBER:

-In October we finally opened our vintage kiddo's section! We were so glad to finally check that off our to-do list! Erin's sister Megan also took the cutest promo shots for us featuring our friends' cute little ones!

-After our kid's section was officially launched we went back to Thailand for business/holidays and this time we also made a stop over in Tokyo where we got to visit a Cat Cafe!! (which was a major highlight for us!)

NOVEMBER:

-We were so honored when Elsie asked us to feature our home tours on her blog A Beautiful Mess! (You can check out Erin's home here and Stef's home here.)

-We officially opened our new online shop called 'The Lovely Closet' which you can shop here. Our blog also hit a major milestone during November: we reached one million views! Wow, we are still totally blown away by that!

DECEMBER:

-In December Erin celebrated her 28th birthday and Rhymes With Orange celebrated it's first birthday! Wow, can't believe we have successfully been in business for a year already!

*Whew!* What a year! Time sure flies! So curious to see what this year has in store for us...

Happy 2013!

Love, Stef & Erin

XO

What you'll need to throw a 60's themed New Years' party!

It's almost New Years Eve! We put together a little party supply list to throw your very own 60's themed party! We hope you all have a safe and happy New Years! 

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

We love enamel pots!

Want to have a closer look at, or perhaps buy one of these pots? Click the links below!

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Festive place settings!

Today we thought it would be fun to share a few things needed to set a holiday table with a retro twist! We combined some traditional touches like holly, christmas napkins, and cranberries with retro items like atomic dishes, 1960's placemats and cute turquoise salt and pepper shakers. We think this would make the perfect decorative mix at our next holiday dinner!

Shop here:

one  //  two  //  three  //  four  //  five  //  six  //  seven  //  eight

XO

60's Party Idea: Egg Nog Bar!

Today we are going to share a fun holiday entertaining idea with a little 1960's twist! Instead of setting up just  regular ol' bar at your next party why not mix it up a bit and make your own egg nog bar?! This would be a great way of giving your Christmas party a bit of a Mad Man feel by showcasing your favorite vintage glasses that you save for special occassions!

All you will need is ground nutemeg, cinnamon sticks, spiced rum or whiskey (whichever you prefer) and of course egg nog! Make sure you have your bar well stocked with a good collection of retro glasses and shot glasses too! I made this little display on a vintage portable teak bar but if you don't have anything like that you could always just set it up on a cute vintage tray on your coffee table or dining room table.

Egg nog not your favorite? Try a hot chocolate bar instead! Mmm...

Have fun mixing!

XO

The best cookies ever.

A few weeks ago I was checking out Pinterest when I stumbled upon this recipe for Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies and as soon as I read the title I knew that it would be an instant favorite... and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I have already made several batches, so I decided to share the recipe with you lovelies today! 

(original recipe written by Monique and found on www.ambitiouskitchen.com)

What you need:

- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

-1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda

-1/4 teaspoon of salt

-1 cup of unsalted butter

-1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

-1/4 cup granulated sugar

- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk

-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

-3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

-1 jar of Nutella, refrigerated

- coarse sea salt 

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk it until it starts to brown then remove from heat and let cool.

Once it has cooled, mix the butter and the sugars together with an electric mixer. After it is well blended, mix in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla extract. Next, slowly add the dry ingredients while continuing to beat on a low speed until just combined. Finally, gently fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or even over night.

Once the dough has chilled it's time to make the cookies! Start by preheating the oven to 350F. Then scoop out about 1 1/2 teaspoons of dough and roll it into a ball. Next flatten the dough as thin as you can in the palm of your hand. Then place about 1 teaspoon of Nutella in the middle and fold the dough around it and gently form a ball again. Make sure that you are careful that no Nutella seeps out! Place balls on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with your hand. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until they are starting to slightly brown.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. (Mmm... my favorite part!) Let cool and enjoy!

Happy baking!

XO, Stef

Salt & Pepper.

Happy Sunday everyone! We got some really incredible comments in our giveaway post (which is still going on until 6 pm today, so quickly go and enter if you haven't already!) and it seems you guys are liking our vintage kitchenwares posts, so we thought we'd make a salt & pepper post similar to this one. Hope you like it!

To shop these salt and pepper shakers, click the links below!

playful, folk-y, fifties, space-y, kitsch, classic, mod, lady-like, atomic

Tick Tock Kitchen Clocks.

No retro kitchen would be complete without a fabulous kitchen clock! Here are some of our favorite ones online at the moment! Which one would you chose?

You can shop clocks here:

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Pyrex Pattern Identification Guide! (Part 2)

You may remember that a little while ago we made a Pyrex Pattern Identification Guide, but we obviously didn't come close to covering every pattern out there, so today we figured that we would try to fill you in on a few more cute prints! So without further ado, here is the second part of our guide to knowing what's on your pyrex for your educational enjoyment:

1. "Autumn Harvest."

Colors: found in several rust tones.

Introduced in 1979.

2. "Crazy Daisy."

Colors: also found in avocado green on white.

Introduced in the 1960's.

Often confused with the "Spring Blossom" pattern.

3. "Constellation."

Colors: found in yellow on white.

Introduced in 1959 as a promotional item.

4. "Woodland."

Colors: found in shades of brown.

Introduced in the 1960's.

5. "Balloon." Cinderella bowls.

Colors: found in turquoise. Used for chip & dip sets.

Introduced in 1958.

6. "Black Tulip."

Colors: found in black and white.

Introduced as a promotional item over Christmas in 1957.

7. "Bride's Casserole."

Colors: white and pale green.

Introduced as a promotional item in 1961.

8. "Town and Country."

Colors: found in several color combinations.

Introduced in 1964.

9. "Verde."

This pattern is found on lids. Bases and bowls are solid colored.

Introduced in the 1960's.

10. "Forest Fancies."

Colors: shades of dark and light brown.

Introduced in 1981.

There are still so many other cute pyrex patterns out there, so who knows, we may be making a part 3 in the future...

XO

Information sources: "Pyrex: The Unauthorized Collector's Guide" by Barbara E. Mauzy 

and also www.pyrexlove.com.

First image source found here and all the rest were found via google images.