Mad Men Season Six Premiere Party -- Mod Earring Make-Over!

We were so very excited last Sunday when Mad Men finally returned to the air with the season six premiere!

We had seen some advance photos from episodes 1-2 so we knew we'd find the Drapers in Hawaii when the new season opened up. This gave us the perfect excuse to have a few friends over for a Mad Men viewing party, luau-style!

I'll share the fabulous vintage Hawaiian muu-muu that I scored in my next post, but first I thought I'd highlight the fun earrings that I pulled together for the event. Since Mad Men is firmly in the late 1960s now, we've got some more mod fashion elements coming into view. I was loving some of the dangly earrings that we saw in season five, such as this pair worn by Cynthia Cosgrove in episode five:

For weeks I was on the HUNT to find something similar to wear at our viewing party! I had just about given up, and then the day before the party, I came across just the thing while browsing one of the antique shops in town. Here's how they looked before:

I instantly loved the shape of these earrings, but I wasn't feeling the color or the worn off paint. And there's just something a little icky about wearing used pierced earrings, right? No problem! I bought them for a couple dollars and brought them home for a make-over. First step was to remove the used earring findings:

I knew that I wanted white earrings so a paint job was next. I wired the earrings so they dangled off our workbench:

And gave them a spritz of white paint that we already had leftover from an earlier project:

I let them dry overnight, and then pulled out some new earring hooks, also from my craft stash:

And here's the finished look:

Aren't they fun? Soon I'll share the muumuu that I made over for the party, along with the big old late-60s hairdo that I teased and sprayed into place for the night. I better run; the next episode of Mad Men is on in a little while!

Vintage kitchen cross-stitch

Last weekend I was out for an afternoon of brunching and shopping with my dear friend M, and we wandered into a little antique shop called Bric-A-Brac in Newburgh, NY. We had a blast browsing through all the cute things there, and I was especially excited when I came across this sweet old kitchen-themed cross-stitch. 

I rarely buy old needlework because it's usually outside my price range in most antique shops. But this piece, which I fell in love with immediately, was really affordable, so I snapped it right up. 

One of my favorite things to do is to experiment in the kitchen, and I couldn't agree more with the sentiments in this lovely piece. We hung it up yesterday, and I know it will inspire me when I'm making many great (hopefully great!) meals to come.

Fat quarter napkins

It was probably ill-advised to practice sewing mitred corners after a couple glasses of red, but I'm happy to report that I whipped up these fat quarter napkins a few evenings ago without injury or mishap. 

I've had these pretty fat quarters with an earthy palette in my fabric stash for some time, but I wasn't sure what to make with them. As our family tries to find small ways to save money and cut down on disposable paper goods, I decided they'd be great as simple, every-day dinner napkins. And I love that they are in contrasting fabrics, as that will make it easy to keep track of which napkin belongs to whom.

And thanks to an excellent tutorial here, I can say that I'm a bit more confident in my mitering (mitreing?) skills than I was before. Now what's for dinner?

Birthday fun

If you have followed me in the last few days on Instagram, Twitter, Flickr or Tumblr, you've seen that I have been celebrating my birthday since Thursday by gallivanting around the Hudson Valley sitting around fireplaces, doing fun stuff outdoors, and drinking every cocktail I could get my hands on (yum, yum, and yum).

I've had an amazing time! I'm back home today and the fun has continued as I finally added the storage space I have been dreaming of to Fourteen Countess HQ. I'm so excited to have all my craft gear organized and at my fingertips! (And it was a relief to unpack my books that were stowed away in the basement since we moved here nearly four years ago.)

I hope you will stay tuned to see some of the fruits that will come out of my new and improved craft room!

Happy valentine's day!

I was so happy to find this darling little card from smudge ink 

to give to my letterpress-lovin' hubby today! 

Hope you have a whale of a Valentine's Day, everybody! xo