And the winner is.....

The winner of the $25.00 CarolineAlexander gift certificate is Momtoem. Congratulation and thank you to everyone for your kind words.

Jennifer Cameron
CarolineAlexander

CarolineAlexander giveaway

Well, it has been awhile since we have done a giveaway. CarolineAlexander had huge giveaways on our original blog (long gone and sadly missed). We could not decide what to giveaway, so we will giveaway a $25.00 gift certificate to CarolineAlexander.
This way you decide what you want.

Here are the rules.
1. become a follower and leave a comment 1 entry
2. Become a facebook fan 1 entry
3. Sign up for our newsletter 5 entries
4. Tell us your favorite CarolineAlexander product 1 entry
5. blog about this giveaway 5 entries
6. Tweet about this giveaway 5 entries
7. Refer a friend 5 entries

We will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday March 24th.

Jennifer Cameron
CarolineAlexander

This months Girls Dinner....Irish

Girls dinner out theme for this month was Irish. It was delicious! We had a very small group, only four. A flu bug has been hitting all the families, thank god it wasn't me this time. I have served my time this winter.

Lets get down to the menu. Jessica hosted the March girls dinner out. She made a delicious corned beef and cabbage. I didn't realize how much I love it. It is so tender and has just the right amount of spices to keep me asking for more! The drinks....whiskey sours....Yum.


Our appetizer was a spinach and artichoke dip. It tasted just like something you would get in a restaurant....great job Judith.

Mary made a wonderful salad and I brought the Irish soda bread. I never had Irish soda bread before, it was actually pretty good. I toasted the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I just love a good bread, I guess I am a carb freak. Atkins would never work for me.


Julie brought a been and cheddar soup. It was yummy too! I made a beer and cheese soup for our "beer" theme a couple of months ago and it is really a good soup. My husband loved it. But, he loves anything that has beer in it.


For dessert....well that was interesting. Denise was going to bring dessert, but her girls were sick and she had to cancel. Jessica decided to try something new. She has a great idea, but I am not so sure it worked. As cooks we have all had this happen. She made chocolate pudding and decided to add Irish cream, to give it some pep. Well, I guess you cannot add alcohol to pudding. She said it didn't set so she kept adding more pudding until it looked good. I will say I have never had chocolate pudding that lasted entirely of alcohol. Wow! If I actually ate the pudding I would never have been able to drive home. Lesson, do not add booze to pudding!


To end the night...Jessica as crafty as she is had a little envelope beside our dishes. If you had a pot of gold you won the four leaf clover centerpiece. How neat.


Girls dinner out was another enjoyable evening. It is so important that you actually take time out for yourself. It is therapeutic! Once a month it is great to have an amazing dinner and good conversation with girls that you admire and enjoy. Until next month.....

If you are interested in any recipes, just email me and I will get them to you.
Jennifer

The history behind our love of vintage jewels

I remember those nights as vividly as if I were six years old again. I can picture my Mother standing in front her of dresser mirror, wearing some kind of 1980’s dress, dabbing perfume behind her ears and on her wrists. The final step in this long, anticipated process was deciding which jewelry she was going to wear that night. That was my favorite part, the one that made me bounce up and down on my knees as I sat (now impatiently) on my parent’s bed.

Mom had various jewelry boxes in all different shapes and sizes…her porcelain cloisonné, a bowl that I made for her in art class filled with earrings and the one that played music when you lifted its lid. But I wasn’t waiting for that. It was my Grandmother’s jewelry box, hidden away in her bottom drawer that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on. That is where Mom kept her “good” pearls and her diamond earrings and various other pieces handed down from my Grandmother. Mom always chose the expensive pieces, but it was the brightly colored brooches, earrings, and rings that I loved the most. “Costume jewelry,” Mom would say. But it was anything than costume jewelry to me, and they were the only pieces that I was allowed to try on.

I loved the stones that contained every color of the rainbow, and no matter what...they were real to me…rubies, sapphires, diamonds. I would adorn myself from head to toe and watch how they sparkled in the mirror. I looked beautiful and pretended that I was going to that party.

As I grew, I would accompany my Mom to every garage sale that we passed. Sometimes Mom would pick up a piece of furniture that she would take home and cover in another fabric. Sometimes she bought various knick-knacks that sat on our shelves, collecting dust over the years. But I wasn’t interested in furniture and gaudy pictures. It was the antique jewelry that typically sat near the seller’s table that fascinated me the most.

I’m thirty-four years old now and I stop at every garage sale that I pass by. I can’t help it. I especially love the estate sales, remnants left behind after one passes away. I love my vintage belongings and I still love to look at the costume jewelry on the way out.
We now have a business of our own. Many of the accessories that we make are pillow, belts, and bracelets, each with a vintage crystal or bead to give it that old, warm feeling of days gone passed.

I peruse through antique stores in search of these jewels for CarolineAlexander to use in our designs. Brooches, earrings, buttons…anything with a crystal or rhinestone center that can be carefully removed and recycled. That is my contribution to their business, CarolineAlexander, and every time I hit the jackpot, I feel like I am six years old again.

But I can’t help but wonder wear these vintage pieces came from. Who was it that wore that beautiful, crystal brooch? Was it pinned to her coat? Is she still alive? And how did it end up beneath the counter of this antique store? I am intrigued. Who were these women? What is the history behind these jewels? I picture these women living in the mid 1900’s, a debutante, a mother, or a celebrity. They would open their jewelry boxes and carefully pick out which necklace or earrings matched their beautiful party dresses. Where were they going? Were they attending a high school dance, a fancy ball, a dinner party perhaps? Could they have been worn on their wedding day, that tradition of something old or something new? Unfortunately, it will always remain a mystery.

I will never find the answers to all of these questions but I know that one thing is true…there is nothing more beautiful than a piece of jewelry bought or passed down from love. And nothing can embody the personal history behind each and every piece.

I am honored that CarolineAlexander find the beauty in these pieces as well and have been able to preserve the memories behind them. Now they adorn hand-made flower belts and purses and other designs that my family creates for their business…an inspiration to once was, a celebration for someone new. And they will always be something old, something new to me.

To see some of these inspirational designs, please visit www.CarolineAlexander.net

Jillian Walulik & Jenifer Cameron

Martha Stewart Weddings...pretty in pink

We are so excited, the Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine is on stands today. We are so excited because CarolineAlexander has been included in the marketplace section. I got an advanced copy last week, our ad is beautiful and so is the magazine.

I love to just look through all the gorgeous bridal gowns...there are so many. There is a terrific article on spring blooms. The shades of these pink flowers are just amazing. Grab your copy today, this months issue is worth the money.