Marie Antoinettes Hamlet

 O.K, so if you saw Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette Movie then you might recognize this first picture.

In the movie Marie and her friends ran through this archway so that she could show them the lovely little Hamlet that she created. This actually isn't the first view you see of the Hamlet (creative license for the movie).

 You actually come across this view after you have spent a while wondering through the lovely little forested paths from the Petite Trianon.

 In my mind, the hamlet was one really sweet rustic building and some animals and a garden. NO....

In actuality, it's like an entire little village. It's so adorable. My daughter equated it to a theme park and then said that Marie was like the very first Walt Disney. (I don't know how factual that is but, that's what my daughter thinks... hahaha) 

 There are several houses and a barn and a chicken house and a milking shed and there are still animals kept there. Every house has it's own little backyard fenced in garden too.

Look at the roof!!! They are shake roofs and there are flowering plants growing on most of the roofs. Adorable!!

 At this point some of the buildings outer staircases are starting to fall apart but wouldn't it be neat if they fixed them up and then offered an opportunity to stay in the village?!! I would so be there!!

 After visiting Versaille it is very easy to see why Marie Antoinette loved the little village that she created. So open and inviting and relaxing.

 It was fun to wander around, the only thing is that there aren't any signs directing you back to the Petit Trianon so you need to leave yourself a little time to make sure you wander back before the last shuttle leaves or you'll have quite a walk back to Versailles.

 My daughter and I decided that this was by far our favorite part of the entire Versailles visit!! 

Hopefully more pictures soon. I hope I'm not boring you.

I hope everyones summer is going wonderfully.

xoxo

Cari 

 Sacre Coeur

 Sacred Heart Cathedral

 This is where we went on our first whole day in Paris. Let me just say, every single day we were in Paris we had absolutely amazing weather. I mean 75 and sunny with a lovely breeze all day. It didn't even get dark there until after 10pm. 

O.K.... There are a lot of stairs. But it was so worth it. That's my oldest. It was nice to have some mommy/daughter time.

Here is the church up close. It doesn't cost anything to get in and it's not half as crowded as this picture makes it appear. This is on a weekend day too. There is a catacomb and tower area that you can access for a small fee. We went into the catacombs but that's for another day.

The entire area was so lovely. There were street performers working for tips and there was a lovely fine food festival with samples. We tasted salami, wine, strawberries, and fois gras. yummmm!

This is just a random shot of a building facing Montmarte square where the artists all set up their canvas. I do have to say the artists area is much more touristy and expensive than it was 20 years ago. 

But still, a very lovely visit and the views are spectacular. Totally worth the climb.

xoxo

Cari 

Paris

 I'm back from Paris!

 Well.... I've actually been back for a week but it has taken me this long to get caught up

I've got soooo many pictures and stories to tell but for now, this is an adorable pink building across the street from Notre Dame nearer to the Latin Quarter. I just couldn't resist grabbing a snapshot of it because of its color.

This is the view from our table at the resteraunt that we ate at on our last night in Paris. :-( It was really lovely, there was a man playing guitar on the corner across the street and every so often the church bells would ring.  If you are going to Paris and are looking for inexpensive food, definitely check out the Latin Quarter first thing.  

Summer is in full swing here, all 4 kiddos are home, things are wonderfully crazy. 

I'll be back as soon as I can.

xoxo

cari

Surprise Gift

One of the best gifts of my life!

(Picture from Graphics Fairy)

A few days ago my mom sent me a text and then the phone rang.

It was my mom. She said "did you read your text" I said, "no, what's up?" She said, "read your text." I said, "why, you're on the phone, what's up?" She said "just read it!!!"

so......

the text said.....

"Pack your bags, you leave for Paris in May"

Wow!!!

I am sooooo stinking excited.

She said I deserved it because ever sense my kiddos were born I always put them first and now I deserved a vacation.

I am in shock!!

My oldest was planning on being alone in Paris for 8 days and I was worried about her being there alone. I don't know why though, she does live in Manhattan by herself now. But, for some reason I was worried. Now, we get to have a spectacular "mother-daughter" trip.

I am soooo grateful and excited, and already thinking about all of the blog posts I'll be able to get out of one trip. lol

Hopefully I'll post again soon,

life is a little crazy.

xoxo

cari

Hopefully this time for good!!

Hi all,

I know I've been gone for soooo long but, I can honestly say that I think that this has been the busiest year of my life. whew!!

I finally got my oldest accepted, funded, and moved into college. That was a process!

Anyway......

I'm finally ready to come back. yay!!

I even got a MacBook today for my birthday so.....

now I will really have no excuses for not posting.

I'll even be able to post while relaxing on the sofa.

Even my hubby said, "You better get back to your blog now!"

to funny, right?!

If you are still out there...

THANK YOU for being there,

and send me some links to Christmas swaps if you know of any,

I'm dying to get back to swapping!

Be back soon, Promise!!

xoxo

Cari

Missing You.

Oh how I've missed you all!

Life has been super crazy around here but let me try and get you caught up on what's been happening. First, I was in a little "Petite Inspiration Box Swap". Seriously, these are some of my all time favorite swaps. I just love everything little. So..... here are the boxes I made and shipped to my partners.This is what they saw when they opened their boxes....
And these are all of the little goodies I stuffed their boxes with. I hope that they liked receiving them as much as I enjoyed making them. Tomorrow I'll get pictures of all the fabulousness that I received and show you. Alright, so I said I was busy, well...... here is one of the reasons. My sweet Emma graduated from 8th grade. (bragging alert!!) She ranked 5th in her class of 500, she was nominated for P.E. girl student of the year, Academic girl student of the year, Overall girl student of the year, she was President of CJSF (a scholarship foundation), and Drill Team Captain. Wow!! (I warned you about the bragging). We had an 8th grade dance, award ceremony, field trip, Drill team field trip, cheerleader try-outs (congrats on making the JV team as an incoming freshman), and lots of tumbling classes to get ready for try-outs. Wheh!! The one in red is graduating High School this Thursday. This picture is at home before Prom, goofing around with her little brothers. She's keeping us busy too. We've been figuring out college financing, senior poetry reading, senior awards, school fashion show modeling, prom, prom shopping, (and boy does prom entail a lot of running around) sending our graduation announcements, finals, oh yeah, and her school movie premier!! The little ones are chaos causers too!! lol Little league games, school parties, airtrix classes, baseball practice, team parties, little league closing ceremonies, ugh!!Here's Audrey and her date. They look so nice together.

Well, I told you I was busy, Thanks for listening to all of my chaos. I just didn't want anyone out there to think that I've been neglecting you by choice. LOL

Summer is finally here, fun is to come! "Relaxation and creation" that's going to be my goal and motto for the summer.

xoxo

Cari

Much Love

Sometimes Angels fall from heaven and we just have to thank God that we get to be near them. This is my Emma. She's 14 today!!!

Happy Birthday!

Let me tell you a little about this amazing "Angel". She has straight A's, almost A+'s and she has for the last 3 years. (she's a bit obsessed).

She's not just smart, she's the sweetest girl I've ever met. Truly, parents of her friends (whom I've never even met) will come up to me and sing her praises, telling me stories of how they were almost brought to tears by how considerate or encouraging or helpful she was to their child. I always tell them that I don't take any credit for my Emma. She's always been her own little person. Even when she was a baby and would throw fits. LOL

You should have seen her, she'd lay down on the ground wherever we were and not move or make a sound. People would say, "I think she fell" and we'd just say "nope, she's just throwing a fit" then she'd get over it and get up and be sweet as pie again. She was so good as a baby that I would forget to feed her sometimes (terrible right!!), she'd be playing sweet and peaceful and then you'd look at the clock and go "oh my gosh, you need to eat!"

Anyways,

I just wanted to share a little about my youngest daughter.

Happy Birthday Emma

xoxo

Mom

Working On

Here is what I've been working on this week.

A Sweet Marie themed tag for a fellow artist. I love this image!!

Then some press kits for an upcoming event. I think press kits are fabulous. Every time I get an opportunity to make them I jump at the chance. I use the event as a reason to create new items for my shops. The crowns will be in my goods shop soon and the ribbon flower is a decorated Bobbi pin. How fun right?!!

Well, today is the first day that all of my kiddos are back in school. The house is destroyed from 3 weeks of having all four of them home. The tree is still up! ugh. I guess the next few days wont be quite so creative but I'll be glad when every things back in order.

Have a lovely day

xoxo

Cari

Red Letter Day!!

SHE DID IT!!

O.k. as some of you may know, I've been M.I.A. (missing in action) lately. Well she's why. We've been going crazy here with her college ap, and essays and letters of recommendations, and sending scores, and transcripts, etc., etc., etc., well..... you get the idea.

She's really smart and researched the statistics on early application acceptance in comparison with regular application acceptance and decided "early application" was definitely the way to go. Well, she did it, we did it, we managed to get everything there, on time, with only a few hiccups along the way. Yeah.

Then the wait..................

it felt like forever.

I got sick to my stomach every time I had to get the mail, I mean who wants to be the one to tell their child that they can't go to the school of their dreams right?!!

So, today was the day we were supposed to know by.

I'm just sitting in the car waiting to pick up my two youngest from school and my screaming, hysterical, out of breath girl calls me up and says......

SHE GOT ACCEPTED!!!

(oh yeah, she got into the Tisch School of NYU)

(She's going to be a screenplay writer, How fun right?!!)

She had been checking her email all day at school and had just found out. I didn't believe her, I was in shock, I made her read me the email just to make sure she read it right. She had :-)

I am so proud of her.

(sad that she's going to leave too)

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for this year? I'd like to say I'm not thankful for being soooooo busy. But, I know that life has it's ebbs and flows and that this is just a time in my life when Chaos reigns! I know that the day will come when I am alone (or even just a little lonely once in awhile).

For example, my oldest will be going off to college next year!!! Ugh, I can barely think about it without crying (I don't let her see me crying though). So, this year, I'm embracing the Chaos because next year will be a little less chaotic. :-(

I hope you embrace your chaos this year! That is my Thanksgiving wish for you.

Happy Thanksgiving

xoxo

cari

Recent Projects

Hi all!!

I know I haven't had much time to blog but I've been squeezing some time in to create. Here's a peak at my projects.

These were super fun to make. I used Genuine German Lametta and vintage Mercury glass beads and ornaments.

Then I got hooked on these sweeties. I didn't think I'd like making these very much because the directions say "do not measure your circles" Ugh!! I'm a perfectionist control freak, no measuring or cutting on the lines!

But I think they turned out wonderfully. The kids thought it was super neat to watch me make them too. Only one of the fabrics actually smelled bad when I was melting the edges. The kids didn't like that much.

So, that's it for today. I've got a giveaway post planned for tomorrow. Here's hoping I'll get it done.

Let see, tomorrow we have SAT's, homecoming, a drill team parade, and a AAA little league game. At least we don't have soccer tomorrow! LOL

xoxo

cari

I'm still here!

I'm still here. We've been battling pneumonia. Ugh!! Don't worry, we're making it.

School finally started for my oldest! Yeah that means they are all back in school. It's so funny how much I want summer to start and then how relieved I am when it starts back up.

I'm a bit sad this year though.

Yesterday was her last first day of school. boo hoo!! (except for college but that's different, you know what I mean.) This one, she's quite a character! This will be such a stressful year for her but sooooo exciting too. She's got one more SAT test, and early application to NYU (cross your fingers) 3 Ap classes and an honors class to boot. But it will be fun too. She goes to a fabulous school and will have tons of fun doing cool senior activities.

These are her all time favorite shoes. (boy have they had it!) She even won an award in Cheer in her freshman year for "sparkliest shoes" !! Even though she wasn't supposed to wear them during cheer. LOL

She finally got to travel this summer. She went to NY, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Boston, and Connecticut on college tours. Lucky!! She got to stay in a fabulous hotel in Times Square and see "Rock of Ages" on Broadway, they even stayed after the show to take a picture with Constantine (from American Idol). She came home with a shirt that says "Hooray for boobies"

O.K, now that they are all back in school I will be able to visit all of the wonderful blogs I follow again. Yeah!!! I can't wait.

be back soon. have a lovely week

xoxo

cari

We Have A Winner!!

Congratulations Mary Ellen!!

comment #13

Mary Ellen from Mary's meanderings, you are the lucky winner of my "Flea Market Sunday Giveaway"

Now, I'm off to get some rest so I can play with the kids all day tomorrow,

we are doing the free movies then a picnic in the park with bike riding.

I'll try to take some pictures.

My kids only have a week left of their summer vacation. :-(

Have a lovely day.

xoxo

Cari

100th Post

Here's a Sneak Peek at my Petite Inspiration Box Swap box.

This time it had a Paris Theme. Yeah!! My favorite.

I know I haven't been around much lately but I had big plans to change that. Yes, I said had. I've got lots of things to show you, the contents of these fun little swap boxes, some pictures of my first ever press kit, the super neat inspiration boxes I received, some new items I'm working on, etc.........

Well, of course, my camera battery went dead as I took a picture of the contents of these little boxes. I thought I got the picture though, so I packed them up and shipped them out. Lo and behold, (who says that? I guess I do!!) I didn't get the picture. Ugh.

Now, I can't even find the charger! I've got family in town and obligations to them so........ I am going to search the house the first chance I get, snap a bunch of cool pictures, and share them with all of you soon. Promise!!!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful relaxing summer so far.

xoxo

cari

My Latest Obsession!

I am obsessed!!! I'm sure most of you can relate to one artsy obsession after another. (right???) Well, this is mine right now!! I am having so much fun soldering these little charms.

I made them for my sons teachers as end of the year gifts. I put their initials on one side and the word "inspire" on the other because that's what teachers do.

I made one for the room mom with her initial and the word "believe" on the back, she's going through a little bit right now and I thought that might help. I made a few with mermaids on them for a project I'm working on and then I got inspired. I combined my obsession with soldering and my love, love, love, of vintage floral wallpaper and made these little beauties. Yeah!! I think I'm going to make a few with vintage maps, sheet music, french text....

Oh my!!! I might need rehab. LOL

I'm sorry that I've been MIA lately. I'm super close to the finish line. Homework is done for my boys, the girls have a few more finals this week, Thursday is their last day of school so we've got school parties, and award ceremonies. Friday, my oldest is in a fashion show and we have a little league playoff game, then Saturday my oldest has SAT2's, the boys have league closing ceremonies, my youngest daughter has 2 birthday parties to go to, and finally, Sunday is our team party. That's it!!! Then I'm done for the summer. Then the kiddos and I can spend relaxing fun time blowing bubbles, flying kites, going to the pool and the beach, drawing with sidewalk chalk and playing handball (lots and lots of handball). Oh yeah, I'll get to blog again. Yeah!!!

Update on our "little visitor": Here are her babies, they've been in there for awhile but were too small for us to see. They are so big now the momma doesn't fit in the nest. We are watching closely hoping that we'll get to see them learn to fly. If we do, I'll get some pictures.

Have a wonderful relaxing week.

xoxo

Cari

Strawberry Muffins

Strawberry Muffins did the trick!!

Well, I actually found the time and gumption to make the Strawberry muffins I had promised my lovely family. I did have to run to the store in the middle of all of it though for a lemon, even though I have a prolific lemon tree. See, my kids like to play with the lemons and make a gigantic mess in the kitchen...... well, that's another story for another day. Lets just say I had to go to get a lemon and leave it at that.

The recipe I chose is from the Phyllis Hoffman CELEBRATE magazine that's out on the stands now. I did change it up a bit. I put in an entire lemons worth of zest and i used half almond extract and half vanilla. (I just love, love, love almond extract. Seriously, I could sit and smell the jar all day) Also, the butter for the crumb topping was a bit much. Yes, you heard me right!!! I would use half of what the recipe calls for next time. There was so much butter that it pooled up under the paper liners in the pans.

They were fabulous. Yes, I said "were". My family and I ate almost an entire batch I did manage to hide (freeze) 9 muffins for next weeks breakfast but still, we ate 15 muffins in one evening. Rave reviews for sure!!!

The Strawberry Butter turned out fabulous too. Someone asked what Strawberry butter is and it's also in the magazine but I'll just tell you how to make it. Take any flavor preserves you like, soften some butter and mix it in. You can start with about 1/2 cup butter and 1/8th cup preserves and add more preserves or butter as you like it. To make mine super smooth I ended up putting it in the food processor on pulse for a few seconds. I probably hadn't let the butter soften all of the way. My oldest was eating it by the spoonful....... good thing she's a size 2.

So..... I am feeling a bit better. It's always nice to have sweets:-) But, I think that the real reason is because it feels good to make something filled with love, from scratch,(or a box, whatever works for you) for your family and to have them truly appreciate it.

Have a fabulous day. Thanks for all of the kind words.

xoxo

Cari

Yeah for Summer Fun!!

Yeah for Summer!!

It's finally here! Well, not technically but, we're out of school, so it's summer for us.

First stop: Target

Look at all the great stuff we got in the dollar section. Buckets, bubbles, pails, sand tools, squirt guns, pool toys, beach balls and can't forget candy.

We're almost ready. Now we've got to get our summer bag packed and loaded in the car. The little league equipment just came out. Time to load a washable sturdy bag with water bombs, beach tools, goggles, snacks, etc. Everything for a quick trip to the pool or beach.

One problem: The weather! Ugh!

Everyone keeps telling me it's just June Gloom. No. It's too cold.

So, my poor kids, we can't go to the beach or the pool, and the free movies haven't even started yet. We are having a little bit of a slow start to our summer fun. That's o.k, though, we are always so buys it's kinda nice to slow down.

Oh yeah, here's a little something I've been working on. They are so much fun once you get the hang of it. I am totally addicted. I've made so many I've just about run out of crepe paper. Obviously I need to get better lighting at my work station but, I think you can see how adorable they are.

Have a super summer.