Pepper Design Blog

Wardrobe Style Boards: New Year’s Eve!

Thank you so much for all of your comments and emails regarding the news we shared yesterday! We are over the moon excited and it’s fun to finally be able to let the cat out of the bag!

We’ve been enjoying some quality family time but I wanted to pop in today to share another round of style boards that Anna Kate and I put together for New Year’s Eve. I will probably be spending mine in comfy PJ pants and a big sweater this year, but I couldn’t help but imagine up an outfit that I’d wear to that wonderful NewYear’s party that I will one day throw. One day.

Anna Kate shares an equally party-worthy outfit, I’ll let her explain!

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For New Year’s Eve, I just. can’t. help it. I LOVE to wear something sparkly! But I’ve learned from experience that New Year’s Eve always ends up being a really long night, so I always go with pants and a sparkly top over a dress. For this year, I paired what may be the perfect black jeans with a gold chevron-striped top from Anthropologie, but I really wanted to focus on accessories. I chose two gorgeous, sparkly bracelets for some drama, and aren’t those shoes amazing? As you might have noticed, I’ve recently developed a slight obsession with animal print shoes.. But for those of you (like me) who prefer flats, those beauties from Christmas would be perfect for this outfit as well. And last, but certainly not least, I love this super cool transparent clutch, which will be such a great conversation starter at your party, and will do wonders to help you organize your purse!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

(PS you can find AK over here on a regular basis:))

As for my dream outfit this year, I am totally on board with Anna Kate’s obsession with animal print shoes and I picked out a comfy pair of flats in a cheetah print to add a little rarrr to a beautiful and flowing high-waisted skirt that’s party perfect. I would tuck a shimmery gold tank into this skirt and pair with simple but fun jewelry and a vintage clutch. A little classic, a little sparkle, a lot of unexpected for such a fun holiday!

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Let the count down to New Year’s Eve begin! PS more party ideas can be found in our Christmas round-up here, and all sources/pricing for the above are always available in the Wardrobe Gallery.

Merry Christmas!

Today is such a special day! Christ is born to us on earth, a little babe in human form.

It is a special day indeed, full of hope and joy and family, but we have one more Christmas gift that we are very excited to share with you…

Did you read the bottom of that card carefully? Yes! We are expecting a new little member to our very own family in June! Make that June 21st ish.

Here’s a shot of the little peanut at about 9 weeks, he/she has grown a bit since then and is now roughly the size of an apple at just over 3 months:

Looks a little bit like an old man? Ahh but pure joy. We are so excited to nurture and prepare for the arrival of this little one. And this has been one hard secret to keep!

And Liv is over the moon! She’s into babies now (rocking her dolls, shushing them, walking them in her new Christmas stroller) and the idea of a ‘baby brother/sister’ – while a little subjective at this point – makes her so happy. When I ask her where the new baby is growing, she proudly pulls up her shirt and points to her little protruding toddler belly.

A few more outtakes from our Christmas photo, I think we captured the only shot in which Liv is truly smiling (even with hand in mouth) versus the distracted ‘what’s happening over there?’ glance in the wrong direction. We borrowed our friend Anna (many thanks!!) and a red barn wall in Old Town, San Diego to snap a few photos a few weeks ago:

Liv’s hiding!

And a few dozen pictures later…

Liv shows the camera a little love, Bodie is laying at our feet, and Kev and I both pull off a presentable shot.

The picture right out of the camera will do, but with a bit of Photoshop playing in the form of Pioneer Woman’s Boost Action:

Plus a very light ‘warm’ photo filter and an adjustment of the brightness/contrast to make that red wall pop:

And I’m really happy with how the final photo turned out.

More editing tips can be found in this Christmas Card break down (highlighting both Photoshop and free image editing programs) from last year.

We teamed up with our awesome sponsors over at Tiny Prints again and played with LOTS of favorite designs before finding one that fit the family well (not cropping out Kev’s head or Bodie’s body) and with a font and layout that we loved.

 Merry, merry Christmas!! So happy to let you in on our exciting secret!

Two Days Until Christmas, Four Semi-DIY Gift Ideas

I haven’t had much time to blog about the different types of handmade gifts I’ve been working on, but just in case you’re scrambling for a certain someone on your list, here are four more semi-DIY gift ideas that ended up under our tree for family and friends.

Fort Kit

I put this kit together for three special toddler-aged boys and I hope that it’s something that will inspire fun living room camping (a favorite past time of mine!). All of the above was placed in a muslin bag and labeled with ‘Fort Kit’ in stamped letters (similar to the Felt Town Kit below).

This was so easy to assemble and while I relied on Amazon (my best Christmas friend) for many of the above components, you could find most of these goodies around the house, at the Dollar Store or local home improvement center. My kit included: a flannel blanket to build the ‘fort’, rope and little suction cups to keep it assembled, a camping book to snuggle up with, a mini lantern to read and play by, glow-in-the-dark stars for star gazing, glow bracelets for fun and a chalkboard sign to post outside. You could also include: clothespins, zip ties, rubber bands, twine and a flashlight or head lamp (instead of a lantern).

Cocktail Kit (French 75)

This little semi-DIY project could really be for any favorite cocktail. It’s all about assembling each piece of the chosen drink (including garnishments and maybe even tools or glasses) in one sweet presentation so that the giftee might even be able to enjoy their drink when opening. Perfect for a hard-to-shop-for guy in the family, for the novice bartender or as a hostess gift. I created a Bloody Mary Kit one year for Kevin (complete with unique pickled oddities that are only for the true connoisseur) and discovered that a Cocktail Kit can be pretty easy and fun to assemble and create – even last minute.

A girlfriend and I attended a cooking class together where we learned how to make a delicious lemon, rosemary and gin French 75. To remember the night, I assembled a ‘French 75 Kit’ and went ahead and premade some of the more intricate ingredients for her. This included lemon-infused gin (I used a bottle from this project and added lemon rind directly to gin from our own bar) and rosemary-infused simple syrup (same style of bottle, but to make the simple syrup boil 1 part sugar and 1 part water with your herbs, voila). Extra ingredients like sugar for the rim (used an extra jar from this project) and lemons for garnish were thrown in for fun. The final ingredient? Champagne.

The label on the front of the box offered the recipe and a list of the contents inside.

Personable and unique!

Stationary Kit

Here is an easy kit that involves assembly only. I have an Aunt who is an avid letter writer with a recently engaged daughter, and I thought that a self-inking address stamp and cute stationary would be the perfect combo for her to stay on top of pre-wedding notes, invites and thank you cards. The stationary is from Paperie and the address label from this Etsy seller (love the cute little bag they provide, too).

I dressed it up in a brown box and twine! My favorite wrapping combo this Christmas.

Felt Car Kit

Liv pulled her buddy Isaac’s name for our annual gift exchange amongst friends. We made him a little felt town and car kit – complete with what I hope looks like a firehouse, Church and pond – for him to play with while on the go (running errands, doctor’s office, appointments, etc).

The only permanent pieces are the below road sections:

The houses, big sun, fishies, trees and other decor are all movable to build different ‘towns’, though the small little pieces that make up each of the buildings are glued together as well. Bonus part? Felt has become a staple in our household (since this felt Christmas tree project) and most of the materials needed were already on hand.

Melissa & Doug wooden cars help bring the town to life:

and a muslin bag makes carrying around and storing the felt car kit easy.

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There you have it! Four more ideas that will hopefully make last-minute gift giving fun and easy this year. You can also check out the Cupcake Kit, Rosemary-Infused Olive Oil and Lavender & Lemon Sea Salt projects that we tackled in early December for a few more ideas.

Merry Christmas!