For the Book Lover in Your Life

Lea, the woman behind Faerie Dust Art Prints, designs original artwork by printing vintage images on antique book pages and adding her own designs and details to the print. We love the handsome yet whimsical nature of these works. At only $10 per piece, a set of these original works would be the perfect gift for any book lover you know!

We love a good mixture of whimsy and elegance. We think these glass jar bookends fit the bill as well.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Art à Faerie Dust Art Prints

Jars à The Library Store

Do It Yourself : Chic Chair Cushions

We recently renovated our dining room and discovered three things when it comes to the seating area:

1.    Chair cushions can make quite an impact in a very easy and inexpensive way.

2.     The cushions on the market are largely frumpy and boring.

3.     Photos inside the table are a great conversation starter.

Let’s start at the beginning…

A simple way to add a pop of color or pull together the colors you’re already using in the room is through a set of chair cushions. We were so disappointed with our options while searching for cushions that would coordinate with our new color palate! 

Sure, we found a few fabulous chair cushions in the stores– but they cost over $50 per cushion. That was our entire budget for the cushion project and just one chair cushion for the room would look a little off, no?

So, we decided we’d try our hand at making our own cushions and it turned out to be inexpensive and very simple. Here’s how we did it:

Charmed : Spinning a Tale

The saying, “its jewelry that tells a story” has never rung quite as true as it does with these necklaces by Emily Rothschild . The spinning pendant has charming images on both sides that create an “animation” when put into motion.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Spin-off necklaces à Emily Rothschild

You Can’t Be Serious : Bubble Shoes

Every so often we see things that really make us wonder about the taste of designers these days. Sometimes a good idea is taken just a little too far over the edge until it’s a mess, plain and simple. Bubble shoes are a perfect example of how something modern can become a monstrosity.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Heels à Melissa Gaetano 

Flats à Karen Millen

Do It Yourself : Deceptively Simple Dinner

We love dinner parties and get-togethers but sometimes the effort can seem too overwhelming. By the time guests arrive and dinner is served, you’re ready to crawl into bed.  Well fret no more because we have simple dinner party solutions that would make Rachel Ray green with envy.

Drinks

One of the easiest ways to pull together a festive party is with decorative accessories. Beverages don’t have to be complicated. Simply punch up a basic cocktail or lemonade with garnishes like fresh fruits or a sprig of mint.

Is that too much effort for you? Leave the decorating effort to your dishware. Crazy straws, flags or adornments you can wrap around a glass/stem are effortless and lively ways to amp up drinks.

Dinner

Need a meal that will appease both ravenous males and petite vegetarians alike? Our spinach lasagna recipe is a definite crowd pleaser and it only takes around 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to bake

Here’s what you’ll need:

Update : Noted

One lovely reader requested that we provide more inexpensive versions of the Noted items we've featured. So, we found some more little pieces that will suit any Modern Renaissance lady's fancy.

FYI: We hate the term trend because it sounds so impersonal and dated. We prefer the term noted -- meaning the look stands out to us and is becoming more readily available in the market. And without further ado, some more options of the noted looks from recent posts...

Charmed : Judging by the Cover

We’re not incredibly well versed in the subtle differences between brands of spirits. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, a Whiskey Sour is a Whiskey Sour is a Whiskey Sour. So, what’s a girl to do when shopping for something she knows little about? Why, select based on packaging, of course! We found some bottles that make such a statement they’re sure to be a hit at any dinner party you get invited to. 

WHAT/ WHERE:

Tattoo bottles à Good Ol’ Sailor Vodka

Curved bottles à Kabbalah Vodka

Print Label bottles à Love Joy Vodka

Malt bottles à Scotland Peat Islay Highland Whiskey

Leather bottle à Oronoco Rum

Whicker bottle à Thailand Unique

Double handle bottle à Kraken Rum

Snake bottle à Rattlesnake Vodka

Rounded bottle àCedar Ridge Distillery Rum

For more information visit the following:

www.bevmo.com

www.beerliquors.com

www.thailandunique.com

What We Want : Stamped

We Modern Renaissance ladies are loving all of the semi-DIY items we're finding on the market right now. One of the easiest ways to personalize an item is to stamp it. Here are some stamped items we're coveting:

We've got a reputation for our present wrapping prowess and one of our techniques that attracts the most adoration is our personalized paper. It's easy to duplicate! All you need is kraft paper (kraft boxes, manila envelopes, and paper bags work as well), ink pads, and stamps. We really like the effect of alphabet stamps. From a person's name to a festive message, stamped out letters really pack an intimate punch.

WHAT/ WHERE: 
Tank à Delias

Wall paper à Anthropologie

Pillow cases à Urban Outfitters

Door mat à Ballard Designs

V-neck à Anthropologie

Updated : Non-polka dots

Like magic! After our post on irregular dots we began to see these pretty little things everywhere!

Here are four more lovely finds:

WHAT/ WHERE:

Red dress and blouse à Tibi

Cowlneck top à BCBG Generation

Ruffle Dress à Cynthia Steffe 

Charmed : For the Guy Who Has Everything

Without a doubt, males are harder to shop for than females. We know it may seem like the men in your life already have everything and that the gifts you find seem so impersonal. Well, we’re here to help! We found some great gifts for you to give the men in your life…

If he’s Styling and Profiling:

 If his home is his castle:

More unique ideas after the jump!

Noted : Patched With Panache

We often find that magazines latch on to completely different trends than those that we are drawn to. Perhaps it’s due to our lack of advertising dollar obligations or merely our personal tastes but we are not into the current crop of fashions that the publishing world is selling to us. What’s a trend that industry isn’t highlighting?

Charmed : The Little Things

Call us shopaholics or pack rats but we just love when everyday items are given a whimsical twist. Funny add-ons definitely merit buying multiples of items you already own, right? Here are some little things we think are too fun to pass up:

Anything humanized (anthropomorphized) is a “yes” in our book:

More little favorites after the jump!

What We Want : The Staycation

Maybe it’s this unseasonably warm weather (60* in February? Heavenly!) or just our usual wanderlust but we have been craving a trip somewhere tropical.

If you’re too tied up to get away or simply don’t have the cash to spare for a full-blown getaway, you can make your own little abode into a tropical paradise for the weekend.

Here’s how:

Charmed : The Family Tree

We’re such daddy and mommy’s girls. Perhaps it’s the Southern Belle in us, but we love all decorative “family” things. In fact, we wear our family crest necklaces and signet rings daily. A friend recently lamented to us that she doesn’t have a family crest which got us thinking… what other personalized family items are out there for a modern renaissance lady?

We found some great items that can be customized with either characters or the names of your family members. Here are some of our favorites:

If you want something a little less literal, we also love the products from Scotweb, a company in Scotland that can make clutches, bags, and other goodies with your family plaid. Don’t have a family plaid? You can design your own!  

WHAT/ WHERE:

Pillow à Uncommon Goods

Mouse pad à Personalization Mall

Family handprint frame à Red Envelope

Hand in hand family frame à Red Envelope

Clutch à Scotweb    

Don’t Try This At Home : UV Gel Manicures

There’s nothing worse than returning home from the nail salon only to notice that you’ve already chipped a nail and dented another. If you’re a hands-on gal like us, manicures seem like a futile venture. That was, until we discovered the UV Gel Manicure. This special formula requires UV light to harden the polish and bond the color to the nail – and promises to last, chip-free, for up to two weeks. Twice the price of a regular manicure we wondered if the results lived up to the hype. So, for you dear Modern Renaissance ladies, we tried both CND’s Brisa Gel manicure and OPI’s Axxium Gel manicure.

So, did either live up to the hype?

Charmed : Glow in the Dark

Perhaps it's nostalgia for our childhood or that we're just easily amused but we are so excited about all of these new glow-in-the-dark items! Not just limited to glow stick bracelets and stickers, glow-in-the-dark has been taken to a whole new level. Here are some of our favorites:

WHAT/ WHERE:

Shoelaces à Meritline 

Wall decal à Anna Bean http://www.annabean.com

Cup Holder à Glow2Sleep 

Pencils à Positive Promotions 

Spray Paint à Glow2Sleep 

Stir Sticks à Glow R Us 

Ice Cubes à Glow R Us 

Programmable Fan à Glow Mania

Straws à Glow Mania 

Fabric paint pens à Designed 2 B Sweet 

Tattoos à Designed 2 B Sweet 

Noted : Trench Dresses

Sometimes the clothing that's deemed appropriate for the workplace is just so staid and basic. That's why we love the resurgence of the trench dress. More sophisticated than the shirt dress but less stiff than a suit, the trench dress is the ideal office getup.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Bag à Valentino

Khaki Dress à Ann Taylor  

Poplin Dress à Chloe

Tux Dress à Joseph  

Jacquard Dress à Thread Social

Silk Dress à Rag & Bone 

Noted : Dropped and Detailed

Today we had the pleasure of attending the Oscar de la Renta runway show. To say that the pieces are more beautiful in person that in photographs is an understatement. You simply can't get a sense of the detailed beadwork, the shine of the fabric, or the flow of the draping without seeing each piece up close and on a moving body. That being said, we were feeling quite validated in our trend scouting abilities when we saw that the very trend we intended on posting about today was all over the ODLR runway.

What's the trend?

What We Want : Chic Tie- Dye

We are having a sudden and inexplicable love of tie-dye and dip-dye items right now. The look is anything but hippie or boho. Rather, the color combos and effect are chic and almost exotic.

The good news is, the look is easily replicated at home! The trick is using sophisticated colors and a well constructed fabric base. Rather than tie-dye a basic T-shirt, try a button down blouse or silk shorts.

Here are the steps:

1. Fill a medium sized pot 1/2 way with water and 1 tablespoon of salt.
2. Bring liquid to a boil on the stove and stir in RIT dye.
3. Bring liquid down to a medium heat.
4. Here's where you get the choice of Dip Dying or Tie Dying:
*To Dip Dye, simply dip the bottom 1/3 of the garment or accessory into the pot. After 2 minutes, raise the garment up so that only 1/4 of the fabric is in the pot. After 2 minutes, rinse the entire garment in the sink with cold water and lay out to dry.

*To Tie Dye, bundle the garment up and place rubber bands around the item in random places. You can either dip the garment in different colored pots or submerge the entire item in the pot. With this technique, only leave the garment in for a few seconds. Leave the garment on a trash bag while the dye sets into the fabric. After 30 minutes, rinse the entire item in the sink with cold water and lay out to dry.

*Note, newly dyed items should be washed separately for the first few washes.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Check Print Shirt à Burberry

Pillow à West Elm              

Tape à Crate & Barrel      

Sheath Dress à Bottega Veneta      

Dyeà Rit          

Jeans à Vince      

Charmed : The Write Way

We have never been able to maintain a daily diary. Bed time would come and we'd be far too tired to chronicle the events of the day. We always liked the idea of a diary but it just proved to be too much of a hassle. Not anymore.

With the new generation of journals, keeping a record of your day and acknowledging the challenges and blessings you faced is easy and fun! The key is that each entry is short, specific, and catered to your tastes. Here are four journals we think are just charming:

WHAT/ WHERE:

Keel’s à Keel’s Simple Diary 

A visual journal à One Sketch A Day  

Wreck This Journal—Urbanoutfitters

Ticket stub diary—Uncommongoods

Opinionated : Baby Gifts

One word that would never be used to describe us is "cutesy". We recently attended a baby shower and discovered that a vast majority of the baby items on the market fit squarely into the cutesy category. Undeterred, we set out on a quest to find non-cutesy baby gifts. Here's what we found:

A gift that is often overlooked during baby showers is art for the nursery. We're not too keen on most of the nursery art on the market but we loved these Alice in Wonderland sketches!

WHAT/ WHERE:

Elephant and Crib Blanket à Guanzito

Baby Bibs à Amy Rose Designs

Mustache Pacifiers à Zieak

Pacifier Clips à CWHELMS

Beaded Pacifier Clip à My Wooby and Me

Alice in Wonderland framed sketches à Urbanoutfitters

Noted : Center Part

Thus far, there is a very clear beauty "look" dominating all of the runways of NY Fashion Week:
the center part.

What do you guys think? Is it too reminiscent of the 90's grunge when coupled with all of the layering we're seeing on the runways or are you going to dig your Chi iron out of the closet?

DiY : Needlework

When we first stumbled upon the work of Lauren DiCioccio we were in awe. The idea of hand sewn paper is so unique and her work is so detailed!

This got us thinking, "What needle crafts are out there for budding fashionistas?" Well, here are some of our finds...

What We Want : Springing Forward

It's far too early to definitively state the key trends presented during New York Fashion Week. However, one trend has clearly begun to emerge: Dressed Up Denim. 

In fact, Women's Wear Daily just reported on Ralph Lauren's new luxury denim line called "Ralph Lauren Collection Denim". 

This isn’t merely denim trousers or dark denim jackets. The new dressy denim involves sophisticated dresses, luxurious trims, and refined accessories.

 Although we first spotted this trend in the high end market, we have found some fabulous yet affordable interpretations of the dressy denim trend.

WHAT/ WHERE:

Designer

Cocktail Dressesà Lanvin

Belt à Chloe

Trench Coat àBurberry

3/4 Dress à  Prada

Denim Suit à Ralph Lauren

Affordable

1 à YMC

2 à Karla Colletto

3 à Kuyichi

4 à New York & Company

5 à Gap

6 à Carven

7 àJessica Simpson Collection

8 àMarc by Marc Jacobs

9 àRepetto

Charmed : Blunt Cards

While nothing beats snail mail, every once in a while a digital card is just what the occasion calls for.

We love the cheeky nature of BluntCards. They're definitely not politically correct -- but that's what makes them so funny! Here are a few of our favorites:

WHAT/ WHERE:

Cheeky E-cards à Blunt Cards

The original cheeky e-cards àSome Ecards

What We Want : Checks

It seems that every time we open a fashion magazine we're told that stripes are "in". We're so tired of seeing stripes season after season. So we were pleasantly surprised when we saw this chic interpretation on checks:

While we can't afford those gorgeous designer creations, we can* afford these variations on the check trend:

*Ok, so we can't afford the Missoni either but a girl can dream!


WHAT/ WHERE:

Dress and Chair à Anthropologie

Braceletsà Green Raising

Dress à Missoni 

Tankini à Coco Rave

Blouse à Rag & Bone

What We Want : Fonts

The modern side of us just loves when customization is made simple. How can you make your business cards, resume, or stationery stand out?

There are thousands of fonts available to download onto your computer for free. From elegant cursives to hand-drawn alphabets, the sky is the limit.

 Don’t take our word for it. Here two examples where the font really makes a statement on business cards.

 WHAT/ WHERE:

Fonts to download à Search here or here!

What We Want : Dots

Polka dots feel passé but this messier take on dots feels just right. The look is unsystematic but clean—nothing grungy about it!

Don’t worry about spending an arm and a leg on this style. You can easily replicate it yourself. 

We'll show you how...

Idolatry: Taylor Williams

While we at The Modern Renaissance consider ourselves to be fairly traditional in taste, we find ourselves continually drawn to emerging modern artists. This week, we're just smitten with the work of Taylor Williams.

WHAT/ WHERE:
Illustrations by Taylor Williams à See more work here!

Don't Try This At Home : Cover Girl Lipstain

We tend to be creatures of habit around these parts. When it comes to makeup, we're pretty loyal to Aveda. Not only are the colors sheer and easy to apply but also the formulas are all natural and environmentally friendly.

Still, we ladies are no sticks in the mud.  Every once in a while we like to mix things up a bit. This time we branched out with CoverGirl’s Outlast Lipstain.

What We Want : Chic in Chains

For the past several seasons, while “rocker-chic” reigned over the runways, chain embellishments skewed towards the harsh, grungy, and tough. Androgyny and don’t-mess-with-me style took center stage.

It’s time for a palate cleanser...

Don’t Try This At Home : Laser Hair Removal

We here at The Modern Renaissance are skeptics when it comes to the promises made by new health and beauty products. While we loved the idea of never having to shave again, the premise that a laser could nearly painlessly render our body hairless for life seemed too good to be true.

However, when Groupon offered a 70% discount on a package of six laser hair removal sessions, we jumped at the chance to test the treatment without maxing out our credit cards. 

So, what’s our verdict?

What We Want : Pets In The City

We have been met with the same exact response every time we’ve told a friend that we want to potty train our cat like Robert De Niro’s character does in Meet the Parents: “That’s a movie. It’s not real.”

Well, all you doubters behold:

The City Kitty is a plastic device made of five removable rings that attaches to the toilet. You remove one ring a week, allowing for the cat to adjust to the reduced space upon which he can perch while doing his dirty business.

Just think, no litter box taking up prime space in your apartment! No need to vacuum those annoying bits of litter that get trapped in the carpet! What do you think? Are you sold or is this ridiculous?

If the City Kitty is up your alley then you’ll really love this next find!