West Elm + St. Jude

This is the heart I created for West Elm to help them build the world's longest heart paper chain! They'll donate the chain to St. Jude Children's Hospital for Valentine's Day. 

Want to create your own heart? Just drop by any US West Elm store on Feb. 11th between 6pm-8pm & make it there!  Mine was inspired by fashion & then I added some gold glitter to give it some sparkle! You can tweet or instagram yours with #shareyourhearts .

-image by jen ramos

Read More

Coming real soon to Made By Girl

With the New Year - we're also bringing NEW art to MADE BY GIRL & couldn't wait to give you a sneak peek! There are a few other new items  - but we'll announce them as they come in! Hope you LOVE all this upcoming stuff!!  Remember - all prints can be framed directly through the site! Have a great weekend!

-images by jen ramos

Read More

DIY: Cappuccino Heart Stencil

I've been on a major coffee kick - because I now have a Nespresso Machine in my office - thanks to Nespresso who gifted this gorgeous machine to me for Christmas! So grateful!

Speaking of coffee, I decided to get creative today & create an easy DIY heart stencil for your next cup of cappuccino.  This is a creative way to bring a SMILE to anyone's face this Holiday!  It's like 1-2-3 .......that easy, so here we go!

Step 1: Fold a piece of paper in half, then using a scissor, cut a heart shape on the folded end like I did above. You are going to use the cut out - not the heart.  So don't worry too much about the heart shape at this point, just throw that part away.  The cut-out you can be perfected by using your scissor & making it more shapely if you wish.  Make it pretty because... that will end up being your stencil.

Step 2: So, here it is below, my heart stencil!  It's exactly the shape I want it - so now we can bring on the coffee & the cocoa powder.  I'm using Nespresso coffee for this project along with Scharffenberger sweetened cocoa powder.  You can use un-sweetned too, doesn't matter.

Step 3: I then take my heart stencil & place it over the cup of foamy cappuccino & while holding it with one hand, I sprinkle the cocoa powder all over it, making it nice & dark!  Best to use a shaker tin so the powder comes out slowly & even.

Remove the stencil carefully & ta da!!! There you have it - a beautiful heart cappuccino!! Neat huh?

P.S. Don't forget to enter our Nespresso machine giveaway here.

-images by jen ramos

Read More

FOOD: Heart-Shaped Napoleon with Raspberries

Hi everyone! Alison from Heart of Gold & Luxury blog! I'm here with my first post for MadeByGirl!  I am excited to share with you an impossibly romantic dessert to enjoy with your sweetie this Valentine’s day.  The Napoleon is a classic dessert that combines layers of flaky puff pastry, luxuriously rich pastry cream scented with almond and vanilla, topped with plump ruby red raspberries and finished with a dusting of confectioners sugar.

This dessert might look intimidating but it is incredibly easy - you just have to use your creative eye to assemble this confection. This is one recipe that will impress your other half, not to mention your friends and family. In fact, you just might have them wishing that this day filled with roses and chocolates would come around more than once a year.

Ingredients:
16 ounces puff pastry, dethawed
2 cups whole milk
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced
½ pint fresh raspberries or strawberries

Equipment: Heart-shaped cookie cutter (optional)

 
For the Pastry Cream:
Combine 2 cups milk, ¼ cup sugar, almond extract, vanilla extract and pinch of salt in a small pan. With stovetop on medium heat, allow for mixture to come to a simmer. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine 4 egg yolks, ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup cornstarch. Slowly whisk in the warm milk mixture to combine.  Pour mixture back into pan and return to medium heat, stirring constantly.  Pastry cream will begin to thicken rapidly.  Once mixture is thickened remove from heat, add butter and stir until combined.  Pour into a heat-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Be sure to coat the top of the pastry cream with the wrap, otherwise you will have a film that forms on the top.  Allow to cool completely in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

  For Napoleon Assembly:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Unroll puff pastry and place on lined baking sheet.  Pierce holes with a fork all over the dough.  Place a heavier baking sheet on top (a Pyrex pan is perfect) and allow to cook for approximately 25 minutes. Pastry is done with it is golden brown.  Allow to cool completely.  Once cooled, cut out pastry into hearts if desired.  Place pastry cream into a sealed plastic ziplock bag.  Cut the tip off and fill one side of the pastry with cream, top with raspberries and then place another piece of pastry on top. Finish with a dusting of confectioners sugar. 

*Makes about 3 to 4 servings depending on size of cookie-cutter

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Read More

10 Lovely Tops

Welcome back everyone! With Valentine's Day around the corner & all these  heart & lip shirts popping up everywhere, I decided to jump on the trend! There are so many options available, but I ended up buying this one which was super affordable - you can find it here at Forever 21.

So, tell me, are you liking this heart & lip trend? 

1. im in love
2. chinti and parker
3. shop the trend
4. forever 21
5. asos
6. forever 21
7. markus lupfer
8. wildfox
9. Jcrew
10. markus lupfer

Read More

20 Picks for Valentines Day

Are you in LOVE??  I know I am. I'm so grateful to have a wonderful & loving husband.  I'm looking forward to being with him this February 14th sharing a special dinner & exchanging gifts.  I'm very much into romance & all things 'LOVE', in fact it's one of my favorite words, can you tell?? 

By the way, when I was single..... I used to get buy myself a Valentine's Day gift - I know, it may be a little odd, but it was my way of letting myself know, that I loved me! But NOT in a vain way....

With that said, here are 20 cool picks for Valentine's day. Which ones do you like best??

1. diptyque candles
2. coin purse - paper source
3. je t'aime gold lips - MadeByGirl
4. lingerie - anthropologie
5. mast brothers chocolate
6. shakespeare 
7. mini mon amour by Louis Vuitton
8. gold feather pilow- Jayson Home & Garden 
9.  macaron lip gloss - paper source
10. the perfectly imperfect house book
11. valentino
12. sugar free recipies by babycakes
13. your/mine glasses
14. nutella cupcake - billy's bakery nyc 
15. v-day cards paper source  
16. gold heart earrings via cwonder
17. Jcrew Darling cashmere sweater 
18. what i love about - via paper source
19. mast brothers chocolate
20. heart sticky notepads via paper source 

 

Read More