St. Louis Small Business-Elenore Kurtz-Scarlett and Maria

Today on the blog I am featuring small business owner Elanore Kurtz, owner of  Scarlett and Maria.

What do you make?

 

 I make folded fabric flower accessories called Kanzashi. Kanzashi is a traditional Japanese art similar to origami used to make the flower headdresses of the geishas. I have developed my own technique inspired by the tradition, modern fashion, and vintage color palettes. They are 75% upcycled fabrics and finished with vintage buttons.

 

 

 

 

This is my full time job. I sell on Etsy and attend every show I can. I did 31 craft shows last year. I am a work at home mom, so I'm working on my flowers every chance I get.

 

 

Why I do it is hard to explain. It's almost a compulsive need to create. I get very depressed working for someone else when it leaves me too worn out to create my art. It may even be considered an addiction since my work desk is the only place I ever want to be.

 

 

Also, it gives me an outlet for my button hoarding =) My true preferred method of expression is the performance art of the runway show. I hope that selling accessories will be a stepping stone towards putting on more shows like the two I put on for RAW: natural born artists. I also have my eye on creating more fine art (ie creating canvases that incorporate my flowers).

 

Contact information:  Eleanor Kurtz, missekurtz@gmail.com, http://www.scarlettandmaria.com, http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarlettandmaria, http://www.facebook.com/scarlettandmaria

Cheesy Chicken Crock Pot Quesadillas

More SNOW!

Who is ready for spring? *raise hand* I should be prepping my yard for spring. Yeah. Not happening anytime soon.

So, I am getting hyped up on expensive coffee brought to me by my neighbor Amy who has a french press (FANCY), power cleaning my house like a meth addict and making crock pot cheesy chicken enchiladas. I had a meeting at a Mexican restaurant this week and my friend Jenny gave me a taste of her chicken enchiladas. BEST I've ever had. I decided I could figure this recipe out. I found this recipe and modified it. Here is my version:

Cheesy Chicken Crock Pot Quesadillas

4 frozen chicken breasts

1 cup sour cream

1 16 oz. jar of salsa

1 Tablespoon taco seasoning

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup of water

Place ingredients in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 2-4 hours. I plan on making tortilla soup with the leftovers, later in the week.

Perfect for a snowy day, don't you think? What is your favorite crock pot recipe?

I MADE VALENTINES!

One day when I was pinning, I saw these ADORABLE Valentines and decided to do my own version.

Here are mine:

I ended up making these for The Boy, as The Girl wanted the stupid Walgreen's ones. Um, okay, but these are awesome. She did not care. *sigh*.

I also managed, even though I was getting over a little Flu thing that I would not wish on my worst enemy, (no I was not "sick and contagious" sick and cooking-gross ,just recovering, weak, felt like I had run over by a train) some chocolate covered strawberries.

 Next year I may try to pimp them out a little more, mixing up the chocolate, with white chocolate and/or nuts. They were easier to make than I thought, you just buy the melting chocolate, warm it up and dip the strawberries.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for reading!

L

Chocolate Bundles

Puff pastry is the best thing ever invented. You could wrap a dog turd in puff pastry and it would seem elegant and refined. You can wrap meat in puff pastry, cheese, veggies (but why ruin it?); you get the picture.

Today I'm going to wrap up some food of the angels, our old friend chocolate.

 I have had this recipe saved for 10 years and decided to finally try it. Here is the original recipe from Pepperidge Farm. It calls for chocolate chips and walnuts. Um, no thanks.

Here is my recipe:

Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
Candy bar of your choice (Oh, loook, I overbought, guess I'll be eating that extra one later)
Powdered Sugar and/or Chocolate Sauce.

Pan
Parchment Paper



Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Let the puff pastry thaw out for 40 minutes at room temperature.

Then wrap like this:

Bake for 20 minutes. COVER with chocolate sauce and/or powdered sugar.
It's a buttery, chocolaty pocket of love.

...and there ya go.. YUM. I decided to lose the chocolate sauce and/or powdered sugar and just cut the sweetness a little with some ice cream. WHOOP!
 This one is mine. Now you go make your own! ;)
(Leave a comment)

Friday I'll be showing off the Valentines I made for my Boy.
L

Down With The Sickness

So Influenza B (I can't even be Type A when I'm sick! Go figure) showed up at my house last Wednesday. Kids had a late start day, and The Boy was feeling bad, ate his breakfast, went back to bed. What kid does that? Decided to keep him home and had him on my lap, he coughed a few times in my face....And it was on.

By 4:00 The Boy was back in bed, I was on the couch three layers of clothes, two blankets (one electric), shivering like I was gonna die. Body aches so bad it hurt to walk across the room and fetch ice water for myself or take care of my little patient. This mess (for the both of us) continued up until Sunday. SUNDAY. And I still don't feel awesome.

... And no I didn't get a flu shot. Every time I get a flu shot I get sick. I'll be getting one next year.

THE GOOD NEWS IS....I lost five pounds.  Silver Lining, people. Gotta stay positive.

Didn't get much blogging done but managed to day to try something I was thinking about while down with my disabling disorder.

Little ice cream pin cushions, made with mini flower pots, Styrofoam balls (inside) and fleece wrapped around, secured with hot glue. I love these! I hop you do to.

Wednesday I'm making a 3 ingredient (easy and chocolaty) dessert for Valentine's Day. See you then!

L

St. Louis Small Busines: The Mod Mutt

Lindy Michaele Turner is the owner of The Mod Mutt. I met Lindy at a Trunk Show where we were both invited to sell stuff we made. Our hostess, Cheryl (more about her later!!!), had about 7 vendors at her house and invited her friends and we all had a great time. Lindy is hysterically funny and we hit it off immediately.  Soo.. here she is..

 

Who are you? 

 I  am the owner of The Modd Mutt..I make everything myself. I am a one woman show!

 

What do you make?

 I make waterproof dog beds, tag toggles, and collars of all sizes. I have a few product lines I will be launching this year. The first will be martingale collars which I am pretty pumped about. I had a lot of people asking for these in 2012.

 

Why do you do this? How did you start?

 I love my dogs, but they were breaking the bank. The beds were born out of frustration from our German Shepard and his urinary incontinence after his neuter. The collars were kind of also born out of this same frustration. I couldn't ever find anything durable enough to last for any amount of time. So I decided to make some. All of my collars are extremely durable I use plastic hardware that is ykk brand and inspected, the webbing I use for the collars has a minimum tensile strength of 3000 pounds.

Where is your studio?

 I currently work from my home in Bridgeton, MO. I sell at local craft fairs and on etsy.

Contact Info:

E: lindy@themodmuttonline

W: themodmuttonline.com

P: 314-292-9DOG

Come back Friday! I am making crock Pot Jambalya.

L

I Made This Monday

I know it's Tuesday. WAS. Not. Ready. For my Monday Post. Busy weekend with family activites and got busy watching the Brown-Out-Beyonce-Show. Spent most of the day recovering finishing up my FIRST project for the blog. So work with me, people.

Here it is!

This wreath is mostly upcycled, a find from my Goodwill searches. Here is how it looked when I got it:

FANCY.

 So, I took all of the old stuff off, wrapped it in a cut up old linen shirt. The flowers and little flags are new fleece. So fun to make. All done with the hot glue gun and I am proud to report only one minor glue gun burn. SUCCESS.

Hope ya like it.

Come back tomorrow and let me tell you about my friend Lindy Michaele Turner, who own The Mod Mutt. She make collars and dog beds. I will have some pics of her items for sale.

Talk Wed. (i'll be ready).

L

Welcome Back To My Blog

I decided to start blogging again. Why not? I spend  A LOT of time reading blogs so why not have my own?

I have been thinking about this for a long time and am finally going for it. My plan is to post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays....

Monday will be I Made This Monday. I will be showcasing and discussing things I have made, some may be for sale on ETSY.com, other things will be posted just to show you how FANCY I am.

Wednesdays I will be showcasing local artists and small business people. While my kids were babies I got the opportunity to work nights and weekends at craft stores and met a bunch of talented local people who are working hard at their own businesses. I also know a few writers and store owners. I want to introduce you to these people.

 On Food Friday I will be cooking something. Easy dishes that help everyone get through their busy week, well fed. I may get fancy sometimes, but promise to keep it pretty simple. Smitten Kitchen this will not be. Fridays will also be an occasional guest writer.

I hope you will join me and 1) be entertained 2) leave a comment.

L