For all of you crafty folks or fans, we will be attending BUST Magazine’s Spring Craftacular held on Sunday, May 23rd {the day before my birthday!} at The Warsaw, 261 Driggs Ave, Brooklyn, NY from 11am – 7pm! This is our first Craftacular and we’re totally pumped! We’ll be taking lots of photos, talking to fellow crafters, and, of course, shopping!

What’s a Craftacular, you ask? It’s pretty much the best craft fair this side of the Mississippi, featuring over 50 crafty folks/sellers, DJs, drinks, and even dancing! This year’s vendors include Lollibomb Beauty, Kiva Ford, and tons of other local crafters, selling handmade cosmetics, glass sculptures, recycled notebooks, handmade jewelry, clothing, and so much more. For a full list of vendors, click here. This year’s Craftacular is sponsored by ModCloth, whose indie/retro clothing and accessories we can’t get enough of.

Hi readers!

We are super pumped to share some awesome news with you! This weekend, from Saturday – Tuesday, Poor & Pretty will be hanging out in New York City! Mish is going for business and Sami is going for pleasure, but we’re both planning on having some fun. Check us out as we liveblog and tweet our search for budget-friendly fashion, hair tips, and of course, cupcakes!

Have any suggestions for shops, restaurants, or bakeries for us to check out? We’d love to hear them! Leave us a comment!

xoxo,
Mish & Sami

We’re super excited to post this today, because it’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while, even before we started Poor & Pretty. We love consignment shops. Why? Well, we’ll get into that in a bit {think brand names at super affordable prices}. First, we want to give you some background before you check out our sweet video. Last week, we went to Peonies, a high end consignment boutique in Centerbrook, CT. Because Sami knows one of the owners, we were able to roam around the store and pick out some sweet outfits to show you some of the amazing fashion finds just waiting for you at consignment shops {especially Peonies, where each item is hand picked by co-owners, fashionistas, and lovely ladies, Pam and Laurel}. The background music is “I’ve Got Your Number” by Passion Pit.

Why Consign?

Because we’re broke, but we still like to keep up with the latest fashions, consignment shops are the best place to find really great clothing and accessories at prices we can afford. Being a consignor {bringing your clothes into consignment shops to sell them and make a percentage of the money} is a good way to make a few dollars, and selling and buying pre-loved clothing is also super sustainable, because you’re essentially recycling clothes rather than participating in a demand to create new clothes. More on this in the future.

Why Peonies?

Because it carries designer labels like BCBG, Chanel, Gucci, Isaac Mizrahi, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang {the list goes on and on!}, Peonies is the perfect place for girls like us {i.e., chicks on a budget} to stay in style without breaking our banks. Also, we just love Pam & Laurel, and their sense of design. As Mish says in the video, Peonies {named after Pam and Laurel’s favorite flower} looks nothing like your traditional consignment shop. “Most consignment shops visually assault you with clothing,” said Pam, and she’s right. But the first things we noticed at Peonies were the soft lights and pastel colors, the antique mirrors, rustic doors and furniture, and the beautiful faux flowers bursting from all corners of the store. It reminded us of a garden… a garden of peonies!

“We’re not most consignment shops,” continued Pam. “We think of ourselves as a high end boutique, and most of our clothing and accessories originate from high end boutiques. As such, we needed to bring design and order to the store. We’ve organized everything by article type then color, like many women organize their closet. We did this so that when you walk in, you feel a sense of place right away.” We think they were incredibly successful.

Another thing that makes Peonies so unique is their social outreach. They are one of very, very few consignment shops that delivers weekly e-mails {”what’s in store for you”} with photos of their latest consigns {they call them “blooms”}. You can subscribe to their weekly updates here. Additionally, you can become a fan of Peonies on Facebook or follow them on twitter.

We couldn’t resist going home with a few items, especially with their Winter clearance going on {tons of brand name clothing marked down to $5, $10, and $15!!! More on that here}:

P.S. If you’re curious about One Pearl, the jewelry company/charity organization Mish mentioned in the video, check out their website for more info and for gorgeous jewelry with a purpose. {We plan on writing more about One Pearl, too}

As we mentioned yesterday, last night was our first cupcake party and it went swimmingly {pun intended… okay, you’ll get it in a second}. Sami’s older sister Suzi used her Hello Cupcake book to make these adorable penguin cupcakes complete with icebergs and gummy fish counterparts! {get the swimming reference now?} The best part is, she did it all for under $20!

Suzi, who has been making kickass cakes for quite some time now, has begun to consider starting her own side-business making cakes and cupcakes for weddings, birthdays, and other sorts of parties. She jokes about the idea, but she already has a name picked out: Suzicakes! Aww :)

“I think I really got into making extravagant cakes when I had Scarlett,” Suzi says. Scarlett is the cutest, silliest, smartest kid we know and has been deliciously spoiled with wicked cool cakes for almost all of her seven birthdays. For her 6th birthday, Scarlett had a Shark Attack! cake {above} because she loves sharks {and yes, that shark really is eating Barbie!}. Last year, she had a haunted birthday theme with a haunted house cake {right}.

Aaanyway, back to the penguins! We can’t divulge the secret recipe, as it is copyrighted to the authors of Hello Cupcake, but here are some process shots:

A tip that wasn’t in the book: Suzi recommends cutting the tops off of the cupcakes that you make the penguins on so that you have a flat surface to work with.

Okay, we admit it, Suzi did most of the work, but only because she has much more experience making desserts that are both aesthetically and tastefully pleasing!

One thing we did do ourselves was shape the penguin feet. We are super proud of them. :)

Our icebergs are suffering from the effects of global warming, so they’re a bit droopy, but otherwise everything came out wonderful! We love love love Suzi and her goddess-like baking skills. If you ever want a really rad cake made, we know who to contact, but if you feel like trying out some of these cool cupcakes yourself, we highly highly suggest Hello Cupcake, which you can find in every major bookstore and online. Happy baking! <3

Happy 2010, everyone!!