Happy Halloween Weekend!

I'll leave you with a pumpkin my coworker Francesca carved:

Have a great spooky weekend everyone and enjoy your extra hour of sleep when the clocks go back!

Weekend Cocktail #27: Bloody Cosmo

This Halloween you should spice up a go-to cocktail with a ghoulish twist: fake blood! Drinker beware you're in for a scare!

Bloody Cosmo

• 1½ oz vodka
• ¾ oz Cointreau
• ½ oz lime juice, fresh
• 1 oz cranberry juice
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• red food colouring
• splash of milk
• eye dropper

1. Mix vodka, cointreau, line juice and cranberry juice in a cocktail shaker over ice
2. Strain and pour into martini glass
3. Mix corn syrup, food colouring and splash of milk in a bowl until the mixture looks like fake blood
4. Drip fake blood mixture on the rim of the glass with the eye dropper

Happy Haunted Cookies!

Here are some of the Halloween cookies I made this year: 

I love the candy corn grouped together- I hate the actual candies but when they're done but in sugar cookie form I cannot resist!

Deconstructing Marie

Because my statcounter is telling me tons of you are trolling the internet in search of Marie Antoinette costume details, I figured I'd share the sourcing for my favourite Halloween get-up from last year. It may not be historically accurate (short skirt much?), but this Marie costume was still cheaper than renting a real full-length reproduction, plus I can keep it forever and ever!

Here are the details:

The Renaissance Wig  is from Malabar

The dress is the Courtier Marie Costume from Theatrix

I made a custom hat-piece to add to my wig with materials from Michael's and also decorated a store-bought fan with ribbons and pearls to match the powder blue hue (the pic above isn't mine- but it's similar to what I did)

The shoes were cheap white patent slingbacks from a discount store similar to DSW and I just added blue ribbon bows by Martha Stewart to the toe.

Classic Couples Costumes

Still at a loss  for what to dress up tonight? Here are some adorable costumes for couples that are great stand-by's:

Boys, race for ownership papers or look up Danny Zucko in the yellow pages by donning leather jackets, tight jeans and slicked pompadours.

Girls, be as bad ass as you can be by drinking twinkies with a dessert wine and worrying over false pregnancies in pink jackets, black leotards and black leggings with cat-eye sunglasses.

 

Pick up these costumes and Grease is the word!

Pink Ladies Satin Jacket and Scarf, $29.99 and T-Bird Danny Adult Men's Costume, $59.99

If you're more gamer than Grease, go Nintendo styles and be Mario and Princess Peach!

Trust the fungus and channel the most famous plumber and then go frou-frou in pink petticoats as Peach!

 

Super Mario Costume, $49.99 and Leg Avenue Three Piece Pink Princess Dress Costume, $50.99

Halloween Selby Styles

While perusing the latest on The Selby, I came across this gothic space belonging to designers of The Cast. Filled with skulls and taxidermy, it struck as quite appropriate for a Halloween post.

Keeping even more within the dark and spooky theme, you can pick up an oxidized silver human jaw ashtray for $2,650 at their store in NYC.

Pumpkin Seed Goodness

Come this Friday most people will have carved pumpkins at their door to greet trick or treaters . This means they'll also have pumpkin seeds! Rather than tossing them out in the green bin with the pumpkin goo, here's a simple recipe that makes use of the seeds for a yummy healthy snack:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 to 2 cups cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
3. Toss all ingreidents in a bowl and spread on a baking sheet in an even layer.
4. Bake for about 15 minutes, until seeds are crispy and golden brown
5. Remove from the oven and let cool before serving
6. Roasted seeds will keep in a container for up to one week

(image via Janet is Hungry)

Glittery Glam Halloween Bash

Halloween is just a couple of days away. I know a proper Jewish girl like me shouldn't be going all out on a pagan shtick yet I just can't resist - Halloween is so much fun!

This year take a cue from your inner Bowie and Bolan and throw a bash that kicks up the decor a notch on the sparkle scale. Rather than going for a flat palette, go for glam with sparkly accessories.

To make these Glittered Pumpkins from Martha, paint a layer of white glue over the surface of a small pumpkin and sprinkle powder glitter on top of glue. Let dry for about an hour. Shake off excess glitter and paint stem with brown acrylic paint.

Or try making Eddie Ross's glittered web with an intricate cutting technique.

If you're less DIY and happier to just buy, the Glitter Skull, from Pottery Barn are so decadent looking with a layer of sparkling mirror glass.

New Rubie Green!

Michelle Adams of Rubie Green has just debuted her Fall line and I am loving the stunning Ann print!

It kind of reminds me of a softer version of the ubiquitous Michael Kors Fall '08 dress:

1st Dibs Fantasies in Technicolour

Playing virtual billionaire on 1st dibs is always a fun game, but on my last online hunt I tended to swoon for colour, colour and more colour!

Here are some vibrant finds to brighten up your Monday morning:

Emile Levy French Art Nouveau Marguerite Derly El Dorado Poster  from 1880s, $2,750

A Pair of Cobalt Blue Ginger Jar Lamp, c. 1960, $1,800

Set of Five Deco hand coloured ink drawings  from 1940s France newly framed with velvet matts, $950

Pair of Austrian Porcelain Urns from Austria, $3,200

 

1920's Louix XVI French day bed upholstered with purple velvet, $2,900 

 

Pair Polychrome Chrysanthemum Chinese Garden Seats from 1960s China , $2,750

Tangerine Campaign Desk and Chair from 1960's, $6,800

 

Kelly Green and Leather Curvaceous Stool, $950

Spicy October Arrangement

Your eyes are not deceiving you - those are peppers in my planters!

I hope you enjoy this saucy detail and that you have a great weekend.

Check back next week for Halloween tips, tricks and treats

Weekend Cocktail #26: Sparkling Apple

This LCBO recipe is suited to the Fall's bounty of all things-apple.

The tart apple juice and sweet sprite complement the whisky and make for a refreshing Autumn cocktail.

Sparkling Apple 

• 1.5 oz Chivas Regal whiskey
• 3 oz apple juice
• Sprite
• Green apple slice

1. Pour the whiskey into a tall glass over ice.
2. Add 3 oz apple juice
3. Top up with sprite and garnish the glass with a green apple slice

Canary Yellow Plumage

Babette jeweled feather peep toe flats, $315.00

And just where do these gorgeous flats hail from?

J. CREW!

Stunners...

Joe Fresh Spring 09 at Toronto Fashion Week

Toronto’s L’Oréal Fashion Week has taken over Nathan Phillips Square for seven days of editors, clotheshorses and wannabe's clamouring over each other for access to the big name Canadian shows.

This probably doesn't mean much to most of you American readers, but for the humble people of Toronto whose ears perk up at the mention of Greta Constantine and Pink Tartan, Fashion Week is an exciting time.

Day three unfolded yesterday with Joe Fresh Style closing out the night. Comparable to Target's cucky-quality rip-off's of big name lines, designer Joe Mimran sells his designs exclusively in grocery super stores. It's good for a trendy item that you don't need to last, kind of like H&M, but not quite as fun as the ads look.

Despite most of the guests probably not owning anything from Joe Fresh, the buzz factor was high and Toronto's usual suspects were in attendance, including the MTV Canada crew, Jeanne Beker and all the fashion editors.

Last year Coco Rocha opened the show so I was hoping she'd make a repeat performance, alas she was nowhere to be found! All in all some of the clothes were cute, especially the nautical inspired looks and anoraks, but others where just too out there for consideration.

Bravo Charlotte!

These images from the Charlotte Moss- designed Veranda showhouse in NYC are simply swoon-worthy:

 

Go pick up your own copy of the November/December issue to see the rest of the spread as they're absolutely gorgeous and totally inspiring!!!

(images via Veranda, Nov/Dec 2008 issue)

Retro Glamour at Cabaret

The thrill of the hunt is what gets most vintage-lovers all hot and bothered, but for me, sometimes I like to skip the sifting and get straight to the goods.

Enter Cabaret: a boutique on the hipster stretch of queen and bathurst that does the dirty digging for you and carries a large selection of cocktail dresses, handbags, suits, jackets, hats and more for both guys and gals!

Owner Tao Drayton carefully edits the selection of high fashion pieces Cabaret carries, making looking for that special retro cocktail dress or dapper fedora a pleasantly easy experience.

Extremely personable and totally genuine, Drayton is a pleasure to do business with. His great eye for fit and enthusiasm in helping you find the perfect piece yielded a gorgeous score of my own, which I will reveal next week!

I'm not the only fan of Cabaret -- Dita Von Teese has stopped by more than once and other dapper gents and ladies including Andre 3000, Natalie Portman, Feist and a host of the regular Canadian celeb set have shopped there too.

If you're in the neighbourhood or are seeking a special something for your next big event, stop by Cabaret at 672 Queen St West because when you do vintage, you're guaranteed no one else will show up wearing the same thing!

A Country Bath

Very Ralph...

(image via Veranda)