January 31, 2013

Cranberry white chocolate cookies.

I don't know about you guys, but I have been spending a lot of time in my kitchen this month. Actually I have been spending a lot of time at home in general. Maybe it's the cold weather that is forcing me to hibernate, but either way I kind of like it! Especially the fact that I have had the chance to test out some recipes that I've been meaning to try! The other day my good friend, Sigrid, came over and brought me the most delicious cookies that I instantly needed the recipe for. They are cranberry white chocolate chip cookies and they are absolutely to die for! Next time you have the urge to bake something, give this recipe a try. It's simple and it seriously won't disappoint.

YOU WILL NEED:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup oats or macadamia nuts (whichever you prefer!)
































***
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars together until smooth. Then add the vanilla and egg.  Sift together the flour and baking soda. Spoon the flour mixture gradually into the creamed sugar mixture. Stir in the cranberries, white chocolate, and oats (or nuts.)

Drop by heaping spoonfuls, about 2 tablespoons, onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet a time for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool then enjoy!

***
original recipe found here.
Happy baking! XO, Stef

January 30, 2013

A Playlist for a Cozy Day Inside!

cozy playlist by Oh So Lovely on Grooveshark 
Also, this album came out this week, and we're loving it!

The lovely Erin Propp just had her cd release party here in Winnipeg, but don't worry, you can check 

January 28, 2013

A little update.

Despite the crazy cold temperatures (-40's (Celsius) all week long) we managed to stay warm and have a pretty fantastic past week! Now that things are slowing down a bit after Christmas, we've had a bunch of time off, and have spent it baking, making pots of soup and organizing our homes! Here's a sneak at what we've been up to...

We finally got our front window replaced at the shop, so we had a lot of fun re-doing displays, and jazzing up the shop! We added that white cabinet for our housewares, and just changed everything up, and it feels great!


In other news...


We were over the moon when we got an email from H&M, one of our favorite stores contacted us to be featured on their website! You can read the little blurb over here on their lifestyle section.


Not only were we featured over at H&M this week, but our shop, The Lovely Closet was featured on one of our all time favorite magazine's website-Frankie! You can take a closer look over here!

Also, a few weeks back we booked our flights back to Bangkok for April! 10 more weeks until we leave!
What have you cats been up to lately? 
xo
Erin & Stef

January 27, 2013

Mid century color inspiration.

Choosing paint colors for your home can be a very intimidating job because there are endless options and color combinations. So it's best to do your research ahead of time and ask yourself some simple questions like: "What colors am I attracted to?" and "What sort of rooms am I drawn to; simple and neutral or bright and bold?" and "What feeling do I want my room to have?" If the answer to any of those questions is "mid century modern rooms with neutral walls and pops of bright color scattered throughout" then we have the perfect color palette for you!

We made a simple mid century color palette which includes some neutral tones of cream, off-white, tan, and brown along with bold pops of burnt orange and turquoise. We really like how the rooms in these photos have neutral walls and keep the focal point of the room on the bold color of the amazing vintage furniture. This is a great way to showcase your unique furniture to it's full potential by not having any competing colors on the walls. Obviously this isn't the only way to create a mid century feel in your home and there are many other retro-inspired colors to chose from, these are just some of our favorites. We will be sharing more color combos in the future, but for now take a peek at this pretty retro color palette and maybe take some inspiration for your own space.

And the best thing about paint? It's not permanent. It can always be changed. Trust us when we say that we definitely speak from experience. I couldn't tell you how many different colors I've tried out in my house over the years, but that's all part of the experimenting fun!

Image sources:

January 25, 2013

Friday's to do list.

Yay! It's Friday!
...TO EAT...
These pretzels with a jalapeno dip have us drooling!

...TO MAKE...
These adorable DIY conversation heart magnets are picture perfect!
You can find the full tutorial over at the lovely Mandi of Making Nice in the Midwest's blog!

...TO BUY...
This Blu Dot unit is on sale at Target and I am seriously considering finding room in my home for it.

...TO WEAR...
We saw this beautiful dress by Vivetta over at Calivintage this week and we can't stop going back and looking at it over and over again!

...TO CLEAN...
This smiley dust pan would make turn sweeping anything up from a chore into a treat!

Have a great weekend lovelies!
xo

January 24, 2013

Whimsy & Juno Giveaway!

Whimsy & Juno are Sarah and Lauren, two sisters from Australia who share a love of all things crafty, creative and vintage. Due to our mutual obsession with collecting pretty things we decided to take the leap and open an online shop together, where our goal is to share the things we love with everyone else out there! Sarah is particularly adept at hunting out vintage goodies while Lauren enjoys scouring the world for anything that is outrageously cute. We sell all manner of lovely things from stationary, jewellery and knitting patterns to craft supplies and vintage finds. We also stock unique home wares, awesome magazines and books as well as the prettiest non-toxic nail polish around. We hope you love our finds as much as we do and that they inspire you to get creative in any way, whether it be by painting your nails, knitting a pair of mittens, decorating your books with copious amounts of mt tape or simply by cheering up your outfit with a happy new piece of handmade jewellery.
We also love meeting new people so we'd love for you to drop by our blog sometime and say hi!

And guess what? The girls are so generous that they are offering us a lovely giveaway!
Read on for more details...
The girls are giving away this little prize pack that includes a set of sweet Macaroon Keepsake Boxes, a retro-tastic Classmate Notebook and Rainbow Dot Stickers from MMMG, a twin pack of the-original-and-still-the-best MT Tape and to top it off, one of our handmade Mood Rings! (Who didn't have one they wore constantly when they were a kid?)

All you have to do to enter is the following:
2. Leave a comment on this post with your name and email address letting us know you did so!

That's it friends! So simple! We will chose a winner at random on the last day of the month. 
Good luck lovelies!
XO

***

We have a winner...
A big congrats goes out to Chloe Moon, you are the winner of the Whimsy & Juno prize!
Please contact the girls at whimsyandjuno@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone who entered! You guys are the best.

Hey February!

Thinking about hopping on the sponsorship train for February? Well, we would love to work with you! We have lots of exciting things planned for February... one thing that we are particularly excited about is giving our blog a major makeover!! Yay! It's a new year so it's time for a new look!

Here are our current stats as of January 24th, 2013:
-2,961 Bloglovin' followers
-3,084 Twitter followers
- 3,681 Facebook followers
-2,323 Google followers
-6,334 Pinterest followers
-We also recieved over 100,000 views last month!

Take a look at our sponsorship page for more info. Got more questions? Drop us an email at ohsolovelies@gmail.com

XO, Stef & Erin

January 23, 2013

What We Wore to Work: B.A.I.T. Shoes.

Even though it is another chilly January day, the weather is not going to stop us from dressing up a bit! Lately it feels like our feet have been held hostage in our clunky winter boots so we decided that today we needed to break free from that and wear some cute shoes to work. Oh, how we've missed this! Our lovely friends over at B.A.I.T. footwear were generous enough to send us each a pair of pretty new shoes, and we absolutely love them! Now, if only the weather would co-operate with us...

Here is a peak at what we wore them with to work today:

Stef's outfit details:
Cream & pink polka dot sweater: Forever 21
Denim polka dot dress: Forever 21
Fur hat: Vintage
Cream knee socks: Urban Outfitters
"Noel Luggage" heels: c/o B.A.I.T. footwear

Erin's outfit details:
Navy dress with peter pan collar: Market in Bangkok
Toque: Target
Belt: Thrifted
Tights: Target
"Nana Smoke" heels: c/o B.A.I.T. footwear

XO, Stef & Erin

January 22, 2013

Singin' the blues.

Happy Tuesday! It's another frigid day here in Winnipeg, so we're spending the day at the shop planning a major blog overhaul! What are you up to today?
Gahhh, we're losing it over this 1960's telephone bench! So stunning!
Photo found here.

The colors and the collar on this dress are so darling!

This is hands down the most amazing napkin dispenser we've ever come across!

If I had a way of justifying buying yet another purse, this one would be at the top of the list.


Such a pretty printed skirt!

I have a few of these dishes, but there's always room for more in my cupboards...

January 21, 2013

Organization idea: Mason jar spices.

There is something about the start of a new year that gets me feeling so motivated. I have finally started tackling those pesky jobs that have been put on the back burner and saved for a rainy (or snowy) day. Well, the snow has been falling and the wind has been howling, so I figured what a perfect time to start organizing my kitchen cupboards! I also decided that each weekend I am going to organize one room in my house and this past weekend I started with my kitchen.

I don't know about your kitchen, but my pantry and cupboards seem to get pretty outta control very quickly. Before I know it I find myself starring at four Cheerios boxes that are all about 1/8 full and a bunch of random ziploc bags of assorted spices that have been purchased with one specific dish in mind and then once that dish is completed they get tossed to the back of the cupboard and totally forgotten about. Well I finally decided that enough is enough! 2013 is going to be the year of organization and more experimenting in the kitchen! So I started by giving my kitchen a complete overhaul. I found a cupboard full of empty mason jars that were taking up precious cupboard space so I decided to use them for spice, nut, seed, and pasta storage! By doing this I freed up so much more cupboard space and now all of my cooking ingredients are so much more accessible.

Another bonus? They look pretty darn cute. Definitely a step up from my stash of random ziploc bags. I hope this kick-starts your week and inspires you to venture into tackling some of your rainy day jobs!
XO, Stef

January 20, 2013

ABC's of 60's fashion designers part 3.

We're so sad that this is the third and final part of our mini series! We hope you enjoyed it! 

January 18, 2013

Friday love!

January is half over? That's just crazy! Here are some lovely photos we stumbled across this week on the good ol' internet. Have a happy day!
This mid century home from 1959 has us drooling. Click here for more photos!

Dear Creatures just launched their Spring 2013 website and it looks AMAZING!

This coffee van is so perfect! It makes us want to haul Olive out of hibernation!

Vintage swimsuits in shadow boxes? Genius!

What a happy dress from Modcloth! We're in love!

January 17, 2013

We ♥ pretty prints!

No matter how full our walls are, we always have room for a new cute print or two!
Here are some of our favorite finds lately:

Bonjour pretty lady!

Love the simplicity of this Christopher David Ryan apple print.


This is our new motto, haha! We love this mid century modern inspired print.

Of course we couldn't resist this adorable cat print!




What about you, which of these beauties would you like to see hanging from your wall?
XO