Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 77

Winter must: rosemary balsamic roasted acorn squash recipe

We had a great Christmas holiday this year, and changed up tradition a little by hosting the very important Christmas Eve dinner and present-opening at our place. I made dinner and got to use our holiday table setting goodies, and had fun coming up with a menu for our family. One of the dishes I made was this super easy, super savory and satisfying roasted acorn squash with the amazing mix of

A very special black lace party dress! (Of course it's good, it's inspired by Taylor Swift and Elie Saab.)

I'm super proud of this one. I made my own version of an amaaaazingdress, and wore it to a murder mystery dinner party over the weekend! I had so much fun coming up with the modifications of the patterns I used and variation I wanted to do on the original, because as you'll see below, the real one is much more runway than real party! I love what I came up with and it felt great to wear for a

Dream kitchens and dishwashers, and learning more

We're still thinking about our next house. Daydreaming about the perfect "cosmetic fixer" with great potential that's totally livable and well-maintained, just needs a few fun upgrades. In the whole house-selling and -buying process that we abandoned this summer, we've learned a LOT and continue to learn about being homeowners of our current place versus one that will need a little more work. (

Easy heat-up rice bag and flannel case tutorial! Great DIY gift

This is one of the oldest DIY projects I've been doing because it's so practical and obvious. I've made several of them to give as gifts and for ourselves, and they do wear out (or burn) over time, so this time when I made us another one I took photos and wrote up these instructions so you can make one too! When I was little my mom ordered a microwaveable barley-filled fabric pillow ("the barley

The new classic holiday cards! Plus a Minted GIVEAWAY!

Our holiday cards = done. We cut down our tree the other weekend with friends and traded photos of each other at the farm. Cutting down a tree isn't something I grew up with (I'm an only child and my parents aren't too festive, and we bought our trees from the grocery store parking lot) but husband has been cutting one down with his family forever and it's a tradition I'm so happy to adopt now

2015 holiday gift guide! For home decor, books, kids, and yourself!

It was a lot of work but so fun putting together this gift guide! I'm a pretty practical person and gift-giver so I'm not drawn to all the perfume sets, fleece blankets, and small, specialized kitchen appliances I see in ads this time of year--does the person really need those??!? is always my concern. But there are definitely some things that I see that I know certain people on my list would

Easy holiday party outfits using DIY projects!

We had a bunch of friends over for a dinner party this weekend and it was so fun! Potluck style so the set-up and cleanup was easy, and we just barely all fit around our dining table so we took up the whole dining/kitchen area while eating, and used the living room, all festive with the tree, for the toddlers to play in. It was so fun having people over and seeing friends this time of year (some

Simple holiday home decor and DIYs

It's the Christmas season around here! We got our tree last weekend (a little early for us), and I used the days off around Thanksgiving to tidy up and decorate a little. And do some sewing with some fave plaid flannel to go with our simple white, black, and red decor. We don't own a lot of ornaments, but I bought a few new white and silvery ones and we used classic glass globes. I'd like to

Festive jumper dress from really nice red plaid wool!

A new dress for holiday parties! I don't know about you, but for me "plaid jumper dress" doesn't inspire current high fashion images... I'm thinking back to like something the mom might have worn on Home Improvement?? But somehow I decided to make myself one out of this very nice quality red, black, and grey plaid (vintage?) wool I got at the thrift store earlier this fall. I picked it up on a

Cyber Monday 2015 deals! Here and there plus sewing/DIY deals

Happy holiday season =). I got someof my holiday shopping done over the weekend but still have some things to buy. I put together this list of the best deals at places I shop (maybe you, too) on today, Cyber Monday! You'll see some fave clothing stores likeJ.Crew Factorybut also some amazing deals on crafty things likeSilhouettemachines (that one has a special extra deal with code ENJOY for