Making pillows out of placemats?

While searching for bargains at a fabric store closing liquidation sale, I spotted 2 brown silk place mats for 2 dollars each. While Looking through ribbons and trims I found an entire bolt with about 10 meters of beautiful trim for a cost of $1.00. The place mats were perfect because they were double sided and had space in the middle for stuffing, you can check this by grabbing the center of both sides and gently pulling to see if it has this a cavity in between.

Step 1- using a stitch ripper gently open 1 end.

Step 2- fill cavity with a pillow filling

Step 3- restitch the side by hand.

That's it! You can leave it at that or add a trim to the edges. I went all the way around with mine because I had tons of it. Another suggestion is to just do the 2 ends. I use them on my bed as accent pillows.

Create A Special Romantic Valentine's Evening for your Sweetheart

Are you the kind of person that loves to go decor crazy on every occasion? Some of us just cant wait for the next reason to spread the joy of love and happiness. If it weren't for these occasions life would be just too boring as far as I'm concerned. BUT we don't need to break the bank.

Since Valentines Day is quickly approaching and you want to make this evening memorable you'll need to do a few things.

Staging the room:

If your planning a romantic dinner for your sweetheart add some special touches to a room having a romantic table setting by using a long to the floor table cloth and draping a sheer fabric loosely over it, have helium filled balloons in reds, pinks and white, fragrant rose petals scattered on the table and maybe even on the floor.

Flowers for sure:

A beautiful bouquet in a vase on the table or a single flower on the plate or petals leading up to the table, any way you like it is the right way! Simple or extravagant, flowers say so much and come in many colours and price points. Use your imagination.

Setting the mood:

Lighting and music are your final touches and is very crucial. When you think romantic, its all about the lighting. Dim or turn off the lights. Add candles all over, the more candles the more romantic. Tea lights are very very inexpensive and last about 5 hours. Line a pathway, place around the room, on table, on a window ledge, anywhere you can think of. Candles create a beautiful glow and warmth to your room. If your lucky to have a fire place use it.
Now choose your favorite music and have it playing in the background softly.

(Please remember to use caution when using candles, never leave candles unattended)

OH! I forgot about the food. Well I don't think that's it's too important, even pizza will look great in a room like this. But for those of you that want to go all the way here's a recipe you can make. I was looking for something delicious, easy, quick and economical since I am spending time in staging my romantic room for the evening.

Gamberi Alla Romana / Roman style jumbo shrimp
using a recipe from Marinellisauce.com

Ingredients:

- 2 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Garlic cloves, peeled & minced
- 3 Red Chilies, fresh or 6 dried
- 1 jar Marinelli’s Tomato & Basil Sauce
- 1 lb Jumbo Shrimp (uncooked), peeled & de-veined
- 1 cup Fresh Basil (freshly chopped)
- Pasta Noodles (Linguine / Fettucine)

1. Over medium heat, in a large skillet, add approx. 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the 3 cloves of minced garlic & chilies, gently stir & let simmer, stirring occasionally. (In the meantime add your pasta to boiling salted water.) After the garlic begins to slightly caramelize add the jar of Tomato Basil Sauce and gently stir.

2. Adjust heat to medium-high heat, add the shrimp to the sauce and cook until they are pink, flipping half way, (approx. 2-3 minutes each side.) Drain the pasta and add to the shrimp. Add the chopped mint or basil, gently toss or stir. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. (If you find the sauce a bit too dry you may add a bit of the pasta water for moisture, gently stir.)

3. Garnish with basil, add a drizzle of olive oil on top. OMG TDF

This dinner can cost under $ 35.00 with wine,salad and a some chocolate covered strawberries that's less than take-out and it comes from the heart.




My wine choice: XOXO Cabernet/Shiraz about $9.00

Enjoy, I'd love any comments or pictures :)



Rose Arangio

The first taste is with the eyes (staging your food)

My first passion, cooking began as a young married girl 30 years ago. Being a newlywed I found so much pleasure in preparing new dishes for my husband and myself and over the years have continued to grow and learn more and more about food. I have worked as a sous chef in a fine dining establishment as well which had inspired me even more as I learned so many new things. I always found a great need to plating the food so beautifully that I had put so much passion into making. The first taste is with the eyes and it was in a sense staging the food to make it look mouthwatering and appetizing as it tasted.

A beautiful Table setting is a must when serving a delicious meal and you don't have to go nuts, a nice table cloth or place-mats, a small center piece makes it special. I love using white plates because I feel they are classic and never go out of style and are in a sense the canvas. The food itself is is the main attraction anyway so why not show it off.

We don't all have all the time in the world to prepare an elaborate dinner but I know that even take-out can look more appealing when plated pretty and with the table setting.

I think I have always been an "inner stager", after all the whole purpose of staging anything is to make things look appealing to us.

Today's recipe is:

Stuffed roasted red peppers on a bed of Italian style scalloped potatoes.


8 red peppers (cut off tops and reserve,clean, and microwave for 2 min)
1 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice (makes about 3 cups cooked)
1 cup of lean pork
2 cups of tomato sauce
3 large onions,2 cloves garlic (sliced and sauteed in the olive oil for about 15 min and set aside)
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of corn
8 red skin potatoes (peeled, sliced half in thick and boiled for 15 min)
sea salt and pepper to taste I add hot chilies too


sautee pork in the same frying pan used for onion mixture then add tomato puree and season to taste, cook for about 20-30 min.
mix pork sauce with cooked rice and corn.
Fill peppers with rice mixture and top off with the tops of the peppers
Arrange boiled potatoes on the bottom of an oven proof pan and layer with the onion, garlic, oil mixture and season to taste.
Arrange all stuffed peppers on top of the potatoes and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and bake at 375' for about 1 hour.

I like to serve a salad with this meal and thats it. I make extra because the leftovers are great for lunch or a side for dinner the next day.

Why go neutral?

If you look up the word "neutral" in the thesaurus you will find words that define it like impartial, non committal and synonyms like calm, colorless, drab, detached, disinterested, impersonal, inactive. How boring can you get!

But aren't humans neutral? We come in all shades of neutrals and then we adorn ourselves with loads of colours in clothing, makeup, hair, nail polish etc. but our base is neutral and it works!

In home decor purchasing major items such as large furniture pieces, flooring and rugs its always smarter to go with quality, classic, plain and neutral colours. Big ticket items are not something you want to change often so just like we adorn ourselves with new clothes or change our hair colour, jewelry or nail polish it works in the same way. Its easy to change a look of a room inexpensively by changing the accessories and paint.

So what I'm saying is the basic bones of the room are going to be neutral and then add your personality by painting your favorite colours and add patterns and textures with accessories. Finally you need proper lighting to achieve your mood and also to see because in the dark there is no colour, and that's another topic.

A few of my favorite neutrals are:

Benjamin Moores edgecomb gray HC-173
revere pewter HC-172
kendall charcoal HC-166
manchester tan HC-81
willow CC-542
blackberry 2119-20
stone harbour 2111-50
gray owl 2137-60

Just my thoughts....

Rose Arangio

February is bedroom month

Stagionista says... February is a great month to redo the bedroom. Perhaps its just buying new bedding or adding a new accent pillows or repainting for a fresh new look. Paint and lighting is and inexpensive way to change the whole atmosphere of a room and give it new life. Evoking emotions is easy to do when using the right colours and accessories so depending what your looking for start with an inspiration piece.

Stand at your doorway and have a glance around the room. Take a picture of it and see what you think. In the bedroom the focal point should be the bed, so if your bed is not doing it for your go out and seek new bedding. Once you have your bedding use that for paint colour choices and accessories. It is easy to pick complimentary colours once you have an inspiration to guide you, this is how decorators do it.

If your going to paint choose your paint colours from inside you room not the paint store as the lighting is different and it will make all the difference.

Making a great bed is easy when you have all the tools. A Great mattress is a must for a good and restful sleep,sheets are equally important as that is the fabric next to your skin and must be luxurious and cozy and lastly the bedding, it creates the mood and ambiance and directs the colour choice of the room.

Keep it simple, clean and decluttered. This space is for rest, romance and regeneration. So get to it! and dont forget the chocolate on the pillow on the 14th.

My Benjamin Moore red colour pics are
red tulip 2000-30
berry wine 2003-30
salsa 2009-20
hot spice 2011-30

Have fun with it,

Rose Arangio