We are so sad to be saying goodbye. We have had a lot of fun over the past week and we want to thank Grace and her team for inviting us to guest blog. We also want to thank all of the readers for making our efforts so worthwhile.

Our final item of business is to announce the winner of our giveaway. We received SO MANY entries so a huge ‘thank you’ to everybody who submitted an image. It was an incredibly difficult decision as so many of you took wonderful pictures but the winner is….

by Erin Poettcker – a summer day with sisters and cousins on the Thompson River.

We also had to post these runner-ups….

by Angie

by Kelsey – shot with an SX-70 polaroid

by Kate Harris – children and adults play in a semi-inflated hot air balloon

by Stephanie – mojitos at a summer-celebration barbeque

by Jodi McKee – fresh strawberries at the farmer’s market

For our second to last post as D*S guest bloggers, Alissa and I wanted to share some images of a really cool exhibit that is currently running at the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery right here in Philadelphia. Curated by Amy Adams, the ‘Frenz’ exhibit features works selected by the singer-songwriter Will Oldham. The exhibition was founded on a single simple philosophy: lets take one artist whose work is both artistically interesting and aurally compelling and let him choose other artists to exhibit in a gallery. The choices were made as a result of Mr. Oldham’s connections, friendships, relatives and personal interests. The end result is an exhibit of 11 artists whose work comes together in an interesting and visually appealing way.

Jill Gallenstein’s paintings and drawings are marked with a meticulous detail that can be appreciated on many different levels. Her exploration of symmetry, chaos, patterns, time and space come together in an elegant and colorful piece of art.

The smaller format of Kyle Field’s art, invites viewers to get intimate as he explores community, commerce and nature.

And lastly, because we are completely in love with his work and wish we could sustain ourselves on his art alone, I present you with a piece from Felipe Jesus Consalvos. Born outside Havana in 1891, Consalvos was a cigar roller who used found objects to create his beautiful collages, many of which were political statements. Check out the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery Gallery for more info!

We have a cabinet in our kitchen that always seems to collect all sorts of loose ends from around the house. Last month I was sorting through this catchall when I discovered Alissa has a lot of old gold jewelry she never wears (with good reason… some of this stuff was really ugly). It seemed like such a waste so it got me thinking about how we could reuse this precious metal. I did a little checking around and it turns out a lot of jewelry makers will cast a piece of jewelry with your own gold, for a small fee. I thought this was great – a recession is upon us and not many people can afford to splurge on jewelry, so let’s make it ourselves! (Be warned, this was my first foray into jewelry making.)

Things I determined you will need:

Old gold jewelry that is far too ugly to wear anymore. If you don’t have any old gold jewelry but still want to participate your caster will sell you gold or try casting in silver instead (much less expensive).
A wax file, simple wax carver, some sort of handsaw (Dozuki saw is easiest to use) and carving wax.
A local precious metal caster or casting company (I just did a quick Google search).
and, if you’re kind of clumsy like me, A Band-Aid for when you cut yourself with the wax file or the wax carver.

The Steps:
Step 1: Plan out your design. I went with two simple teardrop shapes because I thought they would be easy to carve.

Step 2: Using the handsaw, cut an appropriate sized piece of wax from your wax block. The closer you can cut to the finished size of your piece, the less time the next few steps will take you.

Step 3: Using the tip of the wax carver, lightly sketch your design into the surface of the wax piece(s) you cut in Step 2. This will be your guide.

Step 4: Use the coarser side of the wax file to start shaping your wax. Be patient – this may take awhile. As you approach the guide you sketched into your wax in Step 3, switch to the finer side of the wax file.

Step 5: When you get very close to your desired shape, use the wax carver to help finish any areas that need touching-up or were too difficult to carve with the file. Again, this make take a little patience and time but you want to get the shape as close to finished as possible as it is much harder to correct mistakes after it has been cast.

Step 6: Take your wax and your gold to your caster and ask them to attach jump rings to the top. This is the little loop through which the chain will run. I lacked the necessary skills to attach them myself (it involves fire and Alissa won’t let me play with fire in the house).

Step 7: When the casting is finished your gold will have a rough edge and be slightly imperfect. Have the caster finish and polish the piece to your specifications. I asked them to round out the teardrops to compensate for my slightly misshapen wax mold and then I had them “apply” a satin finish.

Step 8: Put your new pendant(s) on a chain. I thought mine needed a little something extra, so I found a garnet bead that was part of an earring whose mate Alissa had lost and I attached it to the necklace with a wonderful gold headpin I bought from Etsy.

Step 9: Rock out in your new recession friendly jewelry! (or in my case I gave it to Alissa to rock-out in).

Philadelphia Home Magazine editor, Lauren McCutcheon, was gracious enough to share this Philadelphia based sneak peek featured in the current issue. Ken Foster and Larry Lantz, the great minds behind the hip Foster’s Homeware store in Philadelphia, turned this once-working farmhouse into a country respite where they can escape city-life and take in some wildlife. They began by painstakingly revealing the home’s original, simple lines and then filled it with wonderful finds from local antique shops and their own shop. The end result pays homage to the home’s history while maintaining an updated, modernized feel.

(Special thanks to Steve Giralt for allowing us to use his beautiful photographs)

[A farmhouse table from Ikea is pared with modern aluminum chairs. After coming to the realization that their modern dishes would look out of place, Ken and Larry started collecting brown-and-white transferware.]

[The front parlor is adorned with a beautiful collection of mid-century white vases that pop from the chocolate brown color of the built-in shelves.]

[Once the attic, the master bedroom is a cozy sanctuary away from the many guests they often host.]

[Ken, with his basement full of decorative accessories, creates and recreates small vignettes throughout the house. A mini bar is composed of old and new decanters.]

[Charley Harper silkscreens adorn the wall of the living room. A window peeks into the kitchen.]

Pulling inspiration from “In the Kitchen With…” Alissa and I have created our very own column – “Behind the Bar.” For a little help with the first ever behind the bar, we visited a Philadelphia favorite – Apothecary. Apothecary is a Mecca for cocktail lovers who find comfort in knowing their drink is made with fresh & organic ingredients and combined to tasty perfection in combinations you never imagined. The ice is even specially made using a Japanese technique to remove impurities and unnecessary air pockets. This ensures your drink won’t taste like a Philadelphia water treatment plant or get watered down while you chat with the super-friendly bartenders. And much like an apothecary was carefully trained to blend healing formulas, these bartenders are the real deal – no summertime college students here.

Preston, the beverage manager at Apothecary, shared a light and refreshing summertime drink that you can easily make at home and is perfect for lazy, hot days sitting on the porch.

Cardamom Rose Cocktail:

Ingredients:
1.5 oz of Hendrick’s gin (this is a rose & cucumber infused gin)
.75 oz of Rose syrup (make at home with rose water and simple syrup or buy locally)
.25 oz of Fresh lemon juice
.75 oz of Fresh grapefruit juice (ruby red preferably)
2 dashes of Peychauds bitters (Peychaud is credited with first creating the cocktail)
1 Cardamom Pod

Methodology:
1) Lightly muddle 1 cardamom pod at the bottom of shaker (not too much muddling or it will overpower the drink)
2) Add the rest of the ingredients
3) Add ice
4) Shake for 20 seconds
5) Strain over fresh ice to remove the cardamom pod
6) Add a splash of seltzer water
7) Garnish with rose petals or fresh lemon wedge (use organic if possible)

When I was young, I used to collect rocks, seedpods, sticks, leaves, dried flowers, you name it, I liked to gather it. I even had an awesome cabinet with little drawers where I stored and organized all of my ‘treasure’. Egan Day feels like the grown-up version of this fascination. Their Patrick Townsend designed jewelry cases are filled with ‘treasure’ that all seem to embrace the natural world. The way a piece curves, hangs or is put together seems to be influenced by the form of a leaf, the structure of an insect or the patterns of a seedpod.

Egan Day is owned and operated by the super awesome husband and wife duo, Kate Egan and Cort Day. Kate, with an MFA from UPenn and a BFA from RISD, started her jewelry career early when she worked for Ted Muehling in New York. She later worked as retail director for Sigerson Morrison and even dabbled with her own art gallery in the West Village. Cort, with an MFA in creative writing from Berkeley, has one book of poetry published (The Chime) and is working to complete his first novel.

Egan Day carries an exceptional collection of work by designers such as Ted Muehling, Gabriella Kiss and Maria Beaulieu amongst others. Our wedding accoutrement (earrings and wedding bands) was designed by Ted Muehling and ever since then I am obsessed with all of his work – especially that awesome gold necklace in the first picture. Oh, and that spider. Not sure what I would do with it, but I love it. The perfect thing about all of Egan Day’s jewelry is that everything is wearable – from jeans to a fancy dress – and is easily understandable. Nothing will look dated in a few years and you if you can hold on to it long enough, you will want to pass it right on down the family tree. And ladies, for the man in your life, Ted makes the most amazing cufflinks (think wedding).

[Wedding earrings shot by Jose Villa]

And, oh how beautiful the store is. They were going for “a day at the beach” and I think they have captured it perfectly — light and airy with interesting vignettes. It is a peaceful hideaway tucked in the parlor floor of a civil war era townhouse.

If you won’t be visiting Philadelphia anytime soon give Kate or Cort a call and they would be more than happy to send you images of any item that might tickle your fancy. When you’re ready to buy, they happily ship to the continental US for free.

Yesterday we featured Material Culture – an amazing 90,000 square foot store in Philadelphia. George, the owner, also has one awesome house. The outside spaces were filled with flowers, interesting wood structures and huge terra cotta pots (from George’s travels). Inside, his house felt like a museum but the type of museum where they encourage you to touch everything. You could tell that George really lives with and loves the items he sells at his store. We thought you all might like to take a quick peek inside (and outside) his home.

[Salvaged pieces of a 19th century teak cabinet are used as the doors and backsplash of a kitchen counter that incorporates an antique Anatolian copper basin as a sink.]

[A pergola composed of 18th century Moghul teak arches creates an intimate space for outdoor dining. Wrought iron chairs encircle a dining table made from an antique copper tray.]