simply smitten: lucile's kitchen

Delightful food artwork for a happy home...

Lucile Prache is the artist behind Lucile's Kitchen and her artwork is fun, whimsical and filled with Parisian flair!
She's been drawing since she was little and uses all different mediums, but loves going back to the roots,
a single pencil and/or watercolor.

J'adore Lucile's Kitchen! ;)

(images via lucile prache)

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Have a slice of cake why don't ya? Today I'm the big 2-6!

I'm a little freaked out actually... lol. So, I will definately be eating A LOT of cake! :)


(image found on the decadent blog, Sweetapolita.)

dawn m. gibson photography

Beautiful photos, huh?
They were taken by my dear friend, Dawn Gibson, and I could seriously look at her work all day!

Not only is she an amazing photographer, she kills it when it comes to graphic design! This girl is awesome and has a great eye for all things creative! She's one talented lady and it's such a joy to to share her work with you.

And check this out... she is offering up her first-ever giveaway! Head on over to her blog for all the details and to enter!

You don't have to live in the Buffalo/Rochester area to win... if you have friends or family that do, you can give the session as a gift! So what are you waiting for? Head on over and tell her that Jess @ Creative Index send ya! :)

blog design: tickled.

Hello and Happy Friday!!

I'm really excited (and proud!) to show you my first blog design for someone else! Lauren over at tickled asked me a few weeks back to help her give her blog a fresh new look. Boy, was I excited and honored that she asked me! Her blog is one of my daily reads and she's one of my new blogland besties! Her style and vision for the blog was simple and casual, definitely a girl after my own heart. It was such a treat to design this for her so make sure you check it out and let us know what you think!

Ok, now I'm off to run some errands. Have a wonderful weekend!
What is everyone up too?


PS: 4 days until my birthday! I like cupcakes, shoes and anything with sparkle! ;-)

nice to meet you, katie

tell us about yourself...
I'm Katie and I recently graduated from college, studying Textile Design, and have moved back home with my man. We have renovated a little room in the basement into my own little studio, and I have made the huge jump to start my own business! I create hand dyed and screen printed textile goods, including a line of scarves. Other than working on my business, I try to be a bit social, hanging out with friends and family when I get a chance, or my cats if I'm home alone!

who are your favorite artists & designers?
Ohh man, sooo many to choose from! I pretty much love listening to anything, but really love indie/folk music. My best friend just saw Mumford and Sons and I was soo sad I couldn't go! I can listen to them all day while working in the studio. Ohh and I did just hear the new Bon Iver album and I love it, if I could play music in my tent at craft fairs thats what I would listen to all summer!

As for designers, this is a really hard one, since there are so many that I love! One of my favourite textile designers is Virginia Johnson, with whom I had the amazing experience of interning with this year.

favorite food, movie, city, and store:
food :: anything loaded with veggies: stir frys, veggie pasta, and right now I'm loving salads with fresh summer veggies and herbs from the garden.
movie :: again, soo many to choose from, but I always love watching The Last Kiss
city :: i've been lucky to travel a bit in the last 5 years, and my top city would have to be Vienna, Austria, where I lived and worked as a nanny for a year.
store :: I love buying hand-made and local, so I love getting gifts and treats for myself at local craft shows or independent boutiques, but when it comes to clothing, H&M and Forever 21 are always a go to.

5 simple pleasures
1) coffee
2) lazy time at home with the man and the cats
3) cottage weekends away
4) hanging out with my friends and family
5) quiet time with the sketchbook

one of your favorite summertime memories is...
My boyfriends family has a cottage on Lake Huron, and for the last 5 or 6 summers we've gone up there with our best friends, and the last few years we've gotten up for a few weekends too, with some of our other good friends. its always so nice and relaxing, sitting with a drink on the beach with a few of our best friends.

one thing you may not know about me is...
If I hadn't gone to design school, I probably shoulda gone to hair dressing school! I'm the family hair stylist, I cut my boyfriend, my brother and my sisters hair all the other night, and always cut my moms too. Now if only one of them would learn to cut mine!


any advice for first time bloggers/business owners?
I feel like I'm still pretty new to all of this, especially the business, but I think that if its something that you really want and really love, than just don't stop. Do it because you love it, and because you have something to say. Share what it is that you love creating or doing, and share what inspires you. And be patient!

Thanks Katie for stopping by, and for sharing a little more about yourself with us!!

If you haven't seen her blog or etsy shop, you are missing out! I seriously LOVE her scarves!

simply smitten: gallery walls

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The more art and photos you can fit, the better!

Happy Wednesday, Beauties!

life's a beach

Since today marks the first official day of Summer, I wanted to share a guest post I did a few days back, just in case you missed it. :)

I did an Etsy round-up of items that currently have me swooning to capture the sun, sand and spirit of the beach!!

Dont'cha just love Etsy?!... its an amazing world that I get lost in for hours daily!!

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

you will forever live in my heart

Lord, I thank you for my father. He was such a blessing to me while he was still with us. Even though its been almost 11 years, I still miss him so very much. I thank you Lord, for what he left me as gifts of love and faith. I pray that he has enjoyed your embrace and that the relationship he and I had might someday be renewed with you in heaven. Until then, I entrust him to your love and ask you to let him look out for me and to assist me to stay on the path to you.


Dad, I love you and miss you so much! You will forever live in my heart! Happy Father's Day!

♥ ♥ ♥

hooray for the weekend!

Happy Friday, lovelies and welcome to the weekend!! What are everyone's plans for the weekend? I'm planning on lots of relaxation and time with the fam, and a much needed lunch date with my BFF Kristen on Saturday! :-)

Hope you all have a great weekend! Wishing all of the father's in your lives a very Happy Father's Day!


(image found here)

P to the S: I'm over at Memory Bean Designs sharing a round-up of my favorite beach inspired Etsy finds.
So hop on over, check it out and say hello! :-)

AND if you missed my Summer Lovin' post from earlier this week, make sure you stop by
Candice's adorable blog, Tea Time Thoughts.

nice to meet you, anna

tell us about yourself...
I am a mother of two squishy cheeked precious babes, a graphic designer, entrepreneur/business owner, and an
artist at heart!

who are your favorite artists & designers?
Hmmm lets see....
artists: Flapperdoodle, Simply Hue, Nan Lawson, etc. etc.
music: Ingrid Michaelson, Adele, Lady Antebellum, etc.
fashion: Kate Spade!

favorite food, movie, city, and store:
food :: My mom's chicken paprika, ice cream and french fries (of course), and my grandma's Spanish cooking.
movie :: Return to Me and The Bourne Trilogy
city :: Asissi, Italy (little heaven on earth), Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (our honeymoon spot), and Atlanta, GA (where we started our family).
store :: Anthropologie and H&M

5 simple pleasures
My children's smiles.
Date nights with my Hubs.
Margaritas.
The sound of morning.
The smell of summer.

one of your favorite summertime memories is...
My cousins, my sisters, and I would spend summer days together and the days seemed forever long. I loved that. I have some great memories with them at the beach, by the pool, shooting off fireworks... I miss those days!

one thing you may not know about me is...
I LOVE to dance.... and sing (mostly in the car ;)) Dance parties are a regular occurrence in our house! I also am addicted to shows like SYTYCD and The Voice!

any advice for first time bloggers/business owners?
Be consistent, Be unique, and set small goals. When you create your own style and work hard to stick to your small goals, you will be tackling big ones before your know it!

Thank you so much Anna for being a guest here, and for sharing a little more about yourself with us! You are such an inspiration!! xo

If you haven't seen her fabulous blog or shop, you are missing out! Head on over... NOW!

road trip recap

Just wanted to share a few quick snapshots from our road trip last week! We didn't have much down time (we had lots of running around to do), but we were able to sneak a few hours in at the beach!


And it was heavenly!

It was so nice to get away, if only for a few days!

make your blog mobile friendly

Have you guys seen the new Blogger feature that allows your blog to become mobile friendly? If not, you should really check it out!

Setting it up is easy-peasy and just takes a few simple clicks.

1. First, go to your Dashboard and click the "Settings" Tab.

2. Then, click on the "Email & Mobile" Tab.

3. The default is set to "No". Just change that to "Yes" and SAVE at the bottom of the page!

Pretty cool, huh? No complicated HTML code either! And what I love about it, is that automatically detects you're using a mobile browser and trims off everything except the important stuff... the posts!

i'm back!

Hello there! How has everyone been? I've been away for what feels like forever!!

Just wanted to pop in and say THANK YOU to all my wonderful guest bloggers that held down the fort while I was away! You guys are awesome and I really appreciated your help! :-)

Here's a recap of the awesomeness that went down this past week:

Easy Recipes for Entertaining from Sam at Fitness, Food and Faith

Studio Obsession: Furbish from Lauren at Tickled.

Artist Love: Sabrina Ward Harrison from Cee at Coco & Vera

Nice to Meet You from Cat at BrideBlu

Summer BBQ Menu Ideas from Nikki at Perpetually Engaged

If My Saree Was a Room from Sundeep at Designwali

if my saree was a room (creative index edition)

Hello Creative Index Readers! I'm Sundeep and I blog over at Designwali. I was flattered when Jessica asked me to guest post on her lovely blog! So today I'm bringing you folks a bit of Indian flair through my 'If my saree was a room' series.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm an Canadian born Indian gal living in Toronto who loves all things design, and lately I've been doing a lot of saree shopping for my sister's wedding so writing about the two things is one of my favourite pastimes.

A gorgeous sunny yellow creation by Saima Yousef featured on Aaina Bridal is a stunning focal point just like these bold curtains featured on one of my favourite Canadian design magazines Style at Home!

Since I know Jessica is an avid jewellery lover like myself, I've thrown in the Bollywood baubles just for her!!

Dramatic blue Bollywood jewellery designed by Glitterati featured on South Asian Bride is equally glamorous in this living room featured on Elle Decor.

Thanks for having me Jessica. Hope you all enjoyed my visit and feel free to stop by my blog anytime!


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I'll be over at Teatime Thoughts later helping out the lovely Candice while she's away on vacay!! So hop on over there and check out my Summer Lovin' post! xo

summer bbq menu

Hello Creative Indexers! I'm Nikki and I blog over at Perpetually Engaged. I was delighted when Jessica asked me to guest blog, it's like a mini vacation. When I got here there was even a mint on my pillow. She's such a host.

Speaking of hosting, if you live in any other state than Washington I bet you're thinking about Summer bbq's. I'm still thinking about soup and pot roast, go away rain. But lets talk about bbq. I can tell Jessica doesn't eat enough (or at least she doesn't share every morsel), so I thought I'd throw a recipe your way... and then I decided to throw a menu, and then I decided to upgrade it.

Sometimes summer calls for a last minute "quick there is the sun" bbq and occasionally you have a little time to think things through. So you have your regular bbq and your fancy bbq. Both with the same main dish though because I really want you guys to make these chicken thighs. You won't regret it.

1. Spicy honey chicken thighs. You can not mess these little guys up.
2. Simple greens and avocado salad. Light, refreshing, so easy your Husband can make it.
3. Spiked lemonade. A bottle of lemonade and your favorite hard stuff...rum, vodka, tequila??
4. Strawberries with marsala cream. You will be licking the bowl with this one.
5. Marinated olives. Open a few jars, or visit your local olive bar...mine's at Safeway ;)
6. Bruschetta! No need to serve your guests, let them pile on their own tomatoes.

1. Olives in a bowl not enough? Wrap yours in anchovies and skewer them with fancy toothpicks.
2. No one will notice their eating anchovies after a few blackberry pineapple mojitos!
3. Who could resist these no bake strawberry cheesecake parfaits, serve in wine glasses if you're really fancy...
4. Move over bruschetta, this cherry tomato puff pastry tart will wow your crowd.
5. I really meant it when I said make these spicy honey chicken thighs.
6. Couscous may sound like a bird call, but this salad is delicious. Leave out the raisins...they're for kindergartners.

Thanks for having me Jessica! Feel free to stop by my blog and say hello!

What are some of your summer bbq favorites?

nice to meet you, cat

tell us about yourself...
Hi ya! My name is Cat and I blog over at BrideBlu. I love animals but hate spiders {but can never bring myself to squish them when I find them in the house; so, instead, I trap them and let them go outside}. During the day, I work for the man ... in the retail world ... but happily moonlight as a blogger. I also dapple in jewelry making.

what is your favorite thing about blogging...
Meeting new people, hands down. I am amazed at the number of bloggers I have meet through my journey ... many of which I would call friends. The blogging world is one filled with much love, support, and amazingly talented women {and men!}. I am proud to be a part of such a powerful, inspiring community!


who are your favorite artists & designers?
A quick look through my blog and I think that it is fairly apparent that I feel a magnetic attraction to the independent/local artist community. Etsy is an amazing world that I could get lost in for days! At one point in my life, I really, really, really wanted to be a fashion designer and still find myself drawn to this world as a spectator {primarily through my glossy addiction...Vouge, InStyle, Allure ... to name a few!}.


favorite food, movie, city, and store:
food :: my favorite guilty pleasure is candy ... with black licorice and taffy at the top of the list.
movie :: I am all over a romantic comedy like white on rice ... if Vince Vaughn is in the line up, I am pretty much guaranteed to love it {I have a serious crush on Mr. Vaughn}. Though if I had to call out a single movie, I am going to go with Along Came Polly {no Vince but the romantic comedy rings clear and true}
city :: there is so much of this crazy, inspiring world that I have yet to see but drawing from my travels to date, I would have to say Cat Island, a small island in the Bahamas {not technically a city but a small enough island that it could be!}. Hubs and I went there for our honeymoon and I quickly realized that I have an "island girl" inside me just dying to get out. Maybe someday {fingers crossed!}
store :: Sephora makes me a bit weak in the knees

5 simple pleasures
watching birds visit our bird feeders
coffee {black}
a good game of Scrabble
practicing yoga
cuddling on the couch with the hubs

image credits: 1 /// 2 /// 3 /// 4 /// 5

one of your favorite summertime memories is...
Flea markets. Nothing beats spending a warm, summer day, strolling the grounds of a flea market. It is like a treasure hunt ... only no eye patches, parrots, or ratty treasure maps.


any advice for first time bloggers/business owners?
Be yourself. One of the greatest things that has happened to me {which was totally unexpected} was finding my voice through blogging. I have always been a bit on the introverted side but since blogging I have started to come out of my shell ... not only on my blog but in my "real life" too.

Thank you Jessica for inviting me to join you today! I am so enamored by your sweet blog ... I feel over-the-moon honored to grace its lovely presence, if only for a post!

artist love: sabrina ward harrison

Hi! I'm Cee from Coco and Vera and I'm thrilled to say that the lovely Jessica has asked me to do a guest post for her while she's away this week.

The main focus of my blog is fashion. But one of the things I really love about Creative Index is the featured artists. I can always count on finding inspiration here, so I thought instead of talking about designers or trends, I would share one of my own favourite artists, whose work has been inspiring me for years; Sabrina Ward Harrison.

I love the way that Sabrina combines all different mediums, including collage and photography, to create her unique pieces. And I've always been envious of her original penmanship- it's like art is so engrained in her being that it even extends to the humble, everyday task of signing her name. She has published several astoundingly beautiful books, including Spilling Open and, my favourite, Brave on the Rocks. I highly recommend you visit her online home for more inspiration!

Thanks again to Jessica for allowing me to take over her lovely space today :) Thanks so much for reading- I'd love it if you stopped by my blog to say hello!