The launch

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It has been three days since the official launch of our Carotte & Lychee Etsy shop and I am still smiling!

The idea of a "launch party" came about the same way as the idea of Caroline and I uniting as Carotte & Lychee did, meaning almost jokingly! We opened our online shop back in may but haven't officially announced it to our entourage until very recently; we were waiting to receive some items to make our first line of products complete. And when we did receive everything, well, somewhat, somehow, someone (it was one of us, of that I am certain... sorta :S) joked around about having a launch party! Laughters set aside, we thought it would indeed be a great opportunity to present our creations to our friends. And it was thus decided that the Carotte & Lychee launch party shall take place in Caro's cozy and friendly backyard on a truly perfect thursday evening in august...

When I got started on creating the invitation flyer, it was only natural to me to choose a rocket to symbolize the launch. This worked out wonderfully as it led to rocket buttons (exclusive gift for the first 15 peeps to knock on the door!) and kickass rocket shaped cookies!



The few days prior to the big day were busy, exciting, and just a tad stressing..! The invitation was sent out to our friends and peers who responded with an enthusiasm that made Caro and I both happy and nervous! "What will they think?" we wondered while decorating Caro’s freshly baked cookies. The worry soon dissipated as playing with frosting in a tube was too much fun…

So came the day. Food and sangria were set up in the backyard. Balloons hung on the wood fence. Items layed still on our demo table. DJ play your song - all is ready. Our first guest showed up at 5:32pm and everyone else basically started flowing in from then on.



The turnout was just great, great, great! I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a good time! Caro’s basket of homemade/handmade goodies, which was the special attendance prize, drew loads of attention from the girls (and boys too!). The basket contained a pair of feather earrings, a doll (Anne-Sophie!), a squirrel pin, a big fat homebaked chocolate chip cookie and an also big fat jar of homemade strawberry jam… MIAM!

We are so pleased at the amazing response and support we received from all of our guests and we wish to thank you again – as our dear Frede would say, you rock ;-)


-lychee

Recipe : The perfect Sangria!

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We had our launch party yesterday night (thank you everyone again for this lovely evening!!!!!) and I made my super deluxe Sangria.

This is the recipe:

- One orange cut in small pieces
- One lemon cut in small pieces
- One lime cut in small pieces
- One pint of strawberries cut in half
- One cup of blueberries
- 2 peaches cut in small pieces
- One apple cut in small pieces
- One bottle of red wine
- 2 cups of Rum
- One bottle of sparkling water (lemon flavour)
- One bottle of 1L of Sprite
- A can of frozen orange juice – unfrozen
- Sugar

For this recipe, I use the biggest bowl I have home and my juice jar.

1- Cut all your fruits, put the wine and the rum in a bowl and make your fruit marinated all day in alcohol. Store the preparation in the fridge.
2- 30 minutes before serving, had sparkling water, Sprite, orange juice concentrate in the bowl. You can had a little bit of sugar if you find the mix need some.

- Caro AKA Carotte

How to : Origami Picnic Basket

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The instructions for this project on Martha Stewart's website were so small and almost vague, that I’ve decided to make a how to help those who wanted to do the Origami picnic basket. Trying with paper first is a GREAT idea and help visualized the fold that needs to be done.

1- Take a square of paper.

2- Fold in two from left to right

3- Fold in two again from top to bottom

4- Then fold in two again from left to right

5- Make a squash-fold with the upper right corner


6- Fold in two the bottom corner right on the bottom corner left

7- Make a squash-fold with the upper right corner


8- Fold back the left bottom corner on the right bottom corner


9- Place the shape upside-down

10- Fold right upper corner in the center of the shape

11- Fold left upper corner in the center of the shape. The left part must be overlapping the right part

12- Turn the shape over and re-do steps 10 and 11

13- When working with paper, put one finger in the center of the shape to gently open it and with the other hand, flatten the bottom on the box.


14- Roll the border to make the handles.


15- Voilà!

When working with fabric, I found that the basket was unfortunately too soft to carry out my picnic. But it makes a nice box in paper :)

Hope it helps!

- Caro AKA Carotte

How to : Feather earrings

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For Lychee birthday, I made her nice feather earrings. I was surprise to see how easy it was to make them and how cool the final result looked. Furthermore, once you have all the supply you need to do them, they take 15 minutes to make! So this is my “How to” for this project.

How to make feather earrings

You will need:
- Feathers (you can get them in a craft store or fishing store that provides supply for fishermen that craft flies)
- Earring loops (dollar store)
- Foldable connectors (beads store or craft store [I found some at Omer DeSerres in Quebec]
- Flat pliers
- Small pair of scissors
- Mod podge glue (white glue can also be used)
- String




1- Choose three nice feathers and tied them together with a little piece of string. Cut the exceeding string as close as possible to the knot.



2- Cut the exceeding feather to keep only the length of the connector. Trim the edge of the feather to make the top as small as possible.


3- Put a little bit of glue or Mod podge on the top and the knot of the string.


4- Using your finger and the tip of your little scissor, press the glued part of the top in the connector.




5- Using the flat pliers, fold the connector on the feathers.


6- Insert the connector in the earring loop and close it.


7- Voilà! You have one earring. You just need to repeat the procedure to make the second one.


- Caro AKA Carotte

I love cookies

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Tonight before sitting down at my desk to make some feather earrings, I decided to bake chocolate cookies. Now my house smell sooooooooo nice and I’m enjoying the fruit of my labor :)

I used a recipe I read in Saveur magazine and available here. They are called Zingerman’s Funky Chunky Dark Chocolate Cookies.

- Caro AKA Carotte