It is quickly feeling like fall here in Portland. I usually get up early to have my cup of french press before everyone else wakes up. This morning the air was crisp & chilly and I quickly rummaged about for a cosy sweater & woolly socks. In honor of the changing season, here are some new zipper pouches in fabulous colors & prints.
Sriracha Strawberry Margarita
As a blender / mixologist, combining new flavors and having it work out makes for a very happy day. With Sriracha always in the studio we've been getting creative. Sriracha Sugar is our new favorite Frankie & Coco PDX Kitchenette product. It's been tested and it tastes damn good. Check out our new summer drink recipe for your happy hour enjoyment.
Strawberry Sriracha Margarita
Margarita Ingredients
2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries
1/2 cup tequila
fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste
1 tsp Sriracha
1 tbsp agave nectar (or simple syrup)
2 cups ice (if using fresh strawberries)
Sugar Rim Ingredients
1 tbsp Frankie & Coco PDX Kitchenette Sriracha sugar
Lemon slice
**serves 2**
Instructions
1. Blend all Margarita ingredients together until smooth.
2. Rim your glass using the lemon slice and Sriracha Sugar.
3. Pour Sriracha Strawberry Margarita into the rimmed glass.
light as air
We are absolutely IN LOVE with these new linen scarves. The colors are perfect for summer, they are luxuriously soft and light as air. Enough said. Get yours in our shop.
circles, dots and leaves, oh my!
I love lists and organizing. These zipper pouches are my favorite right now. They are roomy enough to fit all the essentials (cash, cards, keys, phone..lipstick), but small enough to throw into a larger bag or even your jacket pocket. Here are the latest in our shop, made out of amazing Japanese fabrics (compliments of my dear friend Alison). The colors and prints are so lovely and you better grab yours before they are all gone!
crafty wonderland spring sale 2014
We had a great time participating in the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale this past weekend! Portland has so many amazing artists/designers/makers and we were excited to be included in such a talented group. We met lots of new people and got to hang with some of our dear friends, such as Erica from Thorn & Wynn, Amy from Forge + Fire, Alison from House of Moss and the lovely Holly from MarshMueller. Here's some pictures of our booth & products!
weekend work
It was a busy, busy weekend. In addition to our regular orders, we are in the midst of creating for the fabulous Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. We've been slow roasting new salt batches in enticing, unique flavors and piecing together gorgeous colors & fabrics into beautiful bags. One of my favorite details is our hand printed logo in each bag. It takes extra time, but I really enjoy this meditation & connection to each piece. Have a wonderful Monday and hope to see our local friends at the Crafty Wonderland sale on Saturday, May 10th from 11am-6pm!
spring sale!
We are absolutely in love with these colors & textures. Our ever popular cosmetic bags, toiletry bags and clutches in spring fabrics, including organic cotton canvas & linen! These make a perfect Mother's Day or birthday gift. Stop by our Etsy shop and use coupon code SPRING14 for 20% off your entire purchase until Friday, May 2, 2014.
Urban Craft Uprising
We are excited to announce that
Frankie & Coco PDX was accepted into
Urban Craft Uprising
::
Seattle’s Largest Indie Craft Show
July 12th & 13th, 2014
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
Happy Birthday Frankie & Coco PDX
Happy 1-year anniversary to Frankie & Coco PDX today! So grateful to all our family, friends and customers for an amazing year. A small business in beautiful Portland, Oregon created by two great friends that are inspired by color, texture, vintage details and organic elements. How lucky we are! Due to a busy production schedule at the moment we decided to celebrate a little bit later in May and will send out the details soon.
the latest
The 1st Anniversary of opening Frankie & Coco PDX is fast approaching! Sarah & I are so grateful for the amazing journey we have had thus far and excited for what the future will bring. Our Etsy shop is flourishing, celebrating 500 sales this month. We launched two shops with Shoppe by Scoutmob earlier this year. Frankie & Coco Kitchenette, which features our small batch artisan infused finishing salts and Frankie & Coco PDX, which highlights our beautiful, yet practical bags. In addition to planning our 1st Anniversary soirée & trunk show (more info soon), we are busy preparing for the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. This is our first time participating in this event and we can't wait! If you live in or near Portland, mark your calendars and come see us!
oregon colors
Bringing the colors of Oregon into the studio. Cosmetic bags inspired by my recent trip to the beautiful coastal town of Oceanside.
i heart oregon
Living in Oregon is truly a blessing. I love that the wild, windy coast and the lush, emerald mountains are a quick hour away! I recently spent a long weekend with my family in the hidden gem of Oceanside. We had lovely pockets of sunshine, quick bursts of stormy weather and found inspiration under every small rock.
Ethan & Coco walking the beach.
Aidan becoming one with the waves.
Frankie was enthralled by every small shell.
Our amazing crab feast. Delicious.
Oregon Truffle Salt Popcorn
This week Frankie & Coco PDX's Oregon Truffle Salt is our salt of the week. It really does change by the week around here. We do love Sriracha Salt sprinkled over bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. It's Friday movie night here and we have a great recipe for the perfect popcorn. We use air-popped popcorn but you could also use stove-top or microwave. If you like a little more sophisticated taste to your popcorn (beyond butter and salt) there are many options using flavorful oils and sautéed garlic to melted butter. Let us know how it goes. Feel free to swap out any of the Frankie & Coco PDX's salts for this recipe.
Oregon Truffle Sea Salt Popcorn with Herbes de Provence
Cook time: 5 mins
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons melted butter, or to taste
- 1 teaspoons dried Herbes de Provence, crumbled
- ½ cup popcorn kernels
- 1½ teaspoons Oregon Truffle Sea Salt
Instructions:
- Pop your popcorn kernels in an air popper.
- Transfer popcorn to a large bowl. We use a large metal mixing bowl.
- Pour the butter over the hot popcorn, sprinkle with the Oregon Truffle Sea Salt and Herbes de Provence. For a perfect even coat of butter and salt we place another metal mixing bowl over the top and shake vigorously. You can also toss until evenly coated.
Wednesday Packaging Inspiration
As a seller on Etsy I love receiving packages from other Etsy sellers. Recently in the market for new sofa pillowcases I of course turned to Etsy. I always take note of other sellers packaging and fell in love with this simple packaging from Home Living Ideas located in Bulgaria. Plus, all the cool foreign stamps and language didn't hurt. The pillows below are from Home Living Ideas, The Utilitarian Franchise and Celine and Kate. Love them all.
sunny days
Portland is absolutely glorious! The moments in the studio seem lighter and bursting with creativity with the sun streaming in the windows. It was a wonderful sunny weekend, full of bike rides, tennis, friends, family, designing and gorgeous cherry blossoms. Here are some snapshots from the past week.
Biking along the waterfront with my little girls, Frankie & Coco. Photo taken by the amazing Amy Ouellette.
Coco waiting for ice cream. Love the colors.
Frankie reading in bed on Sunday morning.
Inspiration in Africa
Visiting Kenya not only once but now twice is truly a blessing. As an added bonus this past February I got to add a five day stay down in South Africa to visit my parents. I am blessed to travel in Kenya with an amazing organization, A Voice Is Heard, who are educating girls and empowering women in Maasai communities. I was awestruck by the women of Kenya and South Africa and their desires to start businesses and NGOs, help others, strengthen their communities and educate their daughters. These are a few of the women I met along the way.
Our traveling partners with A Voice Is Heard (minus the amazing Wendy Ellsworth). This is an amazing group of mothers, caregivers and kind hearted women. In addition, they are photographers, writers, nurses, business managers, born and raised New Yorkers, former cattle ranch owners and so much much more. All coming together for a trip to support the women and girls in Kenya. So lucky to be included in this group of amazing women.
The women of Indepen Village and Carmen Myers, founder of A Voice Is Heard.
The future of the Maasai women. These girls and their families supported and participated in the second annual female genital non-cutting ceremony for girls. A beautiful coming of age ceremony for these young ladies. Their opportunity to attend high school, college and choose their own husband just opened up exponentially.
Women of the Meyelo Beading Group. These women support their children's education by selling their bead work. Also, included are Janice a young college student studying land laws to help her community and Wendy Ellsworth, author and amazing bead artist.
My friend Salome who lost her husband one year ago and has three daughters in school and a son in college. She started a kiosk outside her house and sells flour, batteries and other wares to the local community.
I got to babysit Ladadi while her mother was working. I was in heaven and reminded of how beautiful and bright the future can be.
Fabric Inspiration
Sarah has just returned from a three week whirlwind trip to Kenya and South Africa. More to come on her travels soon, but for today we thought you'd enjoy a little fabric eye candy from South Africa.
Sarah's favorite shop, on what she called, "Fabric Street" in Durban. Any store with haberdashery on their sign has our attention.
Similar to an oil cloth. Would make a great travel cosmetic bag.
Just plain fun.
Traditional fabric for the local Durban seamstress.
blooming
The sun has been shining in Portland and we are inspired to start sporting some cheerful colors! Here are the new clutches that just hit our etsy shop! Great patterns, organic canvas, lush colors...
Eggplant purple & ivory organic canvas clutch with citron denim accents.
Smoky gray & ivory organic canvas with stone denim accents. Lovely folded or not.
Ahh, color pop! Indigo & white abstract canvas with turquoise brushed denim accents.
ruby red
We just returned from a quick business trip to Seattle. Despite the unfortunate weather, we had a great time perusing fabulous stores and looking at fabrics. Today we are back in the studio and getting organized for our week. We finished up a big custom project...lovely ruby red canvas bags. Here are some process pics.
