Friday, June 29, 2012



Last night I stumbled upon this pinterest board and thought "so this is heaven."

Based on my wardrobe & bedroom, it's really no secret that I am a sucker for faded shades of color. So oodles and oodles of pastel goodness, right in front of my eyes?? I just about died. Pretty frocks and crinolines.. tasty close-ups of sugary sweets ... some adorable pastel kitty cats, of course. It would be cruel of me not to share this (I'm making the assumption that if you like this blog you absolutely MUST like pastel colors? yes?) so I picked out some of my favorites. They all link back to their respective pinterest pages, or you can view all of the pins (warning: clicking this link may induce eye candy overload!) here!













I got this dress as a little reward to myself for making 5,000 sales in my etsy shop. I think it's nice to have things that celebrate your milestones or happy moments. That way whenever you wear them or look at them, you're reminded of something that brought you joy, or an achievement that made you proud! :)


Dress - modcloth | Belt - Forever 21 | Shoes - from my grandmom

Thursday, June 28, 2012



I have a DIY guest post over on Mermaidens! Take a peek here! :)





You'll need: a white cotton dress (or shirt, or skirt), two bottles of fabric paint (your main color and white), a wooden block (I stole one from my little brother's old block set), scissors, a compass, a piece of craft foam, a paintbrush and some free time.

1. With the compass, draw a half-circle onto your foam. You want it to be about the same width as the wooden block. 2. Using the half-circle as your guide, sketch in the rest of your scallop with pencil, and then cut it out. 3. Glue the piece of foam to the wooden block, making sure that the ends of the scallop are even with the top. (It's okay if the bottom of the scallop doesn't quite reach the bottom of the block :)



4. Make sure you have cardboard or something under your dress so the paint won't seep through to the back side! Then put a thin layer of fabric paint on your stamp using a paintbrush. 5. Starting at the top of the dress, stamp your first scallop. Then repeat the pattern underneath, with the next two scallops meeting in the middle of the one above. 6. For each new row, mix a little bit of white fabric paint with your other color to achieve the gradient look. This was an important part of my project because I knew that I didn't want to stamp the skirt (the gathering at the waist would have just been way too tricky to maneuver!) so I wanted it to fade to white before it hit the skirt. 7. Let your dress dry for a few hours (I let mine dry for 24 hours before I wore it, although it felt dry much sooner) and voila! You now have a brand new dress that would make any mermaid proud! :)



Wednesday, June 27, 2012



1. Thoroughly Mod scooter dress from Modcloth
2. Bow tassel brooch from Topshop
3. Metal keeper skinny waist belt from ASOS
4. Candy store purse from ASOS
5. Fancy Fine dress from Modcloth
6. Half frame metal sunglasses from ASOS
7. Emma shoes in white from BAIT footwear
8. Metal handle orange clutch from ASOS



A couple weeks ago, me and Amber met in real life! We've been internet friends for a while now, but never actually met until this month. Amber was visiting family in Philadelphia, and popped over to New Jersey so we could take the train up to NYC for the day! My mom tagged along, and we all had a really fantastic time! I wish she lived closer so we could do this more often :)

We used up a couple of disposable cameras, and I finally got around to scanning the prints this week! Here are some of our favorites! (Oh and ps. I redesigned her blog as a birthday present! You can take a peek here!! :)






Amber and my mom looking at nail polish.. they both painted one nail (and my mom's is STILL on and hasn't chipped! I want to go back and buy some now if it holds up that well!)





We both purchased won Dundie Awards at the NBC store, and practiced our acceptance expressions over dinner at a little restaurant nearby.






This was the first Topshop visit for both of us -- and oh my gosh what an amazing experience! If you need another size, they actually go out on the floor to get it for you while you wait in the dressing room. I felt like a princess! I ended up getting the frilly skirt & scalloped shirt in the picture, along with a minty green hair bow.



Amber's first time hailing a cab.. or at least trying to! lol!




Kate: dress - modcloth | sweater - old navy | shoes - asos | bag - modcloth
Amber: dress - h&m | shoes - flea market | bag - grandmother's

Tuesday, June 26, 2012



It is so hard to take a flattering photo of a burger, isn't it? I mean, they aren't the prettiest food to begin with, but if, like me, you aren't too skilled in the art of food photography, it's especially tricky to make a burger look appetizing. Anyway... suffice it to say, these were absolutely scrumptious no matter what they look like in my photo ;)

I adapted the recipe from this one for coconut-curry chickpea quinoa pineapple burgers. The only thing I kept the same was the chickpeas, panko flakes and the basic process, but I needed some sort of guide for making burgers from scratch since I've never done it before! I usually go for Morningstar Grillers Originals (which, by the way, are SO tasty!) but I was in the mood for something more home made :)

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup skim milk (or soy milk)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon parsley (I used dried, but fresh would be great!)
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash no-salt onion seasoning
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked
2/3 cup panko flakes
Sweet BBQ sauce
Pineapple slices

Combine chick peas, milk, garlic, parsley and onion seasoning in a food processor until it's all mashed together. Stir in rice and panko, and then form into 6 patties (the original recipe called for 4 but they were too ginormous to fit onto my burger rolls so next time I'm going with 6.)

Oil your pan and then grill until they're nice and brown on both sides. If you've ever had a homemade veggie burger, you probably know that unless they're well-done it can be hard to tell the difference between the burger and the roll, since they're so mushy. So I let mine get nice and crispy before taking them off the grill. I topped it with a slice of grilled pineapple and about a teaspoon of sweet BBQ sauce! Deee-lish!



We went down the shore again last weekend. It was such a lovely day, but incredibly gusty! I couldn't look at Kyle when he was taking these photos because the wind was blowing so forcefully in my face.

While I'm on the subject of wind and beaches, I should probably mention that I wasn't in any danger of flashing other beach-goers if a large gust came along. Underneath the dress I have on bike shorts :) Fool proof.





dress - charlotte russe | shoes - target | sunglasses - h&m

Monday, June 25, 2012



Rose from Silhouetted is offering one lucky lady a rainbow cake necklace! Is it not the sweetest (I mean that in every sense of the word) little piece of confectionery jewelry goodness?!



What you'll win: One rainbow cake necklace!

How to enter: Follow Rose's blog (this is mandatory!) and leave some way to contact you (email, twitter, blog, whatever floats your boat!) Also, you must be a follower of this blog to enter! This is mandatory, too! (And, please, none of this follow-and-leave as soon as the giveaway is over jazz.. that's super rude!)

For an additional entry: (leave a separate comment for this entry)

Tweet this "I just entered to win a pretty sweet necklace on @kategabrielle's blog http://www.scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com" (Only counts if you use that exact tweet.)

This giveaway ends on July 2nd at 12:01AM EST. Giveaway is over.

Winner: Comment #22


Today is the grand opening of Kitschy Digitals! It's a brand new marketplace where you can buy all kinds of digital wares like embroidery patterns, scrapbooking materials, fonts, blog embellishments and more. I am so incredibly excited to have my designs available for sale in this new digital wonderland, and just to be a part of something so cool! The best part is that the items are available for immediate download -- just pay and you're all set! Or don't pay... there are LOTS of freebies on the site too!! I have two freebies in my shopfront, right here! :)

Oh, and as if the freebies, immediate downloads and general digital awesomeness aren't already enough, there's also a sitewide 15% off sale going on to celebrate the grand opening! Use code "GrandOpening15" at checkout!

And if you have a minute, please hop over to Danielle Thompson's blog! This website was her brainchild, and she deserves heaps and heaps of congratulations, compliments, and virtual confetti (and cake!) for all of her hard work!



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