I adore succulents.  I’m becoming obsessed actually. While considered a bit like a cactus, with the little water they need, succulents don’t look out of place in a Southern home. We have a concrete pot in the North Carolina mountains filled with succulents.  They’ve been there for decades and no one does anything to them. They stay outside year round and they continue to flourish year after year.  This no fuss attitude makes them dear to my heart.  Happily, succulents look equally at home with both traditional and modern decor.  I think they are like a piece of coral in their ability to look at place where ever you put it.  Here are some of our favorite ways to add the succulent look to your everyday life:

Did it take your breath away like it did mine? AshBlue in Nashville can order it for you, through company Be Sweet. Lg size (7x12x28) is $590 and the smaller square size (7x12x12) is $270

www.ashblue.com

With these candles, you could skip flowers at your next dinner party. Available through Tuvalu, $6 each

www.tuvaluhome.com

I love the mixed metal color and visual impact. ETSY $140

Getchen Walker ETSY site for ring, and other fabulous items,  click here.

Available at simplysucculents, this 22" turtle is just $75. A living piece of art.

www.simplysucculents.com

And check out this centerpiece that Krislyn design did for a wedding.  If you click this Krislyn link, you’ll see more of their stunning arrangements.

This picture caused me to start a file - "Weddings." My daughters are just 8 and 11...but it's never to early when you see something like this arrangement.

Available from ETSY, this living wreath is just $69.50

etsy link for wreath, click here.

• I’m wondering if Nest Nashville might have any succulent decor on sale during their annual 20-75% off everything sale.  It’s going on through Feb. 3rd and is a completely fabulous shop.  Stop by Taco Mamacitas, next door, and you’ll be glad you made your way to the Edgehill Village shops….
• Remember to subscribe for StyleBlueprint emails (it’s free) so you don’t miss a post!  Click here to subscribe.
• And, if you are visiting from Ms. Cheap’s blog, mentioning StyleBlueprint in the Tennessean, our consignment is this Friday and you can click here for more details!

Buying something and feeling good about what you are supporting is the ultimate way to get the shopping high. As we (almost!) finish up our theme of gifts this December, we bring you a couple organizations you might not know about– but that we wanted to ensure you did– as each one supports women trying to escape the clutch of poverty.

Mekong Blue: 12 beautiful scarves, 1 worthy cause.  “Out of the embattled Stung Treng region of Cambodia comes Mekong Blue, a collection of hand-woven scarves by women artisans who are determined to uplift their families from a life of poverty. Using time-honored talents passed down from generation to generation, the women of Stung Treng fashion beautiful creations for a better tomorrow. Each woman who creates a scarf provides for her family and her future. Each woman who owns a scarf wears a magnificent symbol of tradition and hope.”

Each scarf takes up to 3 weeks to complete and is made using hand pulled silk.  The scarves are of such high quality that they have received the UNESCO award from the U.N. which recognizes “superior quality, creativity and originality.”

Amazingly, these 17.5″x74″ scarves are all priced b/t $45-$60.  So, feel good by ordering some scraves for your last minutes gifts with a click to Mekong Blue.  The US side of this organization was recently launched by Nashvillian Anne Wallingand her family, so the scarf will get to you quickly!  If you need one super quick, stop by St David’s Episcopal Church in West Meade as they are sold there.

And here is the community you are helping out:

KEZA:

I love this organization because Keza develops woman owned businesses in Africa. This is an organization set up to duplicate a true success story: Buranga is an organization set up in Rwanda to give a business to women desiring a pathway out of poverty.  This ambitious goal was successful and provides well paying jobs to 37 mothers.  Now, this model is being duplicated, under the umbrella organization, KEZA, all over Eastern Africa.  2009 collections were designed by Rhode Island School of Design & hand crafted by Rwandan women.

From the website KEZA:

“They are proud entrepreneurs, fully capable of achieving sustainable growth. Through the proliferation of their products, and progressive industry model, they play a significant role in rebranding their country with beauty and excellence.

In order to replicate the template we created through BURANGA, we formed a luxury fashion label and business development firm called KEZA, meaning “beautiful” in Rwanda’s native tongue. Now we’re replicating the BURANGA model all over East Africa.

image courtesy of funny site Post Secret

Mother-In-Laws.  So hard.  So hard. I can feel heads nodding all around the South as you read that truth.  To help you out, here is my top 10 list.  Most are local to Nashville, but a couple are available online.  And, any of these Nashville stores will take your order by phone if you are part of our growing readership that lives somewhere else.

1)Allison Evans hand-made ceramic bowl; available in Nashville exclusively at Digs: $85.  This is the perfect size to hold a side dish on the dinner table, a pile of soaps in the powder room, or placed stylishly atop a stack of large books on a coffee table.  Digs Interiors also carries serving platters far larger (up to $350) in this same line as well as sauce bowls for just $25. (Digs JUST moved and opened next to the Crowe’s Nest on Bandywood.)

2)Nashville by Design: Architectural Treasures.  Bob Schatz’s latest book full of his fabulous photography.  Text by Christine Kreyling; With 170 pages and 244 color photographs, this book will not just lay dead on a coffee table.  It will be picked up, loved and possibly dog eared with time. Available at Caldwell Collection: $48.95

3) Cashmere anything, but how about cashmere slippers? Bluefly currently has brown, grey and black by Kashmere for $60.99 reduced from $120.  MIL doesn’t need to know you bought them on sale.  Available in s/m.  White + Warren makes some eco-cashmere slippers and they are the cutest slippers featured here. These are not dyed but retain the beauty of natural cashmere.  Available from SimplySoles.com for $175 in small, large and x-large, but sold out in medium.  However, medium is the only size available at the White+Warren website– so we’ve got you covered! Restoration Hardware may be the steal of day with their Cashmere Slippers on sale for just 34.99.

bluefly $60.99

White+Warren $175 eco-cashmere

Restoration Hardware $34.99

4) Sour Cream Caramel Cake from Leland Riggins’ Dessert Designs. There are some that truly don’t need anything else,”stuff” wise, but they always love yummy treats. What could be more tasty than a Leland Riggins Caramel cake? Website states that 48 hours are needed to make the cake.  As the Holidays approach, I’d order a week out just to be sure.  Cakes can be shipped….$39.

5)Terrarium from AshBlue. How pretty is this?  Includes all the plants inside and you don’t have to have a green thumb for these plants to thrive.  In fact, ideally, they will thrive without anything beyond the initial water as they make their own little eco-system in there!  20″ x 10″ this terrarium is quite large- don’t let the picture fool you $145

6)A watercolor painting of the family, or the grand kids, by Susan Underwood.  These faceless beauties are total steals starting at $135.  See below.  Aren’t they great?  Email her your photo (check website for details) and get her your check by Dec 12th and you can give your MIL, or your own mom, a special piece of original art that she will surely love.  I’m actually ordering one of my husband with our son for his Christmas present.  I hope he doesn’t read this and ruin the surprise.  Ask Susan to open a paypal account so we can all pay online.  But a snail mail check is worth the time to get one of these lovelies ordered: www.susanwoodardwatercolors.com

7)Low County Luxe Candle from Spruce, in Brentwood.  Candles are a hard one for our Mother-in-Laws as the packaging is usually tiny and we want our gifts to be a bit bigger unless it is cashmere or jewelry.  These candles come boxed in a rather large and beautiful box.  I put my iphone in the picture below so you can get a better sense of the box size.  Scents include: Spanish Moss (my favorite), Gulah, New Orleans and High Cotton.  Super eco-friendly and burns for 100+ hours. $50

Party to Go Tote from Custom Embroidery.  This tote solves all the problems of how to carry loose items in the car in an organized fashion with no broken bottles!  Get it monogrammed for MIL to know how much you love her.  $30 includes that monogram.

9)Clarisonic.  Skin Guru Tracey Harris introduced me to the Clarisonic and my skin has thanked her ever since.  Available at many local stores including Trace Skin Care, Maxwell Aesthetics and The Cosmetic Market. $195

10) Set of 4 glass ornaments, each encasing a different feather;  available at AshBlue for $24 each, or $96 for 4.  These just ooze “special”:

Happy Shopping!