Weekend Deal 10/30-11/1

For Halloween weekend, I will be offering a special deal in my Etsy shop. If you buy a piece of Verabelle clothing, you'll get a print of my animal artwork for free! And even better, you get to choose what print you want. Just include "BOGO" as the coupon code in notes to the seller when you check out.

This is part of a weekend Buy-One-Get-One-Free special running on Etsy, so check out other sellers' deals by clicking on "Gift Guides" from the front page and scanning down to "Buy-One-Get-One" promotions or by typing in "BOGO" in the search field.

Happy Shopping!

Amanda Aileen

Recent Feature

Verabelle was recently featured on the WaxMama blog, a blog about things to do, see, and buy around Charlotte. If you're interested, you can sign up for their daily updates by clicking here.

2 Artists for the Price of 1... My Collaboration with Jewelry Designer, Shannon Conlin

I recently joined forces with Charlotte jewelry designer, Shannon Conlin of Musette, to complete the finishing touches on one of my most-recent creations, Mack's Shades-of-Lake Sweater Vest. This was a lot of fun and something that I would definitely like to do again sometime!

Shannon is an amazing artist who creates one-of-a-kind jewelry, as well as paintings. She has considered herself an artist since childhood and received her formal training from the Savannah School of Art & Design (ummm... can I say "jealous!?"). Shannon also sells her wares on Etsy, so be sure and check out her shop.

Here is a little bit about our collaboration and the finished product...
When I found this vintage sweater vest from the thrift store, it was already a handmade treasure. Knit by hand in a wool yarn that appears to be hand-dyed, this vintage top has amazing workmanship. I kept the original navy blue buttons for their interesting shape and brilliant color and updated this vintage piece with a few choice embellishments. A colorful Mack the Mallard has been applied to chocolate brown felt, and I've hand-stitched him on using a tobacco brown thread. I worked with my seamstress to add a pieces from a vintage necktie to the neckline. After all this, I still felt that the piece was missing something.

Top 5 Tuesday... Winter Slippers

Since we have moved into our new house, I can't seem to find my warm winter slippers. I have been thudding around the house in Paul's giant pair (too big for even him), while he's away at work. If I would ever have to run in those things, I'm afraid I would fall and bust my tush. I need my own pair again, something warm and pretty in a size 6. Here are some of my favorites from Etsy. I am thinking about ordering the 2nd pair in the color pictured.

Oma House Slippers by Mamachee

This is a pattern to crochet your own. I love that they are two colors.

Recipe: Pumpkin White Chocolate-Butterscotch Cookies

This past weekend I set up a booth at the Eastern Cabarrus Historial Society Museum's Fall Festival in my hometown of Mt. Pleasant, NC. Aside from all my Verabelle wares, I also sold some of my favorite homemade baked goods. This brought back my summer days selling cheesecakes, caramels, pies, cookies, and endless carrot cakes at the farmer's market one year between college semesters. (That was the second best job ever, next to this one!)

Paul and I spent the day before the festival at my parents' house, using their giant double-oven kitchen getting everything ready. I made lots of fall goodies to share with my Mt. Pleasantians: cherry-chocolate-pistachio cookies, pumpkin white chocolate-butterscotch cookies, 5 flavors of truffles, gingerbread bars, and I couldn't have a bake sale without my famous carrot cake, so I made huge carrot cake muffins. I thought I'd share the recipe for the pumpkin cookies, a rather unusual and delicious treat!

Pumpkin White Chocolate-Butterscotch Cookies

from Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster (my favorite cookbook)

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1 c. butterscotch chips

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 large egg

2/3 c. cooked canned pumpkin puree or fresh mashed pumpkin

1 c. old-fashioned rolled oats

8 oz. white chocolate, cut into 1/4" chunks, or 1 1/2 c. white 
chocolate chips

1 c. chopped walnuts

Top 5 Tuesday... Cross Stitch

I'm starting a new series for my blog, inspired by all the special alliterative days on Twitter ("Music Monday," "Thank You Thursday," Follow Friday"). This one is going to be called "Top 5 Tuesday," and is going to include my top 5 picks for the category of my choice. 


Lately, I've been really obsessed with all the different cross stitching mediums that I've found on Etsy, so it was easy for me to pick my favorites for this one. As a fellow needle-&-thread artist, I can't help but be enthralled by these pieces. I find inspiration in the work of others, and these fiber artists make me want to do new things with my embroidery floss!


P.S. Please let me know if you have any category ideas.

Flora Wall Wear 18 by NeaWear

Fall Find

I love the photography (and clothing!) for the fall line from Dear Creatures. I mean, how can't you?! The line is available at a few places in my home state, and I'm not above driving just to track this stuff down!

Page 30

Here it is, folks - my very first magazine feature! Charlotte Magazine. October issue. Page 30. If you can't find a copy, call my mom. She's got plenty. :)

Lucky Thursday

Last night I was having dinner outside with a few of my girlfriends and... a bird pooped on me. It was pretty gross, and I quickly went to the bathroom to give my sweater a nice scrub. But bird poop is supposed to be good luck, so I accepted the positive omen and went on with my dinner. I guess it worked because today Verabelle made it to the front page of Etsy! For those of you who don't know, this is like the Holy Grail of Etsy. If you make it to the front page, you've made it. You've been noticed. The front page changes fairly frequently, so I was on there for about an hour. In this hour, the item featured got 400 views! Whoo-hoo!!! It definitely brought a lot of new traffic to my shop, and for that I am always grateful.

The item featured on the front page,

Sonia's Come-Over-for-Tea Gloves.