designers in tibet


inspiration from foreign cultures and fashions has always been important to free people. our designers travel to faraway locations to immerse themselves in different cultures, meet people and visit markets and shops, seeking unique finds and treasures to incorporate into free people designs. this video is from a few years ago, but we’ve never shared it on the blog…it was taken by two of our designers on a trip to tibet.
i hope to keep bringing you more imagery and video from the places our designers travel in the future!

holiday craft swap update

the deadline has passed to sign up for the holiday craft swap, and by now you should have an email from me with your swap partner’s name and address.
the following people’s email came back to me saying there was a problem with the email address. if you are one of these people, please email me at jkeim@freepeople.com with the accurate email address so that i can send you your partner’s information!!!
nikki murphy
rain sunae
kimberly biondi
everyone get crafting, and send your creation to your partner by friday, december 25!

book club update

is everyone enjoying on the road so far? feel free to raise any questions or share any thoughts you may have on part one! we thought we’d give everyone a little more time to get through part two, so check back for a post on monday, december 7, about part two of the book.

erickson beamon

erickson beamon jewelry is founded and designed by karen erickson, eric erickson and vicki beamon. as the story is told, their jewelry business was born out of necessity. while working with a designer for their premiere apparel runway show they found no one would lend them jewelry to accessorize with, so they strung crystals and beads on suede and launched their first jewelry line. immediately the jewelry took off and was noticed for its fashion forward, edgy quality. their trademark are handcrafted beaded necklaces, which are meticulously assembled by hand using tiny crystals and semi-precious stones. the unique, handmade yet fashionable quality of the pieces has drawn the attention of some of the most well-known designers in the fashion world, who have had erickson beamon design custom pieces for their shows. they have one retail store located in london that is described as “a place where people can have their fantasy come to life in jewels.”
we are thrilled to have their designs here at free people! view our full selection of erickson beamon here.

thanksgiving leftover pizza

i’m a vegetarian so i really don’t get too into the whole thanksgiving meal, and i never have the problem of figuring out what to do with lots of leftover turkey, stuffing, etc…but i found this recipe for thanksgiving leftover pizza on savoryreviews.com that sounds really good- even to me. here’s a recipe to give you an idea, but really this is something you can be creative with and come up with your own recipe!

thanksgiving leftover pizza
• 1 biscuit dough (or use store bought pizza crust)
• 1 cup leftover gravy – plus a little extra for drizzling
• 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 cup leftover stuffing
• 1 cup leftover turkey
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 cup leftover cranberry sauce
– pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
– in a bowl combine biscuit ingredients and form a dough. next turn the dough out onto a pizza pan. since biscuit dough is fragile and sticky, it is best not to use a pizza peel and stone. form a pizza dough.
– bake the dough for 5-7 minutes, until it starts to get a little firm.
– remove the dough from the oven and coat with the gravy or cranberry sauce- your choice!
– spoon the potatoes, turkey and stuffing onto the pizza. spread it out evenly over the whole pizza.
– top with the cheese (again, optional, and use whatever kind of cheese you like).
– bake in the preheated oven for 12-18 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.
– remove the pizza from the oven and let cool for a minute before cutting. serve with a side of gravy for dipping or with dollops of cranberry sauce.

– enjoy!

ice ice baby

philly’s own outdoor olympic-sized skating rink, the blue cross riverrink, reopens today for three months of ice skating enjoyment! located at penn’s landing (where market st. meets columbus blvd.) the ice rink is right on the delaware river and has beautiful views of the ben franklin bridge and philly skyline. plus, if you go on friday or saturday nights between 8:30pm and 1:00am, there’s a live dj and/or karaoke.
even if you’re not great at ice skating, it’s a ton of fun to try and a great workout as well :)

meet the holiday helper!


sooooo…i’m well aware of the holiday rush. it’s pretty hard to ignore. i’ve already started scanning the web in hopes of sparking a creative idea for gifts to family and friends… which is why i wanted to make myself and the free people home office at your disposal this year for all sorts of tips, suggestions, and advice during the holidays. i’ll be using twitter to post cool holiday gift ideas, recipes, fashion advice, and general inspiration to make this holiday unique.
come find me here…and get started by downloading our 2009 holiday card! click on the image above to go to our flickr page where you can download the card.
happy holidays!

happy thanksgiving!

this is from a few years ago but it’s pretty funny/interesting…
apparently, the person responsible for photocopying for a penn psychology 101 class took the liberty of adding the instructions “draw a turkey” to the last page, and the results were scanned and posted on flickr.
here are some of my favorites:

and here are some numbers from the results:
9 hungry folks drew a cooked butterball turkey
5 had their turkey saying “eat me!” … but 6 had the turkey protest “don’t eat me!”
17 turkeys were gobble, gobble-ing
21 wished a happy thanksgiving
8 wore a hat
6 found themselves with a few more legs than you might expect
108 were “left handed” … 72 were “right handed” … although I counted freehand-drawn hands too, and wasn’t very exact about how I chose some of the blobbier ones.
click here to see them all.
hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday :)