Cupcake Dreams

Remember this post from Rachael? As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for Jeff's niece. She turns 5 on St. Patrick's Day and her birthday party is this weekend. She loves to bake so a cupcake basket should be a big hit. It was fun putting together everything. Above is a cute little token I found at a local gift shop.

I had a hard time finding cupcake paper believe it or not! I finally found this wrapping paper online. The J is from say it with letters! and is in their Olive Juice font.

A cute cupcake apron I found here after some good steering from Sadie Lou. The cupcake barrettes I found here.

Williams Sonoma proved to be a treasure trove. I found this perfect spatula, the child size rolling pin and pastry mat...

...and my favorite find - this adorable cupcake holder. This holds one cupcake perfectly so it can be carried in a school bag for a special treat and the frosting won't get all messed up (I remember so looking forward to my cupcake snack only to find messy frosting - wasn't that the worst?)
Some sprinkles, cupcake papers, and a custom Pink Cupcake recipe for the birthday girl.

I hope she likes it!

Hugs,

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

I thought I would show you a few of the bunnies from around my house. They love coming out of hiding this time of the year. Above is a new addition from Bayberry Cove. I love that it looks like a chocolate bunny. Yum!

This is a ceramic bunny cart that my mother made years ago. She has had a lot of her ceramics in storage and last year I was lucky enough to snag a few for holiday decor.

This is another new addition from a good friend.

I found this little cutie at HomeGoods last year. Purple is one of my favorite colors and I love that she is holding a purple flower.

This is another of my mom's ceramic bunnies. I love the colors of her little sweater and the sweet scalloped edges.

I was feeling some major love over the past few days. I received four awards from Louise, Mary, and Britt. Thanks to all - they are each wonderfully inspirational in their own right. I would like to pass all of these on to one of my favorite sweeties - Ms. Mary at Oh Merci.

Lastly, if you haven't noticed - I've added a new Etsy sidebar representing some of my favorite Easter offerings from members of the Cottage Style Street Team (of which I'm proud to be a part of!). Check out the work of these ladies - I think you'll be quite impressed!

The 'ol College Try

Okay, so I can't sew. Can't isn't probably the best word - sewing challenged may better describe it. I took home ec classes and all that good stuff but it was quite a while ago and I just didn't use my skills and as they say "use it or lose it." I've tried my hand at sewing on several occasions since home ec. Perhaps most notably was the cafe curtains I dared to try when we first moved into the house (blame HGTV!) - let's just say they weren't the best looking things. I kept them up for about 2 days. I think the silent wide eyed looks from family did them in.

I had a sewing machine on my Christmas list this year but then took it off - figuring I wouldn't use it enough to justify the expense. I've looked into sewing classes but most of the ones around here require you to bring your own machine and even if I did have one - I'm not lugging it across a parking lot! Other projects and ideas have pushed sewing out of the way for now though I feel I'll revisit it again someday. All this being said, I had a hankering to try making a heart softie recently. I decided that I could hand stitch it (these skills aren't much better then the machine ones!) to save my sanity. Above is a photo of the results - I actually do have it displayed in a prominent location and my husband seems to genuinely like it! Let's just not look at the stitching too closely now.

xo,