My Orange Tartan Pillow is in a "London Hotel" Etsy Treasury!

My orange tartan plaid Punk Rock Pillow is in an Etsy treasury by Jen8675309 called London Hotel! It's a really great treasury, so go check it out!

Buttons, Buttons Everywhere, but Not a Drop to...

Oh Dear Deer! 

A new pillow! This one was a long time in the making, as many of my pillows are.  I started these about 12 years ago, when I had intentions of making them into zippered pouches entirely covered in buttons, glass beads, sequins, paillettes, crystals and pearls. WITH a boarder of faux pearls... And with all that hand sewn on, boy are they heavy! So why not make pillows out of them instead?

I'm really into the woodland creatures movement that's so popular in home decor lately. I added a lovely antlered buck head to the center of the vintage natural slubby silk for added pop. Not that the fabric needed any extra pop, since it has lots of silver lurex strands running through it!  

I plan on making a few more pillows like this one in the future- and maybe using colored thread for more interest. If you would like to see a few more pictures of this deer pillow, please take a peek at my Etsy listing! It goes perfectly with the deer pillows in the Woodland Creatures section of my Etsy store, so take a look there to complete the look!

Weenie!

I'm finally getting around to posting new plush Dachshunds to my Etsy  store :) This is Lily, and she is very pleased to make your acquaintance! Se's extremely proud and fiercely loyal, but can be quite stubborn at times! You can take a closer look at here, or in my Flickr account!

She is hand made from a lovely hand screened vintage English floral chintz in pastels on pink Egyptian cotton. Her entire body is sewn with vintage Kismet mercerized cotton thread. Lily's nose is soft leather and her lovely bow is made of vintage stock French wired ribbon in a blue to mint ombre :) Wanna take her home?

Who Wants Cupcakes?

 

My little one had a birthday this month, and as a serial overachiever, I NEEDED to make the best cupcakes her class had ever (or will ever see).  This year's theme was nautical, so I headed over to Bake it Pretty to check out my options.

I learned about Bake it Pretty when i was doing research on making cupcake bath bombs. I read tons of blogs and tutorials, and Little Birdie Secrets recommended extra large icing tips from Bake it Pretty, and I've been buying almost all of my decorating supplies from them ever since!

Now I have a confession to make. I really am a fantastic baker, but I'm usually seriously pressed for time. I have no issues with using store bought cake mix in a pinch, and this is exactly what I did for these cupcakes. White cake mix is the best because it usually has really small air bubbles, and makes a firmer cake.  After following the directions on combining ingredients and mixing, I separated the batter into 3 parts, and added green coloring to one batch, and blue to the other (I prefer Wilton's icing colors). I added a spoon of each to the cups and swirled them with a toothpick. Easy peasy!

Icing was just as easy. I almost always make icing from scratch, but I've recently discovered that store bought icing can be tweaked to make something fantastic! For these cupcakes, I took two tubs of store bought vanilla icing and added a few drops of blue and green icing color. I also added a few drops of yummy bubblegum flavoring from Bake it Pretty for a nice custom flavor. I highly recommend LorAnn oils. I even add a drop of these oils to my coffee grinds before brewing a pot of coffee. A little trully goes a long way, and the price can't be beat!

After mixing the coloring and oil into the icing thoroughly, I slowly added powder sugar until the icing was able to hold a peak. I added a little more than one cup of powdered sugar, but be sure to add just a little at a time. Once it gets too hard, there's no way I know of to fix it!

I used my large star tip to ice this sea green deliciousness onto my cupcakes, then started to decorate. I used Necco wafer flavored Sugar Buttercups on some of the cupcakes for the girls, and the boys got pirate rings and sharks. Sticking to the nautical theme, edible Sugar Pearls were the only way to go! And of course, for a little bling, a pinch of Disco Dust (edible Aurora Borealis type glitter) really made these little guys sparkle! I really wish I was a better photographer, because this glitter is like nothing I've ever seen!

  

I purchased the wonderful Meri Meri Mermaid Cupcake Kit from Bake it pretty for the girls, and Wilton's Pirate cupcake kits for the boys.  Bake it Pretty also supplied the adorably scary shark toppers for the boys (I don't see them on the website now, but go ahead and ask if they have any. They're super helpful, and more than likely the sharks are in stock). 

 

And there you have it! These cupcakes really were incredibly easy to make. You just need some imagination and an awesome supplier. Bake it Pretty is absolutely my go-to shop, and I really hope they become yours too! I really couldn't have made these cupcakes without them! Please be sure to send me a message if you make anything using their product. I would love to see what you create!

My First Etsy Treasury - "Pee-Wee in Love"!

Please check out my very first Etsy Treasury called Pee-Wee in Love! It's getting a lot of likes and reblogs in my Tumblr blog, so be sure to check it out there too!

My Plush Matryoshka doll is in an Etsy Treasury!

Thank you Miss Mellie's Parlor for including Birdie, one of my Plush Matryoshka dolls in her awesome "To Russia With Love" Etsy Treasury! And take a moment to check out her Etsy Shop, where she has the prettiest pin-up girl inspired accessories on Etsy!

You can see more pictures of my nesting dolls, all of which are embroidered with vintage Kismet cotton thread and vintage fabrics on my Flickr photostream :)