Rosanna's cupcake fairy party hat

This is the party hat that is part of a large order that I did for Rosanna from Italy. It's the first hat I've done, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I drew the cupcake and added a vintage photo for the fairy with vintage book page wings. I added vintage crepe paper, glitter, tulle, millinery flowers and ric rac. And I made little stars to accent the top too. In the last pic you'll see Sabrina trying on the hat so I could get the right length on the ties. She was a great model! In the two posts following are pix of the banner and tags I made that were part of the same order. Bye for now! :)

Rosanna's cupcake banner

This is the cupcake banner that I did for Rosanna in Italy, it spells out her daughter's name. Each cupcake is hand drawn and one of a kind. Then I trimmed them with chenille stem, tinsel and glitter. The medallions that have the letters spelling "Nicole" are actually vintage clay poker chips. I have shown closeups of four of the pennants, but you can see more pics on my flickr site.
And of course there are glitter and crepe paper accents. Check out the post below to see the tag set that I also did for the same order. :)

Rosanna's cupcake tags

This is the set of tags that I did for Rosanna in Italy. It is part of a large order that I just finished. I'm showing close ups of four of the set of six. I did a cupcake theme in pinks, cream and chocolate brown. And added lots of glitter of course. Then I added pink lace bias tape for the ties. I just love this color combination! It's one of my favorites! :)

My first Giveaway!!!!

Finally got around to doing a giveaway for any readers out there that I may have. I know I have at least a few return visitors. Anyway, the prize isn't something I made. I will probably do a giveaway like that on my 100th post. But, for now, I found these great little animals and merry-go-round cake topper at the thrift store. I really love them, and I thought someone else might like them too. The cake topper doesn't still have the horse or straws, it's just the canopy. Everything is in great condition though, I don't think the animals were ever used! So, if you would like to be put into the drawing for these guys, just leave a comment with your name and email address. By next Sunday, at 8 pm central, I will draw a name. Wouldn't they be great for a circus or zoo themed birthday party! Or to decorate a child's bedroom! Well, good luck! Bye for now! :)

Sneek peek and thrift store goodies

This is a little sneek peek of a set of tags that I'm doing for Rosanna in Italy. All are cupcake pixies. Will show the whole set when I get the rest of her order done. Still have a banner and party hat that I'm working on.
These are the goodies I found at the thrift store this weekend. Everything was 50% off, so I let loose! I found a bag full of honycomb tissue animals and a merry-go-round cake topper. I also found the book, "The Animal's Tea Party" and a bird book. Then I found the cream bowl, silver sugar bowl and dog figurine. Oh, and some brown seam binding too. Below, is a better pic of the bowl, dog and sugar bowl. It all came to $8! Not bad eh? Bye for now!

Thrift store finds and bulletin boards

Here are my latest finds from the thrift store, I love that place more and more all the time! First there are two silver trays and one silver bowl, all for 70 cents each. The two little frames were each 70 cents also. Then there was the ric rac for 30 cents each and some little truffle boxes and cups. Lastly, I found a pink cutting mat for about $1! I have it on my desk right next to my computer, so I can cut and work on the internet at the same time.

These are pix of my two bulletin boards, I LOVE bulletin boards! I buy these at the thrift store whenever they are cheap enough. The first one I painted the frame light blue with chocolate brown polka dots, and the background brown. It turned out to be the perfect spot to show off Jenny and Aaron's cupcake artwork. I also have some of Sabrina's artwork hanging at the bottom. The second one is cream with black seaming binding tape around the edge. It was mostly Halloween, when I first put it up, but now it more general. Well, gotta get back to work, as I have a big order to complete for Rosanna from Italy. Bye for now! :)

Sabrina's zinnia

This is the zinnia plant that Sabrina gave to me as a seedling for Mother's Day, can't believe it made it! I have a serious bunny problem and has been very dry and hot here, so I've had to go the extra mile to keep this little guy safe and sound. Like using lots and lots of pepper wax spray! That's the only thing I've found that really works on keeping the rabbits at bay. I did try this urine spray stuff, but the smell was enough to make me barf! And with very little rain, our water bill will be sky high I'm sure. The good thing is our heat finally broke from the 90's and 100's to 70's and 80's ! That's more like it!

This little windmill is a gift from a very good friend of ours named George. He used to be our neighbor when we lived in our first house. He's a bachelor in his 50's and I think he kind of adopted us as his family. See more pix of my garden in the next post!

More garden pix

Here are some pix of some of the ornaments in my garden. I have really big catmint plants that like to spread out and they are perfect for nestling little gnomes, mushrooms and bunnies.
This stone is a gift I got a couple of years ago from my mother-in-law. I just love it!
My hollyhocks are doing okay inspite of the bunnies chewing on them. This one has started to bloom.

Last, is a pic of the beautiful sunset we had as I was taking these pix. I love a good sunset, one with lots of clouds and pinks and purples. Thanks for taking a peek at my little garden, bye for now! :)

New for Etsy

Just a few things I'll be adding to Etsy tonight. First is a collage called "Perfect Chocolate Cake" using an old frame that I painted pink with accents of cream. I painted a background of brown with cream polka dots and decoupaged a copy of a vintage recipe card. I added a drawing I did in colored pencil of a chocolate cake on a pedistal and embellished with pink glass glitter. I added some vintage pink lace bias tape, pearls and vintage millinery flowers.
Next are two paperweights that I made out of old glass ashtrays (thoroughly clean with no odor). I turned them upside down filling in the cavity with a circle of cork that I had decoupaged a collage onto. Then I embellished the outside rim with vintage pink braid and a vintage millinery flower. The first one is called, "Fairy Good" and she carries a wand made of vintage silver glitter. The next one is "Fairy Pretty" and she has a pet bird with a silver glitter rope around it's neck. I will put these in my Etsy store tonight, so be sure to check them out! bye for now!
"The creation of a thousand forest is in one acorn"-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here we are at the Minnesota Zoo yesterday. There's a pic of me and Sabrina in front of the lake. One of Rob and Sabrina too. Behind us you can see paddleboats in the shape of swans. Maybe we'll try that next time. Then we went to Discovery Bay where all the ocean creatures are, including a tank where one of the dolphins was swimming around in. Sabrina is standing in front watching him. The last pic is Sabrina as we are waiting for the dolphin show to start. That was before they packed a million more people in the audatorium! We were really squished together! It was a great show though! That smile says it all! Bye for now! Hope you had a great 4th of July!

Zooriffic!

Yesterday was so much fun! We finally took Sabrina to the Minnesota Zoo. We've taken her to the smaller one at Como Park, but never this one. First we went on the tropics trail and saw the kimodo dragon that's shown in the second pic. There were also monkeys, tropical birds, flamingos like the ones in the the third pic and more. Got a great pic of Sabrina and her dad, she was doing her best imitation of a monkey! The last pic is of some butterflies in the butterfly garden. That was fabulous! They would fly around us and bump into us like we weren't even there! So many of them too! Wish I had this many in my garden!

Thrift store vintage hats

Every so often, I actually find something really great at the thrift store or estate sale. But usually I don't have enough money at the time. This time though I had some Paypal money when I found these hats at my thrift store, and after debating for all of 5 seconds, I snatched them all up! The prices were pretty good, the blue one was the most expensive at 7.99. And I also found a rosary for 1.67. I love the little chenille nubs on the blue one, and those chocolate brown velvet roses on the other. Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th of July! Bye for now! :)