mardi gras, cupcakes and fearless women

Happy Mardi Gras! The party has been going on in New Orleans, I'm sure, and I hope the rain stopped long enough to keep the parades and revelers nice and dry.

Today is also the 100th anniversary of International Womens Day, a day dedicated to improving the lives of women around the world. There are events going on worldwide which you can find HERE.

I brought out my little collection of beads and tokens from past parades. I've never been to New Orleans, but I've been lucky enough to have a few of these sent to me by friends who know about my French Quarter obsession.

This was a super special treat sent by my sweet friend Cindy, who lives near New Orleans and knows how much I adore her city. She makes all these beautiful tags (among other lovely things) and she surprised me with one she made just for me.

Thank you Cindy!

I hope you don't mind if I also share this delightful treat. A little package was in my mailbox this weekend, sent by my lovely friend Linda from snowy Michigan. Linda has been making these adorable "sweets". Mini clay tarts and wooden cupcakes that look yummy enough to eat. And she also sent a pair of beautiful earrings. Aren't they simply divine? Thank you Linda!

I have to confess I like to treat myself to a few extra little goodies during my birthday month. Last week a vintage typewriter I've been keeping an eye on at my favorite thrift shop, finally got marked down low enough that I couldn't say no.

It was around $90 when I first saw it 2 months ago and each time I'm there I check to see see if it's still around. They would mark it down every 2 weeks and when I popped in a few days ago, they had just marked it down to 14.99! Well with my birthday coming up and all, I knew it was meant to be mine :)

I also had to treat myself to the latest issue of Flea Market Style when I was grocery shopping the other day. Because inside was this amazing spread on a vintage themed birthday brunch!

I could dream that it was made just for me! There are loads of beautiful photos and I'm getting lots of ideas for doing things with some of the vintage stuff I've collected.

The sun just peeked out and it's early enough that I can get started on my real happy cupcake and candles day today. I hadn't planned on doing a post but once I started snapping pictures I couldn't resist. Thank you for letting me share.

Have a beautiful day and if you can, do something special to celebrate the women around you and around the world. It's a perfect day to honor the amazing power of women. I'm tickled that it just happens to be my birthday too.

simple gifts and the joy of friendships

Surprises come in so many different ways.

Everyday I'm reminded of the simple gift of friendship from so many of you who stop by to visit me. A few little words, comments that say so much and reach across the miles and megabytes like a kind and gentle hug.

Last week my mailbox kept filling up with the sweetest treasures from friends who took a moment to share beautiful things created from their hearts. I love being surrounded by these tokens of friendship and seeing them makes my heart do a little flip.

I cannot thank all of you enough. I mentioned once that I love cupcakes and soon the cupcakes started coming in. Thank you dear friends for my beautiful card, sweet atc, my adorable cupcake girl and my delightful frosted cupcake. And thank you for making them calorie free!

Simple gifts also come in the form of wisdom and insight given with the kindest of hearts. This weekend has been full of surprises to say the least. But what has come from it is a gift  treasured and appreciated as much as the treats that filled my mailbox.
Thank you.

And perhaps my most treasured gift of all is simply having a friend who is always there for me through the  chaos, joy, heartache and laughter. Someone who inspires me and believes in me through all hours of the day....and into the dawn.

You know who you are!

And one day
I'm driving that
Airstream
down there
so we can
pig out
at

Sweet Tomatoes!!

It's gorgeous here in Tomatoland today.

Have a beautiful week!

playing with pixels, sweet treats and a random picture post

What is it about a cold wintry day that makes you want to stay in your pajamas and fuzzy slippers, sip hot chocolate and make a mess in your studio all day long? Okay, I admit I don't need a cold day to do this but it's been that way for me the last few days. I can't seem to drag myself out of the house (except for the occasional trip to Michaels). I have not done any holiday shopping yet. Have you?

I have, however, managed to keep playing on my computer. Yes, it's another background and banner change! I thought it was time to do a Christmasy theme after leaving the frosty winter one up for a few weeks (it was actually making me cold, lol!).  I tried another yesterday but it still wasn't exactly what I wanted. In the end I decided to go more whimsical and use some of my art work for the banner. This one finally feels like me. I love frost and snow but I was starting to miss color. I think it's fun and festive enough for the holidays but can work through the other seasons.

 My arm is cooperating much more lately. I still have to rest it but was also told to keep moving it and doing exercises to keep my shoulder from getting 'frozen'. I actually tore my rotator cuff which led to all sorts of other problems and the tendonitis (long story) but I'm learning not to over do it. It's vewy, vewy hard.

Sweet treat number one: These just made me smile. Aren't they super adorable? They were made from Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joes. I found them posted at Cupcakes Take the Cake and there's a link there to the person that made them last year. Love the shoes!

Sweet treat number two:  I posted my collage project last time for Cindy's Creative Spirit Challenge and it turned out she wasn't doing it at all this month. I missed the announcement, silly me. But Cindy is such a sweetie and she decided to give me her monthly award, so for December I get to be Miss Creative Spirit. How very sweet indeed! Thank you Cindy.

I like to go through random pictures from my pre-blogging days to find inspiration for a post. This one is from the midnight book release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. We went to one of our favorite small indie book stores for their party and I snapped this picture of a door to one of the offices. Yes that is THE Sorting Hat signed by Ms Rowling herself. She visited this store waaay back in 1998 when she was promoting Sorcerer's Stone. She was still unknown and about 20 people showed up! Can you imagine? Oh I would have loved to have been there but I didn't start reading the books until around 2000. I am still amazed by her story and the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. It's truly incredible.

We are having mild weather with some rain so I am going to try to pry my feet out of 

 my fuzzy slippers and put on my boots instead. There's a shopping list I need to start on before things get really crazy. Have a lovely, cozy, chocolatey, artful day!

 

99 and counting

One more post before the big 100! And it worked out that 100 will be the one about the Mad Tea Party.

I just went back to look at post #1. My blog was originaly called Cupcake Alchemy and I thought I would blog about all things cupcake. Real cupcakes, crafty cupcakes and cupcake places. But I soon learned I wanted to blog about other things. Mainly my journey finding my inner artist.

So I changed to Frosted Petunias. The frosted part is a nod to the cupcakes and all things sweet. Petunia is a name I've always liked. Silly and whimsical but also pretty like the flower.

This is the first pic I posted. It's a cupcake I had at a local place called Cupcake Craving. It was lemon and very yummy so I try not to go there too often.

Hope to see you Saturday at the Mad Tea Party!

what flavor cupcake are you?

You Are a Chocolate Cupcake

You are deep, richly interesting, and at times overpowering. You have a strong personality. You are drawn to people who adore you. You love it when your specialness is recognized. You are like a cupcake because it's hard for people to get enough of you. You have a mysterious charm that makes you incredibly addicting. People are drawn to your drama.

What Flavor Cupcake Are You?

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Too funny!Don't know about the overpowering and strong personality part but I do love chocolate!

easy letter cupcakes

My local public library has a great little store where you can buy used magazines at 2 for 25 cents. I picked up the 09 February issue of BHG and found this cute cupcake idea. The letters are cookies from Trader Joes. The idea is to glaze the letters with thin icing and then sprinkle with colored sugar. That's it! No messy piping. I like that each letter is big enough to really pop on the cupcake. Valentine brunch or tea party anyone?

chocolate fix

This one really is named Chocolate Fix. Very rich, almost dense with creamy buttercream frosting and chocolate shavings. Perfect with a cuppa tea (with milk). My son and I shared this one after lunch. He's on a short day schedule all week for finals. Thank you Cupcake Craving.

hello world

"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile."

---Ann Bryn

I see cupcakes everywhere. Ever since I found this quote by Ann Bryn, author of Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor. I've been searching for creative inspiration all winter. Online. Offline. Nothing really hit me until I came across a cupcake on marthastewart.com. It really did make me smile which led to a search for quotes about cupcakes. There it was. Then came the idea to use these sweet little things as a theme for my projects. So that's what I'll blog about.

And of course I'll blog about real cupcakes too. There just happens to be a yummy gourmet cupcake store 1/2 a mile from me. Too close and too dangerous so I've been avoiding it all summer. But resistance is futile. I walked in the other day 'just to see' and there it was sitting under glass calling to me. The last one. Golden and lemony with sunny frosted peaks and swirls. Sigh. So much for the 2 baby miles I walked that morning. First bite. Tart and sweet. Like a brisk walk on a crisp spring day. Second bite. Yummy lemon custard filling! Ok I'll only eat half and save the other half for my son. Fifth bite. I did save him the last quarter, stuffed into the miniature paper cup I got for water. Bad bad mommy.

Today is Day #1 for my cupcake project. I should clarify that I mean a paper mache one, not a baked one. That means gathering supplies (i.e. lots of newspapers). Since we stopped getting the paper I'll have to see where I can grab a bunch. So I'm off now. Maybe I'll pick up the rest of that cupcake for my son. Maybe he'll share with me!