Saturday, February 27, 2010

*Cupcake Saturday*

Originally I was planning to post some pictures of a rather large Cupcake order I did this week, but of course being the Crazie Lady that I am, I completely spaced on grabbing the camera at any point. Instead, I'm going with a more high end focus. Couture Cupcakes! These beauties were styled by Lisa Edsalv and photographed by Therese Aldgard and absolutely took my breath away! They were inspired by Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Christian Louboutin and Betsey Johnson. I saved the best(in my opinion) for last.

I think I'm going to have to recreate the Betsey Johnson ones soon!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Chain Reaction

Craigslist--->Chartreuse & Co.--->Donna with Livingston Decor--->Flea Market Style Magazine--->Linda Crispell
It's incredible to think of just this one example of how my regular Craigslist visits helped me find a new love. Linda Crispell is that new love! I found a feature in the Flea Market Style Magazine about her, and the picture shown was similar to this one...

The vintage gumball machines are what hooked me. Hours later after going through her entire blog twice, I've got inspiration coming out of my ears! She has so many collections that you're sure to find at least one that makes you rush out to the nearest Flea Market. I'm especially loving her kitchen collections.

{Vintage Lifesaver Candy Display turned Cupcake Decoration Display}

{Jars filled with Pez dispensers, Ribbon Candy, Jawbreakers and More!}

I'm constantly playing around with all of my candy decorating supplies, so seeing this just gets the ideas flowing. I've finally hunkered down and snagged myself a wonderful cabinet this past weekend at Chartreuse & Co. One of my favorite vendors put this beauty on sale back in December I think, and I've been thinking about it since. It was a pretty stinkin' good deal, $198 down to $98, and I couldn't resist. This is what I've been using.....

This little cabinet has been wonderful, but I've been wanting something a bit bigger to hold my baking pans too. Our little kitchen is crowded enough, so the more I can move out, the better. Crazy to think that at one point I only had this little kitchen cabinet for all my chocolates/sprinkles/etc. So anyway, here's the wonderful new cabinet...

I know what you're thinking. 'An old wardrobe? There's not enough storage!' Well, at the moment there isn't. I'll be adding shelves to the right side, along with repainting the whole thing. I'm thinking a white coat on the outside and then a fun spring green on the inside. Hmmm, maybe green and white stripes inside. Who knows. I'd love some kind of 'Wow' affect. It's definitely going to take a few weeks to make this happen, so for now I'm kind of using both cabinets. I'm loving the new find though! It makes me happy every time I walk to the kitchen!

Have a wonderful week!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

*Cupcake Saturday*

I'm finally posting about something I did! I put these little Kits together for girls in my Primary class after having to cancel a Valentine's party{so sorry again about that!}. I love how they turned out!

{Cupcakes~Chocolate & Cream Cheese Frosting~4 Kinds of Sprinkles}

{Chocolate Crunchies~White Non-Pareils~Pink Hearts~Red Sanding Sugar}

I think they turned out pretty well considering it was a first attempt! Hopefully the girls like it too! After doing these I picked up some supplies that way next time I make some of these up they'll be even tighter looking. So many fun options in the future for these Cupcake Kits! Have a fun weekend!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

*Cupcake Saturday*

I was hoping to be able to throw some pictures up of some fun Cupcake things I did this week, but still no luck. Instead I thought I'd share some incredible Cupcake paintings I found a few months ago that I've been in love with. I just wish I had the extra bucks to buy a couple of them!

I love the darker look to these Cupcakes. Colors so bright you can almost taste the sugar is fun most of the time, but these are incredible!

{All art can be found on Etsy at the RozArt Shop}

Monday, February 8, 2010

*Bloomingville

It's been so long since I've posted something 'real' on here, and I've finally figured out why. It all really comes down to the storage bins in our apartment. Before the creation of *Snickety Snacks* I would go through all of the storage boxes and bins in our home at least 4 times a year, reorganizing things to keep, purging what we don't need, and finding happy homes for the things we love but never use. I've learned that the best way for me to stay up on the deep clean is by keeping it in a rotation. I usually start with the Kitchen, move to the Bathroom, then the Dude's room, random closets, and I leave the best/worst for last. Our bedroom is a constant thorn, and the closet is the worst, but the end result is always beautiful and leaves me happy and ready to focus on new tasks. As grateful as I've been for the constant stream of orders and the increasing popularity, it's left me no extra time to get back to my purging routine, which has been totally depressing for me. The last few weeks have been horrible on a personal level because no matter what I do, I visualize going through everything and can't shake the need to get to it. It's the o.c.d. Brittanie inside screaming at me to FOCUS & CLEAN!
Thankfully, our corner of the world was hit with about 2 1/2 feet of snow this past weekend, keeping my husband at home and leaving me with plenty of uninterrupted time to hit the main problems. I'll be posting the huge changes once I can get my camera hooked up to my pc, but for now I'll just say that it's incredible how much better I feel. I guess getting rid of 3 bags of trash/junk, 5 bags of donation items and two 30 gallon bins of baby clothes will definitely change a mood. Now I'm able to see the creative ideas and inspirational images again without feeling lost. I love it!
Decor8 has perfect timing! On the day when I'm ready and open for happy thoughts, she posts all about *Bloomingville, a Danish brand that can be found in Germany(of course, all the good ones involve crossing an ocean). The colors are bright and comfy, and the flowers everywhere just make me want to hug my computer screen. See what I mean?
That last image hit pretty hard in a great way. I can't see all of what's written on it, but I'm pretty sure it's "The great thing about working from home is that you can fashion your surrounding to suit your way of life." I never really looked at all my various jobs as working from home. I'm trying now to keep better control over my surroundings and to appreciate how flexible I've made things(wow, that was a total contradiction. yikes). I love that I can rearrange furniture at a moment's notice without things being too weird. I love that our couches aren't off limits for our little dude, which leads to pillow fights, forts, and homemade slides. I'm trying to let the little things slide, like the brown, pink, white, orange and yellow colored chocolate melts that have been smeared across our couches(just smile if you come over and see them). I'm doing what I can to not let outside things affect me too much, even though 2 1/2/ feet of snow knocked out some things I was looking forward too. I'm still in a mental place where I'm starting 3 or 4 sentences at once, but I think that with my surroundings better taken care of, I'm really taking care of myself. I'm back!
kinda

Saturday, February 6, 2010

*Cupcake Saturday*

Now I'm the kind of person who hates having to take a Cupcake out of it's wrapper in order to eat it, and the idea of putting one more layer in front of that first bite just sounds ridiculous.....unless it looks like this!

Paper Orchid claims to be the first to come up with the Cupcake Wrapper, and they certainly did it right! These laser-cut beauties are made for all kinds of events, from year-round Holidays to Girl's Night Out. The colors are perfect and the details are jaw-dropping. A bit pricey at $13.00 or more per dozen, but they defintiely have the 'Wow' factor!

Now another company doing an incredible job with these is Cupcake Wrapture. With a focus more on color and design and less on the suer-fancy, these Cupcake Wraps are less expensive and can be used for any occasion. Lisa's colors are totally cute, and I love the little polka dot addition to these...

She also has a blog with some incredible pictures. You've got to check it out. I love the Cupcakes with a Sock Monkey Theme!

I recently ordered a bunch of Jumbo and Regular Brown Baking Cups from Bake It Pretty(which were fantastic by the way), and while looking around I found their Cupcake Wrappers too! They're following more of a Carousel color theme, and I love it! You'll have to take some time to check them out. Hopefully you'll get inspired to start baking!