Silver Bella Vendor Fair

Warning, eye candy overload. Friday night at Silver Bella involved wearing our dashing aprons, getting our hands stamped by Teresa's son and husband, and large amounts of drooling. I couldn't even get past the first vendor, Vintage by Crystal, without purchasing. I have a few of her tiny creations. This time I brought home a small girl on the back of Lucky, Santa's newest reindeer- a rescued vintage ornament. Here is a small part of Crystal's booth.

I wish I could remember who this kind lady was, she had some very pretty old paper and cotton santas! (Thank you to Wanda, who reminded me this booth belongs to Jocelyn of the Painted Fern!)
Annalise of Sugar*Sugar's houses were all sold instantly- aren't they gorgeous!

A crown from Whim & Fancy. She will hopefully have her reindeer kits up soon in her etsy shoppe.

Bit's and pieces from the likes of Raised In Cotton, Curiousofa, and more...

This pretty shop Willow Nest, needs to be begged up to open up an online source! I found many pretty baubles, especially a new favorite (mercury beads).

A snap from Jenni Bowlin's booth

Jennifer Murphy (with the youngun) and her Mother, also a bear maker.

Here Kari Ramstrom (ArtsyMama) is seeking treasures from Heather of Speckled Egg (I found a few treasures myself)

Needless to say I have hoarded a massive amount of sparkly bits and millinery, sprinkled with vintage paper and a little pink birdy from this lovely lady.
I hope to post more on my classes soon, but I am trying to finish a few of the more detailed projects to share with you also!

Reds and Pinks

Raspberry Lemonade, Pink Flamingo, Cameo and Ivory Each of them uses a different hand dye/paint technique, but they are so pretty together!

Round Flower tutorial

I had posted this pink posy earlier on Scrapshare, and now I'm delighted to present my first blog tutorial! Materials need: two or three different papers (I used scrapping papers here- use what you love!), leaves (with or without wire), paper flower, brad, stamen (the white thingies with the pearly ends), glitter, glue. Circle cutter and paper piercing tools also.

Start by cutting three different size circles. Mine are 3, 2&1/2, and 2 inches.

Next, roll up the sides with your fingers (what, you didn't really think I had wings, did you?). This will be very uneven. If you don't like the rolled look, you could also tear very near the edge to give the circle some texture, or do nothing at all!

Here are all my circles rolled up.

Layer the circles, largest to smallest, and use your piercing tool (or a needle) to puncture the center.

Push the brad through the paper flower, then through all the circles. You may want to loosely fold back the brad ends to help the flower lay flat while you apply the glitter. Don't press them all the way yet.

Using whatever technique you prefer, apply glue to the rolled up portions of the circles (here I chose only to do the smallest and largest circles) and to the paper flower. Then sprinkle on your glitter! (or use Stickles)

Lastly, slightly lift a petal of the paper flower and put on a dollop of glue. Slide your stamen under the petal, and under the brad (this is why you left it a bit loose). Then tighten the brad completely. You could also do this step before you glitter, if you also want to apply the glitter to the stamen.

Depending on what type of leaf you are using, apply to the backside of the posy. On my pink posy I used a wired millinery leaf, wrapping the wires around the brad shank to hold it on. For the yellow flower, I simply used glue dots to apply the leafs (from Prima)

Voila! Use your pretty creation in your scrapbooks, collage works, home decor, and enjoy!

Sprinkles Cover All Manner of Faults

There is a reason I buy my children's birthday cakes. I knew there was. I've been so inspired by the beautiful cupcake images and tasty treats posted by other bloggers and etsy sellers. So I broke down and bought a cupcake book (Crazy About Cupcakes). And went about baking the golden cupcake recipe for my son's third birthday. He picked out the Cars cupcake wrappers himself. Note to future cupcake bakers- the wrappers either stick permanently to the cupcakes or they wouldn't stay in shape and fell off the sides after baking. The recipe said would make 18 to 24 cupcakes. My 27 cupcakes were overflowing the pan and stuck to the top of it. Even with the cup only 2/3s full.
I thought for sure that the chocolate buttercream frosting I made the next day would hide the crumbly (yet very moist) cupcakes. Um, no, not really, they just spread the crumbs further.
But somehow the sprinkles covered up all the cupcake injustices of the world and they were still devoured at the party.
At least they tasted good. I would just use regular paper liners and maybe fill the cup only half-way next time.

Thought I'd post another little pretty from my studio. Fun inspiration for me while I work. Big puffy handmade millinery and bag of glass glitter stars by Marilyn . Hot pink sugar bloom and little beige silk posie by Tara . Book page rosette and crepe rosette by me. Pink shoe was a favourite etsy purchase as well.