If you have yet to watch an episode of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, you are missing out!

WARNING: Be ready to be stressed — especially if you are a baker and know what it is like to bake a ton of cupcakes on a schedule! I get so tense when I watch the show (and my hubby thinks I need to stop watching) but I love the show and the results. Enjoy this short clip of it:

Now if you love cupcakes the way I do and live near Malibu, you have got to check out Crumbs Bakery! It is a donut shop gone cupcakes and they taste wonderfully homemade and delicious! You can see my review on Yelp HERE.

And before I leave you HAVE to go visit Lucy’s Cards to view this amazing card! Do it… Now!

Here’s a little sneak peak of what you will see…

I am addicted! Yes, addicted, to YELP! Oh my goodness, I LOVE giving my opinion and especially on food! So check out my new little widget on the right side of this page to see my latest reviews! Very few of my reviews are negative or mean. They are honest and from the heart (and the taste buds!).

On another note, the hubby and I went on a little date to Malibu yesterday. Stopped in at Howdy’s for a delicious burrito (and yes, you can find my review on Yelp!) and then off to the Art Festival. This festival was amazing; so many artists of all types and we loved strolling through the streets filled with color and beauty. We ran into an artist that we immediately fell in love with. What an inspiration! His name is Andy Ann Ha and below is a photo of my hubs looking at one of his display walls. We were oh so tempted to purchase a piece because we loved his work so much — we will save up for something a little later (though we were also impressed by his prices).

We also stumbled upon a gorgeous display of orchids. Art? maybe not; Beauty? absolutely! Orchids happen to be one of my favorite flowers, they are just so intriguing. They are so similar to humans in that they are sensitive to their surroundings and demand a good atmosphere to thrive (and survive). I wanted to buy a little beauty to bring home with me, but I just know she would pass away very quickly in our little home. Orchids need indirect light and fresh air all of the time. That is the last thing that our apartment would provide. And so I walked away in hopes that they would find themselves some good homes where they could live to their fullest. Don’t worry though, we didn’t leave without some lovely photos (are you kidding me? never!).

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon for some of my latest card creations!

Hi friends!

I would truly appreciate it if you would take the time to take a quick poll for me!

I have been asked to create cards for many people lately, and I LOVE it! However, I want to make sure that I am doing what people want and need when they come to me for this service. Your answers to these few questions could greatly help me and help those that purchase from me in the future! I want to thank those who participate with a little something special, so everyone who leaves a COMMENT ON THIS POST by FRIDAY, 7/9/10, answering all of my questions (other comments are also welcome) will be entered in a drawing to win a 8 card/envelope set specially made by me!

Again, thank you so much for your time, opinions and support! I will announce the winner on Saturday 7/10/10 on Facebook, as well as on this post… so check back soon so that I can get your information and send you the set! Please see the Poll Questions below:

**Feel free to copy & paste the questions below into the comment section and eliminate the selections that do not pertain to you**

Poll Questions

Feel free to forward this Poll to any friends that may be interested in winning a card set! And thank you again!

1. On a scale from 1-5 I mostly purchase cards for:
   (Thank You)   1   2   3   4   5
   (Birthdays)     1   2   3   4   5
   (Holidays)       1   2   3   4   5
   (Celebrations)   1   2   3   4   5
   (Friends/Encouragement) 1   2   3   4   5
2. For a single card, the most I prefer to pay is:
   ($1-2) ($3-4) ($5+)
3. For a set of 8 to 12 cards, the most I prefer to pay is:
   (5-7) ($8-10) ($12-15) ($16+ for more detailed cards)
4. For Invitations or Announcements (30+), the most I prefer to pay is:
   ($20) ($30) ($40+ for more detailed sets)
5. I prefer my cards to be:
   (Simple) (Detailed)
6. My favorite style for cards is:
   (Modern) (Themed) (Elegant) (Vintage/Shabby Chic)

Thank you for your time, and be sure to check back to see if you won on Thursday!

I had a blast helping out with a dear friend of mine’s baby shower last month. And of course, here I am posting about it over a month later! Ridiculous….

The shower theme was Ladybug — and her sisters did a great job putting everything together perfectly. The only thing I did was bake 9 dozen cupcakes and decorate them for the party! They were fun, delicious and oh so cute if I dont say so myself :) Check out all of the fun photos in the following slideshow and I will share a few more details & resources after that!

Shower Inspiration: Baby Room Set from Babies R Us

We were expecting close to 100 guests! So simplicity was key… Margaret decorated the tables beautifully with black table clothes and fun flower pots adorned with ladybug ribbon and cute little ladybug signs! Talk about the perfect find! I think that potted plants/flowers are the perfect centerpiece for a ladybug (or any insect, for that matter) shower. For Favors, she lucked out an was able to get some candy at discount right after Valentine’s day (with almost 100 guests… frugality is key!) and filled some cute little baggies.

As for my cupcake venture — I decided to make them simple and cute. And since I had to make so many, I decided not to try to make them look like ladybugs as many would for the theme. The fun part for me, was hopping onto Photoshop and creating some adorable little cupcake toppers. Contact me if you ever need these, because I LOVE doing them and sell them in my Etsy shop.

I don’t have resources for you, in regards to throwing a ladybug themed shower or products … but for Baby Shower Resources in general, check out my Resource Guide. My main idea is to Google away! Look in the Google images for some great ideas and resources. I also suggest not going too over the top with the theme, to keep it’s elegance versus little girl birthday party style (if that makes sense). We had a great time and hope you enjoyed the photos :)

Baby Felicity was born March 25th, 2010 and both baby and mama are healthy!

This weekend, I threw my handsome hubby a SURPRISE birthday party for his 25th! Some people ask me why I have a party for him (and myself) every single year… First of all, I can rarely resist any reason to throw a party! Second of all, I love him!

This year, I decided on a Mustache Party! Did I know that this theme existed? No. But it sounded pretty hilarious and what better reason to grow a mustache than the fact that it is ‘Mustache March!’ I definitely wanted to share some of the fun photos but also some of my favorite inspirations and products that helped make this party a huge success (see below)! Enjoy!

We had the party Sunday afternoon (and it was the perfect day for a pool party in March! yay!) and had an amazing spread of delicious Mexican appetizers and sweet treats. I made a bunch of milk chocolate and dark chocolate Mustache lollipops (link below) and stuck them into some styrofoam that I had placed in some mini bowls. They were the perfect touch to the chocolate section of our spread (right next to the chocolate covered strawberries!). I also hopped onto Photoshop and created some fun name tags for the drink cups — I simply grabbed some images of different mustaches from the internet and made them gray on the tags, printed them onto mailing labels and chopped em up. Easy Peasy!

Another fun thing I did was I created a few mini signs to place around the house and the food spread to reinforce the mustache theme. The sayings were: ‘Never transport leftovers with your mustache,’ ‘With great mustache, comes great responsibility,’ ‘ Don’t get caught in public with a naked upper lip,’ and ‘Savor the Flavor.’ Simple and fun. I printed them up on green cardstock and matted them with black cardstock — here is the thing though… I NEVER USED THEM! Amongst all of the craziness of preparing and trying to keep everything a surprise, I totally forgot to set them out :(

I know that there are a ton of other fun ideas for a mustache party, but I wanted to keep it fairly simple; didn’t want it to be too childish for my big man! Here are a few other ideas I had (or found):

• Pin the mustache on Burt Reynolds,
• Print names of all of the famous people (list below) that were known for their ’stache and have each person wear one on their back when they get there (everyone has to guess who they are by asking others Qs about their own character — great ice breaker!),
• Play Pictionary with the list of Famous ’stache wearers,
• Mustache Trivia of some sorts (ask questions about different styles, famous staches, etc). Fun stuff!

My Mustache Inspiration:

• Fashion in Motion Mag: Movember ‘09 Post
• Erin Conrad Photography: Stache Bash ‘09 Post
• Hostess with the Mostess: Mr. Man Party
• Deal Extreme: Fake Mustaches
• Bake It Pretty: Mustache Lollipop Mold
• Martha Stewart: How to make a Mustache on a Stick
• How Nice Etsy: Mustache Magnets (photo below)
• LittletJane Etsy: Mustache Stamps (photo below)
• BirdofaFeather Etsy: Mustache Chapstick (photo below)

Fun Garland for an added touch (unfortunately, I ran out of time to make one :(

Fun little saying (again, didnt save the source! To put around the house/food spread!)

Adorable Mustache Card (Sorry, I didnt save the source! Too cute not to share!)

Too dang cute: Mustache Chapstick!!Fun Magnets (or buttons if you want)… I used these as the prize for ‘Best Stache’

Fun homemade Mustache Stamps

‘Stache Character List: (I am sure there are more that you could come up with!)

Yosemite Sam
Captain Hook
Burt Reynolds
Gomez Addams
Mario
Luigi (Mario)
Wimpey (Popeye)
Ned Flanders (Simpsons)
Hulk Hogan
Nacho Libre
Charlie Chaplin
Clark Gable
Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther)
Adolf Hitler
Alex Trebek (Wheel of Fortune)
Prince
Ron Burgundy (Anchor Man)
Capt’n Crunch
the Burger King
Cheech Marin
Sonny Bono
Albert Einstein
Magnum PI – Tom Selleck
Robin Hood
Wyatt Earp
Teddy Roosevelt
Mike Ditka (Coach for Chicago Bears)
Mr. Moneybags (Monopoly Mascot)
Mr. Potato Head
Zorro
Capt’n Jack Sparrow
3 Musketeers
Walt Disney
Robert Goulet
Edgar Allan Poe
William Faulkner
Freddy Mercury (Queen)