What You'll See at Our House Around the Holidays!

I'm sure all of you are busy busy baking and making!

I still haven't had too much time to do anything gift related quite yet. We've already told the family that we'll be shipping gifts sometime in January. I know this may sound like a bad idea but with hubby's schedule and my carpal tunnel we haven't been able to do what we normally do this time of year! I haven't even baked one cookie yet! Looking back on Christmas' I definitely see a pattern with me. One year I'm "on it" the next year I'm not....over and over like clock work. This year needless to say I'M NOT ON IT this year!

My Etsy shop is as stocked as it's gonna get until the New Year and I have almost all of my existing orders complete so I'm looking forward to later in the week when I can buckle down and get some stuff done!

I'll be making a gingerbread village if my wrist cooperates with me which I'm really looking forward to - all mini houses no big ones this year.

I finally finished my first gumdrop wreath which was so fun to make. A lot of hot glue and 3 cheap $1.00 bags of gumdrops from Wal-Mart and a styrofoam wreath from Michael's! Check it out!

If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't take the time to try and get all of the colors to match up perfectly - a mathematical improbability!  But it's always a learning thing for me - I just wing it! and hope it works out okay!

Another shot of it hanging on the wall in my kitchen

Although zero cookies have been baked I did manage to squeeze in some candy making. Another "first try" or shall we say "Operation Buttermint"! I'm renaming them "pain in the booty buttermints" instead. The recipe was from Land O Lakes and was classified as "EASY" - I beg to differ.....I mean I'm not saying I know a lot about making candy but I think I can at least roll a decent rope of two different colors of dough without too much of a problem. Not even close! The dough was so finicky and very hard to work with. I only made a few like this and then gave up:

Then I started to roll them into tiny little balls like this:

Cute but time consuming!

I was happy when I came up with the idea to make them into garlands like this:

I figure they could double as an edible necklace right?

Oh I almost forgot I did bake something but it was only because I had an excuse. I needed to make a little cake bunting and how can you make one of those and not have a cake to stick it in. I totally cheated and made a boxed red velvet cake and popped some cute wooden mushrooms made by Craftsty on it too:

sliced and ready to munch: 

Well folks that about does it for me! I'll be back hopefully tomorrow with some pin topper pics!

I hope everyone's having a great evening : )

I'm ready to eat a little dinner and watch some tv tonight!

Cheers,

Gigi

A Continuation From Prior Post....

Hello everyone! I"m sure you all know about this but in case you don't.........
So you could say I'm a little slow on the get go here but I didn't know this website even existed! It's called Craft Cult! You can go to their Home page and then go to "The Vault" and then go to "Search For Member". Type in an Etsy seller's name and it will tell you how many times they've made it to Etsy' Front Page! Well this was a fun thing to find out today! I knew I had made it to Etsy's Home Page once but not 4 more times too! Wow! I'm a bit happier today than I was in yesterday's post : )
Have fun searching some of your favorite shops and of course your own!

A Vintage Trailer Featuring Campy Cupcakes

                                  
Today I sit at my computer with a wrist guard on protecting me from further carpal tunnel damage : ( Ugh.......I guess when I worked out in the yard hula hoeing weeds when my parents were here for Thanksgiving I must've really given my wrist a run for it's money. I take for granted all I do with my hands and arms for that matter! I told hubby I don't want to be a Debbie Downer about being out of commission but really???? Could it have come at a worse time or what? The holidays are in full swing, cookies need to be baked, gifts need to be made and wrapped.....hmmmm....what else needs to be done? Oh just about a gajillion things! I tend to get a little sarcastic when things aren't going my way!!! Sorry for the rant everyone! But what am I suppose to do with myself if I can't stay busy with my hands? If anyone has an idea for me please let me know! I shouldn't be typing either but it's like I have serious problem relaxing doing nothing - "it's just not my bag ~ baby!"
Okay I'm done now..........
Well at least I got to paint one little plaque before the wrist guard was put on. I'm not sure if many of you know how much I adore vintage trailers but I do! I fantasize about fixing one up and plopping 'er in the back yard and making it like a club house! No Boys Allowed! Ha! Just kidding...well wait a minute maybe I'm not. I guess boys could come in but only if they wipe their feet and wash their hands first! I imagine myself baking cupcakes inside the trailer and decorating every inch of space while listening to Modest Mouse and daydreaming about all the cute things I've conjured up in my head...that would be my ultimate dream come true.
I suppose that is whats so wonderful about painting on a blank piece of wood! You can daydream the entire time and let your imagination run wild with delight. So this is what I came up with: a pink trailer with scallops, a lone owl watching over me, bunches and bunches of Black Eyed Susans spilling from vintage glass vases and let's not forget about the most important part ~ the cupcakes and the treats!!!! Would anyone like to join me there sipping an Arnold Palmer perchance? Wouldn't it be lovely.....lovely......lovely....so says Audrey Hepburn anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is so embarrassing that I haven't posted since August! I guess that's what happens when you move from Arizona back to California...life becomes one big mess in a box or should I say boxes! We are finally unpacked and just in time for my parents to be here for Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday feast today : )
I am posting a few pics of some new items in my Etsy shop. I have made a ton of lollipop ornaments and a new design of a cupcake ornament too!

  A group shot to help see the color differences...

I'm still not sick of Pink & Red together ~ especially all wound up into one nice over sized holiday sweets ornament!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm off to make some sweet potato biscuits!
Hugs~
Gigi

Vintage Inspired Sewing Machine Pin Topper

    

 Available for pre-order!

 

Welcome to California!

 Swimming in Boxes!

I have been very bad about posting lately because we're in the middle of packing up our house here in Arizona and moving to California in less than 3 weeks! It's very exciting and yet stressful because of the short amount of time we have to get everything done!
I know this may sound crazy because a lot of you know I struggle with the heat here in AZ but believe it or not we're moving somewhere even hotter! That's the one part I"m not looking forward to at all - at least not in the Summer time : ( But alas we'll be back home in our HOME STATE and that much closer to our families!
We found a cute house close to Palm Springs! I was poking around on the internet to learn more about the hot springs around there. Come to find out back in the 1950's there were over 80 + spas and hotels (often referred to as "spa-tels" operating at the time! That's a lot! Apparently the Hollywood stars of that time would come to get a way from it all! There's a small town close built on one of the world's finest natural aquifers and has won multiple awards for the "Best Tasting Municipal Drinking Water" in competitions. I never knew there were such a thing as competitions for water tasting did you?
Anyway, I'm busy packing and cleaning and trying to get things done in a timely fashion. Unfortunately I'm doing most of this by myself as hubby is always gone on business.
As for Pinks & Needles news I am keeping my shop open during this time and am hoping I won't be too out of touch with flickr, Etsy, Artfire and email in general while I unpack and get settled. Let's hope for the best!
I have designed a new pin topper I am currently taking pre-orders for on Etsy. It's a vintage inspired sewing machine! I will be shipping them all out the second week of November to ensure a timely arrival before the holidays : ) The shop is currently stocked at the moment with a few new designs too! Come stop by and say hi!

Have a great Sunday everyone!
Gigi

Have You Ever Seen Flowers This Pretty?

Hello everyone!
Sorry I've been a bit MIA but all in good fun! One of hubby's business partners got married in Santa Barbara last weekend and it was so lovely! Anyway, we spent some time in Los Olivos, Solvang and even made it down to visit our friends in Laguna Beach! My goodness the flowers that grow this time of year on the coast are breath taking! Like this morning glory winding it's way up a regular old sign post!
 I really enjoyed wine tasting at Saarloos and Sons in Los Olivos - their tasting room was so cool! Hubby knows Kirk Saarloos (one of the owners) from when we lived up in the Seattle area. He used to play major league baseball and would give us tickets on occasion : )

 This gorgeous chandelier hung right outside the front door under the eve of their cute California Bungalow!

Can you imagine taking the time to hand paint these silhouettes all over the wall? Oh my gosh that must've taken forever!

 This Shasta Trailer was the highlight for me as far as sight seeing goes in my home State of California! Would you believe me if I told you they sell cupcakes out it? I'm serious! Enjoy Cupcakes is making it's way around the valley! You have to check out their website! it's so cute!

Well I know none of this was pin topper related but I was so excited to share with all of you a little bit of what I experienced while being back in California! Back to work Monday sculpting more Halloween pins for the shop!

Glitter Lollipops & Whimiscal Cupcakes

Hello friends!

I wanted to share with all of you some fun news! I am so happy to announce I have officially opened up a new shop on ArtFire! Of course I will always keep my Pinks & Needles shop on Etsy but I was too excited not to share the exciting news! My new shop frosted window on ArtFire is dedicated to Year Round Holiday shopping.

        Lollipop Ornaments in Progress - still need to add ribbon and a laminated tag that reads "Sweet!" to each pop!

I'm having this image made into glossy postcards and it will read "Happy Birthday!" down at the bottom in Pinks & Needles font!

 I'm thinking I would like to keep my pin toppers in their proper Pinks & Needles place but frosted window will offer an array of handmade items like all different styles of  faux dough cupcake & lollipop ornaments, felted cotton candy necklaces, postcards of my photography, prints of my original paintings & drawings ~ and gifts in general. I would love it if you popped on by to have a look when you get a chance!I should mention too that I will be listing 20 new pins in Pinks & Needles tomorrow morning (Thursday July 29th) ~ many of them brand new designs and some Halloween related!
I'm leaving for a wedding this Friday in Santa Barbara which I am thrilled about! it will be so nice to get out of the desert heat and into the refreshing ocean breeze!
Have a wonderful rest of your week everyone!

Hugs,
Gigi

Vintage Vacation Swap

Hi everyone!
I have been wanting to post a few pics of what I sent my partner Jenn of Eye Candy Creations! Many of you probably already know her but in case you don't go check out her blog ~ she's got the cutest banner first of all and her style is so whimsical and fun!
My take on "vintage vacation" was a road trip! A little something from Georgia to represent Jenn, a few little things from California/Arizona to represent me and a little something from New Jersey to represent jenny who hosted the swap! I never seem to have any time anymore to swap so I made it a point to make time for this one!
I hope all of you are enjoying your Summer/Winter depending on where you live ~ I've been melting for months now and am ready for cool weather...ya right....not for a while still!

Hugs,
Gigi

Pincushion Rings Coming Soon!

Hello everyone!
I hope everyone's Summer has started out with a bang! Mine sure has. It's like I'm a bear who hibernates in the Winter only it's the opposite seasons for me. Too hot for outside activity unless you get up at 5am....zzzzzzzz......is usually what I'm doing that early : )
Anyway, I just wanted to show you a fun bowlful of goodness coming to the shop really soon! I have hand felted cute little things and made them into pincushion rings. Each ring comes with it's own trio of tiny pin toppers! I'm hoping to have plenty of these made up for the holidays ~ perfect for gift giving or spoiling yourself!
Enjoy your day!

Launching New Etsy Shop "Frosted Window" in July!

 Hello friends!
Wow what an incredibly busy month for me! After getting home from our 6th anniversary (spent at the Summer Bay Resort in Vegas off the strip)...I have been playing mad catch up with everything and everyone. We've already been cursed with 111 degree days which makes working with clay and nightmare so on those days I piddle around the garden and nap......I know it sounds like I'm a real slacker but for some reason I can't sleep at night when it's super hot like that! I have become nocturnal for the most part : )
Last July I wanted to open up another Etsy shop Frosted Window but it never quite got off the ground so with careful consideration I have made it a priority to get it up and running this July! Why July? Well for one thing I have always loved the idea of Christmas in July! If it were up to me I would have 12 Decembers in a row just so I could bake and make all year long!
I will be dedicating Frosted Window to everything Holiday related so I hope to see you all there soon!
In Pinks & Needles news things are changing for me somewhat in the next few days. I'm going to be making very limited amounts of pin toppers starting July 1st through the end of the year. The reason being, I will be dedicating my time to Pin Topper of the Month Club (PTMC), and working on getting the new shop stocked for the upcoming holidays! Plus I will be working on some really fun projects that I hope to share with all of you soon! It is my goal to have around 20 NEW pins listed in the shop by the first of every month! So once they're gone......they're gone : )
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Hugs,
Gigi

Here's a few pins I've made for a custom order I thought you all would enjoy:

Shabby Chic Vintage Carnival Cotton Candy Necklaces

Hello Friends~

Well it's super hot here and my clay isn't cooperating so I thought up a little something new to do today! I made cotton candy necklaces in two shabby colors - Aqua & Pink of course! I just wish I could eat them for real : )
 Enjoy your weekend and perhaps if the weather is hot where you live pour yourself a nice tall glass of pink lemonade to celebrate BBQ season coming up!

Romancing the Strawberry & All About Apples

Hello Friends~

I know it's only been a couple of days since my last post but I have two more pincushion sets I wanted to share with you : ) Remember that fun movie with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner "Romancing the Stone"? Well I sure do since I probably watched it 30 times one summer on Showtime when I was a kid! Anyway......I don't know if any of you shop owners out there wrack your brains trying to come up with the perfect title for your shop listings, but yesterday I was sitting there trying to come up with a good title for my (what I would call a "romantic" version of some strawberry related pins and all of a sudden it hit me: ROMANCING THE STRAWBERRY! Did I get it right?
Ever since I was a little girl I have had a real love for Apples.......why? The only thing I could think of is they remind me of a cute dress I used to wear in Kindergarten that had the ABC's, 123's and Apples on it! So maybe that's it! When I first opened up Pinks & Needles in February of 2008 apples were some of the very first pins I made : ) And they're still soooo popular! This little eggcup set I've entitled "All About Apples" is very simple and makes me happy just looking at it plus these 4 pin toppers are extra extra tiny!!!! Perhaps they're about 1/3 of the size of a regular apple pin!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today!
I've been working overtime trying to get a bunch of stuff taken care of before we leave on our yearly vacation in early June! I can't wait!

Vintage Carnival Treats Pincushion Set

Hello Friends~
I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I had the whole house to myself for almost a week since hubby was on a business trip/golf tournament in Vegas but he's home now asleep (like I should be).... but until around October when the weather starts to cool again I'll be up early every day to work with clay : )
 Just wanted to share with you a new pincushion set I finished up last week! It's one of my very favorite themes to work with "Vintage Carnival"! I can't explain myself really about my obsession with "vintage" anything.....I suppose it reminds me when life was simpler and not so busy.
 This pin topper set was really fun to make especially the cotton candy! I am very new to wool felting but thought it would be fun to make the cotton candy a bit more life like so here's what I came up with! Isn't the fabric is delightful? I'm hoping to make more sets centered around this theme so stay tuned!
 I have another pincushion set I'll be listing in the shop today at some point entitled "Love Letter Afternoon" too~

Have a great week everyone!

Here's "Love Letter Afternoon":

Strawberry Afternoon & Paris Afternoon

Hello friends~
It's a busy busy week here in the studio! Plus hubby's getting ready to leave tomorrow for a week to Las Vegas (1/2 business & 1/2 pleasure) - lucky guy! Well while he's gone it's my goal to get really caught up! The hot weather just makes me lazy........
 I wanted to share a couple of new items in the shop! People often ask me what pin takes the longest or is the hardest to make and I never really know what to say....until now! The little shoe in Paris Afternoon was a real bugger! It's so tiny and is completely hand sculpted from one piece of clay so I think to date this was the one pin that took me the longest for sure!
Strawberry Afternoon is a cute depiction of Blythe having tea and reading a book about Strawberries! The book binding has the word "STRAWBERRY" down the spine (see the shop for more pictures).
 Paris Afternoon has pins related to shopping in Paris like a hat box, shoe, basket of flowers and last but not least my personal favorite a red heart with the word Paris on the sash.
Have a great week everyone!
Oh I almost forgot about the Butterflies & Buttercream sets which include one Butterfly (with unbreakable antenna) and one coordinating Cupcake Blossom!

And also the Mini Mushroom sets with birdies perched on top which includes one button mushroom with a birdie sitting pretty and a coordinating mushroom cap!

Happy Mother's Day Baking Project

I'm sure many of you are familiar with wafer paper transfers...but I wanted to post anyway because it was my first time working with them. So yesterday I baked off my shortbread rectangles and made a whollop of frosting from scratch. I didn't really know what to expect from the transfers but to be honest I was a bit scared to try them. I wasn't thrilled with how they looked as soon as I adhered them to the cookies....they seemed unfinished and kind of messy looking but I let them dry over night as suggested. Well the good news is by this morning they had transformed magically! The buttercream really melded them nicely and the colors even seemed to pop more!
So I packaged them up really simple and sent hubby with a cooler full of cookies to all of the Mom's on his side of the family today.
 I hope all of you Mom's have a wonderful Mother's day this weekend! May your families spoil you rotten and do the dishes for you!

Butterflies & Buttercream DIY Cupcake Kit Giveaway Winner is.....

Congratulations Sugar Sugar 2010 for winning this fun baking giveaway! Thank you everyone who entered to win! We'll be doing another giveaway really soon!

Pinks Squirrels & Chocolate Rabbits

So everyone I know who lives here in Tucson is talking about our weird weather! It rained and it was freezing yesterday but get this........it's suppose to be a whopping 98 degrees on Wednesday! So I just had to tell you that because it brings me to what I want to show all of you:

 Make sure to click on the pic above so you can see the details a much better : )Since it was stormy out yesterday I was able to work freely on some new designs and this is what I came up with! I love the pink fabric with the white squirrel silhouette....the fabric also has birdies and deer too so I'm looking forward to designing some other woodland critter sets very soon. I only have one more white eggcup left exactly as shown in the picture. : ( Isn't that how it always goes? You find something you love and then they decide to discontinue it!!! Well anyway, I love the style of eggcup as it is very old fashioned with the pretty ridges. I decided to jazz up the bottom too with a trio of millinery flowers in pink, yellow and white and then hand painted the stamens red to tie it all together ~ and last but not least I hand dyed the chenille trim a pale yellow to match!
Oh I guess I should mention that the little bug is indeed in fact a butterfly. I hand painted her little face and gave her somewhat googly eyes for fun! Her body is white and has pink polka dots and she has 4 wings which you are unable to see from the picture. Her antenna are unbreakable as are the stamen in the flower too so there's no need to worry about that, which back in the olden days when I first started working with clay was always upset when I broke a critters antenna : (

My next set I was able to finish has been dubbed Cafe du Pinks & Needles! The fabric is imported from Japan and sports so many different scenes of Blythe doing what she does best....shopping, baking, dancing etc! I don't know about you but as soon as I purchase fabric, my first impulse is to NOT cut into it...I always get a little sad when I cut a circle or a square out of a cute fat quarter! It just isn't right! But then after I take a picture and study it for a while I break down and hack away! I am really hoping to be able to create lots of different pin topper sets from the inspiration of this particular fabric ~ it's probably one of my most favorite kawaii fabric I've ever seen! So keep checking in to see what I come up with next.

P.S. The chocolate rabbit comes to life at night time I want you all to know ~ he's the one in charge of all the baking and strawberry dipping : )

Cupcake Kit Giveaway! Open until May 5th! Cinco de Mayo!

This giveaway is for the US only - sorry International friends : (  Don't worry I'll be doing another giveaway soon!
Please leave a comment here if you would like to win this DIY Cupcake Kit! The winner may choose Classic Yellow Cake Mix or Devils Food Cake Mix (hermetically sealed). The kit includes: cake mix for 12 standard cupcakes, rainbow sprinkles, 12 cupcake liners, a PDF to make your own Cupcake Toppers (as shown in the picture) and last but not least a tote bag sewn by me with fabric I designed : ) The lining of the bag is a pretty white background with butterflies that match the outside of the tote bag! A perfect gift for a friend or a good excuse to bake some cuppies of your own! Please note frosting not included! Open to US only! Sorry International peeps...I'll be doing another giveaway soon Worldwide Welcome!

Here's what's inside:

 

Happy Baking!