Floranova at Macy's

Technically, Spring may have sprung but the only flowers around here are the ones found indoors.

I really enjoyed these sculptures - created by Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre. Every year I look forward to the May Day parade that they sponsor. I've been to one on their performances, too, and the puppeteers are amazing. You can find out more info about May Day at their website: http://www.hobt.org/

Easter in review

Boston Cream Pie made easy - yellow cake from a mix, instant pudding and a chocolate ganache made from semisweet chocolate chips and cream.

These eggs were decorated by adults, believe it or not. Who says kids are the only ones allowed to go crazy with the glitter-ification?

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treats - shaped like bunnies, of course!

New Boots

Here's a picture of my new rain boots! What do you think? Target.com has an awesome selection of funky boots on their website. Unfortunately, they aren't available in stores. Normally, I wear an 8.5 or 9 but I got an 8 because these run large. If you are planning to wear them over your shoes then the sizing is probably just about right, though. I will have some real posts soon, I promise. I haven't had too much time/inspiration to bake or do anything crafty lately.

Thrift Store Finds

A cool new trivet and...............

..... some retro napkins and dish towels......

......and these four mugs are just a few thrift store treasures from last weekend. I don't understand the pricing at thrift stores sometimes. They were charging two bucks for an ugly I Heart My Beagle mug, but only three bucks for all four of these beautiful mugs!

I also got a mess of vintage buttons. I have to admit I like the packaging on some of them better than the buttons themselves :)

Moo Monday

I'm very excited about these awesome Marimekko tea towels that I got last week. Here is what the website says about them, "The large square cloths are rigid when dry but soften slightly when wet to allow you to scrub any surface from tile floors to dirty pots and pans." Eeek! There is no way these beautiful cows are going to be scrubbing disgusting pots and pans. These little guys are getting framed and put up on the wall! Maybe in the kitchen? Or they could liven up my office at work.....

They're designed by Miina Äkkijyrkkä and I got them at FinnStyle in downtown Minneapolis (http://www.finnstyle.com/kevatjuhla-tea-towels.html). The store clerk told me that this designer lives in the city of Helsinki is getting evicted because she lets her cows run loose. I don't know if it's true but it's a funny story.

Wednesday but No Watercolor

No new watercolor today but here's a sneak peak of my pop-up book that I'm working on. The theme of the book is "things that sound better in French".

Parapluie sounds so much better than umbrella, I think!

And here's a shot of a cake I made for the work folks......

...and here is the beautiful scarf that my friend Laura made for me! I will say that I have been waiting for it to be done for quite a while, but it was well worth the wait. I love the colors and it is very warm and soft. I'm looking forward to wearing it tomorrow during my walk to the train.

Watercolor Wednesday and Some Blogs to Check Out

Here are details from two watercolors I've done over the last few weeks. The bottom one really looks a lot like wallpaper - but at least it would be interesting wallpaper! I'm working on another project this week so haven't had as much time to paint. Hopefully, I'll post some pictures of my new project later this week.

In the meantime, I've updated my site with links to some really cool blogs that I like to visit. I expecially recommend Design Mom (http://www.designmom.com/), How About Orange, and Angry Chicken for DIY crafts and cool product tips. I check them out pretty much every day. I love bloggers that post frequently and these have a new post pretty much every day.

White and Gold Birthday Cake

Here is my latest commission - a white cake with gold accents. Silver and gold was requested, but did you know that silver dragees are quite expensive? Maybe if I buy them in bulk then it would be worthwhile, but $10.99 at the grocery store for a little bottle is way too much. Anywho, my friend seemed happy with the cake and I was mostly satisfied. I tried all of the components (cake and icings) separately, but hope it tasted good all together. The piping is, um, rustic, to put it nicely, because my sister has my icing gun thing at her house. I also realized I need to get more cake pans; I only have a few sizes and that's pretty limiting.

The cake itself is the White II butter cake recipe from The Joy of Cooking, with some colored sprinkles in the batter for a "funfetti" look (requested by the birthday girl). The frosting between the layers is cream cheese and the frosting on the outside of the cake is just a quick buttercream. For the decorations, I cut star shapes from white fondant and painted them gold with luster dust mixed with lemon extract (the extract is clear and the alcohol in it evaporates, so it works well for this kind of decorating).