Wild Abandonment

How does one go from subtle pastel colors of winter and sweet nothings to bold and colorful, wild adandonment? Easy! The UPS man brings a box of new and pretty colored glass to play with!! :)

Having ran out of my black and white twisities, I decided to take a bit of time and crank a few out to have on hand... and thats when the doorbell rang! I love when the doorbell rings because I know what is on the other side..... a fabulous present for me in the way of glass rods!!! So of course, I shut down my torch and ran to see what the jolly old man dressed in brown, brought for me!

Gorgeous, gorgeous color... and since I had a few twisties of black and white, I thought what better than to use them with the bold and beautiful colors I received. They are exotic, sexy, and definitely "wild" feeling with a subtle animal print feeling. I just listed them this morning and dont suspect these will last long in my shop, but they were so much fun to make that I plan to make another set of each very, very soon... maybe a set of each to keep for myself, LOL!

Have a great weekend.... and watch my blog this weekend for another post in my "My Favorite Things" series this holiday season!

How Sweet It Is

Ive been indulging my sweet tooth for a couple weeks now with little nibbles of this and that.... mostly my grandma's infamous sugar cookies or dark chocolate covered carmel turtles. I wont even begin to talk about what that's done to my weight (its not bad, but not good either), but what I will talk about is how I decided to turn my sweet cravings into ones not so easily devoured!!

Cupcakes are all the rage these day, with specialty shops popping up all over the country and most are doing really well with their portion-control, portable sweets! And although Ive made umpteen million cupcakes in the past, lampwork cupcakes included, I really wanted to make something that wasnt "birthday" related so here is my rendition of a cool winter wonderland cupcakes I did for my Etsy shop, Bastille Bleu!

They are yummy chocolate cake with pastel blue and green icing, and white piping, dotwork, lightly dusted with "powder sugar" (enameling). Ive even included some sweet sugar beads to complete my cool wintery cupcake theme!

Course, these are glass and there isnt anything edible on these babies .... but they sure do make me want to go into the kitchen and bake some realy cupcakes!

Enjoy and have a sweet holiday!

A Prim & Proper Christmas ~ My Favorite Things Series, 2009

I have a secret that Ive kept hidden for many, many years!

Those who know me best, know I am a country girl at heart. My home is lovingly decorated in an array of charming country/farmhouse "knick knacks", vintage wooden and metal deli/market/cafe signs, and other simple yet creative objects from years past, whether they be true antique or reproductions, and the color palette ranges from infamous boot black and barn red, to ivory, olive green and creams with the occasional homespun gingham ribbon tied here and there. I even have an eclectic country rooster and hen collection that which has now permanently made its home in my kitchen and areas of my dining room. But the one thing that nobody knows is …. I have a very secret, and totally *smitten* love affair with farmhouse/country primitive and folk art! I suppose its not all that surprising, but the really funny thing is… I have yet to purchase a SINGLE primitive piece to begin my collection, partly due to the fact that there is SO much of it out there that I truly love that I am totally stifled at which piece to start off with. But today I am finally sweeping dark secret from the closet, which Im hoping will help me to finally make my first primitive purchase!

So to all the creative and talented artists of the primitive art world, I dedicate this blog article, "A Prim & Proper Christmas", to you as it is another of my very favorite things!

As I have mentioned in the past two posts, I wish to encourage you to treat yourself by visiting these wonderful Etsy shops and see the wonderful primitive holiday treasures and gifts they have for you this season (collage): SnowmanCollector, DixieCreations, Stitchinthedayaway, HomespunHandcrafts, OhMyButtons, HarvestMoonPrims, Middleburg, CreationsbyMinda, UneekPillows, SweetLibertyPrims, TheHomespunRaven, VintageMarketPlace, WildrosePrimitives, PillowHappy, and The QuiltedPumpkin (solo photo).

Feel free to post your comments. I'd love to hear from you and what YOUR favorite things are in this holiday collage, at Bastille Bleu, or even on Etsy!

Please enjoy this first edition of "My Favorite Things Series, 2009", AND most importantly .... remember that the photos represented here are the sole property of the shop owners listed in this blog post and are *NOT* public domain.


Many thanks & Happy Holidays!