I LOVE PORTLAND!

Well this post is a few days late, given that I arrived in Portland almost a month ago, but I had such a great time I had to post a few pics. Portland is such a crazy place and I feel so at home there! Cars like this are perfectly normal in Portland, and I want one!

Ballerina Cupcake

Yesterday Lorraine came over for the start of what we hope will be many days of our "Cupcake Factory". We created the first group of cupcakes to list in our etsy shop (still have to create the shop - more news to come on that). I think we made about ten little mixed media confections to sell. This one is my personal favorite!

How About This Cake Sylvia Made!

This beautiful Crepe Paper Cake was created by Sylvia and part of the my Summer Swap Gift Package. It is decorated with music paper, lace, ribbon, flowers, shells, birds and more. And the Cake Topper is a Clear Cinderella Shoe! I love this cake.

Vintage Summer Swap

Swapping can be so much fun! I have started to enter swaps where you exchange handmade goods and gift items with a theme, and they are one-on-one swaps where I get to prepare a wonderful package for my swap partner. For the Vintage Summer Swap I was paired up with a lovely lady from Texas, Sylvia Smith. You can visit her blog at apinkheaven.blogspot.com. If you visit it you will see the goodies that I sent to her!

They say it's better to given than receive, and I admit, I really had a blast creating items for Sylvia, but how much fun is it when a HUGE box of fabulous items is delivered to your door! I LOVE the items Sylvia made and purchased for me. Below you can see a sample. But what you won't be seeing are the yummy edible treats because I ate them before I could even take a photo!

Paper Whimsy Itty Bitty Book Swap

When Paper Whimsy announced an Itty Bitty Book swap with a Garden Girl theme I am all in. Here is my Garden Girl with her flower "headdress" and her pet butterfly. I believe the books have been created and are in the mail. It is so fun to get a package delivered with wonderful little pieces of art from a number of artists from around the Country. I can't wait to receive mine!

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes

I discovered the fun of creating faux cupcakes and can't stop! Here is my first tray full. The "cake" is made of plaster and the "icing" is made with molding clay. Add a little paint and alot of glitter (everything's better with glitter!), and voila, you have beautiful little cupcakes that look too good to eat and definitely shouldn't be consumed!

Marie Antoinette

I had a blast creating this paper doll. My degree in fashion merchandising comes into play with paper! The dress is creating by layering many types of paper. The hair, my favorite part, is made with small wads of music paper.