Frosted Treats 2010 Cupcake Giveaway

There are many things to celebrate this April...

My birthday, for one.

April 16th... no need to send gifts, just smiles!

SPRING!

look outside... see any flowers?

AND the chance to WIN something!

wooo! who doesn't love winning stuff??

You got it! I'm giving away something! It's been a while since I had a giveaway on my blog and in the spirit of flowers and butterflies and birdies all around outside, I think it's time!

The past few weeks I have been on a quest to re-invent Frosted Treats' cupcake style. Here's a little look at my first polymer clay cupcake when I started making them in the Spring of 2008.

*shudder*

I've come a long way over the past two years. My work has become more detailed, the quality of the materials I now use is head and shoulders above what I had on hand back then, and let's not even mention how much better my photos are!

May I present to you my new line of Frosted Treats cupcakes...

Woo! Brand spankin' new cupcakes are here! About 10mm across the bottom and topped with creamy frosting and a plethora of embellishments.

Soo anyways... Down to the task at hand - Giving away one of these little cupcakes!

This Spring Fling Cupcake Necklace will be given to one lucky blog reader!

To enter... You can do lotsa things...

1. Comment on this post and tell me what your favorite spring flower is.

2. Follow me on Twitter

(comment here with your Twitter link when you've done that... I'll follow you back!)

3. Tweet about the giveaway! Be sure to @FrostedTreats with each tweet!

4. Blog about this giveaway... Use this little image here...

(comment here with a LINK when you've done that)

5. OR You can help me clean out my Etsy Shop... All of the prices are wayyyy reduced and I just wanna clear it out! Each purchase will earn you 10 entries!

(comment here with your Etsy name so I know who to give credit to)

So there you have it! My first giveaway of 2010! Entries will be accepted until

Wednesday, April 21, 2010!

A winner will be chosen at random. Be sure to comment for each entry!

Thrifting

For the record...

(Or room stacked with records)

I love digging through thrift stores and junk shops to find treasures large and small. This is something my mother and I have done for years. I used to hate it... But now I'm hooked. I have a favorite hunting ground two towns over and I recently brought a friend along to feed her thrifting addiction.

Meet Courtney.

Courtney and I work together at a tea shop and we've both become hoarders of tea pots ever since. My friend here snagged four tea pots and a stack of cups and saucers for $21. Woot!

Here's Meee!

I got a new ceramic tea pot, a bunch of tiny tea cups (for future pin cushions) and a new serving tray all for $9. Ya can't beat those kinds of deals with a stick!!

This place is stacked to the ceiling with all sorts of odds and ends... Furniture, records, books, kitchen tools, vintage clothing, and my favorite - cups, plates, bowls, and tea pots :)

I live by the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," and I love it! Do you thrift? It's silly NOT to! Not only are the prices right, but you'd be giving some unwanted item new life and reducing the amount of useless waste! It's definitely part of a Green lifestyle. So head on out to your nearest thrift store, junk shop, second hand store or even a garage sale... Give new life to some little lovelies! You'll feel good afterwards... I promise ;)

Spring Cleaning Sale

Hey There! I hope everyone has been enjoying the lovely spring weather as I have!

With the spirit of spring comes an urge to begin again, just as flowers sprout into new life...

SPRING CLEANING!

(oooohh, ahhhh...)

Okay, so while my bedroom is still an unruly mess, I'll be doing some cleaning elsewhere. Head on over to the Frosted Treats shop and help me clear my shop! I've got a whole stock of brand new items to post... But I want to get a few things off my hands first.

Tea for Two Charm Necklace - was $15, now $10!

Golden Nesting Bird and Nest Charm Necklace - was $12, now $8!

Whimsy Pink Strawberry Charm Necklace - was $6, now $4!

Strawberry Sweet Cupcake Charm Necklace - was $8, now $5!

Don't miss out... Once these charm necklaces are gone, I won't be relisting them. Out with the old, In with the new! Grab 'em now before they're gone!

As an added bonus... Each Spring Cleaning shopper will get a Free gift with their order!!

Enjoy!

Happy April

Happy April, Craftistas!

(Hmm, I think I like that term...)

April has always been one of my favorite months. Easter, my birthday, and Spring just make my heart happy. Today while I was heading home from the post office (Hint, hint to Ali and Lindsay), I spotted this little beauty out my car window...

A Treeeeee! In full blooom!! I smiled and snapped the photo before the traffic light turned green. Yay for Spring! Yay for rebirth and new growth!

I also have some rebirth and new growth going on in my Etsy Shop! I'll be lowering the prices on EVERYTHING in the shop to make way for a new generation of cupcakes, ice cream cones and all sorts of other goodies I've been working on... Here's a sneak peek of what I was working on yesterday...

Now I'm off to enjoy a bit of sunshine and get more work done! Keep an eye out for my SPRING CLEANING SALE in my shop! I'll announce all the details tomorrow :)

So, I'm a fabric designer.

Yeah, yeah... I fell off the Thing a Day bandwagon. *Super sad face* I tried!! I am blaming this hiccup on a stomach bug that straight up ruined last week for me. I was totally unproductive and hermit-ish.

BUT!! I received my first proofs from SpoonFlower in the mail today!! I'm so giddy :) Here they are, from digital image to actual fabric. AHHH!!!

I feel like some sort of big shot! Haha! I love my little 8x8inch swatches and I can't wait to order some more of these prints. I wasn't 100% in love with the green background on Cloverfield, so I changed it to white for future prints. SpoonFlower also allows designers to sell their freshly printed fabrics right off the website, so if you love these prints (I love 'em, but I made 'em, so I'm a little partial), head over to my profile and buy 'em! FrostedTreats on SpoonFlower. Also, once I get some yardage in my hands, expect to see some wristlets and coffee cozies made by mee!

I've got some more designs churning around in my mind, so there will be more! This is so stinkin' cool! Haha. Okay, enough giddy-ness from me...

Greeeeeeeen!

No Thing a Day from me today... My area of the world was slammed by some crazy rain and wind today and I spent most of the day without power. Even now it's flickering every once in a while. I attempted to make one thing, but it didn't turn out well and I'm considering throwing it out the window just out of spite.

Boring blog post, huh? Yeah, I know. You can go ahead and throw rocks at me. What if I pointed you all in the direction of some sweet shops on Etsy... Would you love me again?

Clover Leaf Sterling Silver Photo Charm Keychain from MindyG

Jersey T-Shirt Fabric Scarf in Lime Green Spring Summer from Beautiful Bridget

Pucker - Stone Dangle Earrings from Smutopia

There ya go! A little Green to get you all in the mood for Saint Patty's Day! Enjoy :)

Another day of Spoonflower

Okay, so I think I'm hooked. Yesterday I made two more fun prints on Spoonflower and today while I was subbing I was doodling ideas for more. I promised myself I wouldn't order any more swatches until my first batch arrive in the mail, so I think that's making my bank account give a sigh of relief for now. Here are my two newest patterns.

Some cute little Mushies! Cotton Candy and Candy Corn are their respective titles. I really liked making these little fungi... Maybe I'll try my hand at these in polymer form... Hmmmm, the possibilities...

Oh, and feedback on these designs and my designs from yesterday would be fabulous. I'm wondering if anyone besides me and my mother enjoy the prints I've made so far. Thankies!

Playing with SpoonFlower

As a lover of fabrics, I've had by eye on Spoonflower for a while now. I mean, c'mon! Who wouldn't want to print your own designs on to real life fabric?! Pshh.

Anyways, I've always been hesitant to dive in and really play with the possibilities, but today I went head first and have put up a couple of designs. Man, I'm giddy! I played around with a little clover doodle I made and here's the first fabric I am happy to share with you.

I call it Cloverfield. I love it! I wanted another print to coordinate with it, so I took a handful of quotes about luck and being lucky and came up with this...

This one is called Lucky Words. Phew! Designing fabric is even harder than I thought it was... Worrying about repeats, color palettes, blah blah blah... I hope these come out well! I placed my order for a couple of swatches and hopefully they'll come out perdy! They won't be in my hands until after St. Patrick's Day, but I'm a green-eyed, freckled Irish girl, so I'll love these all year 'round!

Has anyone else out there tried Spoonflower or something similar? What were your results? Oh! And be sure to browse the site for other people's prints... There are some REALLY talented people out there!

Thing a Day - Whoops!

Hiya... No, no now... I didn't forget about my Thing a Day project yesterday... I was just out making THINGS! I swear... Here, let me prove it...

See!! Every once in a while, my best friend Liz and I get together and scrapbook. It's therapy. We sit down with a ton of photographs, various stickers, and a wealth of patterned paper to artistically and craftfully catalog our memories. I managed to turn out three new pages for my scrapbook last night (usually I do more, but I promised Liz I'd slow down.) I'm the speedy scrapbooker and Liz is the OCD scrapbooker. Normally I make about five pages to her two in one night. Soooo I promised I'd slow down and keep pace with her last night.

The page you see above shows me and three of my closest girlfriends... In the large photo on the right, you'll see Liz, Kristin, Lia, and myself. Liz and I have been best friends since first grade. Kristin and Lia have been best friends since I believe second grade. The four of us came together when I met Kristin and Lia in college and realized they lived in the next town over from Liz and me. So yeah... The four of us became quite close.

Anywho... Back to scrapbooking. This year, Liz and I added a new tool to our scrapbook nights... The wonderful, magnificent, awesome CRICUT! (Oooooh! Aaaaah!) Yes, I love this wonderful machine. It cuts out letters and shapes and words and AHHH! I love it. Now, I'm no spokesperson for Cricut (though I'd gladly be one if they asked...lol) but I think my crafty life has been made so much cooler just by having one. Here's another page I did earlier this year...

Me and Liz again playing in the snow like we're not grown adults... All of the lettering and most of the shapes in these two pages were made using the Cricut. See how fun scrapbooking is?? AHH! Okay, enough freaking out from me. I've got to get myself ready for a night of work.

So I'll count this as two Thing a Day's since I put in two photos... Don't judge me. :D

Happy Crafting!

Heyyyy Sugar!

Happy Monday, kids. *insert sarcastic sigh*

Last week I got a happy little comment posted from BlabberGirl claiming I was the recipient of some sort of "Sugar Doll Award." Hehe! I love it :) A simple get-to-know-you chain... Write 10 facts about yourself and then go tag 10 more bloggers! Here we go!

1. I've always been a crafty chica... Making friendship bracelets, hand-sewing doll clothes, collecting stickers... There's always been a reason for me to beg my mother to take me to the craft store.

2. My family loves dogs. At one point we actually had 10 dogs (4 adult dogs plus a little of 6 puppies). We ended up keeping one of the puppies and now, ten years later, we're down to just the momma dog and the puppy - Sandy and Gizmo. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it - TOMORROW is Gizmo's 10th birthday! Woo! I'll have to get her a special treat :)

3. After a five year relationship, just before Christmas I suddenly became single. I'm alright now, but that is one of the reasons I was very quiet on my blog for a while.

4. My mother is my best friend. I tell her everything, we pick on each other, and we spend a lot of time together. I'm very thankful for the relationship we have.

5. I read A LOT of blogs. My Google Reader is PACKED. I'm awful, though - I don't leave comments as often as I should. I will be trying my best to change that.

6. Every year I give up something for Lent. I'm not Catholic - but I like the idea of giving something up to challenge myself and better my life a little bit. One year I gave up drinking soda and I haven't been able to drink it since. Last year I gave up pasta (can you freaking believe it!?) and then pigged out on mac and cheese for Easter dinner. This year I've given up fast food... And that has been TOUGH since I work in a shopping mall where the food court stares at me each day.

7. My favorite color is red/pink. My laptop is red, my cell phone is red, my room is painted pink... I like to surround myself with happy colors.

8. I've lived in New Jersey my entire life. Aside from the four years I spent in college (a college in New Jersey), I've lived in the same town since I was born. Both of my grandmothers graduated from the same high school I did.

9. I love rock and roll. Classic rock makes me happy. Queen, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zep, Bruce Spingsteen, The Beatles, etc. I have lyrics from Led Zep's "Fool in the Rain" tattooed on my back. My next tattoo will include lyrics from The Beatles.

10. I'm a history nerd (well, you knew that much) and I read nerdy history books, and I get fired up talking about history to friends... And I really hope I find a job teaching history soon before I lose that fire.

So there! I hope I didn't bore you too much with my rambling. Now! Here are my ten tags...

1. Geek Details (Great blogger, Great twitterer... Just great!)

2. WhiMSy Love (I LOVE this blog. You will too.)

3. ThreePeats (Another great twitterer!)

4. A Food Coma (A real life friend, a real life great blog!)

5. Kind Over Matter (Follow this blog... You need to... Trust me.)

6. Daisy Janie (A great designer, a fun blog to follow!)

7. Java Cupcake (Java and Cupcakes... Awesome? YES!)

8. LollyChops (Another really great crafty blog to read)

9. Faerie*Dust*Dreams (Looking for some fun swaps? Michelle's got 'em!)

10. Everyday Beautiful (It's beautiful... everyday!)

So this works as my Thing a Day, right? We'll say it does. See ya tomorrow!