Where Have I Been, You Ask...

I am so glad to be able to say "hello" to my on- and off-line friends.  I have spent the last 2 weeks in the hospital and in rehab.  Each place kept me for 1 week.  The night that I went in, my blood pressure had skyrocketed, resulting in a brain hemorrhage.  Scary, scary stuff.  Alot of what went on, I have no memory of.  For the next 3 months, my speech and sight will improve and relapse.  However, it is supposed to be able to return to normal.  Thank you for everyones concern and prayers.  Things could have been gone in another direction.
I will be back to my shop just as quick as my body will let me.

TUTU'S ARE ALL MARKED DOWN FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH

Just dropping in to let you know that all TUTU's are marked down to either $25 or $30, for the entire month of March.  Take a look and make a princess happy. 

No Hibernation This Year!

Hi, everyone. Again, lets give our new friends a hug and a big 'how are ya?' I am always happy when I see we have picked up another new friend-to-be. Anytime any of you have something you want to say whether it's funny, serious, embarassing or what, let us hear from you! My household has a little funny story that they like to tell about me. At this time, I had just concluded my 4th out of 6 surgeries in a very short time. Between the anesthesia and lots of pain pills, I was a little 'goofy headed'. lol, to say the least. So, the light bulb in the lamp by my chair burned out. I got up and got a replacement bulb. No reason why a grown woman couldn't take on that little task. As I unscrewed the lightbulb, I noticed that it was quite warm, hot actually. The first thing through my muddled brain was not to burn the upholstery on my chair. So, I did the next best thing...I put the end of the bulb in my mouth so I could not burn a thing. Know what??? It was HOT!! Very, HOT! Who'd a thought? I blistered my tongue like there was gonna be a heat shortage. It hurt like a you-know-what.  Needless to say, this story will never die and there are others.  But, I would rather hear one of yours.  I know you all have at least one!
Now, my title - "No Hibernation This Year" - means that we have been put on a rush to find a new place to live and get moved in.  Actually, we found a place to move that I think will be very pretty when we get through with it.  Winter for me is dreaded, usually.  I hate the cold weather.  However, it hasn't been too bad yet this year and I will be too busy to notice.
I may be a little AWOL in the next month or so, but just know that I am fine and just getting moved.
Talk to you soon!
♥Cinda
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Todays's Tidbit
  Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.        ---Albert Einstein---

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Hello!

Hi, everybody!
I'm just popping in to say 'welcome!' to our new friends.   I am so happy to have more people joining us.  Please feel free to add any comments you might have or any topics that you might want to tackle.
I would love it if everyone would introduce yourselves and tell us what your days involve, if you have a family or kiddos, what goes on at your house on a typical day, etc.
Did y'all see the post on Jan. 5, that I wrote, featuring the Curly-Q Wreathes?  I think they are really cute and decided to make one for myself.  It was so much fun and I love the way it looks.

Gotta run, talk again soon,
♥Cinda
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Today's Tidbit
The greatest happiness in life is knowing that you are loved for who you are and sometimes in spite of who you are.  Give this happiness to your family, to your friends, to your neighbors.
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DIY Cupcake Wrappers

Hello, friends,
Welcome to another new week.  (One week closer to spring! yea!)  Many friends are emailing about the handmade cupcake wrappers.  They are very simple and can be made out of any paper print or solid that you love.  I found so many DIY tutorials for this, I really didn't see the need for me to try to do a decent tutorial for you.  This is one that I enjoyed.  I found this at:  http://gramkinpaperstudio.blogspot.com/2010/09/make-your-own-cupcake-wrappera-tutorial.html .
We love our sweets...especially cupcakes. So for those of you who like to dress up your cupcakes with pretty wrappers, you can know make your own.
This tutorial is brought to you by Judy in Her Natural Element. She also has great recipes , especially cupcakes for you to try.
We suggest the Candied Sweet Potato with Mascarpone Frosting or the Grace Cupcakes.
Note: These use patterned paper, but you can personalize your own for a party, birthday or etc just by designing and printing out pattern on heavy cardstock. Just remember to extend design (bleed if all over patter like pic) past edges of template to make sure when you cut you don't cut off design.
I wondered if I could just make some myself...


I had a bunch of scrap-booking paper and materials, so I brought them out and started to experiment! I had paper of all kinds, rhinestone stickers, double sided tape, and craft scissors that produce cute scalloped edges!



First, I carefully disassembled a cupcake liner, and then taped it down to a sheet of paper to create a pattern/cut-out. But unfortunately, this didn't actually work. The angle of the arch was off. You have to make the "rainbow" shape slightly wider. So I ended up starting over. As it turns out, it required lot of trial and error.. but I was finally able to trim the perfect "rainbow" shaped pattern that would give me a great cupcake wrapper!

Then, the fun began! I created a ton of different wrappers by tracing and cutting out the "rainbow" design on different patterned paper.

I stamped some...


...and others I embellished with rhinestones!


A few hours later, I had a whole stack of them!

I was super tired that day and didn't have the time/energy to bake a batch of cupcakes for the Cupcake Wrapper Photoshoot, so I ran out to Whole Foods to purchase some. Thus, the cupcakes you're about to see are not actually made by me. They're still super pretty and they were great models for my wrappers! Not to mention, they were super tasty, too! =)

Cherry blossom gift wrapping paper.


Cute polka dots with rhinestones.

More with rhinestones!


Pretty green ones with textured paper.


Plain green ones with flower & rhinestone embellishments.

Aren't they fantastic? They turned out better than I could have imagined! And all it took was some imagination and persistence!
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We thank you Judy for letting us use your tutorial.  I hope you find this useful. 
Happy Monday!!
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Today's Tidbit

Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
                            
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Hard Boiled Eggs

Hi, everyone.  I hope you had a nice weekend.  Boy, the weather sure left its footprints in lots of places, especially in the south.  Our prayers are with the families that were affected by these sneaky storms. 
How many different ways have you heard to make hard-boiled eggs?  A plenty, I am sure.  But, I was jumping around on Pinterest this weekend and momonamission.me  had listed  her special trick for hard-boiled eggs.  Have you seen it?

Here is the world’s easiest way to make boiled eggs:

1. Fill a pot with water and set the temp to high. Add desired amount of eggs making sure the water covers the entire egg. Bring it to a boil. DON”T CONTINUE TO BOIL. Once it begins, remove it from the heat and put a lid on it. Set your timer for 15 minutes.
2. Ding! Pour the hot water off and immediately fill your pot with cold water. Add as much ice as you can to this water. If it melts in a few minutes, add more. The water should be icy cold when you put your hand in it. If not, continue adding ice.
3. After about 10-15 minutes (no set time), pour NEARLY all of the water off reserving about an inch.
4. Put the lid on and now it’s time to play bumper cars. You heard me, shake those babies bumping them together back and forth. You’ll look ridiculous, but I promise it’s worth the goofy look so you’re not peeling each one under cold running water. Just continue to shake, shake, shake for about a minute and voila! When you remove the lid nearly all of your shell has fallen off the egg and they EASILY peel off without peeling the egg off.

There that’s my method of boiled eggs. I store them in a ziploc bag (dated-because they have a week long shelf-life) in the fridge and I’ve saved myself time, energy and money (because I didn’t buy the boiled eggs in a bag sold at the store). And my boys are happy all week long. I add them to my chef salad or eat them as a protein snack.
P.S. If you’re making deviled eggs, whip your yolk with your wire whisk in your mixer. And whisk a long time and add a tablespoon or two extra mayo and top it with a sliced olive with pimento. All your in-laws will think you’ve went to culinary school!
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Now doesn't that sound easy?  I hate when the whites stick to the shell when you are peeling, it doesn't make for a very pretty deviled egg.  lol.  Has anyone used this method before?  I would love to know if you, too, had good luck with this method.  I will be trying this out real soon.
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Today's Tidbit
    Good ideas often transform into great ones if you give them enough room to play.

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