Hop To It!

I am waaaay too hopped up on Easter ideas and Cadbury Eggs to focus today (sorry for the bad pun, but I was up til 2 a.m. last night wrapping these crepe paper carrots from Martha Stewart -- they all have treats inside!)  I've got about 48 hours before my family's Easter celebration so I'll be a busy bunny.  Here's a round-up of only some of the amazing things I've seen on the web today, 

wish I had time for them all!  

[by Ali-Bee's Bake Shop, seen on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle 

from a Facebook post by Glorious Treats] 

-- phew, just want everyone to have credit!

Gorgeous upon gorgeous egg cookies from Alison of Ali-Bee's Bake Shop: these are all done BY HAND with a pastry bag and brush embroidery.  No stencil, no cookie press, just sunning.  My fave is the flowered one in the middle on the right, wow.

[by Stephaine Jessica Lau on All About Ami seen on Craftzine 

from a tweet by Whip Up retweeted by The Long Thread] 

-- really I just love how ideas are passed along

I so heart the expression on the faces of these amigurumi bunnies and the fabric that lines their ears. It's been a while since I did any crocheting, hmmm, maybe it's time to dig into the yarn stash.

[by Stitch Craft Creations seen on Pure Joy Events]

I haven't tried felting before, but this makes me want to!  I love the colors and the little chick peeping out.  Cute egg crate too.  

[from Southern Living also seen on Pure Joy Events]

I think these beautiful eggs are just the right shade and the speckles are very pretty.  Last year I dyed my eggs a little too dark since I went out to take a walk while they were in their little bath.  
Ah well, it was a really pretty day.

[by Nikki, In Stitches on the Pure Joy Events roundup]
Nikki says these are simple, but I'm so impressed.  Need a lotta patience here, but they're very interesting.

Hey, did you know you can print out this "Kawaii Easter Kit" from Creative Mamma for free?!  I already printed her Spring To Do List and even though I haven't crossed everything off, it's too adorable to take down from my cork board.

[from Martha Stewart Living]
And I started this Martha Stewart pussy willow nest last night, but the stems I had are a little dry since I got them a while ago.  
Have to find some that are more bendy.

Phew, ok, I think that's enough just for now.  Gotta get some lunch and finish the work day so I can power through tonight: floral arrangements, strawberry frosted egg cake (like the award-winning cupcakes!), cookies, jell-o eggs, etc. etc...
and maybe some laundry too...it's been a while.

Happy Easter prepping!

What Would You Do?

This pic is kinda pretty, kinda scary.  It's a lovely cherry tree on my walk to work that I've been watching bloom lately.  Wish we had some sunshine to help it along, but it's been kinda grey in NYC this week.  I want to get out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden soon to see the trees at their peak, but for now here's a great time lapse video.

Speaking of kinda scary, this isn't really a craft post, but my subconscious crafted it last night: had a dream that the world was ending. People were scrambling and panicking and running around.

A lot of movies deal with this: The Road, Cloverfield, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, Deep Impact...I could go on and on since someone very special to me is constantly fascinated by this. I've never understood why, this would mean I would never see him again.

But back to the dream: I was desperate to find my sister, searching everywhere, asking if anyone had seen her. Finally upon finding her I couldn't convince her to join a group of us in our spaceship (weird, I know) and when she finally agreed to come with us I wept with relief. Then someone found out the world was ending in 50 days.  When he told us the mood instantly shifted.  It was sad but beautiful in a way, kinda like the picture of this tree.  Instead of simply surviving we started thinking of reminiscing, reflecting and making the most of the time we had left.  So, my question to you is, if you had 50 days left on this earth:

- where would you go? 
- who would you bring with you to spend that time with?  
- what would you do? 

Hopefully we won't need to make these choices anytime soon (2012, anyone...?) but it's definitely changing what I'm thinking about and how I'm spending my time today.  Have a good one, be safe.

Cheers to the Experts

I've been known to dabble in baking and flower arranging, like this white lilac and parrot tulip arrangement I sent to a friend for her new job but...I had a few cool chances recently to see the work of real professionals.

I was so excited to visit the kitchen and showroom of Ron Ben-Israel: the premier cake designer.  Ron was away at the time, but we got a wonderful tour from Rebecca Taylor, whose official title is "operations, etc."  I love that since it describes my job as well!

This cake for Swarovski is covered in real crystals: even the flowers are wearing them.

And what an adorable workspace

I could've spent all day here in this sunny room buzzing with creativity

amongst the rows and rows of sugar flowers

including Ron's signature red roses, amazing.

Next up, the Macy's Flower Show.

One of the windows had a Paris theme.

And we were wondering how these ranunculus withstood the sun for weeks.  Maybe they were replaced every so often?  I bought a plant last week and it already seems to be drooping.  That's why I like cut flowers, my thumb is so far from green it isn't even funny.

The store was really decked out

and everyone was buzzing around excitedly like little honeybees.

There were even flower poodles!

Wish it could be like this all the time.

A Surprisingly Flowery Monday

Ah, the 1st Monday in April...started out cloudy, but now the sun is bright and shining and my office window is open...it all started out so calmly.

Scooped up some freesia from my favorite flower stand on the way to work.

Got some coffee in the kitchen where Michel, the pastry chef was creating roses.

Out of phyllo pie dough! (postscript: the phyllo unfortunately didn't work out, so pie dough was used instead :-)

Then I was asked to make a few arrangements for a tasting with __famous Museum X___, so I jumped at the chance of course.

And got 3 arrangements done in record time

to set on the dining table

which the account exec liked so much that he asked for another for the coffee table...and after a bit of rushing....

finished just before the clients arrived.  We started with a greenmarket salad with edible flowers:

pansies, broccoli flowers, nasturtiums, sweet peas and arugula flowers.

And ended with pear, lemon and raspberry macaroons on a tray decorated with ranunculus.

I made sure to leave some flowers for my friend Liz's desk.

And we have plenty in the walk-in-fridge for another day's adventures...

48 Cupcakes Later

Last weekend I made 48 cupcakes and somehow still had frosting left over!

For the first 24, I saw mention of Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes on The Cupcake Blog

which led to a post from Michelle Falletti at It's the Little Things in Life

and to the recipe at Annie's Eats.

The frosting was by Annie and the cake adapted from a recipe by Williams-Sonoma.

I didn't have time to make the lemonade syrup, which was ok because once I snuck a taste I found that the little cakes were so moist already.

Then frosting, topping with fresh strawberries and some lemon sugar (just granulated sugar with lemon zest that I keep in the fridge for things just like this).

And then time to pack them all up in my handy new cupcake holder, which can transport (and display) 2 dozen cupcakes!

And took them to my friend Shawn's Chili-Cook-Off where they won the blue ribbon for Best Side Dish, yay!

The next day I wanted to use up the yummy frosting and speed things along a bit, so I used Duncan Hines Strawberry Supreme Moist Deluxe mix to make 24 more cupcakes.

The mix was so, so pink!

So of course, the finished cakes were too.  And that was 48 cupcakes...and still frosting left over!  I took to eating it not-so-covertly with a spoon every once in a while right from the fridge and kept coming back for more...

And Mila was "helpful" as usual.  But what's not to love about leftover frosting?  Everyone could use a little more sweetness in their lives.