Mmmm Cupcakes!

Or should that be fairy cakes? Either way, I've been taking the Wilton course 1 cake decorating class which has been a lot of fun. I've been struggling with getting the consistency of my icing just right, which has made things difficult, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.


Sunday is the final project, which makes me a bit nervous, but I can't believe it's almost over! I'd love to take course 2 and 3 and learn more fun flowers and things, but I think it's been a bit difficult arranging my work schedule around it so that might not happen right away. Ah well, I've had fun, and I'm already dreaming of fun things to decorate for our Christmas goodie trays this year, AND my coworkers have already decided I'm making one of the cakes for our American Heart Association cake raffle next month. That should be interesting...

American Heart Association Fundraising

At my office job I am on the American Heart Association Fund Raising Committee. Our locally based, family owned company has made a large pledge to the AHA, and as part of that effort I will be donating 10% of my proceeds from my etsy shop, starting July 1. Hopefully I will be able to contribute more than when I pledged last December to join other members of the EcoEtsy Street Team in donating 10% of my sales to Heifer International, but didn't make any sales :(

We're doing a lot of other fundraising events at work- snack and bake sales, bingo, a car wash, a yard sale, lunches, a golf mini-event, some raffles... if you have any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Why the American Heart Association? The company has always been charity-minded, but we choose to focus our attention on a few select charities in order to help them more deeply. Our president suffered a major heart attack a few years ago, and he and his family were touched by the people and the work of the AHA, so we have decided to support them in their ongoing efforts. Cardiovascular disease is America's number one killer, and I imagine most everyone knows someone who has directly or indirectly been affected by its consequences.

My First Etsy Treasury Spot!

Etsy member Dolphinmooncreations has featured my Caribbean Sea Earrings in her The Blues Have It! Etsy Treasury featuring blue items from Virginia sellers! (you can click on the image below for a larger view) Be sure to check out the Treasury, as well as the curator's shop- she has a ton of options for personalized pendants and other items that look so awesome. My mom's on this new hummingbird kick, so I'm very tempted to buy her a "My Hummer" necklace!



This follows on the heels of a custom order from an old friend (which I'll be writing about as soon as I have my camera handy) as well as my first etsy sale in over a month. I'm feeling a renewed sense of excitement, so hopefully I will be listing plenty of new items in the shop soon (although I guess it's too late to list those Fourth of July earrings I made like three months ago, right?)

I am housesitting this week and I think the computer's haunted... at the moment it's not letting me upload photos, so this is a rather boring looking blog entry. Sadness! Hey, at least I made time to post...