GIVEAWAY!: Pennant Bunting Garland+Cupcake Flags

THE LOVELY PENNANT BUNTING+CAKE FLAG GIVEAWAY!



I love cupcake flags. I love garlands.

For this weeks giveaway, I am going to send one of you some of both.






The prizes!:

* 24 asst. cupcake flags (clean+unused, the ones in the cake above are an example ;))

* 9 feet/3 yards {with 36 flags} pennant bunting garland



(the asst. colors in the garland and flags: carnelian, strawberry, buttercream, leaf, curry, seasalt and copper/cream faux bois)














HOW TO ENTER:

there are several ways to enter:

{{be sure to leave separate comments for each of these}}

1. leave a comment

2. leave a comment about the best cupcake you've ever tasted

3. become a follower of this blog, if you already follow, that counts too

4. drop into the gilded bee shop, and leave a comment about an item you like

5. blog about this giveaway/spread the news



Be sure to leave an e-mail address in your comment{s}/and/or be sure to check back to see if you've won! :)

The Winner: please respond within 7 days after being contacted. :)

Entries will be taken until Friday Sept. 10.

Winner will be chosen via Random.org.

Happy Entering!

Mocha Cookies

I love chocolate. I made a batch of these cookies (this recipe is heavily adapted from this one: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Dark-Chocolate-Oatmeal-Cookies-109497 )
and thought that they were so good that I'd share the recipe.
Remarkably, the small amount of honey produces an excellent balance of sweetness in contrast to the espresso and cocoa.





Mocha Cookies

Ingredients:
¾ c. whole wheat or white whole wheat flour (the finer the texture the better)
¼ c. unsweetened dutched cocoa powder
1/4 t. baking power
¼ t. baking soda
¼ t. fine sea salt
2 t. very finely ground dark coffee beans (espresso, French roast, and Italian roast are really good)
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
2 T. old-fashioned (not quick cooking) rolled oats
½ c. extra-virgin coconut oil, room temperature
¼ c. honey
½ t. pure vanilla extract
2 lg. eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda, salt, ground coffee, cinnamon and oats. Whisk until ingredients are well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine oil, honey, vanilla and eggs, whisk until just combined.
Add the oil mixture to the flour mixture. Using a spatula, fold the ingredients together until just moistened throughout. This recipe makes very moist dough and will look a bit like cake batter. On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop 1 T. of dough for each cookie, be sure to space them 1 to 1 ½ inches apart, since they will spread out while they bake.
Bake for approx. 8 min., allow to cool on the pan at least 5 min..

{these cookies would make wonderful ice cream sandwiches too :)}

a little bunting

Here are 8 out of 12 new garlands I made for the gilded bee shoppe...
I love these colors. :)
I'm still trying to get caught up on so many things.
I have lots of new stuff to list, and will hopefully stock the shoppe soon...

Inspiration board: White

I really love white. It is the color of great promise and potential. It can be beautiful and sculptural on it's own, but add color, and you have wonderful contrast.
I'm fascinated by the color spectrum.




Aren't these glass beads gorgeous? I'm a fiend for vintage buttons and these are favorites.
I'm trying to think of a project worthy of these buttons.

5 strawberries and a fig

These were so pretty that I had to take a few photo's...

Rose Garden Locket

I have a number of different jewelry projects that I am working on.
This necklace is a gift for a friend.
I found this interesting locket which has a glass front.
It's perfect for filling with one of my favorite things: tiny flowers.





The ribbon wasn't originally part of the design. I thought that the piece needed an odd touch, so I added a couple of simple bows.

A bag and a blouse, part one

I'm finally getting around to some sewing.
I've been so busy lately, that the sewing end of things has lapsed for month's now.
I bought this purse frame on my trip to NYC a few years ago.
I got the flower fabric a couple of weeks ago.
I went to the fabric store to get some wool felt, without intending to get anything else. However, I spotted this stuff and couldn't resist getting a 1/4 yd. for a handbag.
I have had some odd-hours lately, and was up rather late last night.
I managed to sneak in some sewing on the bag. I am just up to the point of sewing in the lining, and will post the finished project as soon as possible.



Here is the other project I started:
The Sencha Blouse, variation no. 2.
It is a "Colette" pattern (they are awesome!).
{ http://www.colettepatterns.com/shop }
I loved the design. It also seems like a well-written/easy to follow pattern+instructions.
I haven't gotten as far as sewing any seams.
I plan to finish this project as soon as the bag is done.

Vintage Book Covers=lovely postcards

I have been the "victim" of an increasing amount of random and totally unexpected kindness.
So, I have been working on thank you's. I love to make cards that are aren't quite the normal type seen in everyday correspondence. If you've been following my posts for a while, you'll know about my hoard of book covers. These are some of my vintage book covers repurposed to make postcards:



The first task: trim off any extra material. The cover paper/cloth is adhered very well, so I was able to trim the covers to size without needing to re-glue any of it.



Next: I dipped the edges in a little ink.





Then I used my new postcard stamp to add the final touch.



Now...to find some special postage stamps for these cards...

GIVEAWAY! :) ~Vintage-Repro Pastelle Carnation Bouquet~

Time for a lovely giveaway!



{about the bouquet: there are 4 pale yellow, 4 pastel pink, and 4 aqua carnations, each of them ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in diameter, the total size of the bouquet is around 7+ inches. they are all handmade by moi, and would be charming as a flower girl's or bridemaids bouquet, for crafting, gifting, wrapping, or decorating}









HOW TO ENTER:
There are several ways to enter:
{be sure to leave separate comments for each of these}
1. leave a comment.
2. Become a follower of this blog, if you already follow that counts too.
3. blog about this giveaway
4. visit the gilded bee shop and leave a comment about an item that you like.

Please include an e-mail address in your comment, so that I can contact you if you win :)/and/or/ please be sure to check back to see if you win! :)

Entries taken until: Tuesday, August 31st.
Winner will be chosen via random.org.
happy entering! :)

{butterfly contest!} And the winner is...?!

Aqua+Carnelian Inspiration Board

Here is another inspiration board that I composed.
I love these colors together, probably because they are such opposites and create a beautiful contrast.

More Tea Roses

Here are some more pics of the lovely tea roses I created for the gilded bee shoppe...