Through The Camera Lens

Treasure Hunting

A few finds from Flea last weekend. Delish.

And here is what I plan on making with some of these items:

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Ideas found on Pinterest - find me here!

Been working on a few other things - lots of spray involved...sneak peek: Hope you feel inspired to Renew something!

Flea Market Finds

Being inspired and with some knowledge from Jenni Bowlin's Re-Purpose, Re-think & Re-Invent class, I grabbed my best friend and we hit a few Maxwell Street Days over a couple of weekends.

First on my list of "hope to find" are old cameras. I love the Ansco Box, it needs a bit of TLC as does the third one in my collection, a Brownie Hawkeye but I can't wait to set up little vignettes around the house to display them.

Another item high on the list is old kitchen scales. When I mentioned this to my Mom she said she had my Great Grandmother's. It's the one on the left and is what Jenni has referred to as "poverty green": The one on the right I found out hunting. It might not be as old but the white enamel reminds me of my other Great-Grandmother and her farm house. Again love.

And while I have other finds thought I'd just share one more today. These butter pats will share two re-purposes. One is to throw little beads and other roly bits in for use in the scrap room. The other will be to add old photos of my relatives and pretty embellishments with magnets on the back. I will share when I get one finished.

I'm excited to put the class into practice both the finding and the decorating, so glad I took the class this year.

Is there something "old" you like to collect?

ICM: Cupcake Clash - Perfect Pairs Part 2

I LOVED this theme! So pretty! Always excited to see the girls from Industri Cafe at an ICM event. Congratulations on placing 3rd Overall! One of the girls on the team does amazing things with fondant, like this:Beautiful details! They even dressed for the part! Here they are being interviewed by local celebrity Dear Ruthie: And how yummy do these look?
  I wish I had a photo of the whole display of these Cracker "Jack" & Blue Velvet "Heart of the Ocean" Titanic themed Cupcakes but you can see Susie's whole 6 foot display here. And of course there were flavor pairings, like Champagne... and Chocolate. Or Fire & Ice Cream: Breakfast was covered with these Mimosa & Maple-Bacon Cupcakes: How cute is this: Snack on Carmel Corn:Maybe some Coffee by Streetza Pizza:Or Beer - the Best Overall Winner AND an Amateur, Woo Hoo - Congratulations!: I wish I had more details on Best Pro & Best Amateur, I know Swan Lake placed 2nd Overall (from yesterday's post) but when I said this was HUGE I wasn't kidding! We had planned on staying for the whole event but we ended up getting in, checking out the displays, tasting a few cupcakes, voting & headed home - there were still people waiting in line at that point!
This is the BACK side of the block...as you can see on the left I couldn't get the end of the line, it ran up the block and then back down to the next corner! A SOLD OUT event at a venue that could accomadate 2000 and raised almost $9800 for WMSE! Sandy Ploy and her Volunteers AND the Bakers worked SO hard to put this Cupcake Clash on - big thanks to them!

And it wasn't JUST Cupcakes that had people lining up, it was this guy too:(source)

Ace of Cakes Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes! Also appearing as Judges were competitors from one of my favorite shows - Cupcake Wars, owners of Bleeding Heart Bakery! The book signing line was also LONG - maybe another time. :)

Hope you aren't too hungry now! ;) Thanks for stopping by!

ICM: Pro/Am Cupcake Clash - Perfect Pairs

Yesterday was a HUGE Iron Cupcake Event - a Battle for Best Cupcake 2011. Each Baker was required to bake 500 Cupcakes - I attended as a Taster this time - that's a LOT of baking! The theme was "Perfect Pairs" and the Bakers got creative! First up, by amateur K Squared, a beautiful Cupcake representing Hawaii - where our President is from of course! And what would be the perfect pairing for this? Sarah Palin's Alaska!

Also represented was New York, New York with Cheesecake & Hi Hat flavors: by Pros Delicately Delishious.

Some were very elegant:

Above from Pro Robin's Nest Cakery
Some were famous couples, like Forrest & Jenny:Adam & Eve with Fig and Apple:And Fred & Ginger (they spun, how cute!): Beautiful Swan Lake cupcakes, flavors & baker here:"Men in Blue" represented with Coffee & Donuts:Classic pairings, like one of the takes on "Fire & Ice" from Sweet Dreams Desserts: And "Naughty & Nice" from another Pro team, Cupcake Carousel:Sorry I can't remember these themes but so pretty! There were MANY more Cupcakes, so dividing the post up - and I haven't even covered the Celebrities...or the most amazing fondant display I've ever seen yet!

Thanks for stopping by!

And have a HAPPY Valentine's Day!!!!! *mwah*

Weekend In Photos 2

(Rotating sign - did my best!)

How was yours?

The View from Here

My take on Day 5 of "Picture the Holidays" - woke up to our first real big snowfall Saturday morning. It's here, ready or not! I used Icy Pop & Vignette Actions from The CoffeeShop & HTE Edge Burn Action from Shimelle class.

While we had big plans the snow & cold temperatures put a dash in some of them - a few hours outside in the morning put us all in nap mode by afternoon. Did make it to the annual "Breakfast with the Reindeer". Caught a shot of the owner giving Rudolph a smooch, Awwww: After a stop into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some Chocolate Reindeer Pops we walked over for "Christmas at the Inn", an old stage coach stop. We actually used to live down the road, but this was our first time to tour. When we walked inside we were instantly hit with the smell of stew, donut holes & popcorn being cooked over an open fire by the volunteers, dressed for the time, in a very tiny kitchen. Two little twin girls gave us our tour and we were told about travelers who paid for their stay with kitchen chairs - hence all the different styles at the long tables in the dining room. That this building was actually the second site as an angry farmhand who was let go burned the original buildings down. How in the gaming room, for men only - they would run around the table in an attempt to get circulation back into their legs as the tables were so low and the chairs so high their legs were squeezed in tight as they played cards. The women got a kick out of this. 

And many other stories as we went from room to room, that took us back to that time. They knew their stuff! I'm glad we finally made it there and plan on making this a Tradition.

Any Holiday "doings" for you?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The weekend was filled with crafty shopping, making some Christmas decorations, buying new papers for my Christmas Journal - more on that later this week - and the start of "The Season's" events with a local city's annual Holiday Parade.

Thankfully the rain held off for a nice Sunday afternoon AND  we got there early enough so I could walk a few blocks to the scrapstore while the family got some Hot Chocolate, Cookies & Popcorn local shops were giving out to munch...and help stay warm! Thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

This float made me feel a bit nostalgic, always loved  "A Charlie Brown Christmas": Loved this too as one of our Traditions is to watch "A Christmas Story": A boat decorated in my color scheme!
Adding this to the Christmas list, hehe: The Nativity:(Shot of the front & back as I had telephoto when they went by.)And finally Santa made his appearance.

Been working on my "Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas" binder and getting the calendar filled up with other Holiday fun - can't believe how quickly Christmas will be here!

Do you have a Holiday Event you attend each year?

Wordless Wednesday: Down the Hatch*

 

*Photos take by The Husband at Wisconsin Maritime Museum

Little Norway (& A Winner!!!)

Before heading back home Sunday, I had to take a quick run to Little Norway and find these 2 Trolls! And what a cute place, seems like maybe we visited when I was kid & am now planning on taking the family there next year to explore the grounds & find another Troll or two, of course:

And now for the winner of the punch, the comment I pulled out of the bowl was:

        Happy Happy Birthday! (Even if I am a little late - I hope it was a good one!)

        Posted by: Sian | October 20, 2010 at 06:49 AM

Congrats Sian! If you haven't seen her blog - it's a must! Such lovely layouts and stories.

Thanks to all who played along & for the Birthday wishes!

Have a great weekend!

Weekend In Photos