Art to Drool Over - Creative Cupcakes on Martha Stewart

Yea! Local girl hits the big time! And she made her fortune and fame with some fancy vanilla, a spatula, artistry & a torch (and someother incredients + business sense).

If you watched the Martha Stewart Show this Friday, April 4, 2008, you saw the local girl I am refering to... Jennifer Shea of Seattle's Trophy Cupcakes and Party. She is a registered dietician, trained as a baker who worked in some of Seattle's best eateries. About 1 year ago she and her husband opened Trophy Cupcakes in an old schoolhouse building filled with retail shops in Seattle's historical Wallingford neightborhood. My husband and I discovered this magical place a while back and we are not alone. There are quite a few addicts that go there on a regular basis. On the Martha show, she said they sell 1000 cupcakes per day. At 2.99-3.50 each, that's... well you do the math. Not to shabby, eh?

Click HERE to get the recipe for the cupcake featured on Martha. Click HERE to see a photo show of some beautiful cupcake art.

By me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/punkjr/2084869307/
Originally uploaded by PunkJr

Beside the obvious yum factor, what makes this place so special? For me it is all about presentation. I see why Martha went gaga for them as the shop and the work they do totally reminds of Martha Stewart. The cupcakes and the shop are little works of art with exquisite taste and attention to datail. Everything is in shades of aqua and cocao brown with a slight 1940/50's nostalgic spin. Cupcake and espresso are served on pretty aqua fiesta ware. Cupcakes are frosted prettily to look like roses, or with festive sugar springles, etc. And the party decorations they sell are intentially selected to go along with the vintage style. They do special boxed cupcakes tied with ribbon as wedding favors with handmade custom paper picks (to insert into the cupcake) that are as pretty as the packaging itself.

Legalized frostitution
Originally uploaded by * Minette

Seattle loves cupcakes. We have another famous sweet shop that has it's own charm, called Cupcake Royale. If Trophy is the "Classical Music" of cupcakes, then I would say Cupcake Royale might be the "Rock and Roll". They have some really fun flavors and even more fun names for their wares like "Legalize Frostitution", "Mo Fro" and Orange U Glad" for example. They are also known for their community involvement, donating approx. 2000 cupcakes per month to schools & non-profits.

Cupcake Pr0n
Originally uploaded by PunkJr

How to Make Microscope Slide Pendants, Part 1.5

OK. So I promised a "Part 2" post about making glass slide pendants. It has taken me a while because I have been doing a little research so I can offer the best advise and resources out there on this blog for you as a reader, but selfishly, for my own sake too.

I have two soldering irons, flux and solder from hardware stores that I or my husband bought and they just don't work for me. They are too large and not the right temp, and for all I know, the flux & solder are not right for humans to wear on their skin. The more I read, the more I realize just how dangerous it is to solder with the wrong compounds and in an area that is not well ventilated. PLEASE read all warnings on the packaging if you try this hobby.

When purchasing solder, BE SURE that it contain no lead and no antimony which is commonly used in hardware grade lead-free solders and is toxic. The jewelry you make should not make you or the wearer sick! That would be terrible!

I have made slide ornaments (thankfully none as jewelry with harmful solder), but I admit I am not as good at soldering as I would like to be and have wasted many projects that I started because I messed up. I appear to be "Solder Challenged", so, OK, I give! I am talking a soldering class next month at a local craft store and I can hardly wait.

I think it was meant to be... I was just thinking about looking for a new soldering iron set up when I saw a whole section of soldering, slides, books, etc. at my local Ben Franklin store. Right above it was a class announcement. The teacher is Lisa Bluhm, who wrote a book called "Simply Soldered Jewelry & Accessories" (see Amazon link below) and designed many products specifically for slide jewelry crafting under the trade name "Simply Swank". I almost purchased a whole kit (Around $55.00) of her stuff and the book on the spot, but I decided to wait to see how the class goes. Maybe I truly am solder challenged for life, but if that Lisa can teach this Lisa to solder better, then I will gladly buy all of her wares.

I will let you know how it goes in Part 2 of this blog saga after the class in May!

In the mean time, check out these books about soldering jewelry using glass and collage:

TreeBySea.com - It's Alive!!

Just a quick note. Yea! It's a done deal... I know have a .com as well as my etsy store representing the silver jewelry that I have been making using art clay and my beloved kiln. Please pop in when you get a chance - www.treebysea.com. It's a pretty short and sweet site with just one page, but that's all I need for now I think.

Check back soon for more crafty how to blogs.