Cupcake Necklaces

We have a shop in Incline Village called The Potlatch and it has an eclectic mix of clothing, dishes, jewelry, candles, picture frames, rugs, and all kinds of other goodness.  I went in there yesterday and found these Sweet Life necklaces ($8.99). The necklaces come attached to paper cupcakes with a recipe inside! 

 BTW....Sweet Life also makes bracelets. 

Recipe of the Week: Garden Party Cupcakes

These garden cupcakes are perfect for a summer party...and the recipe is an easy one from Duncan Hines (my favorite cake mix).  Follow the link under the photo for the recipe!

Duncan Hines Garden Party Cupcakes

Yoga Cupcakes

My niece Payton is here visiting this week and we took a yoga class today....stretching and getting into poses and positions that the human body was not meant to be in.  A good time was had by all.  Maybe rubbing a cupcake on my sore legs will help.

from the Flickr  photostream of doreenseng 

Cupcake Scarf (free pattern)

I know it's the middle of summer, but if you get started now, you will have a cute cupcake scarf by the time the first snowflakes fall.  The pattern for this scarf is available free from Craftbits.com.

Craftbits.com

Martha Stewart Cupcake Punch

You can use this cupcake punch for many things, but I bought it to make cupcake confetti to scatter on a table at a birthday party.  I got mine at Michael's but it is also available at craft stores, Borders and Amazon.  If you are into scrapbooking, there is also a cupcake corner punch.

Martha Stewart cupcake punch

$12.99

Cupcake Ear Buds

These cupcake earbuds will make music on your iPod (or whatever device you use) sound even better!

available from Amazon

$16.95

Giant Hostess Cupcake

This is really a cake...but it is a cake that is supposed to be a hostess cupcake.  Sweet! 

Leah Reich

Cupcake Costume

This is my halloween costume this year...except I must change the hat and the shoes!  It is available from many sources, but Amazon has the best price.

available from Amazon

$33.90

Recipe of the Week: Lemon Curd-Filled Angel Food Cupcakes

The inspiration for this week's recipe comes from a giant lemon I found at Wal-Mart.  I don't usually buy Wal-Mart produce, but this lemon was huge...so I took it home.  I also have the same cupcake wrappers used in the photo. I love these wrappers, but I had to buy 2000 of them for a wedding cupcake display.  That was the minimum order so I now have a lifetime supply.

Lemon Curd-Filled Angel Food Cupcakes

Southern Living Recipes

(original photo by Beth Dreiling Hontzas)

Last Space Shuttle Launch

Today is a little sad for me because I just watched the last space shuttle launch. I started thinking about all the launches I have seen.  On July 20, 1969 I watched the first moon landing while looking out the window at the moon and thinking "there are men walking around up there right now."  I was at a nursing conference in Nashville, TN when the first shuttle landed.  The person giving the lecture stopped and asked the audio-visual guy to switch to the broadcast of the first shuttle landing....amazing to watch the shuttle Columbia on a huge screen.  My heart was beating out of my chest as the shuttle touched down and the astronauts got out. 

Over the years, I have been fortunate to watch most of the shuttle launches and landings.  I was driving at the time of the shuttle Challenger disaster but was listening to the launch on the radio and remembering the knot in my stomach as the announcer's voice said "something is wrong."

I got to see the shuttle flying piggyback on a 747 as it returned to Florida after a landing at Edwards Air Force Base.  That was impressive. 

I was presenting my dissertation data at a conference in Orlando and was flying home very early in the morning.  I knew there would be a shuttle launch that morning so I got up at 3 am to be at the airport and past security before the launch.  I remember running to the large windows just in time to see the shuttle clear the trees.  It was a clear day so I watched until the booster rockets were released and fell to earth. 

So...as I sat watching the shuttle Atlantis leave Kennedy Space Center for the last time ever, I was a little sad.  I don't know what NASA has in store for the future, but I feel privileged to have seen so much in my lifetime. 

A cupcake toast to the space shuttles!

Enterprise (test flights only), Columbia, Discovery, Challenger, Atlantis, Endeavor

clevercupcakes