2012 Academy Awards and a Craftsyble Feature

This year's Academy Awards show is on October 26th, and we are pleased to announce that our business cards will be included in the swag bags that will be gifted to 100 celebrities in the GBK Gift Lounge!  We are so very excited!  This is all thanks to a prestigious organization, The Artisan Group (not in any way affiliated with the Academy Awards), that represents over 700 artisans worldwide.  The Artisan Group is a juried group -- artisans have to be approved for membership -- so you can bet the handcrafted items that are included in the swag bags are top notch!  We are in very good company, and what a fabulous opportunity for our little cake pop shop to be noticed by the wonderful Hollywood crowd!

Because of our participation in the Oscars Gift Lounge, we have been featured by Craftsyble.com!  Please check out our feature here:  Cake Pop Fusion on Craftsyble and if you feel so inclined, we would sure love it if you leave a comment for the author.  :)  For those who are not familiar with the site (I know I wasn't until just recently), Craftsyble is a fantastic resource for crafters and artisans.  There is a wealth of information there, including how to sell on Etsy and how to use social media to your advantage.  I will absolutely be exploring that site more thoroughly!  I am so happy to have been introduced to it!  While you're there, check out the other artisans who are featured.  You will be amazed at their creativity and the wonderful quality of their work!

~ Pia

Random Acts of Kindness

Last week, Kat's car had taken to squeaking when we drove it -- a screeching, grate on your nerves kind of sound.  Uh-oh.  Her boyfriend added power steering fluid (and other important car stuff) and took a quick look, and we crossed our fingers that all was well. The squeaking got better, but then the grinding began.  Big uh-oh.  It got so bad that the car had a hard time taking corners.  So we parked the car on Tuesday and I insisted that she get a ride to school for Wednesday and Thursday.  She called our friend, Sam to see if he could check it out for her (he is the awesome guy who taught her how to drive and then offered to look at her car whenever she needs it) and he said to bring it over on Thursday.  That was yesterday.  Her boyfriend gingerly drove the car the couple of miles from our house (we live on a hill!) to Sam's and hoped for the best.

Last night, Kat got home and told me that the brakes were almost worn completely away.  Sam had told her that they were ready to give out completely.  Oh my gosh, that was just too close for comfort, you know?  She said that Sam put new brakes on and we should be good for about a year and a half.  Whew!  And then Kat gave me the rest of the story:  not only had Sam fixed her car, but he did it for free!  Seriously!  FREE!!  She had asked how much we owe him, and he told her that since she babysits for his kids every now and again he was happy to do it for nothing.  Mind you, Kat has only watched his kids a handful of times and they are the sweetest kids ever.  We definitely got the better end of the deal on this one, and we are soooooo grateful to him for his generosity and kindness!

This brings us to the coincidence of the week.... today just happens to be Random Acts of Kindness Day!  No, really!  I opened my computer and was notified of this fact.  What a coincidence!  Sam did a wonderfully random act of kindness for us yesterday, and today is RAK Day.  I love when that happens!

So when were you blessed with a random act of kindness?  Or when have you given one away to someone else?  We would love to hear about your experience!

~ Pia

Wait. WHAT day is it today??

Custom silicone wristbands!

Happy "Don't Cry over Spilled Milk" Day!  Did you know there was such a thing?  I had no idea!  Until I opened up my web news today and saw it, that is.  And then I got excited!

Not because I like milk, mind you.  I don't.  Ewwww.  Milk is gross.  Wait.  Let me clarify.  White milk is gross.  Wait.  I like white milk in recipes and in my cereal.  I like chocolate milk and strawberry milk and banana milk.  I love milkshakes, even vanilla.  But white milk that you make me drink straight from a glass or a carton -- with no flavoring! -- is gross.  At least, to me.

When I was in preschool (or maybe it was kindergarten), my teacher used to make us drink a whole glass of white milk before we could go out to recess.  I couldn't do it.  It was just too much for me to drink.  So I spent a lot of recess periods sitting inside, staring at the plastic "glass" of milk in front of me, willing it to disappear so I could go out to play.  It never did, of course.  And I never got to go out to play.  Yeah, yeah, poor me!  Don't worry, I learned to sneak to the sink and dump it down the drain sometimes when my teacher wasn't looking.  I don't condone that behavior, it's just what I did to "survive".  Bad, bad Pia!  See that glass above?  Picture it in red.  That was the dreaded milk glass (but it was plastic).  To this day, I can't bring myself to drink from cups like this.  Aw, totally traumatized, ha ha!

In elementary school, we used to get cartons of milk with our lunches.  I told the cafeteria ladies that I was allergic to milk, so they stopped putting it on my tray.  But on the days when we had chocolate milk, I was happy to take it.  Hmmmm..... what happened to my "allergy"....?  Must've been only allergic to white milk!  I guess they really knew I wasn't allergic and just didn't push the issue.  If I didn't want to drink the milk, why force me, right?  I loved my cafeteria ladies!  They had my back!

But today is not about literally spilling milk and then crying (or NOT crying!) over it.  Today is about looking at a situation and finding the best in it.  What's done is done.  You can't change it, only move on from it.  In other words, clean up the spill and go out to play!  There is way too much in this world that will drag you down if you let it.  Don't let it.  Look to the bright side of things.  Are you too sick to go to work or school today?  Use your bed rest to dig into that book you've been meaning to read.  Paycheck's all spent and you have no cash to take your kids to the zoo?  Talk a walk in the park with them or play ball in the backyard; all they really want is your undivided attention, and that's free!

Kat bought one of these for her friend's birthday.  Too cool!

They say optimists live longer, happier lives.  I think that's true.  People who look at the bright side have lower stress levels than those who don't.  Stress shortens lives and makes the lives we have left miserable.  I'm not the greatest at being optimistic, but I'm learning.  So I'm going to celebrate "Don't Cry over Spilled Milk" Day and remind myself that no matter what happens today I always have tomorrow to look forward to!

Want to celebrate today?  Click the photos below for some fun milk recipes!

Tres Leches Cake

Caramelized Banana in Coconut Milk

Avocado Milk Shake

Leche Flan (Condensed Milk Custard)

Vanilla Ice Cream and more

Now, maybe I'll go have a milkshake.  ;)

~ Pia

Good-bye, GFC.... Hello, LF!

I opened up Facebook this morning and saw a post from a fellow artisan announcing that Google Friend Connect (GFC) is going the way of the dinosaur in March.  What??  I love my GFC!  But my artisan friend went on to say that there's a new kid in town... Linky Followers.  So even though GFC will be no more, we will still be able to connect with each other and subscribe to one another's blogs.  We just have to do it via Linky Followers.  No problem!  I like the name already!  And it's an easy click, just like GFC.  So here we go!

To subscribe via Linky Followers, just look in our sidebar on the left there.  You'll see this:


Simply click "Follow Me" and we're all set!  Leave us your blog link in the comments section below and we'll happily follow you back!

Thank you so much for being our GFC friends.  We look forward to being LF buddies, too!

~ Pia

Pinterest Yummies

I just LOVE Pinterest, don't you?  Here are a few of the tasty treats I saw there today.  When I have my own home kitchen again, I am going to try these!  Click the photo to be taken to the recipe for each one.  :)

Double Decker Stripey Valentine Cookies

Strawberry Honey Butter

Nutella Ice Cream

Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Have fun!  Let me know if you try any, and what you think!

~ Pia

Feeling Nostalgic

Ever have those moments when you just want to sit and reminisce about days gone by?  This is one of those for me.  Thoughts of favorite childhood things are floating through my consciousness..... so I thought I would share.  Walk with me down Memory Lane!  :)

Ah, the classic Grandfather's Teaching Clock toy by Fisher Price!  I remember playing this soothing song over and over again.  It comes back to me when I least expect it, and it makes me happy.  :)  Want to give it a listen?  Try this:

Thank you to Niihau2000 for posting this on YouTube!  You made my day.

This is an exact copy of my own Winnie the Pooh doll!  The listing calls it "vintage", ha ha.... guess I am getting up there in years!  When I was in 4th grade, my teacher had a ginormous Winnie the Pooh doll sitting on the classroom counter.  The doll wore a tri-corner hat (presumably because that was our bicentennial year) and it was awesome.  The doll, not the hat.  Well, okay, the hat, too, I suppose.  Anyway, all I wanted for Christmas that year was a Winnie the Pooh doll.  And guess what!  Santa brought me one!  Yep!!  My Pooh bear now has a lopsided face -- I always slept with him on the same side, so I sort of smashed his face a little -- and lots of stitch repairs at his seams, but he is loved every bit as much today as he was in 1976.

Tra-la-la, La-la-la-la, Tra-la-la, La-la-la-la!  Who remembers the Banana Splits?  They were a Saturday morning staple at my house!  How about revisiting their TV show with me?

Hmmmm..... this explains a lot about my sense of humor....  Thank you to ShinyPlanet for posting this video on YouTube!

A metallic Christmas tree with a color wheel!  We didn't have the blue ornaments on ours -- we used an assortment of ornaments.  The wheel rotated so that the tree lit up with different colors.  How cool is that?

I got a Tippy Tumbles for Christmas when I was about 5.  I was memserized...

Of course, we had a Radio Flyer red wagon in the house!  I have a photo of myself sitting in it, looking at a record jacket, in front of our stereo.  My most vivid memory of this wagon is the silver stuff that always got all over my hands when I played with it.  :)




And our final stop on this Memory Lane jaunt....

Nancy Drew Mystery books!!  My absolute favorite reading material as a child.  I was thrilled when my eldest daughter fell in love with these, too.  In fact, she read my original set of books!

I wonder what kinds of childhood items my own kids -- all of whom are grown now -- will remember when they get to be my age?

Thanks for coming with me today.  Have a great Wednesday!

~ Pia