Faux Cupcakes and a Word on 'Being Creative'

Hello, friends! I hope you have been well and are enjoying this delicious fall weather! I'm itching to get a nice, warm fire going in the fireplace and settle in for the season. This is most definitely my favorite time of year!

I have been busy making little things for the shop and have turned out a sweet batch of faux cupcakes. I will be photographing and listing them when they are fully cured, but I thought I'd share with you one of my favorites.

Why is it that I am so fascinated with little mushrooms? ...And little polka dotted mushrooms at that?! Let's not forget tiny pennant flags and unexpected teensy tiny things, like a miniature cupcake, under aforementioned polka dotted mushrooms...




*le sigh* Oh little baby cupcake. How I love you.


This cupcake is sprinkled with German glass glitter for a little sparkle...and I do believe I am addicted to German glass glitter as much as I am cupcakes and mushrooms.


{The mini bakery is slowly coming along. You can see in the background the wallpaper choices I'm considering. Chocolate stripes and tiny French print! The little table that the cupcake sits upon will be painted robin's egg blue.}

Of course, I'm still working on signs as well...


I can't tell you how happy it makes me to get up each day and decide what to make. For me, {and maybe for you, too} there was a long period of time that I felt like so many other things needed to be accomplished first before using my time to create. "When the house is finished", "When the closets are organized", "When the landscaping beds aren't full of weeds"... But the truth is, for me, {and maybe for you, too} I need the energy that only comes from creating to be motivated to work on the more mundane parts of life. Admittedly, there were also a lot of doubts about my abilities and fears of not doing things as well as others. I still have those doubts and fears, but I'm realizing that being truly creative means striving to let go of them, just 'going with it', and being open to imaginative adventure. Whether our interests lie in home projects, crafts, music, writing, painting, culinary arts, sewing, gardening {and so on}, making time to c r e a t e is so important to our health and mental / emotional well-being, and sadly, busy lives can easily snuff out the precious time needed to dedicate to personal creative interests. But if you have a long list of goals and projects right now, whatever they may be, you'll be amazed at how much more enjoyable they will be if "Make Something Daily / Weekly OR Do Something New Daily / Weekly" is near the top of the list. If you don't think you have a creative or adventurous bone in your body, do it anyway because the very fact that you're thinking about the possibility shows that you have it in you. If you don't think you're that 'good', do it anyway because you have to start somewhere and really, who cares! I recently read that 'comparison is the thief of joy' and I truly believe that. So avoid the temptation to compare... If all the artists and musicians and designers, etc., worked to be just like the others, we'd have a world full of the same old stuff, and where's the fun in that?

Before I sign off for now, I found a few interesting creativity quotes to inspire you as they have inspired me. Enjoy - and Happy Creating!

True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life. -Miles Davis

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. -Maya Angelou
While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness. -Gilda Radner

The first and most important thing an individual can do is to become an individual again, decontrol himself, train himself as to what is going on and win back as much independent ground for himself as possible. -William S. Burroughs

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. - Sophia Loren

A creative mess is better than idle tidiness. -Michael J. Fox

The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. That is why many of the earthly miracles have had their genesis in humble surroundings. -Tesla

The creative adult is the child who has survived. -Ursula K. Le Guin

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the heck, leap. -Cynthia Heimel

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the 'creative bug' is just a wee voice telling you, 'I'd like my crayons back, please. -Hugh MacLeod

So you see, imagination needs moodling -long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering. -Brenda Ueland

If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. -Vincent van Gogh

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. -Albert Einstein

We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own and other’s people’s models, learn to be ourselves and allow our natural channel to open. -Shakti Gawain

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything. -George Lois

Questions about The Twice Remembered Cottage?

Good morning, everyone! I hope everyone is getting their weekend off to a great start! The weather here is absolutely gorgeous!

I know many of you have had lots of questions regarding The Twice Remembered Cottage paint colors, projects, and the like, so I thought it might be a good idea to resurrect the FAQ page that I created quite a while back that may answer some of them. I would like to work on adding even more information to the page but I guess I first need to know what you would like to know! So, send in your questions and I'll answer them for you! Keep in mind that I may post your question on my FAQ page but I'll only use your first initial. So if you have project questions or really, anything that you're curious about, let me know!

{For your convenience, you'll also find a permanent link to the FAQ page right over there in the right hand menu column ------>.}

Have a beautiful day, friends, and we'll talk again soon!