Cupcakes and Cute Stuff :)

It feels like forever since I have had anything to post. You know the saying Life is what happens while you are making plans. :) I finally got alot accomplished this weekend toward stocking my website. This first cupcake is my all time favorite. I am still trying to decide if I will list this one. I dont have anymore of this white fabric and its not being made anymore. I also got finished on of the smaller versions that I call a fairy cake. This necklace is lavender and purple glass with swarovski crystals and the pendant is a vintage cut glass crystal heart I have been holding on to for the right project. I have about 10 more in various stages of being done and colors and fabric design. I was at a favorite remnant store and came accross some awesome new fabric.

As an update on my daughter April,,, she is doing well right now. With seizures you never know, so its just day to day. She is back at work. She is not able to drive at all, so her father and I are doing are best to share what I like calling April Duty! lol Its a large adjustment on my time, but one I have to make. But I am getting into a routine and I am creating once again. Life is good. I also want to thank all of my very special friends for all of the support you have been to me over the last couple weeks. I am a very lucky person to have such incredible friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart... (((()))) gail

Pretty Pillow and Purses for Pink Friday

Pretty Pillows and Pursesat Make Mine Pink - Pink Friday.


Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday July 31, 2009 as we present "Pretty Pillows and Purses"If there's anything a girl can't have enough of it's pretty purses by day and pillows at night.A woman's purse can reveal a lot about her personality. If you're fun and flirty, you might carry a giraffe handbag or a pearl patent purse with pink polka dots. For the more reserved - a collector of all things pretty and vintage - perhaps a romantic summertime bag with roses and bachelor buttons. You can even show your "green" side with a straw handbag decorated with rescued jewelry, belts, buckles and various embellishments.You can celebrate the many sides of your "purse"-onality with a purse that allows you to change covers and quickly as you change your mood. Or announce your uniqueness with a one of a kind "little black bag" - a vintage beaded black handbag.Pillows can change their personalities too, as easily as changing a pillowcase. For sweet dreams, there are sweet heart hand-embroidered pillowcases. Feel nostalgic with vintage cutwork pillowcases. Or create a fun look by layering a bed with lots of pillows covered in different Southern Bell pillowcases.Pillows make a statement all their own. Rescued vintage needle point pillows grace the finest parlors and boudoir chairs. They can be reminiscent of a special event or a special someone, like a floral monogram pillow with the initial of someone you love. A wedding keepsake pillow made with an antique style certificate or your favorite wedding photograph. Beautiful pillows made from antique doilies and vintage dresser scarves.Some pillows are fun and used to make a space colorful and whimsical,like a chocolate dipped strawberry pillow, a blue cupcakes pillow, or a handmade slice of cake pillow with satin pink roses and pink lace trim. A whimsical teapot pillow with Battenburg lace to set on the guest bed or porch swing. You can even grow a garden of pillows with mauve ribbon flower hearts, heart pillows with roses and pink ribbed chenille, and a pink roses throw pillow.No matter what your style or what mood you're in, you can surround yourself with pretty purses and pillows designed to express exactly what you're feeling.

So please join us tomorrow for this fun event. www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday .

Show and Tell Monday~I am glad to be back

Hi! I thought I would post two new necklaces I made recently. I will be posting them on my website very soon. I love working with these ceramic roses so much. I think the white one would be so pretty for a wedding.

I have been away for a bit due to a family emergency. Many of you know of my daughter April. She is 28 and has a sweet 3 year old Mikey. She has had some serious health problems that seem to defy diagnosis. Its very stressful. Last thursday at her job she had a seizure and to make a long story short that day ended up in two ambulance rides, 10 seizures and a two day stay in ICU. She has been release and is home and will go back to work tomorrow. However other than changing her medication we really didnt learn anything. Time will tell. The prayers and support of my dear friends has meant more than I can ever express. I cant thank you enough for your orders. I have been working on packaging them up with love and care and will get them out very soon.

The next day on friday I was home that evening with Mikey. I had taken my mirgrain medicine and was very tired. I was carrying a big box of cat litter into the bathroom, and I dont know what happened buy I tripped and fell. I hit my head really hard on the back of the toilet tank. My face has been a mess, I have the biggest black eye. Sore everywhere and I think I have whiplash. Aaagghh! Even a week later, it just gets worse looking. Now the fun begins driving Miss April. She isnt thrilled, but cant drive for now. So, I am now adding taxi to my list of professions. lol I am hoping to settle into a routine this week, and get back down to business. So, wish me luck and hopefully soon I will have alot of new things on my website. Have a pretty week..... gail

How Sweet for Show and Tell Monday

I have been working on new designs for my website. This cupcake is one of the new pieces. For the bottom I machine quilted the polk a dot fabric and added matching polka dot trim. I hand sewed the pink satin roses to look like buttercreme flowers. This was alot more labor intesive than I thought it would be. (It always is :) ) So I have some thinking to do, but overall I am happy with it.

I would love to introduce you to my new friend Rose. She owns a beautiful shop in Bothell Washington called Sweet Hummingbird Lane. She carries the most awesome collectables such as Bunnies By the Bay, Susan Branch and Wee Forest Folk. She is an avid collector of the Wee Forest Folk and is very knowledgable and able to help her customers who are also collectors. These sweet mice are meticulously hand sculpted by the Peterson Family in Massachusetts. Rose also has a website and its so pretty. Have a look and be sure to see the mice! Just too cute for words. http://www.sweethummingbirdlane.com/ . Have a great week and I hope you are enjoying your summer. Gail

Show and Tell Monday :)

Hi, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th holiday. I have to say mine was pretty uneventful. I came home from work thursday with a sore throat and I have been pretty sick all weekend. I had so many plans to get lots of new things made. But I did make two bracelets thrusday and I posted my two new fairy cakes to my site and finished an order. So I have to just let it go and be happy with that. So I have a little show and tell for you today. As I mentioned I made these two bracelets for pink friday. I love using Cindys ceramic roses and the other bracelet is made from a navy moonstone. It really sparkles in the light. The moon also sparkles alot. This is the 2nd one that I have made. My friend Marie of http://www.savonmarie.com/ has the first one. She makes the best soaps and bath products ever. If you get a chance have a look! This wedding cake pillow is an order that my BF Jeff's Mother ordered as a gift. I hope she likes it. I like how it turned out in the yellow. Well, I sure hope to have more to show next week. I hope everyone has a pretty week! Until next time...... gail

Pink Friday with a 4th of July Twist

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday July 3, 2009 as we present "SHADES of RED –WHITE and BLUE!"
Shades of red, white or blue remind me of 4th of July parties and fireworks and special times with family and friends. Vintage aprons, adorned with red roses against what was once a vivid blue, now slightly worn with time. Blue and white checked linens - once grandmother's finest, still carrying traces of the 4th of July picnics I had as a child. Pale blue Depression glass against the finest white tablecloth, topped with a white milk glass vase and filled with the summer flowers. On the wall, a white French farmhouse shelf displays white china hand painted with red and blue buds Adding a little color to your table, shades of red, white and blue can turn any meal into a celebration. Blue and white Italian place settings against a red tablecloth.
An angel food cake atop a favorite white cake stand, topped with fresh summer blueberries and strawberries. Red sugar-coated candies in a white candy dish hand painted with blue forget-me-nots. Hanging nearby, white and blue checked kitchen towels decorated with shiny red apples Placed somewhere you didn't expect, red, white and blue can create a burst of color in any corner. Red roses on canvas and hung on a freshly painted blue wall. A piece of broken china jewelry - tiny blue and red roses against pure white china. A white lace sun catcher, with a red and blue design, hanging in the window. In the guest bathroom, a blue tissue box holder painted with white and red flowers. Tucked into a corner of your purse, a blue hanky trimmed with red and embroidered with white daisies. And dangling from your wrist, a bracelet made of cinnabar, turquoise beads and bone.
For a special touch of whimsy, plug in 4th of July light bulbs in red, white and blue. Use a white table runner with appliquéd blue rabbits and red rose buds. Display faux strawberries dipped in white chocolate placed in a blue cake box that looks pretty enough to eat. You can wear a soldered charm of red breasted robins against an azure sky, sprinkled with white German glass glitter or write on the white pages of a notebook decorated with red roses and blue ribbons. With shades of red, white and blue surrounding us, celebrations of life can happen any day. www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday .

Photo Contribution 1: The Sassy Beach Photo Contribution 2: Grandma G's Photo Contribution 3: Candy Lights

Fairy Cakes And My New Idea

At Make Mine Pink our annual Christmas in July Shop Hop is fast approaching and it has had me thinking about new ideas for the holidays this year. I have had friends and family putting their order in for things they would like me to make for them this year. I have always been a fan of handmade gifts but this year seems like even a better idea than most. Alot of people are under so much stress this year and I myself am being laid off very soon. So I am starting early and giving alot of thought to what special gifts I can make for friends and family this year, start early and do myself a huge favor and avoid the holiday stress before it can even start.

The idea I came up with for my Shop Hop promotion is making these gift boxes that will be free with the purchase of any of my rose jewelry. I have a few short weeks to get some of these made. Keep watching for Shop Hop details. They will be in several colors to choose from. I also made two Fairy Cakes for my Sweet Dream Bakery. these are a smaller version of the cupcake pillows. I am really getting into fairys these days. Maybe its just that its a nice thought that there is a little magic left in the world today:) Until next time....

Pink Roses for Pink Friday

Yay! Its friday again! Friday is such a great day for so many reasons. Who doesnt love the weekends? Going out to dinner on friday nights with friends? Staying up later than usual? But my favorite reason for loving fridays is Pink Friday at Make Mine Pink. If you follow this link you can see all of the participating shops. www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday Each week there is a different themed shopping day. Its one day only. This weeks theme is "A rose by any other name." Roses is all of our favorite theme. So browse the shops for rose potporri, gorgeous needlepoint tuffets, jewelry, ceramics, vintage china or tea cups. Hand dyed silk rose pins, broken china charms, cute faux pastries or beautifully scented hand made soaps. So much more, so dont miss Pink Friday, one day only, tomorrow :) Happy Shopping, Gail (This pretty pink polymer clay rose was made by my friend and artist Marie Seagal. I love using her roses in my jewelry designs. This is my newest necklace called Bubblegum :) , the hand built ceramic roses are from another amazingly talented friend Cindy from Angelheart Designs.)

Enchanted Makeovers and Fairys

I have just finished a project I have been working on most of this past week. I have been making some fairy necklaces to go to a very special group of young women. Make Mine Pink and my own business Gail Friend Designs have adopted Enchanted Makeovers. This organization is operated by Terry Grahl and she makes over womens shelters. Her current project is called Vista Maria and this is shaping up to be a beautiful new place for these young women to call home. Next week they will be having a very special dinner party for these girls. There will be a chef come in to cook for them and teach them about cooking, there will be flowers and a professional photographer as well. I also believe there will be a singer to entertain. The tables will be set with vintage china and chairs adorned with beautiful fabric swags. Women all over the country have been generously making aprons for each of the girls as well. My contribution is a small gift bag with a fairy necklace that I have designed for especially for the girls and this event. I wrapped each necklace in its own bag with butterfly confetti and a pink bow. Its being shipped out in this gorgeous rose box I got at the Post Office. I wrote on the box "Enchanted Faireys Inside" hoping it would be treated with extra gentle care. :) I hope they have a magical evening that will give them happy memories for a very long time.

Dancing Paper Dolls and Lazy Cats

I am so happy to be participting in the Traveling Paper Art Doll Symposium. This was a project started by Kitty Kelly. This is a traveling journal project. A paper doll she created and a blank journal. Once the next participant receives it you may add on item to the doll and write in the journal. You are able to write anything in your journal entry, even a made up fairytale. Which is what I did :) Then you mail the doll out to the next name on the list. I believe there is four dolls going around, all over the globe. It is incredible fun and like being a child again. Playing with paperdolls and writing fun stories! The project has caught the eye of a larger project called 1000 journals and she is hoping for our journals to be included in a documentary. It is open to anyone who would like to participate. You can check out the project at http://www.artfulpaperdoll.blogspot.com/ or http://www.papercatdesigns.ning.com/ . My contribution was a beaded bracelet and a story about her special performance in Swan Lake. I painted her ballerina dress and slippers in the journal. She also needed a name. I was apprehensive about being the person to suggest it, but I was the third person to get her and still no name. So I suggested Bella Rose. It was alot of fun.

This is a necklace I made today also. Now I need to get sewing. I have lots to get done this next week. I have been speaking with a wonderful woman named Rose is a pretty shop up near Seattle and I have a few ideas for her. I am going to blog about her and her shop soon. I am also learning how to design my own fabric. I am working on some drawings so I can send them out to http://www.spoonflower.com/ . This is a company with the most amazing idea that lets people create their own fabric. I also want to dye some of my own as well. Just busy, busy, busy, but I would not have it any other way.

And you can see what I am up against. I am trying to draw, bead, sew, work on the computer all with sleeping cats on top of what I am doing. (except the sewing, they arent allowed near the fabric :) ) So,,,, I hope you all have a creative week. Until next time,,, gail

Along the Garden Path

Hi,, its Pink Friday again:) This is a special shopping event held each week at Make Mine Pink. there is a new theme each friday. This week all of the participating shops will be posting products for this weeks them, Along the Garden Path. There will be so many beautiful floral and garden inspired gifts being offered. Some will be hand made others will be vintage garden finds. It will be one day only, this friday. So follow this link for this fun event. www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday.

These photos are from a beautiful garden I visited at the Horsefeathers antique shop in Sandwich on Cape Cod. Her shop is full of beautiful vintage linens and lace. Its one of the most beautiful shops I have every been in and the garden in the front was so pretty! Have a pretty day! Until next time, gail

Back from Cape Cod

Hi,,, I feel like I have been gone for so long. I was away for 8 days and I never leave for that long. But it was soooo much fun. I flew into Providence RI and met 2 friends there. Nancy from Florida, Cindy from Seattle, and Marie from New York. We stayed a really nice Mariott Residence Inn. Saturday we toured some of the Mansions (the small summer homes of the Rockerfellers and such) in Newport. Had dinner and some shopping at the Harbor. But in Rhode Island its the "Hawba" lol (love their accents :) ) Sunday we drove up to Cape Cod for our retreat hosted by Joyce of Make Mine Pink. It was an adorable beach house with two smaller cottages. Joyce and her daughter Katie had everything just perfect. Our cottage was stocked with food, drinks, linens. I wont lie, it was soooo cold for me coming from AZ. I also know that my friend Kim from southern Texas was pretty darn cold too! But it was still soooo much fun. We had workshops to help with our cameras and photo taking. This was a huge help for me, I learned alot. We had a morning on the beach for "playtime" with hula hoops and building sand castles. We made gratitude journals. Now this was my kind of playtime. Thats exactly what I would have been doing as a child. Playing with paper, crayons and glue. lol. We had games! We played a game called left,right,center and let me tell you, the winner walked away with about 30 gifts! Congratulations to Marie! We had a scavenger hunt and the winning team each won a beautiful watch. We had plenty of time for shopping and antiquing and even went for icecream one evening. On our free day a few of us went to Provincetown. Very quaint little shops. I really enjoyed the shell shop. I also found a momma bird sitting on her nest with babies. And we had a pet bunny at the beach house. But soon enough it was friday and I was on my way back home to my kitties. They missed me horribly and I promised it would be awhile before I left them again :) So here is a few photos of my trip.