Last Post to this blog!

Hello~
I will be posting to my Pinks & Needles blog from now on! Please come visit me there!

Butterflies & Buttercream DIY Cupcake Kit Giveaway Winner is.....

Congratulations Sugar Sugar 2010 for winning this fun baking giveaway! Thank you everyone who entered to win! We'll be doing another giveaway really soon!

DIY Cupcake Kit Giveaway! Open until May 5th! Cinco de Mayo!

This giveaway is for the US only - sorry International friends : (  Don't worry I'll be doing another giveaway soon!
Please leave a comment here if you would like to win this DIY Cupcake Kit! The winner may choose Classic Yellow Cake Mix or Devils Food Cake Mix (hermetically sealed). The kit includes: cake mix for 12 standard cupcakes, rainbow sprinkles, 12 cupcake liners, a PDF to make your own Cupcake Toppers (as shown in the picture) and last but not least a tote bag sewn by me with fabric I designed : ) The lining of the bag is a pretty white background with butterflies that match the outside of the tote bag! A perfect gift for a friend or a good excuse to bake some cuppies of your own! Please note frosting not included! Open to US only! Sorry International peeps...I'll be doing another giveaway soon Worldwide Welcome!

Here's what's inside:

 

Happy Baking!

Earth Day Giveaway!

Earth Day Giveaway!, originally uploaded by Gigi & Big Red.

Please leave a comment here to win this pink daisy pin topper handmade by me and also a packet of Shasta Daisy seeds! Giveaway open to anyone World Wide who cares about our planet Earth!

Lark Who Goes There?

I pretty much fell in LOVE with this shop LARK in Australia! Just wanted to share their darling goods with all of you : )
How much cuter can you get with this picture??? Hello!
Check out their website you'll love it!

A Week of Rain in the Desert!

So this has to be some kind of record for us here in Tucson. We've lived here 5 years and I'm serious when I say it never rains (except during monsoon season and little bit in the winter). It's rained pretty much every day for a week! I love it!
The freshness it brings the desert is like no other....which inspired me to do some yard clean up. When we first moved here I was so diligent about keeping up with the yard but I lost interest especially the watering part. One summer I literally had to water our garden patch 3 times a day. It was like having a full time job!It was a hard realization to come to.....a California garden isn't the easiest to maintain in Arizona!
We'll see how this Spring and Summer goes. I planted snapdragons, violas, pansies, hibiscus, ivy and primroses so far. It makes having neighbors drop by feel so nice when there's a big pot of color greeting them at the front door instead of an empty pot of dirt and cobwebs!
We have this messy tree in our front yard called a Sweet Acacia which is so high maintenance. It spills yellow puff balls in the Spring, brown hard pods in the Summer and leaves in the Fall!!!! So in order to keep the landscape rocks clean we need to vacuum our yard!!! How ridiculous does that sound? It's true. I had to take some pics so you can see the difference. Black n Decker makes a Leaf Hog which sucks everything up but not rocks! A bit hard on the back but good exercise right?
So here's the Before, In Between and After shots. Amazing huh?

We still have a long way to go with the vacuuming.....we've only tackled under the Sweet Acacia tree so far....but at least it's a start! So it's suppose to be sunny and 60 today : ) I've been waiting to take pictures of all my flowers so I'll be out in the yard later today to snap some! I can't wait to post them!

El Charro Cafe

Hubby and I love to eat at El Charro Cafe up in Oro Valley. They have been featured on the History Channel because they were the originators of the chimichanga! I was happy to find out that they were handing out free calendars on New Years Eve! Lucky me for two reasons ~ first of all I love to get about 6 calendars for my house every January to start the New year off right and second.....I LOVE pinups! I guess this pretty girl isn't exactly a pinup but she's the same retro style I always seem to gravitate towards : )
I joined "project 365" on flickr where you are suppose to take a picture every single day and post a little something about it. This is the pic I used for Day 7 : )