Swap and Meet in LA

Fashion & Handicraft Entrepreneur Event, June 30th

Upcoming Los Angeles event for small business entrepreneurs.

Check it out here :

handicraft-event-final-10/

http://blog.profounder.com/2011/06/16/reserve-your-spot-now-fashion-handicraft-entrepreneur-event-july-30th/fashion-

If anyone ends up attending this event, please take pictures and let us know what it was like! :) Have fun!

Thoughtful Thursday Craft

How To Make Rainbow Cupcakes that make anyone's day brighter!!

( For 1 batch / 24 cupcakes: )

What you will need for one batch(..although easily doubled..):

*1 pack WHITE cake mix

*1 and 1/3 water

*2 tablespoons of veggie oil

*3 egg WHITES (NO YOLKS!)

*6 plastic beer cups (you can use bowls that you have~if you don't mind them covered in food dye)

*Food coloring. You really only need a pack that contains the primary colors of the rainbow. That's Red, Blue, and Yellow, kids. See? All those art classes paid off ;0)

*A few toothpicks

*Sprinkles/ Icing colors of your choice.

Directions:

*Preheat your oven between 325- to 350 degrees. I lowered the temperture about 10 degrees less than the cake mix instructions, so as NOT TO BROWN THE EDGES of the cupcakes:) Especially if you have a dark nonstick cupcake pan. Who wants a muddy colored rainbow?

*Mix your wet ingredients together with your dry ingredients.

*Divide your delicious batter into your bowls (or in my fav- your plastic beer cups-so easy!) equally.

*Now you are going to dye your batter. It's easier than you think, don't be scared:)

(Note: Orange NOT pictured above)

FOOD COLORING RATIOS I FIND WORK WELL:

**Red = Red

**Blue = Blue

**Yellow = Yellow

**Orange = Add yellow first, keep adding red until it's vibrant, but not overly red.

**Green = Add yellow first, add a little more and more blue until you get a vibrant green color.

**Purple = purple is the trickiest. Add EQUAL parts of both Blue and Red or it can start to look REALLY murkey.Purple will look more like itself once baked, however refer to my pictures to see what your should come close to resembling.

**Now you are going to line your cupcake pans with the cups. I HIGHLY reccomened that you use foil. Or, in my case, because I wanted to use the pretty flower shaped paper cups, i double lined them. Placing the foil cup on the outside of the papercup. When they were finished cooking, I threw out the foil liners.

**Spoon in the colors, layer by layer. VERY GENTLY.

*Here is the order that I spooned them in(feel free to mix it up, but I kept the darker colors on the bottom in case of browning):

**1st: Purple

**2nd: Blue

**3rd: Green

**4th: Yellow

**5th: Orange

**6th: Red

*Bake according to directions on box, remembering to turn the heat down if you have a dark pan.

*Decorate and ENJOY!

June Update

June Update

Hello South Bay!

I just got back into the country, after an amazing trip through Turkey and Greece with my husband and his family! I saw many new things and came back with treasures and most of all memories to last me a lifetime. I hope everyone is doing really well! It's time now for me to step back into the real world... AKA 'The Etsy world!' Let's get down to business, hmm? :]

As for the group, I just wanted to touch base with everyone! I look forward to getting everything going again in full force! I know many of you have big ideas for your business this summer! Craft shows, fashion shows, or maybe just less time at the office, and more time to work on your hobby. I love summer in So Cal.... What a perfect time for us to come together and expand our network. I have many ideas for our group to get people more involved, and help each other's business grow. I plan on accomplishing this most of all by getting to know you all, and bringing our ideas and our inspiration together, under one roof. If nothing else, this is a place where we can go to feel connected not just to our Etsy companions, but our true neighbors that share common the common bond of crafting. I hope that we can come together with nothing but positivity, kindness and support. The only other thing I ask for, besides your kindness, is communication and input. Let's get some ideas moving, I know we can boost our business this summer and build a great foundation for the upcoming new year. Talk soon!

xx,

~Camille

Garden Gnome Arts

Team Captain