Hello there! Here I am, with a sweet tale of what I have been up to for the better part of a month. Grab a seat, steal a treat and come in, won't you?
You see, this tale begins with my wee gallery, which lives right outside, in my garden.
I used to do art shows in it, I used it for my apothecary shop, and then, it sort of got full of boxes (to the ceiling if you must know the truth).
Then one day, I had a thought.
Why not turn it into a place for me to go and hide out in.
A place to be inspired?
Then I thought about what such a place would be like?
A pâtisserie, of the sort of imaginary variety, is what came to me...
And so, it came to life little by little.
I decided to focus only on the kitchen side of the gallery for now, and filled it with all the little trinkets I love to look at. I will work on the larger side in the future.
I wanted my pretend pâtisserie to have bursts of color, and to house all the kooky sort of things I love to collect...
I put decorative trim on all the shelves. Although you can't see the details of some of the trim, since the lighting is so bright in the space.
I also wanted a place to house some of the pottery pieces I have made over the years. Such as the teal and olive green tea pot to the left (below), and the pink and black polka dotted goblet in the center (below). (The little bear with the red and white striped stockings is by my dear friend Marjorie of Marmee Craft).
I have been enjoying this space so much, I can not even tell you.
Valentine's was scrumptious in here, and I made all sorts of pastries and my linzer cookies too...
The two paintings below, one of chocolates and one that says Kiss Me, are by my beloved friend Laura, of Rhinestone Armadillo.
I am so in love with my little hide-out, I might never want to leave my property ;)
I simply wanted an inspiring place to cozy up in, a place to refuel, in the most delightful way (to me)...
The planter heads seated on the two shelves on the right were purchased a couple years ago from ClayFlower22.
One of funnest parts of putting my faux pâtisserie together was the sweets case...
I personally can't get enough of peering inside. It brings back some sort of childhood pastry shop memories...
But the best part of the whole thing is, I can have a pretend pastry shop, and not actually have to run it, and make pastries every day ;)
I did some funny things, for instance, I had Mister Lovee bring me some hostess cakes, and then I took them out of their wrappers, and put them in pretty toile cupcake wrappers that my Mammie had sent me...
Then I scattered around a few sanded lemon drops, and other swirly candies. And, my one confession is that, I also tossed in a smattering of faux treats :)
A few fake cakes here and there...
:)
(I painted all the roses you see scattered about, in 3 different shades of pink)
My friend and I chatted up a storm and ate all sort of sweets on Valentine's afternoon. Although, truth be told, I had already been in there sampling edibles with Mister in the a.m.
A little bright spot to play in...
I am not totally done in here though.
I have to install my chandelier...
Plus, I want to finish tacking up things I love to the wall below.
I have really enjoyed using some of my own art (something I do not normally do) in the form of prints and cards from
my A Fanciful Twist Shoppe...
I am crazy about mood boards, and mood walls.
My trick is to use pearl end corsage pins, to tack up things to my boards or walls.
It looks pretty and they hold really well...
I am also working on some new prints that I made especially to fit into this space. I will share them soon...
I mainly created this space because I was just having such a hard time finding a certain sort of inspiration I was looking for. I would look in magazines, in books, and on line...
But, I just couldn't find just the sort of thing I needed.
So, creating a little space tailored to my own candy colored emotional needs has been such a joy.
And, I pretty much used all things that I already had.
Except for sweets and edibles, and maybe a thing or two.
It was a challenge to photograph this space, what with its bright light sources. I hope these photos work to convey the space okay?
Oh oh, I almost forgot to show you what I am calling the "carousel cake..."
I had a mad blast decorating this cake, and it was the moistest red velvet cake ever. There is edible gold dust on the flowers too. I know it is super cheesy, but I totally dig it ;)
One day I hope to pop some treats in here by my wonderful friend Rosie of Sweetapolita. I think one of her Neapolitan cakes would be treasured! Or any of her cakes or edibles really. They are all unreal!
I hope she giggles at my cheesy carousel cake ;)
Other things I did, which is a fun tip, is that I bought candies and treats that had awful commercial packaging, and I repackaged them in cello myself, and tied them up with pretty ribbons...
I made the clay lady face, above and below (terracota clay with low fire glazes), and the wee plate on the wall as well. Oh, and I thought Stella and the Bee had to be in here, so I framed up a small print of her that I had as a sample...
It's a bright and happy little space...
And, Mister and Mrs. Bunny keep a good watch over the place ;)
The light from the door and the window over the sink are so bright until around 3 p.m., I can't even tell you. And, I have to say, I quite like being in there when all of that bright light is streaming in. It fills me with a lite and fresh joy...
I will take more close-ups when my good camera returns from the doctor. But for now, here are some candy yumms...
And of course, snow balls, for good measure ;)
Although, I must procure some macarons from beautiful Ladurée at some point.
I made my yearly heart shaped linzer cookies, with their impossible to use dough, but worth every single morsel. The recipe I use is super difficult, but I have to say, the cookies are so good, friends ask me if I will be making them year to year...
Oh, something interesting I experimented on, and it worked - was the sink back-splash. You see, about 9 years ago I put that back-splash in, and used black grout. It didn't work for me anymore, so I mixed up some teal blue acrylic paint and painted right over it, and then quickly wiped all of the large marbles off. Guess what? It worked!! Hooray!
Oh oh, below is an example of repackaging success...
On the top tier are some Christmas candles that "had" ugly bottoms, but I loved the swirls. So, I used some extra tall cupcake wrappers, popped them in, and repackaged them, tying them with a pink ribbon. Now I like them tons...
I used the heart centers from my linzer cookies, to make some cookies I could decorate for Valentine's day...
I can get lost in cake and cookie decorating, I enjoy it so much...
I am not a pro decorator, but I do love it...
The one below is rather large, and extra pretty in person...
So there you have it, my dream space...
Where I can hide and imagine, and conjure up new art pieces...
A secret hideaway, of sorts...
Tucked right into my little building, in a bizarre desert land...
Thank you for peeking in.
I hope you like it ;)
