Cupcakes FTW

Here is a well-known fact about me: I love cupcakes. I like baking them. I like frosting them. I like eating them. I like looking at things adorned with cupcake images. I like owning things adorned with cupcake images. So it should be no surprise that on a recent trip to Barnes & Noble {I love that place, don’t you?} I was perusing the value priced books and came across this gem:

Oh la la! For $7, it had to be mine. I’ll just add it to my cookbook collection

You might be wondering how many cupcake recipe books a person can own before they all start to look the same. I'll tell you, friends, they aren't all created equal that's for sure. Hello Cupcake is one that is full of eye candy, but unless you have a monstrous sweet tooth, you probably aren't going to be eating most of the cupcakes featured. Luckily, I do have a sweet tooth & an eye for over the top confections. The Cupcake Bible; however, has more basic recipes. Here are a few that caught my eye and therefore MUST be made promptly:

                                                                        

Pretzel dragonflies? I love it! 

Pink lemonade cupcakes with little straws? Yes!

Bite-sized doughnuts covered in scrumptious cinnamon.

Whoopie pie cupcakes taste oh so yummy!

                                                         

Not Your Grandma's Tablecloth

I have a confession. The only time I put a tablecloth on the table is during the holidays. Specifically Christmas. The tablecloth is this super fancy white one that looks like it should be made into a beautiful vintage dress. What it should not be is a sitting duck just waiting for me to spill spaghetti sauce or chocolate ice cream onto it.

It's not that I don't want tablecloths. I like them enough, I just haven't found one that is very... me. The ones I like cost more than $50. Why would I spend that much on something that is going to end up the inevitable victim of my klutzy nature? The alternative, of course, is a tablecloth that is either made of oilcloth { sorry, but my kitchen doesn't house a picnic table } or something that looks like it belongs in the home of an old lady with 7 cats. Sigh.

When I think about getting myself some fabric and sewing up a handy dandy table sweater, I am instantly drawn to damask fabric.

Then I go back and forth on whether that will overwhelm my kitchen. Plus, I have damask curtains in my living room { homemade from a clearance tablecloth that I had to have even though it was too small } and I don't want the place to be too matchy-matchy. Ugh, why am I a tablecloth malcontent?

In other news, I want to make these:

                                                                                      or you can buy them here