A Little Spring and McCarty Pottery

 I am finally doing a little Spring decorating and I wanted to share one of my favorite pottery pieces with you. My bowl with the bashful bunny lid.

 I few years ago I traveled with my husband on business to Mississippi.  A couple we know there took us to a wonderful little pottery shop in the tiny town of Marigold, Mississippi. It is owned by  Lee and Pup McCarty, a couple that started the shop back in 1954, unfortunately Pup passed away in 2009. It is a small shop that is housed in an unglamorous barn like building, but they have some amazing pottery. Their work has won many awards and been displayed in galleries around the world. It is like a hidden jewel!  When we were there I fell in love with the bunny bowl and he came home with me.

Most pieces of McCarty pottery have a black wavy line somewhere on the piece that represents the Mississippi river.

Many of their pieces depict animals, bunnies, birds, and frogs are favorites.

I think he is just the sweetest little guy!

I also thought I would share a couple of  recent GW finds.

I found a box of beautiful eggs.

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I love the combination of colors with the soft turquoise.

I also found this bird candle holder that makes the perfect perch for one of my nests.

Looks like the birds are guarding their eggs.

It feels good to finally welcome Spring!

Jodie

I am joining in at

Show and Tell Friday at Cindy's My Romantic Home

Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Giant Cupcake Love

I'm not sure why I love cupcakes so much, I really don't like cake, but there is something about a cupcake that is so cute and charming. So what could be better than a really big cupcake!

I confess that I bought my giant cupcake pan almost a year ago and had never used it! I got one after seeing the beautiful cupcake that Cindy, at My Romantic Home made. Her cupcake was really amazing, she even made little chocolate sea shells to decorate the cupcake with. Recently Kim, at Cheap Chic Home made a giant cupcake and gave her review of the pan so I decided it was time to break mine out and give it a try, and since my daughter was having a birthday it was time.

The pan doesn't really come with great instructions and after looking on the Internet for advice it was clear that lots of people had experimented to see what worked for them.  I decided to use a strawberry cake mix and make butter cream frosting from scratch. The giant cupcake took 2 cake mixes but I had enough batter left to make 5 regular size cupcakes.

One critical detail is that each compartment of the pan is a different size so one side takes longer to bake than the other. After greasing and flouring the pan, I  filled the bottom half  3/4 full of batter and baked for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. After 10 minutes I filled the top part of the pan 3/4 full and baked the entire cupcake for about 45 minutes longer. I kept a close eye on the cake towards the end and tested for doneness with a wooden kabob skewer. Using those tips the cake turned out perfect for me.

After the cupcake had cooled I cut the top off the bottom and the bottom off the top so they would fit together nicely. I also put a thin layer of frosting between the top and bottom to hold the cake together.

I don't like cake but I do love butter cream frosting and ended up eating quite a bit, actually, quite alot of it while frosting the cake! Do you ever eat too much frosting or cookie dough and start to feel a little sick?

Cake decorating is definitely not my strong suit but I had fun making it. I think it turned out cute and more importantly, the birthday girl liked it!

Jodie

Hail Storm and a Nice Surprise!

Thank you Alison!

Last week I received a sweet message from Alison over at The Polohouse saying she was passing the Stylish Blogger Award  along to several blogs and mine was one of the blogs she chose. I feel very honored because I think she is truly stylish! If you haven't visited Alison's blog I highly recommend it. She lives in a beautiful home that has been converted from an equestrian barn.

 To accept this award the recipients are asked to do a few things:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 10-15 blogs you feel deserve the award.
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award.

Seven things you may not know about me:

 Family means everything to me and my favorite thing is to spend time with them.

I met my husband when we were in the fourth grade, but we didn't date each other until we were Seniors in High School.

I love the outdoors and would rather be outside anytime the weather is nice. I like to camp, hike and ski. And can usually start a fire with one match.

I once auditioned for the show Survivor.

I go turkey hunting with my husband,and you have to dress in camo to do that!

I'm not a total tomboy, I definitely have a girly side.  I took ballet for 13 years.

I love to cook and have catered  several weddings and parties with my sister-in-law Tina.

I am sharing several wonderful blogs I follow and like to visit for inspiration.

Roses and Rust
Verde Farm
Burlap Luxe
Molly Susan Strong
Brambly Home and Garden
Maple and Magnolia
Antique Chase
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House
Southern Home Sweet Home
Lovely Beasts

 We had our first really beautiful weekend of Spring on Saturday, so we spent the entire day outside cleaning out the gardens and  mowing. It felt so good to be outside again and the weather was pretty enough that we were able to eat out on the deck. Sunday evening we were struck by a scary, pelting Kansas hailstorm.  The winds were so strong it blew the quarter size hail sideways! Fortunately the way our house sits we didn't get any serious damage that we could see last night. Our umbrella cover was shredded, one of our screens tore and there are millions of little branches in the yard but I think other than that we were very lucky!
Enjoy the blog list!
Jodie