Lavender "Fairy" Cupcakes

According to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the fairy queen sleeps in a bed of thyme.

Give them a miniature birdbath, and a bird feeder, so their feathered friends can join them. Fairies that is.

There is a Sicilian legend that fairy babies slept in the flowers of rosemary. A place to sleep and dream.

It is said that the fairy queen treasures violets in a most sacred way. She does look pretty with the Torenia (Clown Violet).

It is said that if you eat a primrose, you may be given the gift of sight so that you may see the fairies in your garden, but I wouldn't suggest doing it :-)

Ferns are wonderful for giving fairies a secret place to hide.

Fairies love to gaze at their reflection in a gazing globe. And I believe that it mesmerizes a fairy.

You can sprinkle fairy dust with the children in the garden and along the pathways to show them the garden is fairy-friendly. Ooh, look at that pretty pink turtle that we found on the garden pathway.

Even fairies enjoy a romantic evening in the garden. The photo below was taken during Blue Hour. The bluehoursite.com web site will help you by detecting your location, and calculating the best time frame for taking blue hour pictures. Blue hour refers to the hour experienced between the hours of daylight and darkness when the sky goes into deep blue.

Hmmmm, maybe I can entice them with Homemade Fairy Cakes, sprinkled with edible fairy dust.

Jayne from A Grain of Salt sent me a book from the Cincinnati Flower Show called "Hotpots", and I was happy to find inspiration for these fancies for the fairies. Thanks Jayne!

I used one of my vintage tart pans to bake the cupcakes. DH bought it for me at an antique store, and I love it! It's a piece of art compared to what we buy today. I love the raised lettering. OK, maybe I am getting way too excited over this pan, but I do love it :-)

Susan from Savoring Time in the Kitchen shared a recipe for Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes, and then Barb from Foley's Follies gave them thumbs up.

So I took a short cut, and used a white cake mix for the mini cupcakes, and frosted them with Cooking Light's lemon frosting that Susan and Barb shared on their blogs. I topped the frosted cupcakes with lavender buds, and sprinkled with sanding sugar. They are tasty little morsels, and the lavender tasted heavenly.

Cooking Light Lemon Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon 1% low-fat milk
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Edible flowers such as lavender


To prepare frosting, beat butter with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar; beat at low speed just until blended. Add milk and lemon juice; beat until fluffy. Add more lemon juice as needed to adjust the consistency. Spread 2 tablespoons lemon frosting over each cupcake. Garnish with edible lavender.

Can you smell my sweet pea maze? It's under construction and hopefully the fairies will find their way through the fragrant maze.

I'm joining Mary at the Dear Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Wishing you fairy magic! I am glad you stopped by for a visit.
Debbie

Monday Mosaic - Putting Away the Patio Umbrella

Umbrella Photo by Phillip Newton

I love this vintage inspired woman carrying a patio umbrella....of course my patio umbrella doesn't look as lovely, but it's that time of the year in our neck of the woods to start thinking of putting summer away to start enjoying fall's splendor .

The asters are in full bloom, the heavier mists now hang over the lake reminding me that our days will have warmth. The nights are cooler than the temperature of the lake, and we had our first frost at our cabin.

I'm joining "Mosaic Monday" hosted by http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ You can check out Mary's lovely mosaic and the other blogs that are participating.

The leaves are showing signs of change, so you can probably guess what my end of September mosaic will be.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Debbie

Monday Mosaic - Quebec City

Bonjour! I'm joining "Mosaic Monday" hosted by Mary @ Little Red House You can check out Mary's beautiful floral mosaic and the other blogs that are participating.

We recently vacationed in beautiful Quebec City, with it's charming stone buildings and flower filled window boxes. The majestic Chateau Frontenac hotel towering above the banks of the St. Lawrence, it's magical. The city looks as if it has been transplanted from France and reassembled on the cliffs jutting into the St. Lawrence River. We stayed at a lovely hotel in "uppertown", and enjoyed crepes each morning. We also got to see Cirque du Soleil's "Chemins Invisibles" for free! Timing is everything.

Here are a few of my favorite images. I love the history and charm of Quebec City.

Parliament building

Chateau Frontenac

Thanks for stopping by!

Debbie

Mosaic Monday #2 - The red, white and blue

This is the second Monday that I'm taking part in a new meme hosted by Mary @ Little Red House If you have the time, check out Mary's beautiful mosiac and the other blogs that are participating in "Mosiac Monday". There is so much talent in blogland!!

Hope you will enjoy a quick stroll through our garden, where you will find some red, white and blue. Isn't the blue and white columbine striking? I needed a little color by the hosta, so I tucked in a blue glass flower given to me by my son's dear girlfriend. Thank you Alissa! And for dessert, I made some creme cheese filled strawberries to share. The recipe can be found on my blog if you are interested :-)

Next week, I'll be sharing pictures of our weekend at our cottage. Thanks for stopping by!

Mosaic Monday

This Monday I'm taking part in a new meme hosted by Mary @ Little Red House


I've always admired mosiacs, and to be honest, I just always put it off since there is always some thing more pressing to work on. Thank you to Mary, for giving me a reason to put together a quick mosiac. I like Mary's shade of pink very much, and it gives me inspiration to get some pinks into my next mosiac. If you love peonies as much as I do, I have included some from last year's garden at Hamilton College. You will see how large the peonies are by finding my hand in one of the photos! If you have time, stop by Mary's blog to check out the other blogs that have posted their lovely mosiacs.

Thanks for stopping by!