For Those Lacking in Frosting Talents

I have been so excited to make lemon blackberry cupcakes. Unfortunately, I came to the really sad realization that I do not know how to frost cupcakes to save my life, so I improvised and decided to play with some powdered sugar to spruce up their aesthetic appeal (and taste!). I think I made it up, but who really invents anything anymore with Pinterest and memories of everything seen online?  I just got a piece of cardstock, cut a heart in the center, placed it over the frosted cupcake and sprinkled powder sugar over the heart.

They came out really good! The tart, lemony goodness of the cupcake perfectly balanced the sweet homemade, blackberry frosting. The cupcakes have pretty much disappeared from our countertop here at home, so I would consider the recipe a success. 

Just a note: I only used 3 cups of confectioner's sugar for the icing (half of what it asks for) and the icing was still a bit too sweet for my personal liking.

Feeling Crafted...and Employed

 I am so excited to say that I am now happily employed at Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation's LARGEST permanent marketplace! But before that, I had such a great time yesterday exploring the various stalls of artisan goods. I really liked MerieBabie's wooden floral necklaces and leather fold-clutches. But Anony-Mouse stole the cake. Their wedding invites, save the dates, and wedding programs were just irresistible! If you cannot make it out to Crafted, which I HIGHLY encourage, check out his work here! The artisans, the goods, the food, and the music were great! The next time I go, I plan to try the woodfired pizza for the red double-decker food bus (yeah, you read that correctly). But an hour just isn't enough time to wander through all the stalls, so plan accordingly... <3

Food truck tacos, always my favorite!

They Still Do Get Usage...

 For one of my final art projects, I decided to portray the loneliness of payphones and contradict the New York Times statement above that payphones do in fact still get usage. In a time in which cell phones are permanently glued to our hands and ears, how useful are payphones? Of course, I cannot knock them in times of emergency, but I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose the payphone with the convenience and frequent use of the cellphone. I thus photographed unused payphones, placed in the foreground of the photo to capture its lone solitude and make it the ironic focus of the photo, as people walked by on their own phones and in their own worlds, completely oblivious to the payphone's presence.

[And, one a side note, it was just fun being a creeper with a camera for one afternoon]