National Candy Month Continued.....

The Monthly contest theme is now ice-cream.  Here are the suggestions made so far, please feel free to add your own.

I did make some more candy to celebrate June (national candy month).  Licorice Allsorts were suggested by Pam.  When I saw Pam's suggestion, I went out hunting for allsorts.  I actually went to 4 different stores trying to locate them.   I did find some great licorice allsorts at a local store called Sprouts.  They were very pretty, and made great models... They behaved very well ; ).      P.S. Pam if you are reading this please email me your address at sweetandsavorytrinkets@yahoo.com

I did want to take a moment to thank you all for joining in my monthly contests.  All of the suggetions have been amazing, and I wish I could make them all.  Candy month was definately a fun theme, and I do hope to make some more of your candy suggestions.  In the mean time,  I wanted to share a little bit of my selection process with you.  because it really affected my decision with what to make for candy month. 

When you all make your suggestions, I start searching through pages of google images for the suggestions.  They inspire me greatly!!  From this point I start deciding If I am going for particular color themes.  Then I will do an Etsy search to see how many of my fellow miniature food artists are making that item.  If there are already fellow shops that have perfected a particular food, I usually wont make that particular item, unless there is great room for variance. Here is a couple of great examples.

This month I found some amazing gummy bears at  Bit O Sugar .  Bit O Sugar is a wonderful shop run by Brad and Lei.  They opened Bit O Sugar in September 2010, the same week I opened Sweet & Savory Trinkets.  Brad and Lei are in Hawaii, and have over 90 very cute items to browse though.  You should read their profile if you get a chance, it made me smile.      
I wanted to share these amazing gummy bears with you.  Brad and Lei have definately perfected these  little guys!

These lollipop earrings were created by Inedible Jewelry .  Jessica and Susan are sisters, and opened Inedible Jewelry on etsy in February, 2007.  They are an amazing team, and make very realistic goodies for you to wear : ).  
This team of sisters actually wrote a book on making miniature foods, called Polymer Clay Cookbook.  I would highly suggest it for those of you that want to make your own minis :) 
When I saw their tiny lollipop earrings, I was amazed at the color and detail.     



For those of you who are new to the blog, and contest, I run a monthly contest, Every month I give a new theme, and take food suggestions that fit in with the theme.   If I make your suggestion for my monthly charm club, or for store inventory, you win!  The prize is a charm of the food item you suggested.

The Contest Rules

1: Try to limit your suggestions to one a day. You can make a suggestion every day... in fact I love seeing as many suggestions as possible.  I just want to make sure that everyone gets a chance to make suggestions.

2:  Take a quick look at the suggestions, to make sure you aren't duplicating a suggestion. 

 July's Theme

July is national ice-cream month!!!  So lets hear your ice-cream suggestions.  I already make ice-cream mochi, and a hot fudge brownie, so those two ideas are excluded everything else is up for grabs. :)  They can be ice-cream itself, to anything with ice-cream or is ice-cream related.  You can start making suggestions for ice-cream month now :)

I decided after the Japan 9.0 that I would make donating to natural disasters a part of my regular business practice.  I have been donating 5% of sales to natural disaster relief. It is donated through global giving on a donation page, so if any of  you are curious to see the progress you have access to it Here.   So far I believe we are at 84.00.  These donations were made for tsunami relief, and more recently tornado and flood victims.  I also plan on giving the the New Zealand quake too.  As natural disasters happen, I will shift where the donations go, but you can always see the information provided in the link above

June National Candy Month

Welcome back :)  The May charms have been fun, but I was ready to start work on June.  July's Themes for our monthly contest will be announced  towards the end of the blog.

You all had amazing suggestions!  I really wish I had more time, so I could make all of your suggestions.  Today I will announce our first winner.  I will probably be making more candy before the month is through, so check back in around June 1st, incase there are more winners:)

The last suggestion made was rock candy in different flavors.  This suggestions was made by Katherine. 

This sounded like a wonderful challenge, and I pondered how I would make polymer clay clear enough to pull it off.  After around 24 hours of pondering, I decided not to use polymer clay at all.

I hope you like them as much as I do :)  The rock candy set of six charms are the official June charms of the month for those of you that recieve the monthly mailings.

The next candy I tackeled were gummy rings.  I really wanted to make candies that could accompany, and compliment the rock candy.  I made a matching gummy for each color of rock candy.  The flavors I tried to mimick are green apple, grapefruit, grape, watermelon, blue raspberry, and blueberry.

                                                                              Monthly Contest information

For those of you that are new to the blog,  We have a monthly runningcontest.  Around mid month, I will announce a new theme.  To enter the contest you make food suggestions that fit in with the theme (in the comment section).  I will make at least one of the items suggested for the charm of the month club, and store inventory.  Who ever made the suggestion gets that charm free, as a thank you gift.  If you are one of the winners you send me an email including your address at sweetandsavorytrinkets@yahoo.com   

The Rules

1: Try to limit your suggestions to one a day. You can make a suggestion every day... in fact I love seeing as many suggestions as possible.  I just want to make sure that everyone gets a chance to make suggestions.

2:  Take a quick look at the suggestions, to make sure you aren't duplicating a suggestion. 

 July's Theme

July is national ice-cream month!!!  So lets hear your ice-cream suggestions.  I already make ice-cream mochi, and a hot fudge brownie, so those two ideas are excluded everything else is up for grabs. :)  They can be ice-cream itself, to anything with ice-cream or is ice-cream related.  You can start making suggestions for ice-cream month now :)

I decided after the Japan 9.0 that I would make donating to natural disasters a part of my regular business practice.  I have been donating 5% of sales to natural disaster relief. It is donated through global giving on a donation page, so if any of  you are curious to see the progress you have access to it Here.   Sofar I believe we are at 84.00.  These donations were made for tsunami relief, and more recently tornado and flood victims.  I also plan on giving the the New Zealand quake too.  As natural disasters happen, I will shift where the donations go, but you can always see the information provided in the link above

May: National BBQ Month!!!

Hello, I have had a lot of fun searching through tons of BBQ food images.  All of your suggestions are wonderful, and I wish that I could have made them all.  I will be working on making more BBQ items over the weekend, but wanted to leave you with a sneak peak.  These are the first two official charms for May, for the charm of the month club.  I will update this blog with more photos as I complete different foods over the weekend.  I may pick more from your suggestions, so check back soon.

*** June is National Candy month, so put on your thinking caps, and start leaving me those candy suggestions :)

I will have the contest directions and rules at the bottom of this blog. For those of you who are new to the blog, and are unsure of how the contest works.

  Here are three of the winning suggestions.  

The BBQ ribs dripping  with BBQ sauce was suggested by Joy 1961.

The Beef Kabob was suggested by Sharon.  

The watermelon slices were suggested by Pam
The roasted corn was suggested by Beverly


P.S. If any of you are checking in, please email me your address at sweetandsavorytrinkets@yahoo.com  

These were very fun, and time consuming little guys

.

I am quite pleased with how realistic the ribs are... This photo absolutely shocked me. 

This little rack of ribs fit on the tip of my index finger, so I couldn't believe how real it looked in the photo here.

My little Beef Kabobs were quite fun to make.  As you can see here, they have green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, marinated steak, and a pineapple slice.  

Thank you again for all your wonderful suggestions!!!

 These watermelon slices actually took quite some time to make.  It took around 5 hours of mixing and baking, to find just the right pinky color.  The good news is that I made around 40 of each type so I will have them for a while :)


Unfortunately they are only detailed like this on the front, they were far too thin for me to texture both sides.

Contest Info:

For those of you that are new to the contest, you make food suggestions, that fit in with the given theme.  I will pick at least one of them for the charm of the month club, and inventory in my store.  The prize is the charm you inspired.  Right now the theme open is Candy, for June.

 The Rules:

1:  You can only make one suggestion per day, that allows you multiple entries but many can play :)

2: Read through the suggestions to make sure you aren't duplicating any suggestions already made.

Shop Donations

  Here is the link the shows my latest donation.  Good news!!!  I was just able to donate to Red Cross through Global Giving for tornado relief.  I also added a project for the storm and flood victims too.I just made my profile on Global giving public, so you can see what projects I have donated to (and how much for each project).   So far the donations store sales 05% donated amount is at $84.00

May Charms

Hello :)

I just added another donation from store sales.  It is again going to Earthquake relief for Japan.  Here is the link the shows my latest donation, I forgot to log on first.. so this time it says anonymous.  I hope to make the next donation for storm and tornado relief for the mid west here in the U.S.  I will make that donation at the end of the month.  So far the donations store sales 05% donated amount is at $40.00

donatio

I just wanted to let you all know that the BBQ charms will be a little late...  I was sick, and am a little behind, but I am catching up.  I will be making them over the course of the next week.  As soon as they are finished I will post pictures,  and the new winners here.  Here is my latest creation :)

I have also been working on coin purses.  They are food themed as well.  I am posting just I couple here now :)

I hope to have the new charms up by the 23rd, or 24th.

P.S.  I will have bagel and donut coin purses soon too.   The charm I make, do fit perfectly on the zippers of the coin purses too..   Very fun :)

Hope you all have a great week.... 

June Theme:   Candy.  It is National Candy Month,  so start making your candy suggestions :)

Heather

Heartsy Submission

Hello every one!!!
Please refer to this post for the raffle results,  and this post for this months contest info and current entries.

I recently discovered a advertising site, that advertises etsy shops, by offering heavily discounted vouchers.  To give you an idea,  I recently purchased a voucher for $10.00 that was worth 25.00 in a bath and body shop.  I thought it was a fun way to discover new shops.  Anyhow,  I decided to submit a request to be featured.  It is also to celebrate my Sweet & Savory Trinkets store being open for 6 months on Etsy!

   
Their community votes..  and if the community is excited about your submission they consider featuring you.  Here is the heartsy link of my submission.   So if you have a hankering for some charms,  and would like a discounted voucher voting yes definately will increase my chances of being featured. 

I also wanted to mention it, because if I do happened to get featured I wanted to make sure you all know about it.  because their discounted vouchers  are limited by time, and quantity.

If I do get featured I will let you all know,  because if anyone was was to receive 50%-70% voucher,  I want it you be you guys ;)

The purse pictured is one of my hand knit babies.  I always show you my miniature foods, but you don't get a chance to see that I can knit too :)

Anyhow you all are wonderful!!! 

Profit Donations Update:
I have donated 22.00 to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami relief.  The 5% of sold item prices are already building up :).  Here is the link showing the direct shop donations.  I will donate at least once a month, but sometimes more..

Thank you all!!!!

Heather

Raffle Results

Hello,  today I have the results of the Fund raising raffle. 

First I want to say thank you soooo much!!!  Together we raised 200.00 for for Japan earthquake and tsunami relief through global giving.  I posted a video on you tube of picking the raffle tickets. Jeffrey my little guy, and Abigail my niece are helping.     

The winner of the one year charms of the month club is Jessica-Lyn Robertson

The winner of the 6 month charm of the month is Kimberlie Pettit

The winner of the 3 month charm of the month club is Victoria Szeplaki

For all of those of you the did donate to the fundraiser, but didn't win,  please email me your address, and I will send you a little prize too!!  Email me at sweetandsavorytrinkets@yahoo.com

Macaron Madness

Welcome back!!!  I hope you are all doing well!!!  Still taking BBQ suggestions till April 15, Here in the comment area. 

All charity, and contest info will be provided as usual, at the bottom of the blog. 

The Macaronner 

I discovered The Macaronner on Etsy, and their cookies looked so pretty that I just had to try them.  

I purchased a sampler, so I could try a few different flavors.  P.S.  The larger cookies in all the photos are the real cookies, offered in their shop. 

Eric and Nicola are a husband and wife team, and the chefs of these sweet confections. :)

The cookies are extremely delicate.  They manage to create cookies that are crisp when you bite into them, but melt in your mouth.

I knew as soon as I saw these little cuties, that I had to make my own version of them (out of clay). 

I wouldn't dare try to make the real ones, I will leave that to the experts!

I made them in the six colors shown on the right.  They are great pastels for spring.  As you can probably tell by the photos,  I am making them in two sizes.  There larger one are about the size of a quater indiameter, and the smaller ones are about the size of a dime in diameter. 

I thought that if you are looking for themed gifts this Spring,  it could be fun to give some macarons!

I was thinking of dividing  them up, and making miniature Easter baskets.  Here is the link in case you wanted to get some real macarons.  Maybe 2 or 3 real macarons, along with a couple charms or a neclacke :)

The choclate-peanutbutter were my favorite.

There are also macaron soaps on Etsy KcSoapsNmore .

 This weekend will be spent making all the spring time charms, then I will be sending out all the April charm winners, and the April club charms out Saturday and Sunday :)  After much deliberation, I decided to do the Easter eggs as the April charms.   If you are a club member, or have won the club of the month, and prefer the peeps or something else, please let me know.  

Monthly Contest

Every month I make new charms for my store, and for the charm of the month club I decided it would be fun, if my readers and customers, had a hand at deciding which charms I make.  Every month around the 15th, I post a new theme.  You enter the contest by making food suggestions that go with the theme in the comment  section of the blog.  I will choose at least one suggestion each month for the store, and or charm of the month club.  The charm(s) I make from the suggestions are the winners, and the person (people) who made the suggestion(s) gets the charm they suggested as the prize :).   The contest ends each month on the 15th...  and the new theme is active.

 

The current theme is BBQ

The Rules:

1:  You can only make one suggestion per day, that allows you multiple entries but many can play :)

2: Read through the suggestions to make sure you aren't duplicating any suggestions already made.

 Here is the blog with the current suggestions made so far. 

Tsunami Fund raiser

I opened a fund raising raffle through Global Giving, on their website.  I wanted to find a way for the charity a get the money immediately, and this is a really great solution. It is also tax deductable, and you receive their tax exempt id on your online reciept Here is the link

global giving fund raiser page

You guys are amazing, we have already raised 185.00 Thank you!!!!

  The prizes are 1 year of the charm of the month club,  and 6 months of the charm of the month club.  The winners will be announced on the 31st, on the fundraising page, and here on the blog.

Store Charity Donations. I made my first contribution, from the store.  I am donating 5% of the item price out of my Etsy store, Artfire store, and Zibbet  store.   Here is the store donation page so you so track our progress :) I made a 10.00 donation already, and we are 1.90 towards the next donation.