Happy National Pink Day!!!

I never knew there was such a holiday until a friend alerted me this morning -

I would have done something special to celebrate if only I had known sooner - oh well there's always next June 23rd!!!

Pink Sarah Bernhardt paeonias from my garden - a beautiful flower with a light romantic fragrance

I've always loved pink - I was one of those children who had to have everything pink, and nowadays, if it was just up to me, I would have every surface in our house painted pink including walls, ceiling and floors - really!! It would have to be THE perfect pink though - like the inside of a shell - very pale, very mellow and ever so slightly on the yellow side - never the blue side tending toward magenta - no - not THAT pink.

Please enjoy some of my pink work:

The everlasting Pink Cupcake - as a poster in my Etsy shop

which was featured in this TREASURY, curated by Mollie at Rough Magic Creations, today:

 

Also in my Etsy shop 

"Kristofer's Mandala" iPhone5 case from my CafePress shop

Also from my CafePress shop HERE

...and a Galaxy 4 case from my Society6 shop

Here's a link to my Everything Pink board on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/patriciasheaart/everything-pink/

......and my Pink Christmas board too: http://pinterest.com/patriciasheaart/pink-christmas/ 

Have a lovely perfectly pink day everyone - Patricia

 My favourite pink poppy "Victoria Louise" - sadly she didn't make it through this last winter so I need to find more to plant for next year!!

And please meet Mr. Earl E. Byrd - a charming pink worm ornament made by my friend Faith over at Dab Hands on Etsy 

Isn't that the sweetest picture of a worm you've ever seen?

As of July 1st 'follow my blog' is becoming defunct so I have joined Bloglovin' and you can follow me there by clicking the link below - thanks!! Patricia

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The Sugar Shack Cupcakery Logo!!

About a month ago a lovely lady from Brooklyn New York called Jill London contacted me through Etsy to request a logo for her Cupcake Bakery "The Sugar Shack"...OF COURSE I was only too happy to comply and above you see the finished result...what fun to design and render in colour pencils and shades of my favourite delicious pink...I hope my logo does her cupcakes justice!!

Here I am drawing the logo on my trusty Aquarelle Watercolour Block which keeps the paper nice and tight and smooth.

...during the process I surround myself with other cupcake drawings to refer back and forth to on colours and style and I have on hand photographs of actual cupcakes to reference details of shadow and light.....to be surrounded by cupcakes is delightful...that they weren't edible was hard!!! Jill doesn't have a website yet but when she does I'll put a link here on my blog to it.

Look at this lovely comment Jill left at my Etsy store, thank you Jill, you were a delight to work with too!!
"What an amazing artist! Not only is she talented but she is such a wonderful person. These past few weeks of working with Patricia I feel like we built not only a business relationship but almost a friendship. Her willingness to help me has been a blessing in so many ways. I feel so lucky to have found her right here on etsy! I would recommend her work to the world! Thanks so much for helping make my dream into a reality!
Much Gratitude,
Jill"

As I neared the completion of the drawing I am sad to say my Little Sweet Pea Puppy Bunny passed away quietly and peacefully in her sleep in her favourite spot, what a lucky girl!! She was old and frail and it was her time which makes it all a little easier to bear but we do miss her dreadfully and thank her for the wonderful time she spent with us. As she was a rescue dog we do not know how old she was but we had her with us for 10 good years.
Bye bye Little Friend xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pink, red, butter, sugar........CAKE!!

HONESTLY...is this corny enough for you? For those of you in Blighty these are Valentine Candy Corns...in case you don't get the oh so subtle joke there!!

Lucie and I decided for Valentine's Day we would decorate some cupcakes..above are our Valentine's sugary accoutrements!!

and the essential buckets o'buttercream...yes that is chocolate buttercream...I do like chocolate in that instance...and also in chocolate mousse so long as it is not too dark, I am a milk chocolate person, I know it isn't trendy or hip to be so but I have accepted that fact about myself and now I feel I can move forward with my head held high!! Tee hee

Voila...my pink and brown cupcakes...ah yes that is a chocolate truffle, homemade of course, atop one of the cupcakes pink icing...and a chocolate buttercream rose, which, even though I say it myself, I am quite pleased with...buttercream roses are not so easy to do as the Youtube videos I have viewed for technique portray!!

...and here is Lucie's Plate O"Cupcakes...aren't they lovely!!! Well done Lucie!!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!

The Pink Cupcake illustration by Patricia Shea and a recipe for Bishop's Cake!!

The original cupcake baked, iced 15 times and photographed by yours truly!

My iconic Pink Cupcake illustration - so glad I created this little treasure :)


 I baked the cupcake....Bishops poundcake from the original Silver Palate, nice and moist and dense, then I iced the cupcake, about 15 times to get the perfect swirl, with regular old buttercream icing made of Amish butter (always salted for me) and confectioner's/icing sugar with a little bit of beetroot powder from the Belfast Food Co-op...the taste of red dye #5 leaves a horrid taste in my mouth so I tried this and sadly wasn't that impressed....hey, but I tried!! THEN I photographed the cupcake, as above, then I added a cherry via Photoshop, then I ate the cake and it's companions, then..................
...I illustrated the cupcake and now I feel that Pattern Patisserie is finally christened with true illustration and cake combined!!! Hooray!!

This illustration in it's many incarnations is also available in my Society6 shop  as large prints, stretched canvases, framed prints, iPhone cases, iPad cases and pillows, my European Envelop shop on oven gloves, aprons, placements, totes and more, my Spoonflower shop on fabric, wallpaper, decals and wrapping paper, my Etsy shop on archival posters and stickers, my Greeting Card Universe shop for, you guessed it, greetings cards - you can have them printed at a local Target and pick up the same day avoiding shipping costs, there are some items also at my Zazzle shop and 
 lots of items at my CafePress shop always :)

 Here I am illustrating the lettering for the Valentine's 'edition'. I am planning on doing a series of these bake, photograph, eat, illustrate dessert paintings...do you have any suggestions?

and here are a few items from my CafePress shop:

Awwwww...Freshly Baked Pink Cupcake Baby Gown HERE

Durable Cotton Tote Bag HERE

Pink Cupcake Samsung Galaxy Note 2 HERE

Pink Cupcake Jim Jams HERE

Pink Cupcake Cocktail accoutrements: shaker, wine cooler, small cocktail plates, napkins, trays HERE

 Now I must go and maybe make some more cupcakes as I am drooling looking at these pictures......Happy Cupcakeing to you all!!!

BISHOP'S CAKE RECIPE..simple and delicious!!

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz (2 sticks) butter, I always use salted but I know a lot of people use sweet...your choice

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (essence)

5 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350F and have your cupcake cases ready to go...

2. Cream butter and sugar together 'til fluffy and light

3. Sift flour and fold in to butter mix gently and just enough to blend

4. Add vanilla and blend, then add eggs one by one and mix well but gently after each addition

5. Fill cupcake cases 2/3 full and bake 'til a skewer comes out clean. Check after 25 minutes....for the full size cake the time is 1 hour and 15 minutes so for the cupcakes you need to guesstimate as they'll vary with the size of cupcake you are making.

6. I iced mine with plain old buttercream but you can go any way you want!!!

Please consider joining me at Facebook for updates on my artwork, new products, British 'pudding'(dessert) recipes and pictures of beautiful Maine, here's a link to my Patricia Shea Designs page - thanks!!!

PatriciaSheaDesigns