I have recently begun to realize that the things that make me incredibly happy and spark passion are the things that I enjoyed when I was little.  I was a child of little imagination (why would I play house and act like a Mom if I was really 5 years old?!) but I loved to read, write, listen to music...and make jewelry!  I used to beg my parents to take me to bead stores whenever we were in the vicinity (luckily, they liked me so we usually went).  I'm not overly dramatic but I always over-exclimate! (See?!)

Anyways, now that I have gone off of my original train of thought I will go back to the beginning...it has become clear to me that the things that make me incredibly happy now are the things that I enjoyed most as a child. As I mentioned, I was never very imaginative, and I'm still not, but I used to think that that meant I was not creative, and that because I cannot draw a stick person to save my soul, I am not artistic...I was wrong! (This may be the only time I will ever admit that...). I love coming home from a long day at work at sitting down with my pliers or my paintbrush. I bought a sketchbook to carry around with me for when inspiration struck, but as I mentioned...drawing is not my forte!
 
As a continuation of this though, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Easy Bake Ovens. I never had one as a kid, but I desperately wanted one and did not understand why I couldn't have one. Believe you me, I was the furthest thing from being hard-done by...my brother and I had some pretty awesome “stuff”, and an extremely awesome family. The four of us were, and still are, quite close- to the point where my friends always thought we were completely weird for being so open with one another. I digress- my mind keeps coming back to that Easy Bake Oven these days, despite the fact that I am now grown and own my own full-size oven. I think we all had one toy, or one thing, that we always wanted but never got...what was yours? I'm sure you're thinking, “Why don't you just go buy the Easy Bake Oven if you're still so obsessed with it?”, and I have been giving that a lot of thought...but...Christmas is just around the corner...! Maybe this will be my year?

I was extremely lucky to head down to Palm Springs and Disneyland (yes, to me, Disneyland is the ENTIRE state!) for a two week holiday!  I spent the first week with my Dad, and then my Mom and boyfriend flew down for the second week.  During that time we went to a market in Palm Springs numerous times (sidebar:  if you are there, go buy one of the garlic graters- they are awesome!) and, fortunately for me, they had multiple stalls selling beutiful scarves.  I have a bit of a penchant for scarves and firmly believe that if you wrap it around your neck just-so it will hide a bit of that extra belly bulge you may or may not have lying around. 

Anyways, I went to this one lovely stall a number of times and purchased...a reasonable amount of scarves.  That is, until I made the fatal error of going with my boyfriend.  You see, I had already purchased one or two before he came down, so when he saw me with another six or eight in my hand (one was to give as a gift...to his sister!) he said to me, "You do not need anymore scarves...I counted the ones you have before I came down and you already have 13!", and I said, "Okay..." and bought them all anyways.  When I reconted this to my Dad he sort of laughed and noticed that I did not argue the number of scarves that I apparently already own...he knew that by my lack of argument and indignation I actually had a significant number more than what my boyfriend originally thought.  This is true...he may have counted 13 at home, but that did not count the ones hanging in the front hall, nor did it count the bucket I have up in my closet overflowing with scarves and belts, and finally, nor did it count the 8 that I had packed and taken on the trip with me.  It is safe to say that I have upwards of at least 40 scarves...but what can I say?  I just love them!  I wear them all the time- even in these smoking hot summer days...a girls' got to do what a girls' got to do!

This brings me to my question...for all of you scarf lovers out there- how on Earth do you store them all?!  While I love finding a "new" scarf buried deep in a drawer (as I did today), my hatred for not having the perfect scarf to compliment my outfit outweighs this love.  So what's a girl to do?!  I'd love to hear how you store all of your beloved scarves!

'Tis the season!  Oh, alright, perhaps it is not quite the Christmas season, but it is time for crafters to start planning for it!  As I am usually busy making fun things to sell and then going to the markets to actually sell them, I do not always get to go as many fairs as a consumer as I would like.  Thus, I am asking all of you:  which are your favorite Christmas craft fairs in the Victoria, B.C. area, and why?  If you point us in the right direction perhaps we will see you there!

P.S.  ...only 110 sleeps until Christmas!

As promised, we are busy redoing all of our pictures and updating our products!  He're is a sneak peek at what's to come!

While I am usually a vanilla cupcake kind of girl, I have recently been fairly attracted to their delicious opposites- chocolate!  Below is the best chocolate cupcake recipe I have ever made.  The chocolate milk subbed in as the liquid portion makes these cupcakes extremely light and moist- they are so delicious!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup mayonnaise  (this sounds weird, but trust)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate milk 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F and Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
2.  In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3.  In a large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed (or, if you're like me and you don't have a mixer, use your hand and go for as long as you can stand it and everything is blended...but safe your strength for the flour mixture!), beat sugar, mayonnaise, and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in flour mixture in thirds, alternating with chocolate milk, until blended. Beat 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
4.  Bake 22 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Top with frosting.

A couple of tips:
*  Buy, barter or steal an ice cream scoop and use that to fill your liners!  I have adopted this method and not only is efficient, it allows you to make evenly sized cupcakes!
*  Follow the directions and add the items in the correct order- there is a set order due to the chemical breakdown and reactions produced.
*  Buy, barter or steal a "Shake Weight" if you are going to be doing a lot of baking without a mixer...you'll need to develop your upper arm strength!

While we are upgrading out website and introducing new components, we would like to make sure you are getting exactly what you want...so what do you want?  Let us know and we will try to give it to you!
 
What is already on the horizon, you may ask?  Well, aside from the blog and new pictures, we will be introducing tutorials, recipes...and whatever else strikes us!

We cannot wait to hear your input!

P.S.  Check out our "Around Town" section- we have already begun to list the Christmas craft fairs we are going to be part of this holly jolly year!  On that note, only 117 days until Christmas!

Lili Creations may have seemed to have fallen a bit off of the face of the Earth- but we didn't!  We've always been here, checking on you checking on us, but now that we're full of fresh ideas we're going to do our best to stay in touch and add new items frequently!  We would also like to offer a couple of tutorials here and there- just to keep your mind sharp!
Please stick with us (as you have thus far!) while the site undergoes some changes.  You may have already noticed that A) there is now a blog!, B) there are new tabs (Cupcakes, Home Decor, Shoe Jewelry and Stationery) and C) we've put up a mini bio about us!  In the coming weeks we will be busy uploading new items for sale, and eventually, launching all new pictures!  I was lucky enough to be given a wonderful DSLR camera for my birthday with the sole purpose of having a beautifully cohesive set of pictures on this site (tips please!!!).
We're so excited to be back!
-Lili Creations