Crocheted Cupcakes by Stayhomecupcake.

Cupcake couture – Bianca Black $19.99

Cupcake couture – Catrina Multi/Pink $19.99

Cupcake couture – Cc-mid White/Multi $29.99

They do not currently offer online purchasing. Please enter your size and they will let you know which store has it available. Available at Rack Room Shoes.

Who knew cupcakes have even made its way into the national health care debate? Oh the power of the simple cupcake.

Seattle’s Cupcake Royale owner, Jody Hall, has weighed in with her thoughts on the effect of rising health care costs on her small business.

… Hall says something has to be done about the expense of providing health coverage. She says her premiums have increased 20 percent in each of the past few years, and a couple of years ago, they went up 40 percent.

“It’s unsustainable to manage that kind of expense hike, so we are forced to cut our quality of coverage to make it more affordable, and that doesn’t do much for society,” she says.” A lot of small businesses are doing that or cutting insurance altogether.”

Additionally, Jody took part in a White House discussion and gave her perspective about the challenges of health care costs for small businesses.

Cupcake Piñata (Available in Pink, Yellow or Blue) $44.99

Dig in! There’s plenty of good stuff to go around. Made from the finest ingredients, it includes six newborn diapers, two burp cloths, washcloth, fork, spoon and a milky soft fabric blanket. As an extra bonus, there’s a few more baby gifts tucked inside. You’ll find a bib, plush toy and rattle for baby beneath all that gooey goodness. Features and facts:

• Available in strawberry (pink), lemon (yellow) and blueberry (blue)
• Ingredients include: six newborn diapers, soft fabric blanket, two burp cloths, washcloth, fork and spoon
• Surprise center includes: bib, plush toy and rattle (Contents May Vary)
• No stick needed—this is not a real piñata
• Measures 17” tall

Available at Corner Stork Baby Gifts.

In a speech given in North Carolina, President Obama pronounced cupcakes to be good for your life.   :)  Watch the speech below, it happens within the first two minutes of the video.

Not just a knitted cupcake! This is home to a cupcake fairy. Lift the frosting lid and tucked inside is a tiny fairy complete with hand embroidered tunic, petal skirt, and acorn hat. The cupcake is fully lined for the fairy’s comfort but her favorite place when not sleeping is perched on top of the cupcake. ‘coconut breeze’ is of milk chocolate yarn with a fluffy white coconut frosting. The blue button enclosure opens to a cotton flowered lining.

This item has tiny parts and is not suitable for young children but is ideal for gentle hands of ages 6 through 100.

Available flavors (cupcake bottom) include: chocolate cake, caramel cake, pistachio(bright green), lemon poundcake, strawberry, angel food, vanilla cream cake, blueberry.    Frostings include: pink marshmallow, chocolate fudge, white coconut, vanilla with sprinkles, caramel, lemon chiffon.

Please specify: boy/girl, blonde/brunette.   Acorn cap style and frosting yarn will vary according to availability.

These are sold and used as examples only.

Please visit Sweet Nothings By Nisa, for more information.

We received this photo and email from ATC Reader Kerry…

Jessie of CakeSpy inspired me to try to make Hummingbird Cupcakes after she did a piece about Hummingbird Cake on her blog…they ended up quite tasty!!!

Thank you for sharing Kerry! Your Hummingbird Cupcake looks so yummy!

Lost Forever – Ryan Jones

In the Heat of the Moment Painting by Ryan Jones

Same Old Story Painting by Ryan Jones

America’s Problem Painting by Ryan Jones

For more information or to see more of Ryan Jones’ work please visit his website or gallery.

Cuppiecakes Girls Rib Tee  $22.00

Everyone loves cupcakes, especially here at Paul Frank! This tee is a delicious mix of standard screenprint, high density ink, puff ink, and crystallina, on a short sleeve 100% cotton fitted rib tee. Comes in Heather Grey or White. Sizes 2T to 6X.

Available at Paul Frank!

We received this email and photo from ATC Reader Amber…

My name is Amber & I’m from San Diego, CA.  This is my new cupcake tattoo! Thanks Travis @ Patriot Tattoo for doing such an AMAZING job! x0x0

Thank you for sharing your gorgeous tattoo with us! I love it!

Cupcake Bedding $9.95-$34.95

Cupcake Cake Pan $6.95

Cute As A Cupcake Doll Set $14.95

These cupcake items and more are available at ABC Distributing.

A fairytale story may start and end as simply as this.

Boy meets Girl. Boy designs T-shirts. Girl designs wedding cakes.

They start a business and live happily ever after…in the middle of several thousand cupcakes and racks of custom-designed T-shirts.  (Full Article Here)

Except this story is true.  A tale of following your own dreams, taking a chance, and working on what you love the most.  Another inspirational true cupcake store story at the Huffington Post.

This store pairing concept seems to be gaining steam.  By sharing a retail storefront and marrying two individual retail concepts together, the owners can share space and share marketing power by attracting different spheres of audiences.

In the San Mateo, CA area, I saw a retail concept that married an eyeglass store with a frozen yogurt/dessert store.  It was refreshing and fun.  Have you seen other store pairings in your local area?

“Cupcake Candy” Flower applique t-shirts have been cut from 100% cotton fabric and fused to the t-shirt. They have been straight stitched around the edges to minimize fraying.

Each t-shirt may vary from that you see in the pictures as each cut is unique. Some have been embellished with buttons.

T-shirts comes in the following sizes:

12mths

Age 2

Ages 3-4

Ages 5-6

Ages 7-8

All t-shirts come gift wrapped with care instructions, (machine wash in a 30 degree cycle inside out. Do not tumble dry). Minimal fraying will occur, but this adds to its character. T-shirts are 100% cotton.

Please allow 5 days before dispatch, as all items are made to order.

All items are handmade with care and love in a smoke and pet free home.

Available at Sweet Pea 4 Kids.

We received this photo and email from one of our favorite tattoo artists Conor Blue Eyes…

I’ve become quite the “go to” guy in my town for cupcake related art!
Thanks for all your support All Things Cupcake!
Here is a swallow flying out of a delicious cupcake!
Now that is a surprise filling!

Thanks for sharing your cupcake swallow tattoo with us! It’s awesome!

Diaperlicious Diaper Cupcake Set of 4

"Sweet Ingredients":    
        (4) Pampers Diapers, Size 1

        (4) Pairs Socks, Size 0-6 months

        (4) Soft Terri Cloth Washcloths

Diaper Cupcakes Packaged in a White, Window Bakery Box with a

Coordinating Ribbon Closure, along with a "Sweet Ingredients" Tag Attached.

*Diapers are 100% usable; no pins or tape used on diapers.  Comes in Vibrant

Colors for Girls, Boys or Gender Neutral, by "Baby Sweet Treats."

Available at Baby Bouquets and Baskets.

We received this photo and email from ATC Reader Sarah…

My name is Sarah, and I’m an aspiring bakery owner residing in Vinton, VA. I got this tattoo of a cupcake with crossbones-style whisk and wooden spoon in June of ’09. I’ve always said that I want each tattoo I get to represent a certain aspect of my life, so this one in particular represents my love for baking (cupcakes, especially!).

Thank you for sharing your cupcake tattoo with us! It’s too cute!

Tattoo was done by Dennis Duarte at Skin Thrills Tattoo & Body Piercing in Roanoke, VA.

Guinness World Records  certified a 150+lb cupcake made by JodiLee Knops, cakes.com pastry chef, as the world’s largest cupcake at an event at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The cupcake measured one foot by two feet and weighed in at 150.7lb. Filled with fudge and topped with SpongeBob yellow icing, the cake contained 1500 servings.

The giant cupcake was made as part of a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Nickelodeon character SpongeBob SquarePants held at Mall of America’s Nickelodeon Universe. The creators of the record breaking cupcake is DecoPac, which is promoted as “the world’s largest cake decoration supplier and marketer.”

Can our readers help with a suggestion for two clowns in need of giant cupcake?

I am hoping you can help me. My wife and I are professional clowns and we have a purple golf cart. I am Jelly Bean and she is Kupkake. I am trying to find a BIG rubber/foam cupkake to put on the roof of our golf cart for parade. Do you have any idea where I can get one. Thank you very much.

Some cupcake themed clothing that our readers have graciously pointed out:

The Sweet Tooth Tunic from ModCloth

Monstar Belt – CUPCAKE from Monstar Clothing

Lyndsey of Kitchen doughdough is all about following her dreams. One of her current dreams is to be a guest on the Ellen show. By entering this contest you can help make that happen for her!

Cakespy Art!

The amazing Jessie Oleson of Cakespy is donating this piece of cuppie art for their giveaway!

Hello, Cupcake! Book!

Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, big-time authors, were SO awesome to donate a copy to me for this giveaway!!! Visit their site here.

Pots and Pins Cupcake Apron, Stand, Doily, Tablecloth, and Tote!

The amazingly talented at Pots and Pins (a huge food and quilting blog!) made the most adorable cupcake things ever for this giveaway!  If you would like her to make some for you…just email [email protected]

Modern Materials Tray, Placemats, and Napkins!

A favorite store is closing, and it is a heartbreaking reason why. Modern Materials is an AMAZING business started from scratch by Sheri and her husband. They had a beloved store in Salt Lake City, which closed due to Sheri’s battle with cancer. About a month ago, they reopened a store in Sugarhouse called Habitat by Modern Materials, which is AWESOME!! Sheri donated these fun napkins and tablecloths for the giveaway! Lyndsey added a bright orange tray she bought there, which is great to display cupcakes.

Sadly, though, Sheri emailed Lyndsey to tell her that she has been diagnosed with MS and is still fighting tumors, and will be closing on a permanent basis.  wanted to share that they are having a sale, effective now in Salt Lake City…more details will be in a separate post. They are located at 1297 Miller Avenue. Lyndsey is hoping they will still be able to operate their online store, www.modernmaterialsdesign.com, which features “affordable modern accessories and lighting.”

Kara’s Party Ideas’ Circus Party Pack!

Kara’s Cupcake Onesie!

Deanworks Handmade Journal!

Sam’s Handmade Frames!

There are 3 ways to enter to win ALL of these fabulous prizes (make sure to leave a separate comment for each so you get each entry!):

1. Click here to go to Ellen’s Be a Part of The Show site. Just take a minute to fill out the form, then tell Ellen about the Kitchen doughdough site! You can mention the cupcakes she made for her, the giveaway, which cupcakes she’s made that you think she should feature on her show (click on my cupcakes link to see examples), whatever you want! Paste/paraphrase what you wrote as a comment on this post (follow the link), and you are entered!

2. Blog about her giveaway and post the link to your blog post as a comment on this post (follow the link)

or just type in your blog address.

3. Tweet about this giveaway and post the link to your tweet as a comment on this post (follow the link) or just give me your twitter name.

That’s all there is to it! You can enter a total of 3 times. The deadline is WEDNESDAY, JULY 22nd at NOON pacific time. Winner will be chosen using random.org’s True Random Number Generator widget. Good luck, everyone! And make sure to visit each of these amazing donors’ links!

This giveaway is happening on Kitchen DoughDough…Not ATC. Please post all of your entries there. Thanks! ;)

We received this photo and email from ATC Reader Lindsay…

My name is Lindsay,I’m a pastry chef in Atlanta,Ga and I’m a cupcake (and Hello Kitty) fanatic. I got this tattoo in July 2008 to represent my profession,my optimism,and the two things that I love and collect. I love it so much that I’m about to have an “evil” cupcake tattoo done on my other hip just to balance things out :)

Thank you for sharing your tattoo with us Lindsay! It’s awesome!

Sweet Tooth Food Pyramid Fine Art Giclee Print (20.32cm x 25.40cm)

Now this is my kind of food pyramid! They always say to have lots of color variety in your diet! what?! frosting colors don’t count?

This print is made to order. Please allow 7-10 days for production in addition to shipping time. Please contact me before making a purchase if you would like something larger or smaller then 8×10 and i will adjust the price accordingly.

This is a fine art Giclée print made with archival quality inks on high quality professional fine art paper. As a result expect that your print will look hot off the printer for many decades to come.

All prints are signed and dated by the artist. All art is original & © copyright 2009 K.S. Luger

Available at The Happiest Apple.

Gift-A-Cupcake

The place you’ll find luxuriously sweet gift baskets.

Gift: –verb (used with object) to present someone with a gift. When you gift a cupcake you’re giving much more than a gift basket; your giving a quality handmade gift.Their cupcakes are handmade by a true artisan in our original cupcake package design. All our cupcakes are made ready to gift. Each cupcake comes shrink wrapped, tied with a silk ribbon, ingredient card, and complimentary enclosure card.

Gift-A-Cupcake Today!

If you are in the New York City area, Baked by Melissa is running a unique and fun cupcake photography contest.  Here are the rules:

Pick up some cupcakes, and grab your cameras because Baked by Melissa is holding a photography contest!

We’re looking for some creative takes on cupcake photography (with Baked by Melissa cupcakes, of course!)

Place our cupcakes in obscure locations. Photograph an interesting subject taking a bite. Or just use your imagination because anything goes!

Photos may be used in one of our new stores, in our marketing material,at one of our upcoming events, on our website, etc.

Winners will be selected, on Aug 15, 2009, and announced on Aug 30, 2009.

The prizes are well worth your time as well:

First Prize – $500 and 100 free cupcakes

Second Prize – $250 and 100 free cupcakes

Third Prize – $150 and 100 free cupcakes

7 runner ups will each receive 100 free cupcakes

Official rules at BakedByMelissa.com.