Lark & my Polka Dot Cake Stand

I was lucky enough to win this gorgeous red polka dot cake stand over Christmas from Cherry & Me! I like to enter competitions, especially on blogs, but never really win so when I opened my email on Christmas day to see that I'd won this I was so excited. The main reason being that (apart from the fact I don't usually win things like this) it was from one of my favourite shops Lark which sells the cutest products - I swear every time I go to that shop I just want to buy everything!

Isn't it just the cutest? I love the polka dots - it'll be perfect for the next time I make some sweet treats! I'll just be able to present them on this.
I actually got to visit Lark over the weekend (I don't get to do this as often as I'd like) and my friend, Marina, took a couple of photos. It's better than me trying to describe what the shop is like and just how cute it is.

Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Giveaway

I want to share with you how I got the inspiration for this blog. It happened a year or so ago now, when my Uncle came to visit. He decided that, to thank us for having him, he'd sneakily sign us up for Foxtel! (I know, what a great Uncle!) It was not long after it was installed that I discovered the Martha Stewart show and was instantly hooked. I loved all the foods Martha cooked, I loved her sense of humour and the way she says it how it is, I love the guests she has on her shows, and weirdly I even like the arts and crafts segments, which I'm usually not into. I would set the show to record every day and watch episode after episode. I explored her website and printed off reams of recipes and began to try making them and found, to my delight, that they all would work out perfectly. After a couple of months of watching Martha cook, and trying her recipes myself I had the idea to start my own food blog. I instantly came up with the title - What would Martha do? - and checked online to see if anyone had already come up with the idea. I thought that I could write about all the Martha Stewart recipes that I tried and about her products and shows and even recipes from chefs who appeared on her shows. But for some reason, I'm guessing lack of confidence, I couldn't get myself to start it. I kept putting it off and putting it off, making excuses until finally late last year, I did it. I started this blog. And I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. I love writing about the recipes that I've tried and especially posting pictures of my food. I find that sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed about the idea of people reading my work, but if I stick to the idea that this is just for fun and for me then I find it's easier to get the confidence to write.

Anyway! With that story over, I'd better get to the exciting part of this post. I've decided to run my first competition. I'm going to be giving away a copy of Martha Stewarts cookbook 'Martha Stewart's Cupcakes'. I don't know if any of you have noticed a kind of theme that's been happening with my last few posts - I didn't until I scrolled back through the blog the other day - but lets just say I happen to love making cupcakes! Plus I thought it would be fitting to have a Martha themed giveaway, since she (or her show) was the inspiration behind this blog)

To enter you can do the following:

• Use Google Connect to follow my blog
• Follow me on Facebook
• Follow me on Twitter
• Share this contest on your blog

Leave a comment and let me know where you've followed me or where you've posted. For every option you choose to do from above, you will receive one entry into the giveaway.

The giveaway will end on Thursday June 30, 2011 at 12pm EST. I will pick the winner using random.org and will anounce the winner on Friday July 1st, 2011.

This giveaway is open worldwide.