Sunday Sprinkles-Remodeling

Thanks to my girl Dez we are working on a remodel of the blog. Hopefully with her smarts and creativity we will have a brand spankin new look for you within the week. So keep checking back to see the new look of Cupcakes Quirky Corner. 

Thanks Dez I couldn't do it without you!!!!!

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes

Working Together Wednesday

I am not feeling so well today so this post is going to be short and sweet.

Working together can happen in so many ways. Today I am just going to link you to a post written by another blogger. It is a post for anyone who buys anything handmade, it is a post for those who sell handmade. Ana's post on her blog Lipsticks & Lightsabers touches on several issues that I believe needed to be said. I want to thank her for her post and for working together for the love of all things handmade. You can find her blog by clicking the link above or by clicking here.

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes

Sunday Sprinkles-ArtFire Security Breach

***Edit at bottom***

ArtFire FartFire

 (Photo snagged from crazyphoto.com)

 I am not pleased with ArtFire as you can probably tell.

Friday evening one of my favorite shops announced they had just restocked the beloved Black Magic Soap. This stuff is a hot commodity so if you don't jump as soon as it is restocked you may miss out. Anyway while people were trying to check out they got a surprise and NOT a good one. Let me just say that it was NOT the shop owners fault at all. Apparently ArtFire had some issues. Issues that were auto filling peoples shipping information with the wrong info. Not just the wrong info but other customers info, including name, address and email address. As soon as this shop owner was told she checked it out and immediately closed her shop. Again this was NOT her fault and I applaud her for acting so quickly for the safety of her customers. She quickly went to work contacting ArtFire in every way possible and warning others of what was going on and to be careful until it was fixed. I myself tried to make a purchase and was given another ladies shipping information not once, not twice but 3 times that night. So I went to the ArtFire Facebook page and left them my thoughts, there are several others who have posted similar things happening to them.

ArtFire NEVER made an announcement on their fan page about this issue. When I woke up and logged into my ArtFire account I had items in my cart that I know I had not put there from a shop I had never heard of. That means not only had I received someones info but that my info had been shared with another customer. Notice in the above screen shot that was not addressed by ArtFire with me. 

I found a link for the ArtFire forums and saw that the original shop owner had posted there asking for help. In my opinion from what I read she as well as customers were basically treated like it was no big deal.

First of all I don't care if it was 1 cart or 1,000 carts it happened, it doesn't make it any less of a privacy breach. He can say what he wants but I always have logged into my account to buy. Most people I know who shop with ArtFire have accounts and log in to buy. This is a way for customers to keep a better record of their purchases online. So I put his theory into play. No matter what I did I still got another customers info. I used 2 different browsers one as a guest one logged in to my account. I cleared cookies, cache search history, any and every way I could imagine to try to get different results. Every time I got the same results.

 Not only did ArtFire staff have this attitude but so did several shop owners that were commenting in this thread. Which did not leave a good taste in my mouth. As the thread went on the snide rude comments towards potential customers and other concerned shop owners got worse. Even going as far as to bash a seller who because of this "glitch" shipped to a wrong address, and saying we were hysterical and causing a panic that was not necessary.

 Ummm wait a second. Not necessary to notify customers and shop owners that there is a security breach? That is ridiculous to even suggest that information not be made available as soon as it was discovered, and even more ridiculous that ArtFire did not notify their customers of the security breach. I was even personally criticized for not staying in the forums and playing tech support for ArtFire.

Customers were called "bat-shit crazy" by one shop owner. Really???? Wow what a great way to treat a potential customer, or a customer who has had the privacy violated.

Customers were being told that because we use the internet we are essentially asking for our info to be taken.

Now I would like to point out that ArtFire said their patch was put into effect around noon on Saturday.

Then why was it at 6:49pm I was still getting other customers info?

While some may say well that could very well be your info blacked out. I can assure you it is not mine. I personally contacted this girl to let her know that I had been given her info from ArtFires glitch. 

I have provided links above to the different places you can go read this mess for yourself if you choose to. I truly hope that the "glitch" has been fixed for the sakes of everyone involved, especially the customers whose trust and security was breached. 

To those shop owners who criticized, blamed, made customers concerns seem invalid, and excused the lack of security SHAME ON YOU!!!  As a customer I want to know that one of a shop owners main priorities is the safety of my personal information. How would you feel if for some reason a site you trusted to keep your info safe had done this to you? How would you feel if you were the momma who is in hiding from an abusive ex, or the person who doesn't use social networking sites, or even the person who got contacted from a complete stranger saying oh hey I have your info? It is real easy to say well it wouldn't bother me until your foot is in that shoe. Maybe try thinking like you're the customer instead of playing cheerleader for the site administration team.

To the shop owners who stood up for us customers THANK YOU!!! I appreciate that there are good honest people like you out there. It is businesses like yours that deserve to be recognized. I know that you didn't have to stand up for us but you did even with being treated like crap for doing it. You have shown not only myself but many others that you have morals and respect your customers business and their privacy. My hope is that you have double the sales you normally would because of the concern you have shown. Thank you again.

***Edit***

8/23/11- Yesterday I began getting hits on this post linked from ArtFire. When I went to check it out, hoping there were some answers I found this.

Here is the link the hits were coming from click here.

nas·ty  (nst)

adj. nas·ti·er, nas·ti·est

1. a. Disgustingly dirty.

b. Physically repellent.

2. Morally offensive; indecent.

3. Malicious; spiteful:

4. Very unpleasant or annoying.

5. Painful or dangerous

6. Exasperatingly difficult to solve or handle

I will have to disagree with the statement that this blog post is nasty. 

1. It is not dirty, I take pride in keeping things clean. Although some could construe my pooping gummi worm post as being a little on the dirty side. 

2. I don't see it as morally offensive at all. What I do find morally offensive is making a forum thread about my post and not allowing me to defend my stance. Considering what I have had to say is here in the open for anyone to see and form their own opinions on. 

3. What I have posted here is not malicious, I don't intend harm for anyone. My intention were to make my readers aware of a security breach by being open and honest providing them with the links to read and form their own opinions. 

4. I guess to those who were offended by this post it may be unpleasant or annoying. When someone is called out on their behavior it does tend to be a little unpleasant for them. 

5. Painful or dangerous  for someone? Well maybe if you drop your laptop on your foot, or hit a key with that finger that has a hangnail.

6. Sometimes being shown another prospective of a situation can be hard to handle. Mainly because it gives the other person a view of their actions and they may not like what they see or may not want others to see that side of them. That is easy to solve though. A very wise person once told me think twice post once. This is advice I take with each and every post I make here.

What is a Firementor? A Firementor is a group of members who have volunteered their time to help other members either with questions posted here on the forum or privately through email and/or phone communication.  They have the little blue book icon above their posts.

What is a Firementor Forum? It appears to be a forum on ArtFire for a chosen group of ArtFire members to make posts in private.

Obviously some of Firementors feel it is morally ok to make threads in a forum I can not access to discuss me and my blogs content. To each their own I will continue to express my concerns here in the open and hope that my readers will make informed decisions.

 

Peace, Love and Cupcakes

Cadence's Journey

Cadence's Journey 

of 

Finding Her New BFF

This beautiful little girl is Cadence. Cadence is 4 years old and like many other girls her age she is very active. She loves Tinkerbell, Lady Gaga, going to the beach, and learning about the earth and anatomy, she is a big sister. Cadence is also a Type 1 diabetic, she was diagnosed at only 2 1/2 years old shortly after her baby sister was born. If you don't know about Type 1 diabetes you can click here or here to read more about it. 

 

I found out about Cadence and her need through a friend posting a link to a Facebook page. You can find the Facebook page by clicking here, the page is called A Diabetes Dog For Cadence. Of course I started reading the status updates and posts to see what it was all about. I mean I have heard of seeing eye dogs and other types of service dogs but never a diabetes alert dog (DAD). I found myself reading for over an hour the many posts about these dogs but most importantly how much this little girl needs one. So then I started doing some research of my own on these dogs and how exactly they can alert to blood sugar levels. I have to say I am amazed at reading the many stories of these dogs and how they save lives. 

Let me get back to Cadence, I emailed her momma Marijane and asked her permission to make this post. I asked her to share some information with me so we could get to know Cadence better as well as their journey to getting a dog for her. Here is some of what she has shared with me.

"She has had Type 1 diabetes since she was two and a half. Cadence has hypo-unawareness, meaning she doesn't recognize low blood sugars, but more troubling is that not only does she not recognize them, she shows absolutely none of the normal symptoms of either low or high blood sugars. She can be playing, seemingly happy and unaffected, when her blood sugar is 45 or 450. After doing some research into diabetic alert dogs, we contacted Guardian Angel Diabetic Alert Dogs who referred us to a most remarkable trainer, KC Owens. Seeing eye and other service dogs have been around for some time and are well known, but diabetes alert dogs are relatively new and KC herself is doing innovative and remarkable new training techniques on them to make them even more effective at scenting out and alerting for changes in blood sugar.

The puppies are fathered by a Labrador that is already a successful diabetes alert dog and then are imprinted with the scent of a low blood sugar starting on the very day they're born. They are asked to sniff scent samples of low blood sugar daily, are given a food reward for it, and before long they naturally equate the scent of a low with a reward and start alerting on their own. The exceptional benefit of these dogs is not only the imprinting, but the fact that trainer KC is a Type 1 herself so they are getting real-time scent training on an actual diabetic person. The dogs can be trained to alert at specific numbers, either low or high, will alert  and wake you when the child is sleeping, and in fact give their alert as the blood sugar is coming down- long before it reaches the dangerous level. Most owners of these dogs have seen their A1cs improve dramatically within a few months of having one.

Diabetic alert dogs tend to be very expensive, but because I have a bit of a background with dogs we are hoping to get a puppy with six months training and then can continue reinforcing and refining the training myself under KCs guidance. This cuts down on the cost significantly, but because we are a single income family so that I can stay home to care for Cadence and her sister, it's still an enormous expense for us. We have created a Facebook page about our efforts to help fundraise for the cost of the puppy and are currently exploring other fund raising avenues. The support and help we've seen has been overwhelming and we are so touched by the kindness and generosity of friends and strangers alike but we are still currently fund-raising to try and meet our goal.

This dog will not only be a best friend for my little girl, but will help improve her overall health and may in fact one day save her life." 
 

You can read more on the diabetes dogs by clicking here and here. There are several different programs that offer these dogs, if you are interested in owning one I encourage you to research and find one that is right for you and your needs. 

 This is a great video that not only explains Type 1 diabetes but also how these dogs are trained to help save lives.

Let me introduce you to Snitch, this gorgeous boy is the dog that was going to be Cadence's best friend and life saver. Sadly due to some unforeseen health issues he was not be able to be Cadence's DAD. Snitch unfortunately has passed on due to his health issues, but was alerting his owner KC until the end.

The picture below is of a litter of  Australian Shepherd puppies. One of these little balls of fur will be Cadence's DAD. They are unsure if they will be getting a male or a female. 

There are still some expenses that Cadence's family are going to need some help with  like the training, pet insurance, spaying or neutering. Even if you can't give a donation you can show your support by just liking her page, sharing the link to her page, or leaving a message of support on the pages wall. Let's show this little girl some love and at least help by sharing her story with others. You can find information on how to donate on the Facebook page set up to help get Cadence her new BFF by clicking here.

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes 

We Did It!!!!!

I am sitting here in tears as I type this. My heart is so full right now and I'm not sure I can find the words needed to thank you all for being so awesome. I'm sure as heck gonna try though.

Working Together Wednesday was something that I started in hopes people would join with me in trying to make a difference in some way. The support and love that you have shown means so much to me, I can never thank you enough. I am so happy to be able to tell you that all the tweets, prayers, good thoughts, and blog reposts of this weeks Working Together Wednesday has made a difference. Taylor Swift has not only called Kadie but also sent her a gift basket full of goodies. I am hearing that Kadie was too sick to be able to personally talk to Taylor, but she knows that her dream was made a reality.

It never ceases to amaze me at what can be done when people stand together. It is people like you who took the time out of your lives to try to help that make this world a better place. I am so proud to call you my friends.

Kadie and her family still have a rough road ahead of them, they still need our love and support. So if you can still keep them in your thoughts and prayers I would appreciate it. As it has been shown once already, it DOES make a difference.






Peace, Love and Cupcakes

Working Together Wednesday-Kadie's Wish

Today's Working Together Wednesday is going to be very short but sweet, bittersweet actually. Friends I need your help, Kadie needs your help. 

Who is Kadie? Well I hope to bring you a more detailed post as to who Kadie is in the very near future. For right now I am just going to give you a few links and a shortened version of where we can work together. 

Kadie is a beautiful little girl who is has been fighting cancer since 2008. She was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma on Halloween of 2008. When she should have been decked out in a princess costume trick or treating she was sitting in a hospital wearing one of their gowns. Kadie had been fighting for her life since then with treatments, surgeries and any other thing they could throw at her. From what I have read she has a strength and grace that is very humbling. You can find out more about her by visiting here and here. I am not posting pics of her here because I have not had time to get that permission from her parents. You better believe as soon as I do I will be making a much bigger post on my newest hero. 

What can you do to help? Kadie's wish is to meet Taylor Swift. Being her time is short just speaking to Taylor Swift would be a dream come true for her. So here is where you come in...if you have a twitter can you please tweet the following or something similar? 

@taylorswift13 a little girl named Kadie is very sick, she may not be able to meet you, but she'd love to hear from you!! #HopeForKadie

 

 Right now this and prayer are what we can do. Let's work together to show some love and support for this baby girl. Remember when we ban together we can accomplish anything!!!

 

 

 

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes 

Sunday Sprinkles-You Nasty Worm

Sooooo last night/this morning I had quite an experience. Here I was just sitting doing my own thing. I can't say I was minding my business because honestly I wasn't. Hey I was on the computer, who minds their own business on the computer right? Anyway in the process of not minding my own business and trying to do what I could for someone who was very upset I got the munchies. You know like when you're sitting watching a movie and have to have something to snack on. I open the bag and pull out a worm, not just any worm but a nasty worm. This worm hanging there trying to be oh so cute and yummy looking made me take a second look. Then a third look. See for yourself....

Look at those nasty little gummi things. Have you ever seen such a thing? Pooping gummi worms, nasty little worms. So here I was trying to eat these things and laughing so hard I could hardly catch my breath. I mean do you eat them? Do you eat them from the end that appears to be the head or do you go for the end that has a little extra to offer? Do you clean him up a bit then eat him? Well just to let you know I tried all the ways mentioned above. No matter which way I ate them I got the same result every single time, hysterical giggling. Now to the sad part I ate the whole bag, all 8.5oz of it. Yes every single one was like the ones you see in the picture, yes I giggled every single time I pulled one out of the bag. Needless to say I was then on an almost 4 hour sugar high. 

If you are curious and want to see if you can find some of these for yourself. I purchased them at WalMart. They are the Brachs Wild N Fruity Gummi Worms. Will I be buying these again? HECK YES I WILL!!! That was seriously some funny stuff to find and I want to see if they might have some cousins out there someplace.
If you find some of these little guys family come back and let me know.

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes

I'm delighted to bring to you...Delightful Incense & Much

Delightful Incense & Much
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had the pleasure of being asked to do a review for this company. Being my first time having an owner ask me to do this; I admit made me very nervous. I took me a few weeks to be able to place an order due to some health issues with my mom and myself. Amy the owner was very understanding of the situation. 

A little about Amy the owner. She has been selling incense to the public for about 6 months and tarts for 2 months. Her mom who is also a candle maker is who inspired her to get into this business. Amy has been around wax goodies since she was 11 years old and says her mom has been a good teacher. I asked her what her favorite item is that she sells and she said the crushed corn air fresheners and pink sugar is the most popular scent. She is very excited to let us all know that she now offers made to order tarts so that customers get the freshest possible scented items. Be on the lookout for new scents and tarts to be added in the very near future.

I finally was able to place my order and chose to get a small sampling of several items. I ordered an incense sampler pack which included my choice of three scents, I chose Black Cherry Bomb,
Red Hot Cinnamon, Honey Suckle, a grubby wax melt in Mixed berries, and a tart in Patchouli.

My order all packed up

I got a message 4 days after ordering telling me my order had shipped. As you can see from the picture above everything was packaged nicely, nothing was smooshed or damaged in anyway. Each incense scent was packaged in a separate sleeve, which is great so that the scents don't take on the other scents. Each tart was packaged in its own baggie as well. Everything was labeled with the scent, company name/website, and the incense was also labeled with a burn with caution sticker.

Incense sticks, burn with caution, and incense cones that were included in my order

I will admit incense are not my thing at all, but from time to time I will try them out. My love of all thing that smell good makes me want to love incense, so I gave these a shot too. I decided to light a Red Hot Cinnamon incense in my bedroom. The cinnamon smell was prominent but not overwhelming. Sadly I had to move it to my kitchen, it wasn't because the product was bad though. Like I said incense are just not my thing, but for someone who enjoys incense I think you would like these. I have since found a loving home for the rest of the incense I received, and they are being enjoyed as they should be. The stick I lit burned for a little over an hour and the scent lasted maybe 20-30 minutes after it burned out. I don't see the sampler pack I bought on the site anymore but there are packs of 20 cones for $2.00 or 20 sticks for $2.75. There are lots of scents to choose from.

Tart that was included with my order

Now let's talk tarts which are made of a Para soy blend (paraffin and soy wax). The scalloped tarts I would say are 1oz in size and sell for $1. Again you have many scents to choose from there is scents ranging from earthy/woodsy, bakery/food, fruity, clean, to dupes of popular brands. Amy includes extras in each package and I had several extras in my package. I'm not sure how many extras are normally included in customers packages, I'm not sure if more were included in my order due to me agreeing to do a review. Either way I appreciate any company who gives extras, who doesn't right? Well the first scent I threw in my tart burner was mixed berries. The tart melted very nicely and was VERY highly scented, maybe too scented(is that possible? lol). It was an ok scent for me, but my girls loved it so we moved that tart warmer to their room. The next scent I tried out was Blue Sugar, which is a scent I have never tried before. Again it melted down nicely, and was HIGHLY scented, it scented my entire 2 bedroom apartment and people could smell it in our parking lot out front. I will be honest I hated this scent the first time it melted it. My mom loved it so I decided to give it another shot the next day. I put a new tealight in the burner the next morning and within 15 minutes again the entire apartment was filled with scent, it wasn't so bad this time. I ended up using that same 1oz tart for 4 days around the clock before the scent was light enough to put in my bedroom for another 2 days. Yes I burned this same tart for 6 days!!! I think it is obvious that I ended up falling in love with the scent. Next was Patchouli I would say it is an ok scent but it just didn't smell like true patchouli to me or a friend who wears patchouli oil almost daily. My mom snagged coconut cream from me and because of her moving hasn't had a chance to use it yet. Last night I put Banana Nut Bread in the warmer, it came in the shape of a cute tiny loaf. I'm not sure the weight of it but I had to break it in half so I would say it is between 1.5 and 2oz. I was very surprised with the scent as it started melting. In the package it has a strong banana scent but as it starts to melt you can pick up on other notes, I could almost swear there is a coffee note in there. Very nice highly scented and made me wish for fall to get here so I can start baking again. 

Overall I am happy with Delightful Incense & Much. Their website has a very homey comfortable feel to it and is super easy to navigate. My order shipped quickly and was packaged very nicely and nothing damaged. Their packaging is very simple and labeled with scent, company website, and a burn with caution on incense. Prices are very reasonable, a nice variety in scent choices, and I like that they also carry tart warmers. Would I buy again? Yep I sure would and actually have a few tart scents on my list to try like creamy nutmeg, vanilla waffle cone, eggnog, lemon bundt cake, sweet potato pie, spiced orange. Ok so maybe I have more than a few to try on my list haha. 

You can find Delightful Incense & Such on Facebook by clicking here

You can find their website by clicking here

I was contacted by the owner to consider doing a review, I made an order and paid for it with my own money. Even though extras were included in my order it in no way influenced my opinions of this company.

Peace, Love and Cupcakes

Working Together Wednesday

 Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are all staying cool with this crazy heat wave going on. 

Today I want to take the time to explain Working Together Wednesday and my reasoning/thinking behind it. I am also asking for your help, but that will be apparent in what I have to say. 

When I first started considering writing this blog I knew I wanted it to be different. I wanted it to be a place where I could express myself and share all sorts of things with you. I wanted reviews to be different from most others you find out there. I try to give more than one persons opinion in the reviews I do, so that you have more than one perspective right here in one place. I will try to continue doing that as much as possible. I quickly began to realize that while I can give a review of a company or a product I wanted you to also know me as a person. I just didn't feel like I was coming out enough in my reviews. Granted I have only just started the whole blogging thing a few months ago, so I am still finding my blogger strengths and weaknesses. That is when Sunday Sprinkles was born. It was a way for me to share me, my life, experiences, so you could begin to know me. I really enjoy making my Sunday Sprinkles posts because it allows me to not be so formal, not so this is this and that is that. Don't get me wrong I love doing reviews, and I plan on continuing posting them for you. 

 I still had this feeling that I was missing something. It started to really eat at me when I would see places, charities and people I wanted to help. Being a single mom I don't always have the finances to donate to places like I would like to. Not having a car I can't go out and do the physical things that could help. So what exactly could I do is the question I had to ask myself. I quickly realized that I have something right at my fingertips that can make a difference...this blog. Even if I can't donate, I could still get the word out about different things I feel are important. It may not seem like much, but with every person who sees what I write it could help. This is how my idea of Working Together Wednesday came to be.

Working Together Wednesday is a day I am devoting to promote helping, educating, and inspiring anyone who reads my posts to make a difference. This is a day I can share some of the things I am passionate about, charities we may not hear much about, missing persons, anything and anyway we can make a difference in someones life.
 
Now before you start thinking all my Wednesday posts are going to be asking you to donate money to different charities, I want to assure you it will not be that way. Yes there will be times I will make posts that will be about donating money, but I will not pressure you to donate. That is a decision that each of us have to make given our personal circumstances and beliefs. There will be posts giving simple ideas of things we can do every day to make a difference, posts spotlighting people who have made a difference, posts asking you to share information with others. Honestly there are so many things that I can cover with Working Together Wednesday that the possibilities are endless. I have already made a few posts that are labeled as Working Together Wednesday, you can find the most recent by clicking here.

Where do you as readers of this blog come in? Well I'd like to hear your ideas on charities, topics, someone you know who has made a difference. If you know of a company who is selling a products with proceeds going to helping let me know. I want to make this about all of us joining and working together. Another great way you can help is just by sharing the link to my Working Together Wednesday posts. I am really excited to hear your ideas and thoughts on this so please feel free to comment below or you can always email me at christiebrooks@att.net.

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes