I am back, C for Cupcake Cupcakery is back!

May 24, 2014 was a very special day for me and our family. Our beautiful daughter, Cailin was born on this day. After few months of adjusting our lives, I am finally ready to take orders again. Please email or call me for any questions. Thanks for your patience and support!

On Maternity Leave

I can't beleieve my last update was July 2013. Sorry for not updating this site as often as I should/used to. I am currently on maternity leave till further notice. Thank you for all your support throughout these years. I am sure when I am back; I will have more amazing ideas inspired by our little one.

Unqique jewelry is an icing on your cupcake...I mean outfit! Interview with Dandelyne's designer

I love cupcakes (everyone knows about it), and I also love shopping (well, I am just an ordinary girl).  I always try to find pieces that fit my personal style, my body type and my personality and somehow original.  I don't usually shop online, except for shopping for jewelries though.  I am addicted to Etsy and have been using Etsy a lot for unique pieces to match my personality and style=)

Months ago, I found this amazing jewelry shop from Australia on Etsy - Dandelyne is a very unique place to get unique and original, and personalized jewelries for yourself, your family, and friends.  I am so honored to have a chance to have an interview time with the maker and the creator behind all things Dandelyne, Sonia Lyne (I like to call her Son) and spread out her amazing works to share with my readers.

Son has been addicted to embroidery since she was young. Her designs can be described as colourful, whimsical and sweet. Each piece truly celebrates many facets of life; family, friends, colour, simplicity and fun. Combining a love for embroidery and all things mini, the goal is always to always deliver on quality, love and originality.

Her signature design and best seller is the miniature embroidery hoops . They are designed by Son and laser cut in Melbourne (Son's home). Son and her hubby spend many nights sanding, drilling and constructing each hoop. The unique miniature hoops are used to frame her designs and are made into necklaces, brooches and key rings. There come with two sizes:  4cm and 5.5cm. They are also now available in DIY kits. Personalized designs and portraits are also highly valued and requested. She loves the challenge of working out how to best  illuminate each person and pet in a way that is truly unique. I ordered mine for my wedding anniversary; it's a TALK OF THE TOWN necklace!  I got so many compliments on it. 

Enough introduction, let's get to know Son more:

Mrs. G (aka Me): When did you find out you love sewing?
Son:  I remember when my love for embroidery, fabric and sewing began. I attended a small rural school of approx. 70 children. I was in year 2, and on a Friday afternoon the boys would head to the oval for“boy stuff” and the girls would head to the library for embroidery classes with Mrs Mulrooney. This makes me giggle now, but I do have the fondest memories of this time. I remember piercing the fabric with my needle and creating my very first running stitch. I was instantly taken by it. It was from this point that I began my love affair with all things stitchy and crafty. There was no stopping me from this point.

Me:  How did you make the jump from hobby to a business?
Son:  I knew when I starting embroidering I wanted to turn it into something that I could sustain forever. It began as a hobby but I knew in my heart, and I was determined, to make it into a business.  It has been a year and a half and now feel like I am running a business.

Me:  Do you still enjoy sewing as your hobby, or is it more like business, another word, work, to you now?
Son:  I sure do! I have had a few career changes in my time and after having my third boy I made a conscious decision to pursue a path that would make me smile all over. I enjoy sewing, and making, in a variety of mediums but many, such as making clothes, are areas I only want to dabble in from time to time. The difference with embroidery is that I want to do it 24/7. If I didn't have to eat and sleep I can only imagine how much I could get done :-D.

Me: Where do you get your inspiration from for your works?
Son:  My inspiration comes from anything that is colourful, whimsical and sweet. I really like to stitch about the moments ,and areas, in my life that truly make me happy. I feel that the possibilities are endless and Dandelyne could go off on so many tangents. My goal is to embroider the world.

Me: Could you share with us what is your favorite piece of work you have done so far?
Son: My favourite piece so far would have to be the first piece I did, which was our family portrait. We have it placed near our front door and it always reminds of how Dandelyne began. Most recently I stitched a custom portrait for a customer that I absolutely loved doing. It was a full embroidered design of her beautiful Whippet. It is very different to my normal style but, a style in which I hope to play with a lot more in the future.

Me:  How do you manage your 5 "marbles" or I should say 5 boys, your mutilpe hobbies and your business at the same time? (Son is a Melbourne based girl , with 5 beautiful boys in her life … one big (hubby), 3 small and 1 furry.)
Son: Managing working from home, family life and play is definitely tricky. I find being organised is essential. There are times when things clash and I need to evaluate what is important in that moment. Generally I am super organised and I utilise the time I have when my youngest is sleeping , during the day, to really delve into Dandelyne. Many nights are spent sewing too. Mornings, afternoons and most weekends are out of bounds for Dandelyne. This is family time. Stitching does tend to sneak into weekends when the boys are having some quiet time.

Me: This question is definitely for my own curiousity, do you take cupcakes over cake?
Son: Cupcakes win hands down. It's like your eating little pieces of artwork and the best part … you can never stop at one ^_^.

Check out Son's etsy shop today:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/dandelyne
Her jewelries will definitely brighten up your outfit!!! and shop for some unqie gifts for your family and friends, it will make them smile=)

Sweet Chat with Book Authour and Amazing Artist, Jessie Oleson Moore

I lose count of how many times I have told people how much I love Jessie Oleson Moore.  We first met at her former art gallery and shop in Seattle few years ago; and I could say that, she is ONE OF THE KINDEST PERSONS on earth!  I have been a devoted fans of her blog, CakeSpy ever since then.

Couple years ago, Jessie Oleson Moore wrote this most amazing and creative recipe book:  CakeSpy Presents: Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life.  I bought it and have been loving the book; the recipes in the book is so easy to follow and extremely innovative. The ultimate success of her first book was leading her to prepare the second book, the Secret Lives of Baked Goods.  I have not bought this new book yet, but definitely put it on my TO-DO list.  Here is a sweet chat between Jessie and I about her new book and some of her future new projects:

1)  Your first book was such a great hit. Did it give you any pressure of preparing your second book?
Interestingly, my first book didn't figure much into the experience of the second. I think this is probably because they are SO different. I did feel more insecure at points about my writing, though, because the first book had just headnotes and the second actually required paragraph structure and storytelling rather than just telling about the recipes. It was almost like writing another first book!

2)  Tell me and our readers a little bits about your new book and how did you come up with the idea of the theme?
I've always thought that foods taste better with a backstory. You know, grandma saying that she won grandpa over with her apple pie, or something like that. I thought that by choosing the stories behind well-known baked goods that are accessible to everyone would be a fun and engaging theme--especially for those who, like me, can read cookbooks as if they are novels!

3)  Do you have any book tour/book signing in California?  If yes, when and where?
I was in San Francisco last month, at Omnivore Books and Book Passage, respectively. Though it's not specifically a book event, I will be at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles this summer and will be selling books at the event.

4)  It looks like you travel quite a lot for your passion and work, is there one place in the world you desperately want to check out?  And why?
If I could make myself a traveling machine that transported me free of cost to anyplace, I'd choose Vienna--I think of it as a pastry Mecca.

5)  Do you think the doughnut trend will overtake the cupcake craze?
These things come in cycles. Yes, more doughnut shops are opening and it makes for good press and a new "it" baked good (fried good?) but really it amounts to the same thing: sugar is tasty and we want it. Same thing, different delivery method. But am I eating more doughnuts as of late? Heck yes.

6)  Do you have new projects coming up?
I am working on a pitch for my third book right now!

7)  Do you have any artists (could be a chef, pastry chef, writer, illustionist, fashion designer, etc) you want to pair up with to create something amazing?
If I could conjure up a dream team of people to work with RIGHT THIS INSTANT, it would be: Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, They Might Be Giants, Stanley Tucci, and  Dorie Greenspan. Why Stanley Tucci? Why not?

8)  Any new sweet artworks you would like to share with us?
Did you know that I did all of the illustrations in my new book? It's rather a different style for me and I'm quite proud! Here are some examples in my book:

Little Bird Cupcakes

Couple months ago, I made these cute mini cupcakes for my customer.  I made some pink and purple birds and flowers to match the invitation of the baby shower.  They were the cuttest thing to eat, and everyone loved them (according to my customer).

A Special Way to Say Good Bye

New York Eats reports that a new father, Chris Holmes from the U.K., who works as an immigration officer for Border Force at Stansted Airport has turned in a very unquie "resignation letter" to his boss, aka a "cake letter".  The father of a new born son said, "Having recently become a father I now realise how precious life is and how important it is to spend my time doing something that makes me and other people happy,"

So are you curious what the flavor of the "resignation letter" is?  A carrot cake made with coconut, pecans and grapes and frosted in orange buttercream, what a great way to say good bye!

Mystery Murderer Dinner Party

Each year I try to do something different for my birthday, of course, this year was no expection.  I wanted to do a mystery murderer themed party for my birthday for a long time.  This year, I was able to make it with help from my friends and family, I was one happy birthday girl!

My friend had a mystery murderer party few years ago for her birthday.  She kept most of the materials and I borrowed the materials from her.  She and her husband were helping me to plan the party since they had experience of what we should do.  

For decoration, I had started thinking of how to decorating my party about a month before the party. I set few themed colors first (red, black, gold and white).  And work around with those colors and added little details to match the 1940s theme. Luckily, the themed colors at my house are red and little black, so I could easily reuse some of the decoration stuffs and frames from home and repurposed them.  We also created a photo booth and some photo props for pictures.  Everyone had a great time of taking pictures of the photo props I made.   

For desserts, I made few different desserts for the party, including donut holes and smore bites and of course cupcakes.  They were so yummy and great for us to walk around to communicate with other characters to find out who the murderer was.  I also made some little tags for each desserts, so people know what they were eating.

For food and drinks, we order Italian food from a local Italian restaurant.  Their price was very reasonable and food was great.  We also sticked with wines and old fashioned drinks the whole night.  We had two speical cocktails, Bee's Knees and Old Fashioned.  For non-alcohol beverage, we made cucumber rosemary lemon chiller; it was so refreshing!

I am so happy that most of my friends dressed up for their parts too.  They made the party even more memoriable than it could be. 

Here are some more pictures:

Found this old newspaper picture and a prescription for alcohol drinking online. 
Yup, you needed to obtain a prescription for drinking back to the 1940s.

My boot camp buddies=)

Another prescription I found online

Cucumber roseymary lemon chiller

Decroations on the dessert table

Posing with the photo props

My Asian gang

I love the setting=)

The boys in 1940s style

Our dessert table

smore bites