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 "Supplies"!

I made these cute sweet treats bookmarks
for all my lovely cousins last Christmas

I love baking; I also love crafting and art too.  Last year, I made these very cute sweet treats bookmarks for all my lovely cousins as Christmas's gift.  I know it's nothing expensive, but I crafted each of them from my heart with my two hands. Besides my cupcake business, I also made matching party supplies and paper crafts for engagement and wedding pictures.  Here are few projects I did last few months:

 This sign is great for engagement and wedding pictures

 Helped my friend to cut the letters to a birthday's banner for her son.

This powerful couple will make your engagement pictures and wedding pictures extra cute and sweet.

A one-year-old baby doesn't know how to tell you she is one yet! 

But a sign could=p This sign is great for baby's invitation or thank you card.

If you need any party supplies, please let me know.  I sell them on my Etsy Shop.



The NO KETCHUP Rule

I had a very fataboulous birthday night with my family last weekend.  We went to one of the hippest restaurants in Orange County, California.  The Playground it is.  This is surely the HIGHLIGHT of the night!  We all enjoyed every dishes and the hospitality there. 

Inside of the Playground

Chef Jason Quinn with me (the birthday girl) and us

Exterior of the restaurant

Talking about this restaurant and the owner and the Chef of this place.  I have been a royal fans of the Lime Truck since they launched.  Their food is truely fresh, refreshing and delicious just like the lime logo on their truck.  They were busy because of their food.  But now they got even more popular after they won the hit show "The Great Food Truck Race" on Food Network.  Last year, I heard that the Chef, Jason Quinn from the Lime Truck left his partner and the truck to open his very own "Playground" restaurant in downtown Santa Ana, CA.  I was beyond excited and could not wait to try his "creations".  Let me tell you, everything on the menu were good and fresh.  The dishes are more on the adventous side if you like to order the same thing at the resturant, this place might be too adventurous side.  However, if you are ready to put your trust in the Chef and his team, and want to try something different and unique, you NEED to come to here.  You won't be disappointed by the quality and creativity of their dishes. 

Their signature burger is beyond awesome.

From their Large bite menu - 26oz ribeye steak.  It's really flavorful and juicy.

Broccolini with black vinegar reduction

Pork loin with pineapple and mango salsa

Smoky chicken wings

Scallop sashimi with citrus and greenapple slices
with hints of yozu dressing

I just read an article about Chef Jason Quinn on the OC Weekly.  That truely inspired me about how I should decorate my cupcakes in future.  One of his rules is "No Ketchup" at his restaurant; he explained,

"Everything [I make] is made from scratch and is beautiful, so how can we say, 'Hey, we worked for eight hours to make these French fries, but we're gonna serve you ketchup that we got out of a can?'" he says. "Those things do not equate with each other."

That makes me think about this theory should apply to my cupcake works too.  I used great ingridents and baked them with love.  Sometimes, they got ruined by those overly-sweet fondant, gumpaste and not so tasty spinkles.  These lovely stuffs somehow downgrade the taste of my cupcakes.  His article pushed me to set an additional goal for this year - decorating my cupcakes using different edible ingridents to make the cupcakes pretty and enhance the flavor of the cupcakes.  But no worries, I am not going to ditch the lovely fondant, gumpaste and spinkles because they still make the cupcakes pretty. I just want myself to experiment with more different ingridents and media for decoration.

Halloween Cupcakes

America should make Halloween as a paid holiday for everyone since this is one of the favorite holidays for most Americans (kids and adults) in the States.  When Halloween is around the corner, I know a lot of bakers are going to create some amazing cakes/cupcakes inspired by this holiday within this month.  I watched a lot of baking and cake decorating books, most of the cakes/cupcakes are inspired by the traditional Halloween images, such as black cat, spider/spider web, pumpkins, vampires...I wanted to do something a little bits untraditional for my Halloween cupcakes.

Few of the main characters from Gegege No Kitaro

I got inspiration from this Japanese manga.  Japanese manga (comic in English) and cartoons have impacted my artworks and my visions about art in many ways.  These cupcakes are inspired by one of my favorite Japanese anime, Gegege No Kitaro.  Not too many cartoons (for kids) would talk about ghosts or evil spirits, this one does.  And somehow this cartoon has managed to have great balance of the scary scene and still remain kids friendly.  I loved this show when I was a little kid.

I remember one year my parents took us to New Zealand to visit my dad's sister and her family during summer.  We stayed at my auntie's house for few weeks.  My parents left my sister and I at my auntie's house for few days because they wanted to have a little honeymoon themselves in Australia.  My sister and I, plus my two younger cousins were watching this show for few days during my parents' "honeymoon".  We even had a role play at my auntie's front yard.  Of course, we didn't see any ghost, but this few day role play memory and the 24-hour Gegege No Kitaro scene stay with me forever.  When I thought about this cartoon, I thought about the time my sister, I and my cousins in New Zealand; it was a great summer.

Kitarō is a yōkai boy born in a cemetery and, aside from his mostly decayed father, the last living member of the Ghost Tribe(幽霊族 yūrei zoku).
He is missing his left eye, but his hair usually covers the empty socket.
He fights for peace between humans and yōkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter. 

Ittan Momen is a flying yōkai resembling a strip of white cloth. Kitarō and friends often ride on him when traveling. The original ittan-momen is a spirit from Kagoshima Prefecture myth which wraps itself around the faces of humans in an attempt to smother them.

Nezumi Otoko is a rodent-like yōkai-human halfbreed. He has been alive for three hundred and sixty years, and in that time has almost never taken a bath, rendering him filthy, foul-smelling, and covered in welts and sores. While he is usually Kitarō's friend, Nezumi Otoko will waste no time cooking up vile schemes or betraying his companions if he thinks there's money to be had or a powerful enemy to side with. 

Neko Musume, a normally quiet yōkai girl, who transforms into a frightening cat monster with fangs and feline eyes when she is angry or hungry for fish.
Predictably, she does not get along well with Nezumi Otoko.
She seems to harbor a slight crush on Kitarō, who sees her only as a friend.  

Medama-oyaji is Kitarō's father. Once a fully formed adult ghost, he perished of a disease, only to be reborn out of his decayed body as an anthropomorphic version of his own eyeball.
He looks small and fragile, but has a strong spirit and a great love for his son. He is also extremely knowledgeable about ghosts and monsters.
He enjoys staying clean, and is often seen bathing in a small bowl. He has a great love for sake.  (That's why I put him in a bowl).

Kitaro with his eyeball dad

If you have never watched this cartoon, you missed out.  It's such a great cartoon!

There is a Gegege No Kitaro Theme Park in Japan.  Here are some pictures from the Hong Kong Yahoo.com.  It gives me one more reason to visit Japan *again* (yes, if I went to Japan again, it will be my third visit to Japan.)

Medama-oyaji at the theme park

Neko Musume  transforms into a frightening cat monster with fangs and feline eyes.

Kitaro train at the theme park

Kitaro with his dad (hey, he really likes to take a warm bath in a bowl.)

Cupcake Ukulele

I love Etsy - is a high-class Craiglist for people, who enjoy making/selling and buying crafts or unique and original art works.  I bought couple things from the website; and I had great experience with the sellers.  The items listed on the website are not cheap, but surely you could take home a one of a kind item.

I came across this Celentano Woodworks shop on Etsy, and guess what I found?!  I found a very unique and cute cupcake ukulele ($450usd).  They have other very cute and special designs listed on the website, and according to their website, if you saw anything you like from the site, you could send them an email and ask for a quote.  All their designs can be made into a ukulele, guitar, bass, mandolin, and more.  How awesome it is!