The Cupcake Goddess

the Sewalong for Beginners

Who's ready to get their verve on with a sewing project? Haven't sewn anything in a really long time? Brand new to sewing and need a little direction? Hop on over to A Fashionable Stitch and get joining in on the Beginner's First Ginger Sewalong.

Hot! Hot! Hot! My pincushions are getting around! If you haven't already, head on over to the Sew Weekly where I'm giving away 2 pincushions - 1 wrist pincushion and 1 tomato pincushion. And don't forget to enter all of the pincushion giveaways over there. The Sew Weekly's 30 days of pincushions is still underway! Hip Hip Hooray!

xoxo,

Sunni

Just letting you know that there is a great giveaway of one of my brand new wrist pincushions over at The Snug Bug! It's only proper as Patty's the one who put the bug in my ear for these. Dash on over and get yourself entered!

xoxo,

Sunni

A Grand Giveaway + Storytime!!!

Today is a very good day. Awhile back Shabby Apple contacted me and asked me to host a giveaway for one of my readers to win one of their women's dresses! Now how fabulous is that? One of you is going to win this:

Swoon! I was able to hand pick the dress, so I do hope you like my choice. It's called Spanish Steps and is from their new collection Roamin Holiday. It's rather delightful, I think! The collection is inspired by a summer in Italy. And I happen to know exactly what that's like. Now for a little storytime from my fluting days!!!

During the summer of 2005, I was invited to participate in a trip to Europe. First stop - Italy, where I spent 2 weeks in a small town called Monterchi. It's located in the Tuscan region, by another village called Sansepolcro and I was there to particpate in a Masterclass with the flute professor from Yale. It was an unbelievable experience. The italian people are soooooooo lovely, so sweet and extremely passionate. It's funny and I know you are going to ask, because I'm always asked when I tell people I've been to Italy, how was the food? Well, to give you an idea, I lost something like 10 to 15 pounds in my two weeks there, and I was terribly thin (just coming off of the college diet) to begin with. I was with a group of flute players and our boarding and food was all paid for. Breakfasts weren't bad, though there was nothing but crackers and espresso, and here I was needing something like oatmeal at least. By lunch time I was always starving and we would barely get bread with tomatoes and mozzerella and olive oil drizzled on it. Dinner was always.....surprising. The 2nd night I was there, I had rabbit and I was so hungry, I ate the whole thing. Doesn't taste too much different from chicken really. Ha. But it got progressively worse from there and one night we were served squid risotto which I tried and could not put down, mind you I was sooooo hungry. When we weren't eating at the establishments that were already paid for, the food was....TO DIE FOR! Yeah. Something was up with that, for sure. Still, I had the most unbelievable time. There were fields of these everywhere:

I walked by them everyday on my way to masterclass. Everything is so old. People lived in homes that were 1000's of years old. It's a really different experience for someone who comes from a place where the oldest building is only 100 years old. Really beautiful archways and buildings like this:

That's me. He he. Here's a snapshot of Monterchi. Picturesque, no? I think it's population 500 and the village is built in sort of a corkscrew type fashion. All the buildings wind their way up and up in a circular way to a church or cathedral that is housed at the top.

OK. So now you know that I'm this great world traveler. I would also like to point out that my first time on a plane was taking a Jet Blue to New York for this trip. My second time on a plane was the 13 hour flight from New York to Frankfurt Germany. Thank. You. I was all alone too. Did I say that? And I don't know a single word of any other language except, "Bonjour!" Believe me, this is not something to pride yourself on either. Sigh...

So you're probably wondering about the giveaway. Sheesh! I've just given you my whole life's story... Sorry to drone on and on. So here's how you can win. Two ways to enter:

♥ Go like Shabby Apple on Facebook. They are way too cute not to like. Come back over here and leave me comment letting me know you "liked" Shabby Apple. Now, that was easy. ♥

♥ Leave me a comment about a favorite summer holiday or your favorite place to visit during the summer. I need something warm right about now, Spring/Summer on the way and all. And it's terribly fun to dream about taking trips to lovely places. ♥

And that's all you have to do! Do both and you've just entered yourself twice. A really good random number generator odd. This giveaway for U.S. readers only. Don't worry International readers, I've got another giveaway up my sleeve open to everyone. Yay! Ready, set.....Enter away! Giveaway ends Saturday! I'll be back Monday with a winner!

xoxo,

Sunni

Inspiring Me

This giveaway is now closed! Thank you for all your comments! One lucky winner will be announced February 15, 2011.

I've been reading my Simple Abundance. It's a book that I read every year, on and off. I truly love this book and I truly believe that it can change your life and I also believe that it is one of the most misunderstood books out there. The reason I know this is because I find this book at my local thrift every time I go (which is usually weekly). I usually buy them too because I like giving them to friends. The books haven't even been cracked and I seriously mean cracked, because I can tell that I'm the first one to crack the spine open to see if it's been used. Strangely, I almost find this sad.

My rather tattered and beat up copy of Simple Abundance

This book was given to me by my mother in a time when depression was racking my life. She seriously urged me to read it, which I did and found that I was going about life all the wrong way. It was a serious eye opener for me. One I've never forgotten. This book takes you on a lovely journey through the wilderness of your soul and gives you ideas and activities of how to find those things that really speak to you and give you pleasure. One of the activities is to do a discovery journal - which is a collection of images and things that you find attractive.

It's in that spirit that I'm presenting my inspiration journal. It's something I've thought about for awhile since I've seen some rather lovely inspiration blogs on tumblr and such. Mine is connected to this, my personal blog, which I've found is easiest for me. It's just collections of images, music and videos that I find appealing with little tidbits of my particular dialect. I was so impressed with myself for finally putting it together that I wanted to walk you through it. It's called "Inspirations of a Redheaded Lady" and you'll find the images to the posts on the right and the actual posts themselves on the left. Only one post shows at a time, so as not to overwhelm, but you can click on any image to the right and it will take you to the post that the image is in. You can click on the Categories/Archives which will take you the categories page and I thought it was rather clever to include that you can subscribe if you like, to specific categories. I'm inspired by many different things, which hopefully will inspire you too, but you might just want to be inspired by fashion or shoes or sewing. I hope to include music and videos and such too.

I have to say, it's mostly something for me. But its fun to share inspirations with you too. Tis always better to give because you receive so much more back in return. Ha. ♥ Giveaway Alert ♥ To top it all off, I'm giving away one of my Simple Abundance thrifted books. It's just like new. And if you are anything like me and ready to start excavating your own soul simply:

♥ Leave me a comment telling me what you've been inspired by lately ♥

Everyone, no matter where you live, is invited to enter. I'll announce a winner come Monday. Ok? Ok.

xoxo,

Sunni

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really can't believe its that time of year again! Can you? I wanted to wish all of you who celebrate a very Happy Thanksgiving. I've got a lot going on this week, so I'll be back next week with the following in tow:

• a very interesting interview with a new patternmaker on the block; I think you'll really love what she's got to say.
• the date has finally been set for the Trouser Sew-A-Long. I'll clue you in next week. It's going to be a whole lot of fun too.
• the velvet boyfriend's jacket is finally finished! It's a real beauty too.

And just in case you weren't here last year when I posted this recipe, definitely have a crack at it this year while you're trimming that tree. Believe me, there is nothing like Hot Buttered Rum. Nothing.

Download Hot Buttered Rum Recipe

All my best!

xoxo,

Sunni

So, You Want a Ham, Huh?

Well, you'd better run right over to Patty, The Snug Bug's blog and enter to win one, because she's giving away one of my colorful little Tailor's Hams. It's the first time this has ever happened, at least with hams anyway. It's rather monumental if you ask me. And don't forget to check out the interview she held with me about my shop. I haven't really talked about the shop much, but I finally got a chance to. Gush.

Thanks Patty! Happy Halloween to everyone! Hip Hip Hooray! Now go and fight to win your HAM!

xoxo,

Sunni

Me on Vivat Veritas and Giveaway

Ms. Chie of Vivat Veritas let me do a guest post on her sweet blog. Go over, have a look and definitely check out her gorgeous Etsy shop!

And that pincushion that I made above, ummm....that's a giveaway over on the Blue Gardenia. Wait, wait, it gets even better. See that Vogue Sewing book, yeah that's going to be given away with this pincushion. Go. Enter. Now. 

Best of Luck!

Sunni

Fashion Photographer

I decided to write this post not only in honor of Self Stitched September, but also because I get several emails from people asking me for tips on how to take better photos of themselves. Let's just state for the record, that I am by no means a photographer. I do the love the art, but I don't really have the time to invest into it at the moment. Wish I did. I have taken a little bit of time to educate myself on photo taking and such. Just a little bit. With that knowledge, I thought it might be fun to share some secrets with you. Not that they are really secrets. Just tips for taking great photos of you in your creations.

I typically use a tripod. Mr. S does his fair share of shooting some of the photos for me, but for the most part it's a tripod and a clicker. I have a Nikon D40 SLR. For someone like me, this is a really nice camera. And I would also like to add, one that isn't necessary to take great photos, so please don't let this deter you. There's nothing wrong with a good point and click. If you take the point and click route, I recommend a high megapixel count like 10 or above. So, if you want to take photos like me, you'll need:

• a camera
• a tripod
• the remote control that goes with your camera, or knowledge of how to use the self timer

In the Shop - Tomato Pincushions

I'm completely overwhelmed to the responses from yesterday's post. The things you've said and some of the same situations that you are in make me feel so much better. You guys are simply wonderful! I'll touch more on this later. On a lighter note...

I've decided to keep you abreast of my shop updates as I add new things every now and then. In my interview over on The Blue Gardenia blog, I stated that one needs to have an expensive pair of dressmaking shears, a delightful pincushion, a good iron and ironing board, and a good reference book to give you a good start in sewing. I suppose that you could argue that you don't need the "delightful pincushion" to get you started, but come now, it's so much more fun to have something sweet and fun to jab your pins into than something dull and rather sad looking. I was at the fabric store the other day, wandering through the notions, a favorite pastime and came upon the rather small offering of pincushions. Sad sad lot. Not only did many of them look rather cheap, but so uncolorful, so bland, so un-delightful. I felt it was my duty to at least give a smattering of updated, fun and sweet tomato pincushions in the shop. So here you have it. Tomato Pincushions with a little twist.  These beauties come in three sizes. Cherry (small), Roma (Medium), and Heirloom (Large). All have been handpicked (stitched) by me. 

 

And for those still in need of Tailor's Hams and Seam Rolls, there's a fresh batch of those in the shop too!

 

Happy Sewing Adventures!

 

xoxo,

 

Sunni

PS ~ UPDATE! I need to give proper credit to the pin maker. The pins in the photos of my pincushions are not for sale, however, if you are interested in purchasing pins like these I bought them from Pinks and Needles. Please do take a look, her pins are simply out of this world adorable!