Merry Christmas Cupcakes!

 Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to share one of my favorite holiday recipes with you today. These are delicious cream cheese cupcakes, the perfect dessert. They are like little clouds of heaven, not too sweet and a big hit at any party. These were a holiday tradition from a  family friend and I finally got the recipe so we could make our own. Thanks Mrs. Martinez!

You will need:

For the cupcakes:

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 packs of cream cheese (8oz each)

For the topping:

16 oz container of sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

maraschino cherries

cupcake foils

Beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla and cream cheese on medium speed for about 5 minutes

Pour into cupcake mold until half full. I use a ladle 

Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla for topping by hand and add to cupcakes when they are cold. I tap it on the counter so the topping spreads over the cupcake. Then you top it with half of a maraschino cherry! Keep it refrigerated until you are ready to enjoy!

 That's it! (I told you they were easy)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Cream Cheese Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 packs of cream cheese (8oz each)

For the topping:

16 oz container of sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

maraschino cherries

cupcake foils

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla and cream cheese on medium speed for about 5 minutes

Pour into cupcake mold until half full. I use a ladle 

Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla for topping by hand and add to cupcakes when they are cold. I tap it on the counter so the topping spreads over the cupcake. Then you top it with half of a maraschino cherry! Keep it refrigerated until you are ready to enjoy!

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I'm a Winner!

My Halloween costume was voted most creative costume in the 2013 Threads Magazine Halloween Costume Contest! Thanks to anyone that voted, and congrats to everyone that entered!

Here's what I won: a Threads prize package including Threads Fitting DVD Series, Sewing Made Simple, Threads Fitting for Every Figure, and Couture Sewing Techniques DVD. I luckily don't have any of these Threads items, and am very excited to learn some new techniques. 

Thanks Threads! 

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Made in the USA Christmas

Source
Take the Made In USA Challenge!

It's holiday season, which brings along the stress of making gifts. As a crafty person I cannot make every single gift I have to give, it's exhausting just thinking about it. Every time I get asked "did you make that?", it's followed by "Make me one too!".  I'm more of a "selfish seamstress" and do not have the time to make that many things. 

After reading the book Overdressed: the Shockingly High Price of Cheap Fashion, I have been very wary of the things I buy. I also watched a documentary on Netflix which really made things click for me. I want to make my purchases matter, so this year for Christmas I am only buying made in America gifts. This way I know that the people making what I buy are treated fairly well (at least better than big factories in China), and the money is going back to the American economy, which badly needs it. I can feel good about what I buy, and not feel guilty for not making everything. 

I've never been into the rush of Black Friday shopping, and now it has even spread to Thursday, which is beyond crazy. If you have even seen the shoppers of Black Friday on the news, they are always fighting and over-stuffing their carts with imported, cheap, and useless crap. I have absolutely no desire to shop like that. 

It is a challenge finding the perfect gift, plus something made in America. So far I have bought 3 Made in America gifts. I even started a pinterest board of Made in America stuff. I've found everything from made in America shoes (cute ones!) to made in the USA beach chairs! Another great source for made in America clothes is Pinup Girl Clothing. Cute and made in the USA, so exciting. Also if you just search "made in USA" on Nordstroms.com you can find a ton of USA goods, in a range of prices. Etsy and buying vintage are also great ways to buy USA. There are a ton of options out there once you start to look. 

Tiki Dress made in USA

What are you making and buying for the Holidays? Will you sign up for the Made In the USA challenge? What do people outside of the USA think, will you buy local too?

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Halloween Craftin'

I've been hard at work creating some Halloween costumes and decor for display at Fabricland. I was even featured in The Star Ledger, New Jersey's major newspaper!  My favorite quote from the article "She doesn't slash and dice her pumpkins. She dresses them. In lace. And sequins." Makes me sound so professional, lol. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the pictures the professional photographer took for the article. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The mermaid costume is Simplicity 4043, which I found to be overly complicated, and the directions were definitely hard to follow. A costume should always have clear instructions, so many people are trying sewing for the first time at Halloween, and this pattern would definitely scare them away! 

We had the most perfect sequin fabric, that actually looks like scales up close. Sewing sequins is super easy, as long as you have a microtex needle. I embellished the tail with the sequins strands of my own design. Everyone asks how she walks, but as you can see there is a slit for your legs to hang out of. The bodice is made from purple taffeta, with a blue glitter tulle overlay. The secret to a good Halloween costume is a lot of trim! I used 4 different kinds on the bodice, all in purple. I also made the tulle puff balls to float over the mermaid like she is under the sea!

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

I made the wreath from one of those Styrofoam wreath forms,and just tied strips of black tulle. The witch hat is a cardboard one from Michael's, covered in shiny metallic fabric that i just glued on and ribbon and orange glittery ric rac (you know how much I love Ric Rac). The skull and the skeletons are from the dollar store. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 Witch glam was the theme of this display, I decorated three different pumpkins to show the different things you could do. ALL SO EASY! this one is just different kinds of glittery and lacy trims, I used black and different metallic colors to keep in glam. The pumpkin behind this is just the silver sequin trim, glued in a spiderweb form. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin I covered in black lace, by cutting a hole in the middle of some lace and just stretching it around, and glueing it to the bottom, with a scrap of black felt to cover the fabric on the bottom. And then just put a bird on it! All of these crafts are excellent for all those extra bits leftover from projects that are too good to throw away.

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The pillow was super fast, I cut the letters out of leftover black fabric, then went to the sewing machine and just sewed them, and sequin trim to a square, and then made it into a pillow. The i is dotted with a skull and crossbones button. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This wreath came from my front door! I found my inspiration on Pinterest. Wrapped a form in yarn, and cut out leaves from felt. Then I stitched them on the machine to look like the stem and different veins. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin is just made with the leftover sewing notions from the classroom, zipper and boning eyebrows are my favorite. 

This is one of those plastic bucket pumpkins everyone has laying around. I just took strips of leftover fabric, mod podged it to the plastic and then ric rac and a bow finished it off! 

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House Update

We have been working really hard on our house since June, and wanted to share some before and after pictures. The house was a foreclosure property, and was severely neglected. It is a raised ranch house from 1957, and still has some of it's mid-century charm. The previous owners may have been a hoarder/drug dealers, It was scary!  Thankfully all that was left was dirt, and a whole lot of work to do.

 

 

The outside needed to be painted, trees had to be trimmed and cut down after years of neglect, and we leveled the earth and planted grass. The house is on a main road and you couldn't even notice it from the street,  now I think it stands proudly. I chose a sunny yellow door, and gray shutters to complement the roof.

 

 

 

The Entry:

 



The door is original, and one of the only things in the house I really liked, we added a peephole. There are hardwood floors thoughout the house hiding under old dirty carpet. That was really lucky.  The over sized artwork is from MYHABIT, originally from the Saturday Evening Post. The table, was free, and used to be in a mechanic's garage with car doors on top. It is in almost perfect condition, fits perfectly and I would buy the same one if I saw it in a store, I love when things work out.

 The Living Room:

Red carpets, dirty walls, scary sconces and a lovely smell are only a memory. I love this room, it's really fun. The ottomans are Missoni for target I found on clearance, and they make the best coffee table/ foot rest. The rug is from gilt group, I wish I got another one for the dining room, and the lamp is from Costco. The art over the fireplace is from our wedding, it was displayed at our wedding, it says our names, the reception location and the date, I love it's vintage vibe. This picture is a little dated because we now have curtains, but you get the idea.

The Kitchen:

 

 

 This room was disgusting. I won't even show you what was on the floor. We ripped out the range, the vent, the tile, and painted all the cabinets. We added the subway tile back splash, which I love, changed the hinges, switched to a gas range, and added a vent hood. I was inspired by my dinnerware that I love so much (previously blogged here) and went with a turquoise and yellow theme. The island was a hand me down from my aunt, which was a forest green, and the stools are from the Christmas Tree Store, that we spray painted yellow and covered with fabric. I am in love with the giant cutlery on the wall. We bought those so long ago, and stored them until we had a place together.

The Hallway: 

 



 

 

 

 

The Guest Room:

This was the most disgusting room, and guess what: this was the drug dealer's room. The graffiti wall, a must in every home of course, said such things as "You'll never amount to anything in life" and various girl's initials that were crossed out and rewritten. That was so hard to cover-up, he ended up just spackling the whole wall. This room is nice and dark so my husband uses it to sleep during the day (he has the night shift), so I tried to make it a little bit masculine. The duvet cover is also Missoni for Target.

 

The Sewing Room:

 

 

 

 

 
Here it is, the most important room in the house. Before, it had scary, dirty flocked wall paper, and carpet that used to be pink. This is a nice a bright room perfect for sewing, with a large closet for storage. We repurposed and cleaned the light from the entry, which doesn't really give off much light but looks cute. The cutting table is new, from Home Decorators, I like the size of it, but it has some drawbacks. The armoire was also my Aunt's, lucky for me she did some remodeling, and holds my yarn/fabric stash. The setup works really well for me and I am finishing projects faster in my new workspace.

 You have already seen the master bedroom, so apart from the dining room, which I will show you next week with my Christmas decorations, that's pretty much it.

We had a ton of help from our family and friends, and are so grateful to all of them. As my Mom says we turned this "crackhouse" into a "dollhouse". Thanks for looking!

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Where Have I Been??!!

I bought a house!! It needs a lot of work, so I haven't had any time to sew. But a new house means.... a new sewing room!! Below is the before. Yes that is some dirty, flocked wallpaper. Right now my sewing area is in the finished basement of my family home. I can't wait to sew above ground! It is a fairly big room, with a large closet and two windows. I can't wait to finish it and show you all. Well it's back to work for me. Hopefully next week I can do some sewing and do something fun.

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