UP Coming Show and Events

Ah yes, this weekend Saturday Aug 15 and Sunday Aug 16, Cupcake will be at "The Guild Alive with Culture 2009 Show" located near the east side of the GTA. The Guild Inn Gardens, 201 Guildwood Parkway, Scarborough. “Presented by the Community for the Community” and what's great about it, that it is FREE!!!!

so to get there/directions: From Downtown Toronto: Take Kingston Road east to Guildwood Parkway and turn right 2kms. From Highway 401: Take the Morningside exit south 5kms. to Guildwood Parkway and turn right 1km. Take the TTC: Buses 116 and 116A from Kennedy Subway Station stop right at the Guild Inn entrance.

Hope to see you all there!

Busy Summer = New products ♥

So trying a new web service called soopsee but can't seem to publish my blogs on their server. therefore I must now do it the old fashion way and blog directly onto blogster. So there are a few posting that I have posted but have not publish so bare with me :D

May 18 2009
Latest news, I have recreated my vinyl cardholds to make them super heavy duty even then before so that it will last a life time.Will be at various shows listed on my soppsee.com page at : http://www.soopsee.com/profile/cupcake/stockist.. Added some new hair candy and charms. Check it out!

June 11 2009
Cupcake is in store now!!! you can purchase or view my items at The Purple Thumb located in the Beaches. It's a great please to visit/shop becuase every week there's always new items coming in, and usually the good ones goes fast. Staff is super friendly and will help you with any needs. Located at the Beaches in Toronto. DOg friendly store, so bring your pooch in and enjoy the great things they have to offer!

July 1 2009
Happy CANADA Day my Canadian peps! as a celebration, Cupcake is giving away 2 free tickets to Portobello East fashion and art market for July 26th in Toronto Ontario Canada. It is located in the Fermenting Cellar at the Distillery District. For more info, please visit www.portobelloest.com. Come on by and visit us. it's a great place to meet over 80 designers and shop for your one-of-a kind fashion and art! All you have to do is send me a quick email with your name, mailing address and how you came upon my blog. And the tickets will be yours!

Enjoy!!!

I must say that the clothing show was a huge success seeing that it's my first official first show with a 10 x 10 booth! Honestly, the night before I had no clue in how to setup my booth nor was anything finalized, I just kinda know/pictured it in my head how it should look like with the pieces i had. Some may say that they don't like to do shows, and that they hate the loading up and loading out part, but you know what, if you have a helping hand, and go with the flow, everything was stress free. However I must say that the 2nd day of set up was a bit stressful, because number one we arrived 15 minutes before the show started , and I had a lot of little items to put out and does say in the contract that everything must but out and stored away when shows open!! ad i don't want to be in the bad books!!!! I must thank my amazing fiance who stayed, helped and put up with my B(&*(&(*^^ness :) well only at the beginning.
I definitely would do this again, but by the end of day 3, I must say, I was really tired, and was glad that it's only a 3 day show! anything longer I might have to hire some help to do shifts! that will be my next step :D.

New House, New beginning

So there's a few exciting things that had happen over 2 months. Firstly, we have moved to a bigger house, however it's a bit further north, but it's a beautiful home. I LOVE IT! Custom picked flooring and colour. So hopefully I won't have to move for another 10 years or so.

Other big announcement, I have decided and got the green light to do CUPCAKE as full time!!! whoo hoo!!! Supper excited!!! just got this news last Sunday, and is loving it!!! It's very nice to wake up doing thing you love, highly recommend it :P Yes, a lot of people out there have some uncertainty or a fear of "oh no what will I do if Cupcake doesn't launch or that there's no income or no one likes what I do"... the thing is I don't waste my time worrying about these things, to worry is just a waste and I rather use that time to create, make and do it as a challenge. So bottom line people, don't waste time to worry!!!!

On another note - Cupcake will be at the Toronto Clothing Show on May 1,2,and 3rd. So come by and check us out! :) If you are planning to head out and visit, come by and let us know you're a follower of my blog and we will give you 15% off your purchase + a gift on that day! So hope to see you all there!

So much to do.... so little time !!!!!

I know it's been a while since I've blogged!!! OMG!! over a month!! "aye ya!" (jun hai!). Well let me update you on what I have been up to and what is going on in my life with CUPCAKE. :D

Firstly, I have re-invented my workroom/sewing room once again. Having one table is never enough for me :P so I trenched out to Ikea and bought a computer desk for $29.00 and a shelf for $70.00. (to zoom into the pictures just click on it). So below is 2 pictures, not one, I know it it looks deceiving (as if I could afford 2 sewing machine!!!) .

Okay, so picture to the left: you can see the $29.00 Computer desk from Ikea, that's where I do my Sewing. and the white table and chair is where I cut, craft and design my items.
Picture on the right: I've had my maniquine for a long time so that's not new to my study/sewing room. but the white shelf is new and as you can see it's filled with my fabrics! Ontop of the shelf: to the left you can see my mini light box. I call that my "Photo Studio". That's where I take my photos of my items. and at the other end of the self is my big jar of buttons!!! whoo hoo!!! you could never have enough buttons! So there you go, this is one of the huge changes/things I've been up to.

Now, items that I've been working on.... there are so many (view below)!!! I've found myself bouncing from paper project to fabric project or combine them both...and because of my first mini craft show... i'm starting to feel overwhlmed in producing items to sell not to mention I've recieved a custom order for my pouchette!!! But I think i have it under control... maybe check back with me a week before the show and we'll see how I am!. I know at the beginning there's a lot to do and prepare for the show, but I think the more you do and the more you put yourself out there, there will be a balance. that's what I believe.

1. Marshmallow pouch. 2. Mini Matchbooks 3. Baby felt booties

4. mini fabric hard cover notepad 5. Wristlet pouch 6. cardholder

Dilemma Solved! The Emma Bag is HERE!

So finally, I've solved my dilemma(Dec 15 2008 post) that I've made a bag that i don't want to part with. I just made another one to sell. However this time around, I've changed it and added a few things to it. So it's better then the first one!!! Let me introduce to you the Emma Cupcake Tote (bag/Purse....). You could find in in my Etsy store.

♥ HAPPY NEW YEAR ♥

LOVE PEACE JOY!

Cupcake Pouchette

Busy working on some pouchette over the holidays. Check them out! Super Cute! They are 3.5" tall by 5" wide, Perfect for travel makeup bag, iphone, businesscard holders. etc.

1. Purrrfect autumn walk. 2. Polkadot cupcake 3. Sweet chic pink 4. mod flower power 5. elegant white 6. peekaboo tulip.

You could find these in my esty store.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Happy new year everyone ♥. For the year 2009, it's time for Cupcake to spread it's wings and venture out to events and craft shows. It's always a scary procedure for first timers like me . . . but it's good to know that I am not the only one out there that is worried about their products being juried. I went through many application and read through many requirements of what to submit and what to do . . . it does all sound scary, because of the what if factor, but as I always say, it doesn't hurt trying. You'll never know if you don't try. My aunt has been a veteran of craft shows for over 3 years now, and over the holidays we chatted a bit, so that I could get a good feel about these craft shows. She tells me that there are really 2 ways to approach this. If you want to start, you could start small.... maybe doing small trade shows, to see if your product will do good, to justify if you have a really good product on hand. That's what my aunt did for her product line, but she tells me that path was not the best way to go if you have a family and 3 children to take care of. For example, is it really worth it to spend $250 a day sitting at a booth and promo your product out at small fairs and not spend the day with your kids? so then she tells me, path number 2. you must BELIEVE in your product, if you go might as well go BIG! if you get turned down from events doesn't mean that your product sucks, it's usually either because, they have many of the same items entered.... and take the no as a challenge, change it up a bit, tweek it, or just try again next year. Don't let a single no or the fear of applying stop you. There may be times where you do a show for more then 3 years and and 4 time around they could reject you, some reasons could be... change of people in the juries or maybe they are changing up their policy, you never know. So, don't be shy, just do it, get your products out there, what do you have to lose? it never hurt to try.

I ♥ weekends :)

Oh how I heart weekends.. they are the highlight of my week, where I get to go shop for fabrics and sew sew sew!!!! So I've mostly hit all the fabricland locaiton in the GTA and have check out each locations and their sales, my fav location would be the one on Yonge and Steels. So far they have the most selection of fabrics and prints. Seeing that I have visited a lot of fabricland, I started to question....are there any other fabric store other then fabricland and the ones downtown??? so I googled " quilt store toronto" and load and behold... to my surprise there are quite a few, and alot of them have websites and online stores! ! ! Knowing this I dashed out of the house and went to my first ever quilt shop, the Sew-Sister Quilt Shop. let me tell you, I felt like a kid in a candy store, everytime I look at a print, ideas starts flooding into my head... there were so many different beautiful prints and selections!!! Also super well organized and clean!!! I spent a good hour in there going through all of their selections, from fat quarters to their japanese fabrics!!! Below is only a few selections I've picked out and will post future creations from it so keep checking back.

This asian print was also bought at Sew-Sister Quilt shop, and have made a little pouch out of it. If you like it, check out my esty shop, it's listed under samples. link is on the left side of the blog. Not only did I have time to sew up a cute pouch but also had a bit of time to sew up an arm candy. I've embroidered the Cupcake crest earlier this week but didn't have time to start on it...I'm usually a type of person that once I start something/project, I must finish it on the same day/night... I don't like to go back to it from time to time to work on it. So I started this bag at 9pm had to cut out all the pattern ( 3 pcs shell, 3 pcs lining, and 3 piece heavy felt) and didn't finish till 12:30 am. It turned out great! super super adorable and coutureable!!!

I kinda wanna keep this one to myself and not sell it :( the dilemma again!