Road To...

The Runway, not Zanzibar!

I've watched every season of Project Runway and have wanted SO badly to audition for it myself. With the support of my friends, I've decided to work on a collection to present. Who knows whether or not I'll make it, but the opportunity to work with Tim Gunn is too much to pass up. That and the chance to be given $$$ to shop at Mood.

I only hope that my Road To The Runway is less slapstick than Bing & Bob's travels. Wish me luck and hopefully you'll see me on the Runway!

Project Toddler Runway - Accessory Challenge

I only wish I could have been in on this from the get-go. Maybe next time. :-D But Shwin & Shwin are having link parties for people who aren't official contestants to post their interpretations of the challenges.

I've had this dress in my "refashion" pile for the longest time. Both my girls got a lot of wear out of it, and I didn't just want to toss it because the skirt part is still in great shape and the fabric is SO soft. And the beads are still attached! How cool is that? I mean, just because there are chocolate milk stains on the top doesn't mean it's still not usable, right?

Okay, so I finally got up the gumption to work on this project. I've been feeling kinda poorly lately (as my late great grandmother would say) and so I had a bunch of stuff waiting for me to get better and get back to work.

So, here we go. First I carefully, CAREFULLY detached the skirt and petticoat from the bodice and lining. Then I serged the petticoat and skirt back together making sure to keep the fuschia band out of the way. Disengaging the knife worked very well for this. And for some bizarre reason, my knife on the serger keeps bungling things.

I was going to just make a skirt out of it and call it a day, but I really felt that a dress was the better option. But did I have any leftover fabric that would match? As luck would have it, I had just enough scraps of green gauzy stuff to cut a whole new bodice from Simplicity 2943, an "inspired by project runway" pattern. Which is totally appropriate, no?

I used the bodice and sleeve pieces from the floral dress on the left. I omitted the band of trim, though. Because the fabric was SO diaphanous and itchy, I lined the bodice and sleeves fully with a vintage crib sheet. Why, Miz Scarlett, I can't believe you would do such a thing! Frankly my dear, I was out of velvet curtains. So fitted vintage crib sheet it was! The fabric matched the weight/hand of the original skirt very well. Almost like they came from the same lot. But I know better!

I even scavenged the invisible zipper from the original dress to put a size zip in. Why? Because the pattern called for knits but I was using wovens. And there's nothing worse than getting stuck and not being able to get in our out of a dress. So I whipped out the bodice in a little over an hour including serging all the raw edges and turning over so that everything had an awesome finished look on the outside.

To attach the bodice to the original skirt, I zig-zagged the two pieces together and then topstitched the fuschia trim up onto the bodice. The end result? I think it looks pretty sharp myself.

This project cost exactly $0 including the original dress as it was a gift to my oldest daughter 4 years ago from her grandmother. SCORE!

The Pina Colada Song Cupcake

You know the song. Everyone knows the song... Let's all sing along

If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape.

while eating this delicacy:


These are absolutely freaking awesome. I made them for the Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge. This month's secret ingredient is Soda Pop - or if you're from the Deep South "Coke".

My particular poison is Mountain Dew. It's like kryptonite for my diet. SRSLY. But Dew and Cupcake? That's better than Jack and Coke.

The recipe:

• 10 ounces of Pineapple Supreme cake mix by Duncan Hines
• 1 ounce of French Vanilla Instant Pudding mix. <--- HAS to be instant.
• 2 eggs beaten within an inch of their lives
• 1/2 cup of veg. oil
• 150 mililiters of Mountain Dew (roughly 2/3 cup give or take)

Beat the eggs until they scream for mercy but not until they're stiff. Dump everything else on top of the eggs and mix until well blended. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into them comes out clean.

About 7 minutes before the cupcakes come out of the oven, make the topping. And put a pot of water on to boil. You'll use this water in a bain marie type of thingy so make sure that your bowl/pan you're going to use to mix the topping in will fit down inside it while it's bubbling. I used a rice tureen inside a soup pot. I only wish it had been a smidge deeper (the tureen).

Since we're in a tropical mood and we like Pina Coladas, we're making an alcohol-based topping. You'll need:

• 1 cup of white wine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons Captain Morgan spiced rum

Place all of these in a deep metal bowl and blend until the mixture lightens in color. At this point the cupcakes should be ready to come out of the oven. Place the bowl of sauce into the bubbling pot, take the cuppies out of the oven and set aside. While the cuppies cool, use your hand mixer and blend the sauce over the water until it's smooth and hot.

The sauce is not like frosting. You've got a couple of choices for how to serve it. For tableside presentation, put the sauce in a bowl and spoon over the cuppies (de-papered) as they are served. For that extra special touch, add a teeny orchid on the side. For storing, up-end the cuppies into the sauce so that the top is evenly coated then set aside to cool.

Personally, I heart the silicone cupcake molds because you can pop the cuppies right out and on to a plate. So my family ate the first batch with the spooned-over-the-top sauce. The second round we used the dip-n-serve method. They tasted equally delish either way.

Now for the good stuff:

I'm competing to win Fabulous Prizes from the following lovely sponsors of Iron Cupcake: Earth. Make sure you vote for me at No One Puts Cupcake In The Corner starting April 29th @ 8pm! Voting ends May 4th at Noon. Remember that if you want to get in on the action, you can go to Iron Cupcake:Earth.

The April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

•A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16748
•a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
•a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, www.acupcakery.com/

•PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Corporate prize providers:

HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com/

HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, blog.hellocupcakebook.com

JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com/

TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com/

a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM www.upwithcupcakes.com/.

Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com/ .