Business Time! // Sequin Corner Market Stall

I mentioned a little while ago I was taking part in some local markets selling cupcakes. So far I've had a stall at 3 monthly markets and it's going pretty good!! (please ignore the unironed table cloth!!)

I thought I would share some photos from the market I had a stall at today. It was a quiet day, although with the temperature still at -3C at 12pm I can understand why people didn't want to venture out! I had 7 cupcake flavours today - Candy Floss, Pumpkin Spice, Double Choc, Orange Sherbet, Banoffee and Peanut Butter, plus a chocolate raspberry brownie. Yum!

The hardest part of having a stall has been figuring out how to display everything nicely. I love stalls that are dotted with different cake stands, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them plus drive them around all over the place. From my days as a Chef at a cafe I know how the Health Officials like all food to be covered so when I found these plastic stands I thought they would be perfect! Add in some cheap plastic food trays and I'm good to go.

I designed all my packaging labels and used my home printer to print them all out. One day when I'm rolling in dough (heh) I'll probably get stickers made but these will do for now!

I hope you enjoyed this little sneak-peak into my cupcake venture. I have a couple more markets this month, including a big 2 day one which should be interesting! In 2 weeks I'll be going road tripping to Lumsden (about an hour from Invercargill) to have a stall at a market there, then again in august to Arrowtown (near Queenstown) so I'll be all over the place!

The Cupcake Files // Candy Floss Cupcakes

Since I moved to Invercargill I had been thinking about having a cupcake stall at a local market. At least once a week for the last few months I've been coming up with & trialling new cupcake flavours. I thought I would share some of them on my blog, because it is a big part of my life now and this blog is a little slice of my life, right?

I have decided not to share my exact cupcake recipe. I know that seems kind of mean, but I have adapted one I found & turned it into my own recipe which produces the type of cupcake I want to be known for. I've learnt some tips though that I'll share;

1. Don't over mix! It's the same idea as muffins, if you over mix they will be dry & tough.

2. You don't have to bake a filling into the cupcake. Cook it, scoop out the centre & fill with jam, frosting, curd or cream - yum!

3. An ice cream scoop is your friend - you will end up with evenly sized cupcakes - uniform is good!

So these are my candy floss cupcakes. All you have to do is...

a) Make up a basic vanilla cupcake mix. 

b) Before baking add approx 2 cups of candy floss - pulled into small tufts. Gently fold through -  don't mix until whole batter is pink, just until you have swirls of pink through it.

c) Bake cupcakes as per recipe.

d) Frost with candy floss frosting detailed below.

Candy Floss Frosting

115g Butter, softened

1 t Vanilla

60ml Milk

500g Icing Sugar
1 C Candy Floss

Add butter, vanilla & half of icing sugar to a bowl. Place candy floss in a separate bowl & pour milk over - this will melt it. Add candy floss milk to other frosting ingredients & beat until fluffy. Add remaining icing sugar & beat through. Fill a piping bag with frosting & pipe onto cupcakes. I used a 2D tip for these cupcakes.

I recently made some of these for a 7 year olds birthday party! I sprinkled them with a little edible glitter to give them some sparkle. What do you think?

 

Outfit Post // Shades of Autumn

Hey guys! I'm back!! I had to take a bit of an unscheduled break. I suppose I should fill you in - last time I posted I had lost my job & was searching for a new one. Well, I found one! A part time position in a Streetwear store. It was fun! Store discount, working with cool people, cheap lunches - it was nice to be working among people again. 

Unfortunately the hours weren't quite enough to pay the bills, so I was hoping something else would come along & it did! I just started a new job as a Building Consents Processing Officer (sounds fancy) at my local Council. It's pretty full on, but I'm learning heaps & I love how I'm getting to use my drafting background in a way that isn't drawing plans all day!

Dress - Ladakh (from Uproar in Invercargill), Denim Jacket - Recycle Boutique, Orange Scarf - Cotton On, Tights - Razzamatazz (won them),  
Wedge Heel Boots - The Warehouse

So! My outfit - I actually wore this to the last market I sold cupcakes at (I've done 2 so far - more on that later!) I bought the dress as a birthday present to myself - I love the combination of orange & purple, 2 of my favourites. The denim jacket has been in my wardrobe for a couple of years but I've hardly worn it, I just re-discovered it a few months ago & I've been struggling to take it off!

My scarf collection has basically doubled in the last month or so (using that discount!) I love this orange one for another pop of colour. My boss at my retail job had these gorgeous leopard print boots in the same style as these ones - I was so jealous of them although I'm more of a plain boot kinda  girl at heart. I feel so me in this outfit - it's not my usual black & grey but it's still me. It's nice!

So how are you? What's been happening? I finally have interent again at my house (ridiculous mission trying to change from a business line to a personal one - not fun!) so here's to more blogging & catching up on everything!

Life Lately // The End of Something & New Beginnings

So I had a pretty crappy start to my week. For a start I hit a kitty while driving home from Dunedin to Invercargill. The poor thing had no chance and the plastic cover that sits above my wheel came off too! So I had a little cry on the side of the road & my Dad came and checked my car was ok to drive home. Argh!

On Monday I found out work had dried up on the architectural draughting front and it was time to find a new job. So I've spent the last couple of days handing out my CV all over town. Fingers crossed for good news soon!

Well now I've got the crappy bit out of the way. But there is always a silver lining! (a 'sparkley' lining??) I've been working on my packaging & flavour ideas for my cupcakes. I've been getting a few orders lately so that's been great & I've been getting a bit of pocket money! Today I had a meeting with a guy from the council to talk about what I need to do if I sell cupcakes at markets. He was really friendly and helpful so I'm feeling excited about what I could get up to there! You can check out all my flavour ideas on my Facebook page for Sequin Corner!

I hope you have all had a great week so far, hopefully by next week I will have heard back from a few places about jobs and will possibly have some interviews lined up. Positive thinking is the way to go!

Life Lately // A Concert, Cupcakes & a Vege Shed

I had great fun up in Cromwell for the Winery Tour concert! It rained on us the whole way as we travelled up there, then as we arrived the sun came out and the temperature zoomed up a few degrees! I had a great night eating some AMAZING pizza being sold at the venue plus gluten free cupcakes I made & took with me, drinking a couple of glasses of Olssens Winery Pinot Gris and dancing on my picnic blanket to Gin Wigmore. Man she is amazing live!

On the way home today we stopped in Arrowtown for a pie from the Bakery (they make awesome gourmet pies!) and I dragged my friend to the Remarkables Sweet Shop so I could get some fudge (I convinced her to buy some too!!) Can you see all my trips end up revolving around food?

We also stopped at the Vege Shed in the Athol Valley. The woman running the place was so lovely! I found a super cute cupcake-related necklace which her daughter had made and I had to buy it. She then came and sat outside with me and my friends and we had a great chat about cupcakes, blueberries and her business. She was really supportive of my little cake business and gave me some great tips! It’s so nice meeting people who get all excited about my business idea and offer up tips from their own experience. After we left my brain was going a hundred miles an hour thinking of what my next step could be!

**Photos all from the Vege Shed because I was having too much fun to remember to take photos at other points of the trip...

Today is also February 22^nd here in New Zealand – a year ago today at 12:51pm there was a devastating earthquake in Christchurch, a city 5 hours away from my hometown of Dunedin. 185 people died and the city is still receiving aftershocks and dealing with the cleanup. Although my friends and I missed 12:51pm by 10 minutes – we had our own little 1 minute of silence at 1pm in the car between Arrowtown & Queenstown to remember those who were lost. Kia Kaha Christchurch – Stand strong. 

Outfit Post // Rock 'n' Roll & Concert Ready

Black Cut-out Dress - Jay Jays, Hat - Kmart, Leather Mocs - Windsor Secondhand Store

I’ve been itching to get out of the house at lunch times lately; I’ve been suffering a bit of cabin fever! I’ve been visiting my favourite op shops in Invercargill and picking up some pretty sweet bargains.

Black Cut-out Dress - Jay Jays, Purple Check Scarf - Golden Centre Mall, 

 Leather Mocs - Windsor Secondhand Store

My first find was the jacket below – I managed to time it right as the shop assistant told me it had just been put on the rack that morning. I thought I got a pretty good deal with it only being $18 and in great condition.

My next find was these leather moccasins – I found them in a little shop in Windsor, sitting in the corner of a window display. $6 – and great condition, plus they’re Pulp shoes (carried by Hannahs) so they’re fairly good quality!

Jacket - Savemart, Black cut-out Dress - Jay Jays, Leopard Print Tights - Kmart, Leather Mocs - Windsor Secondhand Store

So this post involves a few slightly different outfits – these are the items I’m packing to take to Cromwell with me tomorrow (when I go to the winery concert) When I pack for a weekend away, I always have a few neutral items which I can mix & match, plus a few coloured pieces. My neutrals are always grey & black, that’s what I have lots of and that’s what I feel comfortable wearing. I usually pick one other colour – usually blue, purple or red. This time I’m going with purple with the scarf & a purple cardigan (which I forgot to photograph!) Whenever I go away I always have a “travelling” outfit, it usually always involves tights, a long t-shirt and floaty cardigan that doubles as a blanket, plus a triangle scarf if it’s cold!

Grey Cardigan - Supre, Black T-shirt - Postie +, Leopard Print Tights - Kmart, Leather Mocs - Windsor Secondhand Store

What I wear to the concert will depend on the weather (the forecast is rain at the moment!) but I’d love to wear the dress and hat and add the tights, scarf & jacket if it gets colder later on. Otherwise it will most likely be tights, cardigan and a rain jacket! (Hopefully not!)

 Here is me being pigeon-toed - I actually stand  like this sometimes, I don't even realise I'm doing it!

I’m looking forward to a little mid-week holiday, listening to some good music and possibly enjoying some sunshine!

Do you have any exciting plans this week? What concerts have you been to lately? 

Outfit Post // My Grandmas Garden

Lately I’ve been in a bit of a rut when it comes to getting dressed in the morning. As in I just haven’t been getting dressed. Yep, workin’ in my pj’s all day! It really wasn’t helping my motivation levels and I was feeling a bit down.

 Purple Dress - Recycle Boutique, Black Camisole - Stolen from Mum, 

 Girl Guides Belt - Shop on Taieri,  Black & silver Glitter Heels - Warehouse, but glitter DIY'd by me!

So when I headed to Dunedin the other weekend I made a quick visit to Recycle Boutique which has moved around the corner from its old location. I did a quick survey of the specials rack and found this dress for $4.50! Its amazing how a small purchase like that can lift your spirits.

I’ve worn it a few different ways since I got it – with tights & boots, by itself with a camisole underneath & sandals and with a lace body suit peaking out and a cardigan. I love the little coloured flowers – they remind me of my Grandmas garden in spring. Thankfully this little dress has kick-started my love affair with my wardrobe again!

Oh - I can't forget the shoes. These used to be $60 at the Warehouse a few months ago. I held out for soooo long - and the other week they were marked down to $7.50!!!! They had a wood-grain bottom part on them, which I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, so I decided to glitter DIY (see my tutorial here!) them instead. They are my new favourite shoes - They're so easy to walk in with the super chunky heel! I can't wait to wear them out, but for the moment I'll just have to keep doing my housework while wearing them...

I hope you have all had a good week. We had a long weekend here with Waitangi Day, so I went to visit some friends and their new chocolate lab puppy called Gus – Hershey and him spent all afternoon playing together while us humans ate blueberries and had a BBQ on the deck. My Mum and Sister also came down from Dunedin for a visit and brought my little nephew with them, so we had a look around the shops and had a coffee date at a local pub. It was a nice weekend!

What have you been up to lately? Has it been sunny and warm where you are or have you been playing in the snow? I kinda hope we’ll get a decent dump of snow here this winter!

Life Lately // New Years Eve Hens Party

I thought I would finally post these! I just got them off one of the girls who had her camera at the hen’s night we had for my friend on New Years Eve. 

Yummy strawberry cupcakes & carrot cake cupcakes both with cream cheesse icing

The day before was one of the Bridesmaids birthdays (my long-time friend!) so I made a double batch of strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing and we had half for her birthday dinner and half for the hens night. I also made some carrot cake cupcakes as I knew the Bride liked carrot cake!

The Brides Sister-in-Law & me! (I'm wearing my lighthouse dress I made)

The completed bendy wax-man

We spent the afternoon playing games, including 20 questions about the Groom the Bride had to answer & making a man out of this bendy wax stuff. We all had to make a limb and an accessory for him. He looked pretty good when the Bride stuck him all together!

 All the girls at dinner

After the games and snacking on some yummy fruit & vege platters, we headed off to a local restaurant – Salt – for dinner. I played sober driver so the other girls could have a drink. After a tasty meal we drove back to where we are staying, had a couple of drinks and cupcakes for dessert and got ready to go to town for the fireworks at midnight! I wore my black sparkley lace dress I had made & my comfortable wedges which made walking so much easier!

Me with my halo at a jaunty angle & my prize from pass the parcel!

Group photo before we left for town

We only ended up staying in town for an hour or so, before the Brides brothers gave us a lift back to where we were staying – pretty cool!

The next day I drove one of the girls to the airport to catch her flight and then headed back to the house where we devoured the rest of the cupcakes & lay around watching movies until late afternoon.

It was a fun weekend! I love the group photos of all of us, we were so busy giggling because it was windy and our dresses were going everywhere!

Life Lately // NY Resolutions - 20 for 2012

  Ah - A great example of what happens when car drivers toot at you because they don't understand why you're standing on the side of the road, eating a jelly tip iceblock and taking pictures of yourself...

I realise we are into the 3^rd week of January, but in all honesty I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to think of some New Year’s resolutions until now!

I have gone for a list of 20 things I want to complete this year. 12 didn’t seem like enough! I could have gone with my age this year (I’ll be 26 at the end of April) but I was struggling towards 20 so it will do! “Twenty for twenty-twelve” has a nice ring to it.

I want to complete as many of these as possible. Some of them are simple and easy, but I think you need some like that to balance out the harder ones. Here we go!

1.    Go on an op-shopping road trip – For ages I’ve wanted to travel around both Southland and Otago visiting small-town op shops and finding clothing and furniture bargains. Good excuse for a couple of days off work mid-week?

2.    Set up my cake decorating studio – I need to get a table, another set of shelves, some more equipment, decorate…lots to do!

3.    Read 20 books – I’m keen to get back into reading this year. Currently I’m reading the Cross Stitch series (amazing!) further recommendations welcome!

4.    Wear more dresses – I really want a wardrobe full of dresses. They’re great to wear while I’m working at home – much better than trackies!!

5.    Use my sewing machine once a week – this means more handmade clothes, presents, things for my home.

6.    Learn to ski or snowboard – I’ve always lived 2-3 hours away from the ski fields and have never gone skiing!! This year it’s a must.

7.    Keep in touch with old friends – Means getting my Facebook on (we can be friends! Look up “Kasey Dewar” – that’s me!) sending a text or writing a letter.

8.    Make my house more homely – time to make/buy some art for the walls, get some pillows, paint some furniture and make it more me!

9.    Work on the marketing for Sequin Corner – Sorting a logo, brochures, website, menu, flyers, advertising in a local paper…

10.  Make some new friends – I’m so happy I’ve made some blogging friends over the last year. Here’s to more this year and maybe meeting some of them in real life!

11.  Get back to a size 8 all over – I’m an 8 on top, it’s time to work on the bottom half! (I’m only a size 10 on the bottom so it’s not far to go!)

12.  Learn a new skill – I’ve kept this general, any ideas are welcome.

13.  Get my full drivers license – I was eligible for this April last year – come on Kasey!

14.  Continue to build my self confidence – This blog has helped me so much with this already, it’s so nice to feel happy being me. I’ve realised its ok to not follow the crowd, take a compliment from someone I barely know (on the blog or in real life!) and “work” whatever I’m wearing.

15.  Make macaroons – I know my oven is a good one and I’ve bought myself a macaroon recipe book – now to make them…

16.  Upholster a chair – I know of some upholstery classes that are run in Invercargill, I really want a second hand chair covered in nice material for my dressing room.

17.  Have a market stall – I have so much research and email/letter writing to do before I can do this! But I’m so keen; it would be awesome for my little business.

18.  Take more photos of life – this means having my camera with me, taking pictures and capturing little things that make me happy, the places I’ve been and bits of my life.

19.  See more of New Zealand­ – I have friends all over the place in New Zealand now, I need to text them, see if I can crash on their couch and fly/drive/swim to see them!

20.  Get over my fear of being the odd one out – I have to remember – it’s ok if I’m wearing a maxi dress while all the other girls are wearing jeans, or everyone orders one thing for dinner and I get the opposite. We still have interests that overlap and its better I feel more like me then try to conform!!

It will be interesting to look back next year and see which ones I have completed. Here's to a big year! What are some of your New Year resolutions??

Life Lately // Summer Dreaming

I took these photos while taking Hershey for a walk around the vineyard that backs on to the holiday house I stayed at for the last couple of weeks. I love Cromwell so much!

I spent my holiday playing fetch the stick with the dog at the lake, stuffing my face with the best cream donuts around from the local bakery and cooling down with (at least 3) Real fruit ice creams from the orchard down the road.

I went on a day trip to Queenstown for some retail therapy and scoped out the cupcake shop Cup & Cake which took a bit to find (hidden down a sneaky alley) but was worth it when I got there! I drove back to Alexandra and wandered around the shops. I found a cute little gift shop in Bannockburn with vintage glassware and gorgeous new serving plates and platters (I somehow stopped myself spending money there!) and found another in Clyde with so many cupcake and baking gifts I was in heaven!

Dinner was a BBQ every night, usually at around 9pm once the boys were home from golf. I love Summer evenings down south where it’s light until 10pm and the sunsets are so pretty and drawn out.

Now it’s back to reality! I have to make the cake topper for my friend’s wedding cake, work for 3 days and then I’m off to Dunedin on Wednesday night. On Thursday I’ll be road-tripping to Christchurch with my Mum, my friend Laura and her Mum for my friend’s wedding! Both of our Mums are going up just to see the ceremony and I suppose to see their daughters walk down the aisle as bridesmaids!

I'll try have some photos up from New Years soon. The hens night was so fun! Keep an eye on my instagram feed (my username is sparkleylining) and I’ll try and post some photos of the trip and wedding! I’ll be taking my camera too so hopefully I’ll be able to do a wedding post sometime next week. I hope you’ve all enjoyed your Summer or Christmas break!!