Craft Show Tour, A Phillies Game, and A New Baking Adventure!

Ok I did warn you all that I was blogging at an average of 1 blog every 2 weeks, right? Well I think it might have been a little longer than that but hey, I am a busy girl! July has gone by with a blur, like usual time flies when you are having fun!

I am happy to report that I survived my brief craft show tour and both shows were incredibly successful! First up was the Haddonfield Fine Arts and Crafts Festival. I was so excited when I found my booth space as it was in a great spot on Haddonfield's Main Street! The show went great! Not only did I sell a lot of accessories it was great chatting with customers who not only remembered my booth from last year but remembered the location! Now that is loyalty! The biggest seller at this show, my fabric flower ponytail holders. In between customer interactions I sat at the booth and made more. As soon as I would put some out, they would sell. I think I sold about 30 of them most of which were made at the show! I have been busy making more since some of the shops selling my stuff are going through them quickly too! Thanks to all of the fabulous people that helped support Purplelicious at the Haddonfield Show, I look forward to seeing you next year. I hope you all remembered my booth location, there will be a quiz next year!

The next stop on my craft show tour was the Handmade Faire. It was held at Freedom Park in Medford NJ. This park is awesome and also the location for many of Medford's events including their Relay for Life and their 4th of July Fireworks! The show was organized by my Etsy Friend Abbie and her mother in law Pola. And I have to say they put together an AMAZING show! There are so many things I liked about the show. For starters, ALL of the sellers sold handmade items, which is great to see. A lot of major craft shows add this as a requirement but I think a lot of non handmade sellers still manage to get in. At the Handmade Faire I just felt this sense of community that I don't usually feel at craft shows. That could also be because I knew some of the sellers from the EtsyNJ group! I think my favorite aspect of the show was the music. The theme of the show was Summer of Love and Abbie put together an incredible mix of songs from the 70s. I was in heaven! And the crowd loved it too, it was cool to see people dancing and singing along to the music! I also had a very successful show! Which is also nice! Congrats to Abbie and Pola on a great show, they estimated about 8000 people came to the event and I believe plans are already in the works for a Fall edition in October! I have already marked my calendar! Here is a pic of me in my booth!


Last week we ventured to another Phillies game! It was a business person's special and also the Kids Run the Bases game. It was during the day on Wednesday. Unfortunately the Phil's put an end to their winning streak that game but Bella had a blast running the bases. How it works is after the game all of the kids leave the park and get in line to come back into run the bases. The line was literally wrapped around the ballpark but moved pretty quick. You get to walk down the ramp by right field and onto the field. The kids run around the bases, the parents meet them at home plate and you are done! Bella got a certificate as well. I was surprised she did it, but as soon as she hit the field she was off running! I took some video and realized that I captured her on phanavision as well. Very cute! Here are some pictures of her from the game. Notice the baseball headband! ;-)
Headed in the park!

Walking down the ramp to the field!

On the field about to run the bases!


The final leg of my 3 weeks of madness was a new adventure in baking! My cousin's baby just turned 1 and she asked me awhile ago if I would make all of the desserts for his birthday party. I was so excited! I love to bake and especially love creating baking and cake decorating! When she told me the party was a puppy theme, I was ready for the challenge! Here is what I came up with:
The Main Birthday Cake:

Sugar Cookie Dog Bones for the Treat Bags:

Personal Mini Dog Cake for the birthday boy to destroy:

Cupcakes with a Mini Dog Bone Sugar cookie:

To say that everything was a hit would be an understatement. I definitely like my fair share of praise but I was getting so much, I started to blush a little. It was so rewarding to see my cousin so pleased with everything and little Owen loved all the doggie themed treats!

After three weeks of fun, like usual, I still have miles to go before I sleep. It keeps my life interesting though, I am not sure I would know what to do if life wasn't always busy! I do have one goal, I hope to get back on a regular blogging schedule, we will see how that works out!

2 Weeks!

I feel like this blog is operating on "Money Pit" time! It seems I have only had time to blog every 2 weeks. Wow has it really been two weeks since my last blog post? I am so sorry to have kept you all in suspense as to the happenings of my fabulous life but maybe getting all of the information in bi-monthly updates is a better way to go? Well for now it will have to do because in restaurant terms...I am in the Weeds!

Picking up where I last left off, my fabulous little 5 year old graduated from Pre-K at the end of the month. Aside from her dance class performance I have not seen her in a group singing performance since her school doesn't really put them on. She had been talking about graduation for months and humming some of the songs so I knew I was in for a treat! She also teased me about a secret song that they weren't allowed to tell the parents about. I am impressed that she kept it under wraps for so long, I was definitely surprised! The graduation ceremony was only 20 minutes but it was adorable and Bella did great. She wasn't nervous, when it was her turn to speak she stood up straight and spoke clearly. she is so much like her mommy it is scary! So I still have a few months to come to terms with the fact that my baby is starting kindergarten in the fall but I am not going to think about that now!

In other news, Purplelicious is on FIRE! In a good way! I recently reached a milestone of 500 Etsy sales which was very exciting for me! To celebrate I had a Customer Appreciation Sale and offered $5 Headbands for one day. Everyone LOVES the $5 Headband Sale, needless to say it was a huge success! My mom thought I was a little crazy for having that sale a few weeks before two upcoming craft shows BUT I was strategic. While I was filling orders I was cutting a few extra pieces of fabric and building inventory! Productivity at its finest, ok not really!

Speaking of Craft Shows I evidently have taken some crazy pills as I have two, count them TWO craft show coming up, back to back. It is Wednesday and I have a good amount of inventory for my show this weekend BUT I have a very long list of things to do. But it will all get done, I am already very accustomed to the late night craft show prep that ensues when you are a procrastinator like me. Although honestly, I think some of my best work happens in the late night hours! As if that wasn't enough, another shop at the Jersey store now carries my products. Haven Boutique in Sea Isle City, NJ now carries Purplelicious Accessories. It is an adorable boutique with lots of great dresses and accessories. It is the first boutique that my products are in and I am excited to see how well they do there!

My 4th of July was great, thanks for asking! I didn't have any bbq plans and my pool still looked like a toxic green swamp so I took Bella to the movies. We saw Ice Age 3 in 3D. Can someone please stop me from paying more for the 3D experience when only 2 elements of the whole movie are 3D. When will I learn! On a positive note we got to see some Amazing fireworks. My mom's friend lives right across from the high school where they set them off so she was kind enough to give us some viewing space on her grass. I have never seen fireworks so close in my life! Bella really enjoyed them and it was awesome sitting there watching them with her. And like I do every 4th of July since I have been divorced, I hope that the next year I am watching them in the arms of an amazing man. Perhaps I need to make my wish at a different time of the year though, it seems the 4th of July wish is not really working!

FINALLY, since my Tie Dyed Cupcakes have become very popular, I decided to make them for the 4th of July. I will call them Patriotic Tie Dye Cupcakes. I made them for Bella's class and this time I made Tie Dyed Icing..fancy! How to make them, these are easier I think because they have less colors. Divide the White cake Batter into three bowls (about 2c of batter in each). Tint one of them red and one of them blue (I strongly recommend the Wilton Gel colors for this). Keep the third bowl as is. Line the cupcake tins and first add the red, I found about 1 tbsp per cupcake was enough. Although the last couple get a little cheated. to offset this, start the next color where you left off! Follow that process for the other two colors and bake. Now for the icing. I used the Wilton Buttercream recipe and also one of their techniques for the icing. I got some paintbrushes and brushed stripes of color into the pastry bag, then added the white icing. You have to squeeze some of the icing out until the color starts to come through but that is how you get the tie dye effect! Below are some pics! Enjoy!




Ok enough fun and frolic, I hope you enjoyed this rather long two week recap. I hope to post a blog next week about the 2 day Haddonfield Craft Show I am participating in this weekend but at the rate I am going on here, expect it in 2 weeks!

Sewing Like the Wind!

One of my favorite movies growing up was Three Amigos. My brother and I still quote it and my family pretty much always references the Village of Santa Poco because "We Can Sew!". When my mom, sister and I are getting ready for something that requires a lot of sewing we comment that we are in the Village of Santa Poco and are Sewing Like the Wind. For that past month, I have temporarily relocated to the Village of Santa Poco where I have been sewing like the wind pretty much every day! And of course I couldn't be happier!

Why you ask? Well summer is heating up fast for Purplelicious. I wish I could say the same for the weather! I am very excited that Purplelicious Accessories can now be found at two different shops at the Jersey Shore. The first shop is in Stone Harbor New Jersey and is called Alice. It is located on the famous 96th street where all of the shops are. Inside Alice you can not only find my accessories but great jewelry, handbags, painted glass, and a many other handmade items. If you are visiting Stone Harbor NJ, stop by and check it out!

The other shop is called The Maple Tree and it is located in Seaville, NJ. It is inland but right off of Route 9 and you can make a quick stop in there while you are en route to your favorite shore destination! The Maple Tree is an adorable shop filled with handmade gifts. You can find handmade candles, soaps, painted glass, quilts, hand painted garden art, purses, and so much more! The shop is amazing and as soon as you walk in you are instantly relaxed due to the calm and beautiful setting. The Maple Tree is also in the running for the Best of the Shore Hot List in the Gift Shop Category, last time I checked they were only a few votes from first place! Below is a picture of my item display at The Maple Tree, the keychains are selling like crazy there which is pretty awesome!


As if I have not been busy enough trying to keep two stores stocked with product, I forgot about my 3rd shop, VIX Emporium in West Philly. I am in the process now of stocking them up with some new inventory! I also have two craft shows coming up in July which happen to be back to back. I have been accepted again to the Haddonfield Crafts and Fine Arts Festival July 11-12 and the following week was just accepted to The Handmade Faire - Summer of Love Edition at Freedom Park in Medford which is on July 18. July is going to be a busy month but I can't wait, I love craft shows because I am able to showcase new products and most importantly meet some of my amazing customers! I am also excited about the Handmade Faire because I will get a chance to meet many of my Etsy NJ Team friends as they will be vending there as well!

I have not stopped there! In the midst of all of this sewing madness I have been introducing some new products! I have been using this time to tap into my fabric stash that has been sitting there screaming to be made into accessories! Below are just a few of the new headband styles I have created, check out my Purplelicious Etsy Shop for more!



Whew! I am exhausted just by writing this blog. All of this hard work is definitely worth it though! It just goes to show that all of those tiny little things that you do eventually add up and make you successful! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some, I mean a LOT of sewing to do!

Summer is in Full Swing!

Wow, I cannot believe that we are already into the second week of June, this year is really moving at warp speed! Clearly my schedule has been pretty hectic since I have not blogged in a couple weeks. So let me catch you up. I would like to introduce you to my new Baby...My Husqvarna Viking Emerald Sewing Machine. Yeah, the rescue mission performed on my other sewing machine was a short term fix. I went back into full sewing mode and the machine just failed me. I could not be without a machine so I took a road trip up to the Joann Fabrics Superstore (aka The Mothership) and tested out some sewing machines. I got a great deal on this one and it had my heart when it sewed through 4 layers of denim like nothing and has a built in needle threader. It doesn't take much for me to get excited! Here is a picture of her, isn't she lovely?

I may still get my other machine repaired, it would be a good machine for Bella when she is ready to start sewing. I know she is only 5 but she's already got a good eye for fabric, must take after her Mommy!

Making this investment into my business could not have come at a better time. This summer is looking to be pretty busy for Purplelicious! You can now find my products at an adorable little shop at the Jersey Shore in Stone Harbor called Alice. I headed down to the shop last week and set up all of my products. It was beyond fun setting up my accessories display and even more fun seeing it in a store and not a craft show! I was upset I didn't bring my camera to take a picture of the display. The owner wants to give me a bigger space in the store but I need to give her more product which I am working on with my new sewing machine! This week I am headed down to another shop down the shore who wants to sell my headbands. It is very fun being a sales rep for your own products!

I ended the week with a little creative baking. It is almost the end of T Ball season and the start of me having my Saturdays back! There was a party at the coach's house and I said I would make cookies. Any excuse to make a creative dessert! I decided to make sugar cookies that look like baseballs! Below is a picture of them, they were a big "hit" - no pun intended.


Things are definitely heating up at Purplelicious with getting the shops at the shore set up for product and preparing for two craft shows in July. I am also only 8 sales away from 500 Etsy sales. I could not be happier! Summer is my favorite season and if I can have a summer full of strong Purplelicious business, well that would just make it even better!

Doing the Best with What You've Got

While this is a philosophy I have been practicing a lot since I have been unemployed I feel like it really held true this weekend! For starters while I continue to struggle to find a job in this horrible economy I have my accessories business. When I am not job searching I am plugging away trying to build and expand it. I know that all of the little things I am doing will eventually add up so I am trying to practice a little patience! I was excited to work on some custom orders this weekend. The first was an order for 20 of my Princess Headbands. They are being used as party favors for a little girl's birthday party! Such a great idea!

The second custom order was a request for headbands made with Madras fabric. It was like this customer was reading my thoughts, I was in the fabric store the other day and saw the madras fabrics and wanted to buy them but wasn't sure if they would sell! Well this customer gave me the excuse I wanted to buy the fabric! I also tried out a new design and also covered the elastic. I bought some other lightweight summer fabrics and plan to launch them all together once all of the samples are done. But here is a sneak peak of the madras styles to be listed soon!

The third custom order is a special request to have this bridal satin fabric flower hair clip made in ivory to match bridesmaids dresses that are black and ivory. The hair clip are still in progress but I am excited about this request and I hope it leads to more bridesmaid hair clip orders in the future.

This Memorial Day Weekend was not all about sewing, yard work was the main item on the agenda. Since I am unemployed and have very little disposable income hiring a landscaper is out of the question. My ex husband was not much help either even though he has helped me in previous years but hey, I don't need no stinkin' man! Since I am young and able bodied I became my own landscaper for 2 days. I cut the grass for the first time ever, cleaned up the mulch beds and added new mulch, and bagged about 25 bags of leaves. I am paying the price for being lazy with my leaf cleanup in the fall. There is still so much work to be done. I was secretly hoping for rain so that I would have an excuse to stay up in my sewing room instead of being out in the sun bagging leaves! I got my wish today!

I was enjoying a cold rainy day in my sewing room making custom orders. I decided to also put the finishing touches on the purse I blogged about a few weeks ago. I added a snap closure so I had to take out the lining seam. When I went to sew it back up, it got stuck in my machine and my sewing machine got all out of whack and kept breaking the needle. I immediately packed it up and took it to my mom. Both of my parents were eager to help repair it since it is the tool that has helped provide my main source of income these days. We pretty much took the entire thing apart and my dad somehow figured out how to fix the issue and when I put it back together it was in working order! It runs awesome now because we cleaned all of the lint out. I wish I had a picture of what my poor little machine looked like all torn apart, but I am glad she is all better! Although my mom was pretty much on board with getting me a new machine since she bought mine like 8 years ago for around $99, she is actually impressed it is still going strong after all of the sewing I have done with it!

So I guess that is pretty much what life is about, making the best out of the cards that you are dealt and staying positive. Sometimes doing that takes a little more effort, but all of that hard work will definitely pay off in the long run!

Tie Dyed Cupcakes!

My daughter LOVES the book Pinkalicious, we read it pretty much every night before bed. We have also made our fair share of pink cupcakes, green cupcakes, and even purple cupcakes. The other night we were reading the book and she asked me if I could make rainbow cupcakes. I had never made anything like that before so I was up for the challenge. Last night when I picked Bella up from school she asked me if we could make them. Since I still had blurry vision from my eye doctor appointment and needed a break from all of the craft show prep I said yes! I was not 100% sure how I was going to master this BUT luckily I remembered a blog I read that detailed how to make a rainbow cake so I applied the same principles. If you want to read about how to make that cake, here is the link: http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake.

Ok, here is what I did.
*I used a White Cake mix, since I have made different color cupcakes before I have found tinting the white is much easier than the yellow for obvious reasons. My 5 year old was part of the process so I will share how she "helped" in case you plan on doing this with your child! I followed the cake mix directions on the box and let my daughter add the ingredients, which I measured out in bowls so she could add them without mess.
*Once the batter was made I divided it into 6 bowls. I used about 1 cup of batter for each bowl. Then divided what was left evenly among the bowls.
*Then I tinted each of the bowls with a different icing color. I added the color and I let my 5 year old mix it in. Try not to overmix here, once you have the color well blended let it be! I used Wilton Icing colors since I have them on hand. I did use a store bought orange which worked fine too!
Here is a pic of what the batter looks like!

Now for the fun part, making the cupcakes! My daughter and I had some power struggle here for the best way for her to help but this is what worked best.
*Fortunately I have 2 cupcake pans so I can make all 24 at once. Add the cupcake wrappers, I recommend using white since the wrapper looks cool after it is done.
*Start with the red first. I used 2 tablespoons or soup spoons I guess you would call them. I filled about half of the spoon with the red batter then had my daughter scrap it off with the other spoon. This way she could help and the batter got where it needed to be. I would suggest using less than more, since that one bowl has to fill 24 cupcakes. By looking at the picture below you can see how much batter I used per color.
* I did the orange next, using the same process and put the batter next to the red. Then continued with the other colors, basically just layering the batter and the colors.
Here is a pic of what they looked like before they went into the oven.

I contemplated for a hot second to use a toothpick and swirl the batter but I wanted to see how these came out. In retrospect I should have done that on half of them to see what the result would have been.
Here is what they looked like when they came out of the oven! See what I mean about using the white wrappers! When you peel off the wrapper it looks even cooler!

To ice them I just made the Wilton Buttercream recipe and my daughter added some rainbow sprinkles on top. I have taken two pictures of what they look like on the inside...so cool!



I hope this blog was easy to understand, this is the first instructional blog I have written! The process is really easier than it looks and I am sure I am not inventing the wheel here but some of my friends wanted to know how I did it. The kids in my daughters class were so excited to eat these cupcakes and they were definitely so fun and easy to make! Enjoy!

Texas Sized Fun and Some New Accessories Too!

This past weekend I was in Austin TX for my cousin's wedding. I was excited for the weekend for a few reasons. One because I have not been away since November, being unemployed tends to put a damper on spending. And two I have never been to Austin TX and it is a place I have always wanted to go. It is after all the Live Music Capital of the World! For only being there for the weekend, I got to experience some different aspects of the city. On Friday night after the rehearsal dinner we did a bar crawl. We ended up at this great place that looked like it was wedged between two buildings. The band was AWESOME, they played 80's music, it was great! On Saturday, before the wedding my sister and I walked around by the University of Texas, we only got to see a small section but it was so fun. We had the most fun in this little boutique called Wish. They have the most adorable clothes and all of these fabulous earrings for $3.50 each! So fun! While trying to find a cab we stumbled up on this amazing popcorn store called Cornucopia. Oh my...some of the best popcorn ever! They have so many different flavors, I went with traditional cheddar and my sister got the candy coated Cherry, but their most popular is Dill Pickle and I can see why, it was delicious! I will definitely be placing an order with them soon. The wedding was so beautiful and fun. The band at the wedding was actual a band that only plays the Beatles. They were really good and the dance floor was packed the entire night! The next morning, I did not want to leave! I would have loved just one more day to explore, but I guess now I have a great excuse to go back!

Now onto the real important stuff, my dress and accessories!!! In anticipation of the event I of course had to find a dress! I was able to find an amazing Sue Wong dress in one of the Rue La La boutiques and got a $300 designer dress for $88. The dress is brown and purple which I was also happy about since I always seem to wear black to weddings! I knew the kind of jewelry I wanted to wear with the dress but knew I would not be able to find it in a store. So I reached out to some talented Etsy Sellers and Megan of CastoCreations designed the most beautiful earring, necklace, and bracelet set. It was not only exactly what I wanted, it looked completely AMAZING with the dress. I got so many compliments on the jewelry and everyone was blown away when I told them it was handmade. Her shop is also filled with some amazing jewelry pieces. If you are in the market for some beautiful jewelry, visit her shop on Etsy! I also wanted to experiment with a new hair accessory. I made a fabric flower out of brown satin and accented it with a crystal purple button and attached it to a hair clip. It looked adorable in my hair, but it was hard to notice because my hair is also brown. Next time I may choose purple satin over the brown but it was still cute nonetheless and I now have a new hair accessory style to add to the shop! Below are some pics from CastoCreations of the jewelry she made for me, a close up of my hair accessory, and one of me wearing all of the pieces!




I definitely had some Texas Sized Fun and was dealing with some Texas Sized Exhaustion when I got home, but it was a great trip! Best Wishes of love and happiness to my Cousin and his new wife!