Resurrected Zombie Flats

It seemed as if my refund check could not come fast enough, when late last week my beloved Iron Fist zombie flats bit the dust. I bought them in July 2009 as a birthday present to myself and Friday at work my red and black striped toes were poking out the sides and top of the shoes! So, as a quick fix, I grabbed some clear packaging tape and MacGyver-ed myself a way to keep my toes safe until I got home.



Enter hot pink Duct tape, black electric tape, a sheet of craft foam and my handy dandy hot glue gun. I removed the temporary-fix clear packaging tape from my shoes and carefully snipped off the cute black bows before reinforcing the soles and edges of the shoe with Duct tape. Then I wrapped the shoes in hot pink Duct tape, and used the electrical tape to make stripes, as well as reinforce the edges where my foot would go into the shoe. I took out and traced the insoles of the shoes onto the craft foam and made 4 total. I used 2 as insoles and the other 2 as outer soles. I secured all with hot glue and glued the bows from the back of the shoes onto the toes. The pink is much more vibrant in person, it's seriously dayglo pink, but the look comes off as indie/punk. I might try to save more of my shoes this way...



I wore them out to do errands and shopping today and got a few compliments. I know they probably won't last very long, but I've at least prolonged the life of my once-zombie flats for a bit. Plus, the foam is super comfy!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Another Recipe!!!

So, being broke lately has led me to doing what my mom always said "Work with what you've got." I've decided that I'm becoming more of a hippie, because this morning I made my own granola bars. Except, this batch I made them without oats, so I call this recipe:

Cranberry Choco Sans Granola Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 c. brown rice syrup
1/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. vegan carob chips (or chocolate chips)
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. pumpkin seeds (I used Pumpkorn cocoa pumpkin seeds)
1 1/4 c. puffed rice cereal
1 1/4 c. corn flakes-type cereal

Directions:
1. Lightly oil an 8x8 inch baking pan and set aside.

2. In a larger pot, stir together the rice syrup, peanut butter, and carob chips on medium-low heat until melted; stir continuously to prevent burning.

3. Once mixture is evenly melted and mixed, remove from heat and immediately add cranberries, seeds and cereals. Mix quickly until everything is well-coated.

4. With damp hands, press mixture firmly and evenly into your 8x8 inch pan. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes to set.

5. Once set, use a butter-knife to slice into bars.

Variations:
-Add a handful of shredded coconut when adding cereals
-Replace corn flakes-type cereal for rolled oats
-Try different seed or nut butters in place of peanut butter
-sprinkle in some sesame seeds, flax seeds, nuts or other goodies

Purple and Black picture post!

Dreadfalls by Sisters of the Moon. Custom-made hoodie by Warning Label Creations.

I look surprised in one, but I liked the pose :P Yay for feeling pretentious!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Cookie Recipe (FINALLY!)

The recipe for the (long ago) aforementioned melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Vegan Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1/3 cup nondairy milk (soy, hemp, almond, rice, whatever your poison)
2 TBS ground flax seeds (or flax meal)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup (or more) vegan chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2. In a large bowl, vigorously mix together the non-dairy milk and flax meal with a fork. Add in the brown sugar and oil and mix until it resembles caramel, about 2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Sift in the flour and salt. (If you don't have a sifter--like me!--just be sure you don't have a lot of clumps/lumps) Mix the dry ingredients in as they are being added. Fold in the oats and chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

3. Drop dough in generous tablespoons (I like big cookies, so I made my lumps the size of golf balls), about 2 inches apart, onto the baking sheet. Flatten the tops of the dough a bit so they'll look more like cookies when they bake. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. (Extra gooey if you take them out after 10 minutes!)

4. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in a tightly covered container, or in your belly. ;P

Recipe yields a dozen big cookies or 2 dozen weenie cookies.

Con-nichiwa

I've been working my buns off creating new items for the upcoming anime convention, con-nichiwa, in Tuscon AZ March 26th, 27th and 28th. I've still been baking and I am WAY behind on sharing my recipes with you! Last week I baked 3 times!!! Crazy I know. I made blueberry muffins to have for breakfast throughout the week, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for a coworker's birthday, and cheesecake brownies because I've been *dying* to try that recipe since I got the cookbook for Gothmas! All vegan of course :D I still have my Thanksgiving pictures waiting to be posted!! XP

In any event I've been keeping busy but still making time for a little fun :) Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to see Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary on the history of Black Metal and I picked up some new star-shaped nose studs from Hot Topic and drooled over the pretty pinchers they had. I'm in the process of gauging my ears and I was very excited to see that they now carry pinchers in smaller gauges too!

Well, time to close and lay down in my coffin for a little bat nap. More posts to come!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake