Ducks crossing!

This has to be the biggest group of ducks and other assorted birds that we've ever had cross in front of our car! I was so happy I got my camera out in time to snap a picture before they ran off :D

Hope everyone is having a ducky week!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Weekend Fun Photos!

This weekend I hung out with my friend Nic to search for Jesus (in a literal way, not religious), craft, and eat lasagna. Nic is vegetarian so I made a veganized version of my mother's lasagna recipe for lunch!

Nic has a much more fun kitchen/apartment than I do, so it was fun taking cooking pictures while there :D For example, I do not have a bearded lady painting of Abraham Lincoln in my kitchen, but Nic does:The bowl there in front of Miss (?) Lincoln is TVP soaking up some water and sauce. I like to soak my Textured Vegetable Protein with a little sauce and seasonings to give it more flavor when making lasagna. I also prefer organic noodles:
While the noodles are boiling, I slice up the sausage and grate the mozzerella. Nic has a super cute cheese grater that looks like a mouse!:
Then I layer everything up in a pan and bake it in the oven and it comes out looking like this:

Nic's kitties were curious while I was cooking, but were well behaved for the most part, here is a picture of Pigeon (the black kitty) and Walrus (the one near the flip flops!):
It was such a nice day out that Nic and I decided to eat lunch out on her patio:

It was beautiful out and this beautiful tree kept us from overheating and gave us a glorious view from her patio:

Despite not finding Jesus, I did find 2 great pairs of shoes while we were out. The crafting wasn't so successful either, but we shall try again!

How was your weekend?

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Pandamonium!

I have been alluding to and talking about secrets and I've finally gotten one finished and posted for you!

A super kawaii panda necklace that I got the idea for while I was at work. What started out as a doodle ended up as this:

Let me know what you think! More exciting new items coming soon!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcucpake

Modeling Pic

There were two photographer's at Con-Nichiwa's photobooth. The first guy, DragonLenz, sent me a message on Model Mayhem with a link to the second photographer, MistrsEvilKitten's, pictures. I thought I'd share one with you guys:

Not my best picture, but I'm still fairly new to modeling and I couldn't find my lipstick ;PWhat I'm wearing:

• The hair bow is one of my own, soon to be available in the Gothcupcake Etsy Shop!
• Fishnet shrug by Lip Service
• Vegan-friendly pyramid cuff by Deviant
• Pleather corset by BlackSunshine
• Fishnet tank (worn under corset) second-hand
  
• Skirt (sorta hidden) by Liane Marguerite
• Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in Bulletproof
• Pink hair color Special Effects (SFX if you're cool) in Atomic Pink
  

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Aloha and Mahalo!

I've been on a coconut kick lately (if you couldn't tell from the macroons post...), so today I decided to try the Go Max Go Foods Mahalo candy bar. If you like coconut, chocolate and almonds, this candy bar is pure lust!

It's got the look of an Almond Joy, almonds tucked under a blanket of chocolate:

And yummy yummy sweet melt-in-your-mouth coconut in the middle:
All in all an amazing candy bar, maybe even better than an Almond Joy... if sometimes you feel like a nut and a vegan...

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Ahoy Buccaneers!

I tried the Buccaneer candy bar from Go Max Go Foods and I have to say, it was a reasonable facsimile to a Three Muskateers bar! The nougat looks different, and has a slightly different texture, but the taste is pretty close, and still YUMMY! I took a few pictures of me eating the candy bar, but I look hideous so I will save you from the scariness and just share the candy! [Note: mine got a little squished on the way home from the super market!]
It has also been *AGES* since the last time I baked, so I finally whipped up another recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I was craving some coconut, so I baked a batch of Macaroon cookies the other morning before heading to work. They are SOOO yummy!!!
Lastly, today I was having an icky hair day, my hair was limp and I needed to make it look decent before work, so I threw it up in a pony tail, grabbed some bobby pins and the new super kawaii hair flower I picked up from the Mesa swap meet this weekend and ended up getting TONS of compliments at work on how cute my hair looked! Yay for turning a bad hair day into a cute hair day! I think it helps that the hair clip matches my hair.

I almost walked away from this hair clip, and knew I would regret it if I did. The woman at the booth said her friend makes them for her kids all the time and that she talked her friend into trying to sell them. I wish she had a business card so I could tell her how awesome it is!

I apologize in advance for the blurriness!
I will have to get a shot of just the hair clip by itself so you can see all the layers of awesomeness to fully appreciate it :P

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Vegan Candy Bars!

I had read about Go Max Go Foods' vegan candy bars in the advertisement section of VegNews magazine about a year ago. The company has made veganized versions of popular candy bars and given them snazzy new names :)

The four bars they currently offer are:

Jokerz (think Snickers): caramel, peanuts, nougat, rice milk chocolatey coating
Twilight (think Milky Way): caramel, chocolately nougat, rice milk chocolatey coating
Buccaneer (think Three Muskateers): chocolately nougat, rice milk chocolatey coating
Mahalo (think Almond Joy): coconut, almonds, rice milk chocolatey coating


I was thrilled to discover them at my local Whole Foods today when my boyfriend and I were grocery shopping! Look for them at your local market!

I bought one of each variety and plan on posting a review of each candy bar, so stay tuned!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Starving Artist

This is the apron my friend Katie got me for my birthday last year. I like to wear it when I'm working on my ghoulish creations. It says: "Someday I'll be the artist formally known as starving"... so true... (I hope!):
As you can see behind me I'm working on some new skelly hand hair clips :) There they are with a fresh coat of primer!

They end up looking like this:

These hair clips were really popular at Con-Nichiwa (I sold out!), so I think they will be a new regular in the Gothcupcake Etsy shop!

I hope you all are having a horrendous weekend!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Falafel for Dinner!

Tonight I wasn't sure what to make for dinner, so I turned to my fat stack of vegan cookbooks to flip through for inspiration. Sometimes I discover recipes I never even knew I had! Tonight I found a pretty sweet recipe for Falafel from scratch! So I made wraps ^_^

The recipe is altered slightly from the Sonia's Falafels recipe found in The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

You will need:

• 1 15 oz. can chickpeas (aka Garbanzo Beans)
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup firm tofu (or 1/4 package)
  
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients and blend until well mixed.
2. Roll mixture with wet hands into balls/patties.
3. In a medium frying pan, saute balls/patties on medium-high heat in oil until browned on all sides.
4. Once brown on all sides, remove balls/patties from pan and place on paper towels or a brown paper bag to absorb some of the excess oil.
5. Serve on tortillas. To prepare the tortilla: Place one tablespoon of hummus or Baba Ghannouj in the center of the tortilla and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. Top with salad greens, grape tomatoes and finally with falafel balls/patties. Roll up and enjoy!

The original yield for this recipe was 10 large or 18 small balls/patties. I ended up with 12 patties, roughly 2 inches across, and half an inch thick.

If you give this one a try, feel free to share your experience!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

It's Official!

Gothcupcake officially has it's own business checking account now!
I'm such a dork, I got so excited writing out my first check today as Gothcupcake! :D

'Scary Mary, quite contrary, how does your graveyard garden grow? With funeral bells, all nine hells and pretty little graves all in a row'

My cherry tomatoes have sprouted! ^_^ Nothing else in the other pots, but I'm still hopeful. Our tomato plants always seemed to be the first to sprout up when we grew our own back home too, so I'm not surprised.

I've also been playing with spraypaint and clay tonight. maybe I'll share some pictures of those pieces tomorrow :)

I hope everyone is having a frightful day!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Coffin Catch Alls!

Just listed! New coffin pouches. The pattern for these was in my sketchbook for months before I actually put the pieces together and made my dreams a reality. Making their debut at Con-Nichiwa in March, these little babies were a hit! Now they're available in my Etsy shop!

I promised more items and now I'm delivering! :)

Enjoy and Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake