That’s right. I’ve been so obsessed with cameras and photography lately I’ve decided to hold a photography contest!

Theme: Cake! My birthday is coming up so I want to see your best photos of cake! Cupcakes, wedding cakes, show me the sweet stuff!

Equipment: *Any camera*: digital, film, camera phone, polaroid–if it snaps a photo you can enter that photo in the contest!

Entry Fee: $5 USD per entrant, one photo per entrant

Rules:

• One photo per entrant
• No goofy photoshop photos (Only use photoshop for light editing, cropping or watermarks please!)
• No copyright infringement, please only submit photos you own the rights to and have taken yourself
• Photo must have the cake theme to qualify
• Entrant must have paid entry fee to qualify

Directions: 

• Send your $5 USD entry fee via paypal to gothcupcake@gmail.com, include your name and mailing address in the comments/notes Example: “Photo Contest Entry Fee, Jack Skellington, 1313 Spooky Lane, Halloween Town, AZ 00000,” etc.
• Send your photo to gothcupcake@gmail.com, files should be jpeg format low res. Include “Photo Contest Entry” in the subject and in the body include your name and mailing address and let me know you’ve sent the entry fee.
• Photos will be posted on the Mary Cakes Facebook page in a specialPhoto Contest album!
• Entries must be received by July 30th, votes will be measured by the number of “likes” on the entries, so the sooner you enter the more time you’ll have to accrue votes!
• Winner and runner up will be chosen from all qualified entries and announced on July 31st!
• Grand Prize winner is the photo with the most votes, runner up is photo chosen by the judges based on theme, creativity, quality and composition.

Grand Prize

One Grand Prize winner will be awarded the Holgawood Oscar gold 120 camera.

Runner Up

One runner up winner will be awarded a mystery prize! To be determined by number of entries.

So, get snappy!

Lime Green Eye Shadow Swatches!

After procuring the latest Sugarpill lime green, AcidBerry, from the Heart Breaker collection I decided it would be a good time to swatch some of my lime green vegan eye shadows.

I swatched (from left to right in the photo below) Sugarpill Acidberry pressed eye shadow, MTcoffinz Acid Reign pressed eye shadow, and my own Zombify Margarita loose eye shadow.

Sugarpill's Acidberry is definitely the closest to a classic green, it has more blue in it out of the three shades swatched and slight sheen/shimmer. MTcoffinz's Acid Reign is more yellow green and very shiny, near metallic compared to Acidberry (I suspect the two would look amazing in a look together!). My own Zombify Margarita loose shadow is more of a golden/yellow lime green with shimmer. The swatches were done on bare skin (right) and over MTcoffinz Under The Rainbow primer (left), so you get an idea of how the colors look with and without primer.

I'm excited to play with the colors together to create various looks! All colors can be built up or toned down for bold or subtle looks. 

I'll be sure to post what I come up with! :) 

Stay Spooky,

Gothcupcake

New Toy

My Singer isn't lonely anymore! Now she has a brother to keep her company :D I can't wait to get it all set up and try it out!  I love new machine smell :P

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Opportunity for Free Beauty Violence!

Violent Lips that is! If you haven't heard of these yet, they are basically like temporary tattoos for your lips, allowing you to achieve crazy lip designs that you have never even dreamed of, and saving you the time of painstakingly painting tiny designs on your lips :P



Right now Violent Lips is having a contest on their blog giving samples of their lip tattoos to 100 lucky girls across the country to try out and hand out to friends and those who ask about their wild lips! Click HERE for details.

I sent in my info yesterday as soon as I saw the post and got a response almost right away! I am lucky enough to be going to L.A. Memorial Day weekend, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to rock the crazy lip tattoos and hand them out!



I'll be sure to post on my Facebook and Twitter pages photos wearing them!

It was an exciting start to my weekend. I hope you all are enjoying your weekends!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

The New Zombify

To those of you that have been with me and Zombify since the outbreak thank you for all of your continued support and encouragement with the line. I never expected Zombify to be as successful as it has been. Thank you to everyone for sticking with it through the highs and the lows. I'm looking forward to the relaunch as being another high for the line.

After the recall I decided that I was going to use only unblended ingredients. My original formulations were all orginal mixtures, but the base ingredients were blends of micas, oxides, and chemical preservatives or additives. While all of these blends were vegan-friendly and cosmetic grade, I didn't feel comfortable with some of their ratings on Skin Deep and other sources. I vowed to make the line better, safer, more pure.

I have since found new suppliers (my main supplier being one that is all natural and vegan!) The cosmetics for the relaunch will be Zombify's signature fresh and bold colors, but they will no longer use blends that contain fillers, additives or FDC colors. This poses a bit of a challenge for me to find new ways to create the same bold colors as my competition, but I enjoy a good challenge and I love getting creative.

The few test colors I've mixed have received positive reviews. The price of each eyeshadow however will reflect this ingredient change. Raw ingredients actually cost twice the amount of the watered down blends I used to buy. Those of you that have visited my shop may have noticed this new price reflected in my preview sale of the yet-to-be-named Midnight Blue. The original 5g jar size will now sell for $8.

However, in order to ensure that my original goal for Gothcupcake products to be both cute, goth and affordable stays true, I have decided to offer more ways for Zombify cosmetics to be purchased. With the new all-natural ingredients will also come the options to buy Zombify in sample bag form, affordable 3g jars and in the original 5g jar size. This way, no matter what your budget you can still afford to be Zombified.

I look forward to this new chapter for Zombify cosmetics and I hope you all stay on board for the ride! I have a lot of new and exciting things in the works for the line as well as for Zombify's soon-to-be-announced sister line of cosmetics.


Love and Brains,
Gothcupcake and Zoe Zombie

365 Project 24, 25, 26

Thankfully sketching can be done lying down, from the comfort of my couch. I feel really icky today, but found some energy to draw in between naps.
This first picture (Day 26) is a reworking of the "zombify" logo from the makeup jar sketch from the other day. I can't decide if I like 2 eyeballs in the gooey words or not.

This second sketch (Day 25) is for yesterday, since I didn't feel up to drawing. It's a zombie punk girl eating the heart of her date. Just in time for Valentine's Day.

This final sketch is Day 24's. I drew it on the 2nd but didn't have the energy to take a picture and post it. She sort of looks like Draculaura from the Monster High series, but it wasn't my initial intention.

To keep my fluids up Frankie Stein lended a hand in making me some raspberry vegan jell-o...

And now I think I'll take another nap.

Hope you all are enjoying your week!

Stay Spooky,

Gothcupcake

365 Day 2 PLUS Cupcake Recipe!!!!

Here is my sketch for day 2 of my 365 project. I like drawing tentacles and I saw this great picture of a woman with an octopus on her head that inspired me to draw a woman with tentacles for hair. I may play with this idea further as I also think it ties in nicely with my cthulhu women.

Many of you asked for it on facebook, and after bringing them into work I got many requests for the recipe from coworkers too! So here is the recipe for Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes! Tweaked slightly from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's wonderful book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients

1 c. non-dairy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (white vinegar works too)

1 1/4 c. wheat flour

1 c. granulated sugar

2 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder (I was out so I subbed 1/8th tsp baking soda+1/4 tsp cream of tartar)

1/2 tsp baking soda (If you use the baking powder substitute still add this too!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 c. olive oil (or Canola oil or pretty much any vegetable oil so long as it isn't flavored)

20 drops red food coloring (I actually substituted purple)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line cupcake pan with liners.

2. Whisk together the non-dairy milk and vinegar. Set aside to curdle.

3. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.

4. Add the olive oil, food coloring, almond extract and vanilla extact to the curdled non-dairy milk. Whisk to combine. Gently fold in and mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until there are no large lumps.

5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full to give room for the cupcakes to rise. Place in your preheated oven and bake 18 to 20 minutes checking with a toothpick for doneness.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 nonhydrogented margarine, softened (NOT melted)

1/4 c. vegan cream cheese, softened (Tofutti is vegan and tastes great!)

2 c. confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

*2 Tbs water (This is optional, and only used if your frosting turns out a bit too dry)

Directions

1. Cream together margarine and cream cheese until just combined.

2. Add confectioners sugar in 1/2 c. batches. (This step is easier with a handheld mixer, but I just mixed by hand with a wooden spoon!)

3. Mix until smooth and creamy, then mix in the vanilla extract. Keep tightly covered and refrigerated until ready to put on your cooled red velvet cupcakes!

Stay Spooky,

Gothcupcake

My Trip to L.A. and Sweet Streets 2!

I had an amazing long weekend trip to L.A. for the Sweet Streets 2 opening night and got to spend some quality time with my awesome West Coast family in California :) I had never been to Los Angeles before, only San Diego, so our first stop was Little Tokyo, where I saw this awesome cream puff sign.
I also picked up these sweet heart shaped glasses while we were in Little Tokyo too!
Next we were hungry, so we stopped by this sushi restaurant since it was near the gallery where Sweet Streets was opening. Watch out it's craaazzy!
We were amused to find an elevator to 'De Club' inside before the entrance to the sushi place. This only added to my amusement when our waiter dropped off the menu with his name scrolled at the bottom as Heavy "D". Of course, inspiration struck and I ended up writing a mini rap song.

My name is Heavy "D", I'm your Emcee
When we in De Club we get Crazy
I use my wok, to make you rolls
These rhymes so hot, they come in bowls!

My cousin Lolita and I couldn't resist, we had to pretend like we were checking out Ladies Night at De Club before we left.
Next up was gallery nucleus for Sweet Streets 2 and the 6% Doki Doki fashion show!
I spotted Twinkie Chan and chatted with her a bit, it's strange meeting people in person that you only talk to on-line! I realized how much of a spazz I am in social situations, but hopefully I'll get better! (It was also a million degrees inside the gallery, I have no idea why I wore a hoodie!)
I also got to meet Amy of Shrinkle in person after communicating with her since the start of Gothcupcake. I was chuffed that she remembered me by name, also yay for hugs.
This girl had the *coolest* goth unicorn outfit on ever. I never thought a unicorn could be bad ass, but this girl pulled it off! She had skulls on her shoulders and 7" heels that she sawed the heels off of to look like she had fetishy hooves!
Of course, there was the fashion show. Which included local girls as models (shown here) and 2 6% Doki Doki shop girls! The models hopped and danced down the runway.
Here are the shop girl models, dancing down the runway with their neon teddy bears.
Then the runway models started pulling up people from the audience to dance on the runway with them...I got pulled up (see me in the back there...)
There was, of course, a man dressed as a giant unicorn who joined in the ruckus.
Me shaking my groove thing.
The runway. The next day was the 6% Doki Doki Talk Show with designer, Sebastian Masuda.
My cousin Loli and I were ready to have fun at the Talk Show before heading off to see Linkin Park play for the VMA's!
It was *very* interesting listing to Sebastian talk about the history of Harajuku and how the street fashion it is known for started out. He equated the kawaii fashion movement to the hippie and punk movements as a way for youth to rebel against war and authority. It was really enlightening!
There I am behind the blond guy, soaking it all in.
The shop girls wearing shirts from the world tour and of course, decked out in 6% Doki Doki accessories!
After the talk show I played Rock, Paper, Scissors with the shop girl models (and lost *pouts*) and then bought some 6% Doki Doki cuteness! Here is me having my picture taken by a photographer at the event XD I was less spazz-y this day.

I don't have photos from the Linkin Park concert because they didn't allow us to bring in cell phones or cameras (though some people still managed to get them in), but you can watch the video, we got to see the concert from the roof top of the observatory, so look for a flash of pink hair half way through the video on the roof! :P I'm a tiny dot, but that's me!
Linkin Park - The Catalyst (Live)

I'm gearing up now for a 2 week vacation back to my home state, Rhode Island. I'm excited to get to see a *real* Fall season again, and more importantly, excited to see my family that I haven't seen in over 2 years! I leave Saturday, and promise to post more when I get back! Pinky swear!!

I may even invest in a web cam...gasp!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Introducing Zombify Cosmetics!!

I've been hard at work getting these together and finally I have listed 13 eye shadows in my Etsy shop! The makeup line is Zombify by Zoe Zombie and is a line of vegan eyeshadows in bright colors with lots of shimmer.

If you haven't discovered it already, friend our Zombify cosmetics facebook page for exclusive contests, giveaways, makeup tutorials, reviews, photos and more!

I hope you boils and ghouls have been fangtastic, and now that I've gotten the makeup line launched I hope to have more time to post! Lots of exciting trips and projects to share with you!

Stay Spooky,
Gothcupcake

Model Offer

Let me preface this entry by saying that I have been dabbling in modeling here and there, and thusly some months ago started an account on Model Mayhem. Having an account on Model Mayhem I sometimes get model inquiries e-mailed to me from supposed agents or agencies in foreign countries offering me money to come here to shoot photos of me. It is usually pretty easy to tell just by the e-mail subject lines that these e-mails are scams. The subject of the e-mail below, which I woke up to this morning, was Model Job Offer With Good Payment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, any respectable modeling agency would have a bit more professionalism I would think, and perhaps not exclaim so much as if it were a Craigslist ad.

I would also like to point out that I have my name on my Model Mayhem account, so the opening to this e-mail was awesome.

Hello Vegan,

My name is Joy Dav my friend use to call me JAYDEE . Am The Secretary to the ( Beautiful World ) Printing house, which based in the Malaysia and has branches in AFRICA.I saw your profile and pictures at www.modelmayhem.com while searching in the internet, I appreciate it and I would like us to do some works together. Our company presently have good offer for you. I want to know if you are interested in modeling because we need pictures of a good looking person who will be on the magazine cover of some of our clients Company. Please let me know if you are interested in the deal. So $400 for a shoot and the shoot will take at your place. Let me know if you are interested in my offer and I would give you further details
Secretary
JAYDEE

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

Strange New World

I always find using new materials to be an exciting challenge. Challenging because I need to learn something new, and find ways to use the method and create it in a way that is my own. Exciting because the possibilities are endless when combining a new material and/or method with what you already do well.

My first attempt at a new (secret) method I've been working on has not been so great, but with the help of my friend Mary O. (of Black Kitten Accessories) I think I might just be able to get a handle on it.

In the mean time I did some sketches last night for a new necklace I will have in the works. I'm really excited about it and might just have the time to get started on a few today :)

Tonight join us in the chat room on Etsy.com where the members of DIYscene will be having a Thursday Night Sale!!! Catch great deals just in time for the holidays on clothing, accessories, household items and more! Free shipping, 15% off, Buy One Get One Free, and so many more sales you won't know what hit you! Don't miss the fun!

Until next time,
Gothcupcake

Welcome My Little Sprinkles of Doom

I finally decided to start an official Gothcupcake blog. Bigger and better than ever! It's coming upon the one year celebration of the birth of my gothcupcake shop and there is much to celebrate. When I started out I didn't even have business cards. I used markers, stickers, a photocopy machine and imagination to create makeshift business cards that I handed out to friends and family. Now I have shiny jewelry boxes, the third design of my business cards, fancy new jewelry tags for my latest collection, and a slew of awesome friends. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but truly I wouldn't have gotten this far with my shop, had it not been for all of the amazing people I've met on DIYscene. The men and women on the forum have given me advice, shown me love, helped promote me, and even have purchased from or traded with me. I am very grateful for the friendships I have built there along the way, and I hope they continue to flourish as my mini empire continues to grow.

So, welcome! I have some exciting updates, projects, ideas, vegan recipes, and products that I want to share with you. I look forward to hearing from you!

dark wishes,
gothcupcake