Roller Derby World Cup 2011



Check out all our Derby Shorts!

As many of you already know Monster Muffin was at Blood and Thunder's Roller Derby World Cup this weekend with the ever awesome Rumbling Rage Derby Shop. It was an AMAZING event full of suuuper friendly skaters, supporters and other vendors. Everyone was smiling and just so freaking awesome. I don't think I've ever done event where everyone was just so damn nice. I've also never done an event with so many injured people limping around ;) But I tell you these girls are tough. The hits they take and then get right back up as if nothing happened...omg it was totally bad ass to say the least.

Some sexy ladies trying em' on.

What some of you may not know, as popular as roller derby is, this was the first EVER World Cup so it's a pretty big deal. Teams from all over the world came to Toronto Canada to bout against the best of the best, and man did they give it their all.

Team Canada!!!

Team Canada was amazing and we are so very very proud of them. In the end team USA placed gold, Canada silver and England Bronze.

So here’s a big "Thank You" to TORD (Toronto Roller Derby) for hosting the event, to all the teams who came and to their friends and families and to everyone else out there who helped, hosted and supported.




xox,
Miss Muffin

"Canadian Warm" Winter Coat

So I've made quite a few one of a kind winter coats and I have yet another to add to the list of awesomeness. This one was made for Mirella of Toronto, Ontario. Together we designed this fabulous piece: fully lined with thinsulate, outer layer water repellant cotton polyester blend with a thick warm skull swirl printed lining. This coat is truly magical <3

So if you're looking for a Canadian Made-Canadian Warm winter coat you know who to call :)

xo,

Miss Muffin.

Custom Made Halloween Costumes!

Hello Boils and Ghouls!

Hope you all had a spooky Halloween.
After an amazingly busy summer it was nice to take a little brake and make a few fun costumes for some wicked customers of mine. And here are the picutes: we've got Sgt. Pepper of the Beatles, Nurse Joy of Pokemon and of course we couldn't do without little Smurfette :)

New Guys Clothing

Ok so over a year ago at good ol’ Hot Rod Hootenanny I promised an awesome customer I would post new stuff “shortly”. This year he showed up again at the show and kindly but sternly called me on the fact that I still hadn’t posted anything new….and he was right and to him especially I apologize it took me so long. But I did finally post some new pieces that I think are totally kick ass. I love the new vinyl design we’ve got going on the back and the fabric is really freakin’ comfortable. Special thanks to our photographer Big Eye Studios and to our model Jeremy Matheison of Sink or Swim Tattoos. I hadn’t done a photo shoot with a male model in awhile…..no wait, ever….and I couldn’t believe how fast everything went. Usually with ladies we’ve got to do hair, makeup, style the whole outfit and then fix the hair every time the wind blows. But with guys you just dress them and there you go! We were off to shoot at out location in no time and after only 15 minutes of shooting we were ready to move onto the next outfit. Honestly it was the quickest and easiest shoot I’ve ever done and it turned out fantastic.

So check out the new stuff online and be sure to tell your friends, us little Canadian designers need all the “word spreading” we can get ^_^ 

Hug’s n tickles,

Miss Muffin

http://www.monstermuffin.com/men's%20tops.htm

Rumbling Rage Roller Derby Shop

Wow, a lot has been going on and I’ve been slacking big time on my blogs, so here it is I’m going to write a few today that will hopefully catch everyone up to speed.

Photographer: DEEK Images
Model: Madison Skye Ingram
Hair & MUA: Model
Styling/Set Dressing:Pretty Deadly Stylz

First things first we are SUPER excited about all the awesome feedback we’ve been getting on our roller derby collection which can now be found at the total badass store in Barrie, Ontario called Rumbling Rage Roller Derby Shop.  They’ve also got an online store you can check: www.rumblingragederbyshop.com.  Renata, the owner, is a roller derby girl herself and let me tell you you’ve gotta be badass to be a derby girl. She came over last week with one of the biggest bruises I’ve ever seen! Tryouts for next years team is in a couple of weeks and I dunno man, I wanna join up but I’m not sure I’m tough enough. These girls mean business. I do have a pretty sick pair of roller skates though…..that I’ll admit have never seen the light of day, I’m far to shy to be falling all over the sidewalk lol.

Ok so other then that I’ve been working on a bunch of new derby gear that will be getting posted later this week, I’ll keep you all posted on that.
Have a kick ass day and keep skatin’!

xo,
Miss Muffin

Roller Derby Madness!



Feline634 Photography, Model Amy Morandin
Makeup Jessica Mariie

It's Ass Kickin' Time.
We've just (literally as I'm typing this my website is uploading the new pages) posted our new ROLLER DERBY short shorts! We've done custom roller derby oufits in the past and thought it'd be fun to create some ready made ones for you sexy ladies out there. We've got pink sparkly leopard print ones, silver zebra ones, striped ones, solid ones and you can even custom order your team colour!


AND to make things even more fun, Pretty Deadly Stylz took the liberty of using our shorts in a super awesome photoshoot for Auxiliary Magazine! So not only are they online to buy, they're also published in a sweet alternative magazine.



So check it all out, tell your friends and have an ass kickin' week!

Hugs n' punches,
Miss Muffin



Auxiliary Magazine June/July 2011
Stylist Pretty Deadly Stylz
Model Chloe Veronique
Makeup Wanda McRae
Hair Lisa Tuff
Photographer Catre-Blanche

The Toronto Clothing Show

Good Day Ladies  & Gents!

The Clothing Show is drawing near, next weekend to be exact. The fun begins Friday May 27th and runs until Sunday the 29th.

Now I'm going to be honest here, and those of you who have come to the show in the past may have noticed...no I take that back, I know you have noticed that the show seemed to be heading into a bit of a lull. Owners Clayton and Bonnie are fantastic people with a smart business sense and whole heartedly care about helping out local designers and artisans. They have made some major changes to the event this year that I'm personally stoked about. I bring these changes to your attention as I really think you should all come down and check it all out.

The Clothing Show will be held at a different venue, The Queen Elizabeth Building, Exhibition Place, with a much better layout. The fashion show runway now takes place in the middle of the show and is held in the Local Designers section. Oh that's right, Local Designers! And that's where we'll be. By now all of you know how much we boast about being Canadian made and support others who are so we're SUPER excited about this new section.

Check out some of our awesomely talented friends while your there:

Love Poetry Corsets

Paper People Clothing

Plastik Wrap

Sick On Sin

One more thing, we've come out with our first run of ladies jeans and need your help making sure the fit is juuuuust right. So if you come by and try on any pair of jeans we'll give you $5 in Monster Muffin Money to spend on anything in our booth, even if it's on a ridiculous sale already! Plus you'll get the warm fuzzy good feeling of helping me ^_^.

For full details visit: http://www.theclothingshow.com/

Can't wait to see you!!!

xo,
Lori.

As Busy As A Canadian Beaver!

Ello Boys and Ghouls,
So I've been working on some pretty kick ass stuff lately that I'm sure you'll love, and to start things off I'd like to show you a custom, 30's inspired, one piece male bathing suit! Oh you heard that right...this one is fab-u-lous and of course I've got pictures to show. Below you'll see the ever fantastic, super awesome, creepily seductive Mysterion the Mind Reader posing it up. How can you not smile while checking this fine beast out?!

Earlier I was working on a few bad ass custom wrestling outfits. These wrestlers are SO much fun to make outfits for. How can one not be happy with sparkly spandex at ones dingers tips? If you or someone you know is into wrestling send them my way for some sweet gear, I loved working on these and plan on doing more.

And that's not it, we've been working hard on new styles for both guys and gals, so check back soon and I'll be posting what we've got.

Hugs n love with Monster Muffin kisses,
Lori.

Custom Custom Bo Bustom....

Hey Guys and Ghouls!

What a freaking B-E-A-utiful weekend! At least here in good ol' Bradford. The sun was shinin' the birds were singin' and little buds have started to pop out on the trees. Life is good. But yes, this post is not about the weather, it's about all the kick ass custom orders we've been getting lately. So here the Cole's Notes version of my weekend:

Saturday I had some beautiful ladies come by to see the first of five custom bridesmaid dresses. Great ladies and a fabulous bride make for and fun day. Never thought I be sewing emerald green gowns and love them, they are truly beautiful. Next was a maid of honour, from another wedding, getting fitted in her custom dress. Hers is a low back, strapless, heart shape neckline sexy little black dress with a white bow tie detail in the back. Too cute!

Sunday! Up and early sew sew sew, then a custom coat fitting for one of my long time wicked customers. We're making her a custom winter coat for our cold Canadian winters. Her coat is going to be so freakin cool I can't wait to show you all, you’re going to freak! Next was a fitting for a set of custom singlet’s (you know those unitard looking tights) for some wrestlers, again, can't wait to get some photos back of these two muscle men. And the final ladies of my busy weekend got measured up for a custom skirt with a matching top and her daughter is having me make a one piece bathing suit all retro 50's style. Seriously going to be sweet.

So that was it! Today I slept in til 12:30 and I don't even feel bad, what an awesome busy weekend. I hope all of you out there had a good one too!

If you want to check out some custom work of mine have a look through my online port: http://monstermuffin.com/custom%20made.htm

And if you want or omg absolutely NEED something kick ass made gimmie a shout 905-551-0821.

xox,

Lori

Mysterion the Mind Reader

Bonjour/Good Day!
So I just spent an hour talking on the phone with the incredibly funny, slightly insane but completely wickedly cool Mysterion the Mind Reader. As many of you know we made Mysterion a custom evil doctor lab coat last fall (picture below). But now we are in the works for some even more twisted and fun costumes. But for that you will have to wait....



For those of you who are not familiar with the all powerful Mysterion I highly recommend checking him out. We first crossed paths at Hotrod Hootenanny where Mysterion performed one of his fantastical mentalism demonstrations. He blew our minds so much that we had him come to our wedding where he again not only stunned us but all of our friends and family as well. Words cannot explain what this man is capable of; you will just have to check him out for yourself: www.mysterionthemindreader.com.

To the wonderfully and awe inspiring world we live in,

Lori.

Green Fever!

It's plastered over everything: "eco friendly, organic, small carbon footprint" and so on. We've never really boasted about what we do to "be green" ...until now.

Ways we are Eco Friendly:

1- Canadian Made, and always will be. This means that what you buy from us hasn't had to travel half way around our planet and was made in a sweat shop free environment.

2- Quality made, our garments are made to be worn and to last. We pre-shrink and test everything to ensure it will hold up over time and still fit properly.

3- When possible we buy form Canadian fabric mills, again the shorter the distance something needs to travel the smaller the impact on the environment.

4- Organic Fabrics. This one is new for us and not everything so far has been switched over. We are looking into making more (and soon everything) from organic/eco friendly fabics.

5- We recycle every tid bit of fabric. Smaller pieces are made into kitty beds and filled with even smaller pieces of fabric. Beds are then donated to the OSPCA for cute little animals to sleep on, aww.

We are always looking into more and better ways we can have a positive impact on the environment. We love our planet and want it to last, as I'm sure you do too.

Cheers to planet Earth!

Lori

Sink or Swim Tattoos

Bonjour!
I recently (less than 24 hours ago) got a sick tattoo at Sink or Swim by the amazing artist Jeremy Mathieson. I definitely suggest checking him and the rest of the crew out. Here’s a pic of the beginning of the masterpiece. It's not finished, so maybe it’s a faux pas to go and post pictures but I'm pretty psyched and want to share it with you guys. The band around the waist will later become a measuring tape that comes out and around a bunch of other wicked sewing related pieces.

Antoine got inked at the same time by the super talented Kris Hearn. His is the beginning of a sleeve themed off of The Never Ending Story so more pictures will be posted as it comes along. Kris did the Ivory Tower just yesterday and Jeremy did the swallow and ball and chain wedding ring awhile ago.

All the guys at Sink or Swim are not only wicked at what they do but are all round cool cats to hang out with.

Thats it for this post, now go get some ink!

xo,

Lori

The Beginning

Here we are ladies and gentlemen, the very first Monster Muffin blog post. I'm sorta going to treat this whole bloggin' idea as my online personal diary....but not too personal ;) I shall write my thoughts and happenings and spell check will help me to translate that into something you can actually read.

Seeming as this is my first post and some of you may have no idea who we are or what the hell a Monster Muffin is anyways I suppose I should start there. Monster Muffin is an alternative clothing collection owned and operated by Team Awesome aka Antoine and Lori Grondin. We design, draft, cut and sew everything in our super cute little studio in Bradford Ontario. Sometimes we send larger orders out to other Canadian design houses but for the most part we make it here. We have our ready-to-wear collection and make a shite load of custom pieces for people, everything from prom dresses to winter coats.

I suppose the nest question after "Who are you?" is "Where can a buy your stuff?" Answer: online at www.monstermuffin.com or at one of these awesome boutiques: Plastik Wrap (Toronto), Green Monkey (Newmarket) they have a few of our eco friendly shrugs and Yoga Source (Newmarket) they've got a bunch of our fun tops, skirts and even some yoga pants.

I'm not sure what else to write for my very first blog, I've got a million ideas for future posts but they don't really flow from this topic so I'll just start another post for those.

May the force be with you,
Lori.