Monday, January 16, 2012

Oh yeah! A Cake!

THAT'S what I forgot on the last post!  Funny how this blog was nothing BUT cakes until last month, and now I'm forgetting my cakes.  This was just a little cake, but it was fun and cute!  I like the applique'd look.
It's Yellow Sour Cream cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.

I really need to get another cord for my good camera.  This iPod camera just isn't cutting it.
I have a lot of stuff coming up and I'm really excited.  It seems the whole family I married into was born in the first few weeks of February!


Dino Hoodie and Fruit Leather


I followed a tutorial I found here (good Lord I love reading these crafty chick's blogs!) to make a fabulous dinosaur hoodie for Stinkie.  The hoodie was $7.50 at Walmart (geez I should do commercials for them) and the fleece was $3/1yd.  I bought one yard, but used maybe 1/8 yd.  So I spent $10.50, but could have gotten by spending $8.50.  He wore this out yesterday to the movies and dinner and got complimented incessantly on it, and when he put it on, he freaked out.  Just a fabulous article of clothing.  I am very lucky he's not a girl, or he'd be a constant crafting time suck!
  I drew a right triangle with a 3" x-axis and 1.5" y, with about 3.5" hypotenuse.  Then I folded along the x-axis and cut out the right triangle, opened up, and blam.  An isosceles with a 3" bottom.  I cut two of these out and lined the 3" side along the fold on the fleece.  The tutorial I used said to use felt, but I like the softness of fleece, it doesn't fray, and it does have enough stiffness to stand up when doubled like we're going to do.
  I measured the entire length down the center of the hood and back.  My measurement was 33".  Since my diamonds measure 3" where it counts, I cut out 11 triangles and opened them up into diamonds.  It would probably have been better to measure this first, then create the triangles to fit, but it so happened mine fit perfectly.  Then I marked the center line and pinned the diamonds into place like so:

Sewing through the hood was harder, since there's like 3 layers of fabric, plus the fleece, plus a hem.  But I got through it, and the rest was a breeze.  Just sew down the middle of the diamonds in one line.  Backstitch and cut your thread.  Then close up all your diamonds to make triangles and sew them closed with a 1/8" allowance (or you could do a zigzag around the edges...but you don't need to).  I also pinned the triangles closed before stitching with just one pin in the middle.  It seemed to help hold everything together, as pins tend to do. :)

So anyway, that's it, and he LOVES it.
A friend and I were talking about organic fruit ropes and snacks, and how spendy they are, and we both decided they could be made at home, from real fruit, much more cheaply.  I didn't take any photos.  I just did it.  Stinkie (who is 4) helped me prep the strawberries.  When I say this, I don't mean he just rinsed them and I helped him chop one or two. I mean, he really helped me!  He is great with a knife, very careful.  This was the first time I let him really use a knife as it is meant to be used.  I was standing right there next to him, pitting the strawberries, but I could have been on Mars and he would have been fine.  I just can't believe it.  He cut uniform pieces and didn't risk cutting off his fingers.  He cut off ALL the green and white at the top without going too far into the red.  How cool is he?
I followed a few different tutorials (here and here).  I bought 1lb strawberries and 1 apple.  Peel, core, dice the apple.  Chop the strawberries.  You should have about 4c fruit.  Then put it into a saucepan with 1/2c water.  Boil, then simmer covered for about 15 minutes.  Add 2T or so of honey (to your personal taste) and 1.5t lemon juice.  Make sure it's mixed, then use a blender or food processor or Magic Bullet like I did to puree it.
I have a food dehydrator, but you can do it in the oven.  Line a jelly roll pan with plastic wrap (good stuff) and tape into place, the dry it in the oven at like 160 for 8 hours.  If you use a dehydrator, line it as smoothly as possible, taping into place and making sure you cut and tape for the hole in the center.  Once it's all smooth and level, pour the whole pan in.  It will spread easily.  Don't let it dry too much.  When it's done, you can cut off the edges (they are probably crispy dry) and roll it up still connected to the plastic wrap.  I used a sharp knife to cut the wrapped log into 1" wide rolls.  Instant fruit rollup.  Easy to make, and SO good, made from real ingredients!  I love that Stinkie helped make his own snacks.  I think it's really healthy for a kid to get involved like that.
I did make a produce bag out of a t-shirt as well, following this link, more or less.  It is really cool.  I'm thinking of making a ton of stuff and trying my hand at the Farmer's Market this year.  I think these bad dogs would sell like hotcakes there.  I can make 2-3 of them out of a $1 thrift store t-shirt and they are SO cute.  I could sell them for $1/piece, or even .75, and still make a profit.  Mass production of these would be very fast!
  I keep thinking I did something else I am forgetting.  Dang.  Guess I'll get it next time.  Long days and pleasant nights to everyone!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Coolest Lamp in the Whole Wide World

I just finished this sucker and let me tell you, I am INFATUATED with it.  What a beautiful and simple piece of decor.  I followed the tutorial here.

First, you get a great big pink bouncy ball (I guess blue would work but pink gives it a little something), about 150 yards of thickish hemp twine (the tutorial calls for 400 yards for the ball I did, but I skimped and it was fine), 2 bottles of Aleene's Tacky glue (I liked the white stuff better than the clear stuff because I could see it going on), a bottle lamp kit (these are cheaper at Walmart in the hardware section than at Lowe's by about $4), a hook for the ceiling (Walmart sells these cool self-holding hooks but you could use any ol' hook and anchor system),  a permanent marker (mine was red!), a garbage bag or plastic Food Lion bags, and an extension cord, and a basketball pump needle.  Total cost: $22 without the light bulb, marker, bags, needle, and extension cord.  These babies sell for $80 so it's a steal!
Mark a circle with something circular using the marker.  Center it on the valve.  I used a tupperware type lid.  Make sure it's big enough to comfortably reach your hand in.

Get ready to get really messy.  Put a dime sized amount of glue onto your fingers and pull the hemp string through your fingers, coating it really well with glue.  Start winding the string all around the ball, keeping the string out of the circular area.  This is really a zen effort.  You get into the flow after a while.  I was really messy at this point so there's no pictures.  Anyway, after one 75 yard ball of twine, it looked like this:

Recognize the photo from last blog entry?  That's because it's the same.  Ha.  Anyway, I let it dry overnight. This is because I didn't buy enough twine and I had to go back to the store for more, but I would do this again because it made an awesome framework to continue on.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to wrap 75 yards of string around this ball.  So it was nice to have a little break too.  Once the glue is dry, you can push in on the ball and the glue doesn't stick to it.  It makes this awesome little crackling sound as the twine and ball separate.  It is really cool.  I can't explain it very well, but it was very satisfying.  Anyway, then you put the other 75 yards around it and it looks like this:

I took this picture after starting to deflate it, but you get the general idea.  After about 6 hours drying, I felt comfortable enough to start to deflate the ball.  Insert the basketball needle into the valve like so

and let it drain.  After a while you need to start squeezing the air out

Then you can pull the ball out entirely and it looks like this!

The bottle lamp fixture comes with instructions that aren't great for this application.  Since this will be hanging, I put the cord through the top of the lamp which I marked like this:

when I was wrapping the ball still.  Then I assembled the socket, using the large washer part as a stopper on the inside of the pendant shade.  Plop in a lightbulb!  Then hang from the ceiling by the hook and loop the cord around once.  That will be strong enough to hold it.  My cord situation still needs work.  I'm thinking of wrapping the cord in hemp like a necklace or something, and securing it more up towards the ceiling before going down the corner.  Suggestions are welcome!

Tiny little craft

I don't know that you'd even consider this a "real" craft, but I had a little spot open on the wall in-between some picture frames.  I had leftover stones from the candle sconce project, so I took a string and hot glued on 15 stones in graduated colors, then put a screw in the wall, tied the string on, and hot glued the top rock to the screw to cover it.  Here it is:

Stinkie loves to mess with it.  Weirdo.  Here's how it looks on my wall:
My husband has a thing for those photo collage frames.  See my candle sconce up there?  My little heart flutters every time I see them.
I finished another little scrapbook paper wreath for the upstairs bathroom and put it up.  Now there are two!  I am going to wait until I get that wall where I want it, then make a post for that.
I am also working on a hemp pendant lamp for hanging above my huge comfy chair in my living room.  I need to go out and get the rest of the stuff for it today.  Here's a teaser:
Long Days and Pleasant Nights, Everyone!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Dollar Store Stone Candle Sconces

Hi!
  I love this new thing.  I used the tutorial found here.

I bought everything I  needed piecemail throughout the week.  Budgeting all these crafts is a difficult task!  Figure 5-8 bucks for some of them and it really adds up when you're working with $20/week total play money.  Sidenote here, I love Dave Ramsey.  Love him.  Budgeting has never been so fun and rewarding.
So anyway!  Back to the crafting!  I bought some clear tacky glue from Wally World and had my wonderful hubster cut blocks (7"x5.5" and 3.5"x5.5") out of the old shelving we used to have up under the TV.  I used the same spray paint I used for the lamp to transform the white laminated particle board into a pretty bronze.  I have a towel I use to spray paint on.  I really love the little circles and squares left white after spraying around the base of something.  The lines are so crisp and clean!
I attached the pieces with L-brackets and put picture hanger saw tooth thingies on the back (SO technical here!)  Hubby and I watched an episode of Breaking Bad while I glued on the dollar store rocks mosaic-style.  I let them dry overnight and couldn't wait this morning to hot glue the little dollar store candle holders on them.  They are too cute!  I wanted to put one on either side of the doorway from the kitchen to the living room, but in the interest of brevity and not wanting to move the large mirror on the other side of the doorway, I just arrange them around the photo frames.

Lit up:

I am in love!  I am going to make more of these.  Total cost for BOTH (everything except the paint and wood) was $5, candles included!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

A Cake and a Flop

Yesterday I made something...unusual.  I found some great ideas off CraftGawker and Pintrest that I wanted to try out, so I chose a lamp that I really liked but didn't fit our style anywhere:

And decided to alter it.  I bought 1/2 yard of cream and brown fabric and cut them into 2" strips.  I like to fold the fabric over and over so I don't have to cut straight for very long to make each strip.  They ended up looking like this:

I cut off the beads from the top of the lamp, then I started sewing down the middle of each strip to create a ruffle.  9 stitch tension and 4 (longest) stitch length.  This went really fast.  Then I hot glued the stitched part to the lamp, starting at the bottom and alternating colors.  This is where I think I went wrong, for it ended up looking like something from the 70's traveled forward in time and threw up on the lamp:

And lit up it looks like this:

The colors are meh.  I am very dissatisfied.  I wish I had randomized the colors, bought two more colors, and instead of doing straight lines, let them meander all over the lamp.  I did fray the edges of the fabric strips to try giving it a little more appeal, but it's just ugly and I'm feeling down about it.


The bright point is the cake I made for a very special little boy in my life who turned 1!  His Mama and Daddy decided on a balloons/rainbow theme and pretty much left the design to me.  I wanted it to be special, so I made the inside a rainbow and didn't tell anyone until it was cut.  The little smash cake was rainbow inside too!  It was fun and looked like this:

The inside looked like this:

To achieve the look, I made up a batch of White Almond Sour Cream cake (WASC on Cakecentral.com) that was 1400 or so grams in weight.  I put 200g into each of 7 bowls and mixed in a LOT of color.  I wanted it to be very vibrant.

I put 100g of each color into 2-8" rounds.  I measured these by using the tare function on my awesome digital scale.  I let it settle naturally between each color so it spread well and more evenly.  Next time, I am going to coat the entire pan with the red and use more red than any other color so it shows up more, and go less and less as I get closer to the center.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, after I shaved the top to make it level, it looked like this:

I was so happy with how pretty and loud the colors came out.  Yay!  Happy Birthday little buddy!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Updo on an Ugly Lamp

Today I went by Wally World and grabbed some paint sample strips and bronze/brass spray paint so I could re-do one of our living room lamps.  I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  I might scrap the whole project and make a ruffle lamp instead.
The lamp looked like this

And now it looks like this

And sometimes it looks like this:

The shade was just a really fugly old smoker's home yellow trapezoid.  To make the four panels I used, I used spray adhesive to adhere the paint samples onto printer paper, then traced the right size and cut four.  I used spray adhesive to put the panels onto the lamp shade, and that was a nightmare.  Next time I'm just doing hot glue.  I love hot glue.  So anyway, after the debacle of the spray adhesive, I glued on ribbons onto the corner seams.  I do like it, but I don't think my hubby is going to be too hip on it.  We'll see.
*Update* When I wrote out this blog post, I didn't know if I really loved it.  Since coming home to a dark house and being able to see it lit up in person, I'm stoked about it and so is the Hubster.  It stays.  It's just so stinking quirky and artsy!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Paper and Felt Wreath

I wanted (needed?  Maybe) something to put in the upstairs bathroom.  It's in shades of blue grey, so I wanted something that could pop but that would at the same time look fancy schmancy.  I took a few ideas I'd found on the interwebs herehere and here and smooshed them together using stuff I had lying around the house.  The result was too cute!

It's pretty small (about 8" diameter in all) for wall art, but I am thinking this is my prototype and I'm going to make a collection of these for the large wall space available in the bathroom.  I might put a mirror in the center of the largest one...I'm just not sure.  Maybe a mirror in all of them.
Anyway, that's the craft for today.  I did have a craft that didn't come out.  I tried making a re-useable swiffer cloth but it was too small to fit.  I had to make another craft, I couldn't end the day in disappointment.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Most Supreme Awesome Kid Craft Evar.

Today I did a few little things, but the one I'm the most excited about is this shirt my kiddo painted for me.

He's 4.  He did great, huh?  He was so proud.  And he knows how to make his Mama happy when he dresses himself in the notebook shirt I made him...3 days now he wants to wear it.  I let him wear it in the house after the first day, but I don't have the heart to tell him he can't wear it yet.

We do crafty stuff together pretty often.  Today I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said a shirt.  So I asked who it would be for...he said "You!"  I asked what he wanted to put on it, and he said "Daddy loves Alesha".  OMG.  Seriously too cute, this kid is.  I drew the outline on freezer paper and asked if it was right (it was), cut out the letters, and ironed it on.  Then I let him paint to his heart's content.  I was highly suspicious of the outcome, but I really love this!  The shirt he painted was an old shirt with paint smears on it from painting my kitchen anyway.
I think we are going to be making a lot of these in the near future.  How cool.  The possibilities are endless.  Christmas presents actually painted by him next year that are wearable and cute?!  That he will get a kick out of doing?  My dear, I hope I have a crafting buddy in the making.  He was THRILLED when I pulled off the freezer paper to reveal words. Seeing him get that same kick out of this that I do was inspiring.

I started a craft today using toilet paper rolls.  I found 7 of them and a paper towel roll, cut them into 1" sections, and hot glued them together.  As I *ahem* procure more empty rolls, I am going to add to this.  Once I'm happy with the outcome, I think I will spray paint it some good color for my living room.  We got this cool new wall art for Christmas from my In-Laws and it's starting to make me feel inspired.  I want to do more.
I am not at all sure what I am going to do next, but one thing is certain:  I've decided I love being a crafty person.  There's a huge satisfaction for me in creating.  Combine that with the infinite ideas presented by the internet and I'm hooked for life.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas Crafting and Channeling my Inner Martha

I use Stumbleupon a lot for finding crafts.  I use it the way people use Pintrest, which I have never really gotten keen on.  I just keep folders and bookmarks to delineate the different types of crafts.
So, let's just get to it, eh?
Bacon Vodka in the making!
Label I made for the Bacon Vodka, using an old
Seagram's bottle.
Coffee Cup Cozies.  LOVE these!
The bacon vodka sounds gross, right?  It even looked gross while it was extracting pure bacon awesomeness into the alcohol.  It took 3 weeks, but when it was suitable to be imbibed, boy howdy was I happy!  It makes awesome Bloody Marys and I even used it for a bacon chocolatini!  The bottle was an up-cycled Seagram's 7 container.  I used a homemade Mod Podge to seal on the front and back labels.  The back label is completely customized for my brother-in-law.  I put all the makings for Bloody Marys into a basket for his gift.  It was SO fun.
Another style of Cozy.
The coffee cozies were frustrating at first to figure out how to sew, but after the first few ones, I got better.  As with most things.  I love using these and I keep one on me at all times.  It makes me feel so trendy and cute...both things I seem to be lacking in day to day existence.
The tile coasters were time consuming but very gratifying.  I used Mod Podge to seal the pictures on, and sprayed them with resin to keep them sealed tight.  They are great because it's simple to customize them perfectly for whomever you wish!
The jewelry satchels seemed to confuse everyone until I explained to them.  You know when you go somewhere for a few days and you want to bring your necklaces, so you toss them in a ziplock or just into a smaller pouch in your suitcase, and they get all tangled and it's a total pain to separate them?  Well, these satchels have 8 pockets inside that are the perfect size for your necklace.  One necklace or bracelet into each, toss some earrings or whatever into the center, and tie it up tight.  No tangles, no mess, and it's TOO stinking cute!  Well, at least I think it is!
Oh, the freezer paper stencil shirts!  I am totally in love with these.  Freezer paper is CHEAP, and you can cut a stencil and iron it into place wherever you want.  I made the Steal Your Face shirt for my hubby using bleach spray instead of paint.  You can tell I goofed a little, but he doesn't mind.  I made a few other shirts for him in this manner but I haven't taken pictures yet.  Maybe next post, I will.  I love customizing clothing.
The Angry Birds were my favorite gift this year.  Stinkie loved them.  I made them during his naps and at nighttime.  Total cost?  Maybe $10.  Maybe.  And I'm totally mom of the year now.  He is getting to be a really good aim, practicing in the morning and night on knocking Pig off his dresser with his Birds.  THEY ARE SO ANGRY!!  I was giggling the whole time I made them.
Yeah, my kiddo is too cute.

I made some other things that I didn't get pictures of.  I made a set of candlestick holders out of candy canes and ribbon (and of course, hot glue).  I made a few scarves that never got pictures taken of them.  I think I am now fascinated by felt flowers.  I am having such a superb time with it all!  I also made my husband an applique'd handprint canvas for the wall, with our three handprints.  He seriously thought it was so precious that he nearly cried.
Yesterday I made a little crazy paper toy thingy (I know, right?  So graphic, you can almost see it), a notebook paper lined t-shirt for The Boy using painter's tape and paint, and a Yoda snowflake.  I really need to take pictures of this stuff.  Today I didn't craft anything.
I have a cake this weekend for a first birthday for the cutest little dude.  YAY!
Till next time, internet warriors.
Grateful Dead album cover tile coasters.
Emotions tile coasters.  Love, Anger, Joy, and Grief.
African animals coasters
Jewelry Travel Satchel.  See the little pockets?
Jewelry satchel all closed up.
Freezer paper stencil/bleach t-shirt for my hubby!
Laptop bag for myself...I had to make something for me!
One of my t-shirt scarves.  I made several.  I love them.
No-Sew Tutu for a Little in my life!
Felt Angry Birds for my kiddo.  He loves them, and they are
good for working on aim!
Wastebasket made out of magazines and hot glue.
Sandwich/snack holders made out of old milk jugs.