Confessions of a Project-aholic

2011 Project Wrap-up

2012-01-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

Before I start making my lists of all the projects I want to get done in 2012 (I know, you all already did that- I'm a little slow...)
I thought I should hurry and post a few projects that I actually finished in 2011, and just hadn't gotten around to posting.
So, my new couch came with these pillows that I thought were hideous:
So I made new ones: I actually used the old pillows as inserts for the new ones. The big one in the middle has cording piping around it. I was kinda proud of myself for figuring that one out.
(Project #35)

I also finished this Roman Shade window/door covering for my daughter's room. (Project #36) The lucky girl has her own balcony, but the builder did not include the doors when we got blinds put in through out the house.
She wanted orange. I had a hard time with that until we found this pretty fabric. You can't see in the picture, but it actually has little sparkles all over it. I thought if I gathered it for some rousing, (or is it ruching?) it would look like a fancy dress. Much more feminine than all the other orange fabric she was trying to talk me into.
I lined it with black-out fabric for privacy, and so her room won't bake in our hot sunshine.
Confession: I pulled the strings up to take a picture of the shade when it is up. I broke the string. I haven't told my daughter yet. I will fix it when I get around to making a coordinating window treatment for the other window in her room.

Lockers Project #34

2012-01-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

Before the Big Move last year, we had been searching for a new dresser for my son. An evening spent at all 5 of the furniture stores in the town we lived showed us that:
1. There was no dresser for sale for less than $500.
2. All the dressers for sale were cheap, with hard to open drawers.
3. We didn't see 1 dresser for sale made out of real wood.
4. Maybe we didn't really want a new dresser after all?

Then I talked to my friend, Aubrey, about it, and she had seen pictures on a blog of a locker in a boys bedroom.

hmmm... a locker? I started calling 2nd hand stores, and was sent to the flea market. By word of mouth, I found a guy who said he had some in a storage unit. He said if I came back that Saturday, he'd have some.

Well, they were pretty beat-up, with lots of spider webs. But, I wouldn't be a project-a-holic if I wasn't cursed with that ability to see the potential in something like that. $30 for a section with 6 lockers. I had to at least try.

Then I got pregnant, we moved, blah, blah, blah....

My husband finally painted them when he had some time off. We bought a paint zoom paint sprayer, and he loved it. Can't wait to try it on some other projects.
I'm really disappointed that I can't find the before pictures. They were bad. Picture that weird not-quite-brown, but not-quite-gray color with lots of rust.

We moved it into the hallway, and since I don't have a mud room, this is where everyone gets to hang their backpacks, jackets, and keep their soccer and dance gear. It's great.

Colors: black and Valspar Martian Green. It probably glows in the dark, but I haven't tried that out yet. I think if you're doing something metal- go with a bold color.

Magnet Boards re-done (project #33)

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Continuing my 2011 project wrap-up, I remembered these magnet boards. We just hung them on the wall. in my daughters room. Soon I will post her bedroom when it's all finished.
These were some red magnet boards I had in the kitchen of my old home. They didn't work in my new home. I almost sent them to Good Will, but then thought that they might work in my daughter's room- if they were repainted first.
So, I taped them and then turned the project entirely over to my daughter. Our tastes could not be more different. I'm pretty conservative. She likes bold, bright, and Bling-in! (Although her style is definitely growing on me!)

One lime green... and one hot pink.

Nursing Cover- Project #31

2012-01-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

So 2012 is well upon us, and I am still scrambling to finish posting all of my 2011 projects. That's actually probably a good thing- it means I got some stuff done!!!
So, just before Christmas I made this gift for my expectant sister-n-law (doesn't expectant sound more sophisticated than pregnant?
I had made one for myself about a year ago, but never really loved the fabric that I chose. That can be a big issue, because it really becomes part of your daily apparel. So, this time around I chose a much better fabric.

I did the strap in a coordinating fabric. Just to made it more interesting. Making these nursing covers was the first time I ever used corset boning. That stuff is cool. I think there's a lot you can do with it.
I also added a ruffle to the bottom (I'm really hoping she gets a girl- that's part of why we're going all frilly- but if not, she's the one wearing it, right?)
Oh, and I added a pocket to the inside, so she can put nursing pads, pacifiers, loose change, whatever she wants in it.
And since I have an embroidery machine- I sort of have this rule- everything gets a name. Ya, it didn't need it, it's just my rule.

Confession: I was hurrying to finish this and get it in the mail so it would get there by Christmas. I couldn't find the camera, so I asked my sis-n-law to take pictures. Glad I did because she is such a better photographer than I am!
PLUS- I get a cute picture of my adorable nephew wearing it!!!
Oh, ya, and I sewed him a little batman/superman cape (with name- of course), so let's call that Project #32!

Little Monster Party

2011-12-31T16:38:00.001-08:00

That 1st year always seems to go so fast! For my 4th child, we celebrated her 1st birthday 2 days after Christmas! I was a little worn out (aren't all moms after Christmas?), but to me it's important that we do something special to mark this milestone.
I decided to try and see if I could do everything for the party with stuff I already had on-hand. It was easier to do than I thought. I picked a little monster theme. It wasn't my original idea, I have seen a few of these in bloggerville. But, it was simple and cute. So, the invites were made with scrap paper and pink felt. We just had a few friends over.

The Invitation:

We still had all our Christmas things up, but I wanted something that looked like a birthday party, and not just like Christmas (I think this will be a challenge her whole life- we've never had a December birthday in our family before!) So, I had left over green stuff from this Alien party
and pink stuff left from this Princess party so we combined them. My kids put eye balls on the balloons and tissue puff balls, but they are facing the other way, so you can't see them in this picture.

The Food:

For the food we had a chicken soup, veggies, and cheese ball and crackers, and these little monster sandwiches above. (Sorry, I'm a terrible photographer- no close-ups!) We cut the cheese jaggedly to look like teeth, and the eye balls are olives stuffed with cream cheese tooth-picked to the top. They turned out cute. Also some fruit with a "monster fluff" fruit dip (marshmallow cream and cream cheese with a few drops of neon green food color) I made Oreo truffle pops and dipped them in green chocolate, then added mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips to them to be the monster eyes. Some had 1 eye, some 2 eyes, and some 3 eyes.
It's best to stick them in a block of Styrofoam, but I didn't have any, so I wrapped some empty cardboard boxes in wrapping paper, and stuck the pops in it. It worked great, and I think the pink boxes looked really cute on the table.
The polka dots tied all the party theme together, and it was really easy to add eye balls to about anything. Even the oranges on the fruit tray had mini marshmallows and whole cloves stuck in them to look like monster eyes. My daughter donned her polka-dot dress, and doesn't look like a monster at all! (I know- she's adorable!)

The Cake:

The cake was really simple. I used 2 6" pans, and 1/2 of my ball cake (one pan). I made each layer a different color to make it fun. After it was all stacked, I used my huge star tip and just piped the pink frosting on so it looked like crazy monster fur (super easy!) I forgot to set aside icing for the eyes (I had made it all pink!) So I just cut a marshmallow with scissors, and stuck 2 Jr. Mints on. Worked great!
The funny thing was, although my daughter had fun blowing out the candle, she actually doesn't like sweet stuff (except for apples) so, she didn't want to eat any of the cake. Instead she had a great time feeding spoonfuls of frosting to my friend. (I was holding her- ere no pictures)

The Pinata:

That big pink furry monster on the far left is actually a pinata! It was really fun and easy to make. We blew up a balloon (actually 2 so my kids could each work on their own), and used this recipe for the paper mache paste:

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon salt

Just mix it together, and dip your strips in it, squeeze the extra paste off between your fingers, then lay the strips on the balloon.

We only did 2 layers on each one... it really needs like 5, but we were 1st timers at this!

They hung to dry overnight (they need a few days), and yes, we couldn't resist making lots of jokes about out balls hanging over the dining table!
When we filled her with goodies, she ripped, hence the duct tape fix, and the pretty bow to cover the duct tape!
Hope you enjoyed seeing our little thrown together monster party! Since we did it so frugally, with stuff we had on hand, we were able to spend more on the birthday gifts!
I'm linked to:

Snitch Cake and little Snitches

2011-11-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

ok, so while I'm waiting for the ten comments from the previous post, I thought I'd sneak this one in about the cakes.

This was the picture I used as a guide:

This is the cake we had for the party:

I'm really kinda proud of myself for getting that gold color so spot-on. It was acheived using a combination of cocoa powder, yellow, and orange food coloring, and what really made it taste good was some Vanilla, nut, and Butter extract (the same stuff we used to make the butter beer)

The cake was a little small for the crowd we had, but we were feeding them so much other stuff, and loading them up with candy, so I didn't feel too bad giving them small pieces of cake.

Inside the cake, I had put a plastic Easter Egg, with a "resurrection stone" (a ring pop with the plastic ring part taken off) and a key to unlock my daughter's bedroom where "Honey Dukes" was located.

Being the huge Harry Potter fan that she is, my daughter also wanted the treat she took to school to also be Harry Potter themed. There is a boy in her class with the same birthday as her, so she wanted to do something besides cupcakes.

I had seen a recipe for Oreo Truffles on this blog, and thought this would be the perfect chance to make them. After we made them, we wrapped them in gold candy wraps (bought at Hobby Lobby- Wilton brand) and put the white feathers in for the wings.

we even boxed up a few to take to some of my friends who helped with the party.

I'm linked here at Inspiration for Celebration

Hogwarts Party part 1: Invitations, Decorations, Diagon Alley

2011-10-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

We sent out letters just like we did for the last Hogwarts Party with the same owl cookies. (This was when I couldn't find my camera battery charger, so we just took pictures with my husbands phone) I have seen much cuter owl cookies out there, but we had a lot to do, so we just did the same ones. The green ink, Hogwarts emblemed letters got a lot of kids pretty excited...
We had 23 kids, but I think 2 showed up later.
the little girl in the front on left is my 4 year old daughter, wearing an old pillow case so she could be a house elf.
Diagon Alley was accessed through the Leaky Caldron.
I made my appearance as temporary head master, and instructed all the students that they will need to purchase: a quill, book, and wand. No animals today! And, their accounts at Gringotts would be charged for all their expenses.

My daughter tapped the bricks, and I pressed the garage door opener in my pocket.
confession: the brick drop cloth was supposed to go up with the garage when it was opened, but we ran out of time to get it working. Apparantly we don't have any duct tape on hand. So, it just opened behind the drop cloth and the kids walked around. They didn't seem to mind.

Diagon Alley:

After the bricks were tapped, the kids walked into this:

The empty table actually held the wands on a silver tray. They were caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel wands, and so I had kept them in the fridge until just before the party... yes, it's still that hot here!

The books and other items were displayed here. Not sure if you can read it, but the glass box says, "Invisible Spider. Caution: extremely poisonous" (it was empty)
We also had a few rats and snakes around.

We also had a Vanishing Closet. (which hopefully you will see in a later post, all painted and nice) we put a few little yellow and white feathers at the bottom.
This is my friend, Maria, who also taught the Potions class. She told the students that she did a potion wrong and grew another head! (That's the vanishing closet on the left)

I guess my daughter decided to risk disappearing for a moment...

This was a combined party for my son who was turning 11, and my daughter who turned 10.
Confession: I bought fabric to make 2 sets of wizard robes. I only got one finished. Luckily my son is a good sport, and was just as happy wearing his new US soccer jersey:)
The kids had lots of fun exploring all the cool things in Diagon Alley.

With supplies in hand, students made their way to:

Platform 9 3/4

This was hung from the balcony above the front entrance. Each student ran through, and then we made our own train (Hogwarts Express) on the other side before entering Hogwarts (the front door)
Here is the view looking from the front door.

After I get 10 comments, I'll post about the Sorting Ceremony and the Classes, but here are some of the decorations for you to see:

We had a house banner for each of the 4 houses, which hung from the ice cream parlor:

And we had all 4 house crests above the house cup displayed here:

A few more signs put around the house:

I couldn't get my portraits to talk and move, but we included some pictures of famous Hogwarts students:I still owe my son a game of this:

We also had some chains and an Azkaban wanted poster of Sirius Black, and lots of posters all over the house. Like "Cupboard under the Stairs" under the stairs, a "Privet Drive 4" outside, and on one of the doors we had an eyeball stuck on (Mad-eye's, of course) and on the bathroom mirrors we had written: "Moaning Myrtle was here"
I had 4 friends come over the day before to help get all the decorations up... it took all of us, but it was fun.

Princess Cinderella Cake

2011-10-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the inspiration for the cake: Look at the carriage in the bottom right hand corner:
That's what we decided to make the cake look like
The white pumpkin carriage, with curly golden wheels. My daughter also wanted a little Cinderella doll cake. We used a polly pocket doll (who had already lost her legs anyway)

As usual, I was down to the last minute on the cake. I tend to do that a lot. I get so busy with all the other preparations for the party, I don't give myself enough time to really do the cake well. So, I didn't make the fondant in advance like I should have so that the wheels could have hardened more. And late at night, knowing that the party was the next morning, I was trying to put on the finishing touches. Try to ignore how I could NOT get those icing loops to look right AT ALL. (Note to self: No making cakes after bed time)

I made the skirt for the doll out of the Pampered Chef 1 cup glass things. They are bigger than cupcakes, so are perfect sized. You could probably use a tea cup if you didn't have those. I had made 2 so I would have an extra. I used the extra one, after dousing with chocolate frosting, to put a castle on. This was left from a cake my oldest daughter had a few years ago (yes, I save those crazy things.)

I wanted to make it look like the castle was in the distance:
So we put the castle on another cake stand with chocolate cupcakes, and put it behind it. (the slipper is also from a polly pocket)

So, if you look with a cake decorators eye, you will see that I made a lot of mistakes...
Now close your eyes, imagine that you are a 4 year old little girl... then open them and look at the cake again:
See, it's perfect!
We served the pumpkin coach to all the guests, and the doll cake got to be her very own.

Princess Party Games

2011-09-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

(See Previous Post for Decorations and Party Favors)

The Games for the party were simple, age-appropriate, and most importantly: Princessy

When each girl arrived, along with her Princess hat, wand, and skirt, she also had a princess crown to decorate with sticker gems, and color with markers.

We used those crowns for a fun game of "Pin the Crown on the Princess"

We decided that there was a tie, so two Princesses got to choose a jewel from the Royal Treasury (These were ring pops that I had re-packaged in clear cellophane bags and silver ribbon)

The poster was made from this picture that I took to Sam's Club and had made into a 20x30 inch poster. I had the option to put text on it. All I could think of was her name, and age 4. Later I thought that I should have had it say "Pin the Crown on the Princess"
It cost about $8.00 I think.

We had also used this same picture for her invitations. (Which I can't put a picture of because my camera battery charger is lost...)

Funny story: The dad of one of the girls who was invited went up to my niece at church on Sunday and said, "I saw your picture on an invitation. You looked so pretty all dressed up like Cinderella!" She just stared at him. I guess they do look a lot alike. (She's the one on the left. Other cousin is on the right)

The next game was my daughter's favorite: Duck, duck, goose. Except we played it, "Frog, frog, Prince!"

Then we tried to play "Princess may I?" (just like Mother May I). I was the princess, although around these parts, I'm usually referred to as "The Queen"

The only ones who really understood it were the 5 year olds... and it was getting hot, so we went back inside and played "Musical Thrones" to the sound of Ariel singing.

The girls had a great time. With those classic games (I remember playing them at parties when I was a little girl) you really don't need expensive party venues.

PRINCESS PARTY with (#28) Sixteen Princess Tutus and (#29) about that many Princess Party Hats & (#30) A Happy Birthday Banner

2011-09-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned 4 this past month, and wanted a Princess Party. Our theme was a pretty generic pink princessy theme, but also a little bit Cinderella.
And it was full of lots of fun projects. I try not to go overboard on birthdays and spend a lot of money, but we love birthday parties in this family, so we also try to make it special. I think I found a pretty good balance here.
I'll start with the tutu skirts I made. I made 16...

That's right- 16!

These are super easy, and thank goodness, because I had a crazy week (kids started back to school, I taught a Relief Society class on gardening, went to 3 doctors appointments, baked a cake, a bunch of cookies, made princess hats, and oh, ya! I threw a Princess Party with 13 little 4 year old princesses!)
We put them over each chair. I had 3 little tables, but had to borrow some little chairs to make it 4-year old sized.

These just took 4 yards of pink tule, 5 bunches of pink flowers from Walmart, and 1 purple lei from Dollar Tree, (This would have been the best to use for all the flowers, but they only had 1 in a color that would work for this) and 8 yards of elastic.
Total Cost: $13.85
Total time: About 4-5 hours.
Totally Worth It!

I got RSVP's for a total of 13 girls, so we had a few extra, in case some showed up who forgot to RSVP.

The hats were made (after playing around with paper to get the pattern right) with poster board, stapled and hot-glued together. Then I embroidered each Princesses name on pink felt, and glued it onto the poster cone. Then I glued tule in the top, and elastic at the bottom.

I'm happy to report that not a single hat got broken during the party. The only thing that broke was the wands I bought from Target. I guess they were made in China. Definitely not as well made as the skirts and hats.
After each girl found her chair with her hat, wand, and skirt, they got to try them on in front of the magic mirror.

The other craft project I did was this "Happy Birthday" Banner. I had made it a few months ago for a friends surprise birthday party (it has more close-up pictures, and some fun ones about how we moved the furniture around), and meant, and still mean to embellish it with some ribbons and stuff (and then take some better pictures for you!)
When I made it, I did it double sided so that when it wasn't a birthday, I could hang it in the little girls playroom for just a cute year-round decoration. It really works, since I used the scraps from the toy kitchen I made, the girls aprons, and the baby's quilt and bumpers, so it all matches!
The only other decorations we used were a few pink balloons, and a Princess poster for a game.

Fun With Fondant

2011-08-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

So, my friend Sara taught 2 more cake classes before she moved. One was on how to make fondant and cover a cake with it.
This is the cake I did that night:
It's really not very impressive, but I was getting so tired, I stopped caring. That's when I knew I should just go home and go to bed (I don't do well at these night classes)
The next week we learned to make figures with fondant. I made this little bumble bee guy:
He actually turned out so cute, I feel bad that the pictures don't show it.
My husband says it's time for a new camera. I agree, except that I want a really nice one, and then I want to take a photography class to learn how to use it well, and how to edit the pictures I take on photoshop, and well, I just don't have time for that...

So just take my word for it. This little buzzer is cute!

(#27) A Brick Wall to Beat your Head Against...

2011-08-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! This turned out big. It's roughly the size of my garage door. (Which is intentional) What are we doing with a cloth version of a brick wall? Here's a clue The paper ones don't hold up, so we decided to go with a cloth one. A drop cloth that is.
We started with a big drop cloth, 2 sponges, and 5 little bottles of paint.
A little hint: sponges and drop cloths absorb a lot of paint. We finished 1 small corner before we ran out of paint. At $1 a bottle, it was going to cost me at least $30 in paint...
So I went to Lowe's and they color matched the paint, I bought the cheapest flat paint they had, which was about $11/gallon. We used almost the whole gallon.
I used my electric knife (that fun wedding gift that I keep forgetting I have) to cut the sponges to the size of a brick. It was so easy. We didn't mark anything, just kept eye balling it to make sure it was straight, and left about 1/2 inch space between each brick.
Just dipped the sponge in paint and pressed it lightly onto the cloth.
It's so easy, a 9 year old could do it (and she did most of it!)

Besides the one the size of the garage, I also did 2 sections 3 foot-by-9 foot that I then sewed together so that they overlap. I also sewed a rod pocket into the top of each one. Hopefully that will help us to hang them when the time comes... look for a post the end of September to see what we do with them...

Another Wedding Quilt! (no. 26)

2011-08-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

So here it was just before we left on the 2 hour drive to the wedding:
(I still had the binding left to do! I had finished all the machine sewing the night before I flew to Utah for the wedding. I only had 1 small corner left to hand sew while we drove!)
I finished the last stitch just as we pulled into Cache Valley! I know, it's cutting it close, but that's how I roll... and at least it was finished before the wedding!
What a beautiful bride! How fun to have a picture of her with the quilt!

And this seems to make it extra special: having their name and wedding date embroidered on the back.

and here's one more picture of me with my baby and the bride:
and now for the confession: Remember that the reason for this blog was to help me start finishing all those un-finished projects I had? Well, this was one of them. I had started it 3 years ago for my brothers wedding. I finished the blocks, but realized I wasn't going to be able to finish it before the wedding. I decided to give money instead, and since I had that brothers name for Christmas that year, I planned to give it to them then. Sadly, the marriage did not last until Christmas, and this quilt has been waiting in the fabric closet since then. So, it was already half done, just waiting to be a wedding quilt...

Never Give Up!

2011-07-14T08:31:00.001-07:00

So the other night I hosted a cake decorating class at my house. I go to church with a professional cake decorator (below, on right- you can see her work here) who is about to move! So, we had talked for months about doing some classes, and it was now or never!
Only one other person came, my friend, Isabel (who is wonderful because she holds the baby and rocks her to sleep) I have decided that this is the perfect size class. If it was any bigger, I never would have been able to master making butter cream roses!

That's right! I finally mastered the butter cream rose! I have taken many classes before, been taught, and practiced till my hand hurt, but could not make a frosting rose. As usual, I tried, and tried, and all my roses got dumped back into the frosting bowl. I finally said, "See, I just can't do this!"
I realized as soon as the words were out of my mouth that I sounded just like my 9-year old daughter when she practices the piano... don't know where she gets it from.
That only brought out the Peruvian stubborn streak in my teacher (I actually don't know if people from Peru are stubborn since she is the only one I know) and she would not let me quit (thank- you Sara!) until I got it.
She taught me to do it backwards from the way I had always been taught before, and I finally got it! Backwards.... should have know that would work, since my brain is hardwired backwards.

Here's a close-up of these lovely roses.... I'm so proud of myself!

(#25) Another Diaper Cake!

2011-07-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

I knew it wouldn't be long before I made another diaper cake. They're just too cute and fun to make. This one was for my sister-n-law, who should be having baby Sophie any day now!

I loved the pink, brown, and green color scheme (it went with the baby shower, and also will go with the baby's room). As much fun as I had with those bright colors (see previous post), these are just so pretty...
Here's my baby modeling how the satin flowers (which are hair clips) and head bands (which are circling the top tier of the "cake") are to be worn...
And here she is modeling them in blue and white:
(diaper cake is in background. I guess these flattering pictures of me are what I get for turning the camera over to my 9-year old daughter!)
Here's a close up of some of the details. I loved the ribbon. There was some pink crinkly stuff that I layered on the bottom tier over some green ribbon, and on the right you can see some pink-on-pink polka dot ribbon.
mmm.... I love me some pretty ribbon...

It's DONE!!! It's Finally Done!!! (#24) The Wedding Quilt

2011-07-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

I really had moments when I thought this quilt would never get finished! I started this in about January or February of 2010. Not long after my brother-n-law became engaged. The bride to be wanted the quilt in her wedding colors. The little quilt shop in the little town where I lived didn't have anything that would work. We drove 3 1/2 hours away and by sending pictures from the phone's camera, I got the approval on these fabrics. Not the most ideal way to pick out fabrics...
But, I got off to a good start. My life is always a little crazy, but I became completely sidelined and the quilt came to an abrupt stop when I became pregnant.
You see, I have severe morning sickness. Those of you who have experienced that need no further explanations. The quilt was just not going to get finished in time for the wedding.
It was a miracle that I even showed up at the wedding.
Then my pregnancy progressed, we put our house up for sale (which is so much work, it is the equivalent of finishing 25 quilts!), moved into a hotel for a month, then into a new house. Then I had the baby...
Finally, when the baby was about 4 months old, I got the quilt out and finally finished it...
Just in time for the happy couple's 1st anniversary... and baby shower...
Yep, that's when I finally gave it to her.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would- pregnancy or no- I decided to do all the quilting myself, with a new pattern that I had never done on a quilt this big before. But I love the quilting on it, it's my favorite part.
It had some fun applique flowers on it, too, and some crazy patches.
Here is the happy couple with the quilt. (It is draped over my MIL's California King bed- the quilt is actually a generous Queen)
I also embroidered their names... I was going to put their wedding date, but that might imply that the quilt was done then, and I don't want to mislead anyone...

And one last shot from the balcony looking down. I love this quilt, but I'm super happy to have it out of my sight at last!

Diaper Cake for Baby Shower (#23)

2011-05-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

I've done a diaper cake before that you can see here. I also was a guest blogger about it over at Home Based Parties where I gave a step by step tutorial.
Well, sadly, I haven't had the opportunity to make another diaper cake since then, but this weekend I helped with a shower for a new friend who is having a baby girl!

Yahoo! I get to do something girly! So I asked the hostess about color schemes, etc. she said that they weren't doing the traditional baby pink. I've also peeked at the nursery, which was mostly all white.
So, that left me wide open... the hostess suggested yellow, and I went with that, adding the turqouise and hot pink.
I have already been working on the hair bows (which I will tell you about in another post) so I knew I wanted to include them. The top cake layer has three baby headbands around it. The flowers all have hair clips on the back and clip right onto the headbands.

I embroidered the baby's name of one of the wide ribbons and it went around the bottom cake layer:

For the layer above that I embroidered "Welcome."The mommy-to-be told me that when she takes the cake apart she will use the ribbon to make a ribbon board to hold all the hair bows/flowers on.
The rubber duckies were the only only thing needed. I wished the little bubbly looking decor was blue instead of yellow- cause then it would look like bubbles!
(sigh) I have way too much fun making these, and I can't wait to do another one!
I love having that mirror there- you can see front and back at once!
My friend, Rosslyn made some yummy and cute cupcakes that color coordinated with the diaper cake:
Here you can see them together:
Here they are with the fun shower decorations:

Here is a picture of the mommy to be:
And just for fun, here is the cake once more:

Linked to: Blue Cricket Design

Easter Decorations

2011-04-21T16:10:00.001-07:00

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Twice my birthday has fallen on Easter. Maybe that is why I like it so much. I love Easter decorations. I've always loved spring colors, and dyeing Easter eggs. We've been out of town for the past few Easters, so I haven't bothered to decorate for a long time. This year my 9 year old daughter helped. (She was really disappointed that the chocolate bunny wasn't edible!)
Please don't hate me for this, but in general, I hate stuffed animals. Those tacky little things can take over a bedroom or a playroom so fast, it's unbelievable. They sort of make a room look messy, I don't know, just never liked them.
But, I make an exception for bunnies. I haven't bought a single one of these, they have all been given to me.
Or they have been reproducing themselves in storage... you know how rabbits are!I almost threw them out during the move, but I thought they worked pretty good here on our massive piece of furniture.

We have bunnies hanging out all over the house:
But this one is definitely my favorite. Can you tell why? A hint: My Mother-n-law gave her to me when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. Ya, love that little tummy bump.
How ap-pro-po.
When I got out the boxes labeled: Easter, my 9-year old went through our hodge-podge collection of plastic Easter eggs and sorted them by color. (She does this with my sewing pins on my pin cushion, and her skittles before she eats them...) I found these little pails and put the same color eggs inside them. I liked how they turned out.
Almost as much as I like the little chicks I found...
So much so, that I hope they start reproducing in storage:
I've learned that for areas where things get knocked over easily, it's better not to go with glass. Baskets work better there.
Here are some pretty eggs hanging from the chandelier. My daughter was in the process of adding some carrots to it:
Here's my most recent holiday quilt: (It won an honorable mention at our last quilt show in Roswell)
And an older Spring Quilt I made: Usually it goes on the wall, but in this house it seems better folded over a quilt holder.
And the mantle: It could use some work, but it was fun... next year I'll make some things for it. Maybe a wreath...
Love these bunnies. My husbands uncle made these when we were first married. The one on the right has these huge jumper feet, wish you could see them.
And my all-time favorite Easter Decoration. So much so that I keep it up all year round to remind me...
Hope you and yours have a wonderful Easter this Sunday!

Hooded Towels, Project #21

2011-04-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

So I had these towels and wash cloths in my fabric stash.... Because I planned on making matching hooded towels for my 2 kids. Back when I only had 2 kids (I have 4 now!)

So when my friend had her 2nd baby boy, I decided it was time to give these towels a life. I was originally going to make them primary colors, but I went with the citrus-y summer colors of orange and lime green.
So, a great new baby (and big brother) gift that cost me zero new dollars. Something I can cross off my project list, and look at how much room they are clearing out of my closet (that's a big gift bag, and I would rather take a picture of it, than my messy fabric/project closet!- plus you get to see my pretty baby in the background!)

Some fun cupcakes

2011-03-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

My son had his annual cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet a few weeks ago. Each of the boys was to make their own dessert. It was a contest, so we pulled out (stole from "Hello Cupcake") this great idea for spaghetti dinner and meatball cupcakes. Super easy. He could have done it all himself, if he wasn't such a busy kid, and trying to get out the door to soccer practice.
So, my 3-yr. old daughter helped me make the cupcakes, my son swirled all the "noodles" on with frosting, and then daughter helped me put on the candy "meatballs"
Wished I took better pictures so you could really see how much this looked like spaghetti and meatballs.

We grated on some Parmesaen cheese (white chocolate) and left the grater in case they wanted to add some more. There were 2 awards given. One went to the cub scout who made the whole dessert himself, the other went to my son.
He was thrilled.
This really is so easy you could just turn your kids loose on it.

Project #19 #20 Valentine's day boxes

2011-03-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

Remember how we said that kids projects would count? Well, I helped my daughter sew this bag for her Valentine's Day box. She did all the sewing herself and was so pleased with it...
Until she saw what her brother came up with...

He, of course, didn't want to do anything remotely similar to his sisters. (Cause that would be too easy for mom, right?)
So, eventually we came up with this idea. He is an avid reader, so his box involved a book you could open. Through the plastic, you can see the book covers from some of his favorite books that we copied and put inside. We decided it needed some light, so I found some battery operated tea lights in my junk drawer. They were left over from Halloween, so they glowed orange, but they did the job.
There was an opening at the top to drop Valentine cards into. We are saving this (it was originally going to be made into a pinata. and we built it all out of cardboard) so we can make it over into something for my daughter for next year.

Project #18 Baby Blessing Dress

2011-02-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

For my 3rd baby girl, I thought I would try my hand at making her blessing dress. In our faith, babies are not baptized or Christened, but can receive a priesthood blessing. While the white dress is not necessary, it does make the occasion special.
I recruited the help of my friend, Julie. (She's pictured below holding the baby for a fitting while we try the lining on her.) Julie already had a pattern, and talked me through the whole process.
This extra picture is just here because I think my baby looks so funny!
At the fabric store I fell in love with the beautiful beaded fabric. Then I saw that it was $24.99 a yard.
It was not on sale.
I did not have a coupon.
And the pattern called for 3 1/2 yards of it.
But, then, of course, I couldn't imagine using any other fabric. This is the curse of those of us with really, really good taste.
After looking at all the other options, we went back to this fabric, pulled out the pattern, and there in the store, figured out how to modify it so we could get by with 1 yard. Yes, 1 yard! That was in the budget!
I would have had loads of leftover fabric if I had bought that much!

I don't have very much experience sewing clothing, especially dresses, so this was a great learning opportunity for me. Julie is an expert, so I cut and sewed while she held the baby and told me what to do. (I am proud to say that I worked on some of this on my own, but figuring out a pattern is a lot harder than just listening to someone tell you what to do next!)
I didn't tell my husband I was working on this. With my huge collection of other unfinished projects, I knew it would be better to show him after it was finished... so I swore the kids to secrecy and went to work!
I think this was great experience also because with 3 daughters, I may be sewing a lot of prom/homecoming dresses. Because it will be less money, and it's hard these days to find a pretty, modest dress in the stores, it's a good skill to have!

And here it is all finished:!!! (Except the buttons- but you can't see those!)
And she's not crying because she doesn't like it, she's just hungry.... again.
What do you think? (Oh, my husband was really proud of me. It was all worth it)

Backpack's- Project #17

2011-01-23T13:27:00.001-08:00

Last year for Christmas, I helped my daughter make these backpacks for her friends for Christmas. I was really proud of her. It was a good project for a girl her age to tackle. Not too hard, but enough of a challenge to give her a huge sense of pride and accomplishment!
Since we are in a new place, with new friends, it was the perfect gift to give again.
Again, the challenge was finding out how to correctly spell everyone's name (this one above, we weren't sure, so she just got an initial)
This one here was my favorite fabric.

While unpacking some boxes, I came across some notepads and pencils. We thought they would be perfect to fill the backpacks with.

I really liked doing this with my kids for several reasons:
1. By turning their focus to doing something for their friends, they took their focus off how many presents were under the tree for them. (At least for a little while)
2. It teaches them to be frugal: All the fabric and thread came from my stash, the only thing we had to buy was the cording. I made her buy it herself, but gave her a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby. (And yet, as cheap as these were, I think they were just as appreciated as any store bought gift!)
3. It teaches them some sewing skills.
4. It gives them a sense of accomplishment.
5. After all the effort they put into making gifts, they are more appreciate of the gifts they receive from others.
6. what better bonding than some mommy-time working on projects?

Project #16- Marble Bags

2011-01-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I helped my 9-year old girl make backpacks for her friends (post coming soon), so for my 9-year old boy, I needed to figure out something that he could make as gifts to give away to his friends, and he could also get some crafting-with-mom time.
So we came up with these little marble bags. We ended up making 8 of them, all with his friends names embroidered on them.
The biggest challenge: figuring out how his friends all spelled their names.

Projects #14, and #15

2011-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

For a special 3-year old boy on my Christmas list this year, I decided to put my embroidery unit to good use.
I had a child size apron that I had bought from Hobby Lobby, and put his name, and a little dinosaur on it. I've seen pictures of him helping out lots in the kitchen, so hopefully, this will go to good use.
I also made him a reversible Batman/Superman cape. I've made these for most of my nieces and nephews. With a few exceptions, they seem to really like them.

He was also the recipient of the fishing game, so I guess all his gifts were sewn this year. (Which is good, because then I don't have to worry that he already has them!)

Fishing Game- Project #13

2010-12-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

This was a super fun little project to make. I got the idea for it here at one of my favorite blogs. there is a link within it to a tutorial.
I have been trying to find ways to use up my scrap fabric. Moving has made me realize that it either needs to be used up, or thrown out, instead of stored indefinitely. So, I already had the fabric, which I thought worked great for little fishies.
I just played around and drew my own patterns. I wanted them to look a little Dr. Seuss-y and fun. I thought that they did. I used buttons from my Grandma's button collection that I inherited. I would recommend sewing the button eyes on before you sew the 2 halves together. I did not, and it was a lot harder!

I tried two different methods. I made 2 identical sets of 8. One set I glued magnets on the inside, like the tutorial suggests, and the other set I sewed washers to. Then I had my kids test them out. Washers were by far better. In fact, I went back and sewed washers onto the set that had the magnets.
My kids absolutely loved them. I used our set at church, where I am in charge of doing the singing time with the kids. I safety pinned the names of songs they knew onto the fish, and let the kids "fish" for what song we would sing next.
Even the older kids loved this. The other set is for someone on my Christmas list (who I really hope isn't reading this- or at least their parents aren't!)

Since I already had the fabric, buttons, stuffing (poly fill), string, stick, glue, all I had to buy was magnets and washers!

Thanksgiving Centerpiece Project #12

2010-12-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving I decided that I should make a centerpiece out of one of the pumpkins we didn't carve into a jack-o-lantern. We have made these before, but never with such big pumpkins.
I picked up 2 bunches of flowers from Albertsons. And 2 15" candles from Hobby Lobby. They were out of fall colors, but at least they had 15" ones instead of just 10" or 12". We needed the height. Then I really had to improvise to get everything to fit right. You can see the things I had to tape together to get the right height, and have a container for the floral foam to go in.
I tried to bunch them so it looked like a mound of mums and flowers. I didn't really want it any taller, or it would be impossible to have conversations over the table.
Even the bow I had to improvise with. I thought I knew where my wire was, but couldn't find it, so it is held together and attached to the arrangement with a paper clip.

It still turned out nice:

Finished Project #11- Kid folding Chair makeover

2010-12-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

This chair above used to look brand new. Because I was smart and stored it inside the house, and only pulled it outside when we needed it.
But then, we had my family reunion in May, and I was pregnant, and getting the house ready to sell, and somehow that chair just stayed outside. During the whole, hot New Mexico summer. I'm sure if we had packed ourselves, it would have just been thrown away. But it got moved to Texas with the rest of our stuff, so I thought I ought to do something with it.
So, here it is all made-over into a pink pretty chair.
I know that those before and after pictures can make things look SO easy. And in reality, this should have been an easy make-over. Something I should have been able to do during one afternoon while the older kids were at school, and the 3-year old was napping.
But here's what really happened:
When I unscrewed the seat and back covers I realized that I needed some needle-nosed pliers to get the staples out. I had no idea where in our messy, unpacked garage they would be.
So project went on hold until I could borrow some from my sister-n-law.

One of the reasons I decided to take on this project was because I thought the only supplies I would need was a can of spray paint.

I only found one scrap of pink fabric that was the right dimensions to work, and it was my least favorite... but I wasn't going to spend extra $ on this, so I went with it. I did have enough padding, but the clear vinyl? Even though I had lots of it, the pieces were all 1 inch short of being wide enough (AARGH!) So, $1.50 and a quick trip to Walmart got me enough, but in the meantime, the project went on hold.

Then, I decided that since I was going to use all the same screws again, I'd better put them in a plastic Ziploc baggie to keep them all safe. I was literally putting them in when one of the screws that holds the back on, fell from my hands (gravity is so cruel to us pregnant woman), hit the kitchen floor, and before I could bend over to pick it up, it rolled under the oven.

I thought about asking my husband to retrieve it. But he is much more practical than me and would know that it was not worth it. In fact, when he saw the chair taken apart, he asked why I didn't just throw it in the garbage. (So I knew there was no sense asking for his help on this project) Luckily, I had the other screw, so I could find one to match- right?
So that also put the project on hold until I could get to Lowe's

Now, a word about Lowe's: I think they are awesome. We didn't have one where I used to live, and it almost makes it worth the move. So, one day I packed me and the 3 year old up and we went there with my one screw. (I can't believe I am confessing this where my husband can read it) Oh, I forgot to mention that the screw was sawed off to about 1/4 inch long so that it didn't poke all the way through and hurt a little kids back while they were sitting on the chair.
The helpful man found me the right size screw, but then, I explained how I needed it sawed off, and gave him my pathetic helpless pregnant woman eyes while my curly-haired 3 year old smiled at him. I've had wood cut at lumber stores, so I assumed you could get metal things cut too. He thought for a minute, then walked over and opened up a new hack saw, put the screw in some vices that were on display, and cut me three screws at the proper length. I thought they had a shop where they would cut it.
Talk about service.

Then it was time to assemble it. I was so proud that I had managed to find my staple gun in a box I had unpacked, and I went to work. I was about half way through re-upholstering the seat when it ran out of staples... so it went on hold again until I could make it back to Lowe's to find some staples for the gun.

To be honest, it could have used another coat of spray paint (next time I'll use primer first) but the can was empty, and after all this effort (even though by this point my husbands idea of throwing it away looked really tempting) I was determined that it was just going to get done!

So it did! The vinyl was pretty stiff, so hard to put on the chair back because it curved, but my daughter was thrilled with it, and now we have 3 little pink chairs to go around the princess table! We really needed it, because when my daughter has her 2 cousins over, they can all eat and play there!

Quick Little Project (#10)

2010-11-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I decided that I needed to do a quick little project. I really needed that feeling of getting something DONE! So, I had seen these all over blog land, and after we had unpacked a little (and I found my E-6000 glue) I realized that I had somehow accumulated a whole bunch of vases. Now, I know I will never need so many. Trust me, I am not given armloads of flowers by my many admirers, so I decided to turn them into a decoration.

I had a pair of candlesticks that I had picked up a few years ago for a few bucks. I rarely used them, because have you ever noticed how hard it can be to get two taper candles to stand straight up? You need melted wax to get them to stay, or putty, or something. So, they weren't getting much use...
A little E-6000 glue...
Hey, wait, I have 2 candlesticks.... so I found another vase, a different shape and height, but I think it works better that way.

I didn't have enough acorns to fill them to the top, so I added these little mini pumpkins.
Since I never really found my box with most of my fall/ Thanksgiving decorations in time, these really helped the house look festive.
Yesterday I packed up the Thanksgiving decorations, and decided that these would look great filled with some ornaments, or pinecones, or something else for Christmas.

This counts for a lot of projects

2010-11-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

So, I've obviously not posted any projects for months and months. I thought this was entirely due to being pregnant and moving. But, I've realized that there is something else that really gets in the way of getting any projects done.
It's called Motherhood.
My mom told me that it doesn't matter how many kids you have- 1 or a dozen, they will take up ALL your time. She is (as usual) completely right. So, I've decided to stop trying to figure out if I'm crazy for having my 4th kid, and just embrace the fact that I may never get another project of my own done for the next 20 years.
And, I've decided that it's O.K. to count projects that I do with my kids.
My 4th grader was assigned to make an Indian Village diorama. He could choose any Indian tribe of Texas, and went with the Wichita.
I made the baking clay, and we went to work.

These are not actually teepee's. They were permanent structures made from mud, minimal wood, and straw/grass.
Making those little Indian people was the hardest part. The next day the teacher sent home some plastic Indians that the kids could use. A day too late, and since we'd already put the work into it, we were keeping our little clay people.
My son painted it...
And put straw on all the houses.

Here's some close-ups of our little people sitting around the fire, tanning a buffalo hide, and grinding corn.
That's my sons hand, gluing rocks on in the upper left hand corner, so you get a sense of how tiny these people were!

Anyway, we are really proud of this project, my son and I work really well together on things like this, so we are hoping he nails the oral report and winds up with a grade worthy of the 20 plus hours we spent on this project!!!

Project #8 -Old desk made new

2010-08-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, it's the before picture. I picked up this baby for $45. The catch was it was in an upstairs loft office of a big warehouse, and my husband and his friend had to figure out how to get it down. I think it involved a makeshift ramp and lots of rope. Yes, he really loves me.
And that thing is HEAVY!
But, it was big (check), had lots of drawers (check) and fabulous lines from the molding to really give it some pretty character (check)

Here it is before I finished the drawers:

Here is the front: I love that it's not all flat.
And here you can see it with the new hardware (I need to find a new lock to go in the middle drawer)
So, tell me what you think. Unless you don't like it, then you can just tell me you are proud of me for getting it finished!

Wondering where I've been? (And project #7 )

2010-07-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well, this should give you a clue as to why I haven't been posting (or finishing projects) like I should:

Still haven't guessed, let's try it from this angle:

Yep, I'm pregnant. Hard to believe from my HUGE stomach, but I am a mere 4 months along. But that means that the last few months I have been sick as a dog. Actually, I've never seen a dog as sick as I was. I was SICK!

On top of that, we are moving out of state! So, in between my trips to the bathroom to puke, I have been frantically packing boxes and getting my house ready to sell. It hasn't been the most enjoyable time of my life.

I am proud to say that in the midst of all this chaos- I did finish up some huge projects.
I think you should see some before pictures:

This beauty was part of an estate sale. Not an auction- a family member was storing everything in a big building and selling things off via Craig's List and word of mouth. They called this the "Ice Cream Parlor" because it had originally been behind the counter of an ice cream bar. It was HUGE! It was in 2 pieces. The bottom part that you can see above was six cabinets and 6 drawers (can we say "yeah for storage!") and the top part was a beautifully framed mirror that reminded me of an antique mantle. It had obviously been in storage for years, as it was covered with dust, but I had a pretty good imagination and thought it could look wonderful!
But... they wanted $1,000.00 for it.
So, I waited a year. Yep, a whole year. I was pretty confident that not a lot of other people would be interested in such a big piece (It is 10 feet long and over 8 feet high), so I waited. A year later they were only asking $400. Still, I wasn't sure, because I was trying to be more realistic about undertaking so many projects- and this would be a huge one.
So one night in February, my husband and I went shopping for a dresser for our son, who, at age 10, has clothes that are too big to fit the dresser we painted for him when I was pregnant with him. We looked at every furniture store in town (we have about 6).
We couldn't find anything under $500, and nothing that was solid wood, and well made. In fact, I couldn't even find one where all the drawers opened and closed like they should! (We came up with a super fun solution to his dresser problem, but it's not finished yet, so I will wait to post about it!)
When we finally went to dinner, I told my husband, "Well, one thing's for sure, after looking at what there is in new furniture, I am totally convinced that I want to buy that ice cream parlor thing!"
He just smiled and said, "Happy Valentine's Day" He'd already called the guy and was picking it up that weekend.

In spite of some cracked and missing molding (which we could not match- they don't make it the same anymore, so we had to buy new) there was some beautiful details.

Like this:

which has a place to put a light fixture, if I could just figure out what would look right there.
And these hand carved drawer pulls:

We also added beaded board (Cause it's my fave!) to the inside of the doors:
The real drama was that I didn't measure right. I thought it was 7 feet. It was 8 feet, 2 inches. Our ceilings are 8 feet.
After much heated debate- my husband wanted to cut 3 inches off the top, which I was sure would throw off the proportions of the mantle thing around the mirror, I wanted to cut it off the bottom.
I was definitely right.
While I wished I could have left the substantial looking 6 inch baseboards, I wasn't gonna mess around with that gorgeous mirror.
Here is it again: (sigh)
And while it's NOT included with the house, we think it will still wow potential buyers (if we could just get them through the door...)
And I can't tell you how happy I am to have it done, and with how it turned out!

(Later this week, I will show the before and after pictures of the desk in front of it!)

Linked to:
Mustard Seed Creations

Candy Bar Cakes for Teachers

2010-05-08T13:58:00.001-07:00

I got a great idea for an easy "cake" over at Your Home Based Parties I wanted to make one ever since I saw them, and decided that they would be perfect for Teacher Appreciation week. Then it snuck up on me, and Thursday night I realized I hadn't done them yet! So, I stayed up a little late, didn't have quite as many big candy bars as I needed (I stacked little ones instead) and had to use tomato cans from dinner, but I thought they turned out alright.
To see some really cute ones, check here.
I just had to include these, since it seems like I'm not getting any projects done. The truth is, I'm working on some BIG projects right now (just stopped painting in the garage to grab a snack and jump on the blog for a minute), and I'm hoping to post those soon. I AM making progress!!!

How To Make A Bridal Cake

2010-04-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

Remember this Bridal cake?

Well, like I said, I'm not much good at tutorials, but I will tell you how I made it, and pass along any tips I've learned along the way.

This is the first doll cake I ever made:
It was for my daughter's birthday a few years ago. Before I ever took any classes, or started dabbling in fondant.
I asked a friend who had just made one for her daughters birthday if she would help me out. She introduced me to using rice crispy treats in cakes (one of the best kept secrets out there!) Yep, this cake was made out of Rice Crispy treats!
I made cupcakes to go with it, (that she got to decorate) so there was some cake involved:
[Tips: I don't have the doll cake pan: I used my Pampered Chef batter bowl. Works perfect, but you need to add something at the top, or it doesn't quite go up to her waist. (Try rice crispy treats, fondant, frosting, whatever works)]

I was feeling more confident this time, and baked an actual cake.
[Tip: to make sure it cooked evenly, I put a metal skewer in the middle of it. Don't know why this works, but is supposed to be helpful on large or deep cakes to ensure more even baking.]

However, as I was trying to level it, I ended up cutting off way too much!
So, out came the butter, marshmallows, and Rice Crispies!
You can see where I added it at the top and bottom to give the doll more height. (Chocolate cake in the middle)
Then I covered it with a crumb coat of frosting (with help from my 2-year old) and refrigerated it for a few hours.
Then I made my fondant, and put Barbie in. For my first doll cake, I just used a knock-off Barbie that I got at the Dollar Store. This time I splurged- spent the other $2.50 for the cake pick.
[Tip: Splurge! I had heard horror stories of people going to put the Barbie in and having the whole cake fall apart.]
I had made a veil out of tule and some lace that I attached
[Tip: put this on last! I don't know what I was thinking?!? I had to have my daughter hold the veil out of the way while I put the fondant on- of course, she would have had to hold her hair out of the way anyway- but I wouldn't have had to worry about messing up the veil!]

My fondant ended up being very sticky!
[Tip: roll out small pieces to test if it is too sticky- nothing more frustrating than rolling out enough to cover the whole skirt part, just to find out it is stuck to the counter still! Oh, and be sure to take Barbie out while you put the skirt fondant on!]
It took me a few tries, but I eventually wrapped some fondant around her bodice. I overlapped it in the back, and wet it to get it to stay. My first few attempts didn't work, and she almost ended up with a butter cream frosting bodice instead! Then I added the sleeves...I decided to make a bow to put on the back to cover where the fondant overlapped. I thought it turned out nice.

Then I wasn't sure what I was going to do... My original plan was to put butter cream frosting flowers on it. But, then I remembered that I had bought these flower fondant cutters, and thought I would try them out.
I put some along the bottom, and then decided to try it at the waist. I probably should have just put the smaller size flowers at the waist, but I thought it was O.K. I added some cake gems to the middle of the flowers, and also along her neck line.
If you scroll back up, you can see a close up of the sugar crystal I put on her ring finger (please try not to point out that it's on the wrong hand! Didn't realize until too late!)
We also gave her a bouquet of flowers tied with pink ribbon and added some more lace to where her veil attached to her hair.

I thought she turned out lovely and really made the table spread look pretty.

So there she is, my 2nd doll cake, and my first Bride!
(Please feel free to ask any questions in the comment field, and I will try to answer them!)

Bridal Shower and Brides Cake

2010-04-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, I threw a Bridal shower for a girl from my church, and I thought it would be fun to show you the food buffet and and the cake I made.
These pops are just Oreos with a stick in them, then dipped in Chocolate and then we added some sprinkles and chocolate drizzles.

They were so easy, my 8 year old daughter helped me make them.
I am always looking for an excuse to use my rose dishes that my mother-n-law gave me. This was a perfect opportunity.

The silverware was our one and only splurge when we got married. We used all our gift cards for very practical things. Needs only. But these were on a super good sale, and so pretty, and we had the gift cards... my husband relented on the condition that I used them. So, I try to every chance I can. They cannot be put in the dish washer, and occasionally require some silver polish, but I have no regrets about getting them!!! Putting them in the jars with bows was a last minute thought that I really ended up liking.
Our color scheme was obviously pink. (To go with my rose dishes)
A friend who helped me, gathered up pink colored candies and cookies.
I made the cake. I was so happy with how it turned out. I have done one other doll cake, for my daughter's birthday, but never thought of doing it as a bride. Then I googled bridal shower cakes and saw one, and thought it would be really cute and fun.

I've been doing so much butter cream, after taking the Wilton Cake classes, that I haven't done fondant in a long time... I thought I would do this one in fondant. I am self taught, so it is far from professional, bit I still loved how it turned out. It really became the focal point of the food and the decor.
Here is the bride-to-be with the cake. Later in the week I will try to do a tutorial on the cake. I'm not good at tutorials, but I'll try to give some hints and tell you how I put it together.

Project #6- and a Happy 30th birthday to my little sis!

2010-04-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I thought that I was really on the ball, getting this finished a few months ago. Well, I was 90% finished until I noticed on my calendar that her (our) birthday was quickly approaching (our birthdays are a day apart, which has been a lot of fun- we usually shared a birthday cake growing up, and you always know someone is going to remember your birthday! The downside: once my dad brought her a gift on my birthday, and not me, because he had gotten our days mixed up. But I've forgiven him!)
It made me think that I often do that. I get a project almost all the way done, and then I am distracted, put it aside, thinking that I'll get to it soon, and it just sits there...

...and sits there...

...and adds to my pile of unfinished projects.

Does that ever happen to you?

Tell me what helps you to actually finish those projects (without an impending birthday or other deadline!)
As for me? Well, I've decided that it's time to be a 100%-er!

And Happy Birthday Sis. Hope you enjoy your little tote bag! (It's in the mail, if you haven't gotten it yet!)
don't worry, the 30's aren't so bad!

Find Your Sock Yarn- How to Tackle a Project

2010-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Today I was the guest writer over at Find Your Sock Yarn. Be sure to go over and check out my article about how I came to start this blog and take-on my unfinished project list! Then come back and leave me a comment about how you tackle your projects and to-do lists!

Finished Project #5- Quilt Block for Graduation Gift

2010-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes one of the deterents to getting things on our "to-do list" done, is when new projects come along that have to take priority.
I've decided to just count those ones along with the ones originally on my list!
Obviously this happened to me when I was asked to make a quilt block for a graduating senior from my church (I was actually just relieved that I wasn't asked to make the whole quilt!) Scorching the fabric that they gave me, finding the right fabric, and getting sick- not to mention that I had other projects going on, too- really slowed me down on something that should have been simple and quick!
But, here is it, and I am happy to be done!

Strawberry Jam and a big 'Ole Thank you!

2010-04-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today I made 17 pints of Strawberry Jam! (Whew!) I haven't done Strawberry Jam for years! But, I had determined not to let another Strawberry season (and strawberries on sale) pass me by without making some!
No recipe here, I just follow the one on the inside of the pectin box! Although it took 4 batches (12 pounds of strawberries) to make it all. The recipe says that each batch should give me 8 pints. I never got that many out of a batch. Anyone else have this problem?
I also tried one batch with the no-sugar pectin and used Splenda. Haven't tried it yet- will have to let you know how it is!
And, after making something so yummy and wonderful, I wanted to share it with someone.
Well, luck would have it that I owe a big thank you to my neighbors.
I have the best neighbors. Everyone needs some neighbors like them. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to rely on them in a crisis!
Most recently- the day after getting home from Spring Break, I locked my only set of keys in the car.
Along with my cell phone.
And my daughter.
What to do?
I ran to the Deckers. After explaining the situation, Billie handed me her car keys so I could take her car to go pick up the kids who were waiting for me at school. She went over to stand next to the car so the baby wouldn't get scared or be alone, and Don called the Sheriff's office who put out an emergency call to a locksmith (who unlocked it for free since there was a child inside!)
So, I decided to take some Jam over to them.
I had made bread the day before, so I had a loaf to go with it, and found a basket to put it in. It still needed something, so I pulled out a new kitchen towel that I had on hand, and embroidered their names on it:
Well, it doesn't do justice to how grateful I am to them, but I thought it turned out nice.

Project #4- Kid's Super capes (oh, and Princess, too!)

2010-04-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my kids were invited to a birthday party for 2 sisters- our neighbors granddaughters, turning 2 and 5.

Birthday gifts for kids parties can be a little perplexing. I have no idea what toys these kids already have, or what they even like. But, I have one little gift up my sleeve that is always a winner with little kids. (Older kids, now? That is so hard, that lately we've resorted to just giving them money)
I started making these super capes when my older kids were little, using one my mother-n-law had bought as a pattern. For the boys I made them in blue, red, and black. They are reversible with a batman logo on one side, and Superman on the other. (In fact, my son would wear his everywhere we went, and people started asking about it; I started making them for people for $15 each*)
For the girls, I still make one side with the Super logo:

And the other side, I embroider with Princess and their name, and a felt crown. These are also reversible, and made in more girly colors.

Now, I am still counting this as something from my Project list, because I had never gotten around to making one for my youngest. So, while I was at it, I made one for her, too.
Look how excited she is!
*And I'll let you in on a little secret here. These are super cheap to make! 1 yard of fabric, a little velcro, and some felt squares. I think I estimated these to cost about $3.00 to make.
That worked out great too, because my budget is really tight this month after our Spring Break trip!

I Have a Button! Grab My Button!

2010-04-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's over there on the sidebar.

Project #3

2010-04-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have to say a huge THANK-YOU to my fabulous sister-n-law, Heather for making my new heading!!! Isn't she awesome? Now that I have such a great looking blog, I'm even more motivated to finish projects so I can post them here!
Yesterday was a sick day. Not that we actually get those as moms, but I tried to stay home (other than driving the kids to/from school, dance, and baseball practice), I put on movies for the toddler, and pretty much rested. In between embroidering these towels:

Remember, I said even the small projects count! I bought all these towels, hmmm..... 2 years ago? When I painted the kids bathroom. I decided to put their names on their own towels so that they would be responsible for HANGING THEM UP! (That seems to be an issue around here... and whenever I ask whose towel is on the floor and not hung up, fingers start pointing, and I usually end up hanging it up!) I finished putting the names on my oldest two kids towels, and then, when it came to the youngest... well, who knows what happened. Something sidetracked me, and the towels ended up under my cutting table waiting for me to get to them. The pile of towels bothered me enough that "finish embroidering kids name on towels" made it to my project list.
It wasn't very hard, but hooping, setting up the machine, etc. for each towel did take a while. But, I rested in between, and it feels nice to get something accomplished (and checked off my list) even on a sick day.

Easter Cake

2010-04-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm really lucky when it comes to holiday baking. My husbands co-worker (who also loves to cook) invites us over every holiday. It really gets me off the hook for cooking, especially during holiday busy time.
I did, however, want to practice my newly learned cake decorating skills. I wanted to practice the basket weave again. This time I did it in chocolate. It turned out great, and went even faster this time. I thought that the frosting was good, but next time I will probably try using melted chocolate instead of the cocoa powder.
As we were heading out the door, I wanted to take a picture of it. But then I noticed my husbands shoes were in the picture.
So I took another one:
This time I caught my daughter's shoe in it.
I guess with so many feet running through this house, it's bound to happen.
Here's a picture of that cute little 2 year old with her Easter Dress on (the sun hat was her own idea. Little girls are so fun!)

Every Little Project Counts! Here's Project Completed #2

2010-04-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

Some projects aren't very big, or very hard, but it's still great to cross them off your list!
This is a Zentangle patch. It is for a group project that my quilters guild is doing for our quilt show this coming fall.

Liz, a member of my guild, got into this Zentangle drawing thing. She asked if I would work on the group project. I got started with some small drawings that I did with pen and ink. I really enjoyed it. I started drawing on some ceramic eggs, too.

For the group project, we applied the same ideas to fabric. I thought this would be easy since the fabric is already patterned, but I learned that I actually prefer drawing it- it gives me more artistic control I guess. I get to manipulate the pattern when I am drawing it myself.
Anyway, It's done! Yippeee!

Quick and Easy Chili With Beans

2010-04-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

The other day I pulled some hamburger out of the freezer. My plan was to grill hamburgers for dinner (this is my middle child's favorite meal). Then one of our awful New Mexico Spring winds hit. Let me give you an idea of how bad our spring winds can be. This is the damage done to our fence the week before:

I was still on Spring Break with my kids. I didn't believe that it could knock over our brick fence posts. (They are half filled with cement) I had to see it for myself when I got home. What a mess!
Anyway, I did not want to be outside grilling in a sand storm.
So, I quickly opened up the New Mexico Cooking Book to see if there was a quick and easy chili recipe.
Hey, whatayaknow?

Quick & Easy Chili with Beans

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 lbs. lean, coarsely ground beef
2 small green peppers, chopped
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 (16 oz.) cans whole tomatoes (I was using up some canned ones from my garden from last summer, and they were more like crushed tomatoes than whole. Still fabulous!)
3 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons crushed cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 cup water
3 (15-oz.) cans pinto or kidney beans

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot. Cook beef, green peppers, onions, and garlic in oil until beef is lightly browned.

2. Add all remaining ingredients, except beans. Cover and simmer 45 minutes.

3. Stir in the undrained beans. Cover and Simmer 25 minutes.

I thought these were fabulous. The kids loved them too. My husband prefers them a lot more spicey. (Don't worry, there are plenty more chili recipes in this book that fit that bill!) It made a lot, so I had leftovers the next day, and thought it tasted really good then, too, the flavors having more time to steep together. I have to confess that instead of making one of Clyde's cornbread recipes, I made my stand-by (you know- the one on the cornmeal box...) You see, I couldn't eat starches or sugar until after Easter, and I knew I would want to taste the ones from the book. So, next batch of chili will be accompanied by some new cornbread recipes!

Chicken Fajitas

2010-03-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Just before our family left town for Spring Break, I made my first recipe from the New Mexico cook book.
Chicken Fajitas.
Now, I make fajitas all the time. And I get fabulous reviews.
After making these, I realize I didn't know squat about making a good chicken fajita.
Let me tell you a few things about why these chicken fajitas are so much different than what I made before.
First of all, you pound out the chicken. Never thought of doing that before, and I don't know why. I do it for stuffed chicken, just never occurred to me to do it with fajita chicken. I think the pounding it down makes the chicken more likely to absorb the marinade.
That was the other thing. I'd never marinated my fajita chicken before, either.
And the marinade was what made it.
The fresh ground ginger not only made the marinade fabulous, it made my house and my fingers smell fabulous for the rest of the day.
The marinade also included some fresh citrus juice and soy sauce. (I did think the soy sauce was a little strong, so I might use less next time)
It also had me grill the chicken a little before adding it to the veggies.
I grill all the time. But for some reason, always did my fajitas on the stove.
Never again.
These were fabulous.
Kids loved them.
Husband loved them.
And the friend from church who just brought her brand new baby home- (I was asked to take a meal in to her and her family, and I was thrilled to do it!) she loved it, too! (Phew!)

And, I have permission from Clyde Casey to post recipes, so long as I give him the credit. See my previous post to find out about getting a recipe book. Thank you Clyde!

Here is the recipe:

2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
2 large white onions, sliced
1-1/2 green bell peppers, seeded, thinly sliced
1-1/2 red bell peppers, seeded, thinly sliced
salt to taste
12 flour tortillas, warmed

Side Dishes
1/2 cup refried beans
1 cup guacamole
4 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 cup dairy sour cream
Salsa or chili sauce

1. Place a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap on a cutting board. Place each chicken breast on top and cover with another piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap. With a mallet, flatten chicken breasts to 1/8 inch thick. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, orange juice, lime juice, and honey. Add chicken; refrigerate in marinade for 3 to 6 hours.

3. About 10 minutes before cooking, drain chicken and pat dry. Grill or broil. Cook until no longer pink, but still moist, about 1-1/2 minutes per side. Remove from grill or broiler; slice cross grain into 1-1/4 inch strips; cover and set aside.

4. In a deep non-stick skillet, heat oil until very hot. Add onions and peppers; saute. Add chicken strips and toss together. Season with salt to taste. Serve on a very hot plate, preferably a metal sizzle platter.

5. Serve with Tortillas and side dishes.

Refried bean, guacamole, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, salsa or sauce should be prepared ahead of cooking chicken and be served as side dishes. Tortillas should be served hot in covered container.

To assemble fajitas, place a portion of hot chicken mixture in center of the tortilla and top with the side dishes to taste. Fold tortilla, closing one end. Eat as hand food.

My Cooking Project

2010-03-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

I finally watched the movie Julie & Julia. As a blogger and a foody, I loved it. I'm sure the movie has spurred lots of blogging chefs the world over to launch into cooking quests.
I was no different.
My husband saw the wheels turning in my head, and I'm sure it made him super nervous.
With good reason.
You may have already read that I am the official reigning Queen of Unfinished Projects, but when I went to my cook book shelf and pulled down this book:
I think he actually smiled.
I bought this book a few years ago. It was written by the husband of one of my Quilt Guild members. Justin and I have both perused it many times and said, "mmm, this looks really good, we should make it sometime!"
So far I have only made one recipe. I am entering my 10th year now as a New Mexico resident. I think it's time I learned to cook like one.
I'm not doing anything nearly as adventurous as Julie. I have too much on my plate to put additional deadlines on myself- but, I looked at it this way: I have to cook anyway, why not cook my way through this while I am at it?
So here's the deal. I don't know how frequently I will cook a recipe from this book, I just promise that I will post every time I do. I don't know how long it will take me to get through the whole book, but I will.
I also can't promise to post the recipes. Out of respect to Clyde Casey, I will only do so with his permission. I think the book I am using is now out of print, but you can buy his next book:
at Amazon.com or I'm sure I can get it for you if you leave a comment (I can even get it signed for you)
So, today I am making his Chicken Fajitas recipe. The meat is marinating in the fridge. The marinade included fresh ginger and orange juice, and my hands still smell like it...mmm....
The beans are cooking in the crock pot, and well, I can hardly wait for dinner...

Projects in Process...

2010-03-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last week at my quilters guild. I was given a very special, and well-deserved award:

Yep, I earned it. I officially had the most unfinished projects in my guild. That's right.
The Most Unfinished Projects- and that's among quilters who are notorious for unfinished projects. I had well over 40.

So, I decided just to give you a peek around my house at some of my works-in-progress.
Top Priority project is this wedding quilt for my brother-n-law (weddings in May, I need to get moving!):

Even my kitchen has projects in process. These are frosting flowers for a future cake:

This is an Easter Decoration I haven't even started yet:

Satin Hair Bows I'm making for my girls:

Poppies quilt hiding under my cutting table:

Desk I am re-finishing:

And, I've also decided to start posting every single little project that I finish! I want to see if I can finish over 40 projects this year!

As I was moving stuff around my garage, I stumbled upon an unfinished project that I had totally forgotten about. And in about 30 minutes, I had finished it!
So, here is completed project number 1. :

With these 2 flag decorations I am ready to go for the 4th of July (and it's still March! Woo-hoo!)

Cake Course

2010-03-15T07:38:00.001-07:00

Last summer I decided that I wanted to learn how to decorate cakes. Thanks to the Internet, I have been able to see lots of videos and teach myself how to do fondant, but I decided to enroll in the Wilton Cake Courses being offered at our Hobby Lobby.
It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of helpful thing. It took me until now to take Course 2. For the first 3 weeks we learned how to make various flowers and borders. (I still cannot make a rose to save my life!) We made the flowers up ahead of time so they could dry enough to transfer to the cake.
Saturday was our final project, putting it all together on the cake.
Here I am doing the basket weave. I was really intimidated by this, but it went on faster and easier than I expected. It was actually really fun, and I plan to use it some more... maybe a chocolate frosting for a brown basket...
I gave my camera to my teacher, and she took these shots of me, sorry the class room at Hobby Lobby has no windows and fluorescent lights (for you Heather, so you can see things in process). I really am concentrating pretty hard here.
Here is the rope border going on.
Basket weave and rope borders done!
Now to add the flowers:
Mine were really bright!
I decided that this cake was going to be for my good friend, Stephanie who turned 40 yesterday! (She's not much older than me, so this was weird for me!) I was afraid I was going to ruin it, because my frosting had gotten so stiff by then (and my hands were tired of squeezing after doing the basket weave) that I didn't think I could write very well.
But, over all, I was happy with how it turned out.
And the most important part is, that I'm excited to do some more.

Blog Give-Aways!

2010-03-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have a few friends that I check in with on an almost daily basis. Those would be my blogging friends. Let me introduce you to two of them. Amanda Herring is my quilting blogging friend. I have never net her in person, but I feel like I have. We are both young mothers who love to quilt. (I am decades younger than all my fellow quilt guild members) but we have similar taste and style, and I even think we have a similar sense of humor. (And we're both over-doers, but she actually gets projects done!) Sometime ago she had a give away on her blog- and check out these patterns that I won:

So never say never!!! She is doing another give away on her blog- so go check it out here

(And I really want that bundle of fat quarters so wish me luck! Then I can use it on one of her cute quilt patterns!)

And my luck must still be holding, because yesterday in the mail I got this fabulous re-usable shopping bag!:

It was a give-away prize over at Your Home Based Mom! She is constantly doing give-aways so be sure to check out her blog. This one is extra special, because she made it herself! Thank you Leigh Anne!

Look how nice and wide it is to hold all my groceries. I's just afraid it's too pretty for groceries!

So Thanks Amanda and Leigh Anne, and remember, people actually do win those prizes! (Next I'm hoping to win the HGTV dream house.)

Welcome!

2010-03-05T07:50:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my new blog! I decided that it was time to separate my family blog from one about all my creative endeavors. So, here we are!
This is where I will post pictures of all the cakes I make (successes and otherwise) the quilt projects I finish, decorating projects, and furniture makeovers. I might even post some favorite recipes (once I'm off this awful diet and it won't feel like torture!) Hope you'll join me in my creative ups and downs and leave plenty of comments. Sometimes that's what I need most- a sounding board and some good feedback!