Topsy Turvy Birthday Cake

So, here is another great project from FamilyFun.com.  They posted this cake as a nod to a Alice in Wonderland Theme, but I thought it would be a cute cake for any girl's party!

Price breakdown:
$3.00  cake mix (3)
$9.54 frosting (6)
food coloring
straws
disposable cake decorating bags and tips
cardboard circles in 9, 8, 6 inches
$12.54

First mix your three cake mixes according to package directions and bake 2, 6-in, 8-in, 9-in EACH cakes.

Use the top of your cake pans and trace them on your cardboard to make 3 circles, one for 6-in, one for 8-in and one for 9-in.

Next, mix your white frosting with the food coloring of your choice.  I used some fun neon colors.

Next, trim the tops of your cakes off to make them level.  Place them on the coordinating cardboard piece.  This picture is my friend and cake engineer, Rick who did all the cutting (and most of the frosting!) on this cake.

You should have all of this when you are ready to start constructing your masterpiece:

Put a small gob of frosting on the top of one of each sized cake.  Place the coordinating layer on top.  Frost the sides of your layers together with the white frosting.  Experienced people call this a crumb layer.

Ignore the straws, those actually come later!

Next, have your cake cutter, in my case, Rick, cut your layers at an angle.

Now, push three straws in a triangle pattern through each of your layers for stability.  Cut the straws even with the top of your cake.

Next, frost your three layers in the color of your choice.  The picture below is my brilliant baking friend, Stephanie, helping my frost.  She is also Rick's wife :).  I am lucky to know a husband and wife who are both creative to help me in these ventures!

Now, stack your layers (with the cardboard underneath each) on top of one another.

Now, pipe frosting around all of your layers.  We stopped in the middle of piping and put the cake in the fridge because the frosting started to get goopy (is that a word?).  The frosting will stick better if it is chilled (not cold, or it won't spread) and if your cake is cold.  If it makes you more comfortable, chill your cake in between every step.

After all the piping is finished, add any decoration on the side. 

This cake feeds tons of people!  We had 20 folks at our party and it was only halfway gone!  Enjoy!

The Revamp of Hand-Me-Downs Part II (Finally!)

I know that I have been promising the revamp of this hand-me-down for quite some time.  With Sadie's birthday last week, I really wanted her to have a fun party dress, so I pulled this project back out.

Price breakdown:

FREE - Hand-me-down
Ribbon from remnant bag
Tulle from remnant bag    
FREE 

I started with this little dress:

First, I ripped off the sleeves and lace on the top.

Then, off with the rosettes, which I hope to make some fun hair bows out of!

After stitching the collar and sleeves closed, I cut the bottom of the dress off and hemmed it up.  It went almost down to Sadie's ankles, and I wanted knee length.

Next, I sewed a hot pink ribbon around the middle where the rosettes originally were.  I also added a Z stitch to add some drama :).

Next, I stitched hot pink tulle to the bottom of my hem.

Final product:

The Birthday Seat

I found this great project on www.familyfun.com.  Family Fun is an awesome website for crafty moms without a lot of time and they have tons of cool stuff that you can do for the kiddos.  If you are not handy with a sewing machine, this project could also be made with a hot glue gun only.

Price breakdown:

$2.99 yard of felt
.75 coordinating felt color sheets (3)
thread
hot glue gun                               
$3.75

Measure the length and width of your chair and cut your fabric on the fold, with the top being on the fold.  Pin your fabric RS together and stitch together the sides.

 

Sew up your bottom hem and topstitch.

 

Cut out your cake pieces in the pattern of your choice and hot glue to your felt.  I added three candles with flames on top.  The cool thing about this project is that you can add a new candle every year!

 

Cut out the name of the birthday girl and hot glue on. 

My daughter was sad when we took this down this year.  It was quite the crowd pleaser!

Interesting How-To Mini Dress

I think I might have to make one of these!

How To Turn a Collared Shirt Into a Sexy Mini Dress @ Yahoo! Video

Winter Hats

Hobby Lobby and Joann's have had 99 cent patterns sales in the last couple weeks, so be prepared to see a lot more pattered pieces!  This week, I wanted to make my first sewn hat.  I have been knitting for a few years now, but can't ever commit to buying really nice yarn, so my hats tend to look cheap.  So I thought, what better way to make fun hats then with my new best friend, fleece?

Price Breakdown:

Fleece from remnant pile:  Free
Thread                                      
FREE!

I started with Pattern M6213 from McCalls.  I really liked the hat in the upper left corner.  It was hard not to make leg warmers while I was at it, but they will come later, I am sure!

I started out making my brim by sewing the two pattern pieces, RS together.

I then sewed my two facing pieces, RS together on the only straight edge, on what will turn into the back and sides of my hat.

Next, I sewed the facing pieces to the brim of my hat by pinning them RS together and sewing them to the brim and then placing a top stitch on the RS of the hat.

Next, I created darts for the first time, which created the rounded look at the top of the hat.  I will admit that I did them incorrectly the first time and ended up taking out 4 rows of stitching...a very frustrating moment!  This is what they should look like when they are done.

With the WS out, I pinned the crown of my hat to the facing and brim.  Be sure to try the hat on before stitching this step.  I ended up making the hat too small for Sadie, and had to take out seams for a second time on this project and resew for the correct fit.

Last, turn your hat RS out and pull the seams along your darts until they are visible.  Stitch over these for extra hold.

So, just how cute is this hat?  See below:

Every set of footie jammies needs a cool hat!

My First Jacket

So I made my first jacket this week - in fleece.  The great thing about fleece is that it is extremely forgivable!  It can stretch and be worked over and over again and still looks great when it is complete!  Unfortunately, I don't have a bunch of how-to pics because I was taking the class at JoAnn's.  I promise to make another one soon though and add some step-by-step info along the way.  Here is the price breakdown.  This jacket was pricier to make the first time around due to the fact that I couldn't find patterns on sale.

$12.00 Fleece
$8.00 Pattern
$1.99 Lightweight Interfacing
thread
button (from my button stash)        
$21.99

This jacket can be made extremely inexpensive the next time around because I already have the pattern and fleece is always on sale!

I started out with Simplicity Pattern 4032.  I felt that this pattern was extremely easy to use and was great for a first timer!  I made the one in the middle.  I hope to do the first view in corduroy soon!

And this is what it looked like when it was complete.  Again, sorry for the lack of pictures...but I worked on something else this week...maybe I will post it soon!

Sadie Modeling this Week's Project