So it was my delight to make a birthday cake for my friend Kristin recently.  As tempting as it was to go with a full floral theme (and make use of my dusty Wilton instruction booklets), I decided to focus on fall.  It was a small celebration, so I used my Pyrex measuring cup to bake a small spice cake and topped it with white chocolate buttercream frosting:

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C white chocolate chips, melted over a double boiler

1 tsp vanilla

3 C powdered sugar

Then came the fun part!  I printed out a sheet of leaf line drawings.  Then I used melting chocolates in different color combinations and piped them onto wax paper over the leaf templates:

Using a toothpick, I spread and swirled the chocolate to the edges of the templates to create textured leaves:

After letting the chocolates harden in the refrigerator, I covered the cake with the delicious (and might I say girlie?) foliage:

Kristin loved it (and so did the boys)!

Here’s What You Need:

wool roving (raw wool which has been cleaned, carded and sometimes dyed)

soap in any shape you like (I didn’t have egg soaps, so I shaved a bar of soap into little bits, added some water and molded it like clay into eggs)

hot water

Here’s What  You Do:

Cover the soap with wool roving.  Use about twice as much as you think you’ll need, because the felting process causes the wool to shrink.  Then, dribble hot water onto the wool and soap with your hands.  Don’t dunk it in the water or the wool will slip off.  Dribble and press, dribble and press.  It will begin to stick together.  Here is a photo tutorial for you visual learners.  Don’t worry that you’re working up a lather in the process — the soap actually helps the wool to felt.  Once it’s beginning to stick together, start rubbing.  Some people use felting mats, but I don’t have any so I just used my hands.  Be sure to rub all sides.  If the lather is taking over, dribble more water to rinse it and then keep rubbing!  The wool is felted when you pull on it with your fingers and it doesn’t pull away.  Let them dry, take some photos, post them to your blog, give them as gifts, or stick them in an Easter basket (you don’t have to tell anyone how easy they were)!

I just put a layer of rocks at the bottom, a layer of soil mixed with charcoal (which is very helpful in preventing the mold), and some dried moss.  Ok, ok, I cheated, but it LOOKS like I’m growing live moss, right?  And I’m lovin’ the green!

I started with rattles, inspired by little Henry’s newfound shaking skills which could leave him bruised by other toys.  Then I moved on to the matryoshka dolls, which I haven’t finished but still couldn’t wait to post here:

Once I felt more confident in creating little wool sculptures, I made this, um, woolidermy . . .

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Especially in the form of sweet cupcake liners like these (I mean, what homie doesn’t love a great cupcake liner?):

And thanks to Amy at Crafts Redesigned, who was featured on the Valentine tutorials at Sew Mama Sew, I was inspired to make this heart wreath to hang over my sink (it’s made from a coat hanger, old fabric scraps and some recycled ribbon from a gift!  Gotta love a $0 project!):

Happy Heart Day!

I have a running joke with a longtime friend and former coworker from my early teaching days.  What started as mutual amusement (and confusion) at a student’s declaration that he would be buying his mother some “chicken whatnots” on a class shopping trip (we finally determined that she collected anything chicken-related . . . and whatnot) has now turned into a love and appreciation for certain chicken items that remind me of the joke.  And so, some* chicken whatnots have found a home in my kitchen, and they do make me smile.

*Please resist the urge to buy me chicken related items.  Thank you.  ;)

Maybe it’s the retro vibe, but some felt and rickrack finally inspired me to make the cards into a banner for our play room windows.

First I sewed around the edge of each card to attach them to the felt (I suggest wool felt for longevity but I used acrylic because I had some on hand):

Pinking shears gave the felt a nice finished edge, and I left some room at the top to cut slits and string each card onto the rickrack:

It looked a little bare until I added the bows, but now I have a Valentine’s Day banner sweet enough for any room in the house:

A light bulb moment occurred recently as I vowed to finish the baby quilt I started long ago while I was pregnant with my youngest child (he’s only 5 months old now, but it would be nice to finish his “baby quilt” while he is a “baby”). I just needed to think outside the box a little to avoid the mess of plastic craft bins . . . the solution?  Planters (vintage, of course).

A trip to the thrift store last week resulted in the purchase of this guy who cleverly (if not happily) tucks my scissors and needles away:

And these (who says a sugar/creamer set can’t be planters . . . or anything else I want them to be?):

Of course, while I was at the thrift store, I also found this guy (and I had to have him because the Q-tips in our nursery were screaming for a makeover):

And well, planters also make lovely planters:

I’d love to hear some of your container ideas too – outside the box . . .

Here’s the noodle recipe I always use:

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 eggshell of milk

secret ingredient: love.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Combine ingredients and form into a ball.  Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch and cut with teeny, tiny cookie cutters like these.  Easy, right?  See, I’m not crazy.  And hey, my kids are more willing to eat a healthy meal when there’s an element of fun.

Let me know if you try it!

p.s. I found the cute red polka dot pots at a flea market in Romania.  I say “found,” but we saw them in almost every Romanian home we visited (even the children’s hospital). And you know what they say, “When in Rom – ania . . . .”   Oh stop groaning.  This isn’t a comedy blog.  ;-)