Onesie Cupcakes

Have you seen those adorable little pictures of onesies that are rolled up with socks and cloths to look like candies and cupcakes? I love them! I was floored the first time I even saw a diaper cake, so seeing the precious little cupcakes is just too much for me!
As I mentioned yesterday, I did go out and buy some white cotton onesies to use as gifts for some upcoming showers. While I have other plans for some of them, I did devote a certain number to making cupcakes and flower bouquets.

So I had onesies, and washcloths, and cute cupcake wrappers, and even an adorable little box that I could put them in... Now what?

Well, I went to pinterest to find a tutorial, and actually came across a lot of pictures of things that were labelled "cupcakes"... and I suppose they kind of looked like them... if you squinted... But eventually I found a picture of something I actually wanted to make, and it had instructions. So I followed them and... mine looked fat and bloated compared to their dainty little thing. In part, I blamed the fact that I was using a washcloth in the center instead of socks, so mind wouldn't wrap as tightly. But perhaps I needed a smaller onesie size? I don't know - it never said.

So I kept looking for another picture, that perhaps compensated for the larger size. It turns out the universal answer to that problem was to use coffee filters in place of cupcake wrappers. And while it works, and they look pretty, they certainly don't look dainty. They're ginormous! And not what I was going for.

So I found another picture, that just wrapped up the onesie to look like a giant peak of folded icing, without anything colorful in the center. But this one didn't have any instructions. So I had to guess at what the proper wrapping process might be. It took a couple tries, but I did finally get it.

And then I thought, "Well this is stupid. I'd better make a tutorial!"

Enter this post.

You need:
1 shortsleeved onesie
1 washcloth
Scotch tape
'Garnishes'

First things of note: I used a 6-12 month, shortsleeved onesie. If you used a smaller size, you could very possibly get away with stuffing these in cupcake wrappers. In which case, you would skip the step with the washcloth.

Start with the sleeper face down and fold the sides in so the sleeves barely overlap.

Then fold it in half.

Turn the onesie so the neck is facing you, and the creased edge is facing out. Fold the neck down so that it's no longer in line with the creased edge. This will create a cleaner look for the 'icing'.

Start rolling from the top, gently pushing the first roll higher so that each subsequent roll gets lower - this will make the tiered look of the icing.

Roll it all the way up and then hold it together with a piece of tape. For the best look, push the center down a little bit so it isn't too peaked.

Next, take your washcloth. Lay it face down and fold it in thirds.

Wrap the cloth, with the creased edge up, around the base of the onesie cupcake. Tape it shut. Lastly, garnish your cupcake! You can use a pompom as the 'cherry on top', paper hole punches as sprinkles, or anything else you can think of!

Wrap them up in a box with a transparent lid, or a real bakery box.
Mine, as you can see, still need to be garnished, but considering the shower I made them for isn't until the beginning on November, I think I've got a bit of time!

Good luck with your onesie cupcakes! Stay tuned for the bound-to-happen pics of washcloth candies and receiving blanket lollipops!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Sea Glass

Did you know you can make your own sea glass?

Apparently all you need to do is put a broken bit of glass in a container with sand and shake it! Might I add, I suspect you need to shake it quite a bit before the whole piece is smooth...

Now, I haven't tried this method, partly because it sounds like a lot of shaking, and partly because I have an aversion to breaking glass bottles (weird, I know.) But I still love the look of sea glass, and since I am woefully land-locked here in the prairies, I went a-looking for another method.

I stumbled across this one a week ago and decided to give it a try today:
You mix some white glue with some food coloring and you paint it onto glass and when it dries, it should dry transparent! Neat, hey?

Well, those are about the only instructions that were available on the tutorial I was hitting up so I blindly went in thinking, "it must be as easy as it sounds!"

Honestly, I think people in general are just a lot more talented at crafting than I am.

Round 1: My first vase started globbing, and streaking, and running, and then gumming up.
Round 2: I tried glass ornaments and it was basically the same deal - I just perfected a bit more of a long brush stroke so they turned out slightly better
Round 3: I finally realized that the paintbrush I was using was not the wisest thing in the world (a dollar store special I stole from Gabe's craft bucket), so I upgraded to a sponge brush. It took waaaaaay less time, went on much more evenly, and I didn't have to do as many touchups, which helped with the gumming problem

I let them dry, awkwardly propped on glue bottles and funnels, and then was surprised to see how the more they dried, the better they looked. Really, I had done an awful, terrible job, and they were starting to look nearly presentable!

I decided to do a second coat to see if I couldn't cover up the earlier flaws. My other sponge brush was still wet so I got an inferior one - this made a difference, and not a good one. While an inferior sponge brush is better than a crummy paint brush, and good sponge brush is best.
Second coats go on much easier and so far they appear to be covering up all of my goofs. Time will tell I suppose, but a third (maybe even fourth?) coat may be in order.

A few tips if you attempt to try this yourself:
These will not be waterproof, nor is there really a good way to make them so. Glue is water soluble. End of story. So if you want to do a vase, only do the outside and be careful not to get it wet.
Don't try fixing globs when it's mostly dried. The globs dry surprisingly evenly, but the gumming does not. As long as there's nothing too massive, it should be fine.
For a ratio of color to glue, I did about 1 - 2 tbsp of glue and 3 - 5 drops of dye. I did three different colors: 1 blue + 2 green, 1 green + 2 blue, and 5 blue.
As you can see in the picture, I didn't feel the need to spend good money on the dye - just regular food coloring will work.
You may also notice, I didn't feel the need to spend good money on the glue either. This was a 3-pack that I bought at the dollar store for a buck. It seems to be doing the trick.
Be warned, if you are doing something that light can enter and fill (like a vase), the streaks will be more visible. But then again, you may be a better crafter than I am and entirely avoid streaks. If you doubt your abilities however, stick with something that will be entirely covered with the glue-paint wherever the light will break through.
Lastly, as I mentioned above, the glue is water soluble, so what that really means is that if you are having troubles and mess up horribly, you can wash it off and try again.
Or, you can wash it off and say, "Well that was dumb!" and find something else to do.
Either works.

You can find the original source for these here. There is a bit more information in the comments section, but I think this is all you really need to know.

Sorry that the pictures are sucky! There's no natural light at 1 a.m. (go figure!) and they aren't finished anyway! I'll post a better picture when they are good and ready!

OH! One more thing: I've seen other posts where you use modge podge and gel food coloring and then bake them, or ones that call for dish soap in the with glue and dye... truth be told, they don't look much different, and bake them or not, the color will still come off if you wash them. This is one of those cases where the easiest way possible is probably the best.

Good luck!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Christmas is coming!

...Well, in a fashion...

It may be far too early to think about Christmas for some people, but I can't help it. Since we started doing almost exclusively hand-made presents for people, I need to start thinking about Christmas a few months in advance. But the amount of money that I save is well worth the extra time that I put into it.

If you have any amount of creativity, at all, there is a whole world of ideas out there to get you started in the home-made gift realm. Some of my first home-made gifts were simple bath products: bath bombs and salts. I found the instructions at MarthaStewart.com and it took a mere afternoon to put them together. While these were nice for my sister and Matt's sisters, they didn't quite cover over my whole list. I moved on to pillows and then I settled into food. For the past couple years my presents have primarily been sugar syrups and canned goods (two years ago I made sweet pepper jelly and this past year I made thai chili sauce, mango chutney, crabapple jelly and raspberry jam), but this year I think I'm going to break away from the food category a bit. But that's why I have Pinterest.

From handmade jewellery tutorials, to coasters (here or here), lots of things with chalkboard paint (this or this), or even transfering pictures onto wood, you can find a tonne of ideas.

If you would prefer to go the food route (which is great for neighbour gifts, btw) again, a little bit of creativity goes a long way. Instead of giving people cookies, give them cookie dough that they can store in their freezer and pull-out after the Christmas goodie rush has ended. Give them jars of jelly or savory sauces that they can open through the year. Dry mixes for cakes, soups, breads or cookies are always welcome, and if you feel particularly adventurous, try making a dry tea blend.

If your talents lie in the realm of sewing, consider throws, pillows, dogbeds or baby clothes. If you are a crocheter, maybe make some reusable produce bags. If you are handy with tools, how about a bookcase dollhouse for your niece, or an upcycled bench or ottoman?

Once you get into wall-hangings the flood gates really open up!
DIY Letter Transfer
Crayon Art

Fabric hangings
Door Mat wall art

What will you make this Christmas?

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Crafty Projects

Whew! What a weekend! Baking, sewing, crafting, painting, hosting, organizing, cleaning... Lately it seems like my weekends are busier than all of my weekdays combined! In my teaser post on Saturday night I mentioned some of the stuff that I accomplished on Saturday, and I call it a teaser poster because I didn't put up any pictures! How wretched of me! However, I have made good on my promise to deliver pictures the next chance I got, and here they are!



First up are the cardstock 3D wall art pieces I made for the nursery. After making-do with Winnie the Pooh decals for so long, I finally decided to give the nursery a more original look. I came across a picture of these on Pinterest - taken from the Etsy store Gosh and Golly. They were whimsical, adorable, slightly boyish and perfect! However, I'm cheap (read: Scottish), so I opted to make these instead of buying them. Now, if you wish to make these, I have some tips. First tip: don't bother making them - just buy them. They'll look way better. Second tip: if you insist on making them, don't cut with scissors. Use a straight blade and a cutting surface. Third tip: Better yet, use a Cricut with some sort of a balloon template. The real neat part is the 3D, which is done by making 2, folding them at 135 degree angles, putting in some strategic slits and assembling. Fourth tip: save your money on the Cricut cartridge and just pay the $30 from the Etsy store!
They were quite finnicky to make, and they look kind of rough up close, no matter how hard I tried, but they are still adorable. I can't find my sticky tack, so I'm still in the process of hanging them, so the picture above is a completed scene, but the picture below will have 3 more balloons and a few more clouds around it.



Secondly, and more significantly, I finally got around to those nightstands that have been haunting my basement since I bought them last fall! Matt kept telling me that he thought I'd never get around to them and I (finally) proved him wrong! I unsuccessfully tried stripping them with a gel stripper, but after 3 coats and 2 hours it was making zero difference (maybe it was the type of paint? I really don't know why it didn't work - but if you do, let me know!) Anyway, I was so determined to get them done that I got up at 6:30 this morning and started sanding. And sanding. And sanding. It was a lot of sanding. And I wasn't even stripping them entirely!

Since I was painting them and not staining them, I opted to just take off the sheen of the paint and take it down to the primed layer in some of the grooves. Still, a lot of sanding. After about 2 and a half hours, I felt like the sanding was good enough. I cleaned the surfaces, got the kids settled with some games, and then went to painting. I did one coat of primer across all of the surfaces. This was the easy part. Next came the trickier bit where I did my first coat of white paint. I used melamine paint for the white because a) these are for kids, and b) we had a lot of it kicking around. Melamine paints on thicker than a normal paint, but it's super cleanable on furniture and very durable. It does get quite gummy quite quickly, so I had to work fast and make sure I got it on evenly the first time. I had to take a break at this point to deal with a potty issue (not mine) and I grabbed some breakfast (finally). Then I went out with a new brush and painted on the accent color onto the drawers and the trim. I actually had to go get a sponge brush to cut in the trim (after gooping dark brown paint onto places that it shouldn't have been! Whoops!). I went back out after a little bit and did a second coat of the accent color. This evening I'm going to pull the stands into my kitchen and give them a final coat of each color (and a quick, light sanding to get anything off of them that they picked up outside - like pollen from my mayday tree). I've got my dreams for the tops, but I have to let the paint cure for a week before I get to even try that, so now all I can do is try to figure out what types of drawer pulls I want!



I am so, so glad that these things are finally getting done! They've been looming for so long, and they'll help make my boys' rooms look so much nicer! Yay for being productive!! Now, how about some Angry Birds?

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Knitting

I love knitting... off and on. It's actually kind of a love-hate relationship. Sometimes it's just really fun to pick up those needles and make something with my hands. It's a great sense of accomplishment and a wonderful release of creative energy. Sometimes, however, I am cursing my knitting project, wishing the scarf would just finish itself and regretting that I ever started such a huge undertaking.
Interesting, huh?

A while back I identified my main issue with knitting, which is the length of some projects. In an endeavor to learn how to knit better (after being sick of doing a lot of things only slightly well) I started making coffee sleeves - they were small, quick projects that I could try new techniques out on, and if it wasn't working I wasn't going to cry over having to unravel something I had invested hours and hours into. It was during this time that I realized I wasn't stressed about my ongoing projects - partly because they weren't very 'ongoing'. A few hours in and I was binding off my beautifully cable-knit coffee sleeve. I started to look for new ideas for things that I could knit quickly, when I came across a headband that I had found on Pinterest a while before. I gave it a whirl and was pleased to find that it took only a few hours to knit - and they were quite cute! You can find the pattern here. Well, I made one for myself, showed it to my sisters-in-law and they both said they'd like one, as did my sister and a friend that saw them when I posted a pic on Facebook. I've been making most of mine about half the width of the original pattern and they still look great! If you've never tried knitting or only know how to do the basics, this one is worth a try. A knit here, a purl there, a bit of yarn-over and you've got yourself a gorgeous headband. Or, you know, hit me up for one!

This was a great weekend, with a healthy mix of doing lots and doing nothing. It started with a night at a friend's birthday party where we spent time with some of the people we love the most. It was loud, but really fun! Saturday we had plans to go to my parents' for dinner and my Mom decided she was too busy to make the second dessert she had planned on doing, so I offered to bring something. My Mom suggested something like cookies, so I opted to make the Cinnamon Roll Cookies that I, again, found on Pinterest. They are super yummy, and if I remember correctly, they're even better the second day. I have no frame of reference for that this time though because, apparently, my brother thought they were fantastic. I made 4 dozen and between 6 of us there were only 10 left at the end of the evening. (Bear in mind, that was the second dessert!)
Today I lead worship in church, however that decision wasn't really made until Saturday morning so the crunch was on a bit to pick my songs and be ready to play this afternoon. I was a little concerned to find that my voice it a bit weak right now so all of the songs I had to actually transpose down to an easier key. Though, honestly, I'm probably the only one who noticed!

I'd best get off an start knitting again - I've got enough time before bed to finish another headband!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Bottles, bottles everywhere...

...And not a drop to drink - because they're all empty bottles I hold onto!

I LOVE bottles. Wines bottles, pretty water bottles, syrup bottles... my storage shelves are lined with the things. I actually have trouble parting with them! The more striking the silhouette the more likely I am to hold on to them for dear life!
Just doing a quick inventory of my 'stash', I found bottles that previously held gourmet lemonade, hot chocolate mix and marshmallows, maple syrup, lychee liquor and lots and lots of sugar syrups. I did a purge recently of some wine bottles I had been holding onto, and opted to keep just their corks instead of the whole bottles. There's just something about a beautifully shaped glass vessel that beckons. (Let's not even get into my vase obsession!)

My husband doesn't get it, but I don't expect him to. He's at least gracious enough to tolerate it, and really, that's the best I could hope for. This past week, however, two different incidences occurred which helped me to feel at least somewhat justified in his eyes for keeping all of these pretty pretties. The first was the lesson plan for my Sunday School class which was supposed to center around the 5th day of creation: Birds and Fish. Sadly, thanks to the Chicken Pocked Boy, I was unable to lead the class and had to line up a willing helper to take over for the week. I had mentioned the Jellyfish-in-a-bottle activity to this helper and said that I would provide one. She also offered to make a couple to bring, but knowing from my 2 previous experiments with it that it was not as simple as the online tutorials made it look, I still made mine to send along. For you regular readers, you may remember a few months ago that I bought a stupidly overpriced bottle of natural spring water that tasted little better than tap water, all because it had a pretty plastic bottle - the perfect bottle for this activity in fact. My first try of shaping the jellyfish out of a plastic bag worked, and I learned that less is more in the tentacle area, and combined with the beautiful bottle, I produced a very great-looking jelly-fish-in-a-bottle! When Matt took it to the church for my volunteer, she raved over how wonderful mine was compared to the ones she had made; the difference was in the bottle. She had tried making her's in pop bottles which had far too much curve to them to see the beautiful movements of the 'jellyfish' as it swam up and down the bottle. Score one for me and my bottles.


The second incidence occurred yesterday. Matt had brought me home a bundle of tulips, 5 of them actually (one for every point of Calvanism... but that's my husband's humor for you!) and he set them in the tallest vase that he could find. By morning, these beautiful, long-stemmed tulips were dropping down onto the table top. The vase simply didn't offer them enough support. Matt lamented the stunted nature of all of my narrow vases and commented on the apparent need to hack off about 6" worth of stem from my beautiful flowers - but I would have none of it. Again, it was my bottle stash to the rescue! Matt brought home an interesting wine the other day for some company we were having over. The wine was called VOGA Quattro and was made up of a blend of 4 different grapes. It was a nice drinking wine (it was italian, so of course I would like it), but equally as nice was the bottle. It was a capped bottle that formed this beautifully stream-lined cylindrical shape. I kept the corks and the bottle this time. Oh, and the next time we bought wine I got the same kind again, moreso for the bottle than anything! Well, it turns out that they are the perfect height for my tulips! Matt was again pleased with the aesthetic properties of my bottles, and I was again justified in keeping said bottles at all! Score two for me and my bottles!

I'm sorry to report that as I write this I am looking out the window and watching the snow fall. Doesn't anyone know that it's spring?!? I went to make a seasonally apropos meal last night and the weather defied me and made me look foolish. I thought BBQ ribs would be a nice meal for the first day of spring, but it got a bit too nippy out by the time the ribs were boiled to make barbquing desirable. So, I opted to oven roast them instead, which bumped our meal time by a fair bit. What was supposed to be dinner at 6:00 actually turned into dinner at 7:00. I felt so bad for making Matt wait for dinner that I decided to do up a treat for him: Red Lobster copy-cat cheese biscuits! They are Matt's favorite thing about Red Lobster (which I don't get... have you tried their crab legs and their coconut shrimp???) and so I figured all would be forgiven if I could produce a reasonable facsimile of them. I had some of my go-to scone mix ready and waiting to be used up, which made my job worlds easier. This scone mix is award winning - or it would be if I knew of a competition for scone mixes... and is versatile between sweet and savory. Today I threw in some grated cheddar, mixed them and spooned them into little mounds. Before I popped them in the oven I brushed them with some garlic butter (using garlic powder - real garlic was too... real tasting.) and as soon as they came out of the oven I brushed them with more garlic butter. The only difference between the Red Lobster biscuits and mine were that mine weren't uber greasy and they tasted light and fluffy but still had a distinct crunchiness to the outside! Now, I apologize, but I can't publish my scone recipe for mass consumption. It's a trade secret that I got from the same place as my epic Mulligatawny recipe which I am not at liberty to divulge, but if you know me, hit me up for it! I have no issue releasing it to friends! Just, not to the world at large.
Well, As pretty as my bottles are and as yummy as my cheese biscuits were, I think my husband would be slightly disappointed if I got nothing done today. Sigh. But how about one more pretty bottle picture for the road?


Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Valentines 2012

Why have I gotten so incredibly bad at blogging???
This makes two posts in one evening, simply because I had assumed I had already done this post, but looking back, I 'remembered' doing 3 other posts since the last one I actually wrote!!
Well, Valentines Day has now come and gone, and this year we were intending to keep it fairly low key. If you've read my last post you know that I had Matt's surprise party this weekend, so in order to keep my budget as big as possible for that event, I planned for my Valentine's budget to be as small as possible.
While I wanted my spending to be small, I still wanted to make a big deal about the day. So, I went all-out on my crafty expressions of love that day and made sure Matt knew that he was my Valentine :)
I actually started prep for this roughly a month ago. While purging my scrapbooking materials (let's face it, I'm not a scrapbooker), there was some paper that was too pretty to do nothing with. I started cutting out hearts and made about 15 little valentines for Matt. Closer to the day I started making crepe-paper rose kissing balls. (I told Matt I needed them for my upcoming fundraiser, when really, it was all about him!)

On the actual day of I got up bright and early to make breakfast and pack a lunch for Matt. Oh, and I began to hide the valentines! Wallet, lunch bag, medicine cabinet, breakfast plate, door, work binder and work van... check. He found 4 before he even kissed me good morning as I served him pancakes! I also set an alarm in his phone (an 'I love you' alarm) and turned on the calendar notification for Valentines Day in his phone as well. While he was at work I really started going! I made paper-heart chains, hung streamers, made more kissing balls and hid even more valentines! Gabriel made him a valentine and did a couple fun things himself ('Mommy! My milk is pink!'). As a final touch, I made a gigantic banner that read, "The World's Best Husband Lives HERE" and hung it across our front window!
I made a yummy dessert for Matt (are you surprised?). I was planning on making a full chocolate cake with a blackberry buttercream, but I didn't want that much cake kicking around all week, so instead I decided to use up some chocolate wafers I had in my cupboard. I heated some blackberry jam slightly and strained it, then used it to flavor some whipping cream. I also made a red wine ganache (1/3 c. cream, 1/2 c. chocolate and a double-shot of red wine), and then I layered the chocolate wafers with both the cream and the ganache. After a few hours in the fridge, the wafers softened up into a wonderful cake! And by the way, blackberry whipping cream? FABULOUS!

Matt came home to Indian food (ordered in - I've yet to try making tikka masala) and a load more valentines (glasses case, cup cupboard, shower, pockets, pillow...) We counted 24 valentines at the end of the day (not including virtual ones).
And just when he thought he had found them all, he pulled back the blankets to climb into bed and found 2 dozen paper hearts of all sizes strewn across his side of the bed!
So while it might have seemed a low-key Valentines if you looked at our bank statement, if you looked at the paper explosion in our house, you would have been able to tell otherwise.

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)