The One With the Silhouette

Everyone was doing them, so I decided to try doing one, too. I used Photoshop CS3 for mine. And now I don't really know what to do with it. But it is pretty, nonetheless.

Ellie's silhouette. 7 months old.

The One With the Sunflowers and the Bras

We made some more cupcakes for a bake sale for Relay for Life.
We used chocolate cupcakes, Oreos, green and yellow frosting to create the sunflower cupcakes.

Since it was for Relay for Life, we also tried our hand at creating some cupcake pairs to resemble bras. Can you tell?


I made flesh colored frosting using 8 drops yellow food coloring, 6 drops red, and 2 drops green mixed separately. Then, I added the mixed food coloring a little bit at a time until I reached the desired flesh tone. Of course, for some multi-cultural flair, we used some chocolate frosting on chocolate cupcakes as well.
The sparkly bras were created using pink decorating sugar.

The One With the Bunny Ears

Just had to post these pictures of Ellie from Easter.

There are a few things I like in my pictures: people I love, good lighting, and a bit of drama. These pictures have it all.

The One with the Reversible Half-Aprons

These reversible half-aprons are simple and great for gifts or personal use. There are lots of tutorials online with direct measurements - you can find these are just take measurements yourself. Here are the basic steps we used.

1. Measure: Decide how long and wide you want the apron. If you are planning on doing the ruffles, add about 3 inches to the width. Our apron cuts measured 18 x 24 inches.
   
   
2. Purchase your fabric. Always buy on sale! You will need 1/2 yard of two fabrics that will form either side of the apron. You will also need a piece that coordinates with both sides for the tie. You can just get an 1/8 yard of fabric or we found that the small pre-cut pieces they have at JoAnn's are the perfect size.
   
   
3. Prepare your fabric: Wash cottons in cold water with about 1/4 cup of white vinegar to set the color. Tumble dry low. Remember: treat your fabric exactly the same way you plan on treating it after your creation is made. Press fabric.
   
   
4. Cut your fabric: If you take your own measurements, make sure you make the cuts 1/2 inches longer all around to account for the seams. You will need:
   
   • 2 pieces of fabric of equal size (about 18 x 24 inches)
   • 1 strip of fabric 3 x 55 - 60 inches (can be made by sewing several pieces of 3 inch wide fabric together)
     
     
5. With your two large fabric pieces facing each other, sew them together along the sides and bottom with a 1/4 inch seam. Turn the apron right-side out and press.
   
   
6. Create a ruffle (optional): Make small folds in the un-sewn side of the apron. Use push-pins to keep the pleats intact. Use a basting stitch 1/4 inch from the edge to preserve the pleats. It will also be useful as a marker for the blind hem stitch for later. Hint: Sew slowly and lift up your machine's foot to keep the pleat from catching or going askew.
   
   
7. Prepare the tie: Fold the strip in half and press. Fold the halves in as well and press these.
   
   
8. Mark tie with pins: Fold the apron in half and the tie in half to find out how much of the tie will be on the apron. The sides will be sewn in a different way than the blind-hem stitch on the apron piece.
   
   
9. Fold the tie right-side-in and sew along the press you made up to the pins that mark how far the ties go. Turn the tie right-side-out and press.
   
   
10. Pin the tie to the apron so that the basting stitch you made earlier lines up with one of the press marks you made. Sew along the press mark.
    
    
11. Use a blind-hem stitch to attach the tie to the other side.
    Anchor your thread in the base (the apron part).
    Then, slide your needle through the fold of the tie about 1/4 of an inch. Then, anchor your stitch in the base, again. Make sure you cover up the stitch you made to anchor the tie to the other side.
    
    
12. You're all done once you can't tell the difference between which side you stitched by hand and and which one by machine.
    

The One with the Tutus

One of the simplest things I have ever made is also super adorable.

We wanted to make the tutus shorter and straighter, you know... to incite an early love for ballet. There are lots of directions other places for longer tutus that end up more like skirts, but these directions are for the tutu pictured above and below.

Supplies:
6-8 yards of tulle. You can use two colors if you want.
1 yard of 1/4 - 3/8 inch elastic

Step 1: Measure your child.
For my 6-month-old daughter, pictured above, I measured 18 inches. Don't make the measurement either too taught or too loose.

Step 2:
Cut the elastic 2 inches longer than the measurement you just took.

Step 3:
Overlap the elastic 1 inch on each side to make a wasitband. Sew by hand or machine.

Step 4:
Cut the tulle into strips. For the tutu above I cut strips that were 4-6 inches wide and 12-13 inches long. Vary the length of the strips based on the height of your child and the desired length of the tutu.
It is not very important to be precise with these cuts. Don't worry if they're not perfectly straight - it will all be covered up.

Step 5:
Gather two strips - either of contrasting colors or not - and fold them in half behind the elastic.

Step 6:
Pull the ends through the loop at top and pull tight.

Step 7: Repeat until the entire elastic is covered. Don't worry if the elastic seems to lengthen as you pull the tulle tight. If you measured correctly, it should still fit just right. You always have the option of loosening some of the tulle if the elastic is too long.

(Pictures of Addi's tutu are coming soon...)

And the good news is: Ellie likes it! Mostly because tulle is fun to play with. But, hey, we both win this way. :-)

The First One

It seems only appropriate to begin this blog with our first cupcake.

It's supposed to be a panda bear. Can you tell?

Because it is the first one, it is full of lots of mistakes. Biggest mistake: not having black food coloring for the frosting. We're going to need some of that.

Supplies:

• Regular size chocolate cupcakes baked in white liners
• Mini chocolate cupcakes baked in white liners
• Mini chocolate chips for nose
• Mini marshmallows for creating for creating point of nose
• White frosting
• Black frosting
• Oreo O's or frosting-covered Cheerios
  

Resources:

• Hello, Cupcake