Lime Green Apron

My brother just got married, for my newest sister in law's bridal shower I made a lime green apron.

The spoon was not included, because I was feeling poor after I got her a rolling pin, a pastry blender (that's a manual hand tool), cookie cutters, and cookie sheets, all the things to make sugar cookies. But the spoon pocket is included.

Never Posted

My mom made a beautiful blessing dress for my daughter. She was a Christmas baby, hence her first name (origins of Nativity), and she was blessed in the month of December. So I had my mom put holly berries on her dress. I wanted to display the dress. I got a shadow box frame on sale at Michaels. I love it, my husband says it looks like she is dead. I like the heirloom effect.

I displayed it so she would have a reference point in life. I hope it points to wear she has been, she came from Heaven, a blessing in her mom and dad's lives. She was given A Name and A Blessing in (mostly) white, by her dad. And odds are it will be one of three white dresses for her, so it will point to where she is going. Most Mormons have seen a three white dresses bookmark, I've always thought the picture on that was ugly, but I guess I got the idea of framing the dress from that? I don't really know. Then once I read the poem, I thought that was silly. But still none the less, I hope my daughter has three white dresses. Even if she never gets married, I hope she still chooses the religion I've chosen and one day attends the temple.
I love the little slippers even if they were silly and didn't stay on her feet.

I love my cookie dough scoop

I love my cookie dough scoop. It is amazing tool. My husband wanted to return it when we got married, but I said no. If used correctly it makes perfect uniformed circular cookies. Oh its love.

I know that dough looks like it was missing something. It was oatmeal cookies, only oatmeal. We like virgin oatmeal cookies in our house, I promise the oatmeal was in it, even if the picture doesn't show it.

Ha

Turns out I never finished importing my craft posts, when I added this blog. If you have google reader I really apologize if you get 20 new posts, that are from years ago. I am terribly embarrassed, like terribly. But remember the good old days, before google reader, and we all just had to check everyone's blogs all the time, and we left comments because we actually went to the blog instead of reading google reader? Ahh, the good old days.

So Excited-- pretty cupcake tops

I found a tutorial somewhere online, I can not remember for the life of me where. I've spent a lot of time searching random blogs now that TV shows aired their season finales, I know I have a pathetic life while my husband is an MBA student. Anyway, the tutorial was a movie that showed how to make pretty cupcakes like this. I always thought I could do it, but hadn't tried. The other day I bought a bigger tip, now that I knew what size to buy thanks the the Wilton site, and tried it out.

I added sprinkles but didn't remove my son's artwork from the background. He made that bracelet especially for me!

I had signed up to bring a desert for a scout fundraiser, my husband was out of town so I didn't attend, but I did drop of the cupcakes. Since I wasn't making them for my kids, I did chocolate cream cheese frosting, thanks to Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. Ahh, I love chocolate cream cheese, but my son doesn't. I did tell them it was cream cheese, no one who doesn't love cream cheese should suffer that shock unaware. I saved some from the batch for me, and my daughter, she loves cream cheese too.

I heard later that not a single dessert went for under $10. Or maybe $20, I can't remember, if his wife wasn't allow to spend more than 5 or 10. Anyway, it made me feel good, I was afraid people wouldn't want to buy my cupcakes. I was actually glad I wasn't there to suffer such insecurities, but also glad to hear that my cupcakes sold for store bought value.

Beautiful Frosting

I'm pretty sure there are few things as beautiful in the world as white frosting. What did I do with such pretty white frosting you make ask?

Turned it muddy brown purple for bunnies. Few things in our life is as important as old bunny, so I bought a carrot cookie cutter to complement an Easter bunny. The funny thing is, the other day in the store I was trying to buy lime green frosting dye, when my son asked for brown. I said no, and thought brown is ugly. He said I like brown, he does old bunny is brown, his eyes are brown, his hair is brown. I said I can make brown, a few aisles later I thought hmm, I can't make brown, I can only make various shades of ugly purple hues. I didn't turn around, maybe one day I will buy brown dye if I can remember. He didn't seem to notice the ugly purple hue, he keeps telling me these cookies are very special to me. I can only share them with aunts, and cousins, and etc (listing off every other relative, but never friends).

I kind of agree, I might love them as much as my four year old. Its hard not to eat them while he is asleep. Its soo much easier to eat a pretty cookie.

Calico Eggs

Instead of making my children a stove, I bought them a wooden one while their dad was a business trip. I'm not a much of a DIYer with furniture, unfortunately I lose interest during the sanding which is why I didn't try. I'm in the process of making cupcakes for them, which are surprisingly very tricky, so I switched to eggs, eggs were easy. Then I was able to switch back to the cupcakes and figure them out. My eggs look totally homemade, in a bad way, its really hard to sew circles but none the less, my children and I see sewing projects as love. We all love these eggs.

By the way if you think the eggs look bad and I can't sew circles just wait until you see the cupcakes, they are tragic, they are so angular, but yet we love them just the same. Circles are hard! After buying the stove I couldn't bare to spend more money on toys for it, so I found my smallest pot and my smallest fry pan and lent them on long time loan. The pot fits great, the fry pan is a little large, we already had a tea set. I have a cupcake tray for 6 instead of twelve and it fits quite nicely inside the oven so I figured no need to buy toy cupcakes. Although I will always have fond memories of my fisher price cupcakes from the late 80s.

Bows

If you know my mom, or my aunts (my dad's sister, and my dad's brother's wife) you know they make beautiful bows. It is not genetic, because I on the other hand do not make beautiful bows. Here are some highlights.

Just kidding, these are the blooper moments, not the highlights I can make a presentable bow, but not a beautiful bow.

More not quite Pink cupcakes

One of my nieces has recently turned eight. Which means she got baptized in our church last Saturday. She was a big fan of the last set of pink cupcakes, so I planned on making some more for her luncheon afterward. Then I decided white would be better, since you wear white to be baptized with pink letters. A for her initial, and 8, because eight is great.

The last set of cupcakes, seemed to have a fluffier frosting. That is my vice, in an effort to not have runny frosting, I make stiff frosting. I also struggled with the 8s. I love store bought cupcakes with their frosting, but yet I also love the vintage look of a homemade cupcake.

Flower Clips

I'm totally into making clippies these days. I don't know why? Maybe because my daughter's hair is finally full enough for a pony tail and clip or pigtails and clips. She looks darling in pigtails, but they are harder than a Pebble's do on the top. So our usual styled do is a straight up pony tail up with a big flower in front. But our usual style for her is nothing, I love her little bobbed hair.

I had a great desire for a plain white flower. But I also love love the yellow with three different types of flowers, and the hot pink.

The day after her latest hair trim.

New and Improved

This is my favorite flower I made the other day, for my favorite apron. My birthday cupcake apron, hooray! Now my apron is new and improved. I love it.

I love the kelly green bias tape with the white rick rack it looks so dessert like to me. So here is another shot of it. In case you want a non blurry shot, here is one, oh wait that is blurry too, so here is yet another blurry shot. This apron is doomed of blurry shots, maybe I'll apron the apron and try for non blurry shot one day.

Not Yo-Yos

I recently realized my cousin counts me as one of her "very talented friends" on her blog, I felt so honored. Then one day I went to see what her other talented friends could make. I found this page about yo-yos on little girls shirts. Much cuter than the yo-yo pillows my old Merrie Miss teacher use to make when I was 11. (Merrie Miss was an outside of church activity group for 10-11 year old LDS girls that was renamed probably about 1996). The blog made fun and trendy yo-yos, instead of the old and 70sish yo-yos that I remember. I decided I should add some yo-yos to a blah pale pink shirt my daughter has. The results were less than successful, although I'm not done trying. No pictures of my failures. The blog with the yo-yo shirts led me here for a tutorial on yo-yos. The tutorial was made by a family friend of my husband's family, or at least a my mother in law's friend's daughter in law, or brother in law's friend's wife. So I scrolled around on her blog a bit. (I have never met the woman before, or any of the family friends that my husband's family grew up with.) Bare with me this blog is almost coming to a point. I found another flower fabric tutorial, so I now know how to make THREE. Here are my results, with left over baby blanket long skinny scraps.

I know I should probably pulled off the straggly strings but I liked them. Is my button vintage? I bought in in large stapled bags with other random buttons from this ghetto sewing store in Torrence, CA with my sister in law. Some of the stuff in that store has inches of dust, and some of it super great finds, and I'm sure some is new too. I have no idea the history of this button, but I doubt its for sale at my local chain fabric store that is for sure.
My son was a little jealous he never gets flowers, so I pulled out this soccer scrap, not that I need a masculine flower for him, just I'm sick of these soccer scraps. I don't even like this material, my husband asked me to make a baby blanket for a friend of his boy, I said I don't know their personalities for material. He said get something soccer like, then I found this material.

This button might also be vintage if you count 80s plastic as vintage? Also included in those large dusty bags. There are quite a few plastic brass looking buttons, its my son's dream come true. I think the plastic brass is truly tacky.

Bow Tie Complete

This bow tie was so not fun to make. I used 100% polyester that said silkies on the bolt, it was terrible to cut, terribly thin, and when I put interfacing in the bow, all of sudden it got to thick. The picture looks better than the real thing, here is hoping no one notices in real life. My four year old is quite the hit at church, everyone loves his bow ties.

I think he will match quite nicely with his sister.