Red Paper Umbrella

This was totally an accident. I am sure that’s how a lot of silly-yet-useful crafts happen but I felt the need to state it. One late Friday night my boyfriend and I were jonesing for soda. We don’t keep soda in the house or drink soda on a regular basis so we decided to go to the local gas station to pick up a fountain soda to quench our cravings without having extra soda in the house. While I was there somehow a “super stack” can of Pringles fell into my hand. I don’t know how it happened but it certainly wasn’t because I picked them out after seeing the new & exciting jalepeno flavor. Heavens no.

Anyway a couple of weeks later the Pringles were long gone and the can was hanging out on my computer desk. I guess it must have wandered over while I was playing Warcraft. Hmm, how incredibly strange. I took it into the kitchen and as I opened the door to throw it away an idea struck. This is the perfect container for my spaghetti that is in a haphazardly scotch taped box in the cabinet right now going stale. Turns out I was right, so I washed out the container and in the spaghetti went.

The next day my boyfriend saw my silly idea and laughed about spaghetti in a Pringles can. I knew this was a perfect storage solution but that it also looked pretty damn trashy. I couldn’t bear to let my spaghetti go stale just because of being a shallow chef. I came up with the idea to cover the can in scrapbook paper so that it would be less offensive on the eye (and to forget the shame of my late night Pringles tryst).

I started out by washing the inside of the can and letting it throroughly dry for about a day. I washed it by hand with a bottle brush type of thing, not in the dishwasher. This isn’t a super durable container so don’t expect it to put up with much cleaning abuse.

I cut a piece of really boring scrapbook paper to the right size to cover the can. Then I broke out the hot glue & glue gun. I put a bead of hot glue down the length of the canister and lined up the paper to be straight and cover evenly. I rolled the paper around the can and put another bead of hot glue to overlap the paper on itself and cover the can completely.


I ripped off the end of the spaghetti box and taped it to the inside of the lid because it had the cooking time. I’m sure I could just google it or guess but this seemed easy & convenient too.

I might just have to see if any more Pringles super stacks hop voluntarily into my shopping basket next time I go shopping. The containers are just too useful not to keep!

No Comments | In: home decor | tags: food, home decor, recycling. | #

This is part 2 of the Valentine’s day post with a bonus birthday craft! One day after getting a new shiny bicycle I decided to ride around my neighborhood and to the closest store. It’s one of those discount stores that has a little bit of everything. Clothes, food, pharmacy items, etc. and I was on a mission to find some Valentine’s day supplies. I decided on a box of red velvet cake mix, a can of milk chocolate frosting and a bag of both white and milk chocolate chips because my boyfriend loooooves sweets. No, seriously he loves sweets more than most other things. He would probably trample me to get to a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. I accept this and love him anyway.

I got home, and after recovering from thinking I could just hop on a bike after 10 years of not riding one and be super cool, I started to think about what I could do with my cake and frosting that would be zazzier than plain old cake. I originally bought it with cupcakes in mind but it seems like over the past few years cupcakes have had a massive resurgence in popularity – aka they are played out. I am tired of them. I no longer find them cute. They now remind me of annoying kids who get in my way at the mall wearing neon colors and tight Rugrats T shirts. DO NOT WANT.

I googled around and eventually came to the ever-amazing Bakerella’s blog. The first thing I saw was a post about cake pops. I thought “Hmmm cake pops? Would my boyfriend really appreciate them or are they just appealing to the little girl in me who loved lollipops bigger than my head?” I decided that he would eat cake in any form and that if I spent extra time putting it on sticks it would just be a hindrance to his cake inhaling.

So I went with the still pretty enough to soothe my inner girly girl and easier to inhale Cake Balls. The process was extremely easy but time consuming. I found that chilling the formed balls in the fridge for a long time before dipping them in chocolate was the best way to go. Otherwise they got warm and sticky really quickly. So here are the ones that I made for my boyfriend, my first ever cake balls. Or cake truffles as I like to call them. People give you the stink eye if you ask “WANNA TASTE MY CAKE BALLS?!” excitedly.

One box of cake and most of a can of frosting made A TON of these things. I was shocked at how many I got out of my ingredients.

I *tried* to get the pink things to look like hearts. Yeah, no. Not happening.

This is my second try at cake balls. My friend’s birthday was a couple of weeks after valentine’s day and since the first batch went so well I decided to do the same thing for her. I got fancy this time and bought a nice big tin and tiny paper cups to put them in. I also used actual Wilton candy melts this time rather than store brand chocolate chips. It worked really well. I would definitely use those again instead of chocolate chips. By the way there was a whole extra layer of cake truffles underneath these. I traced the tin on a cereal box to make the divider. Soooo much cake!



I went with purple and white because the recipient’s favorite color is purple. I made these with reduced sugar cake and frosting to see if it would cut down on some of the sweetness. Even my boyfriend, the king of candy, noted that the first batch were extremely sweet. They made his cheeks flush red. That can’t be healthy. I tried to remedy this by using the reduced sugar stuff, as to not kill my friend with the same sugar overload. I’m such a great friend with my non-assassinating gifts, doncha know.


I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to impress loved ones with your baking skills but still spend relatively the same money as you would on making a regular cake. I would love to make these for an event for sure. However I feels I must warn ye scallywags: the calories be as great as the seven seas. My frilly little apron almost burst into flames of rage after figuring out how many calories there were in each of these little bad boys. WHEW. Glad I gave them away to other people!

1 Comment | In: food | tags: baking, holiday. | #

Yes that’s right. I am in the Valentine’s Day spirit this year! I already made 3 things for my boyfriend which I will be posting leading up to ~the day itself~ ^_^ I am also planning on making some kind of sweet baked good so I will try to share the recipe for that, whatever it may be. I haven’t decided yet but I have some ideas!


Here is the first finished creation for v-day 2010:

My boyfriend is quite a Zelda nerd (I am too!) so I know this will be a well received gift. I haven’t decided yet if I want to put a magnet on the back or glue him to a picture frame but either way he will probably be displayed on my boyfriend’s desk at work, where he puts all of the crafty things I make him that he wants to show off.

No Comments | In: perler | tags: holiday, perler, video games. | #

I wish I got the chance to take pictures of every gift I made this year for xmas but unfortunately I totally forgot most of them. I was too busy moving on to the next thing. I did manage to get a few pictures though, so here are my holiday projects. Enjoy!
Ho Ho Ho

No Comments | In: crochet | tags: bags, crochet, home decor, pattern. | #

Ho ho ho! I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate it. I decided to post a pattern for my catnip cookies as a gift for you all. They can be made in any colors you like. You can even make them look like the famous sandwich cookies we all know and love if you’d like.They are very easy, quick to make, super cute and cats love them. Their owners also love them because like all of my crochet toys, the catnip is contained in a pouch so that it will not make a mess all over their houses!

Kitty Catnip Cookies

Materials
Crochet hook size G
Worsted weight yarn in 2 colors
Catnip
Small piece of scrap fabric or felt to sew a pouch for the catnip
Sewing needle
Thread
Yarn needle

Make 2 in the same color to be the cookies and one in another color to be the filling.
Start by chaining 4.
R1: 11 DC in first ch made. Sl st to top of ch 4. Pull the circle in the middle closed tightly.
R2: ch 3, 1 dc where ch 3 was made, 2 dc in each ch around. Sl st to top of ch 3. Finish off leaving a long tail to sew with on one of the cookies (not the filling).
To make the catnip pouch:
Trace one of your cookies onto the piece of fabric and cut out 2 circles slightly smaller than the cookie to make the catnip pouch. Sew all 3/4 of the way around the circles to form a pouch, then fill 1/3 of the way full with catnip. Don’t overfill the pouch or the cookie will look lumpy. Flatten out the pouch, spreading the catnip evenly. Sandwich a cookie layer, filling layer, catnip pouch and another cookie layer on top of each other and line them up evenly.
Take the yarn needle and using the long tail from the last cookie piece, sew a basting stitch through all of the layers. Sew all the way around and weave in the last of the tail as much as you can to make the cookie secure. Then give it to a cat and watch them go to town.

If you can’t crochet but you would like to treat your cats to some of my cookies, please check out my Etsy shop where I sell all kinds of handmade cat toys. I hope you enjoy the pattern and have a happy holiday season!

No Comments | In: crochet, pets | tags: crochet, pattern, pets. | #

I know this isn’t a recipe blog but I had to share. There is a local bookstore here that also has a cafe and they just happen to make the best baked goods ever. They make all kinds of great food but I happen to be partial to the baked goods more than anything. If you live in or near Gainesville, Florida it is called The Book Lovers Cafe and you should definitely check it out! I have enjoyed their vegan cowboy bars almost every single time I’ve gone there and have been trying to find a recipe for them since I tried them. Unfortunately I haven’t found anything exactly like them, but I did find this similar recipe.


These are vegan cowboy cookies (not bars but still delicious). I decided to try out this recipe that I found on Hell Yeah It’s Vegan! that I stumbled upon during my hunt for a recipe. It has all the ingredients of the cowboy bars but they come out much crispier and less doughy since they are in cookie form. I had great success with this recipe and just thought I would pass it on for those of you who might like a hearty, delicious cookie. Which better be all of you because who can say no to a cookie?!



Click here for the link to Hell Yeah It’s Vegan!’s Cowboy Cookie recipe


This is about half of my cookies that came from this recipe. Yes it makes A TON just like it says! The other good thing about these is that they took very little time to bake thanks to my super-ridiculously hot oven. Each batch only took about 4 minutes to bake and my kitchen was transformed into a cookie factory because of it. I was scooping one batch onto a cookie sheet and by the time I was done the ones in the oven were finished too. I pretty much couldn’t leave the oven’s side but it was well worth it for these delicious, delicious treats.

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: baking, recipes. | #

When one of my best friends became pregnant and told me that she was having a boy I already knew I wanted to make a diaper cake for her. The only problem with making a diaper cake is that everyone I told thought that I meant I would be making some kind of edible cake shaped like a diaper. Most people took this to a bad place and assumed it would be a dirty diaper at that. YUCK AND NO. I would never do that. I will leave that to the wreckarators featured on Cake Wrecks. The diaper cake that I am talking about here is tower of diapers, toys and small baby items made to look like a tiered cake. Sort of like a wedding cake but less romantic and more useful for new moms.


Click to see the diaper cake that I made plus a tutorial on how to make your own

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This is a project that I made one night while watching a terrible 90s drama/fantasy/horror movie called Wolf. Wow, that movie was a lot worse than I remember it being when I watched it in the 90s. However this doll came out exactly as I wanted him to. My idea was to make a cartoonish bunny for my best friend Brooke’s son Anthony to drag around. I wanted it to be big enough to hug, beat up, drag around or use as a nap pillow. I also wanted him to be made in bright colors and have a hood that could come off or stay on while still being attached to his body so it doesn’t get lost. He is free formed and was made with disproportionate arms, legs and a big head on purpose to make him look more like a cartoon.


This way to birthday bunnyland

1 Comment | In: crochet | tags: crochet, doll. | #

Although I live in Florida winter hats have been on my mind lately. Why you ask? That would be because I am visiting my hometown of Brooklyn, New York for Christmas! As someone who lived in the Northeast US for 25 years I really miss winter accessories. As a crafter who enjoys crochet more than anything else – I REALLY miss making my own winter accessories! I decided to take this trip as an opportunity to make some, even if they are only going to be used for 10 days or so.


I enjoy trends as much as the next woman but I am partial to accessory trends more than any others. Accessories that are trendy and cheap are pretty much the best of both worlds if you ask me. So you won’t see me buying a buffalo plaid coat and wearing it with big, 80s inspired eyeglasses, high heeled ankle boots, or anything else that is a passing fad right now – but I will be participating in one of the winter trends of 2009: the slouchy hat.


If you live somewhere cold you’ve probably seen it. It’s almost like an oversized beret. Warm and big enough to cover your ears, but cute and trendy at the same time. For me, finding a hat with all of those qualities is usually extremely difficult. They usually only have 2 of any of those given traits. I decided that I wanted to make one of these hats and I went on a google adventure to find a suitable pattern. After seeing many ugly, granny looking versions, I finally came across this pattern by Jessica Suzanne aka Crafty Pants: the Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat. I am in awe of her ability to write this pattern for a perfectly slouchy, feminine hat which seems to have spread like wildfire in the online crochet community. It is a very addictive pattern because it’s both fun and easy.


Check out my 3 Pretty Puffs hats under here

No Comments | In: crochet | tags: crochet, hats, pattern. | #

This is probably, nay, definitely my crochet masterpiece in my entire crochet career so far. He was completely free-formed and a labor of love. A long term friend of mine had a rough summer and I wanted to make her something awesome for her birthday. Since we have both always been huge fans of comedy I thought it was only fitting to make her a funny gift. I could have made her something useful but I would rather make something that she can glance at and laugh every time she sees it.


Both of us had discovered the amazing British comedy show The Mighty Boosh last year and fell in love. It is much more popular now since it’s been showing here in America on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. That’s a good thing – don’t get me wrong – I am not one of those people who yells “SELL OUT!” whenever something that I love starts to make money or become popular. No way, I am happy to see my favorite artists in whatever medium thrive and be appreciated for their work. I am also glad that it’s become more popular since now I can post this and people in my country will actually get it!


Now, I already mentioned that I made this for her birthday. Well her birthday happened to be in August and I am just posting this now. Thanks to moving, life circumstances and plain old being lazy/forgetful it didn’t make its way to her until December. Now that is a big time MAIL FAIL if I’ve ever made one. And I have. Many times. Just ask my boyfriend what happens to me when I go to the post office. (Here’s a hint: if you see me waiting in line at the post office for the love of Pete and Pete GET OUT OF MY WAY!)

So to finally get to the point, I present to you Old Gregg! I hope that you will appreciate the reference and if you have no idea who this crazy green doll is supposed to be, at least appreciate how funny looking he is ^_^ Click the link below for photos!
Do ya love me? Are you playin’ those love games with me?

1 Comment | In: crochet | tags: crochet, doll, friends. | #