My Overpass Cowl pattern was featured on the Spud & Chloë blog. That’s pretty cool.

Watch my video to learn how to make these cute loopy earring for around $4.  I saw a similar pair in a Boston boutique for $60!

You’ll need the following supplies:

• 6 – 1″ (or 1 1/8″) plastic rings
• 2 – ear wires
• 2 – 3/8″ jump rings
• 3yds of 1/4″ ribbon
• craft glue

You’ll also need a pair of scissors and jewelry pliers.

Try to ignore how stupid I sound at the beginning of the video. I’m not sure why I can’t pronounce six.

My friend Alexis’s bridal shower was yesterday. She loves cupcakes so I made her a cupcake tower. Normally I’d just decorate with buttercream but these had to travel by car and it’s pretty hot out in the East, so I went with a fondant decoration.

Everyone loved these cupcakes – probably more for the decorations than the taste. Although I gotta say they tasted pretty good. Alexis loves Billy’s Bakery cupcakes so I used the Billy’s Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe. I filled them with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Then I topped them with Marshmallow Fondant. The black decorations are chocolate buttercream tinted black. Surprisingly they didn’t turn anyone’s tongue black!

Alexis Approves

I was very proud of how my mini 6″ cake came out. It was really my first time doing one of these. My fondant work may not have been perfect but it still looked pretty damn good.

I also gotta say I’m so glad I bought this white enamel cake stand. It has 3 stands and works great for cupcake towers. It’s fantastic for transporting since it’s metal and not so fragile and the bases unscrew so it takes up a lot less room!

I’ve been printing on my antique press for about half a year now. I’ve been meaning to print myself some stationery but other things (like printing my friend’s wedding invitations!) got in the way.

Wednesday night I finally got inspired to get printing. I printed 30 A2 (5.5×4.25) cards with brown ink on florescent white 110lb Lettra paper. I also printed matching envelopes and social cards.

Last night I helped my sister make 6 dozen cupcakes.  It took about 4hrs with a dinner break but having 2 people definitely makes it go faster. We made chocolate, vanilla, and hummingbird cupcakes. The first two with Swiss meringue buttercream and the latter with cream cheese frosting. However, if you are from Campus Kids then she totally made those cupcakes all by herself.

A few months ago I picked up some cool star shaped sprinkles. This was the first time I used them and they are so cute!

I learned an important lesson again last night. SMBC does not want to be colored with gel food coloring. We were trying to get a navy blue and instead got a muted purple. And as soon as water hit it, it turned blue.

I did some googling today  and found out I need to try oil based candy colors because of the fat content in SMBC. So I’ll be picking some up next time I’m in Michaels.

I’ve been looking for an iPad case since mine arrived on April 3rd, but the ones I like are all easily over $60. I think that’s pretty ridiculous so I decided to make my own using felt. My total cost was $25!

Here is what you need:

• a sewing machine & thread
• rotary cutter and cutting board (or scissors)
• 11″ x 18″ piece of 3mm felt
• 18″ ruler
• fasteners (if desired)

I chose 3mm felt for a few reasons. The main one being that it’s thick enough to provide protection, but it also doesn’t require edge finishing which makes it easy to use.  I bought an 18″ square piece of 3mm felt from FilzFelt on Etsy for  $23 shipped and it comes in lots of colors.

The dimensions of an iPad are 9.56″x7.47″0.5″. This case is going to have a pocket that is  9.75″x7.75″, which allows the iPad to fit snugly in the case without it being impossible to get in or out.

The first step is to take your piece of felt and cut it so that you have a piece that is 11″ by 18″ inches. The best way to cut felt is using a cutting pad and a rotary cutter. Hold a ruler against the felt and run the cutter along it for a clean, straight cut. I use the markings on the cutting pad to align the felt and my ruler.

Then take your 11″x18″ piece and cut it in half into two 11″x9″ pieces.These pieces are slightly larger than the finished case will be, as we will be trimming 1/4″ off each edge after it is sewn to make sure the edges are even.

Pin the two pieces together, matching the edges.

Sew across both long edges and one short edges using a 5/8″ seam allowance. You should use a heavy duty needle to sew felt, and you may need to adjust your pressure foot tension due to the thickness.

Try out the case with your iPad then adjust the seams if necessary. I think ideally the case should need to stretch a little around the iPad to hold it securely, but not be difficult to get it into the case.

Once you are happy with the case, take your rotary cutter and trim 1/4″ off the 3 seam allowances. This leaves you with a 3/8″ seam allowance and a perfect edge.

Trim the excess thread and you have a basic iPad case!

You may also want to add a fastener for extra protection, although I don’t think this is strictly necessary. I added one to mine more for looks than functionality. I used a nifty copper buckle, but you could also use a variety of fasteners including a button. For most of these you will want to cut a 1″ or so wide strip of felt and sew it to your 9×11″ piece before you sew the 2 main piece together. You can do it afterwords, but I know from experience that it’s a pain.  Just be careful that your fastener does put anything on the inside of the case that might scratch your iPad.  For this reason I’d avoid snaps unless they are sew in ones.

NOTES

Thread Color: It is somewhat tricky to sew a perfectly straight seam with something this thick. So you may want to use a thread that blends with your felt so that any not-so-perfect seams aren’t so obvious. I used copper thread for mine, but if I did it again I’d try either plum or black.

I'm not a fan of this folded edge

Folded Edge: You  might be thinking, why did she sew both side seams instead of just folding it in half? I think 3mm felt is to thick to make a nice crisp fold, so chose to have a sewn edge instead of a folded one. You can adjust the pattern, removing 1 1/4″ from the 18″ width if you want to fold instead of sew.

I’m not a huge fan of the over decorated cupcakes. In my book, cupcakes should look good but not so amazing that you don’t want to eat it.  I think I rescind this rule for the Muppet Cupcake Wedding Tower from UK-based Cupcake Occasions.

AMAZING!

(via Cupcakes Take the Cake)

Let me tell you a story.  A long, long time ago (October 2007) a princess started knitting a blanket. She made good progress and then was knitting edging when she ran out of yarn. The princess ran out to get more, but while winding it she pricked her finger and the blanket fell into a deep, deep sleep for over two years. One day the princess was looking for a ball of yarn for a new project, when she spotted the sad old blanket laying just inches away from being finished. She picked it to finish it only to discover she couldn’t replicate the edging. So she frogged and did the crochet edging instead and the blanket, after blocking, lived happily ever after.

Ok, so that’s a sort of true story. I was in my craft room looking for yarn to knit a scarf, when I spotted my forlorn blanket. I had about 18″ inches of edging to go and the new ball of yarn was already wound. So I figured I might as well finish it. The problem was that I couldn’t make the edging, as written in the directions, match up to what I had already done. I tried many times, but I finally gave up and frogged the whole thing.

I think I probably did the edging wrong to begin with, so it was almost impossible to figure out how to replicate it.  Rather than having to redo the whole thing, I decided to do the crochet alternative edging which took me less than an hour to do. The ironic thing is that the crochet edging requires much less yarn so I didn’t even need that last ball of yarn.

I blocked it out yesterday and today it’s dry. Yay!

Now to decided who to give it to.

Raveled

Geodesic Cardigan (from Knit Scene)

Next month, pending volcano ash disruptions, I am heading to Paris and Geneva for a week. I want to pack super light, but I definitely need a knitting project to take along.

I have had the Geodesic Cardigan from Knit Scene in my queue for awhile. I really want a red cardigan, but I’m having a bitch of a time finding anyone with Malabrigo Lace in Ravelry Red or Sealing Wax in stock.

My second thought is to knit a shawl as it requires fare less yarn than any other project.

The problem with this is that I get easily frustrated with knitting lace.

Any ideas for frustration free lace shawls?

Aestlight Cardigan (by ulygan)

I have a few skeins of lace and fingering weight yarns in my stash that I can use.  The Aestlight Shawl looks like a possibility.

While I’m on the topic of Paris and Geneva – does anyone have a must-see crafty destination in either of those cities?

I have been bad about updating on baking so here’s a quick retrospective of the past few months.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Buttercream Poinsettas
Obviously these are from Christmastime. Piping poinsettas is pretty easy and quick work.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
These cupcakes are from the Martha Stewart Cupcake Book.  The cupcake is good but a bit dry but I liked the “meringue” frosting. If  I made these again I would put the lemon curd as a filling rather than spreading it on top of the cupcake.

Orange Grand Marnier Cake
I made this cake for Easter. It’s a light genoise cake flavored with orange and coated with a Grand Marnier syrup. It’s frosted with a whipped cream icing flavored with orange zest and Grand Marnier. It was yummy and makes a pretty big cake. The recipe came from the fabulous book Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.