Fix that Back Pack!

Sometimes my quest to be creative is not successful, and I end up ruining what came perfect in first place.
I had this travel backpack, and in an attempt to make it more festive, I glued fabric stars using glue gun. Not only the stars came off, but the glue stayed. And to finish my cat slept on top, so it had furry patches. Very ugly.
So after I tried my best to remove the hair and the excess glue, using sticky roll, a knife, glue gun, nail polish remover... this was the best I could make look.

To find something to cover those patches was another challenge, and after going through all my different materials, I found these cute buttons that were on sale at Michael's a while ago. So I sewed the buttons on top of each ugly patch.

Hopefully I gave a few more years to use, and we don't have to buy a new one.

Cute Breakfast.

Today for Father's Day, I made a quick and light breakfast (since dad decided to be healthy and is working out). So I used my bread cutters to make a peanut butter sandwich, and the vegetable cutters for sliced bananas, topped with blueberries. I previously used them for another post that you find here, where you find the links to purchase them. It is very handy to have, and easy to use.
It made a great start for a very nice day. And it didn't even made me tired.

Thank You Teachers!

There is just so much we can do, or so much we can spend in gifts for teachers, assistants, managers and staff. And we really wanted to show appreciation for these people who care for our children, and help us in the process of raise functional and responsible citizens.
So my last day emergency plan is always cards and treats.
For the cards I used a few stickers and blank cards from my collection of accumulated sale items from Michaels. Just to make sure I thank each of them for the work they do every day.

I had a little time to prepare everything, plus I wanted to cut time of clean up, and in these cases I go semi homade. So I decided to buy a box of Graham Crackers. I made a little sandwich, and filled them with melted chocolate.

To make it more personal, I decided to top them with fondant. First I rolled it out, cut squares with a pizza cutter, them after dried, I drew each one using edible coloring pen.

I also used a paintbrush to finish painting with food coloring.

The boxes were from Michaels, as well as the pretty ribbon.
Hopefully they like them, and see my appreciation through my work.

T-shirt Makeover

I wanted a new top to use at the gym, but spending money in outfits it is just not on top of my priority list.
So I grabbed one of my husband's T-shirts, but it didn't looked very flattering to the figure, or feminine.
I remembered a web site with step by step instructions on how to braid a T- shirt, and you can see it here.
So I grabbed some scissors and made his T-shirt mine.
I started by cutting where I wanted to be more fitted (the sides, in the middle of the back, and the shoulders).
Then I braided like the way they showed on the pictures.
I took my own pictures...

...and hope you can see well enough...

...to understand what I am doing.

In the end I tied a knot with a string.
And repeated o the other side, the back and the shoulders.
I also cut the collar of the T-shirt to look more open.

And see the difference in the back.
And now I have a new top.

Evil Dr Hare Cake

Never make the mistake of asking your 4 year- old to make a sketch of his own birthday cake, and promise him you'll make it. So when I got the "project" in my hand, there was a lot brainstorming and Internet research to do. He asked me to make a character called Dr Hare, from this computer game called Poptropica.
First to figure out how to make the figure of this character, and how it would stand up. After a lot of thinking, I decided to make in paper clay, easier to sculpt and paint.
So the first step was to make a wire skeleton, to give support to the body.

Then I started covering the wire with the clay, and shaping the body.

And putting the details on it.

The next day it dried, and I painted with oil paint.

He also asked me to put pictures of the island Dr Hare lives, or goes to, and some of the other villains. So I opened a piece of Fondant, cut a circle with my cookie cutter, and made hand drawings with edible markers.

I used a paintbrush to paint, and used gel icing colors diluted with a drop of water.
After all this work, I did not want to bake a cake, so my husband bought one from my favorite bakery, Magnolia Bakery. And this is how the cake looked decorated.
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I also made a pinata the same way I did on my last post for the blog, and filled with some chocolate, stickers and little toys for the kids. And for a little activity for the children, I bought plain paper bags and stickers, and they made their own party bags.
I even found this cute cup at Michaels for $1.99, and the kids could paint or make their own design.
And for drinks, I used small water bottles and decorated with cute buttons and stickers I had.
And that was the end of one more fun day.

Baby Shower Pinata.

Pressure to have something ready in a few days always help me to get ideas. My manager assistant K2 is having a baby, and by the size of her belly, soon. So I needed something for the baby shower. She told me her baby decorations are owl inspired, and looking everything owl on the Internet, I saw a pinata. And that is what I decided to make.
I followed the steps on Home Made Simple, since I never made a pinata, and never played with one before. It was messier than I thought but easy and cheap to make.
It took 2 days to be completely dry and hard, then I cut some tissue paper and glued around it.
So I covered the entire body of the owl with paper, then used old birthday card paper (they are pretty and colorful) to make eyes, beak and the two feathers in the head (that look like ears). Just one detail, I couldn't fit my gifts inside the hole on the top, so I made a cut in the back part, and didn't even need to close, because the back "feathers" covered it.
I filled the pinata with baby onesies and bibs(bagged in snack bags), chocolates, and a few things I could find for baby and mommy, that would fit the hole I had.
Since I liked this owl so much, and knew it was going to end up being smashed, I made a felt owl, in the same design I made the pinata. So at least K2 could keep something I made for her baby girl, soon to be here.

And that was another happy day, thanks to the magic of paper and glue.

Cake after school.

Incredible how good childhood memories always relate to food, cake especially.
So for after school snack, today we will have cake (I "healthyfied" a little using coconut butter instead of butter, and white whole wheat flour instead of the white flour)- sorry bakers.
The original recipe and idea come from the great blog Dulce Delight, and the videos make it much easier to understand the process. Even though I like craft work, I am still scared of baking from scratch. So watching her making cake (and making jokes), make look more possible in my mind.
Today I tried to use multiple colors for the pattern on the cake. The hardest part is to make small details, and not in all of them I succeeded.
I also skipped cocoa powder, which made the cake pale. So maybe I won't do this next time.
But it was pretty tasty anyway. I will sure try to make more in the future.