Mohegan Strider's 40th Anniversary cake

Last week I finally got the chance to get back to doing something artistic. Every year our running club has an annual summer picnic and every year my mother in law, sister in law and I make a cake. This year was the 40 year anniversary of the running club so we were asked if we could make something this year that celebrates that milestone. In past years we have always had a ton of left over cake so we opted to make cupcakes. My poor mother in law spent countless hours making 72 chocolate 40's and with only 2 molds it took her way too long. Once I baked and frosted the cupcakes she topped them with the 40s boxed them up and they were ready to go. For a statement piece we made Hermes sandal with wings going back to the original logo. we also made a chocolate Wolf which is our current logo and a chocolate sign showing our 40th anniversary patch. When all was said and done we couldnt have been more pleased. Here are a few detail shots of the finished set up. 

the banner with the cake set up

Hermes's Shoe and the wolf

 40th anniversary patch made in chocolate

close up of the wing detail

the final set up 

Teapot bird house tutorial

This project came about as a gift for my husband's Great Aunt Virginia's 80th birthday who loves birdhouses. When her birthday rolled around this year it wasn't so much of an issue figuring out what I wanted to give her but more so how to not give her the same old bird house. I already built her a traditional bird house and hand painted it a few years back so it had to be unique. As I was hand painting a tea pot for my daughters birthday I thought why not use a teapot for a bird house. A quick google image search I found a few ideas. I liked this format using the lid for bird seed and having the teapot on its side but I did not like the look of wiring the tea pot down so I figured I could modify it a bit and make something like it that was more clean looking. Now I love playing with power tools so this project was right up my ally but dont be afraid if you are not a wood worker you can still have a teapot birdhouse in 2 simple steps. One: pick a teapot you like like. Two: hang it by the handle on a Shepherd's hook throw in some moss and your done. Doesn't get an easier then that. For those of you who love your power tools like me.. here's how I went about making mine. 

First I started wit my board and I cut it on the table saw

Next I pre drilled my holes for the screws

now scre the two pieces together in an "L" shape

once you turn it over it should look like this

Now as you can see here my tea pot wasn't a flat bottom 

mt origianl plan was to drill a hole in the bottom and just screw it to the board but that wasn't going to happen so I used the bandsaw to cut a circle that would fit in the bottom of the teapot.

Now I screwed the circle onto the board Also note the small hole I drilled with a butterfly drill bit (if thats even what its really called) I made sure it was big enough for the top of the teapot lid

now I added 2 hanging screws to the top of the board

now you are going to need some clear epoxy 

Cover the circle with the epoxy and place the teapot over it and let it dry. then do the same with the hole place the lid in the hole filled with epoxy and let it dry 

Once I finished with that I threw some Spanish moss inside the tea pot for the birds

I decided I didn't like the plain board so I oped to cover the boards with the left over spanish moss. I felt it gave the final project more of a woodsy look to it. So here are a few pictures of the finished project. 

Dinosaurs

I feel as if its been forever since I've had a chance to sneak away and make anything never mind find time to blog about it. The other day I was at the store and saw this really cute dinosaur fabric. Knowing that the kids have a dinosaur party to attend this weekend I figured I would grab a yard of the fabric some accent fabric and make them outfits. Mighty ambitious of me seeing as how I haven't used my sewing machine to actually make something from scratch in 3 years. I have used it to re purpose things but that's about it. I also figured I would give using a serger a try seeing as how I haven't used one of those in over 15 years! Now I don't have a serger and going out to buy one isn't going to happen. I asked my sister in law but she was going to NY so I quickly put out a post on Facebook asking if anyone was willing to part with their serger for a day. Before I could blink my neighbor Nancy posted she had one and I could come grab it. Mind you this is at 10:30 pm. See what I mean when I'm always saying how great my friends are. So I ran over and grabbed it. The next day I got to work cutting and sewing. Now me and the serger we are not friends. I was having a ton of issues with the tension and I must have retreaded that machine at least 20 times. There was a lot of taking apart putting back together sewing things backwards.... that's what I get for lining my top with the same fabric. Not that anyone would notice. I'm defiantly not known for being good at sewing but in the end I was  pretty proud of how it turned out. Once her dress was done I had to make matching tie shirts for her brothers. Now using the heat and bond and sewing the ties way harder then it looked. I was planning on making them for Bella's party so I was really glad I got a chance to practice. Lets just say I need to work on  those more. Last thing I did was throw together some bows with the scrap fabric. Now that I am done with that... time to move on to baking cupcakes. Here are a few pictures of the kids in their outfits.

Bella in her dress

matching hair bows

Tristan rocking his tie

Aedan showing off his tie