Derby golf hat pattern

This pattern was a little hard to figure out at first but after figuring out how to make the brim it made all the difference.  I had a model night and this little guy loves to pose for the camera.  His little brother had been in front of the camera most of the night so he couldn't wait for his turn!

I hadn't planned on him having his shirt off but we had undressed little brother to get him set up for all of his newborn props so he figured he needed to take off his shirt as well.

It actually turned out pretty cute with no shirt.

No, I didn't pose him this way, I just snapped away as he did what he wanted to do.

Here's little brother and do you know how many times this little guy was pinned this last week?

Too many to count!

Are you ready for some football?

I have been working on this pattern for a few weeks,( I haven't quite got it written up yet) but I had a couple of cute little guys visit me this last week so I had to get some pictures.  Of course it is fall and when I think of fall I can't help but think of football.  I have a few football players in my family and have spent many hours in the fall watching games, I really love it!  I know that may sound strange for my gender but I grew up with it and had a hubby and sons to watch and now I have grandsons!

I created this hat with the football in mind.

Some of the games later in the season can get a little chilly and wouldn't it be fun to wear a hat like this.

I even had this little guy model for me.

Can't help but want to kiss those little cheeks!

This is a knit pattern and was pretty quick to make up, I promise I will get it up in my shop soon.

I think I'm ready for some football!

Is it fall yet?

Today I went to my first football game of the season, that is crazy, where is the summer going?

When fall comes I start thinking of Halloween and I thought if you are going to get a head start on crocheting these cute hats, you better get going!

These little pirate bandana's are so cute to make and the skull and crossbones, just make you want to say AARGGH!

can't believe how quick this little guy is growing!

of course if you have a boy pirate, then you must have a girl pirate!

love this little princess of the Caribbean.

so if you get a hankering for crocheting these cute hats, get going! they are in my etsy shop!

Making Fondant

Today I am going to show you how I make rolled fondant.  My daughter and I made her wedding cake and I have made my other daughters as well and this is the recipe I have used for all of their cakes.

Rolled Fondant Recipe

1Tbsp. unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water1/2 cup Glucose

1 Tbsp. Glycerin

2 Tbs. solid vegetable shortening

2 lbs. confectioners sugar

2-3 drops food coloring

and flavoring as desired

Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick.  Place gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved.  Add glucose and glycerin:mix well.  These can be found at specialty cooking stores, I get mine at Kitchen Kneads. Stir in shortening and just before completely melted, remove from heat.  Mixture should cool until lukewarm.  

Next, place 1 lb. confectioner sugar in a bowl and make a well.  Pour the lukewarm gelatin mixture into the well and stir with a wooden spoon,

mixing in sugar and adding more, a little at a time, until stickiness disappears.

Knead in remaining sugar, icing color and flavoring.

Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands.  If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too stiff, add water a drop at a time.

You can add any flavoring, lemon, almond, vanilla,(use clear vanilla and flavorings or it will color the fondant.)

Use fondant immediately or store in an airtight container in refrigerator.  When ready to use, bring to room temperature and knead again until soft.  This recipe yields enough to cover a 10 x 3 inch high cake.  So you may have to make 2 batches for a bigger cake.

To roll fondant

Spray work area and rolling pin with vegetable oil spray and dust with a mixture of confectioners sugar and cornstarch.  I usually use plenty of confectioners sugar on the counter and just use my hand to roll it, unless I have a very large piece and then I will use the rolling pin. 

 there are 2 ways to prepare cake for fondant.  Coat with piping gel or apricot glaze.  I usually use butter cream icing and ice the cake with the frosting and let dry and then cover with the rolled fondant.

Roll out the fondant into a circle twice the diameter of the cake you are covering.  As you roll, lift and move the fondant to prevent it from sticking to the surface.  Gently lift fondant over rolling pin and place over cake. ( I didn't get a picture of this because it helps to have 2 people, especially if the cake is large.)

smooth and shape fondant on cake, using palm of hand, make sure you have a coating of confectioners sugar on your hand.  If large air bubbles are trapped under fondant, prick with a pin and continue until smooth.  Trim excess from base.  A fondant covered cake may be kept up to 2 months, when tightly wrapped in clear plastic wrap and frozen. ( I always have made the cake ahead of time and just put it together the day of the wedding.)

Marzipan recipe

1 cup almond paste

2 unbeaten egg whites

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum flavoring

Ina a bowl knead almond paste.  Add egg white, mis well.  Continue kneading as you add flavoring and sugar, 1 cup at a time , until marzipan feels like heavy pie dough.

We cut out the circles with different sized small cookie cutters.

We had help with this because we had lots of polka dots!

I made the ribbon by cutting long strips of fondant and shaping bow, I used rolled up plastic wrap in the middle of each loop to help keep the bow shape until it dried.

We used styrofoam  forms for the large bottom layer, because I have made all cake before and you will be eating cake forever, it's a lot of cake!  We served the one layer and saved the top for their one year anniversary.

On the day of the wedding I put the cake together. I piped the small border around the bottom of the cake after putting it together.  I used wooden skewers in the middle of the cake to keep the layers in place, so they won't slide.

She looks like she is  afraid to cut it!

She loved the cake, we made banana, and the wedding reception was everything she dreamed it would be.

Have a long and happy life together. and

We will always remember the day we made her wedding cake.

Wedding banners, doors and thank you's!

For the wedding I made many burlap banners,  I bought a bolt of burlap and the 20 yards pretty much made everything I needed in burlap for the wedding.  Above is one of the banners that we used, I made it out of burlap, chalkboard fabric, jute and felt.  Yes, you can buy chalkboard fabric, I bought it online and used it for the big chalk board, that I will show you later in the post.  I liked this banner because you could re use int by erasing the letters and writing whatever message or letters that you want.

I sewed the chalkboard fabric onto the burlap and glued the felt flowers and buttons.

 add some ribbon and tulle to the middle of each banner. Oh, I found it easier it you just sewed the banners right over the jute instead of having to thread it through later, (that is a time saver tip!)

We then wanted to make some kind of thank you's for everyone that came so I made these little muslin bags and stamped a thank you on them and filled them with mango tummies, (Caitlin wanted these because they smelled so good!) I found these tubs at TaiPan Trading, I made the mason jars look old with food coloring and glue, painted around a chalkboard and added some burlap, ribbon and music pages roses.

I liked how the bags turned out.  I just found a stamp I liked and stamped it right onto the bag.

The music page roses I made by copying some old music pages and then you make the rose by cutting out a circle and then cutting a spiral form the circle, just start rolling the spiral from the outside in and use tacky glue to adhere the rose to itself.  You can see how this is done by checking this link.

Here is how it looked at the reception!

For the guest book we had people sign a little heart note and leave a little love note for the bride and groom. You can see the love notes in the suitcase, I just tore squares of paper up and glued all kinds of paper hearts onto the one side.  I made the banner by sewing the paper hearts onto the burlap and adding cute ribbon. 

I lined the suit case with burlap because the lining was pretty old and the burlap looked so much better.

Here is the sign in table.

I made this book at Picaboo from the pictures I took for their engagement photo's.

I had gathered many old doors and screen doors for back drops.  I really didn't do anything to this door other than make a base from triangles and screwed them into the bottom and add a heart paper music rose wreath to the screen. I made the wreath by cutting out a big heart from cardboard, covering the card board with old music copies, and then gluing on the roses.

Here is where I used the Love is Patient banner.  I had an old metal headboard and used a small table for the bed and covered the table with the quilt.  This was a quilt that was made by her cousins and is her and Jocelyn's favorite quilt. I made the pillows when I redecorated our guest bedroom and they worked out perfect, (actually the guest bedroom is Caitlin's old room, so I guess they are really hers.)

I forgot to tell you that I cut the chalkboard fabric with a decorative edging wheel. ( one that I use for scrapbooking.)

I was most excited for this project. This was an old changing screen that my grandmother had and she got it from and old hospital that was getting torn down. (the old Dee Hospital)  I inherited it and have had it up in my hobby room for years.  I had this vision of it being a chalkboard, and this is where all of the chalkboard projects started. First I painted the old wood a light cram color.   I cut out the fabric to fit in the panels and used a spray adhesive to adhere the fabric to the panels. Then I found some chalkboard art that I liked and started using the Chalk! It takes a while to make you masterpiece but I love how it turned out. I made the frames by tracing around the pictures that I wanted and making chalkboard frames.  Note, before starting your chalkboard art condition the chalkboard by rubbing chalk all over the surface and then rubbing it into the surface.  It is much easier to use and when you make a mistake and want to erase, it won't be seen!

This was the very first wedding project that I made.  I knew that she wanted a draped ceiling for the reception and I knew I had to have some kind of chandelier.  Well I needed to have a BIG one for a gymnasium, so I made it out of 2 hula hoops, icicle lights, ribbon and a lot of shiny bling! I wound the icicle lights around the 2 hoops suspended the 2 with wire and added the cream ribbon withe the shiny blings that I had hot glued  onto the ribbon. I found some frosted christmas balls that looked great hanging from the hoop.  I used tulle to make the hanger for the large light and it turned out perfect!

We hung it from the basketball hoop, (you can kind of see it up there), and ran the light cord down the draped fabric. (it really isn't fabric it is plastic table cloth rolls, but hanging up there you couldn't tell that it wasn't fabric!)

Here is another old screen door and chalkboard art.  This screen door was about to fall apart especially where the handle was, in fact it had broken right in two! I used some wood that I painted a rust color to keep the 2 sides together and found a handle and painted it the same color and viola! it stayed together! I used a brown glaze on the old wood and it looked great.  For the chalkboard I found another chalkboard art that I liked and chalked away!

The triangle stand work great to use the doors free standing wherever you would like.

another banner, this one was done on my embroidery machine.

a centerpiece on one of the food serving tables.

Loved how it turned out, the pillars were from weddings for my other daughters, they were originally made from the card board used to make cement footings.  Ryan made the wood tops and bottoms. They were originally white marbled color, but I wrapped them in burlap and painted the tops and bottoms a rusty brown.