Made By Mabelette- Ghostly Treats

Happy Halloween!

I hope that your day is filled with lots of treats and not so many tricks.

At the kids' new school they do not allow Kindergarten or older kids dress up at school. Kind of a bummer and disappointment for Emily. Palmer was super excited and Emily was happy to see him excited. She made my heart swell a little when she told me thanks for making the fun treats at least it feels kind of like Halloween still when I dropped her off this morning. I swear that kid is something else.

So here is the super easy Ghost treats that I made for her class of 24 and Palmer's class of 12 plus extras for home. All in less than an hour and for little cost!

To make these fun treats make a batch of rice krispie treats (you know butter, marshmallows, and rice krispies) and press into a sprayed cookie sheet. Then using your favorite Halloween cookie cutter cut out your ghoulish shapes and place on wax paper. Then melt some candy melts or chocolate and dip your sucker stick in the chocolate and gently insert into the bottom of your rice krispie. Once they set up a little then I used more melted chocolate and frosted them. I used candy coated chips for eyes but chocolate chips would work fine. Super easy and super yummy!

Made by Mabelette- Diaper Cake

I have thrown a few baby showers in my day and one of my favorite gifts to give that doubles as a great decoration is a diaper cake. They are just so cute and practical. A friend of mine is throwing a shower for her sister and asked me to help her make one. So I gave her the list of things to buy:

About 100 diapers (she bought size three so we used 72...you will need more than that is you use a smaller size)
Small and extra large rubber bands- thin is good
Ribbon
bottle
anything else you want to add- I usually sneak onesies, washcloths, burp cloths, receiving blankets, and or hooded towels on the inside of the cake. Sometimes I will buy a package of cloth prefolded diapers and personalize them to use as burp clothes. I also hang toys, socks, and pacifiers on the outside. My friend really wanted something that was really simple and more for decorations so she opted to only add a few stuffed animals on the outside.

Platter- I use the cheap plastic ones that you can find in the party section

To start I tape the bottle to the center of the platter. I have found this helps keep the cake in place when wrapping the rubber bands. The second step is to wrap a diaper around the bottle and secure with a rubber band. Then start rolling your diapers. Start rolling from the waist section of the diaper in. My friend did not want the print section of the diaper showing so she rolled it to the inside. Then secure each diaper with the small rubber bands.

Then you stack the diapers in a circle around the bottle. I wrap a large rubber band around each circle to help give it more stability.

When you get to the largest circle you may need to wrap the circle in sections with the rubber band. Our rubber bands were OK to go all the way around each circle until the large layer. Then we wrapped half of the diapers with one band covering the bottle and then the other half (also including the bottle from that side) with a second band.

Here is a view from the top. If you wanted to add things like onesies, bibs, etc you can roll them similar to the diapers and stick them here and there as you go. When I am giving this as a gift I love to do this so that when they are "opening" the cake later on they find all kinds of things besides diapers.

To start your second tier wrap a second diaper around the bottle and secure with a rubber band. then start stacking diapers around it securing each circle with a large rubber band.

For the top tier I usually use a rolled diaper as the center and stack diapers around it. My friend happened to have a rattle that was a zebra (her theme was jungle) so we used it instead. Once you get your diapers the way you want them then you wrap the ribbon around it. Sometimes I wrap a receiving blanket around the outside of each tier to give it a very clean look. My friend picked out the Tiffany blue ribbon and the different animal ribbons to go over it. We used hot glue to secure the ribbon in place. Try to use as little of glue as possible to save on the diapers. This cake has to travel about 3 hours to get to the shower so we wanted to be sure it held up. Sometimes I use tape if I am having the shower at home and don't have to move the cake very much.

The last step is to decorate the cake. You can pin pacifiers or socks to the ribbon. You can stick rattles inside the ribbon here and there. You can use stuffed animals for the top of the cake or laying up against it. For my friend's cake she found some really cute cardboard animals that we glued to the ribbon on the sides. I happened to have the tiny stuffed animals left over from another cake I made. The point is to have fun with it. On one cake I made the theme was ABC's so I used blocks on the cake and made the cake square instead of circle. I love that you can really personalize a diaper cake to the mom and baby you are making it for.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Made By Mabelette- Popcorn Cake

Every year since Bret was in kindergarten (this year makes 25 years) he has taken a popcorn cake to either school or work to celebrate his birthday. This year he wanted to take it today because last Friday there was no morning conference. I went to a friends house to watch movies last night and didn't get home until really late. As I was setting my alarm for this morning I was thinking to myself that Bret had a great birthday and it occurred to me that I almost forgot about the dang popcorn cake. So I set my alarm for even earlier (bummer since Em is on spring break which meant we all could have slept in) and made the cake this morning.

Popcorn Cake

16 cups of popped popcorn

1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup margarine 1 lb marshmallows 1 lb roasted peanuts 1 lb M & M's Melt together oil, margarine, and marshmallows until smooth. Set aside and let cool to room temperature. Mix together popcorn,peanuts, and M&M's. Pour marshmallow mix over and mix using buttered hands. Press into a sprayed angel food cake pan. Turn over onto a plate and enjoy!

Made by Mabelette- Jean Skirt and Bunny Shirt

One of the tough parts about having kids is that every season of every year they need new clothes because they have grown out of everything. The worst is when they start to grow out of everything before the season is even over. The other day Emily put on these jeans and the first though that came to my mind is that there was no way she was going to wear a pair of ripped jeans to school the second thought was that I couldn't believe that the jeans she was wearing came to just above her ankles. I have seen several different tutorials online to get the general idea of how to make a jean skirt out of an old pair of jeans.

Supplies for Skirt:

Pair of old jeans
*2 strips of fabric 24x6 inches (I used scrap fabric so I had to sew two strips together...if you have enough to make it 48 inches long you will be able to skip a step)
thread
pins
sewing machine
sissors

Supplies for Shirt:

Shirt
Fabric large enough for your design
Wonder Under
Iron
Thread
Sewing Machine
Pen

To start cut your jeans at the crotch level so that it is open like a skirt. I used 6 inches wide strips because I measured the skirt on Emily and determined that to be a good length for her. You will want to measure your child and adjust accordingly.




The next step is to press your fabric. Besides getting your wrinkles out you want to press your fabric for a hem on the bottom. To do this turn your fabric about 1/4 inch and press.

Then turn the fabric over again and press. This will make sewing your hem so much easier.

Then you will want to sew your two seperate pieces together.

Sew your hem.
To make the skirt have a little bit of a ruffle to it the next step is to baste the fabric. Essentially this means to sew a very loose line of stitches so you can gather the fabric. You will want to sew two lines just to make it more sturdy. Nothing is more frustrating that gathering the fabric to have the thread pop. Set your stitch controls to be the longest stitch possible and sew a line close to the edge of the fabric. Don't worry if your fabric starts to gather on it's own.

Then sew your second line.

Once both lines are stitched start to pull the strings gently to gather the material. I always over gather as I find it easier to let it out later than try to gather it more.

Using the jean skirt as your measurement gather until it seems about right. Then you will want to sew your two ends of fabric together to create a circle. When I first made this I didn't do that step and had to sew the ends together after I had it pinned. It worked much better the second time I made this skirt to sew it first. Just make sure your basting strings are not sewing in so you bunch some more or let it out as you need to later. From here you just pin the gathered fabric to your skirt right side together.

Make sure you adjust your settings back to normal before sewing.

Then sew your fabric to the skirt.

To make the shirt I printed the bunny off of my computer using a clip art. Then I traced the bunny to my wonder under. Wonder under is found at any fabric store and is basically an iron on. I then ironed the wonder under to the wrong side of my fabric. Then cut out the fabric.

Next peel the back piece of wonder under off the fabric and iron it to your shirt. I don't have a picture of the next step but you simply zig zag stitch around the entire shape.

Emily loves her outfit and I love that it was basically free as I had everything I already needed and she will get a ton of use of these torn jeans for the rest of the summer too.

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/03/21/made-by-you-monday-44/

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2011/03/tutorial-tuesday_21.html

http://angieasplund.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-made-this-tuesday-19.html

Made by Mabelette- Hair Bow

Posting my tutorials on Monday really give me some extra motivation to tackle at least one craft project. Hair bows are all the rage for little girls these days. I almost passed out the first time I saw that they charge between $6-$15 for a hair bow. I know that a big part of the cost is the ribbon and that they are time consuming to make...but still. So every now and then when I saw ribbon on sale or when I had my coupon with me and everything else I was buying was already on sale (couldn't use my coupon) I would pick up a roll of ribbon with the future intentions of someday stock piling some hair bows for Emily. Hopefully before she outgrew the hair bow phase.



Although there are a ton of patterns that you can pay for I searched the Internet for free tutorials on making hair bows and found very few. Turns out that it is kind of hard to "show" someone how to make one with pictures and words. This tutorial has 17 pictures and I still feel like looking back I could have added a few to make things more clear. Please ask questions if something doesn't make sense. Remember this is my first time so hopefully they will be cuter as I practice a few times.



Bow Recipe:


Alligator Clip
Hot Glue & Gun
Straight Pin
Threaded Needle
29 inch piece of 7/8'' grosgrain ribbon
4 1/2 inch piece of 3/8'' grosgrain

Start by measuring and cutting your ribbon.

For this bow I wanted to have the traditional "bow" ends. To make them somewhat even I folded the end of the ribbon in half and snipped the end.

Once this is completed you want to carefully heat seal the ends of the ribbon using a lighter or match. Be careful not to catch your ribbon on fire or burn yourself. For safety reasons I failed to get a picture of me doing this part :)

You know that the ends are heat sealed when you see a little edge of wax form on the very tip of the ribbon. This keeps the ends from fraying. Make sure to heat seal your smaller piece of ribbon as well.

Now you are ready to start making your bow. To start lay your ribbon right side down. Fold one end of the ribbon to the 3 1/2 inch mark. Place your finger in the middle of the loop to hold in place.


Now bring your other end of the ribbon back over and move your finger to hold the new layer in place. Make sure that when you bring the ribbon back over you just wrap over the end of the ribbon to make it even.


Continue to wrap the ribbon around. You should have three loops on each side of the center where your finger is. Stick your straight pin to hold the bow in place.

Now spread the three loops out.

Now take your threaded needle that has a knot at one in and sew the three loops together.
When you are sewing the bow together you are trying to scrunch up the middle. It doesn't have to be perfect because we are going to cover this anyways.

I then wrapped the rest of the thread around the center of the bow to secure it. Once your center is secure use your best judgement and arrange the bow as you like.

Now using your hot glue and smaller piece of ribbon you are going to cover your alligator clip. Starting on the inside bottom add a small amount of hot glue and secure the piece of ribbon.

Now glue and secure the ribbon around the outside bottom.

Continue wrapping it over the back and glue to the top.

Finish gluing to the inside top of the clip. You will want to hold the clip open just for a few seconds until it finishes drying. Remove any stray glue strings.

The next few steps is where I start to feel like I didn't take enough pictures. This is probably because I was trying to figure it out as I went. Essentially what you are going to do is use the last little bit of your smaller piece of ribbon (you may need a third piece) to secure the ribbon to the alligator clip and around the center of the bow.

Start with a small dab of glue on your clip. Use your bow as a guide beforehand to decide where this should go. Then secure your bow to the clip. Then using the small piece of ribbon and glue wrap the ribbon around the bow and clip finishing underneath the inside top of the clip.

I have not had a chance to have Emily model the bow for me and though having one of the boys do it would not go over so great with their dad so I will wait until she gets home from school and add the last picture. Have fun bow making!!

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/02/28/made-by-you-monday-40/

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2011/02/tutorial-tuesday_28.html

Made by Mabelette Monday- Ruthie's Banana Bread

My mother has a sister that has always been a big part of our lives growing up. Ruth never married or had any children so she has always been sort of a second mom to me. We have always been very close.


There is nothing in the world that Ruth loves more than Banana Bread. Most specifically she loves my grandmother's recipe of banana bread. When I went off to college I still came home a lot of weekends. As a special treat I almost always made Ruth a loaf or two of banana bread. One such time I must have used eggs to small or added to much flour or not enough banana but Ruth made the comment that the bread seemed a little dry that time. I gave her a hard time about it and told her she was cut off. Although I meant it as a joke life got a little busy and hectic and it was long time before I made her banana bread again and I haven't ever really gotten back into making it regularly ever since. Ruth blames it all on her grave mistake of telling me that it was dry. It is now the running joke in our family that you keep your criticisms to yourself or you might get cut off :)


Banana Bread


3 ripe bananas mashed
2 eggs
1 3/4 C flour
1 C sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C plus 1 TBSP buttermilk
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt


Mix as for a cake. Pour in a greased loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes (or until knife comes out clean) at 350 degrees.

Made by Mabelette- Valentine's Day Cookies

One of my favorite traditions with my kids is decorating sugar cookies. We do this several times a year for different holidays including Valentine's Day. Here is my mother-in-law's fail proof recipe that I use everytime and my favorite sugar cookie frosting. We got a late start on decorating cookies last night and I forgot to take any pictures but I found an old one of when Emily was little and decorating Valentine's Day cookies instead.

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

1 c sugar
1 c margarine softened
2 eggs

Cream these ingredients together. Add:

4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavor

Chill 2 hours.

When I roll this dough out I usually do it in fourths at a time. Make sure to flour your surface well and add flour to the surface of the dough to keep from sticking. You can easily re-roll scraps. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. You want them to be set but not brown.

Frosting:

1 c powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp corn syrup
1/4 tsp almond flavoring

When I decorate with the kids I give each of them a paper plate to put their cookies on. Until recently I would frost the cookies and they would add the sprinkles. Now they are able to frost their own cookies in addition to adding sprinkles. Let the cookies sit on wax paper for 5-10 minutes until the frosting has time to set up before storing in a sealed container.

Have fun!

Made by Mabelette- Little Boy V-day Box

Last week Palmer got a note home asking parents to create a Valentine's Day box for their child out of a tissue box. My first thought was to cover it in paper and then have him color it and add stickers. Problem was we didn't have any white paper large enough to cover it and we had no Valentine's Day stickers. I have been really trying to use the craft supplies that I have so I started looking through my stock. I found a big enough piece of red felt and it all started to come together.

Supplies:

Family size box of tissue, emptied
Enough red felt to cover box
Small scrap of white felt
Scrap of blue felt
2 Pipe cleaners
2 Pom Pom's
Glue Gun
*You can use googly eyes instead of felt ones

To start I wrapped the red felt around the box as if I was wrapping it and then trimmed the felt to fit. I covered the opening. Using the glue gun I glued the felt to the box. I folded the ends like wrapping a present. This made it a little bulky even when I trimmed parts of it so if I was to do it again I might try something different but it worked. Make sure to start and end at the back of the box. If you end at the bottom it won't sit quite straight. Once this was glued I cut the opening out leaving enough of an edge to glue the edges to the inside of the box. Then I cut small triangles out for teeth out of the white felt and glued those around the edges. I had planned to use googly eyes but the ones I had were not quite big enough and looked weird so I made eyes with more white and blue felt. I cut the pupils into hearts to make it more Valentiney. Once the eyes were glued on I glued the pom poms to the pipe cleaners and glued the pipe cleaners to the back of the box to make antenna's. That's it! It took me about 20 minutes start to finish and let me tell you Palmer loved it. When we took it to school one of the mom's asked if the monster was going to eat the Valentine's and Palmer responded, "no it's just a box" with a "duh" expression on his face. Oh boy.

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2011/02/tutorial-tuesday.html

http://angieasplund.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-made-this-tuesday-13.html