Adorable Cake Plates (if I do say so myself)

I love to bake, so it will come as no surprise that I also love anything having to do with baked good presentation. Little boxes, tiny doilies, baker's twine, ribbon, labels, serving platters, fancy toothpicks; I love them all. So when a friend threw a baby shower for Max's mommy and had dozens of cupcakes displayed on brightly colored, many-tiered dessert stands, I had to ask her where she got them. And the shocking answer was that she made them with stuff she bought at the D.I. (For anyone not in the know, the D.I. is just like the Goodwill.) Plates and candlesticks that didn't even match or look cute to begin with were magically transformed into the most adorable cake plates with a little glue and some spray paint. Of course I had to make some too, but I couldn't limit myself, oh no, so I made 6. And I only spent $39 total, including 4 different colors of spray-paint! Here's how you can make some adorable cake plates too:

• Go to any second-hand store and look for plates. They don't have to be very cute, but if they have a nice, raised design or a scalloped edges or something interesting going on along the edge, it'll turn out really cute. Also look for candlesticks. Make sure they have a nice, fat bottom and a flat top. I didn't pay attention to the tops when I bought mine, and one of my trays is wonky because the top of the candlestick wasn't flat to begin with. None of your pieces have to match at all!

• If you don't already have spray paint, go buy some in the color of your choosing. I bought a bunch of Krylon for $3.27 a can at Walmart.

• Remove the price tags and all of that nasty adhesive with Goo Gone, then wash all of your plates and candlesticks in hot, soapy water. Let them dry.

• I skipped this step, but it probably would have been helpful, which is why I'm including it: using a measuring tape or ruler, find the center of the bottom of your plate and mark it. I'm a notorious eyeballer. I never measure anything if I don't have to. And pinning when I sew? Let's just say I've had to pick out many a crooked seam. Ahem.
• Get some really tough glue. I LOVE E6000. Seriously, I use it all the time. Crafts, home repairs, you name it. Anyway, carefully squeeze a thin line of glue all the way around the top of your candlestick. With your plate face-down, place your candlestick (glue-side-down) on the plate. Let it all sit, untouched, for the amount of time prescribed by the glue bottle. If you want to make a tiered cake plate, make several individual cake plates and glue them together after the initial application is dry.
  

• Take your cake plate into the backyard, put it on something like an old cardboard box that you don't mind covering with paint, and spray away. Continue adding coats of paint until you like how your cake plate looks. Let the paint dry completely before touching.

• If you want to put food directly onto your plate, you need to seal it with something, but I didn't have any luck with that, so I can't help you there! The clear acrylic I put on my lovely turquoise stand made the paint blister. My plan is to use my stands for things like cupcakes where the food doesn't directly touch the cake plate, or to put a cardboard cake circle or a doily or something between the cake stand and the food.

Thanks for Stopping By!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by on Giveaway Day. So much fun! I know we look forward to it every time!

Max became a big brother on Giveaway Day. Welcome baby Owen! In his honor, we decided to give away an extra prize. Our winners are dearmrsreese and Genevieve P! You'll be hearing from us soon!

PS--You really do need to include an email!! We had to throw out a few winners because we had no way of contacting them!

May 2010 Giveaway Day!

Ok! Now the comments are closed! Thanks for visiting.

It is here again: Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day! If you're coming over from their blog, you have many more places to visit before the day is over, so we'll keep this post short and sweet. Max and Ellie is giving away any item valued at $10 or less from our shop. We have Itty Bitty Boo-Boo Kits, Fabric-Covered Button Bobbies, and Cute as a Button Earrings (get them before we list them in the shop!!), all for under $10*. To enter, simply visit our shop, then come back to this post and leave a comment telling us what items you love! Be sure to include your email address too. We'll close the comments and randomly choose a winner on Thursday, May 20th at around 9:00 AM Pacific Time. This contest will only be open to US residents. Best of Luck!!

*We have lots of items that aren't listed in the shop yet that you can choose from if you win. We'll just send you pictures of everything and you can choose the item you want!

I'm Not Ignoring You, I Promise

So, it isn't that I haven't been busy Max and Ellie-ing. Quite the opposite, actually. I've been working my little tail off (although, not literally; that would be too wonderful, wouldn't it!) getting things ready for a craft boutique. Last Holiday season, a few friends and I threw together a little craft boutique. Much to our surprise and delight, it was pretty well-attended, so much so, that we decided to make it a biannual event. Our first ever spring boutique is coming up next Friday, and I've been cutting and sewing and gluing like a mad woman making this's and that's. To date, I have made:

6 Little Artist Crayon Kits


12 Little Chef Aprons


5 Infant Carseat Covers
(with more to come because Max's mommy is overdue with baby #2 and I told her to just send me her fabric)


20-something Itty Bitty Boo-Boo Kits


18 pairs of adorable earrings and 2 lovely necklaces (with hopefully 5 more to follow)


6 Little Baby Blankies


plus business cards, displays, stickers, etc.

If you're in the Eugene area next Friday, I'd love to see you! Click HERE for the details. And check back next Monday for a fun give-away as part of Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day!

Works In Progress and Easter Dresses

I think I might be the worst person in the world at finishing projects. People who know me are probably shocked by that statement, but that's because I keep my unfinished projects tightly under wraps, and I never talk about them. They're like my shameful secret. Here's the life cycle of most of my projects: I get an idea, either straight from the ol' noggin or inspired by something (a photo, some fabric, etc.); I immediately go out and buy all of the materials for the project; I hang the shopping bag full of materials on the back of the chair at my desk. That's it. That's where it ends.

I've been thinking that if I put a list of my works in progress out into the universe, it might make me a little more accountable as far as project completion goes. So here's my list, which I will be updating regularly--hopefully.

• master bedroom quilt--started in January, 2009
• embroidery hoop wall art--materials bought in Fall, 2009/COMPLETED Summer, 2010!
  
• pocket bag--no clue on this one; maybe 2008???
• fabric butterfly mobiles for the girls' bedrooms--started in January, 2010
• pink monster t-shirts for a birthday party that happened 6 months ago!
• baby's 1st year keepsake cards--started in Summer, 2009
  

Now, just to show you that I'm starting off on the right foot, here are some pictures of the Easter dresses I made for our girls. They turned out beautifully, better than I even imagined them. The fabrics are Martini in Mustard and Optic Blossom in Linen, both from the Midwest Modern line from Amy Butler. The fabrics were a joy to work with. Sewing is such a pleasure when the fabric you are staring at is gorgeous.

I used the Gracie dress pattern from Portabellopixie by Sandi Henderson. It was mostly easy, but there were a few major problems. First, when you are sewing the yoke onto the bodice, it tells you to sew it backwards. Instead of sewing the inside of the yoke to the top of the bodice, you should be sewing the outside of the yoke to the top of the bodice. Just trust me on that one. Next, I could tell they weren't going to be long enough, so I sewed an extra tier onto the skirt before attaching it to the bodice. I didn't trust myself enough to wing it, so I used the pattern piecs for the top tier of the skirt, piece number 6 (which you aren't supposed to use if you are attaching the skirt to a bodice). Lastly, and most importantly, you are supposed to finish off the yoke with bias tape. After literally days of trying to make it work, I took all of my carefully made bias tape off, stuffed it in a bag, and just finished off the inside of the yoke without it. I folded the two raw edges inside and topstitched around the whole yoke, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. All's well that ends well!

Happy Birthday Beverly Cleary!

Today is a fun day. Today, Monday, April 12th, is National Drop Everything And Read day, and it is also Beverly Cleary's birthday! My oldest is in preschool, so I think this "holiday" might have gone unnoticed in our household if it weren't for Ramona Quimby. A few months ago, I spotted a box set of the first four Ramona books at T.J. Maxx for mere pennies. I figured they were probably going to have to wait a few years to be read, but I went ahead and bought them because I love Ramona so much. But one night, I decided that my daughter would probably get a kick out of Ramona (she is very much a Ramona type), and so we started reading. And now we're on the fourth book, Ramona and Her Father, and my daughter won't let a night go by without reading a few pages about Ramona!

If you'd like to celebrate today, here are a few links:

--D.E.A.R homepage
--D.E.A.R. resources
--The World of Beverly Cleary--a bright, fun website with lots of info and GAMES!
--Ramona and Beezus, the movie trailer

--Ramona on YouTube--No one will ever match Sarah Polley as Ramona. She was perfect! If I ever find this series for sale, I'm buying every copy!
--Bake a Ramona Cake--Bake any cake, and stick a doll pick (the kind you use to make a Barbie cake) in after baking. That was our favorite part of Beezus and Ramona: when Ramona stuck her rubber doll, Bendix, in Beezus' birthday cake while it baked.
--Make Paprika Chicken for dinner--Another classic Ramona move from Ramona Quimby, Age 8: trying to make paprika chicken for dinner, and completely flubbing it, as only Ramona can. Make sure you serve it with applesauce, made memorable by several chapters of Beezus and Ramona.

*****

And now, for the winner of our beautiful blocks give-away: comment #30, Jaime! Jamie, I will email you shortly about how to collect your prize. A huge thank you to csnstores.com for donating our fabulous prize, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Beautiful Blocks Give-Away!

The give-away is now closed. Thanks for participating!!

I love to shop, and I love to get packages in the mail. So combine the two, and I'm practically in heaven! Online shopping really is terrific. It makes a world of items (literally) available to everyone, regardless of the size of town they live in. I recently discovered a most amazing online shopping spot: csnstores.com. CSN Stores has over 200 different online stores that stock everything from kids beds to handpainted canvas art to le creuset cookware to pool tables. All of the items at CSN Stores are offered at low prices, and lots of them offer free shipping!

CSN Stores is generously sponsoring our give-away today! One lucky winner will receive this beautiful wood block set from notNeutral. The blocks feature the alphabet in a mix of vintage and contemporary fonts, as well as numbers and graphics, all printed in black and red on a natural wood background. And they come cutely stacked in a little wood tray. These are pretty much the chicest blocks we've ever seen! And they can be yours! To enter the give-away, simply leave a comment on this post that includes your email address. You can enter the give-away a second time by blogging about our little give-away, then leaving a comment with a link to your post. The give-away is open to US and Canadian readers only. Next Monday, April 12th, we'll choose a winner! Good Luck!