Monster Cake from Sowdering About in Seattle!

I’m in a FB group for Seattle blogger’s and have met (online anyway) some very talented people, including Randi from Sowdering About in Seattle. When I sew her monster party, I knew it would be a perfect fit for her to join us! I couldn’t decide if I wanted her to share how to she made the cake or the headbands… We decided on the cake! It looks so delicious and I wish I had some now!!!! Be sure to check out her blog and all her fun food ideas and crafts!

Welcome Randi!

My son turned one in January and in celebration, we threw him a “monster” themed birthday party. It was very fitting for him since he is, well,  a monster. 

We had various decor, that was mostly homemade, including but not limited to a pretty awesome cake. I really loved how it came out, it probably was my most favorite thing we had at his party. I thought it would make a great tutorial, so here I am.

Because I baked this cake while we were on vacation in Las Vegas, I didn’t actually take pictures while I made it, so instead, I did what any normal person would do. I made another one. I mean, there is never BAD time for cake right? Lucy decided that she wanted our new monster cake to be a purple cake with red frosting.  I used a basic white cake mix from the store and just added some Wilton’s frosting dye to it.

Once it was all mixed, I cooked the cake according to the directions on the box and when it was done, I froze it.   Freezing the cake turned out to be the best for me because where I had planned to have this cake done in just a couple of days, life got in the way, kids got sick, we got super busy.  Anyway, the cake was frozen so it lasted longer.   When I was ready, I brought the cake out and started frosting it before it was defrosted.  Also, this is where you would normally put on the “crumb layer” of frosting.  This is basically a thin layer of frosting all over the cake which “captures” all the crumbs so that they don’t get tangled up into your top layer of frosting.  I normally do this.  I did not do the crumb layer on this cake.  Not for any particular reason except that I just plain forgot. I mixed the frosting together with Wilton’s frosting dye like I did with the batter.

The recipe I used for the frosting was super easy:

• 1 cup butter (salted)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 tsps vanilla extract (I didn’t measure, just put some in)
• a splash of whipping cream

Cream the butter and sugar together on low.  Slowly add vanilla and your splash of cream (I left mine a little thicker so I didn’t add a lot of cream).  Mix on med-low until it’s fluffy.  At the end, I added the color and mixed until it was the color I wanted, which ended up being pink, not red.

I noticed with the Wilton’s dye, that if you let it sit a little, it will darken.  So that’s what I did.  After it was all mixed, I let it sit for about 15 minutes.  When I was ready, I pulled out my frosting bag and I used the grass frosting tip that you can get from any craft store.

I always make a HUGE mess when I am frosting.  I will save you from those pictures.  Once my bag was full of pink frosting, I just started piping.  I made small downward strokes to get the “hair” look I was going for.

The best part about this particular style of cake, is that it doesn’t need to be perfect.  It’s actually the imperfections that make it the best.  I mean, what monster have you ever seen with perfectly combed hair?  None.

On Dexter’s cake, I just used large marshmallows on a skewer for the eyes and I used a food marker for the eyes balls.  However, Matt said that we should do something different with this one, so he grabbed some Fruit Loops and we shoved small marshmallows into the holes and then stuck a toothpick in them.  I like how it came out, a little more colorful and fun if you ask me!!

I struggled trying to figure out the best way to cut into this cake to show you the middle.  I didn’t want to just cut into it without a special reason, even though really, Tuesday is a good enough reason to cut into a cake.  But, as it turns out, we were having some friends over for a space craft to celebrate National Space day.  What’s better than a monster cake that you call an alien cake on Space Day right?

Dexter was totally impressed with his cake.  He said it even tasted good with the dirt he had just eaten too.

I thought it turned out pretty amazing.  The colors were great and all the kids loved it.  But what kid doesn’t love a purple cake right?

I hope you all enjoyed this and have fun making your own monster cakes!!!

Randi blogs from a blue recliner in the wet city of Seattle where she lives with her husband and two kids.  To read more about their shenanigans and crafts, please visit her blog Sowdering About in Seattle.  Also, be sure to like her facebook page!

KCW Day 6- Monster Tee

I was crossing my fingers the whole time I was sewing this shirt, hoping and hoping that it would fit over the noggin’!

And it did! Not even a struggle! Woo Hoo!

I also have a huge problem finding cool knit fabric for the boy. So I finally resorted to online. I found a few great ones at Banberry Place. Including this monster fabric by Lillestoff, a European import. Please explain to me why cool knits are so hard to find in this country??? I love Lillestoff! Love! It’s so nice and soft and the design is COOL!

My original plan was to use the Flashback Tee again. I used it once before and it was a bit tight, so I wanted to try it again the next size up. But then I was like… Well, maybe I reuse the Winter PJ top cause it fits so well. But the head thing… The winter PJ’s top goes on easy, but it’s kinda hard to get off.

So I went with the original plan to use the 4T Flashback tee pattern. And it’s perfect. Easy on. Easy off. Cute. Fast. Not too tight. Love.

I even remembered the tag! The kiddo was pretty excited about that!

And he wanted to be sure we showed the back of the t-shirt. Since it’s so different from the front….

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Me Matey’s! It’s the Pirate Party Again!

Think back matey’s… Back to November…

I shared the Pirate Party that we put on for my son’s 4th birthday! Do you think you’re kiddo would like to have one??? Now they can! It’s FINALLY all up on etsy!

From tons of printables… Like the invite, the pirate map art project, food labels, Happy Birthday banner and more!

To handmade party favors… Like pirate hats and eye patches and bags, Oh,My!

The party was a blast! And, honestly, it took me forever to get it all listed on etsy, but I feel GREAT! It’s finally up! I’d love to know which piece is your favorite!!

Let me know! And what party should I do next?

To Do List- More Marked Off the List!

Three more  projects that I can mark off my To Do List! It’s exciting me to me, but might not be all that exciting to you…

The pirate party thank you’s have been written, finally…. And the party pieces are getting posted on Etsy! There’s still more to go, but it’s getting there. A lot of editing of pictures! ergh… Do any of you have etsy shops??

And.. I finally got caught up on my 365 photo project!!! Is anyone else doing this? I decided to do it this year and the subject is my son. So every day, I take a picture of my son. Some days it’s with the big fancy camera, but most days it’s a cell phone picture!

And then each week I set up this image of the week’s photos and wrote a little note about them. It will be fun to put them all in a book one day!

I’ve done this every week all year! A lot of work.. Debating on doing it again this coming year. I’m thinking no.. Except that now my son wants his picture taken every day now…

Alright, next post, Christmas!!

Ahoy Matey! It’s a Pirate’s Party for Me!

I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it’s been 4 years! But I can believe that my kiddo had an AWESOME pirate birthday party! He had great props (as usual) made by Daddy, a bunch of pretty details by Momma and most importantly… He was surrounded by loving family and friends on a beautiful sunny day for his Pirate party!

My son and I had a great time getting ready for the party. He helped me with everything! The invites, the favors, pretty much everything! For the invites we decided to hand deliver them in glass bottles!  The day I was going to deliver the invites, Max had the opportunity to have a play date instead of driving around town. But he said, ‘No, I have to help give everyone their invitations!’ I did do all the burnt edges, no 4 year olds helped in the burning process!

The pirate ship was a huge hit! There was a kid in it at all times. We had a couple of cap-sizing moments, but we got it back up and going pretty quick! Daddy wasn’t originally going to add the Captain’s Quarters, but as he was building it he realized that he needed it. And it was perfect!

It was great watching all the kids run around with their party favor pirate gear! Some wore it all, other just wore pieces. We made, sashes, hats, eye patches and they all got a sword.

I really loved our portrait of my son’s Great Great Grandfather Pirate Pete. My mom had an idea of dressing up an old photo like a pirate. I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant, but I ran with what I thought she was talking about. And the portrait is really my son’s Great Great Grandfather, but his name wasn’t Pete and he wasn’t a pirate! We added all the 3d pirate gear!

I designed everything! My husband was out-of-town when I came up with the birthday party Jolly Roger icon. I was so excited about it, but didn’t have anyone to show it to! I was on pins and needles waiting for him to read his email and see my design. And when he did, HE LIKED IT too!! Yea!! So off I went turning it into invitations, tags, food and drink labels, goodie bags, pirate hats and pirate booty bags! I used a combo of stamping and freezer papers stencils for all the printing.

And who doesn’t love cake??? I am not the best with cake decorating! Last year, I didn’t even show a picture of the cake… But this year I was very excited about the cake turning out much better than last year. It’s still not super professional, but I’m getting better and better! Yea!

I know! It’s a lot of pictures, I know! But I hope you enjoyed it. Want to have one just like it? I’ve started posting it on etsy !

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Party Month!

So this month is my son’s birthday and I plan plan plan for the party! I’ve already got most of it in my head, I just need to get it down and on paper and scheduled so that this year I’m not setting up my ‘sweatshop’ (as my mother calls it) two nights before the party!

So this year’s theme…. Argh, Matey!…. Pirates!

So today we went shopping for something TOTALLY not pirate related and did we find it? No! But did we find tons of pirate booty diamonds and jewels and skull and cross-bones bowls? Yes, we did. We left the store with nothing we went in for, but some pretty cool pirate party goods…

And of course, if you’ve seen my other parties (Dr Seuss and Dragonland) you know there’s always handmade party favors. Thinking dress up… Maybe an eye patch?

Dr Seuss Party Series- Fish Party Favor Tutorial with a Printable

Ahhh! Where does the time go? My last party post was supposed to be on Friday, but it’s Sunday already!! Oh, my!!

I love to make handmade party favors for the kiddo’s parties! Last year was the Dragon Wings, this year it was Fish, the Cat in the Hat’s ‘buddy’! Or arch nemesis… Depending on if your reading the original The Cat in the Hat or watching the new Cat in the Hat cartoon series. Apparently over the years the Cat and Fish have become pals!

I really wanted to give the fish in goldfish bowls… But, we are talking a three year old birthday party! I was talked out of the real glass bowls by just about everyone! I think it was my Mother’s last email on the subject that finally made me give up on convincing people (and myself) that glass bowls was the way to go for a birthday party favor. She wrote, ‘All I can see is one child dropping the bowl and it breaking into a million pieces and the child is screaming wildly and all the other children and parents are freaking because they do not want anyone to step on all the broken glass, and then we’d have to fly someone to the ER to stitch the cut and stop the bleeding……….’

So we went with clear bags… Then I wanted to make clear bags so it looked like those bags you get from fish store when you bring home a fish…. But I ran out of time for that project. I did start it, but accidentally cut the clear vinyl wrong. And at that point I gave up on that and used these clear bags. As one parent told me about making the bags, ‘Now that would have been over the top!’

Fish was a pretty welcome guest. I loved watching the kids walking around the table eyeing them before they sweetly asked, ‘Can I have a fish?’ Of course!

And now for the tutorial so you can make some too!

Step 1: Gather Materials

Fleece. Or you could use felt, too.

A little bit of felt, black and white

Thread, to match the fleece and black and white

Scissors

Cutting Blade

Yarn, about 1 foot of black yarn, cut into 6 2″ inches

Stuffing

Pattern, print the pattern here.

Step 2: Cut out all the pieces. I cut the eyes for the tutorial opposite than I had on the actual favors! On the tutorial I did white with black centers versus the black with white centers. Which do you liked best? I’m thinking I like the black with white centers best….

Step 3: Eyes first! Sew on the black piece first. Make sure the eyes are facing opposite directions, one for each side of Fish! Then stitch in the u-shape. Lastly, stitch the eye to the body. Place the yarn in place under the eye. (I don’t trim the yarn until the very last step!) Or, like I mentioned above, you can do it opposite, with black and white centers.

Step 4: Fins are next! Sew the fins together. This step was a tricky one for me. I stitch them together and then trim them up a bit for a cleaner look. You could just use one layer of fleece, but I liked the thickness of the two layers topstitched together. Fold over the edge of the fin by about a 1/4″ and sew onto the body at the mark shown on the pattern.

Step 5: Sew together the underside! First sew the two half circles together along the straight edge. Next, sew one half circle to the teardrop shape at the curved end. lastly, turn right side out.

Step 6: Sew the body together.  This will be done in a couple of steps. This step sew together the top, follow the dashed lines on the pattern. Start with the ‘nose’ and go to the top fins. Stop and pick back up again on the other side of the top fins and continue to the tail fins.

Step 7: Sew on the underside. Place the underside, with bottom lip towards the inside, with the center of the top curve to the end of the stitch line. Start on one side and sew around to the point of the ’teardrop’ shape. Stop and start again at the ‘nose’ and stitch around to the point of the ‘teardrop’ again, but this time continue to the tail fin.

Step 8: Pull the fish right side out through the top fins.

Step 9: Topstitch the tail fins.

Step 10: Stuff Fish.

Step 11: Topstitch the top fins.

Step 12: Trim eyelashes! And wahla! You’re done!

Now just find a clear bag, print the thank you’s and hand over to kids for a sweet gift! Download the thank you’s here. Or if you have older kids, consider the glass bowl… I still love the gold fish bowl!

 

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Dr Seuss Party Series- Shall We Play? With a Printable!

Say, Shall we play??

Yes, Yes, It’s a Birthday!

Games!! Yes, I know, this was a party for a 3 year old… I was told by a couple of people that you don’t need a lot of entertainment at this age…. Well, Dad and I kept coming up with games and games and more games! We did narrow it down to the Gack Ring Toss, Pin the Hat on the Cat and Dr Seuss Hullabaloo.

Thanks to Daddy, we have the only Gack in town! I kinda pushed for the Gack game! I love love loved One Fish Two Fish and all the characters, including the Gack when I was a kid. So I think I’m feelin’ like the coolest kid in town having the only Gack around!

Dad made the Gack  with the overhead projector, plywood and paint. Then came finding the rings! Not quite as easy as I thought it would be. We ended up with a couple sets of dollar store bracelets. Before the party the Birthday Boy and his Dad were having a hard time getting the rings on, but the kids seemed to make it just fine!

My son LOVES his Hullabaloo game! If you’ve been following along for a while, a little bit back we made a special bag for his game so he can take it on all his adventures! To honor that love, we made a Dr Seuss version of the game!

I was slaving away at this project coming up with themes based on Dr Seuss illustrations. I was planning on rewriting the whole game and having my husband call out the next game piece to stand on…. That is until my husband made the whole idea sooooo much easier! He asked why I wasn’t just using the same colors and images from the original game, but with Dr Seuss drawings instead of the Cranium illustrations… Ummmm, well, Daddy, that’s a great idea! I switched gears and found images from Dr Seuss books for all of the Hullabaloo game pieces. The only one I couldn’t find was spaghetti, so I added a Dr Seuss character holding the Hullabaloo image. I was loving trying to find all the images! And it worked to turn on the Hullabaloo game box and they just played along with the new game pieces! I printed the pieces on a heavy cardstock and then laminated them with clear Contact paper for more longevity!

Download the game pieces to add to your Hullabaloo game here.

And then the traditional Pin the Hat/Tail on something! Pin the Hat on the Cat was much more fun than I thought it would be! This was the biggest hit of the day! I was so surprised that it kept the attention of the kids the whole time. Again, we used the overhead projector for the Cat drawing. Then I wrote in everyone’s names on their game piece hats.

Most all the kids played the Pin the Hat on the Cat game. After it was over, we were debating figuring out how to decide who won and all the kids got super quiet…. Then I said, instead of one winner EVERYONE gets a lollipop, then they all started jumping up and down!!! It was a good decision!

Download the hats here.

I used this font for the names.

I hope you have an opportunity to play these games with your kiddos! Enjoy! It’s your turn!

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Dr Seuss Party Series- The Fun!

There’s no printable, tutorial or recipe today! Today I just wanted to share the fun we had!

As I’ve already mentioned, the kids loved the ‘real’ invites, I was totally in love the truffula trees, and the food was deeeeelicious! I also mentioned about my issues with the party not being perfect….

But all in all, the party was such fun!

Due to weather, the stereo-typical Seattle weather, the outside party had to be moved inside! I had everything planned out for outside party. I knew where everything was going to go. Where the food tables were going to be with their backdrops and where the truffula trees were going and where the photo area would be! We got all the truffula trees and the character decorations set up outside….. And that’s when it started to rain….. And in came the decorations! All the planning went spinning around and found a new place inside!

Did the kids notice? Nope!

Another funny…. In all my planning and all my reading of TONS of Dr Seuss books. I totally got the Green Egg cookies wrong! I forgot to mention this on Friday when I showed the food goodies! We were at the store getting the little candy pieces for these cookies and at first they only had the green and pink. I was like, no, I need the white! I almost freaked out until I finally found the white ones. My mom made the icing and kept working on just the right green color. We made the cookies. Yummy! Then a couple of days later Green Eggs and Ham was requested reading at bedtime and I realized our mistake! I had them backwards!!

And afterwards…..

And coming up this week I’ll have more printables and another tutorial! Can’t wait to have you back for the fun!

Dr Seuss Party Series- The Food and a Recipe!

Mmmmmm…. mmmmmm…. The party food!

When it came to planning the food, I let Dr Seuss be my guide! Pretty much everything was inspired by the stories. I made sign labels for most of the food! (available here)

I have been LOVING the striped straws, so I just had to include these in the party! You might be seeing them again, because I have about a zillion of them. I also made the stickers for the swirl pops. The swirl pops were given out after Pin the Hat on the Cat and after cake and I think it kinda sent a few of the kids into a sugar coma… But they bounced right back!

All the paper products and plastic ware were purchase at a local Dollar store. The perfect colors! I made the mini pops using this tutorial via The Baker’s Twine. I used my fingers instead of a fork. Super easy! And then they came in handy for our Halloween Costume!

You might be wondering about the cake…. wellllll…. Everyone has these amazing cake pictures of their Children’s birthday cakes. Mine didn’t turn out well at all. I had such HIGH hopes for the cake. I knew exactly how I was going to make my Dr Seuss topsy turvy cake… The problem was I waited until the last minute. I mean last minute. Kids were already starting to get here! So my husband took over the mess that I had started. Did I say mess? I meant cake… Well, he took over and I gave up my control issues (barely) and the cake tasted fantastic… But….. It didn’t look sooo good! (And I’m not saying that was my husband’s fault! He did great with what he was given to work with!) Hence the reason the picture of the cake is a very small one!

And Horton’s specks? They were only the hit of the day! These cookies are called Forgotten Cookies. They didn’t get quite as round as I was envisioning, but I forgot that with these cookies, you don’t really get perfectly round cookies.  I know one friend went home with a copy of the recipe and others were asking for it to be emailed.

I have to give a shout out to my mother who helped with soooo much of the food! And these cookies were all her. I’ve tried a couple of times to make them, but have not had much success…. But when she makes them…. They get gobbled up by everyone SUPER FAST! Including the birthday boy. My mom agreed to share the recipe she uses and I hope you have better success than I do. (I think at Christmas I might just have to have her give me a lesson on these!)

Forgotten Cookies:

from my Mother, via MARY KAY (yes, of Mary Kay Cosmetics)

2 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

1 small (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips, optional

1/2 to 1 cup pecans, chopped, optional

dash of salt

pre heat oven to 350

beat egg whites ’til stiff.  I like to use a bowl with a narrow base===copper is great.

Add sugar gradually

Beat a high speed for about 5 minutes, til peaks form

Add food color, if desired.

Fold in vanilla, chocolate chips and pecans.

Line a cookie sheet or 2 with foil or parchment paper

Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheets.

Put in oven and TURN OVEN OFF!

Leave overnight (at least 8 hours)  (do not peek!)

Makes about 3 dozen meringue-like cookies.

and party credits:

All fabric came from JoAnn’s

Striped Straws via Modern Lola

Swirl Pops via Oriental Trading Company

Red and White Boxes via Oriental Trading Company

Birthday Cake Candle via Modern Lola

Update…. The food labels are now available on my etsy site!

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