delusions of grandeur part 4: cartoon portrait cupcakes

I won't lie: I've been a bit overwhelmed. The past couple of weeks have been an absolute marathon of projects. Not only was I competing in So You Think You're Crafty?, but I've also been making a ton of stuff for my kiddo's birthday and trying to keep up with book covers at work. And so, last night, with the party over and the party mess carted from the community center back to our living room and kitchen, I went to bed at 10:30 pm for the first time in months.

But let's back up for a minute:

First, I was eliminated from the competition last week, with my upcycled Sunburst Mirror project. Now, I don't really feel like my project deserved to do as poorly as it did, but admittedly, I was ready for competition to be over (so I could focus on birthday stuff). So when the other competitors ratcheted up their voter drives on the last day (don't ask me how), I maintained radio silence and decided to let the chips fall where they may. And fall they did.

And so I worked on robot decorations and cakes and giant crepe paper chandeliers and . . . well, let's just say there are a ton of party posts in our future, readers.

Now, my kiddo's party was all about robots, but he also has a thing for cake lately. He can't get enough of the duck cupcakes on the cover of What's New, Cupcake, for example. So we had to make a batch of cupcakes for our monthly play group last week.

After carefully studying all of the cupcakes in Hello, Cupcake, my kiddo kept coming back to the funny face cupcakes. When I asked if he wanted our cakes to look like him, I got an emphatic, "Yes!"

We used the recipe in the book to doctor a cake mix using buttermilk and eggs, then tinted cream cheese frosting and used a mix of candies for the faces (he picked green shoelace candy for the mouths).

Finally, to cartoon-ify his crazy hair, I filled a Ziploc bag with a mixture of white chocolate and butterscotch chips + two drops of yellow food coloring and melted them together. Then I snipped a corner and squirted out some wild hair squiggles onto some parchment paper. When they'd hardened, I cut slits into the cake and poked in the hair.

Ta-da! Pretty quick and easy. And he was one happy kid, looking at all those little cartoony hims.

Anyway, I like to do a little warm-up cake project before doing a big all-day cake (like last year, when I made the rainbow cupcakes before the Zelda cake) and these guys fit the bill. I'll be posting the robot cake soon . . . it was a little more time-consuming than these cuppies, but you might like it anyway. :)

Thanks for reading!


p.s. you can make these photos larger by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that! clever you.

mod sunburst mirror (size large)

Hey everyone! This is my final official entry in this season's So You Think You're Crafty? competition. I'll get a full tutorial up eventually (because this project is not only easily adaptable to a variety of supplies, but is also, dare I say, lovely), but in the meantime, you can read here, in its perfectly formatted entirety, the project I posted there last week. Thank you a million times for your votes and your support, those of you who voted and supported. It was a wild competition!

When I first saw the theme for this week back in December, I knew right away what I wanted to make. Metallic? Check. Shine? Check. Glitter? . . . well, I left out the glitter, but I think I used enough metal to make up for it (and like my husband's always saying about his motorcycle, "It's not glitter; it's metal-flake"). My choice was obvious: A large mid-century modern sunburst mirror.

I lucked out and scored the abandoned, gold-colored aluminum tent poles for $3 at the same rebuilding store (shout out, again, to Bring!) where I found the 75-cent, 4-inch convex mirror and the two light fixture bases ($1 and 50 cents, respectively). It's just that I found them several weeks apart, when I was sure my project was doomed and I wasn't at all sure what I was looking for. Sometimes projects just come together that way.

My project is the result of some amazingly lucky finds (and is nearly two feet across, at its widest point), but this is a pretty versatile project. My tutorial will show you how to make it using dowels, chopsticks, twigs, etc. Everyone can make their own huge mod sunburst mirror! If, like a magpie, you love things shiny, give it a vote!

 

Linking up to:

The CSI Project

card catalog coffee table tutorial

I know, I know . . . this is totally out of order. This project did well over at So You Think You're Crafty this week, so I was asked to write up a full tutorial and I'm posting it here. You can check it out over there, too!

Materials you'll need for this project:

one row of card catalog drawers (call your local library if they've recently switched over to a computerized system, or stalk a thrift store or rebuilding store like Habitat for Humanity's ReStore or Bring. The set I used for this project came from Goodwill, and cost $10.)

four vintage wooden mill bobbins (mine came from the Pendleton Woolen Mills store outside of Portland; call them if you don't live nearby, and see if they'll ship to you)

four metal leg attachment plates/corner braces (I found mine at Bring for 50 cents to $1 apiece, and all four match--amazing luck--but you can probably hunt some down at your local hardware store)

one scrap of 3/16 or thicker plexiglass, at least the size of your card catalog (mine was a scrap I used to use for displays at my bookstore a million years ago, but you can buy this new or used at dozens of places)

vintage or new wooden printing blocks (aka moveable wooden type) (I've been a collector for a few years; you can find blocks for sale on eBay or Etsy, or substitute with another type of collection)

thin wood trim (from the ReStore; 25 cents for 3 feet. Unbelievable deal.)

sketch paper (for labels)

piece of heavy tag board or thin wood paneling the same size as your inset space (you probably have something around the house)

flat game pieces like checkers or scrabble tiles

wood screws and nails

Tee Juice dye pen or wood stain

sticky-back felt furniture pads


Tools you'll need

drill

drill bit for metal, just a little wider than your screws

hammer

X-acto knife

ruler

masking tape

typewriter (lacking this, you can also use a typewriter typeface on your computer)


How to Build It

Your bobbins should all be as close to the same length as possible. Drill three holes through each of your metal plates that align with the solid wood edge of your bobbins, and attach with screws.

Turn your drawers upside down and screw the bobbin legs onto the bottom. Add furniture pads to the feet.

Flip your table upright.

My card catalog drawers didn't have a top panel, so there was a built-in inset space once I cut a piece of heavy tag board to sit atop the drawer supports. If your drawers do have a top, you can call your table "done", or you can follow along and add a plexiglass top for a flat collection (see asterisk * below).

Measure twice, cut once. In fact, rather than measuring, you can lay your plexiglass right on top of your table and mark it in place. I marked mine with both tape and permanent marker. That way I could make sure that when I took it to the hardware store to have it cut, it would be as perfect a cut as possible.

You can try to cut the plexi yourself, of course, but it's messy and noisy and sometimes it cracks or splits. Know your strengths.

Fill the inset with wooden type. You can spell words or names or just randomly assemble your collage. I worked the word "Upcycle" into mine to showcase the week's theme.

I used game pieces (and/or old brass house numbers) around the edge to help support the plexiglass. You can use pretty much anything flat and non-perishable that will help the clear top sit and be supported level with your wooden type.

After the plexi was in place, I hunted down the thin, plain wood trim pieces and cut them to size with my X-acto knife. Drill a small finger hold at the back if you want to lift the glass out later to remove the top.

You could use fancier trim, if you wanted to; I kept my trim (and my cuts) simple, and attached the pieces to the card catalog with small wire nails.

To finish, stain to the color of your choice using a Tee Juice dye pen or some wood stain, and print up some paper labels for your drawers.

*If you do have a flat top on your card catalog drawers, you can still add the plexi top and either build up a frame to create an inset, or you can display print ephemera (labels, a poster, library book check-out slips, etc.) under the top for a cool effect.

Thanks a bunch for your votes, everyone! Send photos if you make your own table using these instructions; I'd adore seeing photos.

Linking up to:
Junkin Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds
The CSI Project

and now for something completely different (thrift store finds)

All you need to know to explain this post:

Young House Love blog

+

Macklemore + Ryan Lewis' Thrift Shop

=

disclaimer: I am in no way hip enough to associate with these folks, but I'm gonna try to fake it.



(1) "Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – '$20 in your pocket' and take a picture."

(2) "Spend your $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils."

Seen and left behind:

 small wooden sea gull plaque

pretty wooden mid-century chairs

sing-a-ma-jig cart distraction

glass insulators from electrical poles

antique red-painted carpenter's level at the Habitat ReStore

1970s macrame plant hanger

outing thermos in original box

Things that came home with us:

hand-carved unfinished wood duck: $1.99

The duck was promised to my kiddo for a painting project. We used finger paints to make it "pretty" because finger paints can be washed off later when he changes his mind and wants it to look different. Like when he finally decides to rinse his brush between colors instead of just blending everything till it looks muddy. You know: then.

birthday party streamers, turquoise, yoinked away mid-photo: 49 cents

hinged silkscreen frame with leprechaun screen: 99 cents

two pair old solid metal pinking shears: $2.99 each

The streamers and silkscreen will be used at his upcoming birthday party, and the pinking shears will come in handy for so, so many projects. I love the weight of old scissors. It feels like I'm making something serious when I use them. And solid metal scissors and shears are virtually indestructible, unlike plastic-handled pairs.

steel drawer insert from a Hoosier cabinet: $4.00

I have a similar steel drawer that I blogged about recently; I repurposed it as a wall cabinet and wrote about it in an earlier post. I think this one will end up in my Etsy shop since I don't have a place in mind for it yet. They have a lot of character, and can be expensive so it was a nice score.

old wooden doll cradle with leather headboard insert: $2.99

I picked up the cradle to fix up in a similar fashion as the one I made-over as a birthday present last summer. It's kind of a masculine cradle with a leather headboard inset. I might save it for the kiddo's stuffed animals; after all, little boys sometimes become dads later in life.

I also came home with a new hoodie, but it didn't photograph well with my cell camera in the mirror, so I'm gonna spare you a photo that's even worse than the others I'm publishing here. You're welcome.

The steel drawer insert and the cradle were from other days (drawer from Bring, cradle from Goodwill); the rest of the items were things we found today at a second Goodwill, the same Goodwill where, on previous trips, I've found a Cathrineholm bowl, a set of card catalog drawers, a Radio Flyer wood-side wagon, and a stop sign. It's one of my favorite treasure-hunting spots, but I only get over to that side of town every couple of months.


(3) Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

I had big, brave plans to take a photo of myself in footie pajamas, but in the end, I couldn't wear someone else's pajamas without washing them first. So, that was a no-go.

Instead, I offer these:

house slippers

luggage . . . with Pooh on it.

Challenge complete! I'll be sure to post my projects made with these treasures as they're completed, so be sure to follow if you've been clicking through my links and like what you're seeing!

Thanks for reading, and thank you, Sherry and John at Young House Love, for a fun challenge. We always like a good thrift, and this one was, as the song goes, effing awesome. :)

card catalog display coffee table

Click here for a full tutorial and materials list

Let's start at the very beginning. I'm not a hoarder, but I do have a few . . . collections. An art school dilettante, I took classes from every possible area of interest. Printmaking had a hold of me for awhile, and spinning. A couple of courses in letterpress printing inspired my collection of vintage wooden type. The Mister and I even built a little printing press awhile back, but it's been untouched since the birth of my kiddo. But that's not where this project started. The wood block top was an afterthought.

This particular upcycling project (a card catalog coffee table that displays my collection of wooden type in the top) started with a row of card catalog drawers I picked up at Goodwill awhile back. I like Goodwill. Among thrift stores they're organized, clean, and priced right (locally, anyway). And once in awhile, they have things that jump out of nowhere and surprise you, like a row of card catalog drawers hidden among busted wicker furniture.

I spied the antique wooden bobbins (legs) at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store in Portland. They're retired from the mill and are 80+ years old, their solid wood soaked through with lanolin from the wool. I didn't bring home enough, so I phoned them up a few weeks back and asked them to ship me some for this project, which they were sweet enough to do. The shipping cost almost as much as the bobbins, but it was totally worth it.

The hardware for attaching the legs to the card catalog came from the rebuilding store. Two were still in their ruined packages, missing only the screws; two were dug out of a bin of other hardware bits, used but useable, like everything there. I had to drill into the metal to attach them to the bobbins, which I'd expected (the center of the bobbins being hollow and all). Once those were sturdily attached, I propped the table base upright and started trying to think of what to put on the top.

After considering several possibilities, I decided to use the table to display my collection of vintage wooden type. The exposed drawer supports allowed me to use some leftover tag board to create an inset space I filled with part of my collection. To protect it, I covered the top with a piece of plexiglass that was leftover from a store I ran for awhile. One of the folks at my local builders' supply store cut it down to size for me when I brought it to them measured and marked. Thank you, guy at the cut table!

I used some old game pieces to support the edge and then rounded up some trim pieces at the (other) rebuilding store (it was 25 cents for a 3-foot length of mill seconds) to trim the edge and hold the plexiglass in place. I attached the trim with silver wire nails and then stained it with a Tee Juice pen to match. 

The final step: I typed up some labels for the drawers on my vintage typewriter.

I've seen some furniture made from card catalogs on Pinterest, and I've seen a couple of coffee tables with wooden type collages set in the top. Because I plan to actually use my wooden type for printing, I notched the trim along the back of the table so that the plexiglass top can be removed easily to access the wood blocks. The rest of the time, this lovely stuff isn't locked up in a bin anymore, and we get to enjoy it! Woohoo!

(Bonus: my collection of old house numbers fits around the edge . . . with room to keep adding.) 

This is one of those projects that makes me happy just looking at it. I hope you like it, too!

Click here for the full tutorial and materials list!

Linking up to:
Young Heart, Old Soul

recycled paper chains

Phew! It's been quiet around here lately, hmmmm? The So You Think You're Crafty competition has been keeping me busy during the hours I'm not hanging out with my kid, or designing book covers, or making robot party stuff, or, you know, sleeping.

It's Upcycling theme week over at So You Think You're Crafty, and I'll get to post my project here tomorrow since voting ends tonight; I think you'll like it.

In the meantime, here's an easy little project you can use to recycle (or, more properly, reuse or upcycle) some envelope liners, paper sacks, and wrapping paper into decorative paper chains.

Using scissors or a paper cutter, cut your envelope liners and wrapping paper into strips. I used strips about 3/4 inches wide and 9 inches long for these Christmas chains, but if you want to use wider strips, just try to keep them under a couple of inches wide so you won't have any trouble linking.

After you've made one circle (using glue dots or double-sided tape to connect the ends), just loop the next strip of paper through the circle and start making your chain, just like you did with construction paper back in grade school!

Keep going until you have plenty of length. Like with most party or holiday decorations, multiples look better than singles, so go all out. Spend a couple of afternoons and you'll be able to make a few 25-foot lengths. When the party's over, you can save your chains for next time or put them in the recycle bin.

The chains in these photos were some we made at Christmas, but you can make them for any holiday or for party decorations. If you have a specific party theme or color you're aiming for, you can accent with some rings made of construction paper or scrap-booking paper, while still keeping most of the rings recycled. It makes for a really cool look that's easy enough for even really little kids to help make.

Thanks for reading!

knock-off mercury glass lamp and coffee sack burlap shade

updated February 26, 2013: I'm so excited to be linking up again to Young House Love's Pinterest Challenge! The two inspiration projects below were pinned to my {private} Competition pin board back in December in anticipation of the So You Think You're Crafty? competition. In January, this project did well enough in the competition to qualify for the next level. At the bottom of this post is a link to my full tutorial.

I love mercury glass. Love it. It's shiny and vintage-looking and meant to look imperfect, all of which make it work well in my house. I especially love the way mercury glass lamps look, and the contrast of a rustic burlap shade really sets off the shiny mirrored glass. What I don't love is the price-tag.

For quite awhile, I've had the desire to try and make a mercury glass lamp with thrift store cast-offs, on a super small budget. Thanks to the So You Think You're Crafty competition, I had the motivation I needed to pull it off!

First: the originals and the low-cost knock off:

Originals from Restoration Hardware ($174 w/o shade) and Pottery Barn ($269 w/ shade). My copy: $18, w/shade.

I built it using an extra-tall glass thrift-store vase, a repurposed pan lid, the light kit from an old lamp, and some Looking Glass paint. The drum shade is one I stripped down and re-covered in coffee sack burlap. The Edison-style bulbs were a ReStore score for 50 cents apiece.

Mine has a more rustic shade than the Restoration Hardware version, and straighter lines than Pottery Barn's, and it suits me pretty perfectly.  I hope it suits you, too! At a savings of over 90%, you can't really afford not to make one!

For the full tutorial, you can click here, and I'll take you through it step-by-step!

Linking up to:
Junkin' Joe Vintage Finds

and the Pinterest Challenge

Young House Love

Decor and the Dog

Bower Power Blog

The ReModeled Life

pull-string robot piñata and candy filler

Hey everyone! This has been a long week here at the old homestead. We've been home sick, and I finished in the bottom two this week over at So You Think You're Crafty?, despite my mad love for this project. I'm through to the next round, but the person I tied this week could just have easily have been the one to stay. I've got my fingers crossed for next week and I'll let you know when the voting opens!

I made this super fun robot piñata using mostly found materials and some crepe paper that I've had out in the studio since (*gasp*) my wedding ten years ago. My piñata is a robot for an upcoming birthday party (my kiddo's third!) but you could adapt the project for basically any theme. Just look in the recycling bin, and you probably have enough materials to start building one today!

I built the basic structure using boxes, tubes, and containers held together with duct tape and Makedo cardboard connectors, then covered it using glue sticks and crepe paper, and decorated with bits and pieces.

I like crepe paper better than the tissue paper I see used on most commercial piñatas because crepe has more flexibility to it. Curves aren't a problem. Tight corners aren't a problem. Stretching it to fill a gap isn't a problem. It's kinda awesome. And it's nice to have a way to use this dove grey color that I hadn't found a use for in the past decade. Plus, he's pretty adorable, isn't he?

Because this is a pull-string piñata (more suitable than the traditional "bash-able" kind for a group of really young kids), the harder-edged pieces (like the connectors and the reflectors) aren't a problem like they would be if you were going to hit them with a stick. All the kids just grab a string and pull till the base opens and all the treats spill out!

And speaking of treats, we spent some time last week making some yummy homemade gummy robots and chocolate robots in matching packages (designed in Illustrator) as piñata filler. I'll include the printable packaging graphics in the tutorial , for anyone who's been searching high and low for robot-themed party favors.

In fact, two separate tutorials are coming your way soon; one for the piñata and one for the candies; subscribe if you don't want to miss either of those!

Thanks a ton for reading and for voting over at So You Think You're Crafty! Wish me luck this coming week, too! It's heating up to be another edge-of-your-seat contest for me.

the cupboard under the stairs

Once upon a time, my bookseller friend James and I ran the tiniest book store in town. And as it happened, we managed to stay in business through the publication of not one but two Harry Potter books, number 6 and number 7.

I was a huge fan. I ran a bookstore, so of course, I was really excited to throw a midnight release party. And for Deathly Hallows, we managed to get everything lined up to make it happen.

I didn't run a blog then, so I wasn't as thorough in my photo-taking as I should have been. These gnomes, for example, were for the gnome toss, which was complete with a faux garden wall to toss them over (made of drywall compound stenciled in a stone pattern over a plywood base, and painted gray).

The gnomes themselves are made of muslin, drawn with sharpie and colored pencil, and filled with beans.

These paintings were part of another game. Before I knew about architectural prints, I made these paintings by enlarging vintage photos from a Dover copyright-free image collection, printing on regular printer paper, Mod Podge-ing on tag board, and painting over the surface before attaching them to aged thrift store frames. In some of my lousy photographs, you can make out the seam lines; were I to replicate the project today, I'd have architectural prints made rather than printing on 8.5x11 at home.

As a big ol' Harry Potter nerd, I painted these with specific characters in mind, and there were clues to their identities in the paintings and in the titles of the paintings (on plaques beneath). The game was to guess their identities. The person who guessed the most correctly won a prize.

Another activity was Arthur Weasley's Muggle Objects of Unknown Origin.

As Mr. Weasley worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, my idea was that he'd run across several (mundane) things he couldn't figure out, and had catalogued them as being special and unique. The party attendees were responsible for trying to figure out what the objects were by viewing them though a hole in the side of a dimly lit shadow box. The person to guess the most correctly won a prize.

Speaking of prizes, activities like the Gnome Toss and Spell Casting awarded prizes of Harry Potter glasses and spider rings; as I recall (and it's been five years, I think), Fred and George Weasley's Wizard Boxes (stuffed with things like Laffy Taffy, whoopee cushions and Abra-Ca-Bubble) were awarded to the winners of the painting and muggle objects contests.

We also had a photo booth. It was really just a section of the store set up to look Hogwarts-ish and a box of costumes and props, plus a photographer friend I'd bribed into helping by buying him a copy of the book (there were several friends I'd indentured this way, and bless them for being game).

I'd love to show you copies of some of the photos, but I didn't have anyone sign releases for that stuff, so I'm afraid you'll have to take my word as to the epic-ness of some of those shots. Cute kids, sure, and lots and lots of adults in witch hats and striped ties.

Isn't it funny, that with everything else I'd put together, the copyright I was worried about infringing upon was the name "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans"?

To stay on budget, less-expensive bulk jelly beans filled out most of the bag, with an occasional ear wax or popcorn or grass flavored bean popped in for a little surprise.

Crowd shot, as prizes were being awarded.

The wand-making station included wand blanks (chopsticks), glitter, stickers, markers and paint, etc. There were some fancy looking wands walking around as the evening progressed.

They included a warning not to run with or jab a wand at anyone. I hope kids and parents took those warnings to heart. The last thing we need is an E. R. overrun with wand accident victims on Harry Potter night.

And finally, the last photos I have are from some wands I made up ahead of time, along with wand boxes I made from brown and black poster board and box labels designed in Illustrator.

We sold them at the party and later at craft shows for awhile.

So. The reason I'm posting this stuff now is that I have birthday parties on the brain. If you were planning a Harry Potter party, you could go ahead and borrow any of these ideas from me; heck, I still have a pile of wands I've been meaning to list on Etsy. If you're looking for party favors, send me and e-mail and I'll make a listing sooner rather than later.

Thanks so much for reading!

If you'd like more details on any of these projects, let me know. I might just write up a more detailed tutorial for you!


p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that. you're clever like that.