Rubik's Cube Cake

I'm a child of the 80's.  I have fond memories of MTV, The Breakfast Club and Family Ties.  I bought more issues of Teen Beat than I'd care to admit.  So it's no surprise that the book Ready Player One really pushed all my buttons.  So to speak.

I'd just finished re-reading it when I went through my "baking projects to try" list and I found a Rubik's Cube Battenburg Cake recipe.  Dude, how awesome is that?

I improvised a baking pan, the same way I did the last time I made a Battenburg.  I made all the batter at once in my KitchenAid, measured out 6 equal amounts into bowls and dyed them with food coloring.

From Minus Minions

I cut each color into 2 and started assembling.  I didn't cut each piece so every slice would be different, but I did cut some smaller pieces and glude them together so some of the slices would be different.

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The Boy was slightly confused when he came home.  Then he saw the actual cube next to the cake and it all slid into place. A very delicious, tea-cake kind of place.

From Minus Minions

Sugar Scrubs

I've been on a sugar-scrub kick.  They're easy, inexpensive and smell incredible.  My friend, S, gave me 2 for Christmas: a Lemon Hand Scrub and a Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub.  She packaged them in canning jars, so they kept well in the shower and by the sink.

I've been using Safflower and Sunflower oil instead of Olive Oil, because they have a less strong scent.  And I totally cheat when making the Lemon Hand Scrub: I mix a whole bottle of Burt's Bees Lemon Body Oil (4 oz.) with 4 oz. of my base oil, and, easy peasy, lemon-scent plus Vitamin E.

A few years ago, Sephora had a Coffee and Cream Body Scrub that's since been discontinued.  I've been thinking about how to make my own, maybe using powdered milk somehow, and I might start with this Mocha Spice Body Scrub recipe.

I made these for Teacher Appreciation gifts for the girls' preschool.  I got some 4oz. Mason jars at Wal-Mart and was able to make all 3 scrubs in about 30 minutes.  Just a little pampering in a jar for people who have made a huge difference in my children's lives.

Skin Serum

Life has been more hectic lately.  In addition to our regularly scheduled craziness, we moved last weekend and are now in recovery mode.  Things went pretty well considering everything we had to juggle, but blogging has been shunted to the bottom of my to-do list.  However, I have a few quiet minutes and I thought I'd write about an easy skin treatment I've been using. Ages ago, I found the Sonya Dakar Omega-3 Repair Complex.  Since I live in an arid climate and have sensitive skin, it was a great addition to my routine.  I have to say, while I liked the product, I wasn't crazy about the price tag.  So, I looked around to see if I could make something similar.  Sweet Almond Oil is great for your skin.  It has Omega 6 and 9, Vitamin E and is easy to find in lots of stores.  I got a 1 oz. glass dropper bottle and filled it most of the way with the Sweet Almond Oil.  Then, I added 20 drops each of Chamomile, Geranium, Franincinse and Calendula essential oils.  I put 3-4 drops on my skin before my moisturizer. I think it's made a difference.  My skin is definitely much softer and clearer.  And, for the price, it's a great solution.  The almond oil is inexpensive, and the essential oils are pricier, but a little of those goes a long way, so you don't have to buy them frequently. More fun skincare posts to come.  As soon as I get a few more boxes unpacked...

Fabric-Covered-Button Rings

I've been on a big accessory kick lately.  I think it's because now the girls are older, I want to move out of a yoga-pants/stained-shirt look to something more polished. Well, at least when I leave the house.

I found a tutorial for some great fabric rings, but my execution was sorely lacking.  The ones I made looked really "home sewn", and didn't give the right "punch of color", if you understand where I'm going.

I was still intrigued by the whole "fabric ring" concept and, some searching on Pinterest led me to fabric-covered-button rings. I found success!

From Minus Minions

I used fabric from a couple fat quarters, I tried to find fabric with smaller prints that would translate well onto such a small surface.  I had a bit of a hard time finding ring blanks with pads, neither JoAnns nor Michaels had them, but I found some at Hobby Lobby.

I didn't use the extra button in the linked tutorial since the button fit snugly over the ring blank pad.  I also brushed a couple coats of Modge Podge on the buttons as a last step, to keep the fabric clean.

I absolutely love them.  I might make more, or even try making a bracelet or a necklace!

Homemade Princess Dresses

The girls are almost 3 and 4 , so it's natural they're starting to hit The Princess Phase.  They've always loved all things shiny and fancy and I think "princess" is an extension of that.

The Bean got a blue Cinderella dress for her birthday a few years ago and it's definitely showing signs of wear.  In fact, it looks like Cinderella's mouse-made ballgown after the evil stepsisters got their hands on it.  I wondered if I could make them each a dress, without going overboard, of course.  Something a little sturdy, but with enough razzle dazzle to be princess like.

Armed with ambition and coupons, I went to the fabric store.  I found Simplicity 5695 and thought view F, with the overskirt, would work nicely.  Some pink and purple cotton fabric, tulle, ribbon and rosettes and I was good to go.  And all for $25!

I had a happy accident when I was cutting out the cotton.  Since it was quilting fabric, it was narrower than I thought, so I didn't have enough to cut out the sleeves.  However, the tulle was 60" and I'd gotten a little extra, so I cut the sleeves out of that fabric and it added just a bit more of the fanciness I wanted.

The dresses were incredibly easy to sew.  There's no zipper, buttons or velcro, just elastic around the whole neckline.  The gathered skirt is very forgiving and a even easier if you have a narrow hem foot.  You could customize it any way you wanted with trimmings.

Both girls love their dresses. And thy love to wear them while they're running, jumping, and playing with dinosaurs.  Just what the best princesses do.

Rumi Quote Quilt

I got the inspiration for this quilt from Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern.  Instead of making the quilt elements into geometric shapes or houses, trees, etc., the quilt design is a quote (or series of quotes), proverb, whatever words strike your fancy.

My friend, J, loves the writings by the poet Rumi, so I went through and found a quote that spoke to me, and that seemed like it would fit onto the size quilt I wanted to make.  The full quote is "Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of that which you really love."

 I didn't want to piece my letters together and quilt over them, so I made each letter an applique and quilted in the leading spacing.  I cut out the letters in freezer paper using my Silhouette, ironed the paper onto starched fabric and cut them out, including a seam allowance, as I needed them.

The quilted sections were just randomly sewn, I changed direction every few stitches and made sure to wander back and forth in the space.

It was definitely a lot of work.   I did all the applique and quilting by hand, which was fun, but next time I do this (and I certainly will), I think I'll cut out the letters on the Silhouette with fusible webbing on the fabric and quilt the outlines of the letters.

Happy birthday, J!

iPod Case Stand

I'd been wanting to upgrade my iPod nano to an iPod touch for a long time, even more so when I saw this tutorial on All Free Sewing for a case stand.

It's a great way to use up scrap fabric and batting.  I had a bunch of this Eiffel Tower and black/pink polka dot Michael Miller fabric from another project.

 I made one change to the pattern--instead of using triangles for the corner holders, I made an elastic casing with pink bias tape.  I wanted to be able to plug my iPod into my audio jack in my car without taking it out of the case.

 I also made the snap tab out of the bias tape.  Partly for design cohesion, partly because I'm lazy.

This was a really easy project, especially after watching the video at the bottom of the tutorial.  I might find some more cute fabric, maybe some fat quarters, and make another one.