easy seat cushions

Ever notice that when you need something it is incredibly hard to find?!

Take cushions for a chair....for my birthday my boyfriends parents bought me a table and chair set...it is an outdoor set but we are using it indoors.It is perfect for just the two of us and it is cute and looks like it belongs in like a little cafe...Well the part that stinks is it is metal so it needs cushions and finding cushions is apparently quite hard. I can't tell you how many stores I went to looking for cushions that would fit or match....it is purple(my favorite color.) Anyways long story short....after many stores and no results I decided I would make my own. I didn't want to go crazy on making them because I figured I'd find some real ones I like somewhere down the line so instead I was looking at napkins or table runners that I could just sew together and stuff.Again that proved to be harder to find one that I liked. And that is where the creation for these cushions came about.

Wandering around Kohl's I came upon there clearance section and what did I find...CLOTH PLACE MATS....they were perfect they had the ocean theme that is throughout my apartment and they were a nice stiff fabric that wouldn't tear easily from pockets or something sharp in our pockets. The real awesome part is it was one that i could pop the seams and stuff it. i didn't have to buy two and sew them together so i was super happy... and i can't complain that i bought two place mats on clearance for $1.25 a piece and had some poly fill and thread at home. so in total i spent $2.50 plus tax on this project.

Here is the how to:

pop the seams on one side of the place mat

fill it up with poly fill.

stitch it up and do a top stitch to match the rest of the place mat

tada the finished project!! How easy was that?! the hardest part was finding the right pattern!

Til next time Goonies :D

TURTLES!!!

Woo 2 posts in one month! Lol it is a miracle...Just kidding I'm doing a 2nd one because I will be out of town all of June so I figured I knock another one out.

This post is yet another cake but there are also cupcakes involved. And yup you guessed it....shaped like TURTLES!

This month was a 50th birthday for Kyle's aunt. The theme was turtle luau and I was asked to make a cake and turtle cupcakes. I knew exactly which cupcakes she was referring to because I had pinned them to my birthday board on Pinterest.

Here is what ya need:

• dreamsicle cake and frosting
• cream cheese frosting
• orange butter cream
• 8" round pans(shell)
• 8" glass Pyrex (I liked the shape and depth of this one for the shell)
•  9x13 pan(fins)
• small bowl(head)
• 12 cupcakes pan and liners
• rice crispy treats
• food gels in brown,green,blue

This picture is to show my layout for the cake and also which pans I wanted to use.

Alright to start off with the cake will be a dreamsicle cake with dreamsicle filling and cream cheese frosting. The fins will be rice crispy treats dyed green and cut to shape, while the cupcakes will also be made out of dreamsicle cake but frosted with an orange butter cream frosting.  As you can tell this cake has become the favorite in my family, they ask for it all the time.

To make the cake you will need:

• lemon box cake
• 3 oz orange jello
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 orange zest
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 eggs

mix all together and pour into pans that are greased, lined with wax paper, and greased again. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes depending on the size.
I made two of these total. One recipe made a 8" round and an 8" Pyrex. Another made my little bowl and 12 cupcakes. After they are done take them out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and continue cooling.

While the cakes are cooling go ahead and make the dreamsicle filling:

• 8 oz sour cream
• 8 oz whipped cream (your own or cool whip)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange extract

Whisk the sugar and OJ together then add the orange extract. Mix in the sour cream and then slowly fold in the whipped cream.  This is the filling between the two cakes of the shell. It was going to be the cupcake frosting too but it was just too liquidy. I think next time I am going to do homemade whipped cream instead of cool whip.

When the cakes are cool lay the 8" round on the pan you are going to serve it on. Poke holes all over the top of the cake and drizzle an orange glaze over it. The glaze is 1/2 cup OJ and 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Next do a layer of the dreamsicle filling and top that with the 8" Pyrex cake that has also been glazed. Take a knife and use the frosting that spills out as a crumb coat and let set in the fridge. Glaze the head and cupcakes as well plus do a crumb coat on the head with the dreamsicle frosting and place that in the fridge to crust.

While everything is setting up in the fridge lets go ahead and make the cream cheese frosting.

• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar then vanilla until all is combined and smooth. Next split into 2 and dye one green and the other brown. I used Wilton food colors and just added a little at a time until I got the colors I wanted.Frost the shell brown then do the back of the head and place next to the shell and frost the rest of the head. Put back in the fridge to store over night.

Next will make the orange butter cream frosting for the cupcakes.

• 1 cup softened butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

Beat your butter until fluffy. Add your powdered sugar a little at a time alternating between it and the liquid until fully combined. Add in blue food gel until the desired color is reached. I put this into a piping decorating gun thing and frosted all of my cupcakes with it.

To finish the cupcakes you will need:

• gummy mint leaves
• gummy peach rings
• red and green gum drops
• round cookie cutter

To make the fins you will take the mint leaves and place the round cookie cutter on it. I basically cut the top third of it to make the front fins and left the bottom of it as the back fins. Cut half with the leaves point to the right and the other half with the point to the left. It made it so the ridges were outside. Place 2 small pieces on the back and 2 big pieces in the front. Put a peach ring on top of them and then a red gum drop in the hole of the ring. Then place a green gumdrop on the end to be the head. TA DA!!!! Cute little turtle cupcakes.

NOW TO FINISH THE CAKE!

To make the fins take a basic rice crispy recipe:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups mini marshmallows
• 6 cups rice crispy cereal

Melt the butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Take off heat and stir in green food gel. Then stir in cereal until well coated. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and push flat. Let set then flip out of pan onto the counter. To shape I took the fins I made out of paper (first picture) placed them on top of the treats and cut them out. Then I smooshed all the sides of the fins to make sure they were smooth and curved the side that would connect to the body of the cake. Then put the fins on the body.









To finish it off I made the eyes out of ping pong balls and painted the iris and pupil. Then I took black writing icing and drew on nostrils. Voila you are done.














When we got to the party I placed the cupcakes behind the cake to make it look like they were swimming behind their mama.It was a great success and everyone loved it.

Hope you all are doing fun and creative projects and enjoying this wonderful spring. Can you believe it is almost Memorial Day. POOLS ARE GONNA BE OPEN. I am so excited. Guess it is fitting that I made a post about sea turtles huh?!

Til next time Goonies.

Cheeseburger Cake!!

Hello there!

As the title suggests this post is all about making a cheeseburger cake!

I know how exciting right?!

This was for my boyfriends older brother. His parents came to me and asked if I could make him one for his 25th birthday since he had asked for one when he was little but never got it. So of course I said yes and instantly the wheels in my head started turning. I didn't want to do just a rectangle cake cut to the shape of a burger....No, I wanted to make it a 3D cake....yes that is right....3D!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what ya need:

• two 8" round pans
• 8' round pyrex(this was the shape of a top bun I thought)
• wax paper
• two cake mixes- i did devils food cake
• yellow chocolate melts
•  toasted rice crispies cereal
• dried kiwi
• dyed and toasted coconut
• peanut butter frosting
• chocolate frosing

To start I took the coconut and dyed it with green food coloring until I got the color I wanted. Oddly it looks a lot more neon in the pic then in real life. I placed it on a cookie sheet and toasted it in the over. I figured this way the color has set and it won't run on the cake when all the layers are put together.

Next I made the cake mixes accrding to the boxes. To ensure they come out nice and easy I spray the pans with cooking spray, place wax paper on the bottom and respray with more cooking spray. they come out super easy every time. Next I let them cool 10 minutes in the pan. Then remove and let finish cooling.

 this is a picture to show the pyrex dish used to make the top bun.







While the cakes were cooling I made peanut butter frosting and Chocolate Buttercream frosting. Here are the recipes:

Peanut Butter:

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar

mix butter and peanut butter until fluffy
alternate adding the powdered sugar and milk until combined

Chocolate Butter Cream:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons milk
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of melted, cooled chocolate chips

Beat your butter until Fluffy
Alternate adding sugar, milk,vanilla until completely blended.
melt your chocolate chips in a bowl and let cool
add into the frosting with a pinch of salt and whip until fluffy.

Take one of the cooled 8" round cakes and frost with the peanut butter frosting. It came out the perfect color of the bun. Next add a layer of green coconut for the lettuce. Take the other 8" round cake and frost with the chocolate frosting. This is the patty so I frosted kinda rough to make it look like meat and not smooth.  I let this set overnight.

To make the cheese I took yellow chocolate melts and melted them in a ziploc bag following the directions on the bag. I took wax paper and made a square on it with the melts and filled it in. I let that cool for a minute. Next I took the 8" round pan and draped the wax paper with the chocolate on it, taping the corners of the wax paper down. This formed the choloate to the shape of the patty so it looked like it was melted on it.

The next day I took the cheese and placed it on top of the "patty" and then placed dried kiwis (pickles) on top of that.

 To do the top bun, I did a crumb coat of peanut butter frosting and let that get a crust. I then placed that on top of the burger and completely frosted it. I smoothed it out using water and a butter knife.

Next I took some rice crispies cereal and toasted in a pan and then placed those on the top bun to look like sesame seeds.

VOILA!!! There we have it, one cheeseburger cake!

To add a little flair to the cake I bought strawberry ice cream topping and pureed it to look like ketchup and found these apricot/coconut fruit logs to be french fries. I felt it just completed the whole look and feel to the cake. He loved it and so did his parents. It turned out really good and what can go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate!

Belated Valentine's Day post. Candy heart cheesecakes

Hello 2014!!!!!!!

It is nice to start a new year out right. All of the Christmas gifts I made were a success especially the pop tab purse. Unfortunately I had to restore my laptop to factory settings due to a mean hidden virus somewhere in the depths of the hard drive. With that being said all my pictures of it are on my external so at least they are ok but I've managed to misplace it. When I do find it I will post those pictures I promise.

But let us move right along into a new craft. This year for Valentine's Day I wanted to surprise Kyle with a tasty dessert instead of spending money on a gift. We had to celebrate a day early because he had a car show that weekend. We had a lovely day though. Ate artichoke, chicken fettuccine with oil and vinegar salad and for dessert here it is....are you ready.....MINI HEART CHEESECAKES! That's not all they were made to look like conversation hearts!!!

How cute is that?! He loved them by the way and they tasted really good so I was pleased. So here is the recipe for how to make them.

I used a silicone heart mold that I got from Joann's on sale for $6. I sprayed it down with cooking spray just to insure an easier removal when they were done.

• preheat your oven  to 325 degrees
• boils some water to fill a 9x13 pan to create a water bath for the mold

Graham Cracker Crust:

• 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• pinch cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

In your food processor grind up the crackers to a fine crumb.
Add your cinnamon and pulse then pour in the butter until it looks like sand.
Place 1 tablespoon of crumb into the bottom of the mold and press
Bake 10-12 minutes
Remove and let cool

While that is baking use the time to make the cheesecake.

Cheesecake:(I repeated this recipe twice but I only had one mold so I made it one at a time)

• 8oz softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs room temp.

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla until smooth.
Add the eggs until completely mixed in.
Now I separated it into different bowls to create the colors
Fill each mold and then place in the water bath and bake 20-25 minutes until there is a smooth film on top but still a little jiggly.
Cool for 1 hr on counter then 3hrs in fridge then 2 hrs in the freezer. This helps them come out easier.
Turn the mold upside down on top of wax paper and gently tug the mold and work the cheesecake out. Flip it over and place on the serving tray. Decorate with red icing and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

 here they are right out of the oven. Unfortunately I got some bubbles in this batch but it worked out. They still tasted fine. My other batch did not get any air bubbles so I'm not quite sure why they happened.

 
 Hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's and all did something special. Keep these in mind for next year or even an anniversary. You can realistically use any shape mold and make them for any occasion.

Til next time Goonies!