For May’s Sandbox Press crafting article, I decided to do a slightly more complicated project. I liked the idea of it and wanted to make one so it worked out well. Here is Ollie:

While spring-cleaning, I found it to be a wonderful feeling to pack up all of the winter accessories and stick them in the basement until next winter, but always have a rogue single glove. Ollie the Octopus  is a fun project that will use that single glove and get your mind set on the summer and beach days ahead!

Supplies you will need:

A glove – the inexpensive cotton kind, in any color or design, rice or any dry bean, a needle and thread, a pom-pom, buttons, glue, and a small piece of felt.

Directions:

1. Tuck the thumb inside the glove and use a needle and thread to sew it closed across the base:

2. Have your child fill the glove with dry rice to the cuff line. Be prepared for a mess – but enjoy the fun your child has doing it:

3. Tuck the cuff of the glove inside and stitch all along the cuff’s edge. Pull the thread tightly to close the top. Knot and trim the thread. You can also shape the base of the octopus by pinching the sides together and sewing a few stitches to round it out.

4. To make the suckers on the tentacles of the octopus, attach buttons to the underside of each of the four fingers. If you have a young child, be sure to sew each one on tightly. For older children, you can glue the buttons on – hot glue guns work best for a secure hold. If you are concerned about buttons for your small child, small circles cut from felt or fabric can be sewed on to resemble the octopus’ suckers.

5. Attach two buttons for eyes and glue or sew the pom-pom to the top of the octopus’ head. Use felt to create a smile and glue it on as well.

Be creative with a nose, hat, earrings or other accessories you can add to your octopus! Hopefully your octopus will you get your family excited for summer adventures to come!

This is the second time I’ve made this cake. Both times for a great friend of mine, Kathleen. She introduced me to the idea of a Swedish Princess Cake and it gets easier to make each time!

The Swedish Princess cake is a layered cake with many different parts. My husband laughed when he saw the prep time read: 6 hours to 1 month. It literally could take you that long if you wanted!

The cake starts with a thin layer of vanilla genoise cake topped with raspberry jam and a small bit of homemade whipped cream. Then you add a second thin layer of cake and a fat layer of homemade custard. Lastly, the third layer of cake is added and covered in a mound of whipped cream that extends around the sides as well. Traditionally, it is covered in a thin layer of marzipan but I had fondant on hand so I used that. You should really put a real rose on top but, again, for convenience, I made one from fondant.

I’d be happy to share the recipe if you are interested. I will warn you that it is about 5 or 6 pages long… Email me if you’re interested and let me know if you’ve tried a Princess cake before!

A few weeks ago, I made a cake for some old friends. Their son turned one and it’s hard to believe! I feel like he was just born!

The theme of the party was jungle! Here are some shots of Parker’s sweet jungle cake:

There was a vanilla with strawberry filling layer and a chocolate with vanilla cream filling. It looked like a tasty cake!

After icing the cake in blue and green sugar icing, I added some fondant animals and trees that I made with the help of my friend, Madalyn. The elephant was one of my favorites!

Cute little giraffe! Edible markers made the spots easy to put on! The grass is made with a grass piping tip (many holes) and I used a slightly lighter color of green so it stood out on the green background.

Snakes… Zebra… all fondant. No marker.

Happy Lion! More trees…

The back of the cake featured a baboon/monkey animal. I also added a bunch of snakes to the top and left room for the “1″ candle in the middle!

I loved the little snake peering over the birthday banner! Happy 1st, Parker!

Most baby showers have some silly games and activities that get everyone a little baby crazy! I have been to some larger showers and find it more enjoyable to have some games or activities that people can do whenever they want, and not all as one group.

My sisters and Mom threw me a little sprinkle baby shower last month and had a great idea for something fun to do during the shower: create your own onesies and bibs!

The supplies you need are easy to find at any craft store or discount chain:

The markers are specifically made for fabric and won’t wash off. The bibs are obviously made for girls but white onesies work best for all designs.

Here are some of the special onesies I took home:

This one was made my a super artsy friend of mine, Casey, with her signature fishies. I love the detail she added to the neck line and leg holes!

This one was made by the proud big brother. You can see how if you aren’t careful, ink can spread onto the table so be prepared for that! And two-year-olds probably shouldn’t be left alone with fabric markers for very long…

Here are a few other sweet designs including the kitty bib! So sweet!

The next time you plan a baby shower, remember this easy prep, no stress activity for your guests!

Here are a few cakes I made recently:

This baby shower cake was fun to make. The sea animals were made with help from my friend, Madalyn. They are made from fondant and edible marker. It turned out super cute!

This is Riley’s second birthday cake. I love the bubbles with the words in it. It turned out better than I had hoped!

This last one isn’t as clean and perfect as most of my cakes. It was made for my Dad’s 60th birthday party and was finished just before the party started! The highlight of this cake is the postcards that are made from a square fondant piece and edible markers. It tasted delicious and that is all that really matters, right?

I hope you are finding time for fun hobbies this spring!