When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall

Hey Craftheads!

October is upon us! Here's a little taste of Autumn artistry with my hand-painted pumpkin patch sign:

Unfortunately some rascally raccoons made a feast of our harvest. Looks like we'll be headed to a pumpkin patch out east for our jack-o-lanterns. Oh well, at least the sign still looks cute!

Peace, Love and Pumpkins

Laila

For My Little Avenger

Greetings, Crafters! And Bakers! And Marvel-Junkies, too!

When August rolls around, it's time for me to put on my heavy duty apron and roll out the fondant. Each year, we host a themed pool party for my nephew's birthday and this year (he turned 7!! can't believe it!) he chose the Avengers.

I decided to dedicate a layer of the cake to each of the Avengers (excluding Hawkeye and Black Widow, both of whom are pretty bland aesthetically.)

Here's what I came up with: 

I sculpted the fist out of fondant (using a tin foil core) and made incisions on the top layer to pull up and create a "bursting" effect.  The Iron Man mask is also fondant, as is Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer), which I attached to a cake pop stick wrapped in fondant. I used a toothpick to carve the symbol on the hammer and coated the whole thing in silver edible glitter. The lightening is piped royal icing.

We also made a smaller, individual desserts - decadent mini chocolate fudge cakes with a chocolate ganache topping:

I melted some red chocolate (conveniently found the melting chips in my baking cabinet!) and piped the Avengers symbol onto wax paper. After they hardened, I positioned one on each mini cake and sprinkled red disco dust for the finishing touch!

Needless to say, my nephew was only interested in eating Thor's hammer, in typical 7-year-old boy fashion.

Laila

Cool kicks

Hello crafty friends! Hope you all are having a lovely summer. 

I was going through my closet recently and came across a pair of what canvas shoes that I love but thought they could use a makeover.

With the help of a sharpie and some stencils, I think they got the facelift they needed!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July, Crafters!

Check out the cake I made for my boyfriend on his oh-so-patriotic birthday:

Have fun and be safe!

Peace, Love, Stars and Stripes

Laila

Happy Birthday Urban Alchemist!

Happy Birthday to Brooklyn's Urban Alchemist - a beautiful co-op store run by several designers, including my amazing sister!

Here is the spice cake I made for their fabulous birthday party. Make sure to check them out online or in Park Slope!

For a June Bride!

Greetings, Crafters!

If you've ever been a Maid of Honor, you know how stressful planning a bridal shower on a budget can be! Luckily, if you have a single crafty bone in your body, DIY is a viable (though time-consuming) route! 

Here are some of my homemade creations for my dear friend Lisa's shower.

Theme: Bohemian Botanical Bliss

Main Centerpiece: Birdcage from HomeGoods, flowers, candle and decorative embellishments from Michael's. 

Smaller Centerpiece: Vases on hand, flowers, ribbon and embellishments from Michael's.

In lieu of a traditional banner, I tied various ribbons and yarns to a huge length of twine to compose a more bohemian, whimsical hanging decoration.

I spanned the boho-banner across the length of the awning outside my house.

(It was pretty windy that day, but I think the displacement only added to the charm!)

For the favors, I bought tiny flowerpot photo holders and printed photos of the bride-to-be sporting her bling (which I then mounted onto cardstock and trimmed with glitter glue)!

And of course, don't forget to be creative with shower gifts! The other bridesmaids and I collaborated and put together four baskets (one for each of us) according to themes/usage: (from left-to-right) first anniversary goodies, special frames (for wedding-related events), kitchen accessories, and honeymoon items. We packaged each in a reusable item (hat box, serving tray, tin bucket and decorative suitcase) for added cuteness and practicality.

Although the bride wasn't surprised by the shower herself, she was certainly touched and thrilled with the details!

Keep Crafting!

Laila

Bundle of joy!

Hello lovely crafters of the interweb! Today's post is of one of my favorite crafts that I recently did - baby bows!

I was wracking my brain for what to craft for a newborn, and I settled on bows (as I have a soft spot for all hair accessories).

For a tutorial, I turned to the glorious word wide web (aka, a crafter's paradise for inspiration!) and found a great step-by-step guide from The Ribbon Retreat Blog here.

I varied ribbons in colors and size but wanted to keep them in a warm, feminine palette. Then for a final touch I put them on a card stock and personalized with colored pencils.  And, voila! Baby bows!

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Craftheads!

I hope you're starting your day off right...with an Irish Coffee (or a cup of Barry's, I guess...)!

Here are some of this year's St. Patrick's Day Crafts:

Here's a long overdue birthday present for my boyfriend. I gave him the fram right before our trip to Ireland and told him I'd make a scrapbook page of our adventures when we got back. Ok, so it's been almost 8 months, but what better surprise could he get on St. Patrick's Day?

Here's a banner that I recreated from an inspiring craft on pinterest...Each individual flag sports a variety of materials:

We hope you all have a wonderful Saint Patrick's Day!

Saint Patrick was a gentleman,

Who through strategy and stealth,

Drove all the snakes from Ireland,

Here’s a toasting to his health.

But not too many toastings

Lest you lose yourself and then

Forget the good Saint Patrick

And see all those snakes again.

Slainte!

Laila &Kat

Winter Thaw

Greeting, Craftheads!

Winter still has its icy grip on us and we're in that awkward holiday in-between where crafting can get kind of hazy. As we turn our thoughts toward warmer weather and the part where March goes "out like a lamb," I thought I'd share a Valentine I made with a sort of St. Patrick's Day theme..

My boyfriend and I went to Ireland over the summer and have hopes of returning in the not too distant future, so I crafted this Irish Valentine as a symbol of our love for each other and the Emerald Isle!

Keep cozy, crafters!

Laila 

Adventures in Wonderland

I finally got the chance to use the Martha Stewart Craft Station that Santa brought me! The light box, stencils and razors were immeasurably useful when making this birthday invitations. To celebrate my 24th, a bunch of friends and I went to Alice's Tea Cup for a lavish afternoon tea. Of course, the invites needed to be equally whimsical:

I traced the tea cup design and thought I'd use the light box to trace a pretty font, but it turned out to be much easier to copy the lettering from sight once I'd gotten a handle on it. The cardstock I used was double sided with two different prints, so the back featured a heart cut-out of the front-side pattern.

With Love and Crumpets,
Laila

Valentine's Day Craft-tacular

Some polaroids from all the fun we had crafting for Valentine's day this year!

Heart-shaped ravioli

A crafter's dream...

With love and LOTS of glitter glue,
Laila & Kat

Gingerbread Rock

I recently discovered a miraculous substance called DISCO DUST. Craftheads, it has changed my baking existence. Check out the shimmery goodness that coats this year's batch of gingerbread cookies!

Stay Merry and Bright!

Laila & Kat

Ornament-ally Awesome

Cheers, Craftheads!

The holiday season is upon us. And you know what that means?! Lots of lovely crafts to be made.

Below is an all-time favorite that I recently crafted. Instead of purchasing a typical baby Christmas ornament, I figured it would be more fun and personal to craft one. I promptly headed to Michael's (where craft-dreams are made...) and sure enough they had a huge selection of ornaments. I settled on a wooden ornament as I knew I wanted to paint and that the wood would take the paint very well.




Also, major shout-out to the matte clear finish spray I used for the project. Not much is needed - just a light coating - but it did a great job holding everything together.

Keep on craftin'!
-Kat

Head-Turning Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers! Although Turkey Day may not strike you as the most craft-conducive of holidays, there is plenty of room to get creative! Check out the delicious ways we celebrated at my house:

My mom and I have been making this platter since the hostessing-dawn-of-time! The pecans are neatly pressed into a ridiculously delicious dip.

Corn bread turkeys for each end of the table (Nordicware turkey mold)

A Thanksgiving staple - Cinnamon-Almond tart with candied cranberries

Mallomar turkeys

Even Lucy's handkerchief is homemade - my Aunt made at least 5 years ago and the leaves still glint with gold glitter!

Hoping everyone had a very happy harvest!

Love, 

Laila & Kat

Tales from the Crafting Crypt!

Halloween is not only one of my favorite holidays (Christmas, you better watch your back!) it's also a rich crafting opportunity! Here are a few highlights from this year's festivities:

These were ideal treats for our pumpkin-carving extravaganza - fun and easy to make (ideal for the kiddies)! They're oreo cakesters with store-bought cake decorations, classic Halloween candies, and some orange icing. 

What a mess! 

Above, Catherine's Celtic knot in progress and, to the right,
the finished product.

And now for a Medievalist's Moment:
Did you know that Halloween finds its roots in
the ancient Celtic holiday, Samhain?

Interesting stuff!

 

While I do love to savor the festivities the entire month and start my Halloween crafting when the Calendar page flips to November,  most of my effort goes into prep for our annual Halloween Party:

Sign for the specialty drink - held by a white gourd with pin eyes and classic plastic teeth

Mischievous Mice (these little guys have chocolate-covered cherry bodies, kisses for heads,
almond ears and white chocolate eyes) 

Vampire's Teeth (super jumbo marshmallows with melted hard candy blood)

Our spooky spread!

Yes, that's my 6'3" boyfriend in a Gumby outfit. Sipping his Corona through a crazy straw. And with that, Craftheads, I bid you good night.

    Laila