It's Christmas in July - Quilting

It's Time to Get into Gear for Christmas

It's Christmas in July and time to start crafting, making and baking, if you want to be ready when the holidays roll around. So, here's a little homemade holiday inspiration to help get you going. 

Lars Builds a Fence with Double Gates

Lars and Jacob rebuilt our run-down fence. It had been in place for over 30 years and some of the posts were rotten. I was afraid the dogs would be able to push the fence over if they tried hard enough. 

Anyway, if you're interested in do-it-yourself projects or woodworking, you might find this video, down below, interesting. And, if you do, please let me know in the comments below. Plus, if you have any woodworking questions, feel free to ask them and I'll see if Lars, Jake or I can answer it.

But, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Holiday weekend! I hope you spend it feasting on good food with friends and family.

DIY Dragon Cake(s) Tutorial & Tips - plus a fail fun - Homemade Halloween

Have you ever wanted to make a Dragon Cake? Well here's how to do it. I've included some tips, tricks, and hints to help you turn some regular household ingredients into a Dragon! And, if you try to make this little guy, please let me know. I'd love to hear how yours came out. 

Alien Makeup for the UFO Festival 2021

I'm going to the McMennamin's UFO Festival today! 

This should be fun - check out how I did my #Makeup and made my #Antenna below

A Haunted Telephone Call Came In While I Was Working on My Homemade Halloween Decorations - STRANGE!

Beware this blog post contains the story of a Haunted Halloween Telephone Call - or at least the answering of the call was super STRANGE. 

I was working on the table decorations, including the quilting of the placemats for my table decor when I had to take a break and something super strange happened. If you're interested, watch the short video below and listen to the story at 4:17, which is where I'm telling my son about the strange happening.

Let me know what you think about this strange call...and what you think of my placemats too ;D

Thanks for reading and watching.

Ghost Stuffing - DIY Halloween Decorations

YIKES!

Do you love the Holidays? Well, if you're like me, and  you love every holiday that happens to come around, then you decorate for all of them. 

And one of my favorite holidays to decorate and celebrate is Halloween. So, I start early.

I mean who doesn't love dressing up and getting free goodies? 

Plus, I have so much fun seeing the kids' faces when they come around, that I look forward to the entire season. 

But, the one thing I don't like is spending money. So, I make most off my decorations myself (or with a little help from my kids and husband). 

If you are interested in seeing how I made this little ghost and gave him his 3-D stuffing, simply click on the video below or visit my YouTube Channel - just search for Kim Kasch, and I should come up. I mean how many Kim Kasch's can there be?

And, if you make a little ghost like this, then please share in the comment section below because I'd love to see what you came up with.

RED, WHITE and BLUE Striped Cake to Celebrate!

I wanted to make a practice cake for my July 4th celebration. So, this is what I made. If you're curious about a yummy vanilla buttercream frosting, check out my recipe listed in the YouTube description box. It is simple, yummy and cheap to make. 

If you make one, please let  me know. I'd love to see it. 

DIY Easter Garland

I love decorating for the holidays - all of  them and these are a couple of the Easter garlands I've made this year to spruce up my house for the holiday.

These are super simple crafts you can make with some material you might have sitting around the house. Plastic Easter Eggs can be strung together to make a fun and decorative garland for your front door. I even made this fun little bow for my door bunny. And, if you're interested in seeing how I made this garland, click on the link down below or visit my YouTube channel. And, if you do make your own garland, please share it with me. I'd love to see it. 

Click on the movie below to watch how I made the  garland.

5-Minute Floss Tube Project-Tin Tutorial

If you're looking for a place to store your craft projects that's prettier than a paper bag, here's a Super Simple 5-Minute Project-Tin Tutorial. 

Sewing Project bags may be beautiful, but they take more than a few minutes to make, while this craft project will provide a 5-minute craft and you'll be able to store these project-tins easily on a shelf. Plus, they'll look pretty too all while keeping your cross-stitch fabric from getting wrinkled.

What could be better? And, even if you don't cross-stitch, I'm sure you can find a purpose for these pretty canisters. 

Simply click on the link below or go to my YouTube channel and peruse through my floss tube episodes.

Christmas Gnomes Come for a Visit

 I'm sure you've heard of Elves, but what about Nisse, or Gnomes?

Well, if you've never met one of these cheery little guys, here's an easy way to help bring them into your house for the holidays.

It's a simple craft you can do with your kids or grandkids and what could be more fun that creating your own little helpers to have around the house at Christmas?

If you'd like  to see how to make these little fellows, just click on my YouTube link and watch the short little video.

And, if you do make a few of these  little wee folk, please  let me know because I'd love to see what you did with these little people. 

Halloween is Sneaking Up On US

 

Is anyone else starting to get ready for Halloween? I can hardly wait. When can I start putting out decorations? I don't want to be one of those people who start celebrating a holiday before it's even here but....

I've been working on so many things. I can't wait to share them all so here are a few of my creations and works in progress.

Okay,  my theme this year was inspired by a drawing I made and I'm not an artist but I fell in love with the idea of  dragons:

Then I started thinking about Game of Thrones and Dragon Eggs. So I had to make a few...

It's simple to do. All you need is some styrofoam shaped like an egg and some thumb tacks. I tried to use a variety of tacks to give  the eggs  some dimension.

And I was  super happy with how they came out.

Next, I wanted some dragons. So, lucky for me, my sons both have 3D printing skills and so I didn't have to wait long to have some baby dragons to come creeping out of my eggs.

Of course,  I had to piece them together and paint them.

And the hardest part was picking the colors.

I made one blue and one green (never said I wasn't a Dr. Obvious). Which one do you like the best? I even used a little glitter to add some more magic to the mixture.

And now, I'm just getting going...

If you love Halloween, like me, keep watching for more of my decorations because I'm planning to go all out this year.

Homemade Clay Craft - Penguin Project to do with Kids

I wanted to make some little penguins  so I bought some clay and started modeling the little guys.

Here's how to do it.

First buy some clay at your local craft or hobby shop.

Make sure you get the clay you can bake and not the remoldable clay - which doesn't harden and can always be squished back into a pile of clay.

Then make a pear shaped object out of your clay.

After you've made the pear shaped object, cut out some wings and stick them on the sides.

After you have the wings, you need eyes, feet and a beak.

Stick the beak, feet and eyes on to the pear shaped figure. Rub them into the figure at the connections. Then bake the little guy - per  directions on the clay package.

When he is finished baking, add a little paint or you can use markers.

Before you bake him, you can smooth him a bit. I accidently made indentations in his  body with my fingernails.

I think this little guy is cute but I want to practice a bit so I can make a little penguin pond in my garden ;D I think kids  walking past my little "pond" will think it's fun. 

Do You Remember Door Dashing?

Kids used to knock on the doors of their neighbors and then dash away. It was called Door-Dashing or Ding Dong Ditch - do you remember it?

Well, our family did it, like most things, only differently - especially on May 1st.

We'd make May Baskets and hang them on the  neighbors' doors. Then we'd knock on the door and dash away. We'd  usually hide somewhere and watch what happened when they found a basket - or cone - filled with flowers hanging on their doorknobs. That was they way Mom taught us to celebrate the  beginning of spring. 

May Day has been celebrated for centuries as the time of festivals to herald the beginning of spring and what better way to celebrate spring than with a basket (or cone) of flowers?

Here's how I used to make these little gifts to give to friends and neighbors.

I hope you have a bloom-filled May Day!

And, if you make any of these May Day baskets,  or if you remember the tradition of  hanging them on the doorknobs or neighbors,  please share in the comments below.

Bunny Cake

Easter 2020 Bunny Cake

I've always loved to bake but I've had more than my share of baking fails. In fact, I had a near disaster with this bunny at the very beginning - but more about that in a minute. 

First, I wanted to see if there might be other people out there that like to bake, make and create. If so,  please share links to your blogs in the comments so I can pop over there and see what you're making.

Anyway, I thought I'd share how I made this bunny cake.

First I baked the cakes (3 of them) in 6 inch baking tins. And, right away I had problems. I was trimming one of the tops of the cakes to make them all level and I got distracted because I was boiling eggs at the same time. I was checking on the eggs as I was leveling the cakes and...I trimmed the top off the cake horribly. 

You can see how it broke apart. But I just wedged it back together and used a little butter cream (I've added a link to my butter cream frosting recipe) to "glue" it together. My point is, don't give up because of one set back.

Then I crumb coated the cake in homemade butter cream (which is simply powdered sugar mixed with butter and maybe a tablespoon of milk or cream). I always crumb coat on a silpat so I can easily slip the cake off and onto a cutting board. (Crumb Coating - is simply covering the cake in a thin layer of frosting and then putting it in the fridge to set).

Then I rolled out my fondant on  a little cornstarch - to keep the fondant from sticking to the table. TIP: don't do this on a hot day because cooking is like picnicking. The weather plays a big part in your success. And I've had some fondant fails due to weather.

Then I put the fondant over the crumb-coated cakes and trimmed it around the edge. Adding a ribbon around the bottom makes it looked finished and almost professional.

Then I began decorating.

I used Fondant to make the facial features and "glued" them on using buttercream and  meringue paste. 

The finishing touch was the ears but I had another problem there. I thought I had gum paste but I didn't. So, I took some left over fondant and made ears. I stuck them on bamboo skewers and put the in the freezer to harden up until after dinner. Then I pulled them out off the freezer and stuck them in place. But even then, I'd forgotten about the whiskers until my son pointed it out. Luckily, I had some toothpicks in the kitchen. I sprinkled some jelly bean eggs around the edge and Voila the cake was finished.

The family said the cake tasted good … and I believed them but no one wanted to eat the poor bunny's face. And, probably because the fondant was pretty thick there, just look at the nose and cheeks ;D

So this cake was a fun family dessert that everyone enjoyed - including me ;D I had a piece too but I'm always a little biased so  I like to see what  the family thinks.

But, this wasn't my first bunny cake. Over the years I've made a few other Easter cakes.

These bunny cupcakes are a fun, easy project. This bunny is diving down into the hole. So, he was super simple to make

I was looking back  over the years and I guess I've made more than my share of cakes. If you've made some fun cakes too, please share a link to your blog or send a picture, I'd love to see them.

I hope you all stay well and enjoy some creative days, making, baking and creating :D

I'm Dreaming of a . . . Pink Christmas

Some people dream  of snow...not me, I prefer a warm, cozy Christmas. And what could be better than spending the cold weather inside, crafting?

This is an old craft I've done before...but believe me, I'm working on new ones but I thought I'd share this oldie but still a goodie one with you.

This is an easy tree to make. Don't feel restrained to go small; you can make it as big as you want.

All you need is a little tulle, which you can pick up at any fabric store. And, if pink isn't your color, you can go green with a green tree...

Or purple, if you prefer.

Here's how to do it. Lay out your fabric 

Then cut it into strips

Use a dowel and a heavy piece of wood to hold the tree and simply start stacking your strips...

It's as simple as that - then add a star

And you could be finished there. Or pull out your handy-dandy 

glue gun

And then add whatever embellishments you like...I like sparkly rhinestones or fake gemstones

And voila - you'll have a pink or green or even purple Christmas! But no matter what color you prefer,  I hope it's a  healthy, happy and fun-filled Holiday!

Thanksgiving is Almost Here . . . Be Brave!

With the holidays coming … I'm getting ready to do some serious baking. But before I pull out the rolling pin and flour, I'm trying to remember some of the cakes I've made in the past. And, maybe by taking a moment to remember, I won't make the same mistakes.

But believe me, I'm going to be trying some new things (this is where I'm trying to be brave) so there will undoubtedly be a few fails, flops and hopefully even a few things that turn out.

I know they can't all be winners and my family will be sure to tell  me which ones are the failures.

But, I thought I'd share one fun Thanksgiving cupcake and one fantastic flop of a cake I made one year. Of course, I think it's almost okay that this failure looks so miserable, I mean after all we're all getting ready to eat him. And even though he didn't turn out as cute as I wanted, he still tasted okay...at least if you can tell by how quickly he disappeared.

Anyway, I hope you have some fantastic baked goods for your holiday feast. And, if you do, please share a link to your blog or a photo in the comments, so I can take a peek - I'm always looking for inspiration to create more delicious goodies. 

And, I wanted to wish you all  a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Quilting and Homemade Stuffed Animals

Those of you who know me, know I love to make, bake and create. I just can't seem to help it. "Sew" when I saw this little elephant fabric, I thought, "I'd love to make a little stuffed elephant for a friend's baby shower." Of course, I'd never made a stuffed animal before but again I thought, "How hard can it be?" 

Lucky for me, I was thinking in 2D not 3D. If I'd had to make four legs, that would have thrown my making into another dimension entirely...thus, 3D not 2D.

But, if you're like me and have never made a stuffed animal (without a pattern) and you're curious how I did it, just keep reading.

First, I was inspired by this fabric, which I used to make the backside of a baby blanket for my friend's shower.

But like everything I do, inspiration comes from many sources. Do you see the yellow and gray polka dot ear on the front side of the baby blanket? Well, immediately I thought an all gray elephant just wouldn't do. Imagine that. But I was also inspired by Mike Curato's Little Elliot - Big City books.

 I just heard Mike Curato give a presentation in L.A. at the SCBWI Summer Conference. I thought, "I want my little elephant to be all polka dotted--like little Eliott." So I went in search of some more fabric - this time polka dotted. And I figured I only needed about one-fourth a yard for a stuffed animal. 

Then I thought, "I really like the shape of the little gray elephant above." So I drew the shape on a piece of paper (and I'm not an illustrator or an artist) so I drew it lightly, in case I made mistakes (which is super silly because it was paper and I was using a pencil--duh, I could have erased a mistake-but whatever, that's what I did). 

When I got that done, I drew the shape right on the fabric.

Cut it out and laid the front sides together and sewed around the edges. I left a little section open so I could stuff it (I made a mistake here--I left the trunk open to stuff, I should have left a foot open to stuff so it wouldn't be noticed as much--but that's the way I did it.)

After I had him stuffed, I sewed a couple of yellow ears on (because I had some leftover yellow fabric from when I made my Candy Corn Cushions for my benches out in my yard). Then I took some leftover material and braided a tail and sewed those on. But I still needed an eye. I didn't want to sew something on that the baby might pull off and eat so I embroidered a little eyelash around one of the polka dots (on both sides). And Voila...or, as I would say,  Wah-lah!

I had a fun little gift for the baby shower (a baby blanket and a stuffed elephant). 

Let me know if you have made a stuffed animal for a child. I'd love to visit your blog to check it out.