Happy Fourth of July

Since I'll be at work tommorow bright and early. I just wanted to taken the time now to wish everyone a Happy and safe Fourth of July. Here's a little video of last years firework show in Disneyland to get you all started.

Patriotic Mad Hatter Cupcakes

I found this wonderful idea for a mad hatter cupcake for the Fourth of July. I found it at familygo.com. All I needed was the idea and I went off and did my own thing. Lets start of with the cupcake shall we.

Yellow Cupcake

 2 ¼ cups cake flour

1 tbsp. baking soda

1/2 tbsp. cream of tartar

¼ tsp. salt

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla 

3 eggs

¾ cup whole milk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
3. In a standing mixer, beat butter using the paddle attachment until creamy and lightened. Add the sugar gradually; scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the vanilla.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Divide batter into three bowls and mix in dye. Now when you start to place the colors in the cupcake holders start with blue and end with red. I mixed that up on mine, but that's ok. Place into the oven for 20 minutes. When done take out and wait to cool. 

Now that they are cool you can start assembling. 

• Red Cupcake Holders
• Hot glue
• White Ribbon
• Red hots or Hot Tamales
• Small sheet of paper
• Scissors
• Frosting or Fondant

First glue all the cupcake holder to the bottom of the cupcakes. Next cut your white ribbon about 2 inches and wrap around the bottom of the cupcake. Do this to all of them. Now its time to frost. I started out trying to make this wonderful butter cream by Sprinkle Bakes but lets just say that I fail miserably. Luckily I had a back up plan and had some left over fondant. Yay! Once that is complete place your Red Hots or Hot Tamales. I cut the Hot Tamales to make it easier. Finally take a pen and right 10/6 as many times as you need and cut them out to fit in between the ribbon and cupcake. Congratulations! You are all done. :) 


Links:


Inside BruCrew Life

Uncle Sam Paper Hat

I may not have any kids, but I am one at heart especially since I have two nieces now. :) This project is pretty simple and only requires 2 papers bags, Elmers glue, paint of your choice ( I used acrylic, but for kids the washable kind is always good.) and scissors. 

Start out by cutting four strips in one of the bags so you can paint them red, white and blue and on the fourth strip cut into four tiny pieces. The five tiny pieces I painted red and white and used one piece to cut out stars.You don't have to do this step and just paint directly on it, but I liked how it gave the hat character. After they are cut now you can paint. I would place some newspaper down so that things don't get too messy. I usually use my craft plate or a sheet of parchment paper because once the paint drys I can reuse it a few more times. Now wait for the paint to dry.

While you are waiting grab the other bag and cut slits on the sides to adjust to your head. Then paint the top. Also take the time now to draw or punch out your stars. I didn't paint my starts. I liked how they looked. 

Once everything is dry now it is time to glue. It's ok if your strips aren't close together. It looks fine that way, but if it bugs you, you can paint over it once your done. Crease the bottom and glue the squares in between. I glued my stars at the top, but again get creative and it's all up to what makes you happy. :)


Links:
Todays Creative Blog

 

Patriotic Kitty

When I went to Boston in  2010 I got my other cats collars that were like the American Flag. So of course every year they wear them around this time. Now that we have a new addition to the family I was scrambling to find something patriotic for her. It was so simple and only took me two seconds. I grabbed a very small hair clip that I know longer use and some extra red, white and blue ribbon. I then tied it into a very small bow and hot glued it. Tada! Now I can either put it in her fur or on her collar. Another concept I came up with that I remember from baby barrettes is the Ziploc seal. I just took a small bag cut the seal away from the bag and glued the bow to it. This would also work for small babies and toddlers.

Links:
 

Fourth of July Goodies

All I have to say is that I wish I had come up with these great ideas. I'm glad I found them though and it's made my whole life easier. Especially since I'm doing it all before hand because I have to work on the Fourth of July. :( One is Red, White and Blue Rasberry candy bars by Cherry Tea Cakes. They are so amazing and I am one step further from never buying a candy bar in the store again. Another idea is Uncle Sam Mustaches by Number 2 Pencil. I already think its totally awesome how some people just used the normal mustache, but this topped it. I'm not finished with my tasks but this is as far as I've gotten so stay tuned.

One more to end a perfect Sunday evening....

I was at work today and this as well as a few other old cartoons popped in my head. Where has the time flown and why don't we have cartoons like this anymore. :) Enjoy and goodnight everyone!

Flower for Nutmeg

Out of the many things that I have noticed since we've gotten Nutmeg is she likes to smell fake flowers. I'm pretty sure she would really love to smell the real ones if she got the chance so that gave me an idea. I like to make my cats their toys sometimes and when I do I am actually pretty good at it. I decided I was going to make her a flower of her very own to smell and play with. It came out beautifully and I think Nutmeg thinks so too. :) 

You will need :

• 2 squares of felt about 3" x 4"
• Needle
• Thread
• Pin
• Scissors

This project is fairly simple and takes very little time. I'm a beginner sewer and don't do much to begin with except on things that I truly need and this project was easy for me to do. First start out by taking one of the squares and cutting it into a spiral. 

Now take the outer part and start rolling in until there is no more fabric and it looks like a rose. Now as I did this I tucked catnip and rolled. You don't have to but I wanted to make it extra special. 

Next I sewed the bottom. I didn't do it in any particular fashion and it came out well. I suggest sewing down through the middle as well. I forgot to on mine and she was having so much fun that it came apart. 

Grab the other square and cut it into strips. Then gather them together and sew at the top. This will then be sewed to the bottom of the flower. When you add it to the bottom it doesn't matter how you sew it as long as it stays. The only suggestion I have that I did with mine is to thread through the bottom petals when your about to finish. This insures that both are stuck together very well. 

Now for the best part of all, testing it out on your furry friend. Believe me that was my favorite. 

                                           My apologizes for the bumpiness but she's so quick. 

Links:

Linked to Skip To My Lou  Making The World Cuter  Craft-O-Maniac Mad In Crafts Jembellish Adorned From Above