The Yo Gabba Gabba party was a success and I survived the crafts, the costume and the cake!

The YGG costumes were pretty simple. I used fleece and based the costumes on two patterns, Simplicity 2853 for Muno and Brobie and a modified a-line dress pattern for Tootie and Foofa.

It were the heads that were the challenge. I decided to make everything 2D for simplicity sake. I'm wasn't about to attempt 3D design on costumes due in less than 2 weeks. I freehanded the heads, used 8 layers of white tulle for the eyes and glue gunned the face.

The word of the weekend was, "legit." As in, "HOLY! These costumes are LEGIT!"

I'm definitely proud of these costumes. If I had more time, I would want to find a way to make the heads stiffer so you can see the actual shapes. I interfaced them, but they're obviously still really floppy. Sewing in timtex or peltex could be an option, but I didn't have enough time to research potential materials. These costumes will see more than one use, so I do have time to research a better stabilization technique.

Thanks to Joann's sale on fleece, all four costumes (Plex, the robot, was made by the person wearing it) cost about $75. And in case your wondering, the person playing Muno doesn't have an extra long neck. He glued a few cups together and attached it to his hat to make sure he had the proper height.

Now onto the cakes. I have to admit, I spent more time on the costumes and pushed the cakes off until the day before the party. My assignment was to make the smash cake and the sheet cake. I originally planned to decorate both cakes in the YGG theme, but due to the time constraint and my poor planning, I decided to leave the sheet cake blank and only worry about decorating the smash cake. This worked out perfectly as the sheet cake remained in the back until it was cut and served.

Both cakes were red velvet. The sheet cake was HUGE, the largest cake I've ever made. It was a 2-layer full sheet cake made of four 13x17" cakes. Each 13x17" cake was baked in a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan using one full recipe for each.

The smash cake was DJ Lance Rock's hat made using a 3-layer 6inch cake. The top layer was shaped into a dome and decorated with a thick layer of frosting that was tapped with a spatula. The star was made with fondant.

This is the third smash cake I've made. The first two were for 1-year olds, and this one was for a two year old. Both 1-year olds were pretty timid with their cakes and had to be fed. Even with the 2-year old, there was no cake face to be seen, only cake hand and cake shirt.

Even with a little coaxing, there was more playing than there was smashing. Maybe 3 years is the magic cake face age.

Even without the cake face and perfectly shaped costumes, the kids were happy, the birthday girl's parents were happy and their party was a success! That's all I could ask for.

There seems to be a color explosion in the works on my sewing table. We're talking serious rainbow action.

Remember how I referenced making a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday party? Well, somehow I also managed to volunteer to make the costumes for the Yo Gabba Gabba show they're doing as part of the party.

I'm a sucker for helping the folks I love.. what can I say? Pattern drafting and altering are in the works. I've got less than two weeks to pull this off.

And just to clarify, I'm only making four. The guy playing the robot has already taken charge of his own costume.

There's a party in my craft room! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

After my six month break, I'm gradually getting back up to speed on this blogging thing, catching you up on the troubles I've been getting myself into. I went through a little cake baking phase and did two weddings and two birthdays, all for friends and family. Here's the quick recap:

Rochelle and Thomas's Wedding: Chocolate chocolate, chocolate vanilla, vanilla vanilla and vanilla chocolate Cupcakes
Count: 12 dozen

Yes, the cupcake sweatshop is at it again. But honestly, it's never work when you're doing it for friends! The flowers were purchased from Sugarcraft and the flags were purchased by Rochelle on Etsy. I also used my fake calligraphy skills and did up their name cards, too.

Ria and Gui's Wedding: Two-layer wedding cake and mini red velvet cupcakes
Count: 1 cake, 4 dozen mini-cupcakes

B's cousin's wedding cake was my first foray into fondant (the Domo cake doesn't count) and it was a bit stressful. If you click through to the photo, you'll see that the fondant is less than perfect (the top layer is 239403 times better than the bottom layer). Lessons learned: 1) practice once before you do it for real. My practice run was my "for real" run. I ended up with an excess "flap" of fondant that I had to creatively fold into itself to hide it (of which I didn't do a good job of). 2) Use only a thin layer of frosting. The more frosting you use, the less smooth the fondant will be (unless you have the skills to frost a cake smoothly and perfectly). 3) Watch videos! There are a ton of online resources to help you out.

B's Birthday: Snickers Ice Cream Cake

Here's quick low-down on this gem to get people drooling and asking for more:

1. Bake this cake in a 9-inch springform pan. Cool and split into two layers.
   
2. Make the caramel glaze.
   
3. Place one of the cooled layers back into the cleaned springform pan and spread with half of the caramel glaze and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Place in freezer to cool and set. Meanwhile, set out a quart of chocolate ice cream to soften (You want it to be soft and spreadable, not soupy).
   
4. Spread the chocolate ice cream evenly over the cooled caramel peanut cake layer about 1 inch thick.
   
5. Place the second cake layer on top of the ice cream layer and pour the remaining caramel glaze on top of the second layer. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2-4 hours.
   
6. Make your favorite chocolate frosting (I used a basic ganache)
   
7. Remove the cake from the freezer and release the side of the springform pan. Frost the cake and sprinkle the top with peanuts. If not serving immediately, return to freezer and remove it about 30 minutes before serving.

Make sure the ice cream is nearly frozen again before you frost it, otherwise it will ruin your frosting experience. See my drippy edges, that's the result of still melted ice cream. Learn from my mistakes!

BFF's Birthday: Snickers (not ice cream) Cake

It was like deja vous for my BFF's birthday cake. Follow the same general idea as above except make two 9-inch layers. You'll want these layers to be thicker to make up for the missing ice cream layer. I'm generally getting better at frosting cakes, especially when I can cover the sides with peanuts. I just need to make sure that the sides are perpendicular to the plate, oops.

And then I ended the year with two fabulous cheesecakes, none of which I took photos of (gasp) but that you'll have to take my word for.. Smitten Kitchen's Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake and Pioneer Women's Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Up next, a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday in February.

What does a crafty person do for a group of friends you meet with once a month to share stories, laugh and enjoy a great, gourmet, home-cooked meal? Aprons of course!

Theses are my Dinner Club buddies, minus one, modeling the aprons. We have two white elephant gift exchanges per year, one during the holidays and one during summer. This year I decided that part of my white elephant gift would be another white elephant. The recipient of my gift got a bottle of sake and the final pick in my white elephant. Once the initial white elephant was complete, my white elephant began.

I made 5 aprons with the same pattern and one black sheep. In every white elephant we've had zero, ZERO, gifts have been stolen. This is good, because everyone gets what they want the first time around, but bad, because there's no excitement in seeing who will end up with what. It was no different for the apron white elephant.

Pattern: Emmeline Apron, Montesorri by Hand
Fabrics: Banadana Print by Joann Fabrics, Apples and Pears by Alexander Henry and Kona Cotton

This is a very simple, straightforward pattern. The I love both prints, but I think I like the bandana print more.

The only think I'd change is to add patch pockets. My one minor gripe about the pattern is that the apron skirt doesn't like flat. It curls in and shows the reverse side at the sides.

Pattern: Butterick 4945 view E
Fabrics: Various stash cottons

I've made this apron before for another friend. This pattern is also straight forward. I made no major modifications to the pattern, except for making the apron ties "reversible." I cut 4 instead of 2 apron tie pieces, stitched around the long sides and pointed end and turned it out. It actually looks finished this way as opposed to having the wrong side of the fabric show if you follow the pattern directions.

Everyone loved their aprons, as I hoped. But there's always that little voice inside me that thinks they'll think it's a kitschy homemade gift. But I guess it's a good sign when the end of the night approached and everyone left for home still wearing their aprons.

I'm officially declaring that quilting season is over. No, I'm not giving up quilting. I'm just putting them aside for the time being. This girl is severely lacking work clothes and cute summer frocks. Yes, I said frocks. I will be reshifting and refocusing my crafting to something a little more self-serving and productive for the next month or two. I'm needing a few extra pieces to throw into the work clothes rotation before my coworkers catch on that I'm cycling through the same 10 tops (okay maybe it's more like 15). What's that 20/80% rule again?

In any case, here's the first, of hopefully many, cute summer frocks/work pieces

Pattern: Simplicity 2593

Pattern Description:
Cynthia Rowley Collection, Misses Tops with Neckline Variation and Headband

I made view A, the tank with the twisted neckline.

Pattern Sizing:
I cut a size 14. Pattern is available in sizes 6-22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, more or less. Definitely do not expect the neckband to come out exactly as show on the envelope as it is up to the sewist to determine how to distribute the twists.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, the instructions were straight forward. The only part that may seem confusing is twisting the collar. It tells you to twist it 4 times. I defined one twist as a 360degree rotation and it worked out fine. I definitely also took Christina's advice to heart and tried not to be too OCD about how the twists came out. I kept redistributing the twists, pinning as I went, until I found one I liked. This is where you can definitely have a lot of fun with the top. And remember that the collar doesn't have to sit flush against the neck binding

The other thing that may or may not bother me about this top is how the collar will look after it's washed and how I may or may not get OCD about pressing the twists. A good shot of steam may just have to be okay. And then finally since the collar is only attached at the neck edge, it may be prone to flipping and flapping up in the wind.

Fabric Used:
Cotton blend Ikat fabric from Joann's purchased two summers ago.

Conclusion:
I'm planning on sewing this again in a solid shirting for work and will probably make a dress version of view C.

Hurray for new clothes!