Wee One #2 is a serious Barbie kid and loves all things pink, so naturally for her 6th birthday we went all out. She’s really turning into a mini May and it’s totally happening just by watching me. When she decided she wanted a Barbie party she did three things that struck me as so very … me. First, she went to Google for inspiration. Next, she made a board on Pinterest (right here if you’re interested) and pinned things she found and wanted to incorporate into her party. These two steps alone only really prove that she was born after 2000, right? I mean most kids (especially kids with computer geeky parents) would think to do this, right? The third thing though, totally me. She passed over all the glossy post-1980 Barbies and was only interested in the vintage style black and pink old school Barbies. Love!!!

I whipped up some fuchsia buttercream for her three tiered cake, strung vintage Barbie printables and small disco balls from pink curling ribbon from our kitchen chandelier, and set up a cute pink table with treats, loot bags, cutlery, and candy kabobs – as per her instructions! The pink cookies I had made before and liked, but I didn’t loooove them. She however, did. So she insisted they be included in her party and all her wee little girlfriends really, really liked them. I thought the bright pink and black candy kabobs would have stolen the show, or that the crazy sugar coma inducing cake with buttercream would do it, but no. It was the pink jello cookies.

The Chocolate Cake was the same chocolate cake I usually make, with Classic Wilton Buttercream.

Pink Jello Cookies via Kraft Recipes 3 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened 1 cup sugar 2 pkg. (3 oz. each) Jello Cherry Flavor Gelatin, divided 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream the butter till smooth (don’t skip this), then add the sugar and one of the jello packages. Beat till totally smooth.
Now add the egg and vanilla.
Slooooowly add in the flour and stop once it’s all combined and pink.
Empty the other jello package in a small bowl, and roll up all of the dough into smallish balls. I got almost 5 dozen. Drop each ball hehe into the jello powder to coat it.
Flatten each ball with the back of a glass and bake at 400F for 8 minutes.

I don’t know if this even qualifies as a recipe, and if I posted step by step pictures of all of it, it’d be a seriously epic post. You may have heard about a bakery in Philadelphia that baked up a two layer cake with two pies in it. Then of course other bakers made it, and most added a third layer. Depending on what cakes and pies used, the name differs. Made from cherry, pumpkin and apple pies, this one is called the Cherpumple. I first saw it on Outrageous Food about a year and a half ago and naturally, I had to make it.

My version is three layers, two medium tiers and one big one. The top tier is an apple pie baked into a vanilla cake, the second tier is a pumpkin pie baked into a spice cake and my personal favorite is a chocolate pecan pie baked into a chocolate cake! So what is that?! Apppumpecan? Or maybe a Pecapumple? I dunno, but it’s like 2000 calories a slice and so good it’s a little frightening.

I trust you can handle the how to of each recipe. If you’re super lazy or really just feel like you can’t do it, go ahead and get some premade pie crust. Just please, don’t use cakes mixes. I’ll know!

This is how I pulled it all together. First, I baked an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and then a larger chocolate pecan pie. As they were all cooling, I made the batter for a vanilla cake, a spice cake and a larger chocolate cake and poured each into their cake pans. Theeeeen, I turned the pies upside down and slammed them into their respective cakes-in-waiting.

Also note these recipes made more than I needed for this project. Extra cake batter was made into cupcakes, pie filling was either made into tarts with extra pie crust or snarffled down from a bowl in the kitchen standing over the sink. What?! Don’t look at me like that!

Apple Pie waiting it’s turn for the oven!
Chocolate Pecan Pie headed for the oven.
Baked Apple Pie sitting face down in it’s Vanilla Cake batter (left) and the beginnings of the Chocolate Cake (right).
Chocolate Cake batter, ready to be poured (left), and the starting of the Spice Cake batter (right).
Finished Chocolate Pecan Pie baked into the Chocolate Cake (left), innocent looking Vanilla Cake that’s hiding an Apple Pie (right).
The teetering tower of pies in cakes (left), the dowels I decided to stick in the top of the Pumpkin Pie/Spice Cake to make sure the Vanilla/Apple didn’t fall off.
And voila! This took one day and about an hour the following afternoon. I made it for a party about 2 hours from home so I had to finish assembling it there.
Everyone had a favorite layer, mine was defo the Chocolate Cake / Chocolate Pecan Pie. I always add espresso to my pecan pies because I’m a total coffee junkie and that layer is a dessert I would make again on it’s own.

Today I’m linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, and Welcome Wednesday

This week I casted on for Sock #3 of 2012 – Bintje. Super super pretty. They’re meant to be knee socks, but we’ll see what happens. Ha!

The cuff on these socks is so neat!! I had seen it in other patterns before, but truthfully I had thought it was more complicated than it actually is and I had skipped it every time I saw it and knitted a normal cuff. I know, super lameo. This year however, along with my resolution to knit a pair of socks every month (I’m on my third pair right now, so far so good), I’m going to follow the patterns I picked out last year and actually knit up this year’s socks as the patterns tell me to. I’m glad I did, look how cute!!!

Essentially, you knit 6 rows, then you knit a row of k2tog, yo – giving you a row of holes, then you knit another 6 rows. I’ll take pic of that on the second sock. Then you fold it over so the holes are the middle and the yarn overs between the holes form the little ridges you see. You can either sew down the top of the cuff or do it the way the pattern says, which I did thankyouverymuch. You pick up stitches at the very beginning and knit them to the last row of the cuff, of course you have to do this when you’re actually on the last row of the cuff, but it was fairly simple. All sock knitters can pick up stitches because we have to when we do the gusset anyway, right? In the third picture you can see the inside seam where I did this. Maybe when I get to the second sock I’ll make a video.

I also chose to use slightly thicker sock yarn (Stroll Fingering hehe fingering instead of Stroll Sock) on 2.5mm needles instead of 2mm needles so the sock would be a little denser than other socks. They’re for someone in a wettish coldish area who reads my blog so that’s all I’m going to say, though that’s probably all I needed for say for her to know they’re for her. Sigh.

There is a lot going on around here in the next couple of weeks and then we depart for a serious adventure that I have no doubt I will fill you in on in horribly painful detail once it begins. I hope to have at least the second sock started by this time next week!

This week’s Window Shopping Wednesday is a special one!! I love this shop and have bought Scrabble tiles and trays for crafts and baker’s twine for wrapping up kitchen creations here. Keeley, of Keeley Behling Studios not only agreed to do an interview with me about her shop and crafting in general, but she’s going to give one of you a present! I know right?! You’re so lucky!

As you know, I have a serious weakness for baker’s twine and Scrabble tiles. What item do you find you sell the most of? Twine, twine, twine! There are so many color options and so many things you can make with it! I think it is also one of the things I use most in making other items. It’s great for card making, gift wrap, embellishment, and so much more. It’s the first thing I grab when I am in a rut when making something. Do you ever buy stuff for your shop and love it so much you can’t part with it? All the time! That’s actually how I started my little shop. I would go treasure hunting (thrifting) for vintage items and craft supplies, bring all the wonderful treasures home and have them sit around and never be used or enjoyed. One of several reasons for starting my shop was to sell some of those items to others who truly had the time/ space to enjoy them. It’s gotten easier over the years to let things go but occasionally I will find something and hang on to it.
What is your favorite item in the shop right now? I would have to say my favorite item in my shop right now is the really small cobalt blue jars. I love the deep blue glass and there are always so many uses for them. Right now I have some that I am using to make my own essential oils. What do you find yourself crafting when you have the time? I really enjoy crocheting. I am one of those people who can’t just sit and watch TV, I have to do something too. I constantly need to keep my hands busy so my mom taught me to crochet when I was really young and I have not stopped since.
Starting your own business can be challenging under the best circumstances, what spurred you to get started? I had wanted to start my own business for several years but didn’t know really what I wanted to do or how to go about all the details. I was asked to do a show at a friends house and found that all the things I was worried about were not as difficult as I had originally thought. Within six months I had my etsy shop up and running. There was very little focus in the beginning for me. After all, it started out more as a hobby and something that I just enjoyed doing. It took me a year to discover where I really fit and how I wanted my shop/ business to become, a place where others could find unique, quirky, and unusual items.
How do you keep personal crafting / life separate from the shop? Well my personal crafting and the shop have to share a room like siblings. It can get a little chaotic at times but it all works out in the end. Usually my personal crafting becomes a gift, something I put in my shop or take to a show. As far as my life and my shop that’s a bit more difficult. Because I run my own business it’s up to me to keep everything afloat. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything I would “like” to do, but in the end the have to’s get done and the rest can wait til tomorrow.
What is your favorite dish to cook or bake? I have a bit of a sweet tooth so when we go to large gatherings I love to make this yummy chocolate fudge brownie trifle. What are you reading right now (or what was the last book you read)? Well I’m not much of an avid reader. I enjoy perusing design books and cook books for inspiration. My husband and I recently purchased our first house so I am always looking for ideas, how to fix something or the grand idea, “I could make that…”. I started receiving a subscription to Better Homes and Garden’s this year and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the latest issues. Pinterest also takes me to some amazing blogs and articles that help in my inspiration process

These cookies are super simple and super silly! The cookie itself is simple enough, a basic ginger cookie. It’s the little creative addition of button holes and then yarn, yes yarn, threaded through the button holes that make these little cuties so adorable. You’d think having the yarn in them would make eating them a little annoying and that you’d be less likely to stuff your face. Sorry people, no such luck.

Wee One #2 insisted in doing the needlework herself! She has been fallen pretty hard for embroidery and wants to sew every chance she gets.

Ginger Button Cookies via Diamonds for Dessert
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tablespoons ginger
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons cloves
1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons room temp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites

So, as you’d expect, you cream the butter and the sugars together. Then add the egg whites one at a time. Mix the dry ingredients in a different bowl and then mix the dry into the wet and voila! Ginger cookie dough. I totally sped through the actual recipe because I trust that you can handle that part. Now roll the dough into a log and cut off slices!
Shape your slices as well rounded (or not) as you’d like. I used a straw to poke out my button holes.
You’ll have to scour your kitchen to find a small circle shape that you can use as the inner edge of your button. The original recipe used the lid of a water bottle. I happen to have a crazy narrow shot glass – class all the way.
I baked them at 350F for about 15 minutes. Leave them in longer if you like a better crunch. The tops of the button holes didn’t shrink in baking, but the bottoms almost closed up. No biggie, we just used an actual needle and sock yarn!
I packaged some cookies in a mason jar for our next door neighbors. I can’t tell if they think I’m cute or totally crazy. Let’s just say it’s a fine line and I’m at least endearing. Right?! Ha!

I’m linking up with The Tuesday Glam Party, One Project at a Time, Take a Look Tuesday, Tuesday’s Treasures, Ta-Da Tuesday, Tuesday Time Out and Tuesday Tutorial Link Party. Check out some of the amazing projects in these link ups!

I am always looking for sewing practice, and as I’ve mentioned before and will mention again, I’m not amazing with a sewing machine. I mean, I earn the domestic in my title with my oven and my knitting needles, but yeah, sewing is something I’m still figuring out. So, I try to do it as much as possible and hopefully sometimes the things I practice with are wearable or usable! In this case, it is!

Prudent Baby has a serious archive of quick and useful crafty projects and I love to comb though it for ideas, inspiration and a lot of the time, instructions!

Drawstring Toddler Pants via Prudent Baby
Pair of elastic or drawstring pants that fit your wee one
2+ yards of cute fabric (how much depends on the size of your wee one)
Grommets
Drawstring
Pins, sewing machine, stuff like that…

First, fold the pair of pants that fit your wee one in half and lay them over the fabric. Trace around, adding about 1/2″ for the seam all the way around. Now do it again. Lay them right side facing and pin together.
Sew the curves first, down the sides and hem the bottoms.
This is the part that gave me trouble, I had to keep checking and double checking that I wasn’t about to sew the front of the pants to the butt, you know? I did it! If I can do it, you can defo do this.
Tah-daaaaah!!!
Now for the grommets! You can make an actual drawstring waist or a fake faux drawstring like I did. Snip a wee hole to pop one side of the grommet through.
Then punch the other side through with a hammer. So neat!
This is when I slipped in the elastic and sewed up the waistband, just shy of the grommets.
I cut two shortish lengths of nylon cord and knotted one end of each. I pushed them through the grommets and knotted them again. Then I finished off the waistband and I was done!! When I note in the sidebar that I’m struggling with sewing, that’s no exaggeration. I’ve never been very good at it even though in my head (and only in my head) I’m a brilliant seamstress. So this was great news for the future brilliant seamstress I will become. Ha!
I think my eager little model likes them! This is Wee One #3 with her creepy Joker smile.

I’m linking up with Flock Together Blog Hop and Inspiration Linky Party.

I mentioned a few months ago about my ever mounting paranoia general concern thoughts on how processed some most all of the garbage touted as ‘healthy’ and marketed to kids has become. Though to be fair, I don’t know if it’s right to say ‘has become’, it’s probably always been pretty negative and unhealthy but I didn’t know better as a kid and my hippie father did a pretty good job of sheltering me from stuff like that. I however? Do not do such a great job with the sheltering of my wee ones. They can ask for store those chewy granola bars all they want, I’m not caving, and this is why.

The granola bars I make have 14 ingredients, including the granola. They could only be healthier if I made the marshmallows myself and now that I type that, I will totally make the marshmallows myself next time!

The granola bars with the shiny commercials have 31 ingredients and while most of them are not so bad, too many of them are totally unnecessary. I know they need to be shelf stable, and that’s what they are loaded with preservatives, but man. Like, if I can make and eat them within a few days I don’t need to add any preservatives so while the additives are justifiable for shelf stable, pre packaged crap snacks, I don’t have any use for them – and if you have half an hour or so once a week, neither do you.

Granola via Amateur Gourmet (modified) 2 cups rolled oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bars via Back to the Cutting Board 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup honey 2 cups plain granola 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.) 1 cup mini marshmallows 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

First, preheat the oven to 325F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix the oats, cinnamon, and salt on a small bowl. Then in a separate bowl, mix the vegetable oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and make sure all of the oats are coated.
Bake for about 10 minutes, take out and mix it up, then another 10 minutes, take it out and mix it up again and then bake for another 5 minutes.
Now on to the actual granola bars! Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the brown sugar and the honey. Stir and heat till it’s melted.
Now add the rice cereal and the granola.
Marshmallows!!
When the marshmallows are partially melted, spread the mixture into a parchment lined brownie pan.
Then cover with chocolate chips!
Cut them into bars and voila!

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baking, granola bars, homemade granola, school lunches