Dinosaur Egg String Balls

This is one of the many projects I made for Kabir's Dinosaur Birthday Party. I am still waiting on the birthday pictures, so I am going to use this time to post the projects I made. 

This is very similar to the hemp lamp I had made here, but with some important differences. For the egg shape, I used a balloon instead of a ball. And cotton/acrylic yarn instead of hemp string. You can color the hemp string instead as well. But these 2 replacements introduced new problems. As balloon is thin, it sticks quite strongly with the yarn, which makes the yarn more susceptible to cave in once deflated, leaving the ball shapeless. After trying various options, I figured that the balloon needed to be coated with something to avoid yarn from sticking too much with balloon. From what I read online from others experiences, some people tried using Vaseline, but it made the balloon surface very slippery. So, putting the string on makes it tougher.  Finally, I decided to use wax instead, and it worked like a charm. Below is a small tutorial on what worked for me:

What you need:

• Acrylic/Cotton yarn
• Small size latex balloon
• Dry wax(I used my dry wax for hair)
• Fork or needle to deflate the balloon
  
• Clear gel tacky glue or any fast drying glue

1) Blow the balloon in the shape of an egg.

2) Coat it with wax: very important step. Try not to leave any spot. The green ball below is an example of what happens if this step is skipped. Once the balloon is deflated, the yarn caves in, and the ball is left shapeless and loose.

3) Pour glue in a bowl. Dip the fingers in the bowl and run it through a small section of string and then wrap it around the ball.

4) Let it dry over night, for around 12 hours. The acrylic wool takes less time to dry than hemp string. 

5) Deflate the balloon with a fork or needle. This was Kabir's favourite part(or should I say, the only part where he was involved in this project).

There was an egg waiting for him everyday in the morning (for almost a week) that he would deflate. I think he enjoyed deflating the ones that caved in more than the others.

The blue and orange string balls were made with the additional step 2: of coating the balloon surface with wax, and I love the output.

You can leave a place at the top (just like in hemp lamp), if you want to use it as a lamp.

Enjoy!
 

Dinosaur Tote Bag Tutorial

October, my favorite month of the year is here, which also means my son's birthday is around the corner. Preparations are in full swing and Kabir is participating at every step, which makes it all the more enjoyable. There was no confusion on the theme of the party. Kabir made it clear a while back that he wanted a Dinosaur Birthday Party. So that’s what he is going to get.

I don’t want to ruin the fun by posting everything before the party, but I have decided to share a little here and there.

Birthday invites are already in the post, and I love how the invites have turned out.

The favourite part of the birthday for the kids is normally the goodie bag. I knew I wanted something earthy and natural looking, and in a big size so I could fit in all the good stuff for the little ones. I looked at the muslin cloth drawstring bags on etsy, and I loved them. But the biggest size they came in was 8*10. Anything bigger than that was too expensive. Plus, I thought it would be easier for kids if they had a tote bag with a handle vs drawstring. So after much thinking, I decided to make my own.

What we are making: Tote bag of size: 11"wide by 26"high with a TRex Dinosaur painted on it along with kids name stamped on it.

Stuff you need:

1) Muslin cloth - cut to the size you want

2) Sewing machine or needle/thread if doing by hand

3) Scissors

For Decoration

1) Stencils (you can make your own)

2) Acrylic or fabric paint

3) Sponge brush

4) Alphabet stamps

You can create your own stencil by printing the image you want on paper. Cut it out, and trace it on a card board. Cut the image on the cardboard keeping the outside intact. I started with making one stencil, until I saw this amazing deal for Dinosaur stencil on amazon.

Step 1 : Cut the muslin cloth of desired size.  I cut it 11"wide by 26"high for a bag of size 10"wide by 12"high.

Step 2 : Decorate the front side before sewing. You can use the acrylic paint as is, or add a textile medium like GAC 900  to it.

Place the dino stencil in the center, and put some tapes on the edges to avoid it from moving. Keep a cardboard behind the fabric to avoid staining the surface below with paint.

Step 3: Using the sponge brush and acrylic paint, paint the part in the stencil. What worked the best for me was to start in the middle with the big sponge brush, and do the edges with a small paint brush. For the edges, you can also pat your brush down, in up and down motion, instead of horizontal strokes. This prevents the paint from leaking from under the stencil.

Step 4: Take off the stencil gently, and let it dry.

Step 5: Using rubber stamps, add the name at the bottom of image, on the muslin cloth.

Step 6: Make a strap/handle for the bag

Pic a: Cut a strip of fabric depending on how broad and long you want. I cut of size 2 " by 15". Fold the fabric length wise and sew it from 3 sides. Keep it open from one small side as you would need it to turn it. Here you can see the part under scissors is open.

Pic b and c: Using a knitting needle, stick the needle at the short edge which is closed, and pull the fabric down as shown in pic.

Pic d: Pull the part of fabric which has turned over and straighten the strap. Iron it.

Step 7: Sew the bag together. Fold one inch of the top edge to the inside of the bag and pin in place. At this point, attach the handles of bag. Place the straps an even distance from the side seams, and pin it. Stitch the edge in place stitching as close to the edge as possible.

Step 8: Sew a square, and a cross at the end of the strap to attach it to the bag securely.

Step 9: Fold the length of the fabric in half with the right sides together. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew both side seams.

Step 10: Turn the bag right side out and iron it.

Ta Da.. bag is ready. This tote bag can be used as a goodie bag, gift bag or just a personalised everyday bag for your little one.

1 done 20 more to go :-)

Here is the link to rest of the details from the Dinosaur Birthday party.

Happy Sewing!

Terrarium

Last weekend, Kabir and I worked on this joint project : Terrarium for his dinosaurs.  We spent our Saturday, shopping together in the nursery and a Pet Store(where we found most of the stuff needed).  Once we had everything, it was only a matter of minutes to put it all together. However, Kabir could not make up his mind on where to place his dinosaurs. Eventually, he decided that all his dinosaurs were herbivorous, so they had to be placed next to a plant(not that there was any other option). Then he spent rest of the evening feeding his dinosaurs of all sizes, the plants in the terrarium, in the process of which he toppled the container. So, we got a chance to redo the whole process. Fun of doing a project with a toddler.

Here are the directions I followed from Jill Fehrenbacher. This is another link which I found helpful.

Stuff you would need

Glass Bowl of any shape

Small Pebbles

Activated Charcoal(Pet Store)

Sphagnum Moss

Plants

Big Rocks and Fauna for decoration.

Directions
1.Start with a glass vessel in which you want to make a terrarium.  I used a large, clear, sphere-shaped glass bowl which I found at Michaels.You can get creative here - glass bulb, a hanging terrarium.. etc
2. Add a 1 1/2″ layer of small pebbles on the floor of the container.
3. Cover the pebbles with a thin layer of loose charcoal, which will help keep the water in your garden from stagnating.
4. Cover the charcoal with an inch layer of sphagnum moss. Look in the aquarium/terrarium section of a pet store for the pebbles, charcoal, and moss.
5. Now add enough potting soil so that the total contents occupy about 1/4 of the container. There will be some settling of the layers.
6. Choose small or miniature plant varieties so they do not overtake the container. The plants that have found to be the best suited are asparagus fern, mistletoe fig, and succulent aloe varieties. Add rocks, driftwood, etc to create the atmosphere of your choice. I added Dinosaurs and a wood Turtle.



Happy Making!

Lightining is ready.. vroom..vroom...vroom....

This is the cars cake I made for Kabir's friends' birthday recently. His Mom told me that he was Cars movie fan. So, I tried to incorporate some stuff from the movie. For the cake topper, I made 'Lightining McQueen' from fondant using the tutorial here. And a flag was an easy addition in the end.

My son was not sure why I was not making King(Blue car) and Mater(Brown car) as well. So, I convinced him that the brown(almost) cake is Mater, and the Blue icing is the King. Not sure if he bought it :-)

, As the Birthday boy wanted a Vanilla cake, I tried few recipes before I finalised this one. Its almost identical to the mom's sponge cake recipe. 

This Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe is adapted from Erica's recipe on allrecipes.com 

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour (after sifting)**
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

**If you are out of cake flour, 1 cup of cake flour can be substituted with 2 tbl spoon of corn starch in one cup, with rest of it filled with regular cake flour.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon colored. Beat in sugar gradually. Add water and vanilla extract. Beat in flour.
3. In another bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Then add cream of tartar and salt. Beat mixture until whites are stiff, but not until they are dry. Fold this whipped mixture into yolk mixture.
4. Pour batter into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan. Bake for one hour, or until done. If using two 9 inch regular pans, reduce the cooking time to 35 minutes.

Tips, Tricks & Lessons learnt

• In a sponge cake, pan is not to be greased, as the oil in it will hold the batter from rising. But I lined the base of pan with parchment paper. Not sure if I was suppose to do it or not, but it worked out fine for me.
• Baking powder is not added to sponge cake. The leavening comes only from beaten egg whites.
• Either warm the eggs before using or take them out of refrigerator much before use. Warmed eggs hold more air and create more volume when they're whipped than cold eggs.
• Sponge cake tastes the best when soaked with a syrup or flavouring. I always prefer the pineapple syrup in the canned pineapple.
• Once the batter is ready, it should go into the pans and in the oven immediately. 
• If using a convection oven, always reduce the baking temperature by 25 degree F than what the recipe calls for. In this case, the baking temperature would be 300 degree F.

Happy Baking!

Rainbow Cake

I can already feel the cool breeze in the air and a sinking feeling that summer is almost over. But I could not have asked for a better summer time. With my Mom, brother and sister visiting us, we had an amazing time with many special moments. One such moment was a small celebration for my sister's birthday long after it was over :-)

  

It all started with our family trip to Niagara where we spotted a rainbow at every corner. So Kabir was all about rainbows for a while after that. I promised Kabir that I would bake a Rainbow cake on the next occasion. So once we reached home, I decided to have a belated birthday celebration for my sister with a Rainbow cake.

I started with a regular vanilla cake batter and divided it equally into 6 bowls using a measuring scale. This took so much longer than expected.

 Then started the coloring process. Kabir choose the colors for each bowl. After choosing each color, he sang the Birthday song for his Masee(aunt) while I mixed the color to batter. And then we both moved onto the next bowl, new color and same song.

And batter goes into the baking pans..

 

All the 6 layers baked and ready to be assembled..

Cake with whipped cream icing. After icing between all the 6 layers, I was out of icing and was lazy to make another batch. So, skipped icing the sides. But I think it looked ok..

Super excited birthday girl - Henna(or should I say Kabir). Kabir was jumping with excitement as he wanted to blow the candle and cut the cake. Henna can be seen physically restraining Kabir from falling into the cake :-)

And there goes the candle..

Whole family blowing  the candle.. If it wasn't for Henna, Kabir's face would be in the cake.

Finally, a peek into the inside of the cake.

Warmest birthday wishes to the best sister I could ever wish for. Love you!

 "A perfect sister I am not, but thankful for the one I've got"

--Unknown