Conversation Heart barrett's--Melinda

First off, lemme introduce myself :-) My name is Melinda and I grew up in SW Washington state. I went to college in Rexburg, ID where I met Crystal who, when we recently got re-acquainted with each other via FaceBook, invited me to contribute to this blog! My 'craftiness' has gone through phases, when I was little I thought I was VERY good at everything.....then I grew up and realized that I was really only good at a FEW things....and now I'm honing those few things. And since I haven't perused this blog much yet on my own, I'm not totally sure of what to put on here, but I thought I'd do a pseudo tutorial with this one. Onto the craft:


I got into crocheting when a former roommate taught me (she had learned from her adopted grandma in Rexburg) and I have really come to enjoy it. I don't get to do it very often, but for me it's a lot easier than knitting.

A friend of mine does amazing ribbon hair clips for girls and that's what got me started. One of these days I'll post about the curly ribbon ones. Anyhow....I found a pattern for a crocheted heart (click here) and made one exactly as shown for practice and to get a feel for it. Since it's quite a bit BIGGER than a hair barret should be....I modified it by only going 9 rows before making the top part of the hearts and chaining the border all the way around. (I used crochet thread and I think a 1.9cm hook...or 2.1 I can't remember, it all depends on what size you want). I then used a needle and red crochet thread to sew the word "Love" onto the pink ones. Then I used a high temp glue gun (lower temps will cause the ribbon to fall off) to glue ribbon around the outside edge of a double prong clip (can be found at any beauty supply store, such as Sally's or Peerless) and then arranged the hearts the way I wanted and hot glued them onto the ribbon on the clip and voila!

I have to say that I think these are one of my most favorite accomplishments of the recent past!

Apron --Neisha

Here is the apron I made my little boy, Rulon. He got to pick out the fabric and thought it was so cool. He loves to wear it whenever we cook. I just copied the pattern that I made for me in high school. It was very easy and a very fast project. I plan on making a bunch from extra fabric I have and sell them.

Rose Cake--Crystal

Today we decorated a cake with roses. I practiced them, but they aren't turing out so great. We'll have to keep trying. But still pretty. I do love how the frosting turned out to ice the cake. I think I whipped it too much and it was really fluffy. But it tasted good and spread really easy. It was fun learning all this stuff. I think I might have to take the next class as well. I'll have to convince Adam of that.

Cake Class--Crystal

Today was my third cake class. We had to bring cupcakes already iced to decorate. We learned new techniques... the shell, drop flowers, faces, and the rose. It was lots of fun.

My roses didn't quite turn out. I need to practice.

I think one of them really turned out

like a carnation, still pretty looking.

Valentines' Candy--Crystal

Today I made Valentines candy. I bought some candy melts from Joann Crafts. I melted them down and dipped my brownie balls (I used a brownie mix instead of a cake mix, you could use any cake mix) into the light chocolate flavor. Then drizzled the red vanilla on top.

I had some extra so I made them into hearts candies in the candy mold I bought. Then I drizzled red hearts in the middle of the chocolate ones. It was really easy to make.

Counted cross stitches--Jenny

These are the counted cross stitches that I've done and have pictures in the computer. More to come later!

Update--Crystal

I wanted to write an update
about the cake I made.
We enjoyed eating the cake the other day.
Kenna had the best comment about it so I thought I'd add it here.

Kenna said, "Mom, you make the best cake ever!"

How cute is that. She is my favorite fan.

Past Cakes--Amy

I thought I might post a few of my favorite cakes that I have made over the years. They take a lot of time, but I love the end product and being able to take pride in the details. Most cakes don't turn out this well, but these are my best. A few of these are listed on Wilton.com. A few are my own thinking and ideas. The rest are from other magazines and other sites.



These I made for Haden's 3rd Birthday. I used color flow to make the face and symbols. It was easier than you might think. I used an old superman pan to make the body of Mr. Incredible.







This is a cake I made for 3 girls who were baptized along with their mother. They lived in my Branch and I loved them dearly. I covered the cake in fondant. And the loops of the bow and curls are also fondant and then dried in place before putting them on the cake.

This is a cake I made for a family reunion. I made the cookies that listed family members, put a hole in each cookie and then looped ribbon through each hole. The base is a double layer of half sheet cake which I mixed with a pound cake mix so it would be firmer. The leaves of the tree were made of wire with fake leaves and wrapped in floral tape. I put styrofoam inside the pipe and then put the in the branches. Then took a PVC pipe and placed it in the middle. Then used brown frosting up the pipe to make the tree. The tricky part was transporting it. If you ever try anything like this, I suggest you put the cookies on after you put it down for the final time (and bring extra frosting in case of cracking).


This is a 3D Mario Mushroom cake for Haden's 5th birthday. I took two large cupcake pans from Wilton and then placed them together. Then set to work turning it into a mushroom. I didn't do a very good job at making it stand up though and it ended up falling over before the party. I felt really bad but at least I got some good pictures.


















This cake was for my sister's 21st birthday. She had just gotten back from her life long dream of swimming with the dolphins. So I made this cake for her. It was made mostly with candies this time. I found the clams and shark gummies and a gas station. The sand is crushed grahm crackers. The umbrella is melted colored chocolate I painted in a bowl and then peeled out. I used Airheads to make the boogy board for the boy and the beach towel. Then I used my smallest tips to pipe the people. this one was my own idea and I was so excited it turned out so well. My sister loved it and so did everyone else.

Messenger Bag--Crystal

Here is the messenger bag I plan to make. The colors are dark brown and red for the accent. I've washed to fabric. Now onto cutting out the sizes.

I'm also going to make a wallet out of the same material except I need to use two different patterns modified to work together.

This is the first one: wallet part 1

Here is the second one: wallet part 2

Cake Decorating--Crystal

My cake decorating class started last Monday. We learned how to make buttercream frosting and how to frost the cake. This week we need to bring in a cake that is already frosted, so here it is. We decorated it in class. It's a rainbow cake. Kenna thought it was cute. We also learned the techniques to decorate it and many other techniques. It's such a fun class. I'll have to practice at home to get the hang of doing it. I can't wait to have all the classes done so I can make whatever cake I want.

My cake for class before the decor. Kenna liked helping make the frosting. Mostly she liked tasting the frosting. She also wanted to eat it, but I told her I needed to decorate it first. Then she could have some after that.

The cake after decorating. The rainbow was really easy. You use the star tip to fill it in.

Kenna with the cake. She wanted to eat it for breakfast for the next morning.

Me with my first decorated cake.

Upcoming Crafts--Crystal

My crafts planned so far:

*Cake Decorating*
I'm taking a cake decorating class from Michael's Crafts store. It's every Monday in Febaruary. My first class was good. We talked about the different consistencies of frosting and how to frost a cake.

*Messenger Bag*
I got the idea to make this messenger bag for school. I found the pattern I want to use online. Here is the the link.

Let's Craft

This will be a blog about the crafts that I plan to do. I hope that I can actually finish the crafts. I sometimes have a problem with starting a craft and not finishing it. It's usually because I want to start something else. Then I never go back to it. Bit maybe if I have this blog to show it off at then maybe I'll finish so I can brag about it. If you have any craft ideas to share then we can post them on here as well. We can make this an open author blog. You can post teh crafts that you have done as well. I would love to have great ideas.