Cupcake To Go Container

September 19, 2013 by Tauni

I didn’t “grow up” with my boys. I sort of figure I just lucked into the “ready made” variety…

(Just in case your wondering, in my world they pop in at about two years +)

Here’s the thing. Since I came into kids in a bit of a different way, early on people were always trying to give me advice. I got A LOT of advice and yet, there are some very important things that no one told me…

I was not warned to look out for those nasty stray Legos left on the floor. There is nothing in this world and I mean NOTHING that hurts more than stepping on a Lego with bare feet.

I definitely wasn’t advised of the importance in checking for fruit snacks stuck to the back of your seat in the car before suggesting to friends that you drive.

No one told me how much more I would love their Dad after watching him play with them for hours, or even minutes.

Kids break things. ‘Nough said.

You will throw away many, many things that will make you feel guilty. If you don’t? Well, you will have an avalanche of paper somewhere.

Stuff will be sticky and by stuff, I mean everything.

And I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER thought I would find crumbs in so many places…Crumbs on the counter, crumbs in the couch cushions, crumbs in pants pockets…It never ends.

And so, for a while, I quit making cupcakes. I know?!

However, I have found the perfect solution to messy cupcakes. Cupcake to go containers.

Cupcake To Go Containers

Here’s what you will need to create your to go containers:

clear plastic cups
cute cupcake wrappers or baking cups
paper straws
cellophane bags
baker’s twine or curly ribbon

The beauty of these little containers is that they are so simple to assemble and look so pretty.

The addition of the straw stabilizes the entire assembly, so that even if your to-go container tips a bit the cupcake frosting will not get mashed all over.

They’re great for party thank you’s, classroom treats, or let the kids use a fork to eat out of the container.

What are your kid containing secrets???

I’m Crafty Party: Birthday Edition

September 19, 2013 by Tauni

Welcome to the “I’m Crafty” party, your chance to join our Season 17 competitors in showcasing your talent online!

We’re focused on birthday-related projects this week and we’d love to see the projects you’ve created. Your project doesn’t need to be a new one…So come on. Showcase your talent!

A few things to remember:

Link to a specific post, not your blog in general.
Please only post your ideas, not round ups or guest posts.
Think outside the box – a craft, tutorial, recipe, anything that fits the theme!
Visit at least two other links and leave them some love – everyone likes appreciation
Join me on Twitter & Facebook. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites there throughout the week.

So do you think you’re crafty?

Contestant Interview: Daniela from Bonito Servico

September 18, 2013 by Tauni

I have a special place in my heart for our international contestants…It’s a bit of a reminder of just HOW small our online world is.

Last year we were lucky enough to get to know Naomi, who is from England. This year Portugese native Daniela, from Bonito Servico, represented our international audience.

Contestant Interview: Daniela from Bonito Servico

1. Tell as a little bit about yourself and your blog.

I started BonitoServiço’s blog in 2011 but I have started to really dedicate to it by posting in a regular way only in the beginning of 2013. BonitoServiço started as a result of friend’s suggestions and enthusiastic support and has been growing since then.

As you have probably already noticed, Bonito Serviço is not an English word; that’s right, I am Portuguese and Bonito Serviço basically means nicely done. I particularly like this expression because it has a dual meaning in Portuguese. It means literally nicely done but it is also an expression commonly used ironically when you do something wrong.

I have been married to my lovely husband since 2011 and he really supports my crafting activities, although I suspect sometimes he thinks I am a little bit delirious. I usually have more than one project going on and several (sometimes too many) on the waiting list. I get anxious to make them all…

2. How and why did you start crafting?

I truly don’t know when I have started crafting. I have always liked manual things and my parents have always encouraged me to do so.

When I was a little girl I learned knitting, crochet, embroidery and later sewing with my mum. She had a lot of patience because I was always anxious to finish things and see the final result (I am still a little bit that way). She would always say, as my grandmother already said to her when she was little, it is better to make less but perfect. I also remember painting my clothes, which I still do sometimes. I really have to thank my parents for the support and encouragement has they would always let me get the materials I needed for my crafting ideas and never held me back.

3. How often do you craft?

I craft almost every evening and weekend. It is a way to relax after a working day.

4. Where do you get inspiration? How do you stay creative?

I would need to say I get inspiration everywhere. Of course internet is a never-ending source of inspiration but, I like looking up photographs, movies, TV series, cartoons…

The truth is, I also get new ideas has I am doing something. My initial plan is almost always changed during the creative/productive process. New ideas pop up while I am doing things.

5. What is your favorite medium to work with?

It is really hard to choose one…

Right now, I would have to say my favorite medium to work with is fabric. It gives you so many possibilities and lately I have been having fun doing some clothes for my nephew. But who knows maybe in a few months something else will arise.

6. What’s the one craft/DIY skill you’d love to master?

I would absolutely love to master the art of patterning, making my own patterns for everything. I can do some already but sometimes I get the ideas but still the patterns are not so easy to accomplish.

7. What is your guilty pleasure?

Chocolate! My guilty pleasure is for sure chocolate. I eat chocolate almost every day and it tastes so good.

8. What makes you smile?

My husband and my nephew can really make me smile, even more when they are together. My cat makes me smiles too, especially when she’s playing around with her toys, she is so cute.

9. What is your favorite thing to do (other than crafting of course)?

I love snuggling in the sofa with my husband while watching TV or a movie and obviously, I love to pet my cat… a lot!

10. How do you stay organized?

This is a hard task I confess. Everything tends to get disorganized. I try my best to get a place for everything and to put it back every time but many times it does not go that way. At some point, when things get a little chaotic, it gets on my nerve and I need to tide up so I can continue my work peacefully.

11. What blogger do you look up to?

I pretty much look up to all bloggers. I don’t really consider myself as a blogger as I am still so tiny. Anyway there are a few blogs I regularly check like Ei menina by Érica Catarina, Saídos da Concha by Constança Cabral, Achados de Decoração by Carmen Martins, How Joyful by Joy Kelley, and the Purl Bee.

So grateful to have Daniela a part of this journey…I hope you will go and learn more about her on Bonito Servico and visit her shop.

First Birthday Outfit | Baby Shoes | Toy Giraffe | Polymer Clay Ring

Bathtub to Sofa Tutorial

September 17, 2013 by Tauni

Guys, I don’t have an eye for good junk. It stinks.

I love seeing the fun finds some of my friends like Mandi, KariAnne and Brooke seem to come up with on their trips out. You better believe after seeing Ariean’s bathtub to sofa project, I will be stalking her finds as well!

In the meantime, she’s here with her bathtub to sofa tutorial…

Sofa to Bathtub Tutorial

Hello, SYTYC Readers! Still in shock I won the UpCycle challenge, but so excited to share how I created a fun Outdoor Sofa from an old Cast Iron Bathtub! Are you ready?!

Here’s what I started with…An old Cast Iron Bathtub with peeling paint, but in very good condition! No rust, beautiful porcelain interior and all four original claw feet.

How did I do it? Honestly, not alone. Cast Iron Bathtubs are VERY heavy and the porcelain can chip easily. I was lucky to have the assistance of my husband on this one!

1 & 2. : Measure and mark where you would like the cut out for the sofa. We found it was best to keep the lines straight to make the cutting step easier.

3: Using a Quickie Saw, cut along the lines. Make sure to wear safety glasses and pants. The tiny shards of bathtub are very sharp! My husband cut the majority of this while I kept our little boys away. During the last cut, I held the cut piece to ensure it did not fall down on the inside of the bathtub and chip the porcelain.

4: Smooth the edges using an angle grinder. This creates a nice smooth edge and makes it safe for use.

5: All done! Ready to prep for paint!

1 & 3: Using a hand held scraper, I scraped as much of the old paint as I could. Yes, I wore a mask! Just not in this picture. You also want to find as many little helpers as you can find. In my case, three.

2: After scraping as much as I could, I used Laquer Thinner to remove even more paint. Clearly, all the paint did not come off, but that’s okay! I love the old, already loved look. If this bothers you, you can continue with the paint removal step until all paint is removed.

4: I used Press and Seal (similar to Saran Wrap) to seal down the bottom edge of the tub. It covered the area perfectly and stayed in place during the paint step.

5. I removed the drain. This can be left in place, too.

Yay! We’re getting closer…Time to paint!

1: First, I sprayed the tub with two coats of spray paint primer.

2: I cleaned the claw feet and sprayed them with primer as well.

3: The feet received a few coats of ivory spray paint.

4: I painted the exterior of the tub with Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer in River Mist (exterior paint in a satin finish.) This only took one coat, but brands of paint may vary. I had this paint left over from our Poolhouse and it just happened to match my fabric perfectly!

Bathtub is finished…Woo-hoo! Now to make it pretty…and comfortable!

To make a comfy place to kick back and relax, I started with a trip to Joann’s to purchase foam and fabric…I did not plan this excursion well, because I went on Labor Day with three small boys. There was light at the end of the trip, though…Lucky for me, the foam and outdoor fabric was on sale 50% off that day! I had NO IDEA foam was so expensive, so make sure to plan that into the cost of re-purposing a bathtub if you ever choose to.

Measure the interior width and length of the bathtub and add a couple inches to the length. It can always be trimmed back later. I wish I would have left mine a little longer so the cushion would have a tighter fit at each end.

Wrap cushion in quilt batting and cover with outdoor fabric. I could have made a slipcover for this, but chose not to. Why? Because I live in a house of boys. We live in the country. There is a lot of dirt. Those three combined means I will be washing this a lot. So, I simply serged around the edges of the fabric (not shown), sprayed it with a couple coats of scotch guard and tucked it around the edges of the foam.
For the pillows, I created simple covers for some extra pillows I had around the house. I measured the existing pillow and added seam allowance, then stitched them up.

For the backing, I used an old slipcover from my sofa in a cream twill. This way, if the color is too bold, I can tone it down with a more neutral look. I may even stencil on a couple of them!
Whew! That was a lot, but all that hard work turned into a beautiful, comfortable and unique piece of furniture for my back patio. Now if I can just get my kids off of it long enough to enjoy it myself!

Thank you all so very much for your votes and giving me the chance to share this tutorial! Have a Happy Week!

What a great tutorial Ariean! To see more of Ariean’s great projects visit her site, One Krieger Chick.

Best Birthday Tutorials

September 15, 2013 by Tauni

I spent the more formal part of my career working as a public relations consultant for Utah politicians.

When a good portion of your job is spent briefing officials about the “hot topics” of a particular area (say, something like the plight of gophers in northeastern Utah) your brain tends to contain a WHOLE LOT of completely meaningless information.

Not one to be stingy with trivia, I wanted to share (though I think this season’s contestants really wish I wouldn’t have)…

Utah has the highest birthrate in the nation, so it’s only natural that I would pick up a thing or two about the ebb and flow of birthdays.

Did you know that Monday, September 16, marks the most popular birthday in the U.S.?

It’s true.

Before you start trying to do the math, I will just put it out there…Nine months = December.

In any event, it’s only natural that we’d have a birthday challenge this week,right? Right.

I can’t wait to show you what our awesome competitors have created for this round. MAN THESE GUYS ARE GOOD!

I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite birthday related posts to kick off this week’s fun.

12 birthday tutorials

Best Birthday Tutorials on the Web

Balloon Wreath Tutorial via Bits of Everything

Curly Ribbon Birthday Wreath Tutorial via SNAP!

Confetti Wall via Allison Celestia

DIY Tissue Tassel Tutorial via Green Wedding Shoes

Fringed Crepe Paper Streamers Tutorial via SNAP!

Zig Zag Streamers Tutorial via Oh Happy Day

Confetti Dipped Balloon Tutorial via Studio DIY

DIY Rainbow Pinata Tutorial via The Sweetest Occaision

Free Printable Birthday Subway Art via Eighteen 25

Birthday Crown Tutorial via Heidi & Finn

Birthday Hat Tutorial via Your Homebased Mom

Easy Chevron Rainbow Birthday Cake Tutorial via SNAP!

Birthday Balloon Sprinkle Cake via Double the Fun Parties

Birthday Cake Pop Tutorial via Niner Bakes

Upcycle Challenge Results Season 17, Week 2

September 13, 2013 by Tauni

What a great week. There were honestly so many great projects featured this week, any one of the projects could be featured as the winner. Speaking of winners, I am pretty sure that you just want me to get on with things, rather than rambling on…

Upcycle Challenge Results

Crafter Reveal

Project #1 Child’s Desk – Michelle, Delicate Construction
Project #2 Upcycled Dining Table – Emily, The Benson Street
Project #3 Door to Coffee Table – Dru, Polkadot Poplars
Project #4 Dresser Upcycle – Lynda, Oh So Shabby
Project #5 Bathtub Sofa – Ariean, One Krieger Chick
Project #6 Midcentury Modern Dresser – Justynn, Creative Life Antics
Project #7 Button and Crochet Art – Daniela, Bonito Servico
Project #8 Thrift Store Skirt to Beach Bag – Crystal, Stitched by Crystal
Project #9 Upcycled Ruffle Onesie – Krisha, Jacks and Kate

Upcycle Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Ariean, from One Krieger Chick, who stole the show with her amazing bathtub to sofa upcycle.

Seriously. Could this project have been ANY cooler? I think not! “Tune” in next Tuesday to see Ariean’s tutorial for this INCREDIBLE project.

Leaving This Week

Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Daniela, from Bonito Servico. Daniela has served as our lone international participant this year. Be sure to come back and learn more about her on Wednesday!

Leather Tassel Tutorial

September 12, 2013 by Tauni

I have a selection of handbags in my closet that haven’t been pulled out and used in years. I don’t use them because they’re really only made to carry a very small wallet, lipstick, a cell phone and car keys.

I can’t bear to part with them because 1) they’re adorable 2) they were purchased back when I had disposable income, so they’re nice 3) they remind me of a time that I was cute and trendy.

These days I can’t be bothered to make sure my purse matches my outfit and/or shoes and I am more inclined to carry a bucket or hobo bag than a little handbag or wristlet.

I love carrying a big purse. Everything fits inside…

The problem? I keep loosing my keys. I’ve spent countless minutes searching my bag, only to determine that they must be somewhere else in the house, changing my mind and finally finding them in the deep recesses of my purse.

Let’s not even talk about the time that they ripped the lining and lodged themselves inside…

I decided it was time to invest in a key fob of some sort to keep my keys handy. PLUS, I really wanted to play along and create something for this week’s upcycle challenge.

While I am not quite ready to rid my closet of the cute little bags of yesteryear, I did have a bucket bag that I was ready to get rid of and I decided to take it apart and make a faux leather tassel (plus, the faux leather was great practice in case it turned out).

Handbag to Tassel

The faux leather on this bag was well-worn and I loved how soft it was.

Leather Tassel Tutorial

Leather Tassel Tutorial Supplies:

Old bag, jacket or other source of leather
Lobster Clasp Key Ring
Medium Metallic Brad
Aleene’s Leather & Suede Glue

The first step to creating the tassel was to deconstruct the bag. I was a little worried it would be difficult to cut through the leather, but it was fairly thin and I easily cut the purse up with my office scissors. The most difficult part was taking apart the front. The lining involved in the stitched leather was a lot heavier than that on the back.

I am going to save the multi-colored stitched leather for another project – maybe an iPad case?

I took the regular brown leather and cut it into 4×11″ panels. With a heavier leather (which would actually look better), you might trim this down to 10″ long.

Once I had the right size panel, I used my rotary cutter to create a fringe. I sliced off one of the strips to use as the tab for the lobster clasp.

Once the fringe is cut, I glued the small piece of leather onto the lobster clasp. Once the tab was dry, I started to wrap the leather fringe around the tab.

I wrapped slowly, making sure that the glue was sticking and the fringe was secure.

Once the entire fringe was wrapped, I cut a very thin strip of leather and wrapped it around the fringe. Finally I added the brad for detail.

I really love the tassel, but now I have decided that I would REALLY love it if it was in a nice soft gold leather…Sigh. I guess I will have to find a panel!

Interview with Melissa, Fablifyit

September 11, 2013 by Tauni

I am so excited to be sharing my interview with Melissa, from Fablifyit, with you today. Melissa is an amazing woman who’s not only got a fun website, but also runs a successful business!

Interview with Melissa, Fablifyit

1. Tell as a little bit about yourself and your blog.

My blog, Fablifyit, is about all fun things you can make with vinyl, wood, or anything else I can come up with! I love finding new ways to do things. I love photos, and sayings.