Are you looking for the white rabbit?

We recently had a 48 hr challenge on my etsy crochet team where we had to make something spring or easter related in 48 hours.  We had just gone to see Alice in Wonderland, so I chose to make a new spin on the bearded hat as a white rabbit.  Here you see the results.  It is unique, don't you think? 

And many kudos to my sweet sweet hubby for modeling for me!

Candy Kiss Hat

We went on a family vacation to California for the last few weeks of February.  It was so nice to be in the warmer weather and see green plants!  I'm very much looking forward to spring!

I did manage to make this sweet little hat while we were there.  It's my version of the candy kiss.  I am currently working on sizing the pattern and will have it available in my shop when it's ready!

St Patricks Day Hat!

I had been working on a St Patrick's Day leprechaun hat for sometime.  With the influx of orders for the bearded beanies and lumberjack hats, it got put on hold for a few weeks.  Well, I finally finished it!  I wrote up the pattern for the hat alone, as Cole is wearing it.  That pattern is available in my shop on etsy.  However, before I listed the hat itself, I thought it needed a reddish brown beard, just to complete the look!  I hope you like it!

 

newest style of the bearded beanie!

The bearded beanies and lumberjack hats have become a fairly hot item in my etsy shop.  I was having a hard time keeping up with demand!  So, a few weeks ago, I invested in a knitting machine.  I've been so busy, I hadn't had too much time to try it out.  Finally I figured out a hat pattern that seems to work pretty well!  I thought I'd share some pics of the new style and see what you all think!  And the red one is up for sale in the heartsforhaiti shop and will help benefit the victims in Haiti.

 

 

bearded beanie for haiti

Just a quick note today.  I recently listed this hat in the etsy shop named Hearts for Haiti.  All of the proceeds from this hat will go to Doctors without borders to help the people in Haiti.  It would make a great Valentine gift for your sweetie!   If you're looking for something else, I encourage you to browse through the Hearts for Haiti shop on etsy.  There are lots of other wonderful items to choose from!

the flower bed birthday cake

My sweet daughter turned 3 yrs old on Saturday!  She LOVES flowers.  So, for her birthday, this is the cake I came up with.  The bottom (dirt) portion is just a chocolate layer cake with extra crumbs put on top and around.  The flowers were made using Bakerella's cake pop recipe.  You can check it out on her website www.bakerella.com. There are lots of insanely cute variations.  This variation was what I came up with to make the flowers on the cake.  I will give you a quick summary of how I made them.

First I made the center for the cake pops, which is just one cake mix (I used chocolate here) baked and crumbled into crumbs with one container of cream cheese frosting added and mixed in.  I also added some mini m&m's to the mix.  After it's thoroughly mixed, I shaped it into balls using an ice cream scoop, making sure that one side remained flat, so that I would have a place to adhere the fondant flowers to.  So after I shaped the balls, I put them in the freezer long enough for them to get stiff enough to hold onto the sticks and hold their shape while being dipped.

Meanwhile, I had my two boys coloring 8 inch sucker sticks green with their nontoxic markers.  I purchased one bag of green candy melts and a local craft store.  I melted them in the microwave and when the balls were stiff enough, I took them out one at a time, inserted one of the newly colored sucker sticks and dipped it into the green melted candy melts and place it in a jar or vase for the candy melts to finish hardening up on the cake pops.

To make the flowers, I bought a small package of fondant that had 4 colors inside and a small set of flower fondant shape cutters.  We rolled out the fondant and cut it into the various sized flowers and used a small amount of simple syrup to adhere them together and to the cake pops.  I think water sticks them together just as well, I just had a bit of simple syrup leftover from the cake.  So, to finish it off, We stuck the flowers into the cake and put a small amount of green frosting near the base of each flower.  And it was finished! And my daughter loved it!  Mission accomplished!

A few tips I would give to anyone who decides to make this.  Wait until just before serving to insert the flowers.  The sucker sticks may soften in the cake and start to bend.  Or, you could use wooden skewers instead of the sucker sticks which probably would hold their shape for longer.

The children's bearded beanie

Here's my newest take on the beard hat!