Friday, October 27, 2017

Embroidered Fox Raglan Tee


For Harlow's third birthday, we had a pumpkin patch party.  For her first birthday, I made a pumpkin shirt, but I don't really want to dress her in a pumpkin shirt once December gets here.  I wanted something that wouldn't look out of season once fall is over.  I thought this fox design was perfect for a fall birthday but would still be cute through spring!

The fox design is actually an appliqué, but I skipped the appliqué stitches on my embroidery machine and just did the satin stitches (or whatever they're called) that you see.  I did the H the same way, skipping the appliqué.  The H is also from Planet Appliqué, and (if I remember correctly) it's the Landon Alphabet.  Side note: I got the fox and alphabet for free!  Planet Appliqué offers free files on occasion.  Follow her on Facebook and sign up for emails to know when free files are available.

I used Sew What Pro to resize the fox and H and to remove the overlap stitches.


The raglan tee is from Walmart for less than $4!  Be sure to order it through ebates to get cash back!

I paired this top with a fox bow that was from my boutique I owned.  When I found out I was having a girl, I immediately bought the bow from the lady that made them for my store!

A toddler in a fox shirt is about the cutest ensemble.  And raglan tees-- the best!



Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Pumpkin Shaped Chocolate Cake

Our daughter turned 3 on Saturday, and we took a trip to the pumpkin patch to celebrate.  We have done this every year on her birthday since she was 1.  This year both sides of our family came with us, and we did this in place of a party like we've done the past two years.

Since we were going to the pumpkin patch, I thought a pumpkin cake would be fitting.


I used a bundt pan to make the pumpkin shape.  You can search Pinterest to see loads of ways to use bundt pans to make a pumpkin shaped cake.  My bundt pan is silicone, so it doesn't have quite the shape most pans have.  It doesn't make as defined ridges as I would have liked for the effect of a pumpkin look.

One side of the cake lined up perfectly, but the other side you can see (below) was off just a tad and showed the "joint" where the two bundt cakes met.

I made a chocolate cake that I thought was pretty delicious!  When you click to that recipe, you'll see an icing recipe that I'm sure is yummy too, but I actually make the cream cheese icing recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  Just about any icing would be good on this cake.

I needed to make more than the cake recipe said in order to baked two bundt cakes, so I made the recipe and then made half of the recipe (so 1.5 of the recipe) to make two cakes.

This cake is dense, moist (sorry if you hate that word-- ha!), and the perfect amount of chocolate.

To join the cake in the middle, I added cocoa powder to the cream cheese icing to make chocolate icing to keep the cake together.  I think the chocolate cream cheese icing was the best (Colin disagrees and thinks the plain cream cheese on the outside was the best.  It works out in marriage, because I can eat the middle, and he can eat the outside!).

I initially was going to add food coloring to the icing to make an orange pumpkin, but I decided to make a white pumpkin.  I added a little water to some of the chocolate icing to "paint" lines on the pumpkin cake.

The stem is an ice cream cone that I covered in icing and rolled in gold and red sprinkles.  I then put the cone in the freezer to set before putting it on the cake.

I then added a few sprinkles around the "stem" and at the bottom of the cake.

It's not the most professional looking cake, but Harlow loved it, and it was pretty tasty!


We kept it in an ice chest with dry ice while we were at the pumpkin patch (it was a warm day!).  Some of the icing came off as it touched the sides of the bowl covering it.  It didn't affect the taste, though!  If I make a pumpkin cake again, I think I'll search for a different bundt pan.  Other than that, it was a fun and delicious cake to make!


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