Anticipation...

Some pieces of two up-coming projects! Can you guess what they are?? 

Hand Painted cooler

This project is pretty simple if you can trace and paint.

You can paint whatever you want on it but there are just a few things to remember.

Things you need:

Acrylic paint

Cooler (I had a textured one and I think it works better with keeping the paint on)

A sealer spray

Brushes 

I painted this as a graduation present.

My boyfriend is a fire/medic and so I painted him a cooler to take to the station (and the beach)

You can paint whatever you'd like, I pretty much traced everything except the arrows on the FSU side and the hand writing.  

When you are painting a cooler it is really important to prime it first.

Always use acrylic paint because it will stick better.

Also spray a sealer spray on it so the paint will not chip as bad.

That is pretty much it, not a too difficult project.

Here are all the sides (and progress):

I also tapped of the handle and then untapped to paint it black

 Gray and white side, dog in progress

 Red side

 FSU side (and straightened up color lines between red and white)

 Fire side in progress

 Fire side finished

 FSU side finished

 Black lab side finished

 Paramedic side finished

Happy Crafting!

Always, 

Mel =)

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

This cake sounded like a fabulous idea for my boyfriends Paramedic School Graduation because he loves anything mint chocolate chip. 

Things you need:

Cake mix (unless you want to follow the recipe and make it homemade)

Spring form pan

Ingredients for frosting (shown below)

FOR THE FROSTING:

1 cup butter, softened
8 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup milk plus 2 Tbsp
11 oz dark chocolate chunks (62%cacao) or mini chocolate chips

1/8 tsp green food coloring gel

However, I must say I did cheat on this recipe a little.  

Instead of making the chocolate cake from scratch I used a BOXED CAKE! Gasp!!! 

I got the moist chocolate cake by Betty Crocker

Works just the same and honestly I do not think it affected the taste of the cake as a whole at all.

I also didn't bake two layers of cake.  I did one big cake in a spring form pan and I was going to cut it in half depending on how much it rose but I ended up just leaving it in one piece. 

I also did not make the chocolate ganache.

I didn't really find it necessary, just too much chocolate. (I can't believe I just said that) 

So, if you do not buy a cake mix and you want to make that and the ganache the recipe for those can be found here...

http://megseverydayindulgence.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/chocolate-cake-with-mint-chocolate-chip-frosting-crazy-cooking-challenge/

If you are just making the frosting you can also find the instructions there.

Frosting can be tricky if you haven't made it before (I hadn't and it could of been thicker)

It is really all about eyeing it and checking the consistency of it as you go. 

You'll probably need more food coloring in the frosting than they say, because I did because it was not green enough.

All in all this cake was amazing! And I'm not a huge fan of the mint chocolate chip thing but I will definitely be making this again.

I made it my own and it was still fabulous!

Here is the final product...

Happy baking!

Always,

Mel =)

Beach Buddy

This project is definitely a more complicated one.  If you cant sew you will definitely need someone who can.  

I followed instructions of someone on Pinterest of course but my mom helped me and we changed it around a lot. 

All  you need is:

Two bath towels (any color you want, mine was a bigger towel too)

Stuffing (shown below) 

Thread in the colors you want

Sewing machine

Chop stick

About a yard of material you choose

Scissors 

First you are going to cut your straps on one of your towels.  You can measure however far you want really and then fold it over like this to see if it is a big enough strap for you.  

 After you cut two they should look like this... mine are about 4 inches wide 

 Then you sew them together all the way down on each one..

 And you also sew up one end 

 This is what it will look like when they are sewn together

 After that, use your chopstick to turn the straps inside out so you can't see where you just sewed. 

 After you turn them in.. they will look like this

Next you will be sewing the pillow

You fold the remaining towel that you cut the straps out of.  Fold it over and leave about 3 or 4 inches (as shown below).  This is where you will sew the other towel to it

You'll then sew that together where the towel meets

Sew it together all the way around leaving a small opening, large enough for your hand, at the top so you can put the stuffing in (as sewn below) 

 After you stuff it, it will look like this

 Where the piece hanging off ends, you will want to do a zigzag stitch all the way down so that the towel will not fray. 

Now you will fold the piece hanging off under the end of the pillow (as shown below) 

 Then pin it..

 Pin the other towel to the pillow..

 And then sew them together with a zigzag stitch

 It will look like this

You might be able to figure this out a better way for yourself since I am not good at explaining.  I think the pictures will help you to be able to figure it out.  (That's what I did)

Next you will roll it up as so...

 Then decide where you want your straps to go.

Pin them where you want them and then unroll it and sew the straps on in a square shaped stitch.

Once they are sewn on they will look like this.

The pillow will unfold if you pick it up because you haven't put on the velcro yet.

The pockets are next

Cut the pockets to the size and shape you want leaving a little bit of room to hem the pocket (as shown below) 

 Pin like this all the way around and then sew right down the middle of the hem

 This is what it will look like

 You will then pin it on the towel and sew it all around, except for the top of course.  I then sewed it down the middle to make a pocket big enough for a magazine and one small enough for your phone.

Do the same with the back pocket

 Sew it on as well.  Make sure to keep them tight when you are sewing to make it a good pocket.

Last but not least is the velcro.

I rolled up the towel and pillow and put velcro where the beach buddy closed.  I marked it with a pin and just sewed a straight line down the middle.

 I also sewed a little piece in the small pocket for the phone and camera pocket

After that you are done!

I think the pictures will explain how to do it better than the words I wrote.

Good luck!

Happy crafting and happy tanning! 

Always, 

Mel =)