February 2010 – Dabbled

IF: Propagate – Robot Matryoshka Dolls

Dot — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:34:44 +0000

Illustration Friday prompt this week was Propagate… I’m not really sure HOW these dolls propagate, but I’m sure it’s interesting :)

This seemed to be begging for a caption, this was the one I came up with… any better ideas?

If you missed it..Earlier today: Clothes Tutorials – recycle your wardrobe!

And the latest from Foodwhirl.com!

Clothes Tutorials – recycle your wardrobe!

Dot — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:21:04 +0000

At Dabbled we love to make something new out of something old.
It’s a great way to get new uses out of something that you don’t wear or is outgrown, and if you mess up, well, you’re not out expensive fabric, right? Plus, it’s fun to REFASHION!

Here’s a few tutorials to start you on your way!

Kids Refashioning Tutorials:

There are a ton of these out there, these were just a few I had saved in my ‘to write about’ file!

Or a girl’s dress from a fun T-shirt!
An oldie but goodie, with Easter around the corner: A bunny hat from a kid’s t-shirt! (via Craft)
T-shirts make great materials : Make Baby Sleep Sacks or Make a cute baby hat!(via Little Birdie Secrets)
Toddler Lounge Pants from old T’s – comfy and stylin’!

Toddler Ruffle Skirt from T-shirts a Sew Much Ado
Girl’s Jean skirt with flower trim made from (duh) old jeans.
Mom’s old skirt becomes a cute girls dress.

And some for the adults

(sorry guys, this are pretty much all for the girls — someone find me some good men’s refashioning and i’ll post it!)

fancified cardi at Angry Chicken
Cute belted skirt from a men’s dress shirt at CraftStylish.
Men’s Shirt to Dress at Clevergirl

And a few that were published right here on Dabbled!

Winter’s not over yet, has your little kitten lost his mittens? by Heather from Dollar Store Crafts
Turn two outgrown shirts into a new long sleeve Tshirt by Me!
Give old girls jeans way cute new life by Colleen from Some Art Fabric / Slothcraft.

(Got a cool refashioning project you’d like to see published on Dabbled? Email Us- dot[at]dabbled[dot]org!)

Featured here? Be sure to grab a Button!

Another reader re-creation.. The Dragon Cake

Dot — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:30:20 +0000

Yesterday I posted a reader version of the Perry the Platypus costume..

Then today I ran across this on my instructable on making the dragon cake:

Here’s mommy_in_a_meditative_midlife_crisis‘s version of the Dragon Cake, which she made for her son’s 6th birthday last year! “I just got finished making the cake for my son’s 6th birthday party today. Thanks so much for your easy to follow directions! It made the whole process quite enjoyable! Since I couldn’t get. A hold of Easter candy in September I just made fondant covered cake balls for the eggs and used fondant for the spikes.”

Great job, down to the personality in the eyelids! And great job at improvising on the candy corns and malted eggs, with more fondant.

The Original, for comparison

How to make a Dragon Cake

A few Good things…

Dot — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:08:40 +0000

Love This! It’s a great stop motion of “Adobe Photoshop Cook” making butter cookies! (via Swissmiss)

Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo.

Agent P (Perry) Costume

Reader Nina used the Perry the Platypus costume idea from October to create this fun Perry costume for her daughter. I love how she made the one piece Perry body (since she couldn’t find green sweats) using a sweatshirt and sweatpants of hers for the pattern. According to Nina: “We cut a line down the back so she could get in it, and used strips of matching fleece to make two ties to hold it closed. We followed your directions for the beak, feet, and tail, and it came out fabulously. She loves it and wears it as often as she can.” The Boy still wears his all the time too! All hail Phineas & Ferb!

Recent Recipes at Foodwhirl:

Have you checked out Foodwhirl yet? We’re getting quite a lot of great recipes and meal ideas, and it’s been a blast… So go drop in and say hi! And spread the word to all your food loving friends!

The Finger Puppet Bus

Dot — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:18:45 +0000

Does your child have finger puppets that get lost and scattered about? Or is your child really a little small for wearing them on their fingers, but still likes to play with them? This is actually a re-run from 2008 when the boy had just turned 3, and was not really dexterous enough to wear his finger puppets, but still wanted to play with them. I’m busy working on a new project today, and there might be a few of you who missed this tutorial back then, so I figured I’d share it with your today!

This is a very simple design, which could of course be expanded upon and be made even more creative. And wouldn’t something like this be a great accompaniment to a gift of homemade finger puppets?

I had the handy hubby write up detailed how to instructions, so if you’d like to make one yourself, go here!

Some other kid-related blasts from the past you might enjoy:

OK, back to work on my new top secret project! I’ll share it with you guys as soon as I can :)

Cakes Galore!

Dot — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:50:58 +0000

On the Foodwhirl.com blog today I have a post up highlighting some interesting and fun cakes I found on flickr.. Go check it out!

And while you’re in the mood, here are some other great cake/sweets roundups from Dabbled’s past!

A plethora of Geeky Cakes!

My own robot cake from a few years back, and a roundup of other robot cake ideas!

Last year’s Dragon Cake!

Hungry yet?

Wow! Homemade Faux Fireplace Screen (with a how-to)

Dot — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:29:46 +0000

I just ran across this at How to Do Something, and I was so impressed I figured I’d add it to today’s inspirations list! She made it out of wood, and screen, and cans, and twigs… Seriously, how cool is that?

Go over there and check it out – she shows a step by step on how she did it.

If you missed it, the rest of the inspiration links for friday are HERE

Stuff I like today.

Dot — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:09:54 +0000

These fish by Mimi Kirchner are just fabulous

Buy them or the pattern to make them at her etsy shop

~OR~ How about a fancy looking dessert from very humble origins?

I adore this great idea from Dollar Store Crafts – Make these lovely little Twinkie Bon Bons from the tutorial Heather did at Odeedoh.

I’ll Sail this Ship of Gnomes.

Dot — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:53:06 +0000

For my Illustration (not quite) Friday, this is my take on ‘adrift’..

I’ve always loved The Beautiful South (and the Housemartins before), but when we hear I’ll Sail this Ship Alone, my sweetie and I like to say “Sail this Ship of Gnomes”.. not quite sure how it started, but that’s why we have a lovely little sketch of a ship of gnomes for your perusal today.

I’ll Sail This Ship Alone (BBC Session – Mark Goodier 10/6/89) by The Beautiful South

Play song from Lala.com
The BBC Sessions – 2007 – 3:47

Oh, and go check out my latest food post at Foodwhirl.com: White Chocolate Granola Bars!

How to Make White Chocolate Ginger Granola Bars

Dot — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:30:25 +0000

Today I’m over a Foodwhirl, posting my recipe for White Chocolate & Ginger granola bars.. Go check it out!

My husband and son eat a granola bar for breakfast almost daily, and while I’m always stocked on the store bought ones, sometimes I like to make them from scratch. It’s an easy process — very kid-helping-friendly, too. And it takes an hour at most from start to finish (including 25 minutes bake time)
The variations on these are endless. I actually made 3 different flavors in this batch, 1 Chocolate Chip, 1 White Chocolate, and 1 Ginger/White Chocolate, but the ones that really popped were the Ginger & White Chocolate variation. The spicy candied ginger is a wonderful contrast to the sweet white chocolate. Read the whole thing and get the recipe..

Granola loves snowy days!