Sunday, August 14, 2011

Another School Outfit

I made my niece's doll another polo shirt and box-pleated skirt for school so that her clothes can always match what my niece wears to school. I think I still need to make some khaki capris though!



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Friday, August 12, 2011

Aloha!

This is Kanani, the American Girl doll of the year. She is from Hawaii, obviously. When I spotted some Hawaiian-print fabric I knew I wanted to recreate her outfit for my niece's doll.



The skirt pattern I used had two layers, but I added the ruffle around the waist. The tube top was super easy. I got the pattern from Liberty Jane Patterns. They have lots of cute, cheap, modern patterns that I haven't seen anywhere else. I have bought quite a few and can't wait to make more of them. I like that this top can be worn with other things that match.



Here are all the leis I made to go with it. I got three leis at Hobby Lobby for $3, and I only needed one for the doll. I restrung it to fit her head, around her neck, and around her ankles.


For the Love of Harry Potter

It's no secret that I'm a Harry Potter fan. For several years I've wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party at The Burrow. The last movie seemed like a good occasion to invite a few friends to lunch. I need to take pictures of how I transformed our basement to The Burrow (it wasn't very hard), but for now here's the snitch cake.

I used a round sports ball pan from Wilton. I made my favorite Magnolia's Vanilla Cake batter and froze the cakes a few weeks ahead of time. I iced them frozen the night before using Jan Moon's Almond Buttercream Icing. (I lost all restraint the first time I made it and licked every bit out of the bowl. It was the best icing ever.) I used a gold icing color and sprinkled some gold edible glitter on top. The wings are vellum. Heinz had been wanting me to make wings out of spun sugar but I didn't have the time or patience. The cake itself was enough work!


The first cake:


And a second cake for when Heinz's sister and her kids visited:

Return of the Pajama Shorts

I believe that this is the fourth pair of shorts I've made for my niece and her American Girl doll. I finished them quite some time ago and just needed to do the ruffle. I think the ruffle really makes the dots pop! I call them pajama shorts, but they can actually be worn out. I think they're adorable and since they can be worn with a T-shirt, I don't feel like I have to make a matching shirt. Because that would take a lot more time.


More Hats

These bucket hats are my new favorite gifts. I love that you can pick two fabrics for each hat.

This one is for a super kid who loves superheroes, Batman and Green Lantern especially.




I have made five of these turquoise and red hats for little girls (or little girls to be). I really love this fabric combination and am glad I had a good excuse to use it!