Happy Birthday DH!

Happy birthday!

Blaze painting the wrapping paper:



Today, we wrapped the gift and Blaze made a birthday card:





DH asked for a chocolaty birthday cake, so this is what I came up with. It's the "crazy cake" recipe with a cup of dark chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of halved dark, sweet cherries added to the batter.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside. In a larger mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until thoroughly mixed and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat. Mix in the pumpkin. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating all the time on low setting.

Use a non-stick baking spray or additional butter to grease muffin pans.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool before decorating with cream cheese frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Solar Powered Fun

We are still working on weather related science. Here are two hands-on projects that we did to demonstrate solar energy.

The solar balloon:



The thin black plastic absorbs heat, causing the balloon to rise.





The solar car kit:

Since we ordered a "used", although never before opened, kit, we were able to find one that was less than $6 on Amazon . The Klutz brand kit was very easy to put together. By following the picture directions, Blaze assembled most of it by himself. The only thing he needed help with, was pushing the wheels onto the axels, because they were a very tight fit.

Falling Waters State Park

It was a federal holiday, so DH didn't have to work today and we were all able to take a little road trip to Falling Waters State Park. It's about an hour and a half west of Tallahassee.



The highest waterfall in Florida:





Signs of autumn, even though the temperature was still 82 degrees today:





The swimming beach at the lake:



Stopping to look at the map:





Tired out after a nice long walk:



Were talking about going back to Falling Waters to camp, sometime in the future.

The Fake Fur Stole

I was making good use of my inability to sleep again last night. I sewed a quick and easy stole to go with my costume.

Furry fabric was on-sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics, 40% off, so two yards of this fabric was only $6 and some change. If you'd like, you can line a stole with a contrasting color or texture of fabric (silk or satin are popular lining fabrics), but since I had enough fake fur, I used that for the lining and the outer layer.

Working on the wrong-side of the fabric, the measurements can be drawn directly onto the cloth, so there is no need for a pattern. Place your arms straight down at your side and measure around your body, starting just under your shoulders. This will be the length of the stole. Measure from the top of your shoulder to the bend of your elbow. This will be the width of the stole. After marking out the measurements on the cloth, curved corners can be added by tracing around a bowl or plate. Cut two pieces of fabric this same size and place them right-sides together.




Cut two two-foot long pieces of ribbon to be the ties. Place the ribbons, one on each end of the stole, where the upper curved edge meets the end of the stole. Pin the ribbon in place inside the two pieces of fabric, so that only a tiny edge of the ribbon shows. Starting at the middle of the top edge, sew the two pieces of fabric together. Sew all the way around the perimeter of the cloth until you are 4-6 inches from where you began. Leave that area unsewn, so that the stole can be turned right-side out.

When the stole has been turned right-side out, hand-stitch the hole closed.





A "fur" stole does not have to be limited to costumes. This would be a simple, cute idea for an autumn or winter wedding.

The Time Travel Top Hat

The next part of my costume is finished, the Time Travel Top Hat. As the "Ghost of Christmas Past", I will need a way to transport mortals back to their childhoods.

The hat is modeled tonight by the lovely, and yet to be carved, Halloween Pumpkin:

No-Sew Tutu

With Blaze's help, I have begun working on my Halloween costume for this year. My plan is to be a steampunk version of the ghost of Christmas past, so I wanted a light, flowy, ghostly skirt. This no-sew tutu is great for that.

I started out with 6-inch wide strips of white tulle, 52-inches long and gradually increased the length of the strips until the strips near the tie in back of the skirt are 72 inches long.

A wide piece of ribbon serves as the waist band, cut to the measurement of my waist, plus 2 feet. I tied the ends of the ribbon to two chair backs (in this case, child-size chairs) to make attaching the tulle strips easier.

1. Fold a strip of tulle in half, creating a loop at one end. Place the loop next to the ribbon.



2. Pull the loose ends of the strip of tulle up and over the opposite side of the ribbon and through the loop.



3. Pull tight.



4. Repeat. Keep all the knot tightly pushed together.



Keep going until the knots cover the area equal to your waist size.



The finished skirt is tied in back with a bow.