Retro Pillow Challenge: Mickey Mouse Pillow

** Thank you for visiting MoMomma! **
If you like what you see, please follow my blog -->
AND, leave a comment to say hello!
***********************************************


I am honored to show you my submission for the

Retro Pillow Challenge:

What do you think?

I found my inspiration while browsing a Disney site and stumbled across this Mickey Bag. Isn't it cute?

The Black fabric has some really cool details on it that reminded me of a retro pattern.

I quilted stripes across the black fabric (about ever 2 inches side to side)

I added two layers of Mickey applique in coordinating fabric and quilted each of them on top of the black fabric

It's sooo soft and cuddly!

My kids are going to LOVE it :)

 (Here is the   FRONT    and    BACK     of myPillow)

You can even VOTE on your favorite!

CLICK HERE TO GO VOTE

I'll be posting a step by step tutorial of how I made my pillow this weekend!

Stay TUNED

Vote today for your favorite!

Cat Litter Cake Tutorial

And now... I present the Cat Litter Cake:

Pretty icky, Right?

I saw this a while back and knew I needed to try it out for myself.

My brother's 40th Birthday was the PERFECT event.

Let's get started.

Step 1: Assemble Ingredients

Baking pans from the dollar store (same size as the litter pan)

Nerds (for fancy green specs found in cat litter)

Tootsie Rolls (for, well, the Poop)

 Step 2: Prepare the pan

Cat litter Pan (this is just a regular old tupperware container)

Found at the dollar store!

I baked two cakes in total, enough to fill up the litter box :)

 TIP: Please oh PLEASE.....

Run the "cat litter pan" through your dish washer!  

Maybe even do this step a couple of times just to be safe.

Step 3: Layer the cake in the pan. 

(I cut up one layer and stacked it along the edge so there were no random open spaces along the edge)

Step 4: Cover with Frosting

 Step 5:  Make the cat litter

Grind up about 20 sandwich cookies.

I found that the tuxedo cookies worked great for the coloring!

Step 6: Cover cake with cat litter!

 Step 7: Add green odor specs

aka... Nerds candy

 

 Step 8:   Prepare the Tootsie Rolls :)

Heat in the microwave for 5 seconds and unwrap

Step 9:  Get Creative ... make poop!

(KidMo LOVED helping on this step!)

I shaped two Tootsie Rolls in the shape of a "40"

for the special occasion :)

 Ta-Da!

And now you can make your very own Cat Litter Cake!

 Oh... and don't forget to pick up a pooper scooper while you are at the Dollar Store!  It makes a perfect accent to the cake :)

OK - Let the comments ROLL in!
What do you REALLY think of this cake?

Funny?
Disgusting?

Let's hear it! :)

 My family had a blast with the cake.

The kids thought it was hillarious... but were too afraid to eat the "poop"

The adults couldn't stop taking photos of it.

Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Here's to 40 More years!

Sewing: DIY Car Seat Cover Canopy Tutorial

Today's Sewing Tutorial is for this adorable

DIY Car Seat Canopy Cover

You may have noticed I am the ONLY girl in this household.

When a close friend of mine found out she was expecting a girl I jumped at the chance to make this adorable PINK Car Seat Cover for her!  :)

I found inspiration by these blogs:

Oopsie Daisy Carseat Cover Tutorial

Saw Dust & Paper Scraps- Gift for New Baby

Make it Do - Baby Car Seat Cover

Please visit these blogs as they have amazing tutorials also!

 First: Start with some adorable fabric.

I scored this fabric below from one of my favorite places:

Hobby Lobby!

Click HERE for this week's Hobby Lobby sales.

Step 2: Cut to Size: 35 x 42

I followed THREE main Car Seat Tutorials and took the best from all of them. 

The final size I ended up with was 35 wide by 42 inches long.

Step 3: Round Corners

I loved the car seat covers with rounded corners. The process for each was a little different. I decided to go with a wide sweeping corner.  I marked in 10 inches from the corner on the narrow side (front of the cover) and on the widest part of the cover 14 inches from the corner (the side of the cover).

Like this:

Then I drew a line between these marks (making a triangle) and free hand drew a curvy line within the triangle that looked nice.

If this step makes you uneasy you can just grab a bowl from the kitchen and use the rounded edge as your guide.

Step 4: Pin edges together and cut your First corner

Step 5: Trace & Cut all Corners

In this step I simply flipped over my fabric rectangle, matched up the edges and traced this corner curve onto the other corner.  I did this three times and got the same pretty curved edge in each corner. Easy!

*Tip:  Remember put your fabric right sides together at this phase prior to cutting so that your edges are all pinned and ready for sewing in the next phase :)

Step 6:  Sew 1/4 Around the edge

The important thing to remember for this step is that your fabrics must be facing wrong sides OUT.  We will be leaving a small 4 inch area not sewn closed so that we can turn the fabric right side out.

Step 7: Clip Corners

Clipping the corners will help make the fabric lay nicer once flipped the correct way.

Step 8: Time to FLIP!

Now it's time to flip inside out, or in this case, RIGHT side out.  

If you have trouble with the corners, grab a pencil or chopstick to really push the corners and edges out nicely.

* TIP: Remember to Press with an iron once you have your car seat cover right side out to get a nice crisp edge.

Step 9: Edging

Sew 1/4 inch around the entire length of the car seat cover.

This will make a super finished edge that looks very professional. It also seals up the small area that we left un-sewn.  I'm using white thread on top and brown in the bobbin below.

Here is a close up of the edge.... doesn't it look pretty?!

Step 10: Create Straps

There were so many different ways to make handles for the car seat cover that it was hard to choose. I didn't have enough fabric to get too creative so I sewed what I had leftover into small strips.  My plan was to create a brown contrasting stripe down the center.  

If you like my straps here is how to make them

I took 4 pieces of fabric that were 2 x 9.5 and sewed them together

Cut the edges with a rotary cutter to make sure they are all even.

Here is what they look like after sewing each strip together:

* Tip: Be sure to Iron before sewing together in step 11


Step 11: Make a tube!

Now you will need to sew the edges of your 4 strips together to make a tube of fabric.

Below you can see on the left what the finished tube will look like once you have turned it right side out. 

The one on the right shows what it looks like after sewing.

Step 12: Iron & Close Tube

The next step requires you to iron your tube flat.

Be sure to position your stripes of fabric just how you will want them in this phase.

I wanted a Brown stripe in the middle with Pink on each side. Before Ironing I made sure it looked good and ironed into place

Then, gently tuck under the top and bottom about 1/2 inch and sew closed.  

I sewed all along the edge of the entire strap to again make a finished edge.

Step 13: Get ready for Velcro

The step below shows my finished Velcro ready straps!

I put two rectangles of the soft "loop" side on the top of the strap and two rectangles of the "hook" on the bottom part of the strap.

*TIP- Be sure to position these correctly so that the strap will close. This means that your "hook" Velcro will actually be on the opposite side of the strap than the "loop".  

See below how it is turned to show both sides?

Step 14: Attach the Straps

This step had me totally nervous.

I'm not going to lie.

Here is a close up of the strap: 

It turned out Great!! 

First, I folded the fabric in half the wide way (or "Hamburger style" as Oopsie Daisy says in her tutorial)

I measured 9 1/2 inches from each side of the car seat cover.

Then, I sewed on each strap with a small rectangle.

I used a zig-zag stitch on mine.

Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

And, if you like this tutorial, please follow my blog :)

Thank you

This project was featured on:

Linking up to these great sites: Serenity Now, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, While He Was Napping, Just a Girl, Shabby Nest, Finding Fabulous, Home Sweet Farm, Tidy Mom, 504 Main, Truly Lovely, Paisley Passions, Making the World Cuter, Six Sisters Stuff, I Heart Naptime, Making The World Cuter, Craft O Maniac, Embelishing Life, Skip to My Lou, Sew Chatty, Keeping it Simple, Sew Can Do, Ninth Street Notions, C.R.A.F.T., Polish The STars, Chocolate Drool and Kisses, Canoe Ridge Creations, 11th Heaven's Homemaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sugar Bee Crafts,  Vintage Wanna Be,  Running with Glitter, Skip the Housework, Today's Creative Craft,Tootsie Wootsie, Sew Woodsy, Tip Junkie, Sew Much Ado, Six Sisters Stuff, Tip Junkie, Girl Creative, Not JUST a Housewife, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Fabric Bows and More,Good Bye City Hello Suburbs, Funky Junk, My Repurposed Life

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes

Today we are giving a HUGE (chocolatey) shout out to

Your Homebased Mom

I recently saw her blog post for Peanut Butter - Chocolate Twist Cupcakes and fell in love.

I knew I had to make them immediately.

Here is a photo of her perfect creation
(not to be confused with my attempt above)

Isn't her cupcake just beautiful?

Mine may not look perfect, but boy did they taste good!

Let's go through the steps of making these awesome treats.

First, go HERE to view the recipe, I will also paste it below.  Home Based Mom was kind enough to make a printable for her recipe, so be sure to go on over to her website to get that and give her some comment love.

1/2 C butter (room temperature)

3 eggs (room temperature)

2 1/2 C flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 C creamy peanut butter

1 C packed brown sugar

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 C milk

4 oz. milk chocolate, melted

1 recipe Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 recipe Chocolate Frosting

1.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl.  Set aside.

2.  Preheat oven to 375.  In a large bowl (or your favorite Kitchen Aid) beat butter for about 30 seconds and then add peanut butter and combine.

3. Add in brown sugar and white sugar, about a 1/4 cup at a time.  Beat at a medium speed until combined and mixed together (remember to scrape the sides along the way).

(Don't worry about the "interesting" texture here, keep on pressing forward!)

4. Add in eggs, beating well after each one.  Add vanilla.

5: Add in flour and milk alternating. Mix on low speed after each addition.

(Melt chocolate in microwave)

 6. Pour half of the batter in another bowl and add melted chocolate.

(note- my chocolate batter turned out a little thick, watch the ratio of chocolate to batter)

7.  Fill lined muffin cups half with peanut butter batter and half chocolate batter. Fill about 2/3 full. Use knife to swirl the batter in each cup.

(note - I chose not to swirl my batter but rather left them stacked)

8.  Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make sure to let the cupcakes cool entirely before frosting.

( I like the swirled / stacked look of the two flavors!)

9. While cupcakes are cooling, start mixing up your frosting.

Head on over to Your Homebased Mom for all her frosting tips!  Follow her recipes below, I've honestly never had yummier frosting - ever!

Peanut Butter Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
6 C powdered sugar.
2-4 tsp of milk until desired consistency
Beat cream cheese, peanut butter  and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Gradually add in powdered sugar.  Add milk, 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency.  Divide into two portions.  Set aside one for the Chocolate Frosting.
Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 of peanut butter frosting
1/2 C cocoa (or more to desired taste)
Beat until well combined.
Fill decorating bags with each frosting.  Put both bags into one large bag and add desired tip.  Pipe onto cupcakes.

See how mine turned out....

*Note:  The double piping technique worked for me on exactly three cupcakes before the icing exploded out of the bag.  Awesome right?

And, when I say explode, I mean EXPLODE!
All the frosting exited the bag! I had just enough left in the bags to make one circle of frosting, in one flavor, on top of each cupcake.

I decided to just ice the rest with the peanut butter chocolate frosting and they turned out fabulous!

So, what do you think?  Please leave me a comment below with your thoughts.

linking up here:  This Chick Cooks, Funky Junk Interiors, Serenity Now, Finding Fabulous, Whipper Berry, Craft Junkie Too, Making the World Cuter, Craft O Maniac, Keeping it Simple, Polish the Stars, Sumo's Sweet,