TurtleCraftyGirl

Saturday, April 30, 2011

First Giveaway : Satin flower Hair Band


I am very excited to bring this first Giveaway of my blog to you. 





For a chance to win this Satin flower Hair band, all you need to do is one of the following. For each option below you can leave a separate comment and enter twice.

1) Follow/Like TurtleCraftyBlog on Facebook, and come and leave a comment on this post that you did so. If you already follow it, just leave a comment saying so.


2) Subscribe to the blog using 'Follow By Email' option on the top right. Then leave a comment below saying you did so. 

Leave your comment before 6pm, May 6th and I'll pick a winner at random.

Please make sure you leave a name or pseudonym and leave a link or email address so I can contact you, or make sure to come back to see if you got picked.

This giveaway has ended now.


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Egg Hunt Party


We had a very simple Easter egg hunt party with our friends and their kids. As it was pouring outside, the egg hunt had to be done indoors. I hid all the eggs the night before, but my son was able to find majority of the eggs in the morning, as soon as he got up, even before his friends arrived.. lol. I guess I did not hide them well.

Along with the lunch, I did what I love doing most.. making some stuff for a little dessert afterwards. I made the chocolate cupcakes and coconut balls. 


The printables are from the Gwynn Wasson Designs's Hippity Hop Easter collection.


Got some marshmallow peeps as well.



Hope all of you had a great Easter, and kids had all the fun egg hunting.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Rustic Wood Cake Stands




Tree Slice Cake Stand

I am very excited to put up this post of Wood Cake Stands. Cake stands are my recent obsession. So when I found rustic wood cake stands being sold on etsy, I fell in love with them. I knew I had to get one, but it was super expensive.  People were buying it for their weddings and grand occasions, and I could not justify buying one just to satisfy my obsession for it. So, I dropped the idea of buying it. But no one was stopping me from making one.. right?  So that's exactly what I did..

Here is the Tree Slice Cake stand I made...


And here's the Pedestal Cake Stand.. 

Pedestal Cake Stand
Warning: Long post. if you want to skip reading about my struggle to get the wood logs, please feel free to jump directly to the tutorial halfway below.

Once I knew what I wanted, I started my long search of finding the perfect log to make it. I not only needed a good size tree limb for it, but also a thick broad slice of log, as I wanted to make both tree slice stand and a pedestal cake stand.  Trips to park were a failure. Then a tornado hit our town, but I still did not find what I want(no one was hurt, thankfully). A month passed, and I had almost lost all hope, until one weekend, as we were driving down in our neighbourhood for a nice Sunday brunch, I saw some folks taking down the biggest tree ever. Leaving a hungry toddler in the car(with dear hubby, ofcourse), I ran to see what I could find. And yes, there it was.. lots and lots of logs of wood in all sizes. Guys cutting the tree were nice enough to cut a tree limb and a big log for me. And they were quick too, so I could hurry back to my hungry, now crying son.



Then started the long process of levelling the logs. Its probably very easy for most people out there, but we don't have many tools at home to get this job done. Regular sanding did not work, as it was way too unlevelled. Borrowed a power sander from one neighbor, that did'nt help either. Then other neighbour not only offered their power saw, but came over to help with it. Log piece was too small to work with power saw. Then my brilliant husband thought of a Planer... And yes..... Planer did the job. Yippeee... I could'nt believe how close I was getting to making this cake stand(with the help of entire neighborhood..lol). So here are the steps I followed for making these stands..

Tutorial 1: Tree Slice Cake Stand




Stuff you’ll need

A Cross-Section of a Tree Log 
Polyurethane or Butcher block oil
Brush to paint(for polyurethane)
Cloth(if using Butcher block oil)

Instructions
Step 1. Level the wood log so that the top and bottom are parallel. Use a planer tool to level it, if it needs a lot of leveling.
Step 2. Remove the moss(if any) from the bark on sides, very lightly with a sand paper. Don't go overboard with it.
Step 3. Sand the top surface to get a smooth finish and wipe the surface clean. 

Now, you can decide to coat the top surface with either butcher block oil or polyurethane.  If you use polyurethane, you cannot keep food directly on the stand surface as its not food safe. But butcher block oil is food safe. As I was making 2 cake stands, I decided to do a polyurethane layer on this one, and butcher oil on pedestal cake stand.

Step 4. Put on a coat of polyurethane on all sides-top, bottom and all around the bark. Let it dry for couple of hours, and apply a 2nd coat. Polyurethane seals the wood and prevents it from splitting, and the bark from peeling off.

If going with butcher block oil on top,  apply the oil with a clean cloth all over the surface. Let it dry for 20 minutes, and apply another 2 coats of it. 

Step 5. You are done. Now bake a cake to display on it, or use it display it as a show piece, a candle stand.. whatever you fancy..


Tutorial 2: Pedestal Cake Stand

Once the tree limb was cut and levelled, I followed the tutorial on OnceWed for the cakestand, adding few extra steps to seal the wood:




Stuff you’ll need
A Cross-Cut Wood Plaque (round or oval)
A Cross-Section of a Tree Limb   (Make sure the top and bottom are parallel. Use a planer tool to level it)
Titebond Ultimate Wood Glue (or a similar extra strong wood glue)
A Large Wood Clamp, or some sets of books(or something heavy)
Polyurethane
Butcher Block oil(You can get this from Home Depot/Lowes)
Brush to paint
Cloth

Instructions

Cross-cut wood plaques from can be found in your local craft store or online at Hofcraft. I got mine from Hobby Lobby (Large size).They are clean, sanded and ready to use.

Step 1.  Take your tree limb section and wipe the cut surface clean. Put on a coat of polyurethane on all sides-top, bottom and all around the bark. Let it dry for couple of hours, and apply a 2nd coat. Polyurethane seals the wood and prevents it from splitting, and the bark from peeling off.

Step 2. Seal the Cross-Cut Wood Plaque by applying a coat of Butcher block oil using a cloth, on both sides. Let it dry for 20 minutes, and apply another 2 coats of it. Seal the bark of this wooden plaque by applying one coat of polyurethane(on just the bark).

The butcher block oil is a mineral oil and is completely food safe. So, you can keep your cake and other food items, directly on it.

Step 3: Once the tree limb and wood plaque have dried completely, put a generous amount of extra strong wood glue on the surface of tree limb. (see figure 1)

Step 4.  Place the limb section in the center of the back side your wood plaque and press down firmly.  Wipe away any excess glue with a clean, damp cloth. (see figure 2)

Step 5.  Place the two joined pieces in a wood clamp and let dry for at least one hour.   As I didn't have a wood clamp, I stacked few heavy books on top of the pedestal until it was dry.   (see figure 3)

Step 6.  Use your pedestals to display cakes and desserts (see figure 4) or use as a base for a centerpiece.

I made multiple stands in different sizes.  Here is one in medium size.



Happy Woodworking!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Banners for Heartland Music Together

Here are the banners on which I have been working on since last couple of weeks. These are for the 6th Anniversary Party of Heartland Music Together. My son, Kabir, loves these music classes, so these banners were the least I could do for them, Miriam, at the center was very kind to leave it upto me to design the banners. So for the main party room, I made this banner. 


Another look at it..


For this 2nd banner below(my favourite), I made a bunting style, vintage banner for the first time. It says '6 years of music'. To create a distressed look, I burnt the edges of the banner with candle flame.   As it was for a music party, I choose a cardstock with musical notes on it. 


For decorating, on top of cardstock,  I added a piece of satin circle, which was also burnt around the edges to give it a finished look. I love the way satin curls up on heat. And behind the satin, I added crepe paper with its edges trimmed with lace edge cutter. For the corner pieces, I added some buttons to brighten things up.


Here's another look at this banner from a different angle. It was very difficult to take a good picture of this banner, as satin reflected a lot of light. 


A close up of the corner piece.


For various entrances, I made 3 'Welcome' signs. I used one of Heartland Music Together's brochures' for the background.  


Another 'Welcome' banner with extra decorations on the corner pieces.

A close up.


To tie all the pieces of Welcome banners, I used hemp string which can be found at any craft store.

Thanks to Heartland Music Together group for giving me an opportunity to make these banners.

Happy Crafting!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...