Famous Angel Food Cake

Famous with my family and friends that is. I have been baking this cake for about 9 years now and it always gets rave reviews.  It's from a good old Better Homes & Gardens cook book . I love to try and change things up but sometimes sticking with an original recipe is the best way to go. I have heard many times that it is a difficult cake to bake, I assure you it  is not!

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 large)
1-1/2 sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted cake flour
1-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl allow egg whites stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the cake flour and powdered sugar together and set aside.

*Quick tip: if you don't have a sifter (me) use a wire whisk to incorporate ingredients together.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Add vanilla and cream of tartar to eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form (tip* soft peaks curl). Gradually add granulated sugar 2 tablespoons. at a time, beating until stiff peaks.

4.Shake or sift about 1/2 cup of  powdered sugar mixture of the egg whites and begin to fold in gently with a spatula. Repeat using 1/2 cups till all powdered sugar mixture is incorporated.

5. Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Gently cut through batter to remove air pockets.

6. Bake for 40-45 Min. or until top springs back when lightly touched.

Me being a dork while the cake bakes

7. Invert cake to cool thoroughly in pan.

ENJOY!!!

Drab to Fab Wall Sconce

I have been in search of  a pair of candle wall sconces for the last few months for my dinning room. The ones that I really LOVE are $50 each at Hobby Lobby. I just can not justify it. So while garage saleing with my buddy Tracy, I picked these ones up for $5 each. Not bad, but not yet what I want.

So when I got home I went to work. I'm one who just can not wait to start a project, I have to do it right away. Kids went down for a nap and I headed to the garage to start. There really was not much to it. I just dusted and cleaned them, taped off the glass, laid down the paper to protect the floor and painted them. Easy peasy!

Not too bad for $5 each plus candles.

I'm happy with the results. What do you think?

Ruffled Toddler Halter Top

Now that the weather is starting to get nice I've been wanting to start making some cute clothing for Sophia. I started by search different books and blogs for inspiration and came across Abbie at The Green Wife. She has an awesome blog and tutorials. I'm now one of her many fans and followers!  Abbie shared her toddler halter top tutorial and I just had to make one.

She loves it and so do I!

So while laying in bed last night I started to think about how I could take the same idea and change it up. I wanted to making one with ruffles all down the front. Here is what I came up with this morning.

With permission from Abbie I will be using her tutorial with a few additions.

When you cut your fabric, you’ll want it folded with the straight side of the pattern piece pinned along the fabric fold.

Across the neckline is 6 ″

Across the bustline is 12"

Across the bottom is 15″
From top to bottom: 13″.

Note: the five strips for the ruffles have not been cut yet in photo.

Grab your back halter fabric (the plain rectangle) and fold down one of the long edges 1/4″. Press. Fold again approximately 1″ and press. Then sew along your fold to create your elastic casing. These steps will look something like this:

 Next, cut a piece of elastic that will fit your child. You can measure across her back from armpit to armpit to get an idea. Ours was approximately 9". Sophia is on the small side for 3 1/2 :)

Anchor one end of your elastic with a straight pin at one end of your casing. Attach a safety pin to the other end of your elastic and use the pin to feed the elastic through the casing.

I forgot to take a photo of this but here is Abbie's so you can get the general idea.

Make sure to secure both ends of the elastic by stitching vertically 1/4" from the edge of the fabric.

 

Now on to the front and ruffles. With each of the five pieces you want to fold and sew the hemline before creating the ruffle. Like this:

 

I stitched 1/4 " to the edge

To create the ruffles I found a little trick that work well every time without changing sewing feet. I change my machine settings to the highest tension and longest stitch.

I do a strait stitch the whole length 1/4" away from the edge of the fabric like so:

You should end up with 5 that look like this.

Space and pin each ruffle in place. My placement was 2" apart. Working your way from the to to bottom, use a zigzag stitch to secure each ruffle panel. You will trim the extra length in the sides off after you sew them to the front. Make sure to leave about 1/2" over hang.

Make sure to fold back and away each of the ruffles, you don't want what happened to me.

Again every sewers best friend!

Moving on. We are half way there! Bias tape, I made mine out of the same fabric. It's really simple and there are a few different ways you can make it. Abbie has a great video tutorial. Check it out!

You will need 1- 6" piece (neckline) and 1-36"piece (straps)

Sandwich the top (neckline) edge of the front halter piece within a 6″ length of bias tape ( mine 7"). Stitch along the open edge of the bias tape, being sure to catch the underneath layer in your seam.

You’ll use the same basic idea to attach the straps. Start at the bottom of each underarm curve and attach your bias tape. Sew down the entire length of the bias tape to close it and form the strap pieces.

Grab your back panel and Pin your front and back together (right sides facing) at the side seams and sew 1/2″ seams.

Do a final hemline on the bottom of the halter and your DONE!

Come check it out on:

Cutiest Pint Size Apron

After making brownies with Sophia the other day I thought it would be fun to make her an apron for baking with me and for playing in her own kitchen. It turned out so cute that I decide to make another one for her friend Kyra who's 3rd Birthday is this weekend. I think it will make the perfect little gift.

Here is the how I made them. I'm not one who uses patterns often, I tend to just wing it. Out of 1 yard of fabric I cut a rectangle measuring 14 X 22 and a square measuring 9 X 9.

Fold,  press, and strait stitch three sides of the fabric leaving the top unfinished. Do this to both pieces of fabric.

You can create pleats by hand or use a basting stitch to make ruffles. On this one I used the basting stitch and gathered the fabric to make ruffles.

I used bias tape for the trim and ties. You can buy it or make it like I did. Wrap the folded bias tape over the edge of the ruffles pinning it in place as you go.

Attach by sewing along the edge of the bias tape using a strait stitch.

Pin and sew the top part of the apron to the bottom.

Finish both sides of the bias tape.

Attach the neck trim using a box stitch. Which is just a square with and X going across.

Looks like this

Your done! Here is the finished apron.

I also made a pot holder to go with the apron to make a cute little set. I hope Kyra loves it as much a Sophia does.