Oh, I Wish I Had a Cake Stand *deidle, deedle, deidle, dum*

Like the hen I found at a yard sale down the street?? I think I'm a fan. She makes a great flower vase, or painted egg storage container (the Munchkin has a collection). Here's what she looked like first:

Well, I was *not* a fan of the dried flowers. Sometimes, in certain situations, I am....but I read somewhere that they are really terrible for the feng shui of your space and that thought really stuck with me.  Plus, I feel like they give off negative energy (if you happen to believe in that kind of thing). So, those had to go. And, I wanted her color to pop a bit more. Yellow and white paint to the rescue!!

Such impertinence!! She wasn't a fan of the product I was using, I guess.  Two different colors of paint, some crayon, and some mod podge later and she was a brand new bird. 

I set up on the picnic table for her photo shoot. That was when I noticed the Cake Stand I was using. Now, my hubby got me this cake stand....and it is great. I am not complaining in the least!! It is very functional. But, I've been getting the urge for something really beautiful or even something really funky.  I have seen so many bloggers working with cake stands. Some crafters have even made them on their own....hmmmm. Here's a fun selection:

From the Graphics Fairy (she does the COOLEST stuff)!!!!

So **CUTE**!! Tutorial at Sweetie Pie Bakery !!

This is the perfect autumn cake stand from Prudent Baby . And, she used canned goods to make it!!

Well, there is certainly a lot of inspiration out there. I've just got to get my butt in gear and either build it or buy it!!

~Brought to you by your friends at www.Become.com and posted by me, in my own words~

Here Are the Parties I am linking up to:
Thrifty Thursday

Cozy Cat Cushion Craft

I'm amazed at myself for saying this, but it is totally true: I **like** a cat. I really do. Our new (old) cat. So, in this spirit of companionship I decided to make the cat some places to sleep and dream some funky cat dreams. Because he shouldn't have to sleep like this:

 He's not too happy about the blocks carefully stacked around him. The Munchkins goal behind this project was to stop his tail from moving. Hmmm. So, he definitely needs a designated sleep area for comfort and for boundaries....'cause then I can tell the Munchkin that when he's on the sleeping spots, he's off limits (yeah, that'll work). I made Danny a windowsill cushion and a bed.

So, here's what you need:

Thin Styrofoam Board

Lots of a fabric for cushion(depending on the # of projects)

Exacto knife

Sewing Machine and Thread

Velcro pieces

Alternate Fabric for Flower Paws

Glue Gun

Batting/Polyester filling

To Make the Cushions:

~A piece of styrofoam cut to fit for the windowseat (for the bed, you can pick whatever size you want). I don't do math and I don't like to measure so, I eye-balled it:

I just trimmed off the excess. 

~Next, you need to see how much fabric you require. I laid out the fabric, laid my styrofoam board on it, folded it over and gave about 3 inches of extra fabric for hemming and room for stuffing. I trimmed away the rest.

~Take the foam out. 

~Hem one of the short sides. Leave the other alone.

~Reverse the fabric (wrong side out) and stitch the longest sides together.

~Then, line up the fabric like this (picture below) and sew a straight line across the unhemmed, short side. It should look like this:

Hopefully, your stitches will be straighter than mine. **yeesh**

~Turn the whole thing right side out and poke the corners out. 

~Fit the board into it. 

~Fill it with batting/filling.

~Attach velcro to the inside hemmed edges and seal it up. I used adhesive velcro, which is going to get in the way of washing....but, I couldn't find any plain kind at the store I went to. You'd be better off getting the sewn on kind, I'm sure. 

~Add the fabric flowers (the shape of a paw, if you'd like) with the hot glue....I'm not going to give you directions on the flowers, but you can find them HERE at The Domestic Diva. I went with the hand rolled roses. :-) 

Here's a picture of the paw, close-up:

For the windowsill cushion, I attached it so the windowsill with some leftover velcro. That way the cat cat jump on and off without knocking it down all the time. We also put a bird feeder right next to the window, so he'll have some wildlife to scheme about. :-)
 Here they are, all put together:

Danny thinks it's Purr-fect. :-)

Here are the Linky Parties I Joined:

(Check them out and be inspired)

Thrifty Thursday

Frugalicious Friday