Julie Surprise: Zinger Cake

Back in August a friend of ours was having a birthday, but she also was going through a hard time so we (my sister and my husband and I) sort of temporarily adopted her and therefore, we felt responsible for making sure she had a Happy Birthday, since it seemed that no one else was really going to trouble themselves about it.

She suspected this though and forbade me from baking her a cake. I found my way around that though. By paying attention to things that she said I became privy to the fact that she loves chocolate Zingers. Hence, my brilliant idea!I constructed rather than baked this Birthday cake for her.

I started out by making a cardboard circle for the base which I covered in foil. Then I figured out the circumference of the ring I needed to make a good sized cake base against/around which the Zingers could stand side by side without to any gaps. This took some trial and error and I practiced with the still individually wrapped Zingers before I got it right. Once it was right I covered that in foil as well and then began the balancing of the (now unwrapped) Zingers.
I created two rings of Zingers; an outside ring and an inside ring, and then secured them with a nice pink ribbon tied up into a bow.
To finish it off I made a simple chocolate glaze and drizzled that over the top to hide the edge of the foil ring.

Once we presented the cake to the Birthday girl I was able to inquire whether or not she liked coconut and upon receiving the answer in the affirmative; garnished the glaze with some shredded coconut before I put the candles on. (As you see above.)

It wasn't amazing in any gourmet type way (considering it tasted like Hostess Zingers) but creatively speaking, I was rather proud of it.

Log Draft Buster by Naturally Meg

Here's a fun project that my cousin just finished. It's really cute and creative and even stuffed with used plastic grocery sacks! Anyway, thought it'd be a good one to share!
Enjoy!
~Julie :}

Harriet Skirt

I recently finished a skirt I've been working on.It was a fun and challenging project. My husband wanted me to send a pair of his dockers to the D.I. for one tiny blemish, and I said, "I have a better idea! Let's make them into something else!"

Hence the conception of the Harriet Skirt. I was going to call it the Reporter's Skirt because the big pockets in the front are a great size for hiding a little notebook/notepad and pen, but then I thought the name didn't flow too well, and probably most reporters wouldn't wear a skirt from recycled/upcycled materials (Well, not unless they were doing a story on being green. :} )
Anyway, then it came to me that a spy would be more likely to wear something that could conceal their writing materials, at least, a spy like Harriet the Spy. (Random Fact: A guy I knew once told me that I reminded him of Harriet the Spy. Funny huh?) Anyway, hence the birth of the name for the skirt.
I used every bit of the pants that I could. I didn't even completely unpick or cut the waist band or the belt loops. I just overlapped the waistband so it would be more conducive to womens sizes. Sadly, however it is a still little big for me, so I wasn't the best model. (What I wouldn't give for a dress dummy!)
The only parts of the skirt that weren't originally part of the dockers are a few buttons (two on the back flaps and one on the waist band) and, of course, most of the thread.
Let me know what your think? Do you know anyone who would wear this? I currently have it up in my etsy shop.