December 2011 Archives - I'm Topsy Turvy

Lit up canvas wall decor- Elmers look for less

December 21, 2011 by Ashlee · 49 Comments

A few months ago I got to work with the wonderful people at Elmer’s and throw a craft party! We had a BLAST! Then last month they invited me to participate in a “look for less” challenge. I was so excited, I had a hard time narrowing down the “look” I wanted to create my own version of. But I finally found something (on Pinterest of course).

I fell in LOVE with these pieces by Valerie Boy (as seen on Apartment Therapy). My version… and Valerie-Boy’s. Her’s is made of powdered metal cut and bent, mine is Canvas, paint and lights! Her’s cost an arm and a leg (and a first born) and mine was a grand total of $25!

I had a weird wall space I wanted to cover so I went with a long and narrow canvas that I picked using a 50% off coupon! This is 24″ x 48″ that I got for $25 (the only thing I had to pay for!)! The perfect size for my project.

Next I used the X-ACTO Designer Series Gripster Knife and cut flowers out of black cardstock that I had on hand (so I could see it through the paint), then using CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick I stuck, (and removed and re-stuck until I like the placement) the flowers onto the canvas! AWESOME, I am already in love!

Next I used some thick Acrylic paint all over the front, in 2 coats. I used big strokes going for a thick chunky look. But you could paint it on pretty smooth if you wanted. I kind of wish I’d gone for 3 coats, but I wanted to peel off the flowers while it was still wet, and before they were stuck on for good.

Next, obviously, I peeled up the black paper. There was something very satisfying about peeling it all up!

I let it dry overnight! I was planning on using a fancy expensive light to light up the back, but then I laid eyes on my icicle lights (in a pile of throw away- no more icicle lights for me- what were we ever thinking? So messy looking). Anyway I used some nails to attach the lights (I nailed them half way in then bent them over the lights) in a criss-cross pattern to cover the whole back.

And they work! Not QUITE the look I was going for, but the back is lit, and it’s MUCH cheaper than buying some fancy, heavy lights trying to get them to work. (notice this is with a flash)

So my weird wall space, between two doors I have this narrow space with this HUGE, ugly electrical panel. I haven’t found anything to cover it with so this was the perfect chance! I love it there. It’s off centered for 2 reasons, 1) to cover the panel and 2) to leave the light switch uncovered. I don’t want it to fall off the wall as the kids try to turn on lights! (no flash but the middle of the day)

And all light up in the dark! I love it! Of course it’s hard to really capture lit up pieces with cameras! SO come on by and check it out! (no flash at night)

I finished my project a few weeks ago BUT with all my computer issues I haven’t been able to post it, so I’m the LAST blogger whose participating to get my project up! Gah… my computer issues are a pain, but when they mess up something I’m doing for someone else it frustrates me to no end! Lucky for me Elmer’s not only has wonderful products, but they also have amazing people working there, they have been so patient with me

I was given free product to review and use for this project, but all opinions are my own

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, decoration, Home projects, paint, review · Tagged With: craft supplies, flowers, silhouette machine, silhouettes, tutorial

Abba 70′s “You can dance” party and game review

December 16, 2011 by Ashlee · 11 Comments

Last Friday night I had an Abba “you can dance” party. I had SO much fun getting ready for the party. Researching the right food for a 70′s party, creating the labels and of course practicing my dance moves! We broke out the Wii “Abba you can dance” a few days before the official party.

The game was a BLAST, the kids and I really enjoyed playing! Lego Boy has been singing “Money, Money, Money” non-stop for over a week now! The Reader loved the Karaoke settings and is our official singer every time we play. The Destroying Angel isn’t very good at the game, but she sure loves trying! Clearly Baby Boy (the only one who dressed up for the party – wearing his daddies authentic 70′s newborn outfit!) loved it. Now I want to collect the rest of the UbiSoft dance games!

I had never played any of the wii dancing games before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. They had a ton of different styles. Some songs had one “dancer” that we followed with a figure on the side the “previewed” the next move so you could get more points. My favorite songs though were the ones with 4 dancers, each doing a different move. Those are really fun when you have all 4 wii-motes being used.

Our group was a ton of fun, my sister, sister in law, daughter, nieces, friends and their daughters… and Baby Boy (our token male)! It was a BLAST! We always have fun together, even just talking, but adding great food (if I do say so myself), fun music, dancing and prizes? A winning evening! (Thank you to Chelsea Peterson, my baby sister, for taking the food pictures for me!)

The food was mixture of normal parties foods and 70′s party food items! My Disco ball cake of course, and I HAD to make a bright rainbow jello mold!!! Not the tastiest item, but GORGEOUS, and the wiggle was OH so fun!

My “disco” oreo balls, and of course fondue! I went with a chocolate fondue (made from my ganache), it just seemed more party friendly than hot cheese! We had pound cake, cinnamon bears, marshmallows, orange slices (the candy kind) and Famous Amos cookies (the company started making cookies in the 70′s- seemed fitting!)

Cheese ball (Mmmmmm, roca blue is back on the shelves so go stock up for the year) and cocktail weenies wrapped in croissants! I debated putting them on sticks and sticking them into a cabbage (found a few 70′s picture that way) but in the end went with a slightly more picture friendly serving?

Watergate Salad! There was actually a fascinating story online about how when Kraft started making pistachio pudding in the 70′s they created this “salad” recipe. Soon they started getting requests for the “Watergate salad” recipe, they had no idea what people were taking about. To this day no one knows how the name came about! The funny thing is it’s right on the pistachio pudding box and I had NEVER noticed before (pistachio is my favorite pudding). And one of my FAVORITE party foods – meatballs!

I was also sent this totally adorable disco ball for the party! My kids LOVED it and are so excited that we get to keep it, I think it’s going to find a home in my girls room (when I finally get around to cleaning it out and remodeling it for the girls). I also had some 70′s inspired colored nail polish for anyone interested, my daughter was in heaven, since I don’t usually let her paint her nails! And finally prizes. Best way to “inspire” women my age to get up and dance! A colorful version of my bearded beanie, some chevron winter scarfs and the clear favorite, a few of my knit finger-stache’s!

We had a GREAT night, and I loved having an excuse to throw a party. If I had my way I’d throw parties every few months! Lucky for me it’s the holiday’s! And then birthday season starts around here! (PS I have a few fun videos, but since my computer crash I haven’t been able to find the right program to re-download so I can CREATE them… Maybe I’ll have one I can add in the next few days)

Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Cakes, crochet, me, Parties, printables, review, treats, vlog ·

Knit Finger-stache tutorial

December 15, 2011 by Ashlee · 19 Comments

So I totally fell in LOVE with these finger-staches from Megan Death. Her pattern was SO cute, I didn’t change much, mostly the cast on and bind off’s as well as a smaller version for my little girl. (forgive my non-make up day- this is real life for me, I only wear make up for GNO’s, date nights and pictures for the blog! Thinking I should at least wear mascara every day!)

I decided to try my hand at the provisional cast on! I love learning new techniques.

Material:
worsted weight yarn- two colors- I used cream and brown)
J- hook 5.5 mm
size 7 needles (three of them)
with scrap yarn and your crochet hook chain 19. Add a knot to the starting tail.

skip first chain, weave knitting needle through back loops of the next 17 ch, skip last chain

row 1- knit main color into the crochet chain

you should have 17 knit stitches on your hook

row 2- purl across
row 3- knit across
row 4-8 repeat rows 2 and 3

The moustache pattern
(rows 9-12 chart can be found here if you work better that way)
row 9- (cream) knit 3, change color (brown) knit 4, (cream) knit 3, (brown) knit 4, (cream) knit 3
row 10- (cream) purl 2, (brown) purl 6, (cream) purl 1, (brown) purl 6, (cream) purl 2
row 11- (cream) knit 1, (brown) knit 1, (cream) knit 2, (brown) knit 9,(cream) knit 2, (brown) knit 1, (cream) knit 1
row 12- (cream) purl 5, (brown) purl 3,(cream) purl 1, (brown) purl 3, (cream) purl 5

cut the brown and weave in the two ends
row 13- knit across
row 14- purl across
rows 15- 20 repeat rows 13 and 14

now we’re going to work on our first edge, the provisional edge. Remember the knot we did at the starting side of the crochet chain? Start at the OTHER end and take out the knot.

slowly pull out the chain, while doing that weave another knitting needle into the loops that are left when you pull the chain out.

now your piece is on 2 needles, both needles should have 17 loops

Now for the 3-needle bind-off. Place the 2 needles together, right sides together! Stick the third needle into both the front and back needles like your going to knit them. Which is exactly what we’re going to do, knit! YO the third needle and pull back through both of the hooks. Pull the two loops off the two hooks. Now you have one loop from our new “row” on the third hook an 16 loops on each of the other two hooks.

keep going all the way across. Here we’re halfway done and you can see how it’s coming together!

finish off and weave in ends.

Turn right side out, place on finger and enjoy!!!

I made a few smaller versions. I still don’t have one I’m in love with. This teeny one I started with only 15 loops and so took off the first and last loop of each row in the pattern. I also only did 5 rows before and after the mustache pattern.

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, kids, knit, Knit Free Pattern, review · Tagged With: craft supplies, tutorial, yarn

Disco ball cake tutorial

December 14, 2011 by Ashlee · 19 Comments

I hosted a 70′s Abba “you can dance” wii party last Friday! I’m going to share the party and my game review on Friday (it was a BLAST!). And of course I had to make a cake, so today I’m going to share it with you! How I made my Disco ball cake!

First put the two have circles together using ganache, place on a small cardboard cake circle and cover the cake with ganache!

Cover the cake with white fondant (I like Satin Ice) and smooth it out. I placed the cake on a cake turn table and slowly spin it while pressing slightly into the cake with a pizza cutter. This will create your horizontal lines. Be careful not to cut through the fondant and also don’t wait to long to do this so the fondant is sill soft and pliable.

Then taking a small tool of some kind (anything with a point will work) press slightly into the fondant and pull down creating your vertical lines. I did 1 row of lines at a time on the top and as I moved down the sides started doing 2-3 rows.