Sparkly Yellow, Orange and Coral Necklace

I realized a year or so ago that I have ton of black (and brown and gray and other drab colors) clothes. So, I made a little deal with myself that I would start buying brighter pieces to supplement my dark wardrobe. This rule really only served to justify more shopping (as in “I don’t really need this new sweater. It’s bright pink? Well, that’s okay then.”) but I do wear a lot less black now.

And with new clothes, one needs new jewelry, right?

I used the same method to make this necklace as I did for this one. I should probably change the name to The 10 Minute Sparkly Necklace because you can throw one together 5 or 10 minutes and a few left over beads.

Gluten Free Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake

Texas Sheet Cake is much more delicious than it is pretty. It’s the kind of cake you serve right from the pan because it’s a little on the fragile side. And, really, if I’m being honest sometimes I just eat it right out of the pan. 

If gluten free isn’t your thing substitute all purpose regular flour for the gluten free flours. This doesn’t work for all baked goods but it doesn’t seem to matter here.

The recipe is loosely based on the one from  Joy of Cooking.

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oat flour

3/4 cup rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate chips

3 tbs butter

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla

2+ cups powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans or flaked sweetened coconut

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

In a sauce pan heat water, oil, shortening and cocoa. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk sugar, flours, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl. 

Remove cocoa mixture from heat and pour over dry ingredients.  Stir just until combined.

Mix eggs, sour cream and vanilla together and then stir into batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 25-28 minutes until cake springs back when gently touched.

While the cake is cooling make the frosting. In a double boiler (or heat proof bowl set on top of a sauce pan of simmering water) melt chocolate chips and butter, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in cream and vanilla.

With a hand mixer, beat the powdered sugar into the chocolate until it’s a spreadable consistency. Add more powdered sugar or cream to adjust consistency.

Spread frosting over warm cake and top with pecans or coconut (or both).

Easy Camera Case from Scraps

I always carry a camera with me, usually a small point and shoot.  However, on a recent trip to Texas I lost my camera case (along with my camera) and now my new camera doesn’t have any protection against my keys, phone and various other things it shares my purse with.

So, I decided to whip up a quick case to keep my camera a little safer. The whole thing took about 15 minutes to make (not counting the first case I made that was too small…errr!).

If you want to make one, you will need two scraps of fabric, fusible batting, some rickrack and a snap or a bit of Velcro.

1. Measure your camera.  You will need to cut strips of an outer fabric, lining fabric and batting all the same size.  To figure out what size you need, add the length of your camera to the thickness and double this number. Then add 1 1/2” for the flap and 1” for seam allowances.  This is the length of your three strips.  For the width, add the thickness of your camera to the width plus 1” for seam allowances.

My camera is 2 1/2” wide x 3” long x 3/4” thick so here’s how I figured out how big to cut my fabric:

2(length+thickness) + 2 1/2”  = length of fabric

2(3”+3/4”) + 2 1/2” = 10”

thickness + width + 1” = width of fabric

3/4” + 2 1/2” + 1” = 4 1/4”

I wanted my case to be pretty snug but you could certainly make yours looser.  I also used 1/4” seam allowances.  If you like to use larger seam allowances make sure you add that into your measurements.

2. Okay, enough math.  Cut a piece of your lining fabric, outer fabric and fusible batting according to the measurements you figured out in step 1.

3. Iron the outer fabric onto the fusible batting following the directions on the package.

4. Sew the outer piece with the batting to the lining, right sides together.  Leave one of the short ends open.  Turn the fabric right side out and push out the corners with a pencil eraser (or some other pokey but not sharp object).  Press your seams. This will also cause the batting to fuse to the lining fabric. Tuck the edges of the open end under 1/8“  (towards the inside) and press.  Top stitch the opening closed as close to the edge as possible.

5. Lay your fabric piece down, outer fabric facing up.  Place you camera on the fabric and fold the end up until the camera is covered.  This will be the pouch portion of your case.  You should still have one side hanging over for the flap.  Remove you camera and press the crease.

6. Sew the case side seams right sides together.

7. Cut a piece of rickrack long enough to go around your wrist plus 1/2”.  Fold it in half. Lay the ends of the rickrack on one side of the case opening.  Stitch it down.  Note: I think it would have worked better to angle the loop towards the middle of the flap so it would lay better when the fabric was turned.

8. Pinch the bottom corner of one side of the case and sew across 1/2” from the point.  Repeat with the other side.  This will give the case a rectangular shaped bottom.

Trim the corners and turn the case.  Press your seams.

9. Press the flap down and sew on a small piece of Velcro to keep it closed.

$10 DIY Light Box

It appears the sun has officially left Portland for a few months (like 8).  It’s too dark when I get home from work to take pictures with natural light and it has been too cloudy and rainy on the weekends.

So, I read a few tutorials on building your own light box.  Like this one and this one. It didn’t look too complicated.  I already had a stack of white foam core boards that I usually use to shoot pictures on.  I bought two clip-on lights at Target for $5 each, taped the boards together with packing tape and added a piece of tag board for a continuous back drop.  I used Reveal 40 watt bulbs. Update: I replaced the original lights with 2 clip-on fixtures with 120watt, full-spetrum flood lights from Home Depot. The fixtures were $8 each and the bulbs were about $10. They made a HUGE difference.

Here is a shot with the light box:

With light from a regular incandescent bulb on a piece of foam core (outside of the light box):

With flash:

Now, this light box is far from perfect but there is a blatant difference between pictures with and without it. It saves a ton of laborious editing time (More time for actual crafting!).

In the near future I will add some brighter lights and full spectrum light bulbs.  I also need to find a bigger sheet of tag board or fabric for the back drop.  I’ll keep you posted if anything works exceptionally well.