Cherpeaple

 Do you know about the Turducken? Wikipedia describes it as a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which is in turn stuffed into a de-boned turkey. I'm not really sure what the point of that would be, I mean it's poultry stuffed poultry stuffed inside of poultry. Perhaps I've been following the Weight Watchers program so long that the idea of eating poultry doesn't sound overly exciting to me. And I suppose I could use the same argument for why the dessert version of the Turducken called the Cherpumple DID sound so exciting to me. 

Mr. ShowMe actually found it on the web back before Thanksgiving. (I usually steer clear of articles and posts on the web for food items, as they just make me hungry and almost NEVER for carrots, spinach, or brocoli!) I can't take any credit for creating this monster. Charles Phoenix is responsible for that. He describes the Cherpumple as a three-layer cake with a pie stuffed in each layer. 

To say he inspired us would be an understatement. We decided it would be a fun project for us to try at Christmas. We read through many of the successes and failures posted at his web site, watched his video carefully, gathered the ingredients and started the project wondering if we could actually pull it off. Mr. ShowMe doesn't like pumpkin pie, so we used peach in place of pumpkin, hence the name change for our version to Cherpeaple.

We decided that our cake pans weren't big enough so we purchased a spring form pan. We baked the pies two days before Christmas and on Christmas eve started in on the cakes. We baked them one at a time, and found that low temps and long times was the secret to getting them done. We actually baked each of the layers about an hour at about 275. We fiddled with the oven temp as they baked, if they seemed to be getting too "done" on the edges and still not "done" in the middle we turned it down. Eventually we had the three layers completed and decided to try to assemble the monster and transport it for an hour and half in the car was just asking for trouble, so we took it un-assembled to Mr. ShowMe's parents house on Christmas morning.

I cheated and used canned frosting.

It was a big hit!

I don't know if we'll ever make another one, but I'm glad we did it once. It was fun! 
Did you make any extravagant dishes over Christmas?

I'd love to hear about them, if you did.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Vintage Buttons In Our Etsy Shop

Not long ago we decided to try some vintage buttons in our Etsy shop. They seem to partner nicely with vintage sewing patterns. Today we got the nicest shout out by Lauren over at Wearing History.

She bought these really cool vintage red filigree buttons from us that look like they were made for the sweater she put them on, don't you think?  

She sells this pattern via .pdf download here. 

It's really fun to get to see the finished product of something made with items that we sell.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Beaded Stilettos

Do you know SkyMall? It's a catalog that's found on airplanes. I remember a comedian once saying the catalogs were full of things you never knew you needed until you saw them there. In some ways Pinterest is like that for me. Take stilettos for instance.. The only stilettos I knew about before Pinterest had to do with shoes. 

Did you know these are stilettos too?

I didn't. I saw them at Pinterest and immediately repinned them onto my Tutorials board. These are the lovelies that I discovered there.

This set was made by the Empress of the Universe over at her blog, (what a cool blog name.. I'm totally jealous!). When I saw them at Pinterest the pretty beads caught my eye so I clicked through and read about them. 

They're handy little tools that can be used in a lot of areas of crafting and sewing. From guiding fabric near the presser foot on the machine, to turning narrow hems up at the iron, and even something to manipulate objects around wet glue or paint. 

I looked for the turkey lacers for awhile after discovering the stilettos at Pinterest, but didn't find them anywhere. Then, a couple of weeks ago I ran into Bed Bath & Beyond and remembered that was where the Empress mentioned finding hers.

I found the same ones she did. They were $.99.. A craft project for a buck! (That's Mr. ShowMe's favorite kind! heheh) 

 I bent the angled ends into loops with my jewelry making tools.

 Then went through my bead stash and pulled out beads with holes big enough for the lacers. 

 What a great way to use up some of those pretty onsies lampwork glass beads! It was so much fun trying the different beads on the lacers and figuring out which ones went together! Once I got that part worked out I decided on which glue to use.  

Then put a bit of glue between the bottom two beads and at the bottom of the last one. 

I took the Empress' tip and clamped the looped ends in clothes pins and set them up like that to dry overnight.

And voila!

I named them from left to right, Her Majesty, Heavy Metal, Circus Circus, He Loves Me, Woody, and She Swims With The Fishes. They were a blast to make and I've already used them countless times. Oh yeah, and I found the perfect place to store them... this little Florida souvenir toothpick holder that I picked up at the flea market for $1.

Has Pinterest helped you discovered something that you never knew you needed and then just couldn't do without?

I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for stopping by :) 

Christmas Sleighs

I've been blog absent for a long time. Between working 60-70 hours a week and getting ready for Christmas, it hasn't left much time for anything else. Even though I haven't been able to post anything, I haven't completely forgotten about my blog. I've been taking pictures and have lots of blog posts to put up. I wanted to get this one up, in case it might inspire some of you to do something similar while you still have time. I made something like these years ago, but this time I decided to challenge myself to see if I could do it on the cheap with all of my components coming from thrift and dollar stores. 

I completed the challenge by creating two fun and festive center pieces at a fraction of the cost from my previous versions.

I started in early November watching the thrift stores for just the right sleigh basket. The ones I made in the past were wicker. I found this wire one at a Goodwill and paid a little more than I wanted, $3, but I had been looking for sometime and it was the right size at 15" long and in good condition, so I went ahead and bought it. I found a smaller wicker and metal version at a much better price since it was in my Mother-in-Law's basement making it free. (Yay Free!!)

While I was watching the thrift stores for sleigh baskets, I was buying up festive bobbles, picks, sprigs and candles. I actually found one big bag of misc stuff for $1.40 at one shop.

At another I found a bag with two short pillars and a nutcracker candle still wrapped in cellophane, never used, for $2.00.

I hit the Dollar Tree for the clear plastic bowl that I needed for the wire sleigh and a bag of Potpourri so they would smell AND look pretty.

With all of the components finally gathered I spread them all out on my work surface and started putting them together. I started with the wire one, since it was bigger. I knew I wanted the silk flowers standing up in the back, so I cut a piece of the floral foam that I had to the right size and wrapped it in aluminum foil since it would show through the sides. With the poinsettias inserted in the back piece of foam I added the bowl to the body of the sleigh, wrapped another piece of foam in foil and inserted cinnamon sticks at the four corners. I poured the potpourri into the bowl around the block of foam and placed one of the pillar candles on top of that foam piece.

Then I filled it in with some of the little sprigs and sprays that came from that mixed bag that I bought at the one thrift store. I added straight pins and secured them into the foam under the candle where I needed.

Of course the candles not for burning, but it adds a pretty festive touch, don't you think?

For the smaller sleigh I decided my nutcracker candle should be the driver so I positioned the remaining piece of floral foam in the basket, carved out a small section for him to rest in and set pins around the parameter to so he wouldn't topple out too easy. I poured the rest of the potpourri around the foam and added more sprigs and sprays to fill in. I decided it needed some height so I added the golden berries at the back.
 

I have about $5.00 cost in each which is pretty cheap for large, floral, fragrant centerpieces. They were really fun to do and came together really fast. And I must admit, the best part was in the hunt for all the pieces in the thrift stores! I'll have to keep my eyes open for another sleigh. I think I have enough of the decorative bits for one more. Potpourri and flower foam is easy enough to come by if I find the right vessel to make one more.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking up at Debbiedoo's  , Home Stories AtoZ and other fun parties listed on my Link Party page. See you there!