DIY Life

Here at DIY Life, posts about weddings are always popular, but often, posts about knit and crochet patterns come in a close second.

I thought it might be interesting to combine the two, by looking at a few free patterns for wedding cakes made from yarn. (Hey, they don't have to be frozen, and they never get stale!)

• Crochet Today's Crochet Confection cake pattern (PDF download) is, at 4"x8", life-sized. It's an easy, single-tier cake that you can display on a stand over a form.
• Berroco's Buttercream is also life-sized, but this one is a tiered cake with flowers; it can be used to store dishes. It's made in their Ultra Alpaca, but any other worsted-weight yarn should work just as well.
• On the miniature side, there are the Norma Lynn Cake Sachets. Several of the designs here, like the Two-Tier Cake and the Clumsy Cake, seem wedding-appropriate, though they're part of a collection of desserts. The second page of cake sachet patterns has a triple-tier wedding cake with flower toppers and ruffled trim.

Suggested uses? The sachets would make great giveaways at a bridal shower; they'd also make nice package decorations for gifts. Some of the projects might make cute gifts for attendants, in the right kind of wedding. They would be fun commemorations of a special anniversary, or whimsical decor in the right kind of room. Professional wedding planners could also probably appreciate them.

Outside of the wedding framework, you can always choose different colors, changing the "wedding cake" into a "birthday cake" -- or merely making a cute trinket for a friend who loves sweet desserts.

And if you're looking for more patterns like this, check out an older post of mine -- Amigurumi-o-rama: Crocheted Food.

Although foam-stuffed felt gingerbread houses have their allure, nothing compares to a real, edible gingerbread house. Who cares if it's ephemeral, or if it's a potential target for pets and pests? It's all about the prettiness. And the wonderful smell. And the sugar. (Mmm, sugar.)

You could just buy a kit... and maybe, if it's your first time, that's what you want to do. But if it isn't, you will probably appreciate Gingerbread Lane (a.k.a. Ginger Lane Kitchens), a site with lots of ideas and advice for budding cookie house architects. Everything you need to know to be a successful builder is right there.

You'll find gingerbread and icing recipes, suggestions for which decorative candies to use, a pattern for a "beginner's" basic 8"x8"x12" house, construction and preservation tips, a gallery of creations by the site's owner and others, and plenty of links. While you're there, don't miss Ginger's Parisian street scene... featuring a gingerbread Eiffel Tower!

If you're thinking of putting together your own edible house, why not check out the Flickr Gingerbread House Showcase pool for ideas? Better yet, check out our gingerbread house gallery: it starts right here.

I have at least two kits for gingerbread houses tucked into odd corners of my kitchen. We never make them up -- space is an issue, and how would we keep the pets away from them? -- but I can't bring myself to throw them away. Nor do I want to open the boxes and actually see the potentially alarming condition of the aging gingerbread. (It's vacuum-sealed from the factory, but still.)

Luckily, gingerbread houses that aren't edible and can't go bad seem to be a hot craft topic this year. I'm not talking about the kind where you coat all the gingerbread with shellac and then use white caulk in place of icing, though that's an option. No, I'm talking about the kind you make out of things that are not food to begin with, thereby thwarting the wiles of your feline and canine housemates.

Farrah already mentioned one done in polymer clay, in her post about Holiday Craft Projects Worth Checking Out. A few more cool candy-coated palaces that you can stitch up from felt and your imagination have turned up in the last week or two; there's also a gingerbread man you can knit. Learn more about them after the break!

Thanksgiving place cards range from elegant calligraphy on heavy card stock to construction paper creation by the kids. This Thanksgiving, go with edible place cards that are sure to be popular among guests and add a little interest to your table setting.

The place cards use the cornucopia theme which is a symbolic of abundance and good harvest. The base is a graham cracker and the names written in icing. They could be a desert snack or a party favor wrapped in cellophane and finished off with a ribbon.

Materials

1. Whole graham cracker
2. Bugle snacks (plain flavor)
3. Mini M&M's
4. Hard drying icing (homemade or store-bought)
   
5. Icing tube or bag

After the break I'll tell you how to make these delicious place cards.

Sadly, the traditional homemaking craft of baking does not come naturally to me. If I can get the goods out of the oven without setting fire to anything, I'm pretty happy. As for my last homemade cake, the rounded top and slightly too-soft frosting both contributed to an unenviable "cow pattie" look. Oops.

With a little practice, even lost causes like myself can learn to frost a cake like a pro, according to the site SheKnows.

Have you ever run into a situation where you've needed a pastry bag to pipe over-sweetened icing onto a cake, fill deviled eggs, or meter out dough for any number of deep-fried goodies? Pastry bags are not too expensive, but when you don't have one and time is running out to decorate that delectable cake you've just baked before your guests arrive, what do you do? Everyone say it together now, "do-it-yourself!"