Halloween Graveyard Cake

🥮👻  Halloween  👻🥮 

👻  Graveyard Cake  👻

Tasty, decorative Halloween treat.

Inspired by Pinterest, back in 2012, when the kids were very little, we made this cute graveyard cake. These old pictures are pretty bad, but you get the idea and I am sure that YOU could nail it!

This cake was so much fun to make and EAT.

Cake uses:

Chocolate cake base, cake mix works great and children can help mix. 

Chocolate icing, in a thin layer for sticking stuff to the cake.

Stuff like; 

Oreo cookies, crumbled for 'dirt'. Children enjoy this job. We used plastic baggy and a rolling pin to crush the Oreo's into a fine 'dirt'.

Milano cookies for 'tombstones', with "Rip" and "Boo", written with 

icing tube,

Licorice, split apart for 'trees'. You could reinforce these with toothpicks, even create a fence with licorice pieces.

Marshmallows (various sizes) for ghosts, eyes dotted on with icing tube.

Pumpkins could be sugar pumpkins like those from BRACH's holiday mix;

I wanted something the kids could play with afterwards, and something crafty for myself to do, so we gathered oak galls, (or other nut for Fall inspiration), and painted them with acrylic paint to look like jack-o-lanterns, and topped them with a good clear coat. These are still one of my favorite Fall decorations. Such fun getting out old decorations and reminiscing about old crafts. Handmade decorations are so much more treasured.

Back to the cake...

We were going for pumpkin vines but the icing did not want to work with me. With more time and skill, I think the vines could look cool on this cake.

Don't feel like making the whole cake? For a simpler, but still fun, decorative and delicious treat, try making chocolate cupcakes in silver foil linings. Decorate with chocolate icing, topped with marshmallow ghosts, Milano 'tombstones' and/or Brach's pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!

Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy and inspiration!

Fall Cozy

These cozy pumpkin cozies were just the thing to get me in the Autumn crochet mood.

Kylee Keller has a great video and pattern shared free on Okie Girl Bling n Things blog, or support Kylee's art and purchase her pattern on Etsy. 

Grab your favorite fall colored yarn and join along in the fall inspiration!

Once you start this cute pattern, it is hard to make just one!

  Her little leaves are cute and work great, but while I was adding leaves to other things, I came up with this Pumpkin vine leaf pattern that you can find the free pattern for, right here on Doily Designs blog.

Don't you just love all the beautiful colors of Fall!  

Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes & happy crocheting!

Fallen Leaf Oil Pastel

🍂🍁Fallen Leaf on Water with Oil Pastels🍁🍂

A fallen leaf is summer saying goodbye~

"I wonder if leaves feel lonely when they see their neighbors falling." John Muir

 With Autumn here and my continued mood to draw, this leaf tutorial on Youtube was just the thing to get me excited about drawing another oil pastel.

Such a lovely color combination. 

It reminds me a little, of one of my photographs that, to me, is so peaceful.

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree." Emily Bronte

Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes & happy drawing!

Oil Pastels

Fun with oil pastels....

It's not a great job, but it was a nice first try. I learned a few things and got excited to give oil pastels another try.

This was done following a 'draw along', that you can find on Youtube.

The cat thought that I should be petting her instead of taking pictures of drawings.😅

Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes & happy drawing!

Animal Doodles

 This past weeks doodles......

Every year around my oldest sons birthday, I seem to get an urge to draw. Maybe it is this special time of year when Autumn begins, or that since Harley was born, he has inspired me to draw. Whatever it is, this year, after being inspired by other peoples art, I find myself wanting to share my doodles, if for no other reason then to inspire my own family to pick up those pencils, and whom ever else might feel it as well.

 This past week, I was feeling in the mood to use pencil and colored pencils, and attempt some animal portraits. Usually after the eyes it seems to go down hill. But practice makes perfect. So I am practicing, and these were my results.

September 2021

Cali Cat~

Blackie Cat~

"It'll be alright..." Happy Turtle, Angry Rabbit, doodles.

Rabbit inspired by this adorable paint by numbers Pin.

Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy & inspiration!

Happy drawing!!

Drawings by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko, September 2021

Water drop doodles...

 Water drop doodles....

There is something so beautiful and calming about water drops, I find them absolutely mesmerizing.

While doodling, I was inspired to try and capture a water drop on paper myself, so I turned to Pinterest for ideas.  Finding these inspiring drawings, I tried a few.

This first drawing was inspired by this water drops Pin. This drawing was super fun and great practice!

Another great Pin that I tried was this single water drop. I didn't quite get it, but again, fun and great practice.

Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy & inspiration!

Happy drawing!!

 

Recent drawings

A break from crochet for a minute....🍁🍂🍂

🍁It seems Autumn is an especially inspiring time to draw~🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

With the change of season, the drawing bug hit me, so I got out a ball point pen and some ink pens to give these mediums a try. Normally ink is not something that I'd feel comfortable using, not being able to erase is intimidating. But to my surprise, it was super fun, relaxing and satisfying. Honestly, kind of hard to put down. 

The first picture was found on Youtube, where you can watch XonArt "Draw a simple landscape in pen and ink".

Two inspired ink drawings....

Inspired pen drawings....

Inspired pencil drawings....

Camel inspired by a cute camel picture on Pinterest.

~~~~Doodles~~~~

Inspired and original colored pencil drawings. 

 Sloth is inspired by this adorable sloth painting, Pin.

My ugly pumpkin, I just couldn't stoppp....

black & white~

With age, as with other things in life besides drawing... my straight lines get straighter, circles rounder and things are seen in a whole new way.

Grab yourself a pen or pencil and kick back and draw something! It is so meditative and relaxing! Or go Zentangle! Go do your thing and enjoy your thing, whatever you do.

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy drawing!

Drawings are from the second week in September, during Fall inspired drawing faze, September 2021.

Bird Point

⮙ Native American Bird Point Arrowhead ➣

This tiny beauty is just under an inch, and is made of shiny white stone. Large scraper/axe head is also made of white stone, but is milkier with hues of orange, and is not shiny.

Both were found in Central Texas, Dripping Springs area, while exploring my Mom's land.

More pictures of the scraper here.

My Mum chipped the little bird point on the edge a long time ago by accident. She was looking at it when I told her that I'd found it on her property, she must have gotten so excited that she accidentally dropped it. Oh well, you can barely tell. But before that, it was found in pristine condition.  A truly amazing find.

Chip on right side edge after finding.

To have napped this shiny white stone without breaking it, is very impressive to me. And for it to have survived its journey to find its way here, is incredible as well. 

I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this beautiful tiny bird point if anyone would like to share.

Below, several scrapers, bird point, pieces and 2 full arrowheads. 

My finds (1989-2000)

Sometime's I think that there could not be more arrowheads out there to find, surely everyone has found them all, or they have been buried by time. But these that I found are proof to me that they are out there, you first have to look. 

It does help to have knowledge of where to look and what to look for. I had help with the lower row after showing interest and finding the two mentioned above.  Arrowhead hunting is a truly meditative process and the reward, priceless.

I still find myself looking down, hoping to find that smooth stone laying on the ground. That glimpse into the past, carried gently into the future, cherished and shared, not laying quietly somewhere forgotten in nature. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy rock hunting!

Step Stool Cover

  Step Stool Cover

Fun seat cover made up for this old antique step stool that desperately needed something. This old stool had a hard, cracked plastic cushion, the steps discolored, old beat up wood, held together by rusted metal. At the same time, the stool is just so useful and still very sturdy, so I could not bare to part with it. Like usual, my first thought was~ CROCHET IT!

Starting with the yarn colors, I chose colors from our kitchen, and that I had on hand. Drawing from mosaic looking, mandala type crochet, I started searching for the perfect rectangle, but mostly only found squares. It would need to be rectangle to fit the stool, so I put together some ideas, and ended up with this. 

It didn't turn out too bad, and no one complains about my ugly stool any more. 

     A fresh coat of paint and it is good as new!

This project is all about the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. I am big on "trash to treasure".  I find that turning something that could end up in a land fill into something useful, to be a wonderful thing. 

Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy and inspiration in life.

Best wishes and Happy crocheting!

Stool cover completed August 4, 2018

 DIY Yoshi Gift Bags, Mushroom Wrapping Paper, & Mushroom Cupcakes 🍄🍄🍄🍄

What Mario party would be complete without his little pal Yoshi! These great, and really simple gift bags are an adorable addition to a Mario Birthday Party Celebration.

To make the large gift bag, I took a brown grocery bag, painted it green, and fashioned it the same as the smaller bag. You can kind of see large Yoshi bag in the back, peeking out.

Sorry that I do not have better pictures, or a print out for you. 

This is what I did; I started by sketching out the face on a 

green gift bag, 

white paper and 

green paper.

You simply round the top of a green gift bag in the shape of Yoshi's eyes, cut eye shapes on white paper and draw in black in proper position, cut green squared oval shape for his snout, then with black, draw in lines on his snout for nostrils and mouth. Glue face together.

🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

Another gift wrap idea is Mushroom paper. Take plain, red and/or green wrapping paper and dot white polka dots with acrylic paint to look like red/green Mushroom tops or Yoshi eggs.

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This dotting idea works for Mushroom Cupcakes as well.

 The kids helped to make these by first helping mix and then helping to put on the icing.

All you need is;

Cupcakes

Red icing

white icing

pastry bag/piping tube

Kids love making a mess with the red icing! You may want to have an adult help with the dots.

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The cake was a store bought Turbo cake, so we just added Mario characters to fit in with our theme, including Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and a Mushroom Cupcake. 🍄  

Nothing too fancy, but tons of fun!

Hope that you find joy and inspiration!

Thank you for stopping by.

Just pinned a bunch of Mario Party pins, check out my Elijah board to see more great ideas from other Mario fans.

 💚Yoshi! 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

DIY Fire Flower & Warp Pipes

 DIY Mario Party Decorations 🔥🌼💣🎈

🔥🌼 Fire Flower Power vase 🔥🌼 and Warp Pipes

Mario birthday had lots of hand made decorations, some doubled as decorations and were placed on the table, like the Mario birthday cards, while others were placed around the house, like the birthday boy's sign, Pin the Mustache on Mario game,  Boo & Chain Chomp Piñatas, plus much more!

In pictures above and below, you can see the Warp Pipe, these were made using toilet paper tubes, electrical tape, and paint. 

Wrap tape, like green duct tape, around the outside of tube, going around extra times at the top, making a small lip to look like the PVC pipes. 

These would probably look best painted inside.

Really easy, but other than decoration we did not use them for much. Maybe you have some ideas for them. 

You could make the fire flower and put it in the pipes, a pipe vase :)...

The Fire Power Flower is made on cardboard and painted with acrylic paints.

I used a tiny clay pot, painted with green acrylic paint. 

Flower is placed in the green pot with marble stones to hold it upright.

A touch of Easter grass for fun.

The gift bags are super fun and super cute, along with the Yoshi Egg wrapping paper! These will be in the next post, so check back soon!

Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy & inspiration!