Dinosaur Themed Food for a Dinosaur Birthday Party

Rowdy is now 18 months old.  Can you believe it?  I am still playing catch up when it comes to blog posts because, well, I'm home full time with an 18 month old.  It is hard to find the time to set down and write when Rowdy wants to sit in my lap, read books, or open and close Lego suitcases for 30 minutes straight.  In the Fall Rowdy will start preschool with Lucky so I should have some time to dedicate to writing and filming again.  Nevertheless, I'm happy to finally share some of the fun Dinosaur themed foods I created for Rowdy's first birthday party.

Fossil Cookies

I thought it would be fun to take sugar cookies up a notch and make some fossil cookies.  After a lot of experimentation, I settled on the following technique:

1. Make sugar cookie dough according to the package directions for shaped cookies (or use your favorite recipe from scratch)
2. Roll the dough out
3. Have a blast with your toddler making footprints on the dough and pressing imprints of the dinosaurs.
   
   
   
4. Cut the dough into cookie sized pieces with a knife.  I tried to to irregular shapes so it would look like cracks.
   
   
5. Bake according to your recipe directions.
   
   

If you want to make an imprint of the side of a dinosaur, make sure that you press it into the dough REALLY hard so it will show up after baking.

I spent a lot of time looking for dinosaur figurines that had different foot shapes, and then Lucky was gifted a Terra Container of Mini Dinosaurs for Christmas.  These were the perfect scale to fit many different footprint shapes into the dough.


Candy Dinosaur Nests

I love making chocolate covered crunchy snacks for parties.  Chocolate covered chow mein noodles have become spiders and crabs, chocolate covered pretzels have turned into pumpkins, so why not do something similar to make little dinosaur nests?  I happened to have a huge box of Rice Krispies on hand so I decided to mix these with some melted chocolate chips to create Dinosaur nests.  Ultimately I decided to add marshmallows the mix and create some Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats for the nests.  First, I used  my dinosaur candy mold and colored candy wafers to create some dinosaur shaped candy to sit on the nests.

I microwaved the wafers in a ziplock bag in 30 second increments until it was melted.  I mixed the colors together with my hands and then clipped off a corner to fill the molds.  I mixed yellow and dark green candy wafers to get a gradient of green dinos.  For the middle green I used a ratio of 7 green: 3 yellow.  I found that 40 melted wafers filled 9 of the dinosaur shapes.  For the yellow-green, I used 38 yellow and 12 green dinosaurs.  For the deepest green I used only dark green wafers.

I made the chocolate Rice Krispies Treats and then added balls to a greased muffin tin.  I made sure there was an indentation in the center to form a little cup for the "nest."   Then I added my candy dinosaurs to the center of each nest while they were still warm.  

The dinosaur candy melted just a little bit.  Not enough for the dinosaurs to lose their shape but enough to secure them to their chocolate nests.  These were DELICIOUS and super cute.

Baked Dinosaur Tortilla Chips

I've made my own pita chips before, but I've never tried to make my own tortilla chips. When I found this idea on Pinterest I knew it was a fun project that I could make in advance for Rowdy's party.  I used a Dinosaur sandwich cookie cutter to cut dinosaurs out of some Spinach, Garlic and pesto tortillas. Since I didn't have an oil spritzer, I brushed some olive oil on top of the cutouts and sprinkled them with coarse salt.  I baked the chips at 275 degrees F for 15 minutes.

I hand cut some triangles out of the excess tortillas.  I knew that I would want some small triangles to use to make some dinosaur dip!

There were a lot of extra pieces after cutting out the dinosaurs.  I turned these into chips, too and the boys had them as a crunchy, tasty snack.

Guacasaurus and Hummusaurus

I wish I could take credit for the Guacasaurus and Hummusaurus, but I found the inspiration for these fun dips in a blog post from a 4 year old's dinosaur birthday party.  This was also the inspiration for Rowdy's cake.)  

I used some of the triangle tortilla chips that I made above to create the spines and horns of these fun little creatures.  I forgot to get sour cream so I used some plain Greek yogurt to help make the eyes.  

Dinosaur Cakes

When Rowdy was an itty baby, I found that Wilton had some adorable dinosaur cupcake kits.  These came with legs and tails on the cupcake wrapper, edible sprinkle spines and the heads on toothpicks.

I made some funfetti cupcakes for these little dino cupcakes.  I was afraid that the legs and the tail wouldn't show up if I used chocolate.  

I think that if I were going to design these cupcakes myself, I might make a tail out of candy or something to make that more obvious.  After baking the cupcakes, the wrapper decorations were pretty subtle.

Triceratops Cake

I did a lot of research on my dinosaur party Pinterest page before settling on a cake design.  When I found this Triceratops cake tutorial I knew that it was something I could attempt to re-create myself.

I baked two round cakes plus an extra square cake in a Brownie pan.  Unlike the tutorial, I wanted to use cake for the dinosaur's crest on top of the head.  I cut the triangles such that the side attached to the head was from the edge of the pan.  This meant that the points were thicker and raised up a bit.  

I think it was really brilliant how the tail and the head are cut from one round cake.  (I forgot to take a picture of how they fit together.)  

Icing this cake was... hard.  I don't think I appreciated how hard it would be to frost cut pieces of cake without them falling apart.  I was able to "make it work" and I think that I ended up with a darling homemade cake for my little one.  

I didn't have a backup cake baked if this failed.  I think my backup would have been to quickly make a sheet cake and put my kid's name on it.  Look how cute this Triceratops came out, though!  

In addition to these fun dino themed foods I shared in this post, I turned a lot of other "normal" party foods into dinosaur foods.  I can't wait to show you the spread that I put out at the table!  

I just asked Lucky what kind of birthday party he wants this October.  Lucky has officially requested a Dinosaur themed birthday party, too!  We are gently suggesting other ideas, but I am happy that my kids have picked up my love for dinosaurs. We'll see if Lucky changes his mind as we get closer to October, but I might have to come back to these ideas.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links but I was not paid to feature any specific product.  All product selections and thoughts are my own.  

Penguin in Love

Today* is Lucky's second birthday. (Today the day that I wrote this post.  His birthday was actually 4 months and 2 days ago.  I guess I moved this post around and forgot, whoops!)  I cannot believe how time has flown away.  It felt appropriate to do a different type of book review, a review of the children's book Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon.

Yoon has published many different penguin books.  At 18 months, they were a little long for Lucky to sit through my Keith and I enjoyed the stories.  One of Keith's colleagues gave Lucky Penguin in Love for his first birthday party, knowing that we love Penguins and my love for knitting.

Yes, these penguins knit!  I don't want to spoil the story, but let's just say that it is a book that you could give to any knitting expecting parent.  Don't worry, Bootsie wasn't just knitting because she was lonely, it gave her comfort as something she love to do.

I like that the story features both male and female knitters.  Any knitter I know will gasp at the horror of this segment of the story.

An adventure of friends who knit together, what could be better than that?  I'm so serious, if you know any parents-to-be or parents of young children who knit, you should really buy them this book!

A Stash of Vogue Knitting Stitchionaries

Thanks to the package I purchased at Vogue Knitting Live for classes in 2014, I had a $200 gift certificate to spend at vogueknitting.com.  This allowed me to add some books to my dream library!  I picked out four Vogue Knitting Stitchionaries that I thought would be the most useful to my design process:

• Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Two: Cables
• Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Four: Crochet
• Vogue Knitting Stitchionary; Volume Five: Lace Knitting
• Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Six: Edgings

When I opened up Volume Two: Cables immediately my jaw dropped.  I had opened on page 16 and saw the cable "op art" and immediately fell in love.  My mind started whirling about what I could incorporate this stitch pattern into, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The introduction ("how to use this book") highlighted the worsted weight yarn and needle size used in all of the swatches.  This is NOT a learn how to cable book, but a stitchionary showing many different cable swatches with both written instructions and charts.  The swatches are divided into five sections: Easy, Diamonds & Pretzles, Braids, All Over and combinations.  The easy section contains some simple cables, but many of them are more visually complex (although still simply constructed) than those found in my stitch of a day calendar.   All told there are over 200 different stitch motifs!

I wish I had something like this back before I designed my 14 cable hat!  Maybe it is time for a reprise...

 

I am very much a novice crocheter.  I am starting to feel more confident about different stitch patterns but I don't know the names of any basic shapes.  I selected Volume Four: Crochet to expose myself to motifs beyond using one stitch type at a time.  The book is divided into six sections: basics, geometrics, color, lace, edgings, and embellishments/unusual.

All motifs are charted in addition to having written instructions.  I am a huge fan of charts when it comes to knit cables but I haven't had to deal with crochet charts yet.  Since these go in multiple directions, rather than being in a grid like with knitting, I know that it will take some getting used to.  Seeing these charts right next to the finished motif really helps me visualize the construction.

The color section is really inspiring to me.  I haven't played around with color in my crochet very much yet, but this book is like a window into a world of possibility.  To my surprise, in the embellishments/unusual section there were even some samples of Tunisian crochet!  I have a crochet work that would work for this crochet/knitting hybrid so this is something that I cannot wait to explore more.

I LOVE knitting lace.  I want to learn more and more about how lace is constructed so I can design my own elegant patterns.  Volume Five: Lace Knitting is a prefect way to compare swatches to charts so I can start to understand the placement of increases and decreases to create my own motifs.  The book contains seven sections with more than 150 patterns: easy/mesh, edgings, chevrons, allover, panels, combos, and motifs.

The first section "easy/mesh" is a little disappointing.  I'm sure it will come in useful someday since there are so many variations of mesh in here, but they aren't exactly what I was hoping to find when I opened up this book.  The edgings section is fine, but since I already have 4 other edging knitting books in my collection I'm hoping for something more.  In chevrons a lot of the patterns look similar, but I am starting to appreciate the subtle differences in the fabric that lead to similar overall shapes.

In the "allover" section we're finally seeing the charts and combinations I was hoping to see.  I am seeing how lines curve based on where the yarn overs are placed.  This is the place where I can study as I start to design my own lace patterns.  These designs are more classic and meant to be repeated many times through a design.  Not quite the modern lace I'm hoping to create but certainly useful.

I held my breath when I saw the picture on the first page of "panels".  These lace socks are darling, so darling that I wished there were some patterns in the book.  (Trefoil #135 is the stitch pattern that caught my eye.  It is actually much simpler to knit that I would have expected.)

There isn't really any modern lace in this book, but I didn't expect their to be.  I see many shapes that are simple, and I hope that I can draw from these smaller motifs to expand them to create the modern lace shawlettes I crave to draw.

 

The last stitchionary I picked out was Volume Six: Edgings.  Why another book on edgings? Well the edging book interested me more than Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One: Knit & Purl or The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary™ Volume Three: Color Knitting. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE textured patterns and color knitting, but I find many of these motifs online. I had a large gift certificate and I thought that the volumes of Cables, Crochet, lace and Edgings would best fill my collection. Hopefully these will provide me with a lot of design inspiration over the years.

This book has 7 sections: ribs, texture, cables, lace, color, unusual and crochet.  I'm not sure that there is a ton different from my other edging books, but this is still going to be a useful resource when I'm looking for something perfect to finish (or start) a project.

I'm thrilled with my new collection.  I cannot wait to use these to help me as I'm planning out new designs!   What are your favorite stitch dictionaries in your library?  

Entrelac 2: New Techniques for Interlace Knitting

I've only completed a few Entrelac projects over the years.  I love this technique of constructing an object out of interconnected squares, it isn't as hard as it looks.  While I've seen many projects that are lovely, I haven't ever seen any subtle entrelac projects... until now.  I received the book Entrelac 2: New Techniques for Interlace Knitting by Rosemary Drysdale as part of my Vogue Knitting Live 2014 admission.   This sequel shares new ways to do this technique AND multiple patterns that subtly take advantage of this basketweave.

I shouldn't be surprised with the idea of putting other types of stitch patterns inside an entrelac square.  I learned in my cable design class how cool it is when you cable lace and ribbing, why wouldn't it be just as cool to do this with entrelac?

This book starts out with an introduction on how to start knitting entrelac.  The stitch patterns are divided into six sections: Basics, Beading, Cables, Lace, Buttonholes, and Triangles.  I disagree with the method Drysdale uses to bead (putting all beads on the yarn in advance), but this is really a matter of preference.  Otherwise I think her tutorials are pretty helpful.   I am much more intrigued by doing entrelac with cables and lace, these provide a whole new level of design to a garment.

When I got to the end of Triangles, I expected to move into the patterns but instead I found myself in a "Beyond the Basics" section.  Here we are exploring Four Star, Five Star, Six Star, Zig Zag and Braid Coil type configurations of entrelac.  Suddenly I am seeing some swatches that really excite me as you go beyond stockinette in these configurations.  It is hard to not think of fun tams when you're going through the 6 star configurations.

In Chapter 3 we hit the projects.  There is a variety of patterns from scarves and hats to sweaters and pillows.  I LOVE the Color Block Mohair Tee.  This is a really elegant two tone sweater with a subtle entrelac top and then stockinette body.  The Pretty Patchwork Tunic has huge entrelac squares all over the main body of the sweater.  I've never seen this technique look so refined as it looks in these two garments.  The Shades of Gray Pillows have an unfortunate title, but are actually really pretty and modern.  I wouldn't mind having some of these on my sofa, and they are a fun way to play around with the techniques.  I almost did a double take with the Aran Poncho.  This garment has entrelac cables on the front that are set in a way you almost wouldn't notice them as squares, you would think that magic took over the cables for them to run on a bias.  Finally, I like how the Slouchy Striped Hat combines colorwork and entrelac - stripes travel through the entire hat that really highlight the entrelac.

I'm not sure whether I would have purchased this book if it weren't given to me for free, but now that I have it I'm happy that it is in my library.  I'm excited to play more with entrelac and maybe try to incorporate it into some of my own designs.  If you get a chance to see this book at your local library I highly recommend you take a peek!

Knitting Fresh Brioche: Creating Two-Color Twists & Turns

When I was shopping in the Vogue Knitting online store (using up my gift certificate that was part of my conference package last fall), I selected this book just based on the cover.  Okay, so I peaked at the patterns on Ravelry before I completed the order, but I thought that the designs looked stunning.  I don't know much about Brioche knitting but I thought that Knitting Fresh Brioche: Creating Two-Color Twists & Turns by Nancy Marchent might give me insight into a new technique.  

I expected that Brioche knitting would be similar to the Knit one Below technique but the lines here flow and twist to create more than just vertical stripes.  This is a whole new world with new terminology.  Thank goodness the book had a hefty tutorial section with full color step by step photographs for these techniques.  The first 50 pages of this book are teaching you HOW to brioche.  I imagine I will also have to watch some videos but it is not the fault of Marchant, sometimes I personally learn easier when I can see someone do it.  This is super a fantastic resource to have in hand as I attempt to try something new!  Since the charts have completely different symbols, it is helpful to have multiple pages dedicated on how to read them.

Knitting Fresh Brioche is a stitchionary in addition to a learn to Brioche and pattern book.  Each of the stitch motifs are shown with color photographs of the RS and WS of the fabric, written instructions and charts.  The stitches have twists and turns like organic roots flowing through soil.  I am mesmerized looking at the patterns and can't wait to have the chance to try swatching out some of these designs.

I had an epic failure when I tried to make some mosaic mittens.  I am sad to say that I quit working on this project entirely.  I was fine until the increases on the thumb started and I had to keep track of where to put them in my head since the chart accommodated a few different sizes.  It probably would have gone better had I recharted the sections I wanted to make.  With a shawl or scarf I might have better luck trying out a complex slip stitched colorwork design.  Brioche seems much more complex on the outset but I think it only feels that way because I haven't tried it yet.

All of the patterns in this book are scarves and shawls because Marchant's stitch designs really almost design an entire neck wrap themselves.  All of the stitch samples were done in the same two colors, so now Marchant knit samples in different fiber types, weights and colors to show how much variety you can get out of these beautiful stitches.  All patterns have both written instructions and charts.  I really appreciate that there are both male and female models showing off the garments.  You might think that all of these flowy winding patterns look feminine but they are also a much more interesting version of a striped pattern.  I think that Keith might end up with one of these coming his way!  

I love finding new crafts and techniques to experiment with.  I cannot wait to try out Knitting Fresh Brioche and am super excited to use Marchant as my teacher.  I know that with her book I'll create something beautiful.  

Crocheting on the Edge

200+ decorative crochet borders?  Yes please!  When I learned about Crocheting on the Edge by Nicky Epstein I knew that I wanted it in my library.  I love her other On the Edge books and love having stitch dictionaries (stitchionaries) in my library for design inspiration.  I've only designed one crochet pattern to date (two if you count a bobble).

Thanks to the package I purchased at Vogue Knitting Live for classes in 2014, I had a $200 gift certificate to spend at vogueknitting.com.  This allowed me to add some books to my dream library! 

Nicky Epstein says, "You'll find ribs, bobbles, ruffles, classic vintage, fringes, flora and lots more" and boy, oh boy, does she deliver.  The book starts out by demonstrating swatches of crochet edging on knitting.  Back when I made my first ever sampler afghan I was supposed to crochet an edge on it.  I was not confident in my crochet skills at all so I skipped crocheting an edge and just left the edge unfinished.  Now I'm wondering if I should pick up another ball of Wool Ease and finish that project up, but I digress.  (Pause while I go make a note in my Ravelry queue...) 

I really like the stitch sections breaking up crochet motifs into different fabric characteristics I'm more familiar with in knitting, ribbing, cables etc.  It is much easier for me to imaging adding a horizontal edging with crochet than knitting.  Picking up stitches is not a concern in crochet, since it is the essence of the craft.

Looking through the ruffles section I keep imagining little baby girl tops and dresses.  The frou frou ruffle (page 60 in my version) would look great on a hat edge.  I wish I had time to start sketching, this is how excited this book is making me!  I wonder if the daisy chain (page 88) needs to be anchored to something as an edge or could be free standing.  I'm not confident enough in my crocheting skills to determine from just looking whether things would work in different situations, but I think that there could be a cute headband from this motif.

This book contains some patterns.  There is a little more variety than in the Nicky's last book, there are a few jackets, caplets, a vest, a shawl and a bracelet.  This book is good for more than the sample patterns, these are really only samples to show you how you can incorporate interesting crochet edgings into projects.

A lot of these crochet motifs have a vintage feel to them, but that is because it is more of a vintage craft.  You don't find crochet pieces in stores, it is just too hard to mass produce them.  I think it would be so fun to start incorporating some of these motifs into simple patterns.  I cannot wait to challenge myself and try something new!