NEW sweet sweater SNOcakes!

after i posted my gingerbread sweater cake at the end of December,
i began seeing all kinds of 'sweater cakes' online...

this gorgeous image from Lion Brand Yarn came up in my IG feed 
and MANY others are popping up on Pinterest -
utterly gorgeous real cakes that are frosted to look like cable knit sweaters.

i was particularly drawn to the white winter-y ones and knew i could replicate the look.
since i had everything i needed to create a faux cake,
i got busy creating my own 'Sweet Sweater' version.
and since it's still decidedly winter, i thought i'd share it here on the blog...
it's too late for more Valentine's Day decor, anyway!

continue reading to see the details - plus a few surprises!

painted 'chocolate' pumpkins on a sweet sweater cake

a fitting conclusion to my recent faux food project posts,

this one really takes the cake....

this project came about because i had some tiny styro pumpkins,
which made me start thinking about making a very REAL cake

like my Mom used to make every fall when i was a kid.

it was always a round two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing

and adorned with tiny orange candy pumpkins all along the top edge.

i loved that cake.

we took them to school fall celebrations and church harvest festivals.

we took mini versions - cupcakes - to friend's houses.

we never brought any of it home, either!!! everyone loved it.

instead, i decided to make a fall 'cake' in my own style...

because deb does NOT need more calories!

continue reading for the before and after...

NEW! sweet sweater 'sandy' cake

a question i am often asked is 'where do you get your ideas from?'
i'm honestly inspired by everything! 
from the color combinations i see in nature to memories of my childhood
to objects i see that make me ask "can i make that out of a sweater?!"
i am never without ideas to investigate (which is why deb doesn't sleep....)

one of my long-time online friends from the 'way back' blogging days (early 90's)
is the most incredible cake decorator and baker i have ever seen.
Sasha (@saucybakes on IG) has a wild imagination and wicked talent,
and her creations never fail to make me
 A. hungry and B. intrigued about replicating them in my own style.

back in 2022 i was inspired by Sasha to create a cake
using sweaters, as my own 'birthday cake',
which then led to creating a faux holiday cake and a faux frosty wintery cake.

a recent post on her IG account showed a 'Little Mermaid' themed cake
with shells and sprinkle 'sand'...
so i started thinking about making a summery 'sand cake'
with a sweater and seashells and a few other elements. 

continue reading to see how i interpreted a beachy theme faux cake!

faux food flower 'cupcakes'

continuing with my floral theme for this month,

i whipped up these fanciful floral 'faux food' cupcakes...

which i did not make with butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.

my friend Sasha ('Saucy') decorates very real cakes and cupcakes

with the most fantastical elements - like frosting flowers.

her delightful creations inspired these flower-decorated cupcakes,

and also inspired my faux gingerbread cake last December.

check out her amazing edible art on Instagram

some projects have a lot of prep, a lot of elements, a lot of steps.

this isn't one of those. this is a one-and-done decor project. easy-peasy. 

i can't even call this a 'tutorial' because it's SO easy.

don't believe me? continue reading!

my sweet sweater birthday cake!

hello, friends!
i've been enjoying my sabbatical over the past month and a half,
and have made a MAJOR dent in my very long and very overlooked 'To Do' list!
(such as: get my truck running again✔  get some appliance repairs done✔   
get some yard work done✔  buy a new mattress to help my back pain✔ )

since it's March 1st, the beginning of my birthday month,
it seems a perfect time to return to the blog and share a recent project with you!

* this post was created in mid-February and scheduled for March 1.
given the world events that transpired in the last week of February,
 i actually thought very seriously about not publishing it, 
 seeming too frivolous a subject to focus on in light of reality.

 i have decided to publish it, in the hope that anyone who sees it
will be reminded that there are still things to celebrate in this world
even in the midst of darkness and conflict. *

as much as i love to bake (and eat) sweet things,
i decided that my birthday cake this year needed to be a bit different...

you know it wouldn't be a birthday cake for ME unless it was made of sweaters, right?!

(my waistline and thighs appreciate the total lack of calories in this one ;) ) 

continue reading to find out the unusual way this fun decor came to be...

NEW! sweet sweater 'gingerbread' cakes!

deb used to bake. uh huh. but now if deb bakes, deb eats.
getting older with a slowing metabolism sucks!
so now my approach to 'holiday treats' takes a different form...

i just make sweet things out of other things... like SWEATERS!

for the finishing touch on my Gingerbread Holiday theme this year,
i've created two all-new Sweet SweaterTM originals to inspire you:

an oh-so-trendy 'tall cake' and a lil' mini 'cake buddy'
all trimmed out with gingerbread houses, men, candy canes, snowflakes,
and some 'frosting' that couldn't be easier!

continue reading to see how these sweet treats came together - 
without a calorie in sight ;) 

Cookin' Up Some Holiday Decor!

i had the pleasure of decorating an executive residence in Seattle for many years,
becoming friends with the remarkable family who lived there...

and let me tell you the homeowner's copious collections provided me and my decorating crew

with a PLETHORA of materials to work with!

the thing with huge collections is to divide and conquer...

her large collection of Department 56 houses 

was always given the place of honor in her living room and kitchen. 

each year, we'd rearrange and create new scenes using the same houses with changing props.

a few of the kitchen displays are shown here...

above, the gigantic island hosts a woodland scene 

with moss, snow, twigs, and shiny red ornament trees & garlands as the large focal points.

glass cake pedestals hold faux cakes, and a cut glass vase with a glass plate on top

serves as an even higher vantage point for woodland creature figures to gather...

in the bay window,

two nutcracker pedestals lift Department 56 houses and faux cakes up high, 

while various old food tins act as pedestals for more from her collection of 150+ nutcrackers -

these are bakers, candymakers, winemakers, and creators of other foodie delights!

gumdrop trees (some light up!) and candied faux fruit floral picks

add more color to the theme.

low glass pedestals hold more Department 56 houses.

 another year, we put the shiny red garlands into tall vases,

and topped them with huge clear glass platters.

those formed tall pedestals in the back of the bay window, 

where the largest Department 56 houses were stars!

 yet another year, the red shiny ornament trees moved to the bay window,
sitting up high on the nutcracker pedestals.
white plastic snowflakes dot the garland behind the houses
and from red shiny ball garland and greenery swags over the window.

i'll share another post with photos from her living room Department 56 displays soon...

in the meantime, take a look at her largest Nutcrackers, guarding the front doors!

these guys were 8 feet tall!!!

sometimes, i really take the cake....

today is my birthday!

what better day to share a birthday cake idea?!

the photos here show an original product that i developed back in 2007, called

foo-foo Faux Food TM

i sold this line in my booth at vintage shows and vintage stores,

and now i'm sharing the idea with you here at HOMEWARDfound

because it's a fun craft to make, 

an easy way to decorate 

and can be customized for a birthday or holiday...

my secret? 

these are made using recycled metal cans and tins 

and recycled chenille bedspreads.

yup... clean fruit cans, tuna cans, cookie tins, and cracker tins in various sizes. 

here's the how-to:

* wrap the tins in the fuzzy, textured chenille fabric in any color, and glue on

 cookie & cracker tins are used with lids covered separately (so they are still usable for storage)

tuna cans and small fruit cans are used upside down

* glue on fuzzy yarn trims (like this white 'caterpillar' yarn) to the edges and tops 

 (swirl it on cupcakes, for example)

* you can use the fringed edges of the bedspread on the sides of the cake

so that it looks like piped frosting

* add a few details on the tops and sides,

using pom poms, beads, rickrack, and other trims

* stack the assorted sizes of tins to create fanciful faux cakes!

* using red pom poms or round beads gives the look of cherry toppers

i bet you'll find a bunch of ways to use them!

please note that if you make these for sale, you can not use my product name
'foofoo Faux Food'. it is copyrighted & trademarked.

___________________________________________________

since it's the first day of a new year for me,

i'd just like to offer a little 'shout out' to some very lovely friends

who have made the past year something wonderful.

in the face of huge changes in my life, they have been a

remarkable support and encouragement to me professionally,

always challenging me to

 keep moving forward...

and i could not have done that without them.

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors

David at BROADWAY+THRESHER

Michael at Inspired by Charm

Ruth at The Beautiful Life

Trino at Atelier de Campagne

Janet at ReStitched USA

Sharon at Launch Your Creativity

__________________________________________

More Faux Food Fun!

 the sweet little cottage that i once lived in had a 'greenhouse' window over the kitchen sink.

it was deep and not easily accessible, and the exposure was all wrong for plants.

so i turned it into a decorating opportunity!

each month, i'd create some kind of scene up there in the window

[so that i wouldn't have to look across the yard at the ugly side of my neighbors' house... which you can still see in the photo below]

one particular scene was designed using my own 'FooFooFauxFood' creations.

i decided on an 'Ice Cream Social' theme...

all kinds of dishes and bowls and plates and cups were the starting point,

then i 'foofed them up' with fuzzy yarn and pom poms and beads to look like ice cream ;) 

NOTE: nothing is permanent here.  no glue was used. it's just assembled.

my sweet little shelf-sitter Miss Ami (named for a friend) is perched on a 'cupcake'  - 

which is a mound of fuzzy yarn 'whipped cream' on top of a tiny upside-down ceramic baking dish.

the 'pie' that  Miss Ami is using as a footrest

is the ceramic lid of a scented candle pot sitting in a glass bowl, 

with fuzzy 'caterpillar' yarn wound around the top knob and the edges to look like 'whipped cream'.

the 'espresso' and 'ice cream sundae' next to her are simply cups filled with tissue paper,

then topped with more yarn 'whipped cream'. 

a pompom and some bead 'sprinkles' are finishing touches.

the 'cupcake' is made from sweater pieces, wound into a shape and tied with a bow.

it sits in a cupcake paper inside a footed glass sugar bowl.
i was inspired to create that cupcake years ago by Miss Betz White,

the felted cupcake queen!

the 'milkshake' in the background

is a tall footed glass filled with nubby yarn in shades of green and a chenille stem 'straw'.

yarn swirled on top as whipped cream and a pompom are the finishing touches.

the 'ice cream cake/bombe' on the far right

is the ceramic scented candle pot (mentioned above) flipped upside down on a saucer.

more yarn serves as 'whipped cream' on top and around the edges.

the smaller 'bombe' above it is a scallop-edged bowl sitting on a scallop-edged plate.

more of those are on the other side of the window, nestled in glass bowls as shown below.

i also used some clear glass soda pop bottles to hold green & white flowers in the scene,

and filled a glass pedestal candy dish with green pompom 'mints' in the background.
 _______________________________________________

this certainly isn't rocket science, just a fun way to create decor using everyday items!

we all love looking at things in a new way and discovering new ways to use them...

why not turn your kids loose with some dishes or tupperware and craft supplies, 

and see what they come up with!

 find more of my fun 'FooFooFauxFood' ideas 

in these past HOMEWARDfound posts:

tiered cakes made from stacked dishes

 cakes, cookies, cupcakes and ice cream

tiered cakes made from stacked tins

NEW! Sweet Sweater Pops!

so a funny thing happened while i was creating my last blog post...

i was typing in additional ideas for accessories that one might use

on one's own versions of my Sweet Sweater Sandbabies.

things like ball caps popped into my mind. and THAT led me down a rabbit hole...

it went something like this:

"yeah! ball caps! ball caps?! baseball! hot dogs! beer! popcorn! 

POPCORN??!! waaaaaiiiiiiiit a minute... i have...."

at which point i ran out of my studio to the garage, to the party supply bins,

where i found the paper and plastic popcorn containers i knew were in there.

i returned to my studio and dragged out the box with sweater remnants,

and there was a bag filled with wonky fuzzy yarn that is the color of UNbuttered popcorn.

my crazy brain puts two and two together and the result is those guys up above:
Sweet Sweater Pops!

Red, White, and Blue PATRIOTIC Pops.

and then the ideas REALLY started poppin'... continue reading to see!