pokemon |

May 20, 2023
by Jennifer Lori Leave a comment

How to: DIY Pikachu Fondant Cake Topper

Jakob turned 16 (!!) this week, so I thought it was high time to share another one of his past birthday cakes.

Made for his 9th birthday, this Pikachu fondant cake topper is a quick and easy DIY that you can copy on your own cakes, cupcakes or cookies.

As always when making a topper for a known character I like to start with a template. After measuring my cake pan I resize an image of the character to fit and then print it out. For cartoon characters like Pikachu you can search for coloring pages to find black and white outline-based images.

For this cake I tinted some white fondant with yellow Americolor gel colors to get Pikachu’s signature yellow shade. I rolled it out on a silicon measuring mat using a fondant roller with the medium levels as I wanted to make sure I had enough fondant for a two-layer figure. I usually use the thickest level for fondant toppers and I would suggest that you prep enough fondant so you can do the same – as you’ve probably noticed above my topper was a little thin and wound up cracking.

I started by cutting out the base layer of the full image by tracing the entire template with a fondant cutter.

Then I cut out Pikachu’s head alone so I could layer the pieces similar to a 3D paper decoupage technique.

Carefully stack the head cut out on top of the fondant base using a little bit of water to secure it in place.

I always like to prepare my toppers in advance so they can dry out for a few days before I begin coloring/painting on them. As mentioned above I’d made Pikachu a bit too thin and he wound up cracking across his face and left arm.

I used edible ink markers to draw on Pikachu’s face and details. I’m glad I had a reference image as I was about to color the tip of his tail black. Have you heard of that Mandela effect? It totally got me!

While the fondant was drying I baked a vanilla cake and prepped it as per my “how to bake a cake and prep it for decorating” post. To finish things off I decorated the base with yellow and red Smarties to match the colors of the topper.

This was a really quick and easy DIY that you can use to make your own Pikachu treats!

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October 6, 2022
by Jennifer Lori Leave a comment

Annual Halloween Roundup

It’s October, so that means it’s time for my annual roundup of costume-related patterns and tutorials available here on the blog.

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to make Minecraft Steve & Creeper heads.

Next up (with over 420,000 impressions on Pinterest in the last 60 days alone!) is a similar tutorial, this time for making a Minecraft Enderman head along with a diamond block trick-or-treat box.

Both projects include full charts for game-accurate colors and the exact hex codes for perfect color matching!

If your idea of fantasy is less block-based and more magical, here’s a free knitting pattern for an easy scarf in the Gryffindor house colors.

If training a dragon is more your thing, here’s how to make a viking vest.

If you prefer Pokemon to Night Furies, here’s an easy, last-minute Pikachu costume idea.

If your friends-group themed costume runs more Grease than Greninja, here’s how you can make a super simple Poodle skirt.

If you’re looking to visually upgrade some inexpensive props, here’s a demo on repainting plastic swords.

If you’ve got a last-minute party invite to deal with, here’s a SUPER quick ‘n easy Jughead Jones (from Archie Comics) costume tutorial with free burger dream bubble printable!

If your group costume needs accessories, here’s a free tutorial on making Super Mario Bros Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi hats

If you want to take those Mario Bros costumes one step further, here are instructions on making their respective mustaches

If you REALLY want to go all out, here’s the full costume breakdown with instructions on making an entire Wario costume

Finally, if you’ve got enough knitting time on your hands, you can knit my Baby’s First Superhero Costume pattern as-is with cute designs for boys and girls, or convert the chart and the colors to create your superhero of choice.

Find more tips and tutorials on my How-To page!

October 20, 2018
by Jennifer Lori Leave a comment

Last-Minute Eevee Amigurumi

One of Henri’s closest friends is a little boy named Matthew. They used to see each other at the bus stop every morning, and then during recess/lunch at school, but at the beginning of this school year Matthew had to switch to a different elementary which falls within the French school board. This means that the boys only get to see each other at playdates, which is sad for both of them.

Because of this, Henri’s been SUPER excited for Matthew’s birthday party, which was this afternoon. The two of them love playing Pokemon together and trading cards, so for Matthew’s gift I picked up a new set of cards. I showed it to Henri last night while he was coloring a card to go with it, and he said “too bad there’s no Eevee in the box. Matthew’s FAVORITE Pokemon is Eevee.”

I nodded noncommittaly and handed him the markers. Then he added, casually, “I sure wish you could have made him an Eevee for his party.”

Oh.

Don’t get me wrong- I love making handmade gifts, and I’ve often added little handmade touches to store-bought presents. But… Matthew’s party was the next day. And Henri mentioned this at 8:29pm.

Well. I’m nothing if not optimistic! (And a night owl). I hopped into Ravelry, poked around at some options, and settled on this free pattern by Clare Heesh. I assembled my materials,

made a quick post to my Instagram story about how crazy I was… and then got started.

I worked the pattern as written, with the following changes:

used random worsted yarn from my stash and a 3.5mm hook (because I couldn’t find my 3mm)
crocheted inner ears instead of sewing on brown felt (because I didn’t have any handy)
fluffed up tail too

I was finished crocheting the body pieces by 12:43am:

Next was assembly!

First I stuffed the body, then sewed on the legs. After that I sewed on the tail, followed by the arms. The next step was supposed to be to sew the head onto the body, but I found the stuffing kept wanting to pop out of the body, so I basted over it quickly with the tail of the white yarn.

I inserted safety eyes then sewed the head down, whipstitching at a 1-to-1 ration between the head and body pieces. I stitched the ear centers down to the ears, then sewed those onto the head as well. Finally was the fun part: the fluff! I looped lengths of the white yarn around the neck then brushed it out with a cat brush until it was super soft and fluffy.

And here’s the finished Eevee! I didn’t trim the fluff, instead I sort of folded it into place and used the end of my crochet hook to stab it into the body, similar to how you’d do needle felting. The last thing I did was to use the cat brush and brush out the white end of the tail to give it a bit of fluff too.

I think she’s so adorable that I don’t mind that I only finished her at 2:15am LOL

UPDATE: I showed her to the boys this morning and they were beyond excited. Henri squealed, and Jakob was so happy with her that he jumped off his bed to come hug me and say “great job Mom!” which MADE my morning and is EXACTLY the reason why I stay up til crazy hours doing things like this.

October 18, 2018
by Jennifer Lori Leave a comment

Halloween projects you’ll still have time to make

Halloween is in two weeks, so you know what that means- time to start scrambling for (not quite) last-minute costume ideas! To help out, here are some costume-related projects from my archives that are short enough to get done before the 31st. 🙂

Still my most popular post- for those with some boxes and paint lying around: here’s how to make Minecraft Steve & Creeper heads.

If you’d prefer instead to teleport in out of nowhere and swipe your candy, here’s how to make a Minecraft Enderman costume head complete with his very own Minecraft diamond block trick-or-treat candy holder.