DIY Elephant Shirt

Pinterest Inspired Aztec Elephant Shirt 

         As you can probably tell, the inspiration came from the middle picture and the pictures on either side are my finished product. I made this shirt for my best friend Brook (who's Pinterest I stalked for birthday gift ideas). I saw this Pin on her "Want" board and I fell in love with it and I did not want to give it up when I was done! 

         

For this project you will need:

-A comfy shirt (long sleeve, short sleeve or tan top- I would suggest using a tank top if you're looking for this particular style, but I used a long sleeve and cut it to my own liking)

-A funky/tribal print (fabric, shirt, etc.) 

-WonderUnder

-matching thread

You may also need:

-Iron/Ironing board

      I started out with a long sleeve gray shirt, and it's really thin, but the thickness is unimportant in this process. I guess I should have taken pictures of me cutting it into a racerback, but I guess there always has to be one picture that I forget to take! 

      Anyway, cut your shirt to your preference (or leave it as is), then move on to your next step!

     Next, you need to make a template for your elephant. I taped two pieces of paper together to make a wide enough piece to cut out the ears*. I folded the wide paper in half so I only had to draw the ears once and also so the back would be at least kinda symmetrical.            
     Then, I cut out the piece for the head/trunk/tusks. Trace both of these pieces onto the WonderUnder and cut them out (not in detail, but generally).
     Iron the pieces onto the WRONG side of the chosen fabric, wait until it cools and cut out the pattern with both the fabric and WonderUnder being cut out. 
     Once you have them cut out, lay them out to your preference and iron them on one at a time. 

*Note that the ears and the head/trunk are two separate pieces with the print going different ways.

      As your last step (which is also completely optional) sew around the design about 1/2 an inch in from the edge.
I also took the opportunity to sew in small white X's for eyes (I was debating wether or not to add eyes, then once I decided to add eyes I had to decide whether I would use beads or thread)

< I used the inside of the shirt because I thought that the darker, more rustic look was the way to go...but the picture above ^ that's the right side of the fabric. Just clearing that up XD

Jamba Juice Cup Cake

Jamba Juice Inspired Cake

Looking around on Pinterest the other day I stumbled across a "Jamba Juice Recipe" post (as we've all seen) and I found my inspiration for my creation! I'm a total amateur when it comes to cake making/decorating, but I absolutely love it! The Inspiration =>

Ingredients:

Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix (plus mixing ingredients on back of box: eggs, water, oil)

1Can of Chocolate Frosting

1Can of Vanilla OR Strawberry Frosting

1-2 Cans of Marshmallow Creme 

A LOT OF POWDERED SUGAR- seriously though. I don't even know how much I used. Get a lot.

Melting Chocolate (Optional)

A Jamba Juice Cup + Straw

Food Coloring (Gel Preferably- I got my 4-color set at WinCo for 4$ and it worked beautifully)

You May Also Need:

A Rolling Pin

Cling Rap 

Kitchen Aid Mixer (Not necessary, but trust me-IT HELPS)

The first thing I did was mix up and bake a 13x9 pan of chocolate cake. Once it was out of the oven- I ran to WinCo to gather supplies (allowing my cake to cool)

Once I got back, the cake was cool so I popped open my chocolate icing, whipped it up with my beater and mixed my cake and my icing (as if we were making cake pops) 

Next, I took the cup that the Jamba Juice employees gave me (FOR FREEEEEE) and I cut out the very bottom of the cup-DON'T JUST SHEAR OF THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE CUP! If you turn the cup upside down, you will see that there is a lip around the cup and what you want to cut out is the bottom FACE of the cup. (Oh dear me- I hope that made sense). Then, I lined the inside with cling wrap. Basically, all I did was tear off a huge chunk of it, wrap it around my left arm, stick my arm through the cup and fold the excess over the ends, taping them down if necessary. You may go about that in any way you find convenient, but I urge you to use cling wrap as it will make your life a lot easier. 

Place your wrapped cup on a plate (Or in a bowl as I did) and start putting your cake/icing mixture in the cup and make sure it is compact so you do not end up with holes in your cake. Put your cake in the freezer- standing up.

(I don't have a picture of mine in the freezer)

While that freezes, we will move on to our fondant! (If you don't have a Kitchen Aid I would suggest working by hand seeing as I have never used a regular beater and I'm unsure of how well it would work) Lay down a  thick layer of powdered sugar in your bowl to prevent it to sticking to the bowl and dump in your 1-2 cans of Marshmallow Creme (depending on whether or not you use the chocolate drizzle method, you may only need one can of marshmallow creme. 2 cans makes a lot and the only reason I used it was because I had to put on 2 layers of fondant to smooth out my chocolate disaster) with more powdered sugar on top. Start the mixing, but make sure to check in on it. While it mixes you may need to add more PS (powdered sugar) and you may have to go in with your spoon to get your fondant off the sides of your bowl.

The next step that I took is completely OPTIONAL and I would recommend skipping it because this is the step that really screwed me over. What I did was take the frozen cake out of the freezer and pour melted chocolate over it. Yeah...Frozen Cake + Melted Chocolate = Streaks of frozen chocolate down your cake as seen below (sorry it's so blurry) Yes, if I made this cake again, I would NOT include this step- it adds nothing to the taste, structure or appearance.

Assuming that you took my advice and skipped this step we shall move straight to the fondant. Hopefully you know when your fondant is done, and it has reached that step. With your cake in the fridge (without chocolate snot dripping down it) it is time to roll out your fondant. (Put down a layer of powdered sugar wherever you put it down because IT WILL STICK.

Okay, so because I made a mess of the chocolate I put on two layers of fondant to smooth it all over. The first layer I did was all white and in the second layer I rolled out a chunk, made my design, laid that on my cake, then I added a second layer of white everywhere else-smoothing over the lines where my fondant met. 

Take out small chunks of fondant and begin coloring to fit the design. My colors weren't anywhere close to the colors on the cup (as you can see) but I tried to get them as close as I could. In the picture below you can see the seam where my two fondant chunks meet. Roll out a small piece, put your design on it and put that piece on your cake first. Then, cover the rest of the cake in white.

To finish it off I took Strawberry icing (vanilla dyed pink would also work) and whipped it up with my beater (adding some red and blue to create a purplish color) and swirled it on top to look like the drink. Finally, stick the straw in the top and you've got your cake!