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Tablecloth Play Dresses

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I've always wanted to make dress up clothes for my daughters. I made an Elsa princess dress a few years ago that I enjoyed creating, but not much else since then. A few weeks ago around my youngest daughter's birthday, a lightbulb went off. 
You might remember from my last post that I created birthday table displays using inexpensive party decorations, including plastic tablecloths that cost about $1. As I was picking up the latest display, I got the idea to recycle the tablecloth into a play dress! The first one I made was from the pink tablecloth in the display shown above.

I felt I had to create at least one more so they wouldn't fight over one dress, but it soon escalated to a total of four dresses that I made over the following weeks. I bought more tablecloths, solely for the purpose of making dresses this time. It was fun stocking up on different colors, hehe. I drafted my own patterns to my girls' measurements, and I had fun getting creative with different colo…
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April Fools Cake

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Spring is officially here (finally!), and we are approaching the final days of March. This Friday is April 1st, a.k.a. April Fools Day. What better way to end a cold, dreary winter than with a day of silliness. Here's a fun dinner idea to celebrate—a meatloaf "cake" with a mashed potato "sundae."

For the cake, I pressed the meatloaf mixture into two six-inch round pans lined with parchment paper (about a pound of meat in each). I baked them at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I ended up with two "cake" layers, which I assembled with a layer of mashed potato "frosting" in the middle.



I then spread mashed potato over the entire meatloaf cake so it resembled a frosted cake. I piped more mashed potato decoratively around the cake, just as I would with regular frosting, and embellished with peas and ketchup lettering.




And, of course, cake is always better with ice cream. I created a mashed potato "sundae" with gravy "chocolate sauce," a dollop of sour cream "whipped topping," and colorful veggie "sprinkles."



Life is short. Have lots of fun, and eat cake for dinner. :)
Happy April Fools!
Niki

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**UPDATE - 2015** The miniature sweater knitting pattern has been revised.  View/Download the new pattern here:
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