I am making bridesmaids' hair accessories for a former student of mine who is getting married in a couple of weeks!!! Hot pink flowers w/ a rhinestone middle and black feathers. Pretty cute!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wedding Flowers
I am making bridesmaids' hair accessories for a former student of mine who is getting married in a couple of weeks!!! Hot pink flowers w/ a rhinestone middle and black feathers. Pretty cute!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Cake Pops
I read about them on blogs. I see them in magazines. In photos. I've eaten one at a party. I have been drooling over them for MONTHS. Finally, I jumped on the bandwagon and set aside some time to try them out this past weekend. My busy schedule does not allow me to craft nearly as much as I would like this year, so I had to plan accordingly. Little did I know, I would need way more time than I had scheduled. No worries, we still had quite a few quality pops produced by the end of our cooking experience.
When I saw THIS amazing machine in the Kohl's ad, I knew I had to own it. After all, I recognized it would save me a lot of time, since I am lacking in that department often. All of the blogs show how to make cake pops the "traditional way" and I had a feeling that this would be more of a hot mess than a pretty sucker to look at. I like to be crafty, but I LOVE simplicity.
Now Enter...the Cake Pop Maker! TA DA!!
This little guy is fabulous. For $24.99, you, too can own this lovely machine. With your special purchase, you'll also receive a bonus...not only does it make cake pops, but it can also make DONUT HOLES! :) Google "Cake pop Maker" and you will see a link for a site that sells this exact machine. With the click of a button, in five days, I was the proud owner of the one and only purple cake pop making machine. I had to walk by that thing for two weeks just waiting to tear it open. Finally, the day arrived.
Okay. Now there are some tricks to learn and I'm going to provide you with some of them right off of the bat.
First: read the directions. I mean all of them. They are important. You should follow them. For the most part, they are right on. So that means you have to clean/wash it out before you use it.
After this little guy warms up and is preheated, you can put cake batter mix inside. I just used a Pillsbury cake mix from the box. There are recipes included on lots of blogs and in the directions. I mixed it up in my handy dandy Kitchen Aid mixer while I waited for the machine to warm up.
At first, I was using a measuring spoon to measure the droplets and place into the machine. That became messy and it was too big. I then switched to a regular spoon. I filled it about half way into each little section. That seemed to work better. If you overfill the circles, they spill over the top and it's kind of a mess and you have now ruined two or three potential cake pops.
Luckily for my kids, I had SEVERAL screw-ups, so they were able to taste test about 8 of them. They kept asking for more. LOL
After all of the holes are filled, in about 3 minutes, you'll have your first batch of pops. The bottoms will be darker than the tops, and that's normal. (Read directions, they will confirm this.) I popped them out w/ a spoon b/c that was easier than the little fork thing that comes w/ the machine. Before I took them out, I would test them w/ a toothpick and make sure it was clean in the middle. Sweet. In no time at all, we had lots of cake pops...over 50 of them, actually.
I let them cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes.
Next, after they cool, you'll need some of these...in any color you want.
I used the chocolate/cocoa flavored ones first. I also used some pink. I had some sprinkles on hand already, but picked up some turtle crunch sprinkles from JoAnn's and some white sprinkles as well. Good stuff. The turtle crunch as been a BIG hit so far, by the way.
I placed a lot of the cake pops into a bowl and popped them in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden. This worked well.
The next step involves melting a small amt. of candy in the micro. Then, dip a sucker stick into the chocolate and place it into a cake pop. Do this with as many as you can fit on a cookie sheet and into your freezer. Let them sit in there for about 10 more minutes or so.
Toward the end of their time in the freezer, melt a larger amount of candy and get ready to start dipping. Having the cake pops frozen on the stick really helps when you get to this step b/c they won't fall off of the stick. I used a spoon, dipped some, and used one of my little candy paint brushes to get enough candy on there. Some were thickly covered while others were just right. It takes some practice. Next time, I am going to get a fondue pot and dip into that.
After you dip it, pour on some sprinkles or a topping of your choice. Then place in the sucker holder which comes w/ the cake pop machine. Let dry for about 10 minutes and voila! You have wonderful, lovely cake pop suckers!
My kids loved them. My friends loved them. Other adults loved them. They are a hit! Give them as gifts. Give them as thank yous or birthday treats. Give them as an alternative to a huge piece of cake. Decorate them however you want. When you look at a variety of blogs, you will see some people are SUPEr creative. (see below...who's this overachiever?)
The best part? You can eat them and be merry. And your sweet tooth will thank you for it.
Now, the only thing I would add to this How-to blog is telling you how long this took me with children helping...3 1/2 hours. Yes...a long time. Longer than I envisioned. However, it was fun and we learned a lot. (Well, some of us learned...others of us ate a plethora of cake pops.) I bet you can tell which ones the kids helped with.
Things I'd like to try next time:
-finding a way to cover the pops with LESS melted candy, yet still cover them.
-looking for more recipes for dipping/candy melts
-trying a new kind of cake. I used vanilla this time...maybe red velvet?
-making donut holes. I know my hubby would like that too...almost as much as he loves the cake pops.
When I saw THIS amazing machine in the Kohl's ad, I knew I had to own it. After all, I recognized it would save me a lot of time, since I am lacking in that department often. All of the blogs show how to make cake pops the "traditional way" and I had a feeling that this would be more of a hot mess than a pretty sucker to look at. I like to be crafty, but I LOVE simplicity.
Now Enter...the Cake Pop Maker! TA DA!!
This little guy is fabulous. For $24.99, you, too can own this lovely machine. With your special purchase, you'll also receive a bonus...not only does it make cake pops, but it can also make DONUT HOLES! :) Google "Cake pop Maker" and you will see a link for a site that sells this exact machine. With the click of a button, in five days, I was the proud owner of the one and only purple cake pop making machine. I had to walk by that thing for two weeks just waiting to tear it open. Finally, the day arrived.
Okay. Now there are some tricks to learn and I'm going to provide you with some of them right off of the bat.
First: read the directions. I mean all of them. They are important. You should follow them. For the most part, they are right on. So that means you have to clean/wash it out before you use it.
After this little guy warms up and is preheated, you can put cake batter mix inside. I just used a Pillsbury cake mix from the box. There are recipes included on lots of blogs and in the directions. I mixed it up in my handy dandy Kitchen Aid mixer while I waited for the machine to warm up.
At first, I was using a measuring spoon to measure the droplets and place into the machine. That became messy and it was too big. I then switched to a regular spoon. I filled it about half way into each little section. That seemed to work better. If you overfill the circles, they spill over the top and it's kind of a mess and you have now ruined two or three potential cake pops.
Luckily for my kids, I had SEVERAL screw-ups, so they were able to taste test about 8 of them. They kept asking for more. LOL
After all of the holes are filled, in about 3 minutes, you'll have your first batch of pops. The bottoms will be darker than the tops, and that's normal. (Read directions, they will confirm this.) I popped them out w/ a spoon b/c that was easier than the little fork thing that comes w/ the machine. Before I took them out, I would test them w/ a toothpick and make sure it was clean in the middle. Sweet. In no time at all, we had lots of cake pops...over 50 of them, actually.
I let them cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes.
Next, after they cool, you'll need some of these...in any color you want.
I used the chocolate/cocoa flavored ones first. I also used some pink. I had some sprinkles on hand already, but picked up some turtle crunch sprinkles from JoAnn's and some white sprinkles as well. Good stuff. The turtle crunch as been a BIG hit so far, by the way.
I placed a lot of the cake pops into a bowl and popped them in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden. This worked well.
The next step involves melting a small amt. of candy in the micro. Then, dip a sucker stick into the chocolate and place it into a cake pop. Do this with as many as you can fit on a cookie sheet and into your freezer. Let them sit in there for about 10 more minutes or so.
Toward the end of their time in the freezer, melt a larger amount of candy and get ready to start dipping. Having the cake pops frozen on the stick really helps when you get to this step b/c they won't fall off of the stick. I used a spoon, dipped some, and used one of my little candy paint brushes to get enough candy on there. Some were thickly covered while others were just right. It takes some practice. Next time, I am going to get a fondue pot and dip into that.
After you dip it, pour on some sprinkles or a topping of your choice. Then place in the sucker holder which comes w/ the cake pop machine. Let dry for about 10 minutes and voila! You have wonderful, lovely cake pop suckers!
My kids loved them. My friends loved them. Other adults loved them. They are a hit! Give them as gifts. Give them as thank yous or birthday treats. Give them as an alternative to a huge piece of cake. Decorate them however you want. When you look at a variety of blogs, you will see some people are SUPEr creative. (see below...who's this overachiever?)
The best part? You can eat them and be merry. And your sweet tooth will thank you for it.
Now, the only thing I would add to this How-to blog is telling you how long this took me with children helping...3 1/2 hours. Yes...a long time. Longer than I envisioned. However, it was fun and we learned a lot. (Well, some of us learned...others of us ate a plethora of cake pops.) I bet you can tell which ones the kids helped with.
Things I'd like to try next time:
-finding a way to cover the pops with LESS melted candy, yet still cover them.
-looking for more recipes for dipping/candy melts
-trying a new kind of cake. I used vanilla this time...maybe red velvet?
-making donut holes. I know my hubby would like that too...almost as much as he loves the cake pops.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Teacher Appreciation
Finally I had some time to post some pictures from Teacher Appreciation Week. We made chocolate dipped fortune cookies, packaged them up nice, wrote a nice note, and distributed to our teachers at daycare. I did not have much time to get something made for them this year, and almost opted to buy them all flowers or a plant, but decided to try Briana's idea. I just used some of the Wilton coca chocolate, which is super tasty, and dipped half of the fortune cookie into the melted choc. and threw in the fridge for about 10 min. to harden. This was such an easy project. Literally. Easy.
I bought fortune cookies at the grocery store. Next time, I'll make the extra trip to the Asian Market...they are MUCH cheaper at the Asian Market. (along with so many other items...like soy sauce, mango slices, veggies, meat, etc.)
I melted the cocoa in the microwave. Easy. 2 minutes.
I used tongs to dip the cookie into the bowl of chocolate.
I covered a baking pan w/ foil and then let them harden in the refrigerator.
10 min. later, I pulled them out.
I used cellophane I bought in packages at the dollar store. It was really big so I cut it to fit inside the cute Chinese take-out boxes, most of which I purchased a while back in the Target dollar aisle.
I then cut out initials for each teacher and a round tag, tied them on w/ ribbon and wrote a cute message. That is all. Easy.
I saved a few dipped cookies to try and OMG they were SOOO yummy and just the right amount of crunch and sweet. Light and tasty. It hit the spot.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Another Auction Donation
I called this, "A Family Divided" and put a UW and a WSU bow in the same basket. I am excited to see how much it sells for at the auction next weekend! I donated this to our daycare auction, along with a bigger basket full of "Pinkalicious" bows...forgot to take a pic of that one, so will have to do it at the auction next weekend b/f it sells.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Suckers
These suckers are super easy to make. Super easy. They are cute and yummy. I made a couple of practice batches and then made some more for Baylen's birthday and included them in the favor kits for the kids. I also made extra for my kids to eat around the house and brought some to school for kids in my classes who win little games or competitions.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Guess who's turning three?
My Mister! haha
His party is this weekend. We only invited a few close friends and family b/c it felt right for him this time around.
I wanted to see how many things I could make for his birthday with materials I already had at home, or finding some cheaper ways to get my items made. I think I found some solutions.
First, we decided to have it off campus...or at Chuck E Cheese's instead of at our house. This made the decoration budget much smaller since CEC has a table set up w/ balloons, etc. I will be bringing a few things but not nearly as much, which does save us some $.
Next, I noticed on my Street Signs Cricut cartridge, that I could make cute little street signs. I then had a major "AHA" moment to use the signs as nametags to attach to each of the bags that the kids will receive for favors. They turned out cute.
Over mid-winter break, I took some time to scan Etsy sites to find ideas I could easily copy. I found many but narrowed it down to my favorites. B/c we are members of AAA, we can order maps for free. Dj ordered a couple for me and then we found some old ones up in the cupboard we weren't using. I had some ribbon I wasn't using, so used that to tie around the top. I still have plenty of maps left to continue wrapping a few smaller favors.
Next, I wanted to make a centerpiece that I could attach a balloon to. I saw this cool idea on someone's site and the Cars-themed centerpiece was SUPER expensive in my opinion, so I began my Etsy search yet again. I found a lady on the site who sold Cars die cuts for $2 each...this was a bargain to me b/c when I use my character cartridges, it takes a lot of different kinds of paper and time to put the layers together, so time was money. I let Baylen pick out the 4 cars he wanted and waited for them to arrive. They were big and wonderful. Then, I went to Party City and found a plastic Cars bucket for $2.99. I already had tape, dowels, paper stuffing, and the floral styrofoam on hand...voila: for $9, I made this cute centerpiece. The lady on Etsy was selling it for over $25. Um no.
I found another cute idea using water bottle labels, so I searched some blogs until I found a bottle label template. I switched all of the info/colors/pictures and made my own for free. I had cardstock on hand and a color printer. Done.
The kids will each receive a favor box--I just bought those at Party City...they are cheap and can't fit much inside, so we also bought $1 gift bags in red, black, and white to add a few more things that are bigger.
Favors...I think we have found some cute favors and this time, it won't take me forever to make them all.
-Hot Wheels are cheap--under a $1 a piece at Target. SOLD.
-Cars kazoos found in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Cars flying airplane thingys in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookie Suckers...cute & easy...cheapest at Target and then already had some candy left over to melt. Can't wait to make more of these on Thursday night.
-Cars Gummy Snacks...easy--already had some we just purchased for our own kids to snack on
-Cars yo-yos: Found at Michael's in the $1 aisle...SOLD.
-Clearance Pet Shop toy for the girl: $1.75 for TWO pets...SOLD.
Did you all know Michael's had a great dollar aisle? So does Target, Party City & JoAnn's. Always fun to see what kind of cute things you can find that fit with your party theme and are still cute to add to a favor bag.
-a couple other little things inside...we're good to go.
The biggest thing I splurged on this year: His cake. A lady is making it for us this year. I found her online, so I am hoping it will work out. She is making a cute 3-D cake in the shape of Lightning. I am excited to see it.
His party is this weekend. We only invited a few close friends and family b/c it felt right for him this time around.
I wanted to see how many things I could make for his birthday with materials I already had at home, or finding some cheaper ways to get my items made. I think I found some solutions.
First, we decided to have it off campus...or at Chuck E Cheese's instead of at our house. This made the decoration budget much smaller since CEC has a table set up w/ balloons, etc. I will be bringing a few things but not nearly as much, which does save us some $.
Next, I noticed on my Street Signs Cricut cartridge, that I could make cute little street signs. I then had a major "AHA" moment to use the signs as nametags to attach to each of the bags that the kids will receive for favors. They turned out cute.
Over mid-winter break, I took some time to scan Etsy sites to find ideas I could easily copy. I found many but narrowed it down to my favorites. B/c we are members of AAA, we can order maps for free. Dj ordered a couple for me and then we found some old ones up in the cupboard we weren't using. I had some ribbon I wasn't using, so used that to tie around the top. I still have plenty of maps left to continue wrapping a few smaller favors.
Next, I wanted to make a centerpiece that I could attach a balloon to. I saw this cool idea on someone's site and the Cars-themed centerpiece was SUPER expensive in my opinion, so I began my Etsy search yet again. I found a lady on the site who sold Cars die cuts for $2 each...this was a bargain to me b/c when I use my character cartridges, it takes a lot of different kinds of paper and time to put the layers together, so time was money. I let Baylen pick out the 4 cars he wanted and waited for them to arrive. They were big and wonderful. Then, I went to Party City and found a plastic Cars bucket for $2.99. I already had tape, dowels, paper stuffing, and the floral styrofoam on hand...voila: for $9, I made this cute centerpiece. The lady on Etsy was selling it for over $25. Um no.
I found another cute idea using water bottle labels, so I searched some blogs until I found a bottle label template. I switched all of the info/colors/pictures and made my own for free. I had cardstock on hand and a color printer. Done.
The kids will each receive a favor box--I just bought those at Party City...they are cheap and can't fit much inside, so we also bought $1 gift bags in red, black, and white to add a few more things that are bigger.
Favors...I think we have found some cute favors and this time, it won't take me forever to make them all.
-Hot Wheels are cheap--under a $1 a piece at Target. SOLD.
-Cars kazoos found in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Cars flying airplane thingys in the $1 aisle at Michael's. SOLD.
-Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookie Suckers...cute & easy...cheapest at Target and then already had some candy left over to melt. Can't wait to make more of these on Thursday night.
-Cars Gummy Snacks...easy--already had some we just purchased for our own kids to snack on
-Cars yo-yos: Found at Michael's in the $1 aisle...SOLD.
-Clearance Pet Shop toy for the girl: $1.75 for TWO pets...SOLD.
Did you all know Michael's had a great dollar aisle? So does Target, Party City & JoAnn's. Always fun to see what kind of cute things you can find that fit with your party theme and are still cute to add to a favor bag.
-a couple other little things inside...we're good to go.
The biggest thing I splurged on this year: His cake. A lady is making it for us this year. I found her online, so I am hoping it will work out. She is making a cute 3-D cake in the shape of Lightning. I am excited to see it.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Auction donations
I love donating to auctions. It's so much fun to try and come up with or create a fun set of bows or a theme. This is for the D.H. Auction for my high school PTSA. I chose a green, pink, black, orange theme for this set. They turned out cute. I also tried out a new bow design...see the pretty multi-colored double-layered flower with the jeweled center in the pics.
I have our daycare auction to donate to in April. I have two cute ideas for that one too..something I haven't done yet. :)
I have our daycare auction to donate to in April. I have two cute ideas for that one too..something I haven't done yet. :)
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