Valentine's Hug & Kiss

In keeping with my Valentine's Day theme of not spending any money to make decorations I made this latest project from a cereal box!

You can buy chipboard letters for a project like this or you can cut them out of a box that's sitting in your recycling bin. Instructions hardly seem necessary since this was so simple but, just in case, I'll tell you what I did to make these. I used my computer to print an X and O in the desired size and font and then I cut them out to use as a template. I traced both letters on to pieces of cereal box and then again on to scrapbooking paper. Then I cut both sets out and glued them together. I would have liked to try a more scripty font but I think you'd need a craft knife to get the curves right on the cardboard versions - if you've got a Cricut then you're laughing.

This is a simple and cute project that you can knock off in 30 minutes or less so why not try it today? :)

Party Perfect - Thomas the Train Cake

Last Saturday my friend's son turned 2 and I was asked to make the birthday cake. Andrew is crazy about Thomas and trains so his mom asked if I could make a train themed cake. This is what I came up with!

I made a two layer vanilla cake and some homemade buttercream icing. I tinted most of the icing green and iced the whole cake with it. I then traced a 2 into the icing with a toothpick and piped green grass all around it and down the sides of the cake.

Once my grass was finished I filled in the 2 with brown sugar that I patted down gently and then I used pieces of black string licorice to make it into a train track.

I tinted my remaining icing blue and used it to pipe a waterfall down one side of the cake. I decorated the edge of it with chocolate rocks.

The final touch was to dip the tip of a sugar cone in white chocolate and let it drip down a bit to make a snow capped mountain.

If you're wondering where Thomas is, we just used a toy version that the birthday boy already owned so it wasn't on the cake when I took pictures at home. Just imagine him sitting there on the track ;)

I was really pleased with the final product and everyone at the birthday party seemed to really like it too!

Easy Paper Valentine's Wreath

Lately my goal has been to think of crafts that I can make from the materials that I already have. I like Valentine's Day as much as the next person but I can't really justify spending a lot of money to decorate for it. So far I've made tissue pom-poms, crayon hearts, napkin doilies and framed hearts and I have spent a grand total of $3 - not counting supplies I already own. Last night I came up with a Valentine's Day wreath made mostly of scrapbooking paper!

This project was really easy - I took 4 sheets of paper and cut them into strips that were 6" long by 1.5" wide. I only ended up using about half the strips but I wanted the variety of 4 different patterns. Next I stapled the strips, one by one, to a Styrofoam wreath form, overlapping them slightly as I went. I didn't worry about what the back looked like, just made the strips smooth on the front.

To decorate the wreath I made three tissue paper flowers and hot glued them on. It seemed like a lot of white so to break it up I punched two hearts and stuck them on as well.

Voila! Super easy and made entirely of stuff I already had. The one thing I will have to purchase is some pretty ribbon to hang it with - the pipecleaner I'm using now is not really doing it for me but I was excited to share with you. The other great thing about this wreath is that if I get tired of it I can easily pull out the staples and start over again with different paper. I'd only be out a couple of dollars worth of paper which is better than paying for a new wreath form.

What do you think? Can you picture this is in other colour schemes for different occasions?



I'm lnking this post up to:

By the Batch - Cupcake Bites

I'm interrupting this regularly featured cookie segment to bring you something a little different this week - cupcake bites. This recipe is straight out of Bakerella's Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for Irresistible Mini Treats and they're a twist on the cake pops that I made last year. If you've never visited Bakerella's site then you really must go; she's got tons of adorable ideas.

 

 

I'll be honest and confess that the reason for cupcake bites is that I made a cake on the weekend and when I tried to turn it out of the pans it fell completely apart. Well as luck would have it, a crumbled cake is exactly what cupcake bites call for so all was not lost!

 

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (baked as directed on box)
3/4 of a can of icing (I used about a 1 cup of homemade buttercream icing)
1 package chocolate bark (or candy melts for cupcake bottom)
Coloured melting wafers (for cupcake top)
Candy Cup Mold - shaped like peanut butter cups
Sprinkles

 

Directions:
Bake your cake mix according to the directions and let it cool. After cake is cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. The texture should be fine/fluffy

 

Using the back of a large spoon, mix thoroughly with icing. It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.

 

 

Roll mixture into balls that are just slightly smaller in diameter than your candy mold and lay on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. One cake will yield about 48 balls depending on the size of your mold.

 

 

Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes, until they are slightly firm, not frozen.

 

Melt chocolate bark and candy melts in microwave per directions on package.

 

Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill a mold cavity about half full of chocolate.  Then place one of your rolled balls into it. Carefully push it down until the force causes the chocolate to push up and fill in around the sides of the ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge because you don't want to form a lip. Repeat until all the cavities are filled.

 

Sorry for the flash in this picture - I was working fast!

Place the mold tray filled with cupcakes in the freezer for just a few minutes to let the chocolate set. Remove and then gently pull up on the cake ball top to release from candy mold.

 

Now, holding the bottom of the cupcake, dip the top in another color of melted chocolate and immediately decorate with sprinkles before chocolate sets.

 

 

According to Sarah:
These cupcake bites are adorable but they take a lot of time and patience to make. There are a lot of steps in the process and a lot of waiting for cakes to cool and chocolate to harden but the end result is worth it. Here are some tips I learned along the way that will make it easier next time:

• Don't try to skimp on chocolate by not filling up enough of the mold. Not enough chocolate means pushing your cake balls down deeper in to the cavity. If your ball hits the bottom then your cupcake bite will not release from the mold without a fight (and damage!)
• The molded chocolate will melt quickly while you're dipping the tops of the bites so work quickly and run your hands under cold water if you need to cool them down.
• When dipping the tops only dip enough that the two colours of chocolate meet - if they overlap then the hot, melted chocolate will begin to melt your molded bottoms.

Cupcake bites are definitely not an every day kind of dessert but they do make really pretty treats for a party or to give as a gift. There are so many colour and sprinkle combinations and they really are delicious!

 

 

 

Hanging Crayon Hearts & Design Changes!

Yesterday I posted about DIY Crayon Hearts but didn't show you pictures of my finished product. I had really hoped for a sunny day so that you could see how pretty they are with the light shining through but the weather has not cooperated so you'll have to take my word for it. Or make your own and hang them in the sunny windows at your house - just click back to yesterday's post for the how to.

The other thing I'm excited about today is the semi-redesign of the blog! You may have noticed my brand new header. The font is from Fonts For Peas and the graphic is from Shabby Blogs. 

I also repurposed a section of the header to create my very own button! I'm no graphic designer but I'm so happy with the way it turned out. Feel free to grab it - the code is in the sidebar. I'm using the same Fonts for Peas font for my dates and post titles too.

If you have a blog of your own and you've been wanting to make some changes but don't want to spend the money on a custom design then I hope you'll be inspired - I have very little design and html knowledge but I was able to make these changes all on my own using free resources found through Google searches. Next up will be sidebar titles and a new background so stay tuned!

DIY Crayon Hearts

Making hearts, leaves and other shapes using waxed paper and crayons definitely isn't a new idea but it's one I've never tried before. In case you haven't either, here's how it's done!

Start with crayons (duh). Since I was making hearts for Valentine's Day I chose reds, pinks and purples. For my hearts I used 6 crayons and they yielded approximately 3 8x10 sheets of melted wax.

Take the paper off the crayons and then use a pencil sharpener to turn them into shavings. Be forewarned that crayons are hard on pencil sharpeners. I bought a 4 pack of sharpeners from the dollar store just for this project and the crayons ruined three of them!



Take your shavings and mix all of the colours together. Here's a tip that I wish someone would have told me: if you want the different colours to show up in your final hearts then don't break up your shavings, leave them in larger pieces. Little confetti pieces mean that your colours will all blend into one colour.

Get your ironing board out or choose a different surface to iron on. Lay down a towel that you won't be sad to throw away. Trust me, you will ruin this towel. Next lay down a sheet of waxed paper and cover half of it with crayon shavings. Cover evenly but don't make it thick because you want the light to shine through your finished hearts. Put another piece of waxed paper on top (or start with a large enough piece of waxed paper that you can just fold it over). Then fold the ends of the paper to keep crayon wax from seeping out. Lastly, cover with another towel that you don't mind ruining. The wax will bleed right through the waxed paper.

Now iron the whole thing on medium. Check your crayons after every few passes of the iron because the more you iron the more your colours will muddle together. Keep an eye on the edges you folded so you don't end up with a waxy hot mess on your hands. Once the crayon shavings are all melted together into a solid piece you're done.

Once it's completely cooled take your sheet of wax and cut it into hearts. This is where you'll be happy you didn't spread the shavings too thickly because the thicker your finished wax the more likely the waxed paper is to peel away at the edges.

The last step is to hang them up in your windows. I used a hole punch and then tied them with thread but didn't get a chance to hang mine up last night. I know I probably should have waited for a picture of the final product but I was just too excited to share! So check back tomorrow for the big reveal :)

Party Perfect - Kids Birthday Invite Printables

One of my favourite kids is turning two this Saturday which has got me thinking about children's birthday parties. I found some really cute Microsoft clip art images of partying children and decided to make birthday invitations with them. And since I don't have any kids of my own I figured I had better share them with those of you who do :)

To use the invitations, just click on any of the images for the full-size versions. From there you can open them in a photo editing program and add in the rest of the text or print them out and write in the text by hand. If you want to use the fonts that I did then head over to Fonts for Peas to download them for free! I used Pea Sarah for the boy version and Pea Mee-Mee for the girl version. The invites are designed to print onto 4x6 paper.

Hope you like them and please let me know if you use them because that would just make my day!