R2-D2 Cake

This last minute cake ended up being a lot of fun and I couldn't stop humming the Star Wars theme song as I was working on it! As I was taking a vacation visiting family I was asked to make a cake for the little boys cousins combined birthday party. Since it was Star Wars themed I let my creative juices flow for a while and then came up with this idea. My first though was to create a full R2 but since I was on vacation and I didn't have my cake stuff I decided to scale it down a bit! This is the fastest specialty cake I have ever made thanks to the help of my hubby and momma who helped me color fondant, watch the kids and cut some shapes for me. Since this was for kids I let my son pick the cake and of course he picked funfetti cake and we added chocolate chips to the filling. Everyone loved this cake and didn't realize it was a cake until is was pointed out to them. LOL. I really enjoyed make this cake and the kids really loved how it looked and tasted!

Chocolate cake!

I seem to do a lot of farewell cakes and here is another one. This is a very simple one tier very chocolate cake. The cake is covered in my own very chocolate cover with chocolate pieces and a chocolate squiggly on top.
Inside is fudge chocolate cake with a whipped chocolate gaunache. I wasn't there for the farewell party but I was informed it was gone before the party was over!

Flamingo Farewell Cake

I made this cake as a farewell surprise for a Cpt in the Army who had finished her time and was getting out. She really likes Flamingos and chocolate. The the outside was covered in green and blue to represent the environment where flamingos live. I added green reeds/leaves and then flamingos as well as big letters spelling farewell. The flamingo on top was on it's own until I had an accident with the cake and ended up having to cover the mis-happ with blue (pond like) Fondant. Inside was chocolate cake with gaunache and then the top tier was yellow cake with buttercream frosting with chocolate chips! Everyone loved it and ate it up fast!

Chair Valentine holder

This fun valentine holder is cute and it hangs very nicely on the back of a chair. This holder in the picture came from a certain website, but seeing how ever thing is over priced I decided to work on making my own. Felt, ribbon, velro and a sewing machine should do the trick.

Pineapple upside cake Twist

Since my hubby has become social event person at his work, it means that i have become the social event dessert provider. So for this fun twist on Pineapple upside cake I actually used pineapple juice in the mix for the batter. Using one of my favorite cake and cupcake recipe books (101 gourmet cupcake recipes in 10 minutes) I mixed, baked and decorated a dozen cupcakes and a cake as well. Since I was feeding a good amount of people I made the cake sized version. Everyone loved it and wanted more and I could make it even with two toddler's running around me. And that is tell you something! Here's to Cake!

101 Gourmet Cupcakes

This has become one of my favorite cupcake/cake recipe books. These are fun, quick and easy ways to add to boring cake mix. I absolutely love 101 gourmet cupcake in 10 minutes book and am so grateful for my wonderful mother who send this to me. Since my hubby has become social chair at work I have become the dessert lady. Bring all kids of cakes, brownies and pies. Since I try to bring a different dessert each time I am starting to run out of ideas. But thanks to this wonderful book I have a ton of seasonal, occasional and just fun ideas! Love it and would totally buy it if I didn't have one already!

Funny signs

This are so funny sighs I found at a booth at our local farmers market. There were a lot more but I liked these the best. Of course I found some Army wife ones. But my favorite one is the last one about cleaning while raising kids is like shoveling when it's snowing. Very appropriate since we are in upstate New York!

Army Family signs

I really like these and someday when I have time will make one for our family. I think I might add a quote to it though, "if the army wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one."

Crayon monster!

I saw this fun idea in the oriental trading catalog. I thought it was such a wonderful gift idea that I ran out and bought all the items I would need to make it. Now I just need the time! LOL. Until I make my own here is a picture from the catalog.

Kids desks

These are a few fun ideas for toddler desks. I love how the one desk has great storage plus fits together like a little puzzle! It helps keeps little brothers out of the "big" brothers desk. And will save space. The other desk can be easy made at home since it has such a simple design. You could multiples very easily.

Promotion cakes

Being in the military promotions happen and refreshments need to be made. So what better way to celebrate and feed people at the same time than a cake. Here are few really good ideas for a patriotic cake.

Duck tape in a new way!

Here is a fun and new way to use duck tape! These would be great gifts for those card Teenagers. All you need is duck tape of different colors and some creativity!

Candy cane popcorn gifts

For my hubby's work I needed something easy to make and fairly inexpensive. Since he request 20+ this year, i knew that it was going to be simple but I still wanted it to fun. I found cute little popcorn holders in the dollar section at target and then found a yummy popcorn treat recipe online. Candy cane popcorn is fast and easy to make plus my 3 year could help me make it. Which is always a plus!
To make Candy cane Popcorn:
You will need;
2 bags popped popcorn
1 bag white chocolate chips
6 crushed candy canes
First place the candy canes into at least two bags. Then crush the candy canes. We used a pot because my kids had a good time banging it. Second pop the popcorn and then pore into a big bowl. Then Melt the chocolates according to the bag and pore over the popcorn. Mix the chocolate and popcorn slightly and then add the crushed up candy cane. Mix some more and then pore onto wax paper and spread out to cool/harden.

I placed the popcorn treat in dessert bags and then into the popcorn holders and then finally attached a tag that said, "Merry Christmas and a POPPING New Year!"
It was a hit and everyone loved the yummy popcorn. In fact I had a ton of people beg for the recipe.

"Everybody shout what's the bog idea!"

This year for halloween my boys are going as imagination movers! The costumes just arrived today! Don't they look rockin!

I Spy Bags

 

I made these fun I Spy Bags for my son's friends for Christmas gifts these years. The were a big hit! I am going to make some more for the cousins too. Everyone seems to love these and they were easy to make too.

Recipe Holder

 

I needed a few last minute Christmas gifts and came up with this. A few recipe holder held on by a fun magnet. I think the turned out really nice looking and I was able to make them for about $10 each.

Beach party Cake/cupcakes

 

For my sons second birthday we did a beach party theme. So I decorated these cupcakes and cake with blue frosting for water, crunched up Nilla Wafers, gummies and little drink umbrellas too! Everyone enjoyed them and they looked really good!

 

Capri Sun Bags

 

1. Buy two/three boxes of Capri Sun drink pouches and drink them.
2. Soak the juice pouches in soapy water to help clean them. Remove the excess liquid from the pouches. Get a dish towel and a rolling pin. Place the towel on a table and put the drink pouch on top of it. Roll the drink pouch flat like you would pizza dough. You need to drink and flatten out approximately 30-40 pouches (depending on the size).
3. Piece together the pattern of the purse. With a sewing machine, sew three/four pouches with the bottom of the pouch to the top of another pouch. This will be the bottom of the purse.

 

4. Sew the pouches together side by side. Repeat that step for the other side of the purse.
5. Sew each side to the middle two pieces of the bottom.

 

6. Bend the end pieces of the bottom up to meet the sides of the purse. Sew the seams closed. This creates a box of Capri Sun.
7. Sew the last remaining pouches together, just like the sides of the purse.
8. Use a ribbon or fabric to make a strap and put snaps on the flap to close the purse.

I also used pouches to make a pocket on the inside and outside of the big bag and an inside pocket on the smaller pink one.

St. Patrick Day Ideas

Leprechaun Trap
MATERIALS:
Oatmeal Container
Felt, Construction Paper, or Craft Foam
Glue
Scissor
Straws
Clay or Play Doh
Gold Candy Coins
INSTRUCTIONS:
(1) Gather all of the materials that you need to make this Leprechaun Trap Craft Idea. You will need to find Oatmeal Container, Felt, Construction Paper, or Craft Foam, Glue, Scissor, Straws, Clay or Play Doh, and Gold Candy Coins.
(2) Take the oatmeal container cap and cut a rectangle hole into it.
(3) Now glue construction paper, felt, or craft foam all around the rectangular hole. But, don't cover the hole.
(4) Now cut out a rectangle just a tiny bit bigger than the hole. Don't glue it on. If the leprechaun steps on this hole, he will fall through.
(5) Now wrap felt, craft foam, or construction paper around the cylinder container.
(6) Now cut out a circle twice as big as the oatmeal container and glue it to the bottom of the container.
(7) Cut out a black band and a yellow square with a tiny square hole in the center and glue it to the bottom of the hat like the picture above.
(8) Now take the straws and glue them together to look like the ladder you see above.
(9) Place coins lightly on the trap door. Don't put too many or they will be too heavy and they will fall through the trap door.
(10) Make a rainbow out of clay or play doh and put it on top of the hat to attract the Leprechaun. I hope you catch that Leprechaun. Happy Saint Patty's Day!!


The WEE little Leprechaun
Materials
Toilet paper tube
Green craft foam
Acrylic paints: green, skin-tone, pink, and brown
Black permanent marker
Tacky glue
4 brown pipe cleaners
Decorative button
Instructions
For this crafty little decoration, first trace around the end of a toilet paper tube onto a piece of green craft foam.

(1)Draw a 2 1/2-inch circle around the first circle, then cut them both out to create a hat top and brim and set them aside.
(2)Next, using acrylic paints, paint the paper tube green. Add a skin-tone face and hands, plus rosy cheeks, as well as a band of brown paint around the back for hair.
(3)Once the paint has dried, use a permanent marker to draw on facial and clothing details, then use tacky glue to stick on 3 coiled brown pipe cleaners: 2 in the back for hair and 1 around the face for a beard. For feet, fold another pipe cleaner in half, then tightly coil and pinch the ends, as shown.
(4)Place the folded pipe cleaner inside the tube and glue the feet to the edge. Glue on the hat top and brim and a 5 1/2- by 1/2-inch strip of craft foam for arms.
(5)Finally, glue a decorative button to the hat brim.


Leprechaun House
Materials:
green craft foam
green glitter
shamrock stickers
imagination!
Instructions
(1) Think rainbows! Rainbow crafts are adorable for St. Patty's Day and are easy to make using any available craft supplies. Don't forget the pot of gold at the end! Colored sidewalk chalk on black construction paper is one way to create fun rainbows for St. Patrick's Day.
(2) Leprechaun hats are another easy St. Patrick's Day craft idea and can be assembled with green craft foam. You'll need three pieces for the bottom, sides, and top. Add a black buckle and green glitter details.
(3) Consider pre-assembled St. Patrick's Day craft kits. Companies like Oriental Trading are a great place to check for kits (like the Leprechaun Cottage, pictured) that are inexpensive and easy.
(4) Four-leaf clovers are another fun craft idea. Have kids go on a four-leaf clover hunt, also collecting some three-leaf clovers. Press the flowers for a few days until they are dry, and kids can make lucky shamrock pictures.

Marshmallow Fondant

MM or Marshmallow Fondant is easy to make and to use. Here is the recipe that I use! It is sticky but adds just a little bit of fanciness to a cake.

Makes: Enough to cover 2 cakes Total Time: 30 min

what you need
•1 bag of mini marshmallows
•1 (2lb) bag powdered sugar
•1/2-2 T Water
•1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
Make it
First cover a thick layer of veggie shortening on the counter where you will be working. Then pour 1/2 of the powdered sugar onto of the greased area. Melt marshmallows and tablespoons of water in a microwave: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 minutes total. Pour the melted marshmallow on top of the pile of powdered sugar.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers).
Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add more powdered sugar as you good and knead some more. Re-grease your hands as needed. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of veggie shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.

MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make two (2) batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance

Valentine Craft

 

These are two little Valentine craft I did right before Valentines. I first made a valentine heart with an arrow through it and then painted it. I used my cricut and cut out the word Love and then placed it on the heart. Kind of cut I think. Next I did this fun love collage as a gift for my hubby. I had such fun making this project. It was so fun to find my old wedding pictures and then to write an article about our wedding morning in a personalized newspaper. I got this great idea from a blog called mod podge rocks. Happy Valentines!

Football Fun

Football wall game

What You Need
Poster board
Brown card stock
White opaque paint marker
Poster tacks
Blindfold
Instructions
For the game pieces, first create a goal post from two-inch-wide strips of poster board. (The uprights and the crossbar are each 20 inches long, and the post is 6 inches tall.) We attached ours to the wall using poster tack.

For the footballs, cut 5-inch-long shapes out of brown card stock. We found some in the scrapbook aisle of our craft store that looks like football leather. Use a white opaque paint marker to decorate and add players' names to the footballs. Put a blob of poster tack on the back of each one.

Players line up about six feet away from the goal. One at a time, each player is blindfolded, spun around three times by another person, and set loose to try to stick their football between the uprights. (No reaching out your empty hand to feel the wall.) Play several rounds with 3 points awarded for each field goal. Highest score wins.

Football Floor Pad

Materials
Scissors
1/2 yard of brown vinyl
12- by 20-inch piece of 1-inch-thick high-density foam (available at fabric stores)
Hot glue
Clothespins
2 yards of 1/2-inch-thick white twill tape
Instructions
Cut two 22- by 14-inch football shapes from the vinyl. Then cut out a foam football that's an inch smaller all around and sandwich it between the vinyl pieces.
Hot-glue the vinyl edges together, using clothespins to hold them in place while the glue dries.
Glue on pieces of twill tape for laces, as shown

Yummy Football Cupcake

Just make a cupcake and decorate it with green frosting and then put white stripes across like lines. Make a flag using a stick pretzel and cut a flag out of fruit roll ups. The football is a chocolate almond with white frosting on them.

Football Game made out with a pencil

Materials
Oval bead (ours was 3⁄4 inch long)
Brown and white acrylic paint
Scissors
2 flexible straws
Unsharpened pencil
Green floral tape
Glue
2 small pom-poms
String
Instructions
First paint the bead with brown and white acrylic paint to resemble a football, and allow it to dry.

Cut a 6-inch section from the top of each of the flexible straws. Secure the longer ends of the straw pieces together by cutting a slit in one straw and slipping the other one inside it.

Secure the midsection of the straws to the eraser end of an unsharpened pencil with green floral tape, then bend the ends to form a U. Glue 2 small pom-poms to the ends of the straws and let the glue dry.

Tie the football bead to one end of a 12-inch length of string and tape the other end to the pencil, about 2 1⁄2 inches up from the bottom. Cover the rest of the pencil with more floral tape. To play, try swinging the football through the uprights to score a field goal

More Valentine's crafts

Blast-off Rocket Candy Card

Materials
Scissors
Lightweight colored paper for the body and the flame (we used a 3 1/4-inch pink square for the body and a 3-inch orange square for the flame)
Double-stick tape
A roll of round candies (we used Life Savers candy)
A foil-wrapped Hershey's Kiss
Marker
Instructions
For the body, cut the paper to fit around the roll of candy, including a bit of overlap. Tape the paper to the roll.

Cut the tail flames and include a 1/4-inch tab, as shown below. Snip the tab in half along the solid line, fold the 2 flaps in opposite directions, and tape the flame to one end of the candy roll.

Tape a wrapped chocolate kiss to the other end.

Use a marker to write your message on the rocket or the flames.

Tips: Write the recipient's name on the flames shooting out the back.

Valentine's Mail Box


Materials Needed:
Empty laundry detergent box
White contact paper
Stencils
Valentine cut-outs
Velcro dots
Hot glue gun
Instructions:
Apply white contact paper onto the box. Add heart decorations by using hot glue. Use stencils if desired. Add velcro dot under the heart for box closure.

Valentine Tic Tac Toe

Supplies:
* poster board - white, red, or pink
* black marker
* red & pink felt, 3 squares each
* dry beans - any kind or size
* sewing machine or hot glue gun

Step 1:
Fold your poster board in half. Then cut a large heart out. Get it as big as you can. Then open it up and draw in your lines. You'll need two vertical and two horizontal lines. Use a pencil to make the lines first, then trace over it with a black marker. I used the extra piece of poster board left over to make nice straight lines.

Use heart paper or flat felt hearts, but bean bags are much more fun to play with.) You should be able to get 4 flat felt hearts out of each felt square.
Then place two together and sew or hot glue around, Hot Glued Hearts tutorial. I like to use a zig zag stitch when sewing, making it pretty or you could use pinking shears for a pretty edge as well. Make sure to leave at least an inch of space to fill in with the dry beans.

Now fill your bags about half way full with beans. You want to be able to close that small hole and sew or glue it together, and if there are too many beans, it will be hard to seal it shut.


Valentine Door Decoration

What you'll need:
1-2 pieces of red craft foam
1 piece of white craft foam
1 piece of pink craft foam
White ribbon
3 jingle bells
Hole punch
Glue
Heart Template
Letter Templates
Instructions:
Print out the template and cut out the pieces. Trace the heart shape onto red craft foam. You will need 4 red hearts. Trace the letters "L" and "V" onto white craft foam and the "O" and "E" onto pink craft foam. Cut out all of these pieces.
Glue one letter onto each heart.
Punch a hole in the top and bottom of each heart (in the center of the top of the heart and the center of the very bottom of the heart).
Cut small pieces of ribbon (3-4 inches) and use the ribbon to tie the bottom of one heart to the top of the next in order so you spell out the word "LOVE". At the top of the "L" heart use a longer piece of ribbon to use as a hanger. At the bottom of the "E" heart thread 3 jingle bells onto the ribbon and then tie it onto the heart.
Hang your craft on the door