Arden.Bijou

Monkey bread

2012-11-05T20:10:00.001-05:00

It's been a very long time since I've posted. Sorry for that but, I have been insanely busy. This one is short and simple.

I've never had monkey bread but, I love the show "Psych" and, they've mentioned it once or twice. So when I opened up my Auntie Anne's pretzel at home kit and, saw monkey bread, I thought "forget the pretzels!!! Make the bread!!" So here we go!!

You will need:

• auntie Anne's at home pretzel kit or a recipe for pretzel dough

• 1 stick of butter (melted)

• cinnamon

• sugar

• large bowl for mixing

• measuring cup

• candy thermometer

• bowl for sugar mix

• bowl for melted butter

• bunt cake pan or something similar

• plastic wrap

This is what comes in the at home kit. dough mix, yeast, cinnamon sugar mix, salt and, baking soda.

Mix your dough as the recipe states. Since there is yeast, you will have to let it sit to rise. Our kitchen was extremely cold due to the hurricane, so it was hard to find a warm spot in the kitchen. Before i get to that, I coated a bowl with non stick spray, placed the kneaded dough in it, then sprayed a piece of plastic wrap and covered the dough. i then placed a small pot of water on the stove. keeping the stove on the lowest setting so, the water never boils, i then placed the bowl over it. Voila!!! warm spot.. just be careful, the heat can start to cook the dough.

Let the dough rise for 30 minutes

Once 30 minutes has passed, set your oven to 275 degrees. Melt your butter till its warm not hot. place your cinnamon sugar mixture in a bowl. I added more cinnamon and sugar, since I knew that little packet wouldn't be enough. Spray your bundt pan with non stick spray. Set this all up so it's easy to move from dough, to butter, to sugar to, pan.

Break off a 1 inch piece of dough, roll it into a ball and place in melted butter.

Place butter coated ball in sugar and coat.

Drop balls in pan. Repeat until all dough is gone. I poured remaining butter and sugar over the rest of the pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Let sit in pan for 1-2 minutes, take plate and cover pan, using pot holders flip the bundt pan over and, invert bread. Serve warm!!

Enjoy

Autism Awareness Month: (Contest Giveaway)

2012-04-26T00:37:00.003-04:00

If you don’t know April is the official month for Autism Awareness. As a mother to a 6 year old high functioning Autistic child, this month means a lot especially to get the word out and, educate more people about Autism.

Personally I always recommend watching the movie “Temple Grandin” She is an absolutely amazing autistic women who has accomplished so much in her life and, for the autistic community. Even more so at a time when it was still fairly new, unknown and, misdiagnosed.

Also when dealing with a friend or, stranger who has a special needs child keep this Article in mind. Before I get to the contest information, I’m going to share some tips for cake pops and, show you some of the other cake bites I made.
Almond Chocolate Carrot

Instead of making a ball, make it into a decent sized patty. Using a scalloped edge cookie cutter (below) cut into the patty and take away the excess. using your fingers slowly and evenly push out the cake. Place it in your pan and do not touch. it needs to firm up before being handled further.

Another design.. once your cakes have firmed up in the fridge. Using a squeeze bottle, fill these candy molds halfway with candy Melts. Drop the balls inside (below) and, place in the fridge for 10-15 mins to harden up. Once done you can dip them in Melts by holding the bottom..

Have oil leaking out of your pops? Which you’ll see, I was having this issue with the Almond cake. Anyway.. sometimes your cakes are not evenly covered and the cake tries to escape.. like so. Using a paint brush that’s used only for pastry arts (I use mine for embroidery cookies) dip it into your melted candy and paint over the hole in your cake. Place it back on your parchment paper and, let harden.

Case closed.

Keep your sugars and other decorations close by and in individual containers for easy access. keep the bigger containers far away so you don’t accidentally knock them over.

Results…
Almond

Sugar covered top are almond along with all the other white based cakes. The glitter covered mini cakes along with the blue based are all carrot.

Packaged for work

To ship I packaged them like so in a pastry box. Then bubble wrapped them, placed them in another box surrounded by bunched up paper.. Thank fully it was from my job so it wasn’t wasteful.

Sadly only only 2 of these actually made it to their destination.. I swear the 3rd was stolen!! Here are two more ways to package them. in baggies if you’re going to give them out or, on a cake platter if displaying in your house.

CONTEST

So for my very first contest giveaway.. I’m going to give away 3 sets of coasters. Coasters designed especially for Autism Awareness.

How to enter: Leave a comment telling me what Autism means for you. Are you a parent, friend, sibling? What progress do you hope the world makes in the future regarding children and, adults with autism??

Also go to facebook and like my page Arden.Bijou

You will have until April 30th, 2012 MIDNIGHT to enter

3 winners will be picked at random and, announced on Tuesday and, coasters will be mailed out Thursday May 3rd, 2012.

Please do not enter or state you’re not entering if you are not comfortable giving out your address. I will contact you once I’ve announced all winners. If you do not respond with your address by Monday May 7th, 2012 a new winner will be chosen.

Here are what the coasters will look like.

Thank you all for stopping by. Please continue to show support for this little monkey ^^

Up Next: Mocha Cappuccino Brownies!!

Cake Pops: Revisited.

2012-04-26T00:29:00.000-04:00

Hey guys!! Today I’m revisiting cake pops and, how to use left over colors. The cake pops above were an order made for my godson Jayden, who turned 5 this month. He loves the color green and, my best friend (his mom) asked me to make cake pops in different shades of green. A few days before I had made cake bites for autism. The main color for autism is blue.. so I used white and blue Candy Melts. With some Yellow Candy Coloring I was able to take the blue left over Melts and turn them into green!! Waste not, want not!! Also since I needed different shades of green.. I just continued to add blue to make it darker and then yellow to keep it in the green family.

With most things it’s easier to add then it is to take back..luckily with Candy Melts if you’ve made your color too dark you can add white Melts.. the down side.. you’ll have more than you need. So for this I started with a really light green, then gradually got really dark.. then for the zig zag lines I took a little bit of dark green, put it in a squeeze bottle and drizzled it over the lightest pops. Then added white Melts gradually getting lighter….. let’s take a look.
These are your Candy Coloring Gel. I do not know if concentrated Food Coloring will work.. I have not tried it yet. but it comes four to a pack. Red, Orange, Yellow and, Blue. I used blue to darken the baby blue I had for my Autism pops.. here I will use both Blue and Yellow.

Using left over light blue ( that was in one of my squeeze bottles, break it up and add it to your left over white. Melt. Add a drop at a time of Yellow, until you have a nice light shade of green.

Voila!!

Using this mix, dip a few of your pops. Then add a few drops of blue and yellow for the next shade. When you get to the “middle” of your batch. Add the darker blue left over and yellow.

Use this for the next 2 sets of pops. Adding drops of blue and, yellow after the first.

For the last set, I had left over Green from Saint Patrick’s Day. Remember I showed you how to save Melts by placing them in Candy Molds?? Click Here to see it again. These I removed from the molds and placed in a zip lock bag. Add pieces of this to your mix to get your darker greens for the last 2 sets.

You can see here I added the rest of the blue plus green pieces.

When all of this is done you should have cake pops that look like this
It looks like 5 but, they’re actually 6 shades of green here.

Now to finish these place the lightest cake pops in your foam holder. Put a little of the last green you used in a squeeze bottle. Drizzle it over the the light green pops, add sugar or other candy while it’s still wet. To speed up this process you can place the pops in the fridge for 5 minutes. This will harden the drizzles and, then you can package them. Add a few White Melts to your squeeze bottle (between 6-8) Melt and drizzle over the next set of pops (remember lightest to darkest).. continue this until you have finished all the pops. I had a great little helper.. My son turned on and, off the light for me so that I didn’t have to keep putting down my tray. He is AWESOME!!

Here are a few pictures of the process.

While I made these cake pops for his actual birthday party. I made cake bites for his school party..

Thank you for stopping by!!

Guacamole

2012-04-18T23:32:00.000-04:00

Super Simple, Super Easy Guacamole.. I made this a few weeks ago for my nachos.. Yummy and a little spicy!

You will need:

Avocado's.. one medium size Haas avocado is good for one person. I happened to use two in this recipe
one small red onion. White onions are sweet.. Red onions have a certain spice to them that works perfect for guacamole.
Firm tomato.. this is optional.. I like tomato in my recipe.
Salt, also optional
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Potato smasher.
Large bowl

I didn’t think to do this as a tutorial of this, until after I cut the avocado and, took out the seed.. so boo to that. but it’s really easy. Take your sharp knife and insert it at the top, as if you were going to cut it in half, hold in the palm of your hand and rotate the knife around the seed till you get back to the top where you started. Twist and pull apart. Slap the knife, blade down into the seed. Making sure it’s stuck good twist both the knife and the avocado in opposite directions.. the seed should pop right out.

Using the knife the cut the avocado so that it’s easier to scoop out.

Using a large spoon, scoop out all of the avocado down to the skin into your bowl.

Peel off the outside of the red onion.. which is more purple then red.. anyway.. Cut off the ends and dice half of it up. Dicing is just cutting it in thinly slices in one direction and then turning it and doing the same in the other. Add this to your large bowl.

Do the same to your tomato.. but bigger pieces. When you use the potato smasher it will break up the tomatoes. Add this to your bowl. Sprinkle a dash of salt. Mix well.. Then have a bit of fun with your potato smasher. Smash until you have the consistency you like. Taste and adjust as you see fit.

And voila!!

Enjoy..

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

2012-04-08T00:49:00.000-04:00

So, I didn’t make anything for Easter.. Actually I made some Cappuccino Brownies and quite a few other things.. but nothing specifically for Easter. Then I remembered I made these for Christmas in 2010. I should have done a post for this but back then I wasn’t really posting a lot. These are real Chicken eggs decorated with dyes. It’s called Pysanky and is the Ukrainian method of Egg decoration, done for Easter. I made mine as Christmas ornaments and, they were a big hit to those who received them as gifts.

The following are more traditional Pysanky Eggs. Each picture, flower or pattern of lines has a specific meaning.
They are designed by creating a small hole in the bottom of the egg. Then suctioning out the yolk. Cleaning the egg with a vinegar solution and, drying the egg. Once dried using beeswax, usually black wax, Close the hole. Then begin your designs. Using a Kistka either tradition or electric filled with melted wax you start drawing lines and, pictures. Whatever you draw will stay white since the wax acts as a resistant to the dye. Once you’re finished with all your lines, dip the egg into the first color. The lightest color you will use. You must go from light to dark. Once the egg is the shade you want it. Dry it and, continue drawing. All of these new lines will now stay the color you just dyed the egg. Follow until you’re satisfied. Usually black is the last color you use. Once this process is all finished, you can start melting the wax. You can use a candle (traditional) open flame.. not so ideal, a lighter.. whatever suits you. and little by little melt some wax and wipe it off.. what you get is a beautifully designed unique egg. Cover with a varnish finish and set on an egg stand, glue in a eyelet and make into an ornament.. etc. etc..

These are some pysanky images I found through Google. Enjoy.

These are from another blogger here on BlogSpot Precision Art Blog Amazing, beautiful creations!!

My favorite video of Pysanky.

These are Kitska’s I have a set of traditional. The second from the bottom.. I will invest in an electric one later.

Here are some pictures from today.. Wes went to a fair with my sister and, then went on a solo Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

My sister affectionately called Pumpkin and, my son Wesley.

This kid can build “robots” out of anything.

We have a huge mirror on our wall in the living room.. so Since the new year We’ve been decorating it for the Holiday of whatever month we are in. I never got a picture of February for “black history month” … even though I believe my sister put Martin Luther King Jr. up… Anyway here is our Easter Picture.. and below is the Saint Patrick’s Day pic.. “Slainte” means “Cheers”.. enjoy guys

Pyrography: A tutorial.

2012-04-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

Hey guys.. today I’m going to be creating another pyrography (wood burning) piece. This entry will be a bit long since I will be explaining different things to help you out.
You will need:

Pictures of what you want to burn. Scaled and printed in different sizes, to meet the different sizes of wood you may have.
Wood I bought mine from CraftParts.com It’s a wholesale place and, pretty cheap. I’m already in love with them..
Wood burner or soldering kit. whichever. I bought mine from widget supply along with some extra tips. Here are the Burner and, extra tips that I bought. Also fairly cheap.
Carbon copy paper. I bought a package of 100 from Staples. It was $16.99 but check online first to see if a store near you has it. I’m sure you could also check out officemax or any other office supply store near you.
Sharp pencils or fine point pen.
Scissors
Tape
*optional* Paints, acrylic. In whatever colors you want.
Water. for wiping down your final piece and, if you’re going to use paint.
*optional* paint brushes.
*optional* varnish, in either gloss, matte or, satin finish.

So let’s get started.
Here I have my scissors, tape, different sizes and types of wood, fine point pen and, wood burner. The wood burner IS NOT on right now. it’s just plugged in and, is sitting in the holder.

Here are all the tips. (minus one that I found rather irrelevant) I’m only going to be using two tips today. A fine point and a slanted point. Closer view later.

Here are some of my photos. through Google search engines I found different clip art or pictures I wanted to use and print them out. I wrote on this one “original” because this is the original print size. This fits on the square piece of wood that I have. but for the heart star and, block which are much smaller. I had to scale it down. You can do this in two ways.

#1: Save the image to your computer. Open an photo editing program. Change the pixel size. Don’t stretch or shrink the picture by the arrows. You’ll distort the picture. For a clear picture, just change the pixel size and print. You can change and save the image in different sizes by clicking “save as” and renaming the picture so that you don’t lose the original. From here you can print whichever size you need to work on for your project.

#2: Use a copy machine.. luckily for me, We have a few large scale copiers at my job.. and I use them to my advantage on my lunch break. With this method, place the original image on the screen and click “reduce/enlarge” pick which percent you want it to be reduced to. For me since I have different sizes. I reduced it to 25% of it’s original size. Now 25% is the lowest our copiers are set to. So take the new size and reduce it again. I did this till I had about 5 different sizes of all the pictures I had.

Carbon paper. This is how you will get your image onto your wood, unless you free hand. in some cases I will freehand.

This side will go face down onto your wood.

This is the other side. you’ll tape your image to this. Then the wood.

Yea… This is different from the finished product on top.. but I started with this, then realized I really wanted to do that Celtic knot. Anyway I cut out the picture, Placed it on the carbon paper and cut a square, then cut around the picture. I want it to stick out a little more then the actual picture. place a piece of tape on both the picture and, carbon paper with enough sticking over to tape it to the wood

Tape your image to the wood. making sure it’s in the exact spot you want it. This is why I also cut as close as possible to the picture and, cut the carbon paper close around it. You only need to tape it in 3 or 4 places, enough so the picture will not move. Now take your pen. You want a really sharp pencil or, a fine point pen so that the lines in in your wood will be as, clean as they are in the picture. You can color in any shaded areas, so that you know that they will be shaded when burning. even though you will still use the picture as a guide. When finished, remove the tape from one area at a time and check to see if you’ve covered every line, if not tape it back down and continue drawing. You want to do this slowly and, not remove the entire picture because one you move it.. well.. good luck putting it back exactly where you had it.

Here’s the copy on the wood.

Screw in your first tip and, turn on the burner. give it 5 mins to heat up. You’ll be able to tell the difference in color of the metal that, it’s hot enough. If it’s a new shiny silver tip it kind of turns blue-purple. In the meantime clear up your space. making sure your wire is not going to knock anything over.. Make sure your kids are occupied so that they don’t bump you because hot metal + skin= a trip to the ER..and we don’t want that. (especially on your first try)
Once your burner is ready, start from one side and begin to trace all your fine point lines. do not linger. just draw like you were using a pen or markers. You can go over the line again and, again if necessary. Lingering will leave not only darker lines but, will cause burn marks in your piece probably where you don’t want them.

This is the Celtic knot I said I wanted to do. I went over the lines 2 times. as I worked in the area. You can turn your piece in whichever way it’s comfortable for you to do the burning. Going with the grain of the wood is always going to be easier.

After I finished all the lines, I wanted the knots to stand out more. So using the same tip I went in and burned all the blank spaces inside the knot.

Turn off your burner and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Once it’s cooled, change your tip to this slanted one. I believe I have 3 sizes. Use the smallest to keep your accuracy up. Turn the burner back on.

Using the tip above drag it along the edges of the wood. Press it into the edges of the wood.. be careful and don’t cover any of the lines.. Doing both the dragging and pressing gives the wood this shiny effect. This tip is used for shading. with a light touch it would have been as light as the burned parts inside the knot. but I wanted it to be darker. Now this is a finished piece.. I could wipe it down, put on a varnish and call it a day.. but I’m never that simple and I love color.. So take a damp piece of paper towel and wipe down your piece. This will remove any debris.

Here is my collection of acrylic paints.. from Michaels. Mostly metallics because I LOVE metallic colors.

I enjoy the two oz. bottles. I usually keep 2 or 3 bottles of metallic white and black because I use them more often when making new colors. For the knot I will be using various mixtures of the following Bayberry, Metallic Aquamarine, Forest Moss, Metallic Peridot, Metallic Emerald, Metallic White and, Metallic Black (not pictured here). You can also see the varnish in this picture. I do have a big bottle of this somewhere around this house but thankfully I keep this one with the 2 oz. collection.

Now after making your colors, dip your brush (a tiny brush) into your water, then paint. You want to paint the wood with thinned paint. This picture shows the first version.. I had did two circles before realized that there are 4 separate links not 2 like I thought and, that I can do 4 separate colors.. so I revisited my colors and started over. A plus to the thinned down paint is that it seeps into the wood and dries fairly quickly.

See, I did 2 colors and was totally unsatisfied..

I picked 3 new green mixtures and painted over 3 of the knots. Then I was satisfied

Add the varnish and let it dry. Here you have your finished piece.. enjoy.

In an unrelated project, my mother wanted me to repaint this bird house that I painted when I was younger. It hangs from the 2nd door in the front of the house. it’s how she can tell the door is closed. But when I was younger I never put varnish on it so over time whenever we had the screen door in, the rain would slowly take the paint off and now it looks like this..

Here I freehanded the bird and I free handed some burns to look like grass.

Using these colors Metallic antique Copper, Berry Wine, Metallic Sahara Gold (I have about 8 different gold's.. it’s ridiculous), Vintage White and, Metallic Champagne. I made the following.

This was used to paint the house.

Metallic Sahara Gold, Vintage White and, Metallic Champagne were used to make a color for the bird. Which I then used some Sahara gold to paint “feathers”

Berry Wine, Metallic Antique Copper and, Metallic Black formed a color used for the text on the house. I had originally burned the words in, but didn’t like the way it looked so I painted over it, then painted it in instead.

Metallic Blue Topaz was used for the shingles.

Finished piece.

Here I just wanted to show the grass. I burned the lines in. Then taking a mix of Metallic Emerald and, Metallic Black, I painted over the lines in a criss cross pattern. After letting it dry a bit, I then took Metallic Emerald by it self and, painted a few lines. Then took Metallic Peridot and painted some more lines.. This is the result of that.

I’ll be back in a little bit for some Easter crafts

Pyrography

2012-04-05T01:43:00.000-04:00

Pyrography.. or wood burning. There will be a in depth tutorial for this but, for now I just wanted to leave you with the piece I finished today.
You can leave it in it’s original state like so…

Or paint.. like I did above.. be back later
Enjoy
-Maveric

Cake Pops For Saint Patrick’s Day

2012-03-16T00:23:00.001-04:00

Cake Pops and, Cake Bites.. Have you heard of them?? They’ve become wildly popular and, I’ve been toying with idea of making them for a while. After doing loads of Royal Icing Sugar Cookies, I was about done with baking. Those things are EXTREMELY time consuming. This created a dilemma …………..what to do for Saint Patrick’s Day??? Then it hit me. CAKE POPS!! I swore to myself if these take more than 1 day.. I’m done… at least till April.

So… for these cute little things you will need the following items. Btw you can find everything you need at a crafts store with a baking section.. (i.e.: Michael Arts & Crafts) and, your grocery store!!
You will need:

Cake Mix: Standard cake mix like Duncan Hines or, Betty Crocker is perfect. Whatever flavor you want is fine.
Icing: Again brand and flavor are up to you
Eggs: However many the recipe calls for
Water: “
Oil: “
Candy Melts in the colors and flavors that you want. Note just about all of the colors are flavored “vanilla” There are Chocolate melts that are chocolate flavored and, one that I believe is Chocolate but MINT flavored. Also, make sure to buy enough bags of the colors you want and, need. Each box of normal 2-layer cake mix, makes approximately 48 pops. Keep that in mind. I had bough 8 bags, 2 of each color and I did 2 boxes of cake. I have just about 2 whole bags left over.
Lollipop Sticks, Michaels carries 2 lengths
Decorating Sugar (optional)
Edible Glitter (optional)
Treat bags with twist ties
Treat boxes
Cake pans
Knife
Toothpicks
baking sheet
parchment paper
bake easy non stick spray by Wilton.. (AMAZING STUFF)
Decorating squeeze bottles
foam blocks (you can get these in the flower section of the craft store)

So let’s get started. In order for these to be a 1 day thing, you need to bake your cakes early enough that they are cooled by the time you want to work with them. I wasn’t pressed for time., so I procrastinated and, instead of baking them at 11am.. I baked them around 3pm.. Thankfully my help for the day wasn’t coming till about 6. Plenty of time for them to cool.

As you can see, I used Duncan Hines, Devil’s Food and, French Vanilla, along with Creamy French Vanilla and, Chocolate. These both required 1 1/3 cup of water, 3 large eggs and, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Mix and, bake as instructed. You can use either 2 round pans or, a rectangle pan, it doesn’t matter.

Let the monkey’s help you mix (he even has on his “Irish” shirt)

Once your cake’s have cooled it’s time to prep and, decorate!

Fancy, fantastic new item… DO NOT USE FOR CAKE POPS (unless they don’t have to be packaged in the treat bags. The gel does dry out a bit, but not enough to be packaged in such a way. Thankfully I only did 7 before I realized it was a bad idea) Best used for cakes and cupcakes.

You cant really see it, but just look at the package. the silver are stars and, the gold are hearts.

Candy Melts!! Ever wondered what those baby shower/bridal shower etc. etc.… lollipops are made of?? yea.. these things!

Sugars…

Like my Flag??

Ok so, take your cake and cut it into quarters while it’s still in the pan. cut off any hard edges. Put into a large bowl. A bowl that has enough depth to crumble the cake and, add the icing.
Crumble the cake. Make sure there are no large pieces.

Add 1/3 of the icing!! You do not want these to be overly moist!! This is if you use both layers. For the chocolate cake I took 1 layer and added Chocolate Icing, so it was less than 1/3. The other I added Vanilla.

Mix, mix and, mix.

Take a little bit of the mixture and roll into a ball. This is about the size of a golf ball, maybe smaller. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
(btw as you can see I have, dvds in the background. I can not work without music or TV running.. I need that “white noise” to focus.. it’s the same when I sleep. if you feel that you need this, it’s ok… whatever helps you work consistently is best.)

The darker ones are Chocolate/Chocolate, The lighter ones are Chocolate/Vanilla

Place in the freezer for 15 MINUTES!!, Then transfer to the fridge. You can put them on a large plate after, they’ve been in the freezer to firm up.

This was the Vanilla Cake. I took the knife and cut the edge off all the way around. I did not bother to cut the bottom or, top off. I felt this would be a waste of cake.

Vanilla/Vanilla

This is your foam block. There are 3 kinds, this one that comes in green and, white. Also the one that kind of falls apart when you press into it. Try not to use that one, you’ll get green stuff all over your hands and, the pops!!

Now, while the chocolate pops have been moved to the fridge and the vanilla pops are in the freezer, prep your board. Take a lollipop stick and make holes about 1 inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart.

Place your candy melts in a bowl deep enough to dip the cake pops. You can add more as they melt. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time and, mix. The consistency should be smooth and, flow easily.

Take a few of your cakes out at a time. Take a lollipop stick and dip it into the candy melts.

Insert the lollipop stick into the the cake half way.

Dip the pop into the Candy Melts. use a spoon to cover any spots. Shake off as much excess as possible. Use a tooth pick to keep the edge right under the cake neat. Place in one of the premade holes in the foam board. Repeat (and yes.. that’s Chandler from Friends, in the background)

Let them sit and, dry. It doesn’t take that long. Let’s move onto the cake bites.

Melt a large batch of candy melts in the color of your choice

Using your squeeze bottles, put some candy melts in them and, microwave for 30 seconds. shake, or mix after each turn. The bottles will be hot. Another method is to microwave them in a cup then, pour it into the bottles.. I used this method because both my mom and, my helper (my friend Leo) practically yelled at me not to.. They were concerned that I would melt the bottles and, or blow up the candy melts in the bottles…. *rolls eyes* I had back ups!! Once the candy melts had hardened in the bottles I tried my method (because they weren’t around) and it worked!! So boo to them!

Any way since my entire color scheme was the colors of the Irish Flag, I used only white, orange and, green.

Dunk a cake into the melted candy base color. Using a spoon, make sure the cake is completely covered. Lift the cake out and let the excess run off, then place it on the parchment lined baking sheet. Do this slowly and let the excess from your spoon cover the side of the cake. Repeat.

Once you’re all done, Take the 1st color in your squeeze bottle and using a quick back and forth motion cover the cake bites in a zig zag pattern. Try to do them all in one direction. Like so

Now do the 2nd color in the other direction.

Here is where you could add glitter, sugar.. etc. For these I didn’t.

Before I show you the end results of everything. What do you do with your left over candy melts?? You can always leave it in the bottle if it’s a lot. If not, do you have some candy molds around? If so, pour the extra candy melts into the molds.

Tap the mold to get air out and, to make the candy even. Leave them to sit. You could place them in the freezer for a few minutes to let them harden up. Then pop them out and place them in a zip lock bag. Viola!!

Once you can’t get anymore out of the bottle, leave it to sit. When you squeeze it lightly and its hard. apply more pressure until all the extra pieces have fallen to the bottom. Open the top and pour these pieces in your zip lock bag of the same color. Place the bottle in hot water and, wash with soap and hot water.

And now………… Packaging!!!
Michaels has such great snack boxes and, these small clear treat bags (which were probably cello sleeves), they came with silver twist ties! These can fit one cake pop OR two cake bites!!

Here are some of the cake pops packaged up.

And four pops that I made with a green background. top left is the flag… sort of. I rolled one side in green sugar, then the other in orange. then ran the middle in the white. Top right, I just added the glitter stars and hearts. Bottom Left : drizzled orange and, white over the green then, added the glitter. Bottom right.. rolled the entire pop in a mix of green and silver pearlized sugar.

Here are some packaged in the snack boxes I picked up. The come flat. just fold them up and tape any parts that will open where they shouldn’t.

They have a great clear window so that you can see all the treats inside.

Now enjoy the rest of the pictures taken of these awesome treats!!
A few notes though………

Work on up to 10 cakes at a time. Leaving them out softens them. When this happens they leave crumbs in the candy melts.. which isn’t attractive at all
Try to get as much excess candy off as possible, when these things get hard, you have to use a knife to cut the excess off.. sometimes cutting off pieces that were covering the cake by accident
The candy stays warm for a decent period of time. But still don’t melt the candy if your not anywhere near ready to use it. Just wait till your ready to go.
Keep an eye on your bottles, cups or measuring cups when melting the candy. Keep mixing after every interval. Again, they don’t need to be extremely hot!! Read the instructions on the back of the packages.
When adding glitter or sugar. Add it immediately after you drizzle the second layer of candy. If you'd like, drizzle one row at a time. Add the sugar/glitter then continue. This ensures that most of the glitter/sugar will stick!
Since most of the colors are vanilla flavored just about any cake/icing flavor will work and taste amazing!! Experiment away!!

And lastly Thank you Leo for coming by and helping me.. I’ve never had a camera person before!! (btw some of the pictures look different because, genius that I am, didn’t charge my camera and, we had to use his phone)

Besides the very first picture and, the “flag” made of sugar. This is my favorite picture!!

Cookie Day 4: Packaging

2012-03-13T01:30:00.000-04:00

There are plenty of different way’s to package your cookies. You can individually wrap them. Place them in cookie containers, food safe paint cans.. the list goes on.
This is what I did.
Here I have a food-safe paint can.. you can find these at Michael’s arts and craft store. Take out containers and, goodie bags.

First the goodie bag, which has a window, so you can actually see the cookies.

Next, the paint can, which comes with a metal disk to open the can.

Last but not least, the take out box. These are frosted.. but it still works perfectly fine.

Coming up
Cake Pops
Shamrock Shakes
Making Labels

Royal Icing Without Meringue Powder

2012-03-13T01:00:00.000-04:00

I prefer to use Meringue Power. I only need 4 ingredients to make my royal Icing.. and I don’t have to worry about lemon juice.. which frankly I haven’t even bothered to try that..

BUT, there are some people, like my friend Pam who doesn’t have access to Meringue Powder. If you don’t you can use the old fashion method of, egg whites, lemon juice, confectioners sugar. I was going to test this method, but thought better of it. Why test when, I can search for accuracy and, give better feed back?

So please follow this link. She does have a recipe for both. but in this case shows the egg white recipe. There’s a video included… Enjoy
Joy Of Baking

Cookies Day 3: Embroidery and Painting

2012-03-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay to this post. I had to take my computer to the tech guys and, they are slow.. I also went away for my birthday. I had to wait till I came back only for the problem to still be there.

So in the previous post we covered icing and marbling. Today I will show Embroidery and Painting. Both are fairly easy.
You will need:

Outlined and Flooded cookies, completely dry
paint brushes that are used ONLY for baking
gel food coloring
shimmer dust, glitter, powdered food coloring, etc.
Alcohol. (for painting)
Water (for embroidery)
Icing in which ever colors you like.

First, Take your dry flooded cookie, take your icing (in a piping bag…and you can use the same icing you used to outline) and, draw a swiggly line on the cookie in an arch like so…

Using a small rounded brush (in this case, the last one, on the bottom) dip into your water and brush down the ridges.

Like so.. this is all you have to do.. just add layers and repeat..

In the end you get something like this.. I added the sugar pearls.. but it isn’t necessary.

Here are a few more that I did.

Leaves are easy, Just draw the leave shape, brush down the ridges and, add the stem down the center.

Now for painting. I didn’t do an in depth tutorial for this.. with all the work I did over this time period I was soooo out of it, that I didn’t even use gel food coloring, just the powdered shimmer stuff.
It’s also very simple, either A) Dip your brush into the powder and paint the dried power onto your cookie, this has a light colored affect or
B) Pour out some powder and dip your brush into the alcohol (note the reason you use alcohol is because it evaporates) and, then into the color.. paint. it leaves a darker color.

Method B

Method A
For a group I’m in.. a great, crazy bunch of WOMEN!

Method B

Another simple Method. Pressed Sugar.. easy as 1,2,3
1Spread on icing

2 press into sugar

3 shake off excess, leave to dry

I’m going to do a quick post next on packaging ideas. Also I have found a post on Royal icing without Meringue powder for those who either live outside of the US or don’t have access to Meringue Powder.

Enjoy

Cookies Day 2: Icing and Preliminary Decorating

2012-02-14T01:06:00.001-05:00

So now that you’ve baked all your cookies and, they’ve been sitting for a day (which is recommended before icing.) It’s time to make your icing. Royal Icing is used for this type of decorating, mainly because of all the elaborate designs you can make. Also the fact that it last a very long time. We will be doing a small batch of icing. I had enough icing but the original purple icing I made (which Wes did in fact identify as purple) started to look like dark gray.. So I had to make more so, that I could make a decent purple.. which was a pain in the buttocks!! but some royal blue, a little red, and some pink (the secret) did the trick!
Ok so let’s get to it!
You will need:

Confectioners Sugar 2 lbs. bag.
Meringue Powder 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon
Warm water approximately 3/4 cup
extract. I chose vanilla 2-3tsp
mixing bowl
and I use the dough hooks first to get everything incorporated, then I switch to the regular beaters
Icing Colors (I use gel, so it doesn’t water down the icing and, to get a more concentrated color
toothpicks
spatula
spoons
extra bowls
containers for flood icing
tips 1,2 and 3
piping bags
couplers
sugar
pearls
tweezers

In this first picture, I had just separated all the cookies into different groups.

here are all the tools you’ll be using.

Here I wrote out a list of the colors I wanted and how I wanted them. either Piping or Flood or both. This keeps me organized.

Disposable piping bags

Confectioners sugar

Meringue powder.. and be careful.. its very light, it blows all over the place if you’re not careful.

Now sorry.. but it’s just me taking all the pictures.. so after I added the meringue powder, I added the warm water and flavoring.
If you’re using regular vanilla extract, the mixture will look light brown.. tan-ish.. this is fine, as it whips up it gets whiter and whiter.
Mix first on a low speed, then increase speed to the highest. Just keep mixing until it starts to feel stiffer. Slow down the mixer and check the consistency.. does it move easily? You want it to be thicker than that. It’s done when there are stiff peaks and, as you can see, the peaks stay still!

I keep mine covered with plastic wrap while I prepare my bags.
Here I’ve folded down the bags. You can toss in the inside part of the tip holder so you know where to cut. I’ve used these plenty of times, so I know exactly where to cut. About an inch below the recycle logo on the bottom near the tip

Push it down into place. Not to hard, you don’t want to stretch the plastic.

Inn a separate bowl, take out as much icing as you need. Using a tooth pick, stick it into your gel color and, then swirl into your icing, mix thoroughly, if it’s not the color you want, repeat with a new tooth pick. Take half of this (or more if you know you’re not going to use much flooding of this color) and place it into the piping bag. (by folding the edge back and using a spatula or spoon)
with the remaining icing, place little by little of warm water ( I use 1/4 tsp. measuring cup) stir after each addition of water. Check the consistency by lifting the spoon in the air and letting the icing fall back into the bowl. watch the bowl. Count to ten.. does all the icing smooth out? if not, add more water. This “10 count icing” is want you want for flooding.
Make all your colors. Here I have made all the colors I want to use. Since I only have a few tips 1 #1, 1 #2 and, 2 #3’s, I use plastic wrap and a twist tie to keep the ends secure. I can switch between tips this way. Just clean them out and add the tip to the new color. Here you can also see my first attempt at the purple, 3rd from the left. I eventually added this to the black.. so I didn’t waste it.

Here I had also written out what kind of designs I wanted to do.. and up till now I had only done marbling and… marbling (writing just doesn’t count)

Here each design I wanted to try will be on a separate tray.

Here I’m going to start the background for the Embroidery cookies (which will be finished tomorrow.) You start by taking the piping icing and outline the cookies. If you want the flood to blend in more, do only 1-3 cookies at a time and, immediately flood them. I didn’t do that. because.. well.. I had to take pictures for this.. Anyway..

You don’t need to fill in the entire cookie. Fill in starting outside and going in. it’s ok if there are some spaces, The whole point of the 10 second icing is that it spreads. It also needs to be this thick so that it doesn’t not over flow the cookie and, so that decorations do not bleed through. Use a tooth pick to spread out the rest of the icing and to make it even over the cookie.
Here are the flooded cookies. These need to dry for 6-8 hours, but I’m usually too tired and let them dry overnight (which is what most of the ladies do anyway)

Here’s how to do Marbling. First outline your cookie, then flood. Its best to work on this either one at a time or 2. Use a toothpick to spread the flood icing and to make it even.

Add another color. repeat in the pattern you want.

I could have done something more elaborate with this but, I decided not to. Let this dry overnight

Another marbling effect. Here I’ve outlined 3 cookies. Then flooded them.

Add dots.

Take a toothpick and drag it through the dots. Creating HEARTS!!

Puffed pillows. Now I admit.. I definitely have never tried this and, I realize I should have outlined the cookie then drawn the criss crosses.. but oh well. Next time!
Pipe criss cross lines

Using flood icing, fill in every OTHER square.

Use a toothpick to spread it out. Let it dry. Meaning go do some other cookies and, then come back. Fill in the other squares. After I had did this. I took my tweezers and added a sugar pearl to each cross section.. let dry overnight.

My finished marbled cookies!!

In this one, my toothpick never left the cookie until I was finished. (btw.. now that's purple!!)

Here each dot was done individually. Meaning I wiped off the toothpick after every drag. Then I placed a pearl in place

The double colored hears are simple. just place the second dot off center inside the first then drag the toothpick through.

In this one although my toothpick did leave the cookie after each drag, I did NOT wipe off the toothpick, you can see the previous color at the top of each new heart.

Here the icing overflowed at the very top.. only because when I thought it was dried quite a bit I moved it.. and where it was moved to was uneven.. whoops

Puffed hearts completed

Happy Valentines DAY!!

remember for better tutorials and tips please visit Sweet Sugarbelle

Stay tuned.. I have one more day for you. Featuring Embroidered cookies and packaging!

Cookies Day 1: Make and Bake

2012-02-13T00:55:00.001-05:00

I’ve have checked out a few cookie blogs. One that is my favorite is Sweet Sugarbelle. She gives amazing tutorials. I have looked at other recipe’s and, I like hers the most. So check her out for more in-depth tutorials, advice and, gorgeous work.

By looking at her work, I have been inspired to make these cookies for the first time, for my sister’s 21st birthday, my son’s 6th birthday, Valentines and now, my 26th birthday.. It wasn’t until Valentines/my birthday that I decided to do a tutorial.. so here it goes.

You will need:

Large mixing bowl
1 egg room temperature
2 sticks of unsalted butter softened
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2-3 tsp. of flavoring (extract, emulsions)
2tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
electric mixer (I prefer the dough hooks)
Cling wrap
tape
parchment paper
rolling pin
cookie cutters
baking pans
offset spatula
scissors

Place your two sticks of softened butter into your mixing bowl

Add in your Confectioner’s sugar

starting on a slow speed, mix.. turn up the speed and continue mixing until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add in your egg and flavoring. I chose 3 tsp. of orange for this pictured batch. Almond for the teal batch

Food coloring is optional and, in my case was only done because I had two batches of dough, with 2 different flavors. Make sure the egg is completely incorporated.

I sifted the baking soda added it, added the salt. Sifted the flour and then slowly added it 1/2 cup at a time till 2 cups were completely in. Then added 1/4 cup at a time until I got the consistency I needed.

You should be able to touch the dough and it’s not sticky at all. if you pick up a piece you can easily roll it in your hands.

Lay out a piece of cling wrap and toss your dough on it. wrap it up and just sit it on the counter. there’s no need to put this dough in the fridge. it will be ready to work with in 10 minutes. I let this batch sit there while I' make the 2nd, then while I cleaned and prepared the pans, the 2nd sat. By the time I was ready to go, both balls of dough were ready.

Almond batch

I don’t know if anyone else has thought of this, but while reading some other cookie blogs, I found that most of them rolled out there dough with flour.. and of course once you keep adding flour and rolling, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. batches get harder and just don’t look right. So I came up with this. I take a piece of parchment paper ( you can use cling wrap too) and tape it down. You can see the tape in the picture below. btw.. regular scotch tape sucks.. SUCKS!! it worked for the most part but, in the future I need heavier tape.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees at this point

These are the cutters I’m using for this project. Actually I scrapped the numbers, but you will se them in pictures from other cookies I made.

I love these circle cutters. they have the fluted edge on one side and plain edge on the other.

Place half of your dough on the taped down parchment. Place another piece of cling wrap on top of it. Start rolling it out. Thickness is up to you.. They do spread.

Peel back your cling wrap. and use your cutters. Use as much of the dough as possible.

Set up your parchment paper. I put rolled side up. then used my fingers to press it into the pan. I took scissors and cut off the excess.

Using your offset spatula, Slide it under the cut out and transfer it to the sheet.

I did two pans at once. Even though I’m only baking one pan at a time. I did this because I wanted to get all the shapes done one by one. I didn’t want to keep switching back and forth.

The pan was placed in the center of the center rack. Baked for 6 minutes.

The baking time varies from 5-8 minutes. for the larger cookies I did 6-7 and the smaller cookies 5-6. Just keep and eye on them. When they turn from shiny to dull they are done. If these weren't colored you would be able to see the slight browning on the edges.

in the pic below you see the backed cookies. (almond) and the unbaked. (orange) See how much they spread? but rise?

Bake until you have finished all your dough!!

Get ready for Day 2!! Icing and preliminary Decorating.

Play dough

2012-01-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

Home made play dough is awesome.. a bit time consuming.. and if you don’t have a preservative.. doesn’t last that long.. BUT I think it’s a lot better than all the chemical stuff that’s in the commercial stuff.

You will need:

8 Cups of Flour (all purpose)
8 Cups of Warm water
4 Cups of table salt
1 Cup of Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup of Cream of Tartar
Soap Dyes.
Thick Spoon
Large pot
Stove
Measuring cup
A kid who loves play dough
Wax paper or parchment paper. and Saran Wrap
Wisk
Glitter or Mica
Zip lock bags or containers with lids for storage.

Everything minus the dyes can be found in your house or at the local grocery store. My dyes (larger bottles) were primarily bought from Nature's Garden Candle, the others were bought at Michaels Arts and Crafts Store.

You can cut this recipe down. I did this size to show the range of colors that we will make. Use the table below to figure out which amount you want to use. (Note: the amount in the pot is what you will get.. it does not boil down or anything.)

Flour	8 Cups	4 Cups	2 Cups	1 Cup	1/2 Cup
Water	8 Cups	4 Cups	2 Cups	1 Cup	1/2 Cup
Salt	4 Cups	2 Cups	1 Cup	1/2 Cup	1/4 Cup
Oil	1 Cup	1/2 Cup	1/4 Cup	1/8 Cup	1/16 Cup
Tartar	1/4 Cup	1/8 Cup	1/16 Cup	1/32 Cup	1/64 Cup

1/8th cup = 2 tablespoons
1/16th cup = 1 tablespoon
1/32th cup = 1 1/2 teaspoons
1/64th cup = 3/4ths teaspoon

Measure out your 8 cups of flour and, put it in the pot. You can add all the dry ingredients first then the water and oil. Or do like I did and, go in this order.

Add the 8 cups of water.

Using your Wisk and child.. mix! try to get all the flour clumps out. This becomes easier as you add the other ingredients.

Add your 4 cups of Salt. Pour over your wax paper, so there’s easy clean up

Add 1/4th cup of Cream of Tartar

Add 1 cup of Oil

mix some more. It will be the consistency of pancake batter. don’t worry about the oil right now. it will mix in more with cooking.

Turn the fire (in my case heat.. I have a electric stove) on medium You will have to continue mixing the entire time, so you do not scorch the bottom. it will get thicker and thicker. This is what you want to happen. Stop using the Wisk once you feel the mixture getting thicker. Use the thick spoon from now on. You will need the thicker spoon because when I say this gets thick, I mean it gets THICK!! You’d probably break a weaker spoon.. and we don’t want that.

Here are the lumps you will start to get. just remember to keep mixing and, make sure you’re scraping the bottom and sides.

Soon it will be the consistency of Hot Cereal..

Then Mashed potatoes.

Once it starts to look dry and, is really hard to move around, test it with your fingers. Does it stick? If so, it still needs some time. If not, it’s done. Take off the heat, give it a mix a few more times, slowly.

Allow it to cool for a few minutes, then dump it out onto your wax or parchment paper. (note: Wax paper will get “soggy” and need to be peeled off. I have not tested parchment paper..)
Allow the mixture to cool some more.. Use this time to clean up.

Once it’s cool to the touch, take off a chunk and start to kneed it. till its smooth. If you find any lumps that will not mix in, just take them out. They won’t be missed.

On the left you have an un-kneaded chunk and, a kneaded one. It’s smoother.. the consistency of store bought dough.

To color, poke a hole in the center of the dough.

Drop your color inside. Start small and add more to achieve the color you desire. I have also added glitter

Fold over the edges and work slowly to kneed the color in. You don’t need gloves for this because all of the dyes come off rather easy. You can also wash and dry your hands in between every few balls of dough. Some of the dough will come off and, dry on your hands anyway. leaving this rough skinned feel.

First finished piece.

Store in an airtight container.. or zip lock bags. Whichever you have.

Kneading 101 if you’ve never kneaded bread dough or.. any kind of dough.

#1 Taking the palm of your hand, push the dough forward

#2 Using your fingers pull the front part of the dough up

#3 Fold it over

#4 Turn it around.

#5 Repeat 1-4

Here are all the colors we made.

All the custom made colors;
Top row: Cranberry, Orange, Lime, Forest Green
Bottom Row: Brick Red, Brown, Midnight Blue

Simple colors made with just once color of dye
Top Row: Green, Yellow, Pink
Bottom Row: Blue, Purple, Teal

End results.. Happy Child with his Play dough.

Paperweights

2012-01-22T02:45:00.000-05:00

Super simple crafting project!!
You will need:

Shrinky Dink Plastic: I have used Crystal Clear
Permanent Markers
Scissors
Oven Set to 325 degrees
Baking pan
Brown paper

Refer to Shrinky Dinks For more information.

Shrinky Dink Plastic

See how Crystal Clear it is?

If you can cut straight, then cut into 4’s. if not using a ruler and marker.. Then cut (note: if you don’t cut off the black edges made from the marker, they will show on the final product)

Using this picture as my stencil, I trace the skull

On a second sheet, I flip the first piece over, place the second sheet on top and color in the eyes. Flip the piece back over and, this is what you have.

Melt all the pieces individually A few at a time, so you can watch them

This is what will happen if you don’t. They are unusable afterwards.

Stacking some together, I’ve wrapped them in wire wrapping metal used in jewelry. This will create a smaller piece with interesting edges. The metal will not melt into the piece. You just unwrap it after its cooled and viola.. This will also create a more uniform piece.

The other piece was just stacked.. with a clear piece over the traced piece, to prevent the eventual chipping of the picture. Since it was just stacked with nothing to hold it together, some pieces fell over .. A cool funky piece to go right with the skull decorated on it.

Bake this at 350 for about 15-20 mins. Let cool

Finished pieces.. I glued on Rhinestones to the plain one.. You could do lots more.. but this was just a fun experiment.

Here’s another shrinky dink project I made for a very good friend of mine who loves The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Felted Soap

2012-01-22T02:30:00.000-05:00

Felted soap is pretty cool. Wool as you know shrinks in hot water. So when you wrap it around soap, continuously rub it under hot water, You create felted soap.. or soap in it’s own little sweater as, some people say. Doing this saves more soap as, the wool creates a built in wash cloth. The wool will also continue to shrink as the soap gets smaller. The wool is anti-fungal, anti-microbial, and anti-bacterial.
You will need:

Bar of soap. either hand made like mine or your favorite.. and I’d go with Dove.
Roving Wool.. (I like Merino Wool)
Felting needles. (38 star, 36, 40 triangle)
Mat for felting.
Bowl of Hot water and, bowl of cold.
Tights.
Finger protector.. optional but recommended.

Felting needles, Mat and finger protector can be brought from Living Felt
Roving wool can be bought from various places but I’m partially happy with Merino Wool & More.

Here you have your mat and needles.. they are extremely sharp..

I bought a few ounces of basic background color. This is Ecru. Something like cream.. You can see my hand, with the finger protector on it.

Up close.

Here’s an ounce of some of the other colors I bought. They are so ridiculously soft.

Here are some bars of soap I made a while ago, that have basically just sat there.

I love this one.. all the color has bled out of the little embedded shapes, and gone into the rest of the clear bar. Resulting in this rainbow effect.

So here I’ve take some of the Ecru wool. Just enough to wrap a medium layer around the soap in one direction. We will design our shapes into this piece.

Taking a small piece of another color and using whichever needle you prefer (Note the larger needles punch deeper and, harder. You can use 2 needles at once to move faster, use the thinner needle for more detailed work)
Can you see the small blue dot?

This is my finished design. It takes a while and, obviously I’m no expert.. but I couldn’t find any tutorials on this from the experts.. and trust me, their work is just unbelievable!!

I have also learned that you can felt the soap, and add designs as you felt.. it’s a really nice effect.. I will try that another time.

Taking another piece of wool. Wrap it around the soap

Wrap your designed piece around the soap in the other direction.

Taking a cut pair of tights.. thinner is better.. wrap the soap in the tights. You can tie a knot. This will keep the wool from moving around, thus ruining where you wanted your design to be.

Using hot water, submerge the soap and build a lather by moving the soap around in your hands.. as you would a bar of soap naturally. The agitation and hot water is what makes this work.. I’ve come to find out that, after a few minutes in hot water, dipping the soap in cold water tightens the wool.. Doing this back and forth between hot and cold shrinks the wool faster..

You can release the soap from the tights and pull on the wool slightly. If it pulls a lot, you’re not finished. You don’t need to place it back in the tights if, its not that loose. just continue to rub in hot water then cold.. then hot, then cold..

Let dry on a rack. It’s ready for use. While not in use, let dry on a raised soap dish, so that it doesn’t sit in water.

Chainmaille: Flower of Life part 3

2012-01-22T02:15:00.000-05:00

The last part of my “Flower of Life” series. The hardest, in my opinion. Ying Yang.

You will need:

H18 Aluminum Rings (38)
D20 Enameled Copper Silver Rings (in Black and Pink) 42 of each color
Pliers coated in tool magic
Mat

Please refer to Chainmaille Part 1 and, Chainmaille Part 2 for more instructions and links to tools and equipment.
I’m only going to show half of this weave because, the other half is exactly the same. I do this row by row, starting with the center row.

Count out all your rings.

Start with 6 pink and, 6 black rings. This will be your center ring.

Open an H18 ring, Add the 6 pink rings (1st color) Close the ring, double the H18 ring, Add the
6 Black rings.

Taking another open H18 ring, loop it through one pink ring and, one black ring. Add 3 pink rings and, 7 black rings. Make sure all the pink are on the top and, black on the bottom. Close the H18 ring and double.

Sorry I had accidentally knocked everything over.. then took this picture with it facing the wrong way.. so just flip the piece over.. add another open H18 ring, looping it through 2 of the black rings. MAKE SURE that one black ring is left with the 3 pinks. as seen below. Add 4 black rings, close and double.

Flip it back over so that the pink is back on top. You’re going to add 4 H18 rings. The first (2nd from the left) add 2 H18 rings, loop I through 1 pink and, 1 black ring. Add 2 blacks on the bottom and, 8 pinks on the top. Close and double. Add another H18 ring, add 4 pink rings, close and double.

On the right side add an H18 ring. Loop it through 2 of the black rings. Bring it to the top and loop it through 1 black ring and, 1 pink ring. Add 2 black rings and, 2 pink rings. (make sure the black is facing the black side, and the pink is facing pink.) Close and double.

Add an open H18 ring, loop it through the 2 pink rings on the previously added pink rings, and 4 from the row below. Add 4 pink rings and, 2 black rings. Close and double.

Add another H18 ring by looping it through the 2 black rings previously added. Continue looping it through 4 pink rings from the previous row. Add 6 pink rings. Close and double. (sometimes it easier to close the H18 ring first, then add the extra rings.)

Add a H18 ring by looping it through 2 pink rings previously added and, 4 rings from the previous row. Add 1 black and, 1 pink ring. Close and double.

Starting from the right. Add a H18 ring by looping it through the 2 black rings on the end and, 2 pink rings. Add 2 black rings, close and double.

Add an H18 ring by looping it through the 2 black rings just added and, through 4 of the pink rings from the previous row. Add 1 pink ring and, 1 black ring. Close and double.

Add an H18 ring by looping it through the 6 loose rings. Close and double. congrats you’ve finished half of the weave.. Give up?? Lol.. it’s tempting trust me. Just relax and, take your time. Flip over and, continue the other side the same way. Lost?? Just look below to see the finished piece for reference.

All 8 Flower of Life weaves I have completed. Yes I only did 3 but two of these were my on funky little creation with no real rules.. just went with the flow..

These are the 2, that I did my own thing.

Ying Yang

Fading

Flower

Fading at a different angle.

Stacked star earrings

2011-10-21T00:04:00.000-04:00

You will need:

Shrinky Dink Plastic, in whatever color or, style you want. Here I have used black, white and, frosted.
Colored Pencils if you’re using frosted
Permanent markers
Crayon for white and black (to trace shapes)
Scissors
Brown paper (from a bag preferably)
Stencils
Oven set to 325
cookie sheet

*Tip* Setting your oven or convection oven, 10 to 15 minutes before you bake. 5 minutes before you bake place the cookie sheet in the oven with the brown paper on top, this helps all the pieces bake evenly.
Here we go!!
Taking your sheets trace your shapes out. For frosted; use a permanent marker. In order to make stacked stars or any other stacked shape, they must be in different sizes.
For white, black or any other solid color (almond and brown) use a crayon. For whatever reason these are slicker than the frosted and, clear. The permanent markers run before drying.

Now cut out all your shapes.

Now stack your stars on top of each other to make sure they are different sizes.

Put aside all of the black and, white stars. Take the largest Frosted Star and, color it red. Color the next size white and, the smallest blue.

Punch a double hole (the second slightly overlapping the first) in all the large stars.
Bake your pieces a few at a time.

Now, turn your oven up to 350.
Spray the pan very lightly with non stick spray.
Stack your stars together.. White, black, white. Black, white, black and, Red, white and, blue.
place carefully in your oven. Rearrange your pieces incase they have moved.

Bake for 10-20 mins… until the pieces look melted.
Using a pen, open up any holes that have closed.. DO THIS BEFORE REMOVING FROM PAN OR ALLOWING TO COOL!!
Remove from pan. Allow to cool, wipe off excess spray. Some of the red may come off.

Assemble earring with D20 enameled copper jump ring and, ear wire.. and viola! Earrings!

Have fun mixing and matching colors!!
-Maveric

Chainmaille: Flower of Life part 2

2011-08-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

This is a slightly harder version of the Flower of life (Japanese 12-in-2) weave. You’re going to do a fading style, using 4 colors. You could use more, I haven’t experimented with more than 4 yet.
You will need:

D20 Enameled Copper Silver colors. I have Ice Blue, Peacock Blue, Bright Blue and, Black, If you choose your own colors choose 4 that fade nicely together (check out the pink to purple)
You will need 19 rings each in the first color (ice blue) and, the last color ( black)
You will need 23 rings each in the second color (peacock blue) and, the third color (bright blue)
Pliers, preferably flat nose, coated with tool magic so, you don’t scratch your rings.
H18 aluminum rings (38)

All supplies can be bought at the awesome BlueBuddhaBoutique
Unlike the first Flower of life pendant, I will not be working from the center out. I will be doing this row by row.

Let’s get started!! Count out your H18 rings.

Count out your D20 rings remember 19 first and last, 23 second and, third.

Starting with the center of the first row, open two H18 rings. Loop the first through 6 D20 Ice Blue rings (or your first color). Double the H18 ring, make sure all the D20 rings are closed.

Open 4 H18 rings. Loop one through 2 D20 Ice Blue rings (your first color) add 6 D20 Ice Blue rings (1st color), close the H18 ring and, double. Take the 3rd H18 ring loop it through 2 of the newly added D20 Ice Blue rings (1st color) add 4 D20 Ice Blue rings (1st color) and close. Double. You have finished the first row. There should be 4 D20 Ice Blue rings hanging from each of the 3 sets of H18 rings.

Prepare part of your second row, If you notice in the first row, the 4 D20 rings that connect the H18 rings are all D20 Ice Blue. in the second row the D20 rings will be Ice Blue on top and, Peacock Blue on the bottom, thus heading into the Peacock Blue row.
I like to lay it out as shown in the picture below. 3 Ice blue on top and, 3 Peacock Blue on the bottom.

Open 8 H18 rings. Take the first and loop it through 2 D20 Ice Blue rings (1st color) on the end of row 1. add 1 D20 Ice Blue (1st color) and, 5 D20 Peacock Blue (2nd color) rings, close and double.

Take the 3rd H18 ring and loop it through the Ice Blue ring and 1st Peacock Blue ring, loop it through the 2 remaining D20 Ice Blue (1st color) rings on the previous H18 rings, loop it onto the 1st 2 D20 Ice Blue rings (1st color) in the second set of H18 rings (center ring), Close, double the H18 ring. Open 4 D20 Peacock Blue rings (2nd color) and add them to the rings you just closed, Repeat this. Make sure each set is connected by 1 Ice Blue ring (1st color) and, 1 Peacock Blue ring (2nd color). Also make sure that again there are 4 Peacock Blue rings (2nd color) hanging from each set.
*tip* The Ice Blue rings or your first color should be on the Ice Blue side. As long as those rings match the row above or below it. you’re doing it correctly.

Prep your 3rd row in the same way you did the second. This time you will need 4 D20 Peacock Blue (2nd color) rings and, 4 D20 Bright Blue rings (3rd color).

Open 10 H18 rings. Loop the 1st through two of the outer most D20 Peacock Blue (2nd color) rings, add 1 D20 Peacock Blue (2nd color) ring and, 3 D20 Bright Blue (3rd color) ring. Close and, double the H18 ring.

Take Your 3rd H18 ring, loop it through the Peacock blue (2nd color) and, Bright Blue (3rd color) ring, loop it through the remaining 2 Peacock Blue rings (2nd color) on the last set of H18 rings from the 2nd row. Loop it through the 1st 2 Peacock Blue rings (2nd color) 2nd set of H18 rings. Add 1 Peacock Blue (2nd color ring) and, 1 Bright Blue (3rd color) ring. Close Double the H18 ring. Open 4 D20 Bright Blue rings, add them to the rings you just closed. Repeat this until you get to the last two H18 rings. Instead of 4 D20 Bright Blue (3rd color) rings, just add two. When you’re finished there should be 2 hanging rings on the ends and, 4 each on the 3 center rings.

Prep your 4th row. 3 D20 Bright Blue rings (3rd color) and 3 D20 Black rings (4th color)

Open 8 H18 rings. Take the 1st and loop it through the 2 remaining Bright Blue (3rd color) from the last row. Loop it through the 1st 2 Bright Blue rings (3rd color) on the next set of rings. Add 1 Bright Blue ring (3rd color) and, 1 Black ring (4th color) close and, double the H18 ring. Open 2 D20 Black rings (4th color) and add to the rings you just closed.
In the second picture below I added the Bright Blue and Black rings before I connected it to the 2nd set of Bright blue rings. Also I made a mistake and added 4 rings instead of 2. I didn’t realize this until I looked at the pictures. I didn’t retake the fixed pictures.

Repeat the steps above. making sure there are only 2 D20 black rings (4th color) hanging from both ends and, 4 hanging from the 2 center rings. Get ready for your last row!!!

Open your last 6 H18 rings. Loop the 1st through the 2 remaining Black rings (4th color), loop it through the 1st 2 Black rings (4th color) on the second set. Add 2 D20 Black rings (4th color) close and, double the H18 ring

Take your 3rd H18 ring, loop it to the 2 loose D20 Black rings (4th color) on the last H18 rings you closed, loop it through through the 2 remaining Black rings (4th color) on the second set of rings from the previous row and, the 1st 2 Black rings (4th color) on the 3rd set of rings from the previous row. Close, double the H18 ring and add 2 D20 Black rings (4th color), these are your last 2 D20 Black rings (4th color)

Take your 5th H18 ring loop it through the 2 loose D20 Black rings (4th color) and through the 4 remaining D20 Black rings (4th color) from the previous row. Close and double with your last H18 ring. You’re finished!!

Stay tuned for one of the most challenging versions of this weave. Part 3: YING-YANG
Maveric

Fresh Spinach and Shrimp Alfredo!

2011-08-14T16:38:00.000-04:00

I just decided to give this tutorial… I don’t know why. Anyway. I enjoy making certain things from scratch, fresh cooked spinach is definitely one of them.

You will need:

One bag of Fresh uncooked Spinach.
1 or 2 cups of raw shrimp, I buy them uncooked and deveined.
Minced garlic in water or oil (I prefer water)
Thin linguini noodles
Alfredo sauce (your preference of brand, since this was last minute I didn’t bother to make this from scratch)
Strainer
Your preferred seasonings. I used Goya (red cap) and Cayenne Pepper
Salt

Since I cook a lot I didn’t measure any of this stuff out. Sorry… bare with me.
In a medium sized pot (large enough to stuff your entire bag of spinach in). Pour water till its about 1/4 fourth up the side of the pot. Add roughly a tablespoon of minced garlic and, a pinch of salt.
*tip* it’s really important NOT to over season your spinach or, shrimp, they both hold flavor exceptionally well. Put this on medium heat. Don’t let it boil.

Open your bag of spinach, I like to rinse it off, even if it says it was washed. Squeeze out the water and, stuff your pot with the entire bag spinach. Place on the lid and, check in 10 mins.

After 10 minutes it’s cooked down to half it’s original size. There is more water then what you initially added. Continue cooking until you’re satisfied with the texture. I let it cook all the way down. This way the stems are also fully cooked and you don’t even notice them when eating (unlike store bought frozen spinach…YUCK!!)

Now that I’m satisfied with the spinach, which has fully cooked all the way down. Pour it into your strainer. Let it cool

If I don’t make Alfredo sauce from scratch, my favorite brand is Classico, I buy either regular or roasted garlic. I tend to use Ronzoni anything..

Prepare your shrimp, I don’t remember the size on the bag, but these are quite large. I actually took 14 from the bag and cut them up.
*tip* when buying shrimp remember, the larger the number, the smaller the size.. meaning size 25/30 are a lot bigger than say 70/90
Peel your shrimp, even though these are already deveined rinse them under room temperature or cold water, to remove any veins still present. I cut these into 3 sections. Seasoned them very lightly with Goya and cayenne pepper since I like spicy food. Toss to cover all the pieces with your hand.
Wash your hands thoroughly!! If you do accidentally touch your eyes. rinse with Very cold water.
*tip* Do not rinse shrimp in hot water, they will cook! A reason to buy frozen uncooked, versus frozen cooked is, that frozen cooked shrimp retain the water they are cooked in, They will not hold much flavor since they have so much water in them. They tend to water down your sauces, soups, etc. Also they will have a slightly rubbery texture if you re-cook them.

Boil a pot of water for your pasta.
Put on rubber gloves if your spinach is still hot at this point. Take your spinach and squeeze all the water you can out of it. I broke it into two parts and did this.

One of these will go into the sauce, the other only 1/3 will go in, the other 2/3 I gave to my little monkey (my son) to eat. Since he’s autistic he has like a pre-defined list of food he will eat and a very long list of things he wont even touch! So I make him eat spinach so that he gets some vegetables!

The monkey… aka Wesley

Using another pot (or the same one, since I simply cleaned it and reused it.. ) place it on medium heat and, add your shrimp. You do not need, butter, oil or anything else. The water collected in the bottom of your bowl when prepping your shrimp is enough!! Keep an eye on the shrimp, they do cook fast. Once they are fully cooked, add your Alfredo Sauce. Stir this around letting all the seasoning from the shrimp get fully incorporated into the sauce. Take your spinach and break it up into the sauce. Stir again and let come to a boil. Turn it off.
*tip* do not over cook the Alfredo Sauce! it’s a cheese based sauce. The longer it cooks the grittier the cheese will be. I’ve learned this when making it from scratch.. trust me, it doesn’t taste very good or look good either!
*tip*Do not add water to the jar to get the rest of the sauce out. Stick a spatula in the jar and clean it out. Adding water, just waters down your sauce and, adds more cooking time to your food!!

Add your pasta to your boiling water and cook it for the recommended time.
Strain and set aside.
Plate and enjoy!!
I’ve done variations of this, such as, fresh broccoli steamed then added (again so it doesn’t acquire so much water) also grilled chicken breast.

Maveric

Chainmaille: Flower of life part 1

2011-08-12T08:59:00.000-04:00

You will need:

2 pair of flat nose pliers or, 1 flat nose plier and, 1 needle nose plier
h18 aluminum rings (38)
D20 enameled copper silver. inner color (12), center color (48), outer color (24)

You can find all these items at BlueBuddhaBoutique including the magic tool product used to coat your pliers and protect your rings.

Now I warn you this is an advanced weave. I tend to take on art projects that are beyond my skill level as a challenge. I didn’t tend to do that with chainmaille but, I accidentally picked instructions for this weave a year ago without realizing I was in the advanced column.. go figure!!
I then proceeded with it anyway and, was completely frustrated by it. I even threw it on the floor of my bedroom and, left it there for nearly 5 hours. I went and tried the dragonscale weave (which is an expert weave…yea I know) the dragonscale turned out to be sooo easy to me. I love it!! I figured if this is harder and, I’ve got it down, then I should be able to do Flower of Life. I tried again… changed their instructions to my own and, wouldn’t you know. I got it.. so take your time and have fun!
I’m using eggplant, fuchsia and, violet.

Take 6 of your center rings (fuchsia) and close them, open 2 h18 rings, Take 1 h18 ring and loop it through all 6 of the closed rings. Open the other 6 rings.

Double the h18 ring

Add the other 6 opened rings, close them.

Prepare your center rings.

Open a h18 ring, loop through 2 fuchsia rings add 6 eggplant (center) rings. Close the h18 ring

Double the h18 ring and add 4 more eggplant rings.

Take another h18 ring, loop through the next 2 fuchsia rings, loop through 2 eggplant rings, add 4 more eggplant rings and close. Double the h18 ring and add 2 more eggplant rings. Do this repeatedly until you have used all the eggplant rings. If you were to look at each h18 ring there should be 10 eggplant rings connected to each one.

If you look closely I made a mistake but, it’s easily fixed by the time I was at the last row.

Prepare your last row of rings. Take a h18 ring and loop through 4 eggplant rings, making sure its through 2 from one ring and, 2 from the next ring over (as shown below), add on 4 violet rings and close. Double the h18 ring.

Take an h18 ring, loop it through 2 violet rings. loop through 2 eggplant rings, add 2 more violet rings. Close. Double the h18 ring.

When you come to one of the centers (there are 6), you need to loop the h18 ring through 2 violet rings, then through 4 eggplant rings, add 2 violet rings and close. Double the ring..

Here’s the very first one I ever did on the left and, the tutorial on the right.
While BlueBuddha’s instructions are great, they work row by row, which is way more difficult and, you have to work with more than one color at a time. With my way, you work from the center out, in a circle and, only deal with one color at a time. I have followed their instructions for all my 1st attempts but have since adjusted it to my preference which has allowed me to work a lot faster. There are a few more variations of the Flower of life. Stay tuned for part 2

enjoy!!
Maveric

Random soap projects

2011-08-11T08:44:00.000-04:00

I made this stamped “Happy Birthday” soap for my mother’s birthday, fragranced with Cucumber Melon!! Smelled awesome!

This block of soap was made for a baby shower, fragranced with Pearberry. Since this project was last minute I actually didn’t have clear soap left to make a thin clear layer to lay all the cut out bears and stars in first.. still came out pretty decent. Cut 9 ways each bar weighs about 6 ounces.

These were an order of soap for a co worker. I had given out tiny blocks of soap to my co-workers. This particular co worker’s two young sons loved it and, kept fighting over it. So she asked for 4 different bars, fragranced with Apple ( which is delicious!!) So I took some clear soap colored them various colors of green. chopped them up and embedded them in the bars.

Tat ta for now..
Maveric

Shrinky Dinks: Hair Combs and, Puzzle!

2011-08-09T20:02:00.000-04:00

You will need:

Shrinky dink plastic (frosted ruff n ready)
colored pencils
permanent markers
scissors
puzzle stencil
pictures of what you want to trace (for your puzzle)
oven set to 325
brown paper

First we will do the hair combs.
Take your shrinky dink plastic and, decorate it in whichever way you want. Remember use permanent markers on the shiny side and, colored pencils on the dull scratchy side. Cut the plastic into quarters. You will be able to make 4 combs in total.

Now using a comb you already have or, free-handing it. cut your comb out. Remember it is going to shrink!

See this is a cut out comb and a comb already shrunk.

They work!!!!!!

Now for the puzzle!! I’m showing this one, because I made about 4 and, this was the only one that worked!

First take a puzzle stencil and trace your puzzle. Then take your design ( I love the Tarheels , so of course I chose them). Using my markers I traced all the outlines, I then turned it over and colored it with my pencils. In some areas where there was a lot of black maker (i.e.: the hooves) I colored that same area with black pencil on the back side.
I then turned it back to the front and, added names of players that I liked from past and, present. These are names that I added.

Green
McDonald
Barnes
Ginyard
Marshall
Ellington
Zeller
Lawson
Hansbrough
Henson
Strickland
and of course Blue Steel, if you don’t know who they are, you don’t watch UNC Basketball.

I did trace all of the player’s names with pencil on the back. This is mainly just incase the marker is scratched off, you’ll still be able to see the name. Once you’re finished cut out the pieces along your stencil lines. Try to cut as straight as possible, use a very sharp steady x-acto knife if necessary

Melt, make sure you keep the door closed and, the pieces are spaced evenly.. Try doing all the pieces at once. *tip* Heat your pan with the brown paper approximately for 8 minutes then place all your pieces on and, proceed with baking. I’ve found all pieced whether this project or another tend to bake evenly, if the pan is already heated. Versus a cold pan that heats in various spots.
Some of these pieced had a slight curve to them, I took a text book and, press the piece between the first page and, the cover. After all the pieces are cooled, try putting it back together and viola!!

I hope it works for you! have fun!
Maveric

Japanese Cross Pendant. (For Molly)

2011-05-28T03:41:00.001-04:00

This is a Japanese Cross pendant. Using the chainmaille weave Japanese 12-in-2 I love it. I will do a flower of life pendant... just bare with me when I do it. ( I threw it against the wall and, then on the floor ...where it stayed for 5 hours before I relaxed and started it again)

I made a few of these but this one in particular is for my very good friend Molly.

For this project you will need very few items. All of them can be purchased at Blue Buddha Boutique

D18 Aluminum Rings
D20 Enameled Copper, I'm using Enameled Copper Black and Eggplant, Enameled Copper (Silvered) Lime, Peach and, Peacock.
T18 Aluminum
Bail
Chain
Pliers dipped in tool magic (keeps it from scratching the rings as you work)
Mat to work on

Btw for this project I actually got my bail and chain from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

So let's get this started! Molly I hope you enjoy!

So here we have the main sizes that you will need for this pattern
D18, T18, D20 (ignore the dark teal, I didn't use it for this pendant)

These are the actual supplies I used.

I Love these bright colors, I think of Molly as a Bright, beautiful person. These colors fit her.

Sprinkle out a few D18 rings and a few D20 Black rings.

Open a D18 ring and, place four Black D20 rings on it. Make sure all the D20 rings are closed. Close the D18 ring.

Double the D18 ring

Now add 2 D18 to each of the Black D20 rings

Add 2 Black D20 rings to each of the 2 D18 rings

Now here is where you would pick how you want your pattern to look (btw you can pick any color pattern you want, even the black rings) Here I've chosen to have D20 Peach and D20 Eggplant on the bottom. Don't worry you'll see the pattern soon enough. So Put 2 D20 Peach rings on the RIGHT side of each set of black rings.

It should look like this after you're done.

Now add 2 D20 Eggplant rings on the LEFT side of the black rings. See here I messed up on the Eggplant rings. Right side.. it's easy to fix. Just open the ring and place it in the right spot.

Now add 2 D18 Aluminum rings to the center black rings. Do this for all four sides.

Now decide where you want the last two color rings. I decided that I wanted the Lime to match up with the Eggplant and the Peacock with the Peach. For this step just add 2 D20 Lime rings to each Aluminum set of rings.

Now add the 2 D20 Peacock rings, making sure they on the side matching with the Peach rings.

Here's where the T18 rings finally come in. Take one and open it slightly.

Starting with either a Lime set of rings or a Peacock set of rings ( because these are the starting point and the ends) Here I started with Peacock Go through both....

Go down and loop through both of the Peach rings..

Go through the Eggplant rings.

Last but not least go through the 2 Lime rings. Double the T18 ring. You have completed one side. Do this for all 4 sides.

In this picture Peacock is the first shown and it goes over to Lime. You can easily turn it around for Lime to come first.

Like this

This is the bail, there are different kinds of bails but, this one is pretty simple, pictured is what it looks like when you get it

With this particular bail you have to add 2 D18 rings to the top of your pendant. This will ensure that the pendant lays flat across the neck.

Use your pliers and open the bail, place the chain in and hold it in your hands like so. You're going to flip it over and place the end of the pendant (where the D20 rings are)

Like so...

Now use your pliers to close the pendant , Do not apply to much pressure, you want just enough so that neither the chain or the rings slip out. In this picture it's still open.

Here it is closed.

Viola!!!

Soap Embed Bars

2011-05-27T23:55:00.000-04:00

Ok Well this post has been sitting in draft mode for too long. (needed to add more pictures)

anyway today I'm showing how to make embedded soap bars.

So for this you will need

Melt and pour soap (this was from Michael's craft store)
Colorant (from michaels.) Mica (from brambleberry)
Fragrance oil F/O (from Natures Garden Candle )
Soap mold ( Michael's)
Scale
Thermometer
Spatula or spoon
Mixing cup (microwave safe)
Cookie Cutters.. (various resources)
Knife
Spray bottle with Isopropyl 70%

Let's begin

Here you see the supplies laid out.

Here I've placed the cookie cutter I'm going to use into the molds to see how they will fit later

Here I placed something on the scale, then pressed the "tare" button, which put it back to zero.

Then I put the mold on top and poured water in it. This tells me how much soap I need to full the mold.

Here I'm doing it again. the cup it self weighs 13 ounces. I press "tare" (below), so that when I add the soap I can tell when I've hit 4.3 oz

Here's the white soap base, what I like about this base is the case it comes in. It has a grid pattern, which you can see here. Each of those "squares" is actually 1 oz. maybe slightly more.

Extremely easy to cut!!

Place in microwave safe mixing bowl, until you get your desired amount.

Place into microwave for 30 second intervals until it's completely melted

Check your temperature, (sorry I had it upside down, but its 101.5, this is fine)

Add your colorant, here I added a blue and light gold mica

Pour into your molds, these wont be filled up since I divided them. spray with alcohol and allow to harden.

Now I'm using the clear base and, I love this clear base because it melts SUPER clear, unlike some bases that have a yellow tint to them.

Melt some... add colorant purple and light gold mica

Pour into other two molds. Place cutters to see where they will fit best.

Pop the soap out the mold and cut using the cookie cutters.

Melting more clear soap base, pour a small layer and place cut outs into soap. Spray with alcohol. Allow to harden.

I remelted the blue soap from the cut outs, added more white and color. This I added F/O to. mix and pour. Spray with alcohol.

Here... well it's actually clear base. I had the light gold mica container in my had, had to sneeze... and well accidentally while I did sneeze away from the bowl.. i dumped quite a bit into the bowl. I poured this into the remaining mold. ( i had used left over purple for one mold)

This is left over Clear/sparkle gold mica soap.

Here are your finished bars...