cutebugdesigns

Candy corn cones

2012-10-25T14:28:00.000-04:00

Here's a simple craft idea I found on pinterest. Check out Thrifty Decor Chick's blog for the details on how to make it.

She just tucked the ends but I ended up using hot glue to tack it down every once in awhile. I wanted to have the rows look straight where she went with a more whilly nilly look (her words). Personal preference.

You can either save them like this for next year or take off the yarn and turn them into Christmas trees by doing them in red and green and leaving the white.

I plan to make the candy corn wreath she shows in the same post. I found black and orange wreaths in the dollar spot at Target a couple weeks ago for this project. Last year I bought candy corns after Halloween for really cheap so keep that in mind for next year if you want to save some money on your decor.

Frankie Door

2012-10-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I know all of you are just as obsessed with Pinterest as me right? I can spend hours on the site. There are so many fun ideas. When I came across this Frankenstein door I knew I could easily and cheaply create one myself with my KNK (digital die cutting machine).

I would imagine you have most of these supplies already in your stash. All I had to buy was the green tablecloth and black posterboard.

Supplies Needed:

Black Posterboard

Black cardstock

White cardstock

Googly eyes (red cardstock)

Black pipe cleaners

I used KNK studio to create the cutting files for the eyes, spider, scar, mouth and teeth. To create the cutting files I used simple shapes, circles and rectangles, that are already built into the software. For the scar all I did was create a large rectangle and then placed equally sized smaller rectangles on top and welded them together. I just freehand cut random “V” shapes out of the posterboard to create the hair.

A couple of googly eyes and pipe cleaners for legs and your spider is all set. I pulled the back off the eyes and replaced with red cardstock to make the eyes red.

A simple project that really stands out from the street!

Even though the shapes are quite basic, you can download the actual cutting files (to get the relative dimensions I used)

Frankenstein Door Shapes in KNK format
Frankenstein Door Shapes in PDF format
Frankenstein Door Shapes in SVG format

I just discovered how to do file sharing on my blog. Please let me know if you have problems downloading these files.

Hanging witch tutorial coming soon.

Create your own cake stencil

2012-10-05T01:38:00.000-04:00

I have a great time planning big blow out themed parties for my kids, as seen here and here. Be forewarned if you start big you will feel as if you must top yourself each year which will result in you pulling out your hair and the inevitable sleepless night the day before the party. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

My daughter declared she wanted a fashion / beauty theme for her 8th birthday this year so I scoured pinterest, yes I’m still obsessed, and came up with a Breakfast at Tiffany’s theme. I love to use each birthday or celebration as an opportunity to play with new techniques for cakes and I wanted to finally tackle stenciling a cake.

The entire cake is edible other than the ring. The box started to "melt" a bit from all the airbrush coloring. Airbrush was giving me issues & required many coats. I learn from each "mistake" to make the next cake better.

If you’ve ever wondered why those beautiful cakes cost so much money let me tell you I now know why. Hours and hours are spent creating them and supplies are expensive. I had admired a cake sometime last year that had used stenciling, so off to my favorite cake supply website to buy some stencils. Wow those things can cost $20 or more for one stencil! I just knew my trusty KNK (digital die cutting machine) wouldn’t let me down. I figured I could do that myself and the best part is…. for much cheaper.

Make sure you are using food safe products whenever working with anything you might eat. I found a 10 pack of food safe stencil sheets for $10! I can make 10-20 stencils out of them. I like the idea of $0.50 – $1.00 per stencil instead of $20 or more.

I found a flourish font on dafont.com called “Floralia” and modified one of the dingbats into a damask looking stencil. I created a rectangle around the design and at the top left I used the built-in circle shape and welded the two together to give myself a tab to pull off the stencil more easily. I am more than happy to email the cutting file for your personal use. I've yet to figure out how to have a download link on my site. I will update as soon as I do.

The internet is a great source and I love youtube and Cakecentral.com when trying to learn a new cake technique. I was nervous with a white cake and black royal icing that this could be a “royal” disaster.

Place a very light coating of shortening on the stencil to help it adhere solidly to the cake.

Then you take your spatula and coat over the stencil with your royal icing.

Take a bench scraper tool and scrape off the excess. You have to be careful with this step. I had to go back over some spots because I scraped too much off. You want it to be an even layer for the best appearance.

Then while you hold your breath and pray (yes those steps are necessary) you slowly pull the stencil away from the cake.

I was so pleased with how much easier it was than I had thought it would be. Make sure to clean off your stencil between each side of the cake or better yet, cut more than one since the materials are so cheap.

Imagine all the possibilities, the sky really is the limit to what type of stencils you could create. Is your handwriting horrible like mine? Create a stencil with the wording you’d like to use and stencil it on your cake instead. You could also airbrush a design using these stencils if you have a cake airbrush set.

*I used Royal Bakery's tutorial to create the Tiffany box cake on top. I'm sure I didn't do her justice. She's fantastic, check her out on facebook, Royal Bakery

I will begin posting more details on how to throw your own Breakfast at Tiffany’s themed party in the next couple weeks.

*Notes for those with a digital die cutter, particularly a KNK

A quick note on cutting the material. I had actually sent it to Michelle Hessler to see if the Zing would cut out this material. She had the following tips to share.

“You need to cut it in two passes because the glossy side is harder, and you can get through the soft side easy, but since the harder side cuts through last (lays on the mat) you need the second pass to guarantee it will cut through at all points. It cuts really well, and doesn’t use a lot of pressure at all.

I also didn’t let my pinch wheels go over the material at all. My mat is good and sticky, and so I just made sure it was applied on that well. I didn’t want the wheels on the material, because they have some adhesive on them, and I didn’t want that to touch the food safe side of the stencil.”

Thanks Michelle for all your help with this project.

Guest Post - Make your own cake stencils

2012-09-17T15:59:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I've been MIA for quite some time. I promise this very week I am creating a weekly schedule which will include blogging time. I have TONS of projects completed and ready to write blog posts about so please bear with me and I promise to stop neglecting my little corner of the blogoverse.

I was asked to do a guest post over at Team KNK last month. I love to use my digital cutter for all sorts of projects so I jumped at the opportunity to show just one of the ways I use my cutter.

I created my own cake stencil out of food safe blank stencil sheets. I was scared to do my first stenciling on a cake, especially since I was using black royal icing on a white cake. It was actually easier than I had thought it would be.

Swing on over to check out my Create your own cake stencil post. There are also tips on doing the actual stenciling.

Check back soon to see the remaining posts on my son's pirate party. I also have a fun Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired party and fireman party posts coming up. I can't wait to share them with you!

Guest Posting

2011-10-31T13:10:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I'm thrilled that I've been asked to guest post over at Team KNK. Come check out my Frankenstein Door post.

Thanks!

Pirate Fondant Figure

2011-10-24T11:11:00.009-04:00

Ok, we've been invited, seen the decor, and even learned how to make a pirate mast. Now onto the cake!

Now this had to be one of my most fun figures. I was so scared of doing them when I first attempted tackling Buzz Lightyear last year but now it's one of my favorite things to do.

I started by mixing up some brown gumpaste to create the boots. I know at this stage these don't look all that appetizing so keep your mind clean people LOL.

***TIP ***
When making legs, arms, hands, anything double that requires it to be even. Roll into a sausage shape, I like to use my fondant smoother to keep it more uniform when rolling it. Cut it in half and that will keep things even.

Create a bit of an elbow type bend.

Round out the toe are a bit but not too much. Now use your gumpaste ball tool to make indention's at the top of the boots.

Here you see me rolling out black fondant to make the legs. I'm using the fondant smoother that I mentioned earlier.

Bend them around like this picture and now you have two legs.

I like to use bamboo skewers for support but I'm going to try thicker dowels next time. Sometimes my figures seem to be a bit "holy" bending a bit backwards towards the heavens giving glory. =) Sometimes they need a little stick in the bum to help support them so that's my next thing to tackle with these guys.

I used a little tylose glue on the dowels before sticking them through the legs and boots, find that recipe at the end of my hula girl figure tutorial. Remember to leave at least an inch and a half below the bottoms of the boot to give you something to stick into the cake later on.

It's important to let this part of the figure dry for at least a day before putting on the torso. That will help it to be sturdy enough to support the extra weight.

You can create the head and hands now if you'd like. Take your sausage shape and flatten them out a bit on one end. Now use your utility blade to cut slits for the fingers. Gently smooth out the finger tips so they are not so pointy.

I use another one of my gumpaste tools to create fingernails.

I created the head and left it to dry in a flower shaper. If you want more details on making a fondant face check out my hula girl figure tutorial.

For the torso I took a ball of fondant and shaped out the neck and shoulders, tapering in a bit at the waist. Sorry this next picture is a bit fuzzy. Put some tylose glue on the dowels before gently placing the torso on the legs and through the dowels.

I will admit I didn't create a template and just made the vest freehand. Perfection isn't needed, have fun with it! You want to put it on before you put the arms on.

I created arms with white fondant. I flared the ends near the hands a bit to keep the pirate look going.

***TIP***
For best results in attaching arms to your figure. Cut them at an angle. They'll attach smoother onto your figure.

I cut some toothpicks a little over half sized and covered in tylose glue. Stick into the torso and then attach arms on. That is how I attached the hands as well. As you can see I've used some supports under the hands to help them keep their shape as they dry. You'll see in my pirate cake post what these are actually for. You can use dowels or styrofoam to help as well.

Now back to the figures head. For his hair I added a sort of blonde blob of fondant on his head. I kept the top a bit thick for what I'm about to do to it. I think it looks a bit Elvis at this stage but don't worry it won't look like this for long.

Sorry again for the fuzzy picture, I will have a talking to with my photographer, lol.

My son Mr T had his haircut a few days before his party. We decided to have some fun and he left with spiky hair so I figured the pirate figure had to match! I took some scissors (only used on fondant of course) and just started "chopping" the hair to get the spiky effect. I think it came out really fun, don't you?

A few lines added to the back to finish off the look using another gumpaste tool.

Now add some tylose glue to a toothpick and stick some in your figure's head and the rest into the torso to attach.

I added a few more details to finish the pirate effect and forgot to take pictures of these steps.

I added a red belt, which looking back I wish I had done BEFORE I placed the arms on. It would have been A LOT easier. I also used my extruder to make a string for the eyepatch. The eyepatch was just a small blob of black fondant flattened a bit. After placing the eyepatch on I added a bandana around his head.

I had a great time making this figure and I hope you have fun making one too. I'd love to see your creations from this post. Please comment and send me an email, it sure makes my day!

See the little white post behind his bum, yup helping him stay upright =)

Be on the lookout for my pirate cake tutorial and the pirate food post as well. Thanks for visiting!

I'm linking up with these parties this week! Check them out.

Pirate Ship Masts

2011-10-21T22:14:00.001-04:00

I was inspired by pinterest for many of my projects for my son's Pirate Party as you saw in my Pirate Party Decor post. I love that my hubby is a good sport and plays along with most of my crazy ideas =) Normally our conversation goes something like this:

Me : "Honey look at how cool this idea looks" as I show him something I've found online.
DH: <Eye roll>
Me: "That looks pretty easy doesn't it? You could totally make that right?"
DH: "Yes Dear"
He's learned over the years how I like to go a little over the top and luckily for me he is very handy so he can figure out how to accomplish most of what I ask. I love that guy!

I'd have to say the masts were the biggest project (besides the cake) that we took on. I was inspired by this picture on pinterest. Off to Home Depot and Joanns to get the basics.

What you'll need:

3/4 inch PVC cut into the following sizes:
1 - 6 foot piece
5 - 2 feet pieces
3 - 20 inch pieces
1 - 4 inch or so scrap for the top
3 "x" connectors
1 piece of burlap cut to 46 inches wide by 25 inches tall
1 piece of burlap cut to 38 inches wide by 21 inches tall
Grommets
Twine or rope
Plastic bucket (purchased from the dollar spot at Target)
Vinyl for skull and cross bones
Black acrylic paint
Foam paint brush
Template for skull and crossbones
Drill
Hammer

Connect your pvc together with X connectors. We chose not to use any glue to save a step,

Drill holes at ends of pvc where sails will connect. You will drill a total of 8 holes.

While hubby is putting together the base of the mast, ok you can do this yourself but why do it when he can do it for you =) you can paint your skull and crossbones onto your smaller piece of burlap.

I cut out a template from cardstock with my KNK digital cutter. I purchased the cutting file aye matey pirate set from lettering delights. I had to divide it in four sections to fit the size I wanted. I just held the pieces down rather than glue them with a temporary adhesive because:
1. I'm a bit lazy and wanted it done quicker and
2. I figured it's pirate themed so no perfection is needed.

Attach grommets at four corners of each piece of burlap.

Now you are ready to attach your pieces of burlap to your frame. We purchased rope by the yard at Joanns. We found it easier to cut longer and then trim afterwards.

Sorry this picture keeps loading sideways. Just turn your head to the right and you'll make out the holes better.

If I had to do things over again I'd also spray paint the pvc to hide the writing on them. My DH thinks it may even scrape off. Let me know in the comments if you try this and it works or not.

I cut out another skull and crossbones from vinyl on my KNK to place on the plastic bucket.

My husband first tried pre-drilling a hole in the bucket and it cracked so I would suggest taking your time and being gentle in the process or just glue it with hot glue or some e-6000 glue.

We placed one of the masts in the center of the table we'd be eating at.

The other we placed on our playstructure that turned into our "ship" for the day. I used some leftover fabric from the Happy Birthday Pennant Banner and I think the color it added worked out great.

I planned on making a little flag for the top like my inspiration picture but ran out of time. Yes I plan too much and usually can't get it all done in time. Note to self.... Next year either start earlier or plan less. Ok starting earlier is more realistic. LOL

Pirate Party Decor

2011-10-14T00:41:00.005-04:00

As guests arrived there was no doubt the party was here with the X marks the spot. My hubby made it with some spare wood, red spray paint, and rope. Inspired from Design Dazzle's pirate party post I came across when I found this picture on pinterest.

I'm so lucky my hubby is a good sport when I show him pictures I find online and ask the dreaded "Babe you can make this can't you?" question. Be on the lookout for a tutorial on these awesome masts.

We added a ship's wheel and periscope to the play structure to make it more "ship" like.

I collected fabric from Joanns, Hancock Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby to make this pennant banner that's so popular right now. It's a great time to find pirate fabric with Halloween around the corner. I used my embroidery machine to attach the letters to the fabric. You can use scrapbook paper for a similar look if you do not have an embroidery machine.

If I had to do it over again I'd have used a black letter on the damask print so the letter would stand out more. Oh well as I've said in the past mistakes are what make it unique!

I used the extra fabric to put together another two banners to hang outside for more color.

The dessert table

I made a mini pennant banner hung on skewers, aren't mini things fun? I bought an unfinished treasure box from Joanns and painted it. Bought some "jewels" from the dollar store and borrowed some dress up rings and necklaces from my daughter to create the treasure.

This Yo Ho sign was inspired by something I found on Etsy. Another honey can you make this for me project.

Be on the lookout for more pirate party tutorials and pics. I especially had a great time making the cake and can't wait to share that with you!

Linking up here this week

Ahoy Matey! Ye be invited to a pirate party!

2011-10-07T15:51:00.002-04:00

My son T just turned 3 a few weeks ago. He announced that he would like a pirate party. Then he was obsessed about a pirate "ship" and talked about it for weeks. The only problem there is that his "p's" sound like "t's" so we'd have a little giggle each time he said it.

I admit I LOVE planning my kids parties but the problem with starting big is that you feel like you have to top yourself with each one. My best friend Dawn had a pirate party for her son this summer and I was intimidated trying to even come close to her fabulousness. She really needs to start a blog of her own =)

I "borrowed" some of her ideas and scoured pinterest. Are you all as obsessed with that site as I am?! I love that I'm not filling my bookmarks any longer. Check it out but be warned it'll keep you busy for hours.

My friend Dawn made invitations very similar for her party and I just made a few changes to her design. The teal in the patterned paper she found adds a fun twist to the normal black and red.

What you'll need
-Black strip of cardstock 4 1/4 inches x 9 1/4 inches

-Patterned paper strip cut 4/14 inches x 1 inch
-Sold strip 4 1/4 inches x 1 1/4 inches (I used red cardstock)
-20 inch piece of twine
-Invite printed and cut to 3 1/4 inches x 4 3/4 inches
-Cardstock (I used teal) cut about 3 1/2 inches x 5 inches to layer invite paper over
-about 1 inch size circle
-Wax and wax seal
-Pirate stamp set, I used this pirate boy stamp set
-White ink stamp pad

1. Scour a line at 5 1/4 inches long. I recently bought this Martha Stewart scoring board and it really helped get a good solid line.

2. Use a boning tool to smooth out your bend.

3. Take your stamps and randomly stamp your design on the pocket section of the cardstock. Be careful not to smear the white ink and let it dry for some time before working with them again. Here's the pirate stamp set I borrowed from my friend.

*Make sure to stamp off the edges of your card. It looks more natural this way. I love clear stamps, they really help you see where you are placing your design.

4. Glue patterned paper strip on the center of the red strip.

5. Place a little glue on the sides of the smaller section of black cardstock to form your pocket.

6. Glue the red / patterned paper strips to your card at the top of the pocket.

7. I found some black twine and wrapped it around the card.

8. Now I thought a fun element would be to use a wax letter seal. Michael's carries both the wax and the seals. I didn't follow the directions to use 3 layers of wax so I could get my wax to stretch further. I melted the wax on the circle, and then pressed. I thought this would be fun to use as the tab to pull the invitation out of the pocket.

9. I created the invites in word and printed on white cardstock to make them sturdier. I glued the cut out invites to the teal cardstock. If you'd like the template email me and I'll email it out to you. I used the font benegraphic.

You can stamp the envelope for a little more whimsy.

Another fun idea I found was to do a message in a bottle for an invitation. There are just too many fun ideas for a pirate party.

I have LOTS of projects to share from this pirate party so be on the lookout for posts on a party decor, ship's mast, party food, a pirate ship cake, pirate cake pops, and more!

Sorry

2011-09-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

I know I've been out of the loop keeping up with my blog. My sincerest apologies. Just as things were starting to roll along I was sidelined with some health issues. Throw in school starting for my 2nd grader, my son becoming a new little preschooler, an earthquake, a hurricane, and you have even more reasons for me missing in action.

We're working through the health stuff so hopefully these migraines will be better under control soon. I really love this blog and I love to share my creations with you all.

Here's a sneak peak at what's to come very soon.

Arr Matey! A pirate party!

Thanks for sticking with me!

Hula girl cake

2011-08-09T23:50:00.003-04:00

I had a lots of fun creating this cake for my little girls birthday. In case you missed my previous posts you can find the party here and my hula girl figure tutorial here.

I started the figure a week before so she'd be nice and firm by party time.

I usually bake my cake and make my frostings 3 days before the event. The buttercream gets tastier and it helps break up my work. Most of which is done in the wee hours to avoid little hands from my two year old ~~terror~~ cutie.

Cakecentral.com is a great resource for recipes, inspiration, and tips. I've learned a TON from that site. In a future post I'll show a quick tutorial on how to help get those layers even without sagging and having the seam where you layer your cakes visible.

Two days before the cake needed to be complete I made my flowers. I wanted to create a hibiscus flower but found it hard to find a reasonably priced cutter so I decided to improvise. I used one of the flower cutters that came in my wilton kit when I took classes last year. They are plastic so they don't cut great but I made them work.

1. Roll out your fondant / gumpaste mix thin. (50/50 mix)

2. Cut out your flower with your cutter. Press very good around the outer and inner edges to get a clean cut.

3. Take your exacto and cut each petal in towards the center to make the petals thinner.

4. Place on foam pad that has been dusted with a cornstarch powder mix. Take your ball gumpaste tool and dip that in the mixture every petal or so to prevent it from sticking. You want to put pressure on the outside of the petal from one edge of the petal to the other. You can do this a few times to get the desired thinning and curling of the petal. I also pressed in a bit with the ball tool to help it curl up.

5. I then pinched the edges of the petals a bit.

6. Roll tear drop shaped pieces to place as the centers of the flower, attaching with tylose glue. I used papertowel pieces to help some of them dry upwards.

7. Now lay to dry on petal tray to help them curve a bit.

8. I used pink pearl dust around the edges on the white flowers to add some color, sorry I didn't take a picture of the process. Just use a dry paint brush to apply.

I was able to use my airbrush that my parents gave me for Christmas this past year. It took me six months to build up the courage to try it out. I had a cake the previous week I helped a friend with and planned to use my airbrush on that cake. Around 8 pm the night before the cake was needed I realized I was missing a $3 adaptor to use the compressor. We ended up using canned air brushing and the next day I placed the order for the part and spent $12 on shipping for that $3 adapter to make sure I had it in time for Adia's cake.

You get A LOT of overspray from these machines. I was blowing blue out my nose for days. After walking into the house with a blue nose and teeth my husband found me a face mask. Make sure you do this in an area you don't mind overspray and only use airbrush colors.

Cute aren't I with that mask =)

Doing a light coat and letting it dry and going back over it is the trick. Not too much pressure or too close. You can always go darker.

I decided to keep the design pretty simple. I originally thought I'd try the royal icing brush embroidery I saw on my inspiration cake but that was a flop so I went with plan b. I will say being flexible is necessary with caking. Hey if I wanted cookie cutter I'd just go to my local supermarket. Mistakes are what give it character.

I bought a cakeboard at my local cake shop and had my hubby put little wooden pegs on the bottom to help get my fingers under it when moving the cake. Then I put wrapping paper on it and then trimmed it with ribbon.

I layered the cake using a technique called SPS (Single Plate System) that I found on cakecentral.

I took out my clay extruder and used the trefoil disc. It looks like three circles put together.

I used the disc in 2nd row 2nd from left.

When you squeeze it through and then twist the string it looks like a rope when you are done. That is what I used to hide the seem between the two tiers.

Then I placed flowers around the smaller tier and cascading down one side of that tier. I used the flower plunger set I mentioned in my hula girl figure tutorial for small flowers to decorate the smaller tier as well. A couple more flowers placed on the bottom layer and it finished it off. If I had to do it over again I'd only do the smaller flowers around the middle tier and just the cascading hibiscus flowers from the top tier to the bottom instead of having them placed around the second tier.

I'm linking up here this week

Hula girl figure

2011-08-03T16:33:00.009-04:00

Last week I gave you a view into my daughter's hula girl party. Here is a glimpse on how the hula girl figure came to be. I have only made three other figures in the past so I'm not claiming to be an expert. My first was Buzz for my son's Toy Story party last year. Be on the lookout for that party in a future post.

A spent a lot of time on you tube and googling, funny how that's a verb now? One of the first cake pros that I found was Mayen from Way Beyond Cakes by Mayen. That is where I found my first recipe for marshmallow fondant. She is so willing to share tips and tricks freely so check her out on facebook and you tube when you get a chance. She has a figure video that I used to give me some guidance on my figure.

You really need to give yourself a number of days to do a figure properly. I can be a procrastinator so I really tried hard to start a full week in advance to give the figure time to dry between steps.

Day One

Get a styrofoam block to stick your figure into. I used bamboo skewers and dug them into the styrofoam. You can make your sticks a little taller than you think because you can cut them down when you form your body.

I mixed up some fondant / gumpaste with americolor gel colors. I use a 50 / 50 mix of store bought fondant and gumpaste. The stuff tastes terrible but it is consistent for figures. I used a mix of white, brown, and copper to get my desired skin tone.

Roll into a tube, like rolling a snake and then cut two equal pieces to keep your legs even.

Create the feet and then each leg. Then place a little tylose glue (recipe below) to the stick where the feet and legs will go and put onto skewer. Then I used an exacto knife (used ONLY for caking) to cut out the toes. Use your finger to pinch and form the toes round because they will be pointy.

Then take your fancy tool from your gumpaste tool kit and with the skinnier side form little toenails.

Inspired from the original cake I painted the toenails and fingernails as well. I took a paintbrush (again ONLY use on cakes) and put a drop off americolor gel coloring into a paint tray I purchased for about $1. Adia LOVED this touch!

Now let the legs dry for a full day or two so they are nice and strong to support the torso and head.

While waiting for the legs to dry you can work on the head. I watched this video for help along with a number of other fondant figure videos on you tube.

I'm sorry this section is lacking in pictures step by step. Watching the video will fill in the gaps.

Form a ball and slightly taper a neck out of the bottom side. I forgot this step on this figure so I formed the neck on the torso itself. Then slightly push in where the eyes will go (video shows this good). Now take a small piece of fondant / gumpaste and form a nose. I tend to have issues with this step. I am never happy with my noses. Form two little nostrils with a toothpick and then adhere with a dab of tylose glue.

To form the mouth use the back end of an icing tip.

Then use your gumpaste tool that you used for the toenails to open the mouth wider if that's the expression you choose. You can choose to make little ears at this point if you'd like. Most of the time they are covered by hair so it doesn't matter too much.

For the eyes I used tips #10 and #12 to cut the shapes out of the fondant after rolling it out thinly. I glued the white and then the blue circles on top.

Then I used a thin paintbrush and black americolor gel to color eyelashes. I used brown coloring to form the eyebrows. I let the head dry in the flower former you saw above overnight.

Sorry no picture of this step before hair added.

Day Three

I created the torso and glued it on top of the legs into the skewers.

I created the top and skirt before placing the arms on. I found a great tip that you can use a clay extruder to get those tiny thin strings for hair and the trimwork on my figure. I purchased this extruder with a 40% off coupon. I love that it has a number of discs for different looks. ONLY use it for caking and NEVER with anything else.

I then did the skirt, which hid my seems between the legs and torso. I didn't have a cutter in the shape I wanted so I just used my exacto to freehand the leaves. I glued each piece individually with tylose glue. Trimmed with the pink and now I was ready to add the arms.

To make the arms you will roll out a snake shape again and cut evenly. Flatten the tips into a hand and use your exacto to cut out the fingers. Soften the tips of the fingers with your fingers and use your tool to create fingernails.

Getting the arms on is tricky. Cut the shoulder area at an angle to help it blend in flush on the torso. You put a toothpick into the armpit / shoulder area, make sure to use tylose glue on both sides to secure it. I put another toothpick into her stomach and in that arms wrist to secure the arm that came across her body. Then I placed something tall enough to support the other arm while it dried. Let her dry for a couple days before removing the support.

If you feel your figure isn't strong enough wait to add the head. If it seems firm enough you can place glue on both sides of a toothpick and place into the torso and leave enough to go about halfway into the head.

I used the clay extruder to create the hair. You start from the bottom up and then I created bangs. Only place glue on the head a small section at a time so that you don't get it too gummy.

In the end I decided to add the flip flops. I used an oval cutter for the bottoms and used the extruder to create the straps. I found these great flower plungers to create the little flowers used. I bought some plastic cutters and they were downright terrible. The metal cutters are better and even better is the plunger feature that helps to plunge the little flower out intact.

I lifted the figure out of the styrofoam and pushed the skewer into the shoe and placed the figure back down on top of the shoes after I placed glue on them. The flowers around the wrists and ankles not only added to the charm but helped hide some imperfections.

There you have it a beautiful hula girl figure!

Tylose Glue Recipe
credit to Lorraine McKay as this is her recipe that I found on cakecentral.com

Add 2 tbs warm water to 1/4 tsp of Tylose Powder and leave the powder to melt. Don't worry if at this stage the glue appears not to be blending. Put a lid on the container and leave it in the refrigerator overnight and in the morning you will have a perfectly clear and ready to use glue. The glue should be a dropping consistency. If it is too thick, just add a little more water and stir with a cocktail stick.

I'm linking up with these blogs

Hula girl birthday party

2011-07-28T11:06:00.003-04:00

I can't believe my little girl is already 7! Where does the time fly? I LOVE to plan my kids parties even though I tend to go over the top and rarely get to sleep before 3 am the night before.

I found this picture while on cakecentral.com a few months ago and after a little research found that her inspiration was from Birthday Express's Hawaiian Girl party line. I warn you in advance if you love beautiful cakes you can spend hours drooling over the amazing creations people post. My favorites folder is pages and pages long. We have been stationed in Hawaii and I LOVE all things Hawaiian (it makes me nostalgic) so I knew this had to be her theme.

I normally love to create homemade birthday party invites and thank you cards but these past few months were crazy busy so I made them on the computer this year instead. I'm NO expert with photoshop so don't look too closely. I copied an image from the internet of the plates and cut out the hula girl and hibiscus flower. I emailed copies to most people and printed a few of these 5x7 cards to put in her scrapbook.

I created a banner with scrapbook paper, ribbon, and my KNK cutter to cut the letters out. I found a lot of Hawaiian themed items at the dollar store. I bought the hibiscus flowers, beach sign, and paper lanterns. I love the touch my husband added to the table by adding our favorite picture of our new family right after she was born. She's our little miracle that we tried over 5 1/2 years for and this picture captured our awe and joy so well.

We also had a pool party earlier in the day at our swim club with just a few friends so we kept decorations pretty simple and I decided to just do cupcakes. I was afraid the fondant on the cake would melt in the hot sun.

I used photoshop to create the cupcake toppers and then my KNK digital cutter to cut the pink scalloped circles. A little glue and a toothpick with some 1M star tip swirls and you look like you took hours to decorate.

I found the tiki torches at Walmart and thought they not only added to the atmosphere but worked out great as table weights. A pink tub from the dollar spot at Target added a nice burst of color and was a great chip bowl.

If any of you are like me you can do without all the little goodie bag trinkets that end up broken in the car ride home. I decided to give something that the girls could use over and over again. I am LOVING my embroidery machine and my favorite thing to use it for is machine applique. There are a number of great sites to buy digitized designs from. One of my favorites is Planet Applique. Another warning if you own an embroidery machine, this site is HIGHLY addictive. I bought the hibiscus file from her to create these fun giveaways.

The towels were on sale at Target for $3.75 so they were reasonably priced, pretty easy, and best of all functional!

Be on the lookout for some tips and tricks I used while decorating the cake, fondant topper, and cupcakes in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cake flops to pops

2011-06-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

So here is my first attempt at cake pops AKA my cake flops

Sad isn't it? I thought I'd read and re-read all the directions needed but still came up short. They melted, fell through their sticks, and overall just looked terrible. In between baking, decorating, and then delivering 5 dozen cupcakes for an engagement party I made an emergency trip to our local cake shop, had to bake another cake and was then up till 12:30 in the morning working on round two.

Here are the steps I took, along with tips that I learned from my caketastrophy. (Yes it's a word in the caking world, LOL)

1. My friend Dawn found (from her google searches) to put your cake into your mixer and use the paddle attachment to crumble it.

2. Add SMALL amounts, I do mean SMALL amounts of frosting to your crumbles until you get a thicker, NOT sticky mixture that holds together when you try to roll into a ball.

3. Let dough mixture sit out for about 30 minutes before working with it.

4. Now get a cookie scoop to make your balls. Roll into ball shape and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

5. Freeze for ONLY 15 minutes. Do not freeze for hours on end as they will look like the picture at the top of this post.

6. Slowly melt your candy melts in the microwave in very short intervals after the initial 30 seconds. Your chocolate will seize if you heat too quickly and you'll be near tears when this happens. Then you'll need to make another trip to your cake supply store to buy more candy melts. My first attempt was with my double boiler, I think the steam came up from the sides and seized my chocolate. ANY water, even small, will seize your chocolate.

Or better yet buy yourself a fancy chocolate melting pot when you get your next 40% off coupon, it's on my wish list after this fiasco.

*tip
If you are coloring your candy melts you MUST add something called Flo Coat from Americolor if you want to use your regular gel pastes. You use 5 parts of it to 1 part of your coloring. Again tears will be had if you do not use this correctly as this will also cause your chocolate to seize. I've learned these candy melts are a finicky thing to work with.

*another great tip
The cake shop recommended something called Paramount Crystals. I added it to my candy melts and it helped to thin out the mixture to get that nice viscosity I was looking for when dipping. She said the colored and even white candy melts tend to have a thicker consistency.

7. Take your cake balls out to rest a few minutes before working with them.

8. Dip your popsicle stick into the candy melt mixture and then stick in about half way into the cake ball. Then place stick into a styrofoam block that you pre-poked holes in. I found it easier to let them dry a minute or two before dipping again.

First using double boiler, not good to use!

9. Then, making sure your melted mix is deep enough, dip your cake ball into the mixture all the way and lightly tap to remove excess. Watch Bakerella's video on amazon to see her in action.

10. Place in styrofoam to dry. I chose to decorate with swirls and wiggles so I placed some melted chocolate in a piping bag and used a #3 tip to do the swirls after the orange color had dried. I used a coupler so that I could remove the tip and re-heat as needed. I found it easier to let the mixture firm a bit to have better control of my swirls.

Well, there you have it. I'm by no means an expert but practice sure does help.

I made these for my daughter's dance recital this past weekend, their colors are orange and blue. They needed two dozen of something and I thought it'd be a great way to use up my cake crumbs I save from leveling my cakes. My husband made a stand for me and I spruced them up with some blue and orange ribbon. I was so excited that they were a huge hit!

Teacher tote bag

2011-06-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick and easy end of year teacher gift.

You will need

tote bag
fabric transfer paper
Scanned picture
iron

My daughter graduated from pre-school a couple years ago and this is what I made and her two teachers LOVED them. I scanned her class pictures and printed on fabric transfer paper. She attended a Christian school so I used a scripture on the bottom of one side of the bag and another saying I came up with on the other.

Some tips for fabric transfer paper.
Do not use steam
Iron on a hard surface
Most importantly, print your image MIRRORED!

*I could not get this to work in word because I didn't like any of the wordart options. After much research I found you can use microsoft paint. Create your wording and then under rotate choose "flip vertical". You will want to do this with your scanned image as well. Some printers have a mirror print option however I couldn't find it with my canon printer.

Everyone loves to be green so a tote bag is a great and easy gift.

Teacher and bus driver appreciation

2011-05-27T12:11:00.000-04:00

Are all of you as crazy busy at this time of year as I am? I have decided to cut myself some slack and scale back on my end of year gift for Ms A's teacher. I had an elaborate plan to make cake pops like ones I'd seen over at Bake at 350. Oh well, maybe next year.

Just in time to save the day I received this teacher appreciation idea from Lisa Storms in my inbox and knew it was my solution to a simple yet fun end of year gift. You can go to her site to download your own flags to print out. I took it into microsoft paint to change the wording for Ms A's bus driver. Some fun tissue paper and a few packets of lemonade and ta da you have a quick gift!

Flag says "Thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge"

"Thank you for "ade"ing in keeping my kid safe!"

What all did you give to your teacher's this year?

End of year teacher gifts

2011-05-23T11:19:00.001-04:00

I see most friend's are gearing up for the summer and end of year teacher gifts. We still have 3 more weeks! I can't wait for summer! Apparently neither can my two year old Mr T. Last week when I went in to get him in the morning he had on his beach hat and with swim trunks in hand tells me, "mommy I go to pool". Only another week before it opens. Yippee!! Oops I'm showing my ADD, back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

My last search for a Christmas gift brought me to a post from Creative holiday gift ideas. She has a lot of great ideas for teacher gifts. I decided to create the framed crayon art. It was a simple and relatively inexpensive gift that looks fantastic.

I purchased a shadow box frame from Michael's, these are normally on sale for 40% off so I could use my coupon for something else I ~~wanted~~ needed. She recommended 8x10 but I thought that might be a bit too big so I used a 5x7 frame. I already had a new box of crayons from when I stocked up during those back to school sales.

I used the century gothic font she suggested to make the "V" as a base to cover up. I used bradley hand for "Mrs. Vickers".

Print on nice cardstock. I layed out the colors before cutting to arrange them just so. Random designs and I just don't work well, I tend to over think it too much. I enlisted the help of my hubby and put him to work with one of our kitchen knives. Use your trusty hot glue gun to attach.

That's it, pretty quick and simple but with a lot of punch with all those beautiful crayon colors! Looking back I wish now that I'd bought the black frame instead of white. I think it would have popped more. There's always next year!

School Organization Nook

2011-05-19T09:52:00.002-04:00

Now onto the final part of my organizing your kid's school craziness series.

I don't know how many times I wouldn't find out about a school event or book order due until the day before or after it happened because the papers would get "lost". The weekly planner and contribution chart inspired me to create a spot for all that stuff to land. I thought this space at the bottom of our stairs would work perfectly since it was right next to the front door.

I won't lie it's not always this nice and neat on the surrounding floor but we're working on it.

I searched everywhere online and in stores to find a cute little paper holder. I never found one that fit what I envisioned so I decided to modify one myself. I still have ideas to spice it up even more later.

Did you know they make spray paint specifically for plastics! Remember that when we do our ATG tape dispenser re-vamp later on. I bought a generic paper holder from one of those office supply stores and spray painted it brown. Then I had my dear hubby hang it up for me =)

I also keep the spare events, ie dr appointment, field trip, etc in this bin

I love to search through etsy for inspiration. I came across many different variations on a coat hanger that I knew I (ok my hubby) could make. I wanted a square shape so I had my husband cut them and router the edges. I painted them brown and after the paint dried I added a piece of scrapbook paper that matched my boards with mod podge. Do three coats, again remembering to let the coats dry 15 minutes between the next layer. Then he attached a hook we found in the cabinet hardware section of Home Depot. They do carry some oval shaped wood pieces near the moldings and stairway section, just in case you don't have the tools or handy husband to beg. I love that she can hang her backpack and coat and not just dump it on the stairs like she did before. Make sure to use anchors when attaching, those backpacks can get pretty heavy.

When she gets home she sits down and puts all her papers, including her agenda, homework, schoolwork completed, and notes into the bin. I sweep by it sometime in the afternoon and place anything that needs to go back to school into the bin. After homework is done she places it back in the bin. Every morning she knows that anything in the bin is stuff that needs to go back to school and reloads it into her backpack.

So that's it. My trick to organizing just some of the craziness we all have to live with. I'd love to hear how you made this your own!

Contribution Chart

2011-05-11T09:05:00.000-04:00

Organizing your kid's school craziness part 2 of 3.

I love organization, that's my type A personality and OCD kicking in. However I LOVE things to be cute and crafty. I had a Melissa and Doug contribution (chore) chart from a great craigslist find a couple years back but it just didn't excite me and it wasn't specific enough.

After creating our weekly planner inspired from Controlling My Chaos my friend Abbey and I decided to create a contribution chart to go along with it.

I know I hate long winded blog posts too. I tried to keep it short but I wanted to give you detailed steps so I give you my apologies in advance.

Tyler is only 2 so his list is quite short right now =)

My husband and I prefer to call it contributions instead of chores. You can use whatever terminology fits your family.

Once again you head to Michael's with your 40% off coupon in hand. Use it to buy another already made magnetic board, some patterned paper that calls your name. I'm sure I'm not the only one paper sings to am I? Two colors of coordinating cardstock, ribbon, mod podge, and magnets if you need them.

These measurements are for a 22 x 35 magnetic board.

Grab your patterned paper. I used a pattern for each child with a solid color in the center and my friend chose to use the same pattern for the entire top. She needed two sheets of paper to have the pattern line up correctly.

For the top section cut two strips 12" wide by 3 1/2" in length. Cut another piece 8 1/4" wide by 3 1/2" long. Again keep in mind if it has a uniform pattern to keep that lined up.

For the center section you will need three sheets of a solid coordinating cardstock. Use two full 12 x 12 sheets and one sheet cut 8 1/4" wide and keep at 12" long.

For the bottom section you will need one sheet of another coordinating color of cardstock. Cut two pieces 12" wide by 3 1/2" long and cut another piece 8 1/4" wide by 3 1/2" long.

You will also need some coordinating ribbon to separate your columns and hide your seems. You may want to buy extra cardstock for those ~~mishaps~~ creative touches. Not that you'll ever have one of those.

Lightly sand your surface where you will mod podge.

Now comes the fun part of putting it together.

Try a dry run first, making sure all your pieces fit like they should. If you need to trim something do it now. Start with the very top. Use a foam brush to put a thin layer of mod podge across just the area you are working with. Slowly place your paper along the top from left to right.

Be CERTAIN you are placing the right size paper down in the right direction. Don't ask how I know that you will stomp your foot a little, maybe a small tear will form, and then you'll be forced to use that spare paper I suggested you get "just in case". I used my pampered chef scraper that came with my bakeware to carefully smooth the paper < I still love that little thing>. For those lefties in the world it works just as good moving from right to left =)

Place another thin layer of mod podge in the section under the patterned paper and place your 12x12 piece of cardstock on the left, the cut piece in the center, and another 12x12 sheet on the right.

Now to the bottom section. Another thin layer of mod podge and move from left to right.

Now give a nice thin coat of mod podge to your entire board,smoothing as you go if necessary. Wait at least 15 minutes between coats, I did about 3 coats.

Now for more waiting for mod podge to dry. Back to your labels. Yes more mumblings of frustration however less this time because I just used the template I'd prepared for my weekly planner. I used the same color chart as I did with my weekly planner to match the colors to the cardstock. I used a different color for each kid.

Print on cardstock and laminate.

Cut them out with a paper trimmer and add a magnet to the backs.

For the titles (names, Contributions Done, and I did it dots) I used my KNK (Klic-N-Kut) again. If you don't own one of these machines you can always use a sticker alphabet or chipboard letters. I inked the edges of the outline with a scrapbook ink pad because I thought it needed to be muted a bit.

Laminate a quarter sheet of cardstock of the color you selected for each child. Now use your digital cutter or a small circle punch to make the I did it dots. You'll need 7 for each child. Put magnets on the backs. After doing mine I realized I should have used a different color for my daughter's dots and font color because they blend in when sitting in the I did it Dots section. Oh well that's what makes something homemade and unique!

Now that your board is dry attach your ribbon, I used my ATG tape glider.

Another logo needed to be covered so I used my black sharpie and some paper flowers and a button for the center that I found in my scrapbooking stash for embellishment.

Use your mod podge

I hope I've inspired some of you and didn't confuse you too much. I'd love to hear constructive feedback and comments!

Working hard on her contributions

Be on the lookout for my last post in the organizing my kid's school craziness series!

Weekly Planner

2011-05-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

"Oops I forgot to return my library book, again."

"I had to sit out of PE today because I forgot to wear my tennis shoes."

"I didn't know I had a dentist appointment?"

Any other mom's hear these type of things from your kids? No, never... well you can make one just for fun then =)

This is the first post of 3 in a series, organizing your kid's school craziness.

This link a friend sent me with a great tutorial at Controlling My Chaos couldn't have been sent at a better time. I knew we had to make one of these.

We thought we'd make our own boards with a frame and sheet metal from home depot. Instead we discovered with our 40% off coupon from Michaels it was cheaper and easier to buy a ready made magnetic board.

What you'll need
1. magnetic board (I believe it was the 18x24 size)
2. Either 1 sheet of patterned paper or two if using one for each side.
3. 2 pieces of coordinating cardstock
4. coordinating ribbon
5. pictures of your kids
6. mod podge

Now cut two pieces of your patterned paper 11" wide by 4 1/2" long.

Cut your two pieces of cardstock 11" wide by 11 1/2" long.

*a tip I found (after doing these) is to lightly sand your area before using your mod podge

Take a foam brush and put a thin layer of mod podge on your board only in the area you will immediately be working on. I found it best to start at the very top left. Working from left to right and then doing the row under that. I used my pampered chef scraper that came with my bakeware to carefully smooth the paper; I love that little thing.

I didn't cut the sheets the right sizes and didn't like the resulting bumpiness, so I changed the directions for you. Oops didn't go from left to right either =)

Now after all the paper is attached put a thin layer of mod podge over the top. Wait a minimum of 15 minutes between coats. I used 3.

While waiting between coats you can get your labels ready. I made an excel spreadsheet with quite a few mumblings of frustration. I am NO expert in excel so it was a lot of trial and error. Being obsessed with it matching I pulled out my trusty cheat sheet for Close to my Heart printer color codes my bestie Dawn sent me. The cardstock wasn't all CTMH paper but we matched them pretty closely. If you have two kids you can pick a different color for each child to help keep them separate.

Print on cardstock and laminate. We priced individual sheet laminating at a big box office store. Picked up this Laminator at Target instead. I figured I had to have one of my own, I mean there are just so many things waiting to be laminated in this world.

Cut them out with a paper trimmer and add a magnet to the backs. Jill, from the original blog, recommends saving those freebie magnets and using them. I used adhesived backed business card magnets I had laying around cut into small pieces.

For the names I used my KNK (Klic-N-Kut), a digital cutting machine that doesn't require cartridges. I used the outline feature and cut them out in a coordinating paper to place the name on. If you don't own one of these machines you can always use a sticker alphabet or chipboard letters.

KNK aka big yellow beast on the right, cake I made for a KNK retreat on the left.

I loved the idea that Jill suggested putting magnets on the backs of the pictures so you can change them out. I laminated the pictures put a magnet on the back then mod podged the name and the paper I backed my photo with on my board.

Once your board is dry add your ribbon to cover the seams. I use an ATG tape glider for all my crafting (be on the lookout for a post on how to make yours beautiful).

I used a black sharpie to black out the logo on the bottom right of the board and then covered it with some paper flowers I had in my scrapbooking stash. For good measure I added a few to the top left as well.

There you have it no more excuses from your kids for not remembering what they have scheduled in the week! We can dream can't we?

Be on the lookout for part 2 of 3 in the series. I have a contribution / chore chart to share as well as the little nook I created to organize all my kids school stuff.

I'd love to hear from you!

My first post!

2011-05-04T01:55:00.019-04:00

The dream : Girl starts blog and shares her ideas and crafts with craftaholics everywhere. Thinking it'll be a cinch and things will be up and running within the week.

Reality : Girl researches until her eyes are dry and has a headache. Buys domain name in September, then, does more research. Decides name is too long, buys a new domain name. More research. Now it's eight months later and she's finally ready to go.

Let me introduce myself with a little confession...

My name is Jen and I'm a bit obsessive with a touch of ADD. Heck my DVD's are in alphabetical order, which my husband loves to re-arrange just to drive me crazy. I must have a perfect blog site. With a cute little custom header, eye catching design, and perfectly selected buttons like RSS subscribe (which I've yet to figure out what that is for myself). After researching until I could research no more I broke down and decided to have someone else design my site. Check out Designer blogs, they have some beautiful designs. Being so popular I was on the waitlist for the past few months. The design was finalized this week and I'm very excited to share my ideas with you!

Be on the lookout for posts on my eclectic craft obsessions. My newest addictions are cake decorating and machine embroidery. I am also self taught and fake my way through sewing projects. I love pretty much all things crafty so I will be doing anything from scrapbooking, to altered art and party planning. Sometimes I'm inspired by something I see on another blog and love to make it my own. I will never claim something as my own if I didn't create it myself {big pet peeve of mine}.

I have projects with pictures stashed away on my computer and ready to post soon. I know you will all be waiting on bated breath =)