Wendy says:

In preparation for one of our favorite holiday craft activities, I start collecting blown eggs early. I find it helpful to blow the eggs as I use them in recipes, so I don’t end up with Mason jars full of raw eggs.

Why blow the eggs instead of just hardboiling them? Well, when you put as much effort into these suckers as we do, you’ll want to have them around year after year. And as much as we love to decorate eggs, a family can only eat so many deviled eggs.

The first year that we ever tried dying blown eggs I gave myself a serious case of TMD as Jeff’s ex-wife and I spent the better part of an hour blowing through egg after egg in order to make enough for the 4 kids to dye. Ah, good times. (But that was before I discovered the brilliance of a special tool.)

Very cool! Go read the whole things, she gives a great step by step with pictures!

While we’re on the subject of eggs, here’s some cool ideas on how to dye them!

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I was playing around with a fun little online drawing tool called Harmony that I found via Drawn.ca.

So I sketched part of the idea I had for illustration friday this week!  I really like the sparse feel to this… and it was fun   I’ll probably do another IF for Subterranean, but if not, here are these two!

Speaking of robots.. check out my news from yesterday about my robot cake being featured on MSNBC

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Loving this giant Ebi Cake by Coco Cake Cupcakes! The rice details are a fabulous touch…

Sushi Cakes are so much fun… remember this one from Shrimp Salad Circus?

Here’s some more Sushi themed Cakes and Cupcakes from Flickr, too! (Links to the flickr pics below the large photo mosaic)

1. sushi cakes tray with “grass”, 2. sushi!, 3. sashimi boat v2.0, 4. DSC06742, 5. Chocolate-Orange Sushi Cake, 6. Vegan “sushi” cupcake

Way cool inspirations, all!

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Love this nautilus by The Book Collector’s Wife!  It’s on my list of cool cephalopods!

Cool chess sets at Dudecraft

5 weird things I learned at culinary school at Talk of Tomatoes

Blade Runner death scene done in Legos (Blade Runner remains one of my fave all time movies.  Right up there with The Princess Bride) (via Great White Snark)

Cute redone side table into play stove... love the creative re-use!  (Previous play stove posts here and here)

Twittered this week:

• Totally love this simple tutorial from @sisterdiane! : A super-simple way to cover a composition book
• Loving these little birdie remakes at @dollarcraft! http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2010/03/anthropologie-bird/
• Brussels Sprout – Wow do Brussels Sprout have a bad rap. Learn to appreciate them at @foodwhirl!.. http://foodwhirl.com/mains-sides/brussels-sprout
• Loving this way cool Lego Star Wars stop motion animation at @greatwhitesnark
• RT @photojojo: How real photographers drink coffee: http://bit.ly/9toiCS
• This is SUCH a wonderful idea from @zakkalife How to make Paper Food Baskets!
• Totally love this photo! nothumbsneeded on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

And… anyone want to give me feedback on a new site I’m designing for a client?  It’s all just test data out there right now (like no prices or anything) but how does it look?

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There will be recipes featuring that delightful flavor that is bacon, all week long.

Up currently: Candied Bacon Martini & Bacon Caramel Corn… Yum!

Unrelated to Bacon Week… Niki’s doing a 3 part series on making your own Corned Beef! (I would have never thought to do that, but she says it’s delish! The first part is here.)

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About the project at Super Punch:

So, about this project. I wanted to do something special for the third anniversary of Super Punch, and three weeks or so ago, the idea popped into my head of inviting my favorite artists to create tarot cards.

See all the fabulous cards thus far at Super Punch.  There are some incredibly cool ones, from some very cool artists, and I’m honored to be part of the group!

Like this?  Get the feed, or follow me on Twitter or Facebook!

Like Food?  Go check out Foodwhirl.com!  It’s our awesome new team food blog.

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Noah Dziobecki created a dead on Star Wars-themed version of Goodnight Moon, called Goodnight Forest Moon. You can download the book here.

The Boy loved Goodnight Moon when he was little, and now he’s completely into Star Wars in all it’s forms.  So this is totally cool.  You can download a pdf of the book, and he gives very detailed instructions on how to print and make your own version.

“In the great metal room, there was a comlink, and a tauntaun, and a holo picture of..” (pdf)

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How to Make Tootsie-Roses

For the petals:
Starting with the smaller of your teardrops, wrap each petal around your flower base and continue until you are satisfied with the size.

For the leaves:
Take a green tootsie and also pull into a teardrop. But instead of using the petal, use the pointed end pinched over to make a leaf.

Once flower is formed, adjust peddles to desired position and then quickly run entire flower under cold water or plunge into a bowl of cold water to set it.

Once completed, remove from chopstick and cut the bottom of the rose off and place on cake/cupcake, or whatever you’d like to decorate!

———————–

Thanks Grieg for sharing this cool technique!

Of course, you can make a lot more than roses with these tootsie rolls..  They are moldable for all kinds of decorate cake toppings.  (If you remember, I used these as a ’skull’ for my dragon on the dragon cake, then covered it with fondant.)

Hope you enjoy this, and be sure to send pictures if you try this technique!

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• Go Canada! I love this little drawing from Diana Evans on the Olympic Games.
• I’m really enjoying the color series prints from Little Brown Pen… The Yellow one is so bright!
• The Domestic Scientist has scoured etsy and FOUND DINOSAURS!

Chicken Chili Update:

Chicken White Bean Chili Recipe - click photo for recipe!

Homemade Pepper Cornbread - Click the Photo!

Spicy Cilantro Pesto - Click the photo to Get it!

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