Angry Birds Cake Pops: A Quick Tutorial

We made Angry Bird cake pops for the Drama Queen's sixth birthday. They were my first attempt at cake pops, but I thought I would share how I decorated them for any Angry Birds fans that wanted to make their own. I had plans to make all the different birds as well as the pigs, but as the night wore on, it became clear that that wasn't a realistic goal. So I settled on making the yellow bird, the red bird, and a pig.

First, I made the cake balls. It's super easy - you just make a cake mix in a 9x13 pan and then crumble it into fine crumbs when it has cooled. Then take a can of frosting (chocolate fudge for us!) and mix about 3/4 of it into the cake crumbs. Combine it well and make sure to not add too much frosting, or the mixture will be too soft. Then mold the mixture into nice round balls for the pigs and red birds. Mold some of the mixture into flattened triangles for the yellow birds. Put all of your balls and triangles on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours or freeze for fifteen minutes. You don't want them in the freezer for too long or they will be too cold, causing the candy coating to firm too quickly.

For the yellow bird, I melted vanilla candy coating and tinted it with yellow candy coloring. I inserted a lollipop stick in the coating and then into the base of the triangle cake ball. I dipped the triangle ball into the coating completely and gently tapped off the excess. The eyes were made from vanilla chips with the tips cut off to make them flat. The eyebrows were simply orange sprinkles, and the hair and wings were cut pieces of black licorice. I made the beak with melted orange coating on parchment paper. All decorations were attached with more melted candy coating used as "glue", and the pupils on the eyes were done with black decorator gel.

The pig was dipped just like the yellow bird, only this time the candy coating was tinted with green candy coloring. The snout was made from a lifesaver hard candy dipped in green candy coating and the ears were made from smarties candy dipped in green candy coating. His eyes were also made from cut vanilla chips and decorated with black decorator gel.

The red bird was dipped in red candy melts and had a beak made just like the yellow bird. His eyes were the same as the pig and yellow bird, but his eyebrows were made from cut pieces of black licorice as well as his wings.

I ended up making six of each character, and my daughter (and family) loved them. Be warned that they do take quite a bit of time to make. Since candy coating does not stay fluid for long and tends to firm up pretty quickly, you do have to have time to work uninterrupted. Unfortunately I had a very cranky baby that night and tried to both decorate Angry Birds pops and soothe the poor baby. (picture me rocking her in her car seat with one foot and balancing a bottle in her mouth while trying to precariously attach a sprinkle eyebrow at the same time. yeah. not so fun.)

Melty Crayon Awesomeness

Last week I pinned a melting crayon art project on my Pinterest boards with plans to use it sometime this year as an art project for home school. It looked so fun and easy, and I knew I had all the materials to do it. Eager to try it, I gathered all the kiddies at the kitchen table for a science/art lesson. First, we discussed rainbows - how they form, when you see them, etc. Then we learned ROYGBIV - the order of the colors of the rainbow. Using this new knowledge, I set the kids to organizing our crayons in rainbow order. We used two boxes of Crayola 24 crayons, and I took away the black, gray, brown, and white crayons since those colors do not appear in rainbows.

When the kids (mostly the girls) had carefully selected where each crayon should go, I hot-glued them in place at the top of our canvas. (Our canvas was 16" by 20", because that's what I had). We decided to keep the color name of each crayon facing outward so that they would all look uniform. Then the fun part started.

We propped up the canvas on a chair that I had liberally covered with newspaper. Using a hairdryer turned on high heat, I aimed it slightly downward at the purple/blue section of our crayon rainbow. The kids were delighted that immediately it began to melt and spray all over the place.

Each of the kids took turns making their own crayon wax splatters and using the "paint gun." (the Spud's words)>

We had a lot of splattering going on - I forgot to cover the side of our kitchen table with newspaper and soon it was speckled with various colors. In all the links I've seen, the artist managed to get their crayon wax flowing downward in straight lines. I think perhaps that's because they used a lower hair dryer setting or a different angle on their canvas.

Also, they probably didn't allow three-year-olds to man the hair dryer. :) I personally love the splattered look.

We then turned our hair dryer to low for a short while to blend our colors just a bit.

Here's a close-up of the colors all blended together. I'm not gonna lie - I was probably as excited or even more than the kids at this development. We still had quite a bit of blank canvas, and the girls suggested that we sign our artwork. I got the idea to trace each person's hand with their favorite color (with crayons from another box) and write their name with black sharpie in the center.

The kiddos posed proudly with their work (by the way, the crayon wax dries super fast so you don't have to wait forever like you do with paint.)

And then this pleased momma found a place in the dining room to hang it on the wall. The kids love to look at it, touch its interesting textures, and talk about ROYGBIV. Me? I'm planning our next masterpiece, perhaps in greens, grays, browns, and blacks for a camouflage effect for the boys' room.

Tutorial: Goomba Iphone Case

So. As I mentioned in a previous post, for the Nerd's birthday he usually chooses what he wants for his birthday and then I go get it for him. This year it is apparently something Xbox-related. However, I always like to give him a little something else - usually something from ThinkGeek.com - something he would not expect that shows his wife actually pays attention when he talks on and on about his computer and gaming adventures.

This year, I didn't think of it until the day of (gulp! such a procrastinator) and after perusing the internet for ideas, I finally decided to make him a fun little case for his Iphone (or for whatever he wants to use it). I debated over favorite game and TV characters and came up with a Goomba (from Nintendo's Super Mario Bros) since it has "manly" colors and has a shape that works well with a phone case.

Want to make one too? Here's a tutorial to help you speed through the process as fast as I did (remember I made it on his birthday!) Since I was in a a bit of a hurry, there are a few changes I would make and have noted them along the way. If I were you, I would read through the tutorial first - switching steps #3 and #4 would have made things a lot easier, just sayin'.

1. First gather your materials. You will need felt in these colors: dark brown, medium brown, white, and black as well as some embroidery floss to match the felt colors. You will also need some velcro for the case closure. Tools needed are an embroidery needle and a hot glue gun.

2. Now cut out all your felt shapes. For the main case, cut one white rectangle (4.5" by 10"). For the head, cut one medium brown rectangle (4.5" by 5.5") The shoes are cut from dark brown felt and measure 1.5" by 1.75" with curved edges, as shown. The mouth is cut from black felt and measures 4.5" by .5". The other pieces do not have measurements. Cut the whites of the eyes first - 2 tear-drop-shaped pieces of white felt. Next cut the pupils of the eyes from black felt - 2 oval shapes that are smaller than the whites of the eyes. Measure the tops of the whites of the eyes and cut black eyebrows slightly larger. (I made my eyebrows one piece and folded it in half before cutting to get uniform-looking eyebrows.) The teeth are cut from white felt and are just small triangles.

3. Fold your main case piece in half so that the folded edge measures 4.5" across. Thread your needle with all six strands of white embroidery floss and blanket-stitch around the sides and bottom (folded edge) of your case. Leave the top open. (If you need help with blanket stitching, here is a great tutorial).

4. Now thread your needle with medium brown floss (all six strands again) and use a running stitch to stitch it to the back side of your case only. Do not stitch through both pieces of white felt. (this is why it would have been better to do this step first). Notice in the diagram that the brown piece is placed two inches down on each side before stitching.

5. Now blanket-stitch each side of the case flap (the brown felt.) You do not need to stitch across the top as that will be covered by the mouth.

6. Now attach your velcro pieces - one to the case flap and the opposite piece to the main case, as shown. It was hard to see the white velcro on the main case so I outlined it in pink for you :). I used hot glue to attach the velcro, but after several eager little hands opened and closed the case multiple times, the velcro on the main case came loose. I would take the time to use a few strands of embroidery floss and sew those suckers on tight!

7. All facial features and shoes should then be glued on, in the order shown in this diagram. Use hot glue and make sure your glue gets close to the edges of each piece so that it will stay firmly in place. (Don't burn yourself - use tweezers to place pieces!)

Now you have a little Goomba just ready to protect your Iphone. The measurements for the case given were for an Iphone 4, but you can certainly modify it to work for any electronic device you want. I was also thinking this little guy would make an awesome gift card holder.

I wonder what other characters would make a cute case?

Tutorial: Fluffy Flower Headband

Last week I mentioned in my weekly pregnancy post that I had finally completed my nursing cover. I had a few strips of fabric left over and decided to make Little Sprout a cute little flower headband for all her newborn fashion needs. I mean, how many other babies have hair accessories to match their momma's nursing cover? It turned out pretty well - so well in fact that I am pulling out some more fabrics to make her a whole set of these. And I'm thinking Big Sister and Momma wouldn't mind having their own modified versions of this flower headband.

For this fluffy flower headband, you will need: two coordinating fabric pieces (mine were just leftover strips from my nursing cover project - you won't need much!), a small piece of 1/4 " braided elastic, a sewing machine loaded with matching thread, a glue gun, a sharpie, and a soup can.

(Please excuse my model's look of disinterest. She has been around for 20+ years and has cheerfully taken all sorts of modeling abuse.)

So, first you are going to make the stretchy headband. Measure your baby's head (or the head of a doll reasonably similar to a baby's head) and double that to get the length of your fabric. Then cut out a strip that long and about three inches or so wide.

Next, fold your strip of fabric in half as shown with the wrong side out and stitch a 1/2 inch seam along the cut edges.

Using a safety pin, turn your tube of fabric right side out. Don't bother to press it - you will be scrunching it up soon enough.

Cut a piece of elastic that is just a little less than half the length of your fabric. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and begin threading through your fabric tube. When you reach the halfway point, before the other end of your elastic disappears into the tube, sew down that end of elastic as shown.

Continue working the safety pin through the rest of the fabric tube until it comes out the other end. Scrunch your fabric until you like the way it looks, and sew down that end of the elastic/fabric as well. Make sure that on both ends, you have sewn through the fabric AND the elastic, so that the elastic will stay in place.

Match up the two ends of the fabric tube and sew together in a 1/2 inch seam. Trim down the fabric edges as shown.

Now, you are going to start working on your flower. Using a soup can, veggie can, hair spray can, or whatever you have, trace out 17 circles on the wrong side of your contrasting fabric. The larger your circles, the larger your flower will be. Cut out all 17 circles - you don't have to be too exact here. Just make sure to cut off all black marks as they will show in the completed flower.

Take one circle and fold in half and then in half again, with the right side of the fabric out, as shown.

Sew that folded circle in place on the stretchy band right where you stitched the two ends of the band together as shown. Sew diagonally across the triangular point of your folded circle.

Fold another circle the same way and sew it to the headband directly underneath the first folded circle, as shown.

Fold a third circle and sew to the headband directly next to the second folded circle. It should look like three-fourths of a circle, as shown.

Fold a fourth circle the same way and stitch in place. Notice that your stitches make a square or diamond shape. This is the first layer of your flower.

Now you will sew on the second layer of your flower in the same way. Place the first "petal" as shown in the photo above so that the petals will not be directly lying on top of each other. Continue folding circles and stitching them in place until a second layer is completed. (Four folded circles make one layer.)

Add a third layer of petals in exactly the same manner. Your flower should look like this.

Next, take another circle and fold it in half and then fold it into thirds, as shown.

Make a dot of glue with your hot glue gun at the center of your flower and press the point of this new folded circle into the glue. (use tweezers or the tips of your scissors so you won't burn your fingers!)

Do this three more times with the circles folded in half and then into thirds. Glue them in place with the hot glue gun.

Finally, take your last circle and fold it in half and then into thirds, as you did with the previous four circles. Place a dot of hot glue in the very center of your flower and press this last folded circle firmly into place.

And there you have it! An adorable, chic hairband for the equally adorable infant in your life.

In a future post, I will show you how to modify this headband to make it suitable for an older girl and even an adult. (my headband does not have as full a flower for example, and my daughter's headband has a removable flower.) Happy creating!

Stick a Fork In It - Making an Easy Kitchen Valance

When we first looked at this house as a possible rental, I remember staring at the kitchen counters and thinking, "Wow! those counters are pink!" Not just any pink - a Pepto Bismol sort of pink that had faded over the years. I tried and tried to make my current chili pepper kitchen theme work with those counters. It was a lost cause. I decided to embrace the pink and decorate my kitchen in a retro theme.

I remembered seeing an article in a home magazine somewhere (sorry, have no idea which one) that you could make hooks for your kitchen wall using old forks. That article was my inspiration for my new kitchen valance, along with some fabulous pink/red/white silverware fabric.

To make your own valance with fork hooks, you will need:

*fabric to match your kitchen ( I needed 2 yards for my long kitchen window)

*several old forks with pretty designs on the handles ( I bought mine at a local thrift shop for 20 cents a piece)

*thread to match the fabric

*iron

1. First, make your fork hooks. i thought I would need some kind of pliers for this task, but apparently pure arm strength was enough. I just bent the hooks in half until I liked the way they looked, making sure to keep the pretty handle design on the outside of the hook.

Here's another view of my fork hooks.

2. Then, make the valance. Measure the length of your kitchen window and add 2 inches. Decide how far down your window you want your valance to hang and then cut your piece of fabric, making sure to leave extra length for seams. Save the rest of your fabric for making ties.

Iron the seams flat on each side of the valance panel before stitching them.

3. Next, cut some of your fabric into strips. Fold them in half, ironing in place. Use a zig zag stitch to stitch all along each strip. Hand stitch each strip to the valance at the half-way point of each strip. Space the ties evenly along the top of your valance. (I used five).


4. Mount your fork hooks by placing a nail with a large head where each hook will go, hammering it in until only 1/4 inch of the nail sticks out. Simply slide the fork tines up on the nail until the hook is secure. Tie your valance to the the fork hooks, and voila! a unique and cheerful statement has been added to your kitchen!

I used more forks (even some serving forks) on my kitchen wall as towel hooks. Super easy and super cute!