Minion Cupcakes (without Twinkies)

I've got to learn to remember to bake birthday cakes and cupcakes two days BEFORE I need to send them to school. But yet again, another birthday, and I'm up until 2:30 in the morning. Although I was a zombie all day at work, at least my kid was smiling all day at school.

I saw a lot of recipes for cupcakes on the internet for Minions using a Twinkie but my kid didn't want that so I had to come up with my own ideas. After inspecting the candy aisle at the local supermarket, I decided I could work with white lifesavers for the eyes and black licorice for the hair. In retrospect, I should have used chocolate sprinkles for the hair, but I was hormonal and craving licorice. So I used 4 pieces of licorice for the hair, and the rest went in my mouth. 

Materials
Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Icing 
Yellow gel Food Coloring
Betty Crocker Easy Squeeze Icing (Chocolate)
Cake Mate Decorative Icing (Black)
Life Savers (Pep O Mint)
A bag of Black Licorice
Dry Fondant (any will do)

All of the ingredients with the exception of the fondant, were found at my local Acme Market. I acquired the dry fondant from Michael's Craft Store. I've actually had it for months not knowing what to do with it. 

First I baked 50 mini cupcakes for school and the birthday party using two box mixes. After the cupcakes cooled I mixed a tiny bit of yellow gel food coloring in with the Betty Crocker frosting until I got the desired color yellow. Any frosting product that is white or cream color will work perfectly.  

After I iced all the cupcakes with the yellow frosting, I mixed the fondant with some water and a couple of squeezes of the the black icing to give it a gray color that would be similar to the color of the silver minion goggles. You have to mix in the fondant and water so that it is the texture of play dough. Add a little water at a time to the dry fondant and mix it with your fingers until it is the right consistency. Then add the black icing, knead it in, and keep adding the black icing until the fondant is the correct color gray.  I rolled the fondant into a thin snake and wrapped it around the outside life saver, pressing the gray fondant into the side of the lifesaver. 

I put a pea sized drop of chocolate easy squeeze icing on the yellow icing then pushed the minion goggle on to the cupcake with the Lifesaver hole over the chocolate frosting dot, to create a brown eye.

I pushed the cut up licorice into the icing at the top of the cupcake for minion hair. 

I used the black icing to make the goggle straps and the mouths. I just cut the tip off the Cake Mate Icing, I didn't use any special screw on tips.

Ta DA! Minions!

Grade: B+
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level: Moderate (You have to work with the fondant quickly because it dries fast. If it starts to crumble while you work with it, just add a drop of water and knead the fondant so it is easier to work with.)

Bad Minions! No smoking!

I know I have a sick sense of humor, my excuse is that I didn't get any sleep!!!

Marble Mosaic Bird House

I've missing the summer months on this blog because I've been a little busy taking the kids to water parks, the beach, paddle boarding, boating, museums, NYC, fishing, swimming, surfing, national parks, picnics, nature hikes and other family fun events... And when my kids go back to school this September, when the teacher asks, "What did you do this summer?" My kids will respond "Nothing."

I would have completely blown off my blog in August if it wasn't my friend Angela's birthday. What do you give the girl who has everything? A craft from your heart of course. 

The materials 
   Any A frame unfinished bird house found at the craft store
   Aleene's - Arts & Craft Glue
   Mosaic Tile Craft Grout (use any craft grout found in the store)
   Apple Barrel Color Mosaic Green 20792
   Apple Barrel Color Berry Red 20525
   Apple Barrel Color Antique Gold 20506
   Glass marbles (found in the floral section)

Did you ever walk through the floral section of the craft store, see flat, pretty, assorted color, shiny glass beads and really really want them, but you don't know what you need them for? If your answer is yes, you are a magpie like me. I finally found an excuse to use them. They happen to make a striking mosaic tile.

I used the tacky glue to place the glass beads on the bird house. 

Let it try overnight. It is best to glue the beads on one side, wait about 30 minutes, then glue on them on the other side. You have to keep the beads flat or they slowly slide off the A frame house. After I started this, I realized that it would have been easier to use a hot glue gun.

I mixed the grout with a little paint then spread it on the birdhouse with my hand. It is much easier to use your hand to navigate around the smooth round glass beads. I would never use my hands for square glass tiles because I would surely cut myself. And blood is not a pretty color on a birdhouse.

After about 15 minutes I wiped it down with a damp sponge to clean the grout off the glass.

After it dried overnight, I scraped off the excess grout around the beads with the back of a paint brush.

I found that if you water down the paint you can spread it unevenly over the grout with a paint brush to give it a nice textured look.

I painted a couple of flowers on the front and back of the house to draw in the reds, golds and greens in the glass beads. The finished product makes a nice porch decoration!  Maybe I'll keep this one for myself !

Grade: A
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level: Low

Train Cake

If you ever told my 20-year-old self that I would be staying up until 2:00 in the morning making a train cake for my 5-year-old, I would have told you that you were nuts... and yet many, MANY years later here we are. 

Re-wind to last year when I found this train cake pan at Jo-Ann Fabrics and decided to make my husband a cake for his promotion.  I made a train cake with dollar signs on it and put some bacon sticking out of the train car because he was "bringing home the bacon on the money train." It was the VERY first time I actually decorated a cake with with a tube set and it turned out quite well because it was so easy. I used box cake mix and mixed food coloring in with store bought icing. 

So this year, for the first time, I decided to make my son a birthday cake. Last night,  the night before his party, I realized I forgot to start the cake the day before to let it cool. Oops. So I quickly got everything out and started at 8:30 PM. This was the first time I was going to try the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations. I bought 4 packets of color/flavoring but only used 2 cans of white frosting, so the color was a little darker and the flavor was a little stronger.


To tell you the truth, I wasn't really paying attention when I grabbed this particular box of cake mix off the ACME shelf because, that day, I was worried about my soon to be 5-year-old having a melt down in the super-market. Instead of getting the regular chocolate cake, I grabbed the first thing I put my hands on. At the time, it didn't seem that important because I just wanted to get the heck out of there... WARNING this is what happens when you use SUPER MOIST cake. Another oops!!

AT this point it was almost 10:00 and there was no way in heck I was about to go to back to the super-market and re-make the cake, so I mixed my frosting and I figured I would just load the icing on the train wreck and make it look as train like as possible. Only problem was, my cake wasn't 100% cooled down... This is what happens when your cake isn't cool, your frosting starts to melt. Oops number 3. 

All my icing was just sliding off the cake, the re-construction was even a bigger mess!!! So I had to throw that sucker in the freezer for 20 minutes. Something I should have done BEFORE I started icing the cake.

The front was just so mangled that the icing just wouldn't be able to re-construct an ENTIRE train front. So I ran around the kitchen trying to find something edible to hold up the icing. I found marshmallows!!! I just started shoving it under the icing that was sliding off the front of the cake. It actually looked pretty good! The marshmallows also happened to make good looking smoke too! 

Lets be honest, I'd never make the cut for a Food Network Cake Decorating Challenge or you'd never see me on an episode of Cake Boss, however, I did save money and my son thought it was great so that's really all that mattered. 

Grade: C
Skill Level: Moderate-High
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Frustration Level: High (don't start a cake at 8:30 at night!)

Duncan Hines Frosting Creations was a big hit, He couldn't keep his fingers off!

Sun Catchers for Dad

Doesn't dad have a pile of ties and mugs from Father's Day past?

Wouldn't it be nice to give dad a gift created by the kids that didn't take space in the junk drawer? I was looking at my sun-catchers and decided that simulated stained glass project is the perfect gift for Father's Day. I have included print outs for you so that you can make them too!




You can always find plastic packaging around if its in your recycle bin or your trash can. There are several types of plastics that can't be recycled and those are the best kinds to use for this project. 

1) Wash the plastic with dish soap to remove traces of dirt and oil. Dry thoroughly.

2) Rub the side of the plastic that you are going to write on with sand paper then wipe with a damp cloth.

3) Slowly trace the plastic placed over the printout with Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers. My 8 year old did this and really did a wonderful job.

4) Cut out plastic.

5) Spray with clear sealant for fade resistance. This step is optional.

6) Use pin to push through the plastic to create holes for fishing line.

7) Tie on fishing line. This was the absolute worst part of the project. Tying all that little, thin, slippery string was very frustrating. I will have to find some alternative to fishing line because it is a bear to work with. Actually, I'd rather work with the bear.

8) Add plastic beads to make it pretty. You can find these at any craft or 5 and 10 store.

9) Cut out another piece of plastic (clear or colored) to make the top. I used a clear plastic bottle sliced in half and cut and inch and a half thick, so that it gave the final product a curved look. You can see it more clearly if you click on the big picture at the top of this blog page. 

After my 4-year-old son saw the finished product he wanted to confiscate it for his own. I'm sure daddy will let him keep it in his room!

Grade: A-
Skill Level: Easy 
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate
Frustration Level: Moderate (Oooooo, that fishing line!!!)

Make sure you check out the print-out below!!!

Print Me

Chickens

This is the story of a boy and his chicken

We started raising chickens last year and I have to tell you they are the best pets EVER. They stay outside, you feed/water them once a day, they make wonderful fertilizer for the garden, they weed the garden and you get fresh eggs.  What other animal will do your gardening chores? And if you really never tried a fresh egg, you really must, its wonderful! 

To start your chicken adventure, you really only need a storage container, heating lamp and bulb, bedding, food and water. Local animal feed shops carry day-old female chicks and all the material to start your urban farm. You can also order chickens and chicken materials online. 

It is very important to make sure you select the right breed of chicken for you. We go for the gentle tempered breeds so that the chickens, the kids, and the bunny can all play together peacefully (mostly).  My Pet Chicken actually has a search engine to help you find the right breed. Would you like some chickens and don't know where to start? My Pet Chicken also has a helpful Chicken Care Guide to get you started.

As your chickens grow and start hopping out of the box, you have to get them outside and into housing. I would love to let my chickens roam free, only we have a serious chicken hawk problem. I lost 4 chickens last year to birds of pray. I would say the most difficult and expensive part about chickens is the housing. Recently I've found several people on the internet who re-purposed old children's playhouses into coups, very creative and very easy and less expensive. I wish I thought of that!!!

Urban gardening has become quite popular recently, probably because its very easy and the benefits are so high. You would be surprised how many townships allow chickens! 

This year, our friend gave us some eggs to put under our existing hens to hatch and boy was that fun for the kids, but it drove me crazy. Every day, for 21 days, the kids asked me if the chickens hatched yet. When they finally did (23 days later) we were over the moon with our new little peeps! We decided to do a photo shoot to capture the cuteness!!! Now if I could just get the kids to corporate for their photo shoot as easily as the chicks!

Make Thyme for Mom!

As you can see from this blog, we really love giving and getting plants! What better way to share a plant with someone than by personalizing your gift with something you did yourself!  Mother's Day is coming up so I am adding a clever saying on this one to make it memorable!  

 Materials:

• Terracotta Pots (I used 4 inch)
• Acrylic Paint in your choice of colors (I used one 2 oz bottle to do 2 coats on 7 of my pots)
• Paint brush/ paint sponge
• Black Sharpie Marker or paint pen
• Water proofing spray for your pot (you can use a Thompson's water sealer or a clear acrylic sealer. If you are going to plant edible plants, then it is important to use a nontoxic sealer.)
• One penny per pot to cover the hole to keep in the soil but still allow for drainage
• Soil
• Thyme plants or seeds
• Paint Mask

Directions:

Rinse your terracotta pots with water and let completely dry.  This will wash away any clay dust that will get into your paint. I usually let them dry overnight.

Put a white/cream/light colored primer coat on your pot.  This helps the color go on smoother and remain more true to color.  Since this is your primer coat, only one coat is necessary, don't worry about streaks.

Paint your base color.  This will require two coats. Allow your first coat to dry (this happens pretty quickly maybe 10-20 minutes. An exact time is not able to be given due to temperature and humidity conditions as well as the thickness of paint that effect this time, but you will know because the paint is no longer glossy.)

Paint your accents!  Always use two coats with dry time between each coat!  If wanting to write something or add certain details, you can use a Sharpie or paint pen to help make this easier and neater for you!  No need to try to fight with a brush for this step!  This should be fun and not stressful!   You can also use Q-tips or the eraser on the back of a pencil to make your dots or cut sponges to make shapes with your paint.   Get creative!!

When you have allowed your project to dry/cure for 24 hours, it is time to waterproof your pot inside and out.  Follow directions on the label of your product.  Remember if this is a planter for an edible plant, you need a nontoxic water sealer to prevent chemicals from leeching into your soil and then your plants.

Put a penny, rock, piece of broken pot, or other item in the bottom of you pot to cover the hole and help with drainage without soil loss, then fill with soil and plant your seeds or plant!  Now you have a one of a kind gift that everyone will love!


If you want to make the watermelon pot, I used Apple Barrel Light Pink for my base and then painted Folkart Extreme Glitter Neon Pink over it.  I then used Apple Barrel Sage Green with the Folkart Extreme Glitter Peridot.  Then Black Sharpie Marker for the seeds and writing!  Using a Sharpie was a lot easier than trying to paint the seeds and write with a brush and black paint!  One tip to remember though is to make your seeds random and this is a case of less is more!  

The most fun I had with this project was using the Extreme Glitter paint!  I love it!  I see a lot of sparkly things in my garden in the future!  I really loved this product!  Happy painting!

Grade: A
Skill Level: Easy to Moderate
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate
Frustration Level: Mild

Turning Trash Cans Into a Work of Art

If you have animals or enjoy feeding the wild birds then you always have an issue with where to keep the food/grain/seed. If you keep it in your garage or shed, you run the risk of getting bugs and rodents. According to my local feed store.  the best way to do it is to keep it in a galvanized trash can outside. However, that galvanized trash can is ugly (U-G-L-Y ugly, and it ain't got no alibi cuz its ugly) and most importantly, it doesn't go with the decor in my outside living space.  Eventually, I had to give into the ugly can when a brigade of crazy squirrels, high on pesticides, ransacked my garage and ate through the rubber maid container full of chicken feed.

I bought 2 cans of Rustoleum spray paint and some lace doilies from the dollar store. 

1) Painted my can and some other garden metal things blue so they would match.  I waited a few days for everything to dry, 

2) Used painters tape to tape on the lace doilies,

3) Spray painted green over the doilies then removed them,

4) Waited 2 hours to dry, put the seed in the can and placed strategically in my garden along with the other blue painted items.

Grade: A

Skill Level:Easy

Difficulty Level:Easy

Frustration Level: Mild

OOPS!!! Next project: Painting the cement driveway.

Here is a bigger view!! So cute!!