Creative Christmas

My best friend loves Mickey.  I love to make creative gifts.  I also love finding something that I just know will mean a lot to the person I am giving it to.

So remember the oreo ball from yesterday? It got a nice coating of sprinkles that were shaped like Mickey and sugar cookies around that to smear on the yummyness.  In each ear I put oreos dipped in chocolate and white chocolate.  They also got Mickey sprinkles.

I get pretty obsessive about finding the right gift.  I knew this bowl was perfect for my friends, and munchies are never a bad option.  I have so far found my best friends and one of my sisters the perfect gift.

The bad part about it is when I cannot find just the right thing for the rest of my list, I get rather antsy shopping. I so very much want people to know that I really thought about them and took a moment to think about the things they love.  People mean a lot to me and Christmas is a time that I try to show it to them. 

This is why I love places like eBay, antique malls, flea markets, and all the normal stores.  This particular bowl I got from Target, and it comes in a smaller size as well.  I have roughly 7 more days to find that special gift for all my special people in my life. 

Merry Christmas blog readers! Each of you has made this blog extra special to me, and I truly hope your holiday seasons are excellent. 

Happy crafting! Pin It Now!

Quick Corn: Gourmet Made Easy

 This cannot get any simpler.  Gourmet popcorn is super delicious.  Sometimes, you really just want some without the time required to get it done or the cleanup after.

So, get a bag of microwave popcorn and either a pack of candiquick or a bag of whatever flavor of baking chips that you want. 

Pop the corn, shake it around in a collander (think the frying baskets that have bigger holes) so that the kernels filter out.  Melt your chocolate or whatever it may be and drizzle it over your popcorn. 

If you are melting chips or candiquick, melt it for one minute first.  Stir it around if it is chips, try to break it up a bit if it is candiquick.  Melt in 20 second intervals until it is melted.  Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil if it is chips and will not melt to the right consistency.

I prefer to do it in a plastic bowl with a lid so I can just store it in the same one.

I made chocolate, butterscotch, and white chocolate.  The butterscotch is by far and away my favorite of this whole batch.

It would make a great gift as is, mixed together, with sprinkles, etc. 

Consider mixing your chocolates (e.g. peanut butter chips and chocolate) to create even more flavors.  White and butterscotch? Yum!  Either mix when you drizzle or mix the batches later.

If you have a small space, or don't own a popcorn popper, this is a pretty good solution.  It also would make movie night extra special for all your extra special people. 

I also think it would make a delicious base for trail mix.  Yummy. 

Happy crafting!

P.S.  You might want to expect a lot of cooking and baking posts for the next week or two haha.  The holidays and calories go hand in hand in this house.  And I wouldn't have it any other way!


Pin It Now!

Oreo Cheeseball/Icing/Dip

First, the recipe:
-1 block of cream cheese (at least close to room temp, so that you can mix things in)
-1 row of double stuffed oreos, crushed (or more if desired)
-1 vanilla pudding cup (or equivalent in made pudding)
-1.5 lbs (boxes) of powdered sugar

Mix the cream cheese and pudding together first to get it a little more liquidy.  Then, mix in all your other stuff. 

If you would like to have it as a dip for a party, cut the powdered sugar down by about half and work up from there to get the consistency you want.  The same goes for icing/filling for cakes and such.  It has such a delicious flavor, any fans of cookies and cream icing or dirt pudding would really like it.

In a small bowl or 5 inch pan, line the dish with saran wrap.  I put chocolate chips on the bottom, then started scooping in some cookie cheeeseball. 

As I layered the mix in, I put some chips around the sides too.  I did it this way so that I did not have to get messy.  More layers, more chips, more layers, more chips.

I had enough to make a good sized ball in a 5 inch pan, with some leftover to put in a shallow container (about 1 inch tall).  You could make two smaller dessert cheeseballs.  Chill them in the fridge. 

I say, go big or go home.

I do not know how well this will set up just yet as I only just made it, but it made a fairly stiff mix.  I have a pretty good hunch that the powdered sugar amount in this thing will be plenty effective at firming this little bugger up. 

Don't you dare skimp out on me and use regular oreos.  That extra creaminess is phenomenal to this taste.  No off brands either! Oreos are one of the few things I completely refuse to use anything other than name brand and a particular kind (double stuffed, I am not backing down). 

This weekend held a wedding cake, Christmas cookies, and a yummo dessert cheeseball.  That's a bake-cess if I ever heard one.

Happy crafting!
Pin It Now!

Reindeer Cookie

This is more of an idea than a how-to, because I do not have any recipes to cough up here and you may use very different icing than what we do. But the basic concepts will still apply.

I wanted to make reindeer cookies that looked like they were hitched up and ready to pull santas sleigh.  I think these would be super cute on the side of a cake or something as well.

I did the brown icing first, black next, yellow and red after.  If you use a liquid icing that dries solid, layering in the colors while the base is still wet allows you to do a lot of different things.

In this case, it keeps it all one level and they look more painted than anything else.  If you do a mitten or ornament or similar and put streaks through it, you can drag a toothpick up and down across it and make very interesting prints.  It also helps to do circles (imperfect is fine) and drag a toothpick out from center to edge to do a tye dye look.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, because I LOVE to make Christmas treats.  Candies, cookies, cake pops, whatever I can get into I DO!

So, get creative with that decorating.  Merry Christmas! Pin It Now!

Comrada-wreath

So a few weeks ago my friend Gretchen and I collaborated on a wreath she wanted to make.  She was talking about hot glueing it to a foam form, which definitely would work.  But I talked her in to trying it on a wire wreath form, and using ribbon to tie the ornaments on.

Why did I think this would better? Well, first, I was hoping I would save her from having to use hot glue.  She still ended up using it to keep the ornaments from flopping around while she was making it, but she did have to use a LOT less.  Which is always a plus.

Also a benefit to this wreath is that since it is tied on, if you don't have to glue it you could essentially take it apart if you ever wanted to change the colors.  Gretchen used a large thing of ornaments from Hobby Lobby and a 6 pack of white ones, and red ribbon.  She had about a third to a half of the big pack left.  I think the form was about an 8 inch, but it could have been a ten. 

She cut the ribbon long enough that she could curl the ends once she stuck them through to the front.  You could mix the sizes of ornaments if you wanted it to fill in easier or have those variations.  It took her about an hour or so, and it turned out to be incredibly cute! 

I really wanted to make one of my own, but Christmas is coming way too quickly and it just won't have the time to really hang there and be beautiful.  So perhaps next year!

The wire form was under $3 at HL for a wire one, so the whole wreath came in at well under 20 bucks.

Happy crafting! Pin It Now!

Scraplace: Jewelry Leftovers

 I really do not recall the last time I bought a necklace.  I used to buy cheap stuff at Body Central all the time, sometimes Rue 21, places like that.  I still have some of those, but as for recent purchases or really recalling buying anything from this year...I just can't put my finger on it.

As for necklaces I have made, I might have to employ my toes in order to count them all ;). 

Regardless, let's cut to the chase.  I had some charms left over from raiding clearance racks at Michaels.  I cut a shorter chain in half, then cut the loop of an eye pin.  I wrapped the pin around a washer to attach it to the chain.

The darn necklaces I bought at a huge festival have tiny chain links and I am out of smaller jump rings.

After that it was a simple thing of attaching the pieces.

I attached the charms to the washer with more cut eye pins, wire would also be just fine.  I attached some extra charms and chain to the washer as well to spiff it up.

I have also included my latest attempt at working on my Instagram skills.  I am still not quite sure what the hype is all about but it does make for some fun experimenting.

I have my only final of this semester early in the morning.  I have really enjoyed not having finals all week, and hopefully this one won't be too terrible.

Random note, if you don't watch Big Bang Theory you are missing out, I am cracking up as we speak.

Go make some scrap necklaces for your own enjoyment.


Pin It Now!

12 Ornaments: Merry Marathon

 So today is one of those days like we have had for the last 12 years where everyone gets all pumped because the numbers are all the same.  They conveniently forget the fact that they probably don't recall what happened on 11/11/11 or 05/05/05 or if it turned out good for them or not.  Yet still, here they are, positively elated and wishing on clocks or penguins or whatever people wish on these days. 

Yea, needless to say I don't buy into it.  But what I do buy into is taking some crazy fad and turning it in to something productive.  This idea was not entirely my own.  A very good friend of mine mentioned that he was going to post multiple posts on his creative writing blog (found at www.nathanhinote.com, which I don't think he will mind me sharing) today because everyone was all bananas over the date.  He said he wasn't going to do 12 things, which of course got my mind spinning on if I COULD do 12 things for this blog...

So needless to say since we are two of a kind, we are now both in the process of our 12 things.  Well, not entirely, because obviously if I am typing this I am done.  But I had a head start.  In under 6 hours I give to you this Christmas cheer.  It serves the double purpose of not making me back down from a challenge and for filling up my little tree.

This time, I am adding all of the individuals after all of this, and putting the explanation in captions below.  Hopefully this works this time, haha! Remember, most of these will take you well under 30 minutes to do, drying time aside.

To make this I cut about 3 feet of tulle and stuffed it inside the ornament.  I used a sharpie (high tech here) to put on the eyes and mouth, and white + copper puffy paint to put on a nose and scarf.  The biggest time is drying, it is super quick and easy!

There was probably never a loony toon I liked more than Marvin the Martian.  Admittedly, I used to go around trying to imitate his voice, demanding my space modulator back...NOW.  Regardless, to make him I stuffed the ornament with black feathers, way faster than painting! I painted his eyes, hat, and a little strip of red at the bottom and he was good to go.

 

As you may or may not know my soon to be craft studio is full of damask print.  I probably should have been working on it today instead of making 12 ornmanents...oops!  Regardless, this is also stuffed with black feathers, the damask is freehand and I coated it in polyflake.

 

This is green crackle paint sponged on with a sponge brush.  Right after I had it on I put polyflake on it to let the glitter dry in the paint.  If you use crackle, be prepared to choke.

 

Another crackle painted ornament, only this time I used a knife to put it on.  For everything except the green ornament above, I used a plastic knife.  It was great for helping to control the texture.  The paint does crack later, so don't be alarmed if it takes a while for it to go into effect.  As always, I coated it with polyflake.  I have all of these ornaments drying on pieces of styrofoam cups that I cut apart to make stands.  I will have to finish the backs later.

 

Soooo...this was originally going to be a pine tree on here, but after I got to doing it I just coated the whole front.  I am really not sure why.  I do, however, love the texture, it reminds me of a pinecone, so I am ok with it.



Do me a favor, and say hi to RoboRaptor's leg! He helped me craft.  Anyway I used a sparkly ornmament, puffy paint, and a yellow jewel to make an "elf" on this ornament.  I really like Elves...if they are the blond Lord of the Rings variety (I'm lookin at you, Bloom).  But that would be weird to put on a Christmas tree, so holiday elf it is.



This thing is cracking me up.  I pulled up a picture of the Abominable Snowman on Google Images to get an idea of what to do.  The white is done in crackle paint! It dries incredibly quickly and lets you do all sorts of oddball textures.  If you are going to freehand something and use a sharpie, draw your lines twice as thick in case you paint over them a little.

I am not really a college sports fan, but I think this little bugger will find a home on my mom's tree.  I used another 3ft or so of tulle and this time wrapped red sheer ribbon around it as I went.  I stuffed it into the ornament, tied a festive bow on top, and used my favorite white puffy paint to do the symbol and name.  Everyone remember that puffy paint that I started with for that infamous ornament?? Yea, I just NOW finished that bottle.  Great stuff!

For you non sports fans, I wanted to include the shot of how cute it was even before anything was painted on it.

Here comes Santa Bulb, here comes Santa Bulb...round 2! I used crackle paint and multiple other colors to whip out a basic Santa face.  The more I look at it...the more I think it looks like it is from the Jetsons.

IT'S PSEUDO GARFIELD! I did not have yellow paint, so I will have to fix that later after I get near some.  Again, google image the picture and get to painting. 

As arguably the most truly me in all of the ornaments of today, I made a Coheed & Cambria based ornament. If you do not know who they are...get off my lawn.  TOTALLY KIDDING! But I really like them and have for years, and they may well go down as my favorite band overall. 


Please excuse my messing up of the table, I had to have all of my stuff within arms reach to make sure that if I was holding a wet ornament and got a great idea, it would not be hard to make it happen.  I already had all of the materials for this on hand, which made it that much better.  If you are getting ready to craft, take a look at what you have buried in your totes and organizers before you go buy more.  There are some very crazy things that make for quite the ornaments later.  To make all of these, I used less than 10ft of tulle, less than 4 ft of ribbon, a fraction of two different colored bottles of puffy paint, and barely made a dent in my other paint or polyflake.  The ornaments that are clear came from Michael's (who sells plastic ones individually thank you very much) and the green ones came from my friend Gretchen.

Consider also the many variations on some of these: using red or green tulle on the snowman to make a santa ornament or elf, using feathers in place of tulle, using a part of a boa, etc.  Don't just do what I did because I showed you can- make it better and show everyone! That is what I love about crafting and creative things, we have such a way of building upon what others do that everything is really just the base for something else.

GET TO CRAFTING!  And thanks for stopping by my blog :).

Pin It Now!