I Know, I'm A Turkey :0)

I felt so bad when I was cruising in the car towards California last Sunday and suddenly realized I didn't post my Thanksgiving projects!!!  What a Turkey! 

Our family was headed for our very first Just-For-Us vacation...Disney, Beach, SeaWorld, Beach, maybe a little more Beach, and Great Grandma visit just before heading back to our avalanche of a life. 

Since it is still November, I am going to force my turkey cake balls upon your eyeballs :0)

I was so excited with how cute they were.  Eli's class was having a party (while we were gone).  Since my hubby had to bail on the class for their field trip last month, I wanted to make it up to them by making a special treat.  Here is how I did it.  The original idea came from Bakerella. 

I made the cake balls from chocolate cake and chocolate frosting.  I used my 1TBS cookie scoop to make the balls, then rolled them in my hands to make the ball a little firmer.  Almond bark is my melt of choice.  It comes in white and chocolate.  NEVER use regular food coloring to color it!!!!  The liquid will seize up the chocolate.  You can color the almond bark, or candy melts for that matter, but only with the coloring made special for candy.

After I had all the balls dipped in chocolate I let them rest while I made smaller balls from gum paste/fondant for the heads.  When they were made, I melted a little more chocolate and used it as glue to attach the heads and the candy corn feathers.   

For the gaggle I used this cake decorating tip I have for making flowers, no. 97.  It is S-shaped, used to make roses.  I thought it would make a perfect gaggle.   

For the beaks I used tip no. 352, normally used to make leaves.

So, did I mention that I made these guys at 2am.  Things got a little messy, but nothing I couldn't touch up :0)  I just made sure to start out with the same turkeys each step so the worst ones were always the same ones.  We kept those little guys :0) 

Here is the back-side view.  It just cracked me up!  All those little turkey bums :0)

I did the eyes in two steps, the whites with tip no. 4...

Blacks out with tip no. 3

How cute is that!?!  I can't wait to make Christmas ones!  Hopefully I get a little cleaner with the chocolate.

You know, the whole practice-makes-perfect thing.

I had to take a picture in the box too.  They were just so cute all lined up like a tiny turkey army :0)

While I had extra chocolate melted I decided to make marshmallow pops as well.  They are so easy!  I made 4 dozen in less than 20 minutes.  Stab the marshmallows with the short sucker sticks ($1.50 at walmart for 50 count pack), dip in chocolate.  I only dip part way because the chocolate runs down the side and makes them stick to the bottom of my cooling rack.  You can use a piece of Styrofoam to stick the suckers into if you have it.  That way the chocolate won't stick the pop to the rack if you over dip or want the whole thing covered. Sprinkle with decorations while the chocolate is wet.  Once the chocolate is set you are good to go!  You can always use mint chocolate chips for the dip and sprinkle with crushed candy cane for a festive touch.  

I did make this display stand for delivering the pops to the teachers.  I used floral foam, tissue paper, and ribbon.  I wrapped the foam in tissue paper, wrapped extra around the sides, then finished it off with a bow. 

I poked holes into the tissue so I could insert the sticks.  I used my awl hand tool, but I think even a ball point pen or a BBQ skewer would do the job.  I don't stick it all the way down, just poke the tissue so you can get the sucker sticks through.

Ta-Dah!  A better picture would have been more impressive, but at 2am the lighting is terrible :0)

Finally done!  Eli's teachers loved them.  Hopefully the kids did too.

Now, once I get a little laundry done, not all of it-just enough to make walking down the hallway once again possible, I will show you what else I finished in my crazy week before vacation.  Hope you all had a lovely week/Holiday!!!!

See you tomorrow!