Taffy Sparklers

Wahoo!  I can't wait for the 4th of July!

I am in the mood for some excellent fireworks and a good old fashion BBQ.

I thought these Taffy Sparklers would be the perfect addition to the 4th of July picnic.

When we were in St. George, Utah I found a 3lb bag of this taffy for $5 at Walmart.  I mention that we bought it in Utah because Sweet's Taffy is made in Salt Lake City.  I have tried to buy it online, but have not found a decent shipping price.  

Now, the 4th of July is not for a couple weeks, but I needed to make the skewers before all the taffy disappeared.  We are Sweet's Taffy freaks after taking a tour of Taffy Town a few years ago.  Their taffy isn't tough, pulling fillings out with every bite.  It is actually not pulled, but has an agent in it that causes it to rise, light and fluffy!!!  Yumm!  Interested?  Check your local Walmart because I have seen the variety packs at Walmart in Minnesota and here in Arizona. 

Anyway, I put 7 taffies on each BBQ skewer.  Poke the sharp end into the taffy, then pull the candy down to where you want it on the stick.  You could make the project a little easier if you had a block of Styrofoam.  Hold your taffy on the Styrofoam, poke the skewer through, into the Styrofoam.  This is a good way to let the kids help without their sweaty little hands getting poked with the sharp stick.  I left about 1/2" in between each taffy.  Once you get the taffy in place, you can squeeze it just a bit and it will simply stick where you placed it!

I finished the sparkler off with a little curling ribbon and Voila!  

Taffy Sparklers!

Kids will go wild and no one gets burned 

(Just make sure no one runs with the stick :0)

Trendy Tubes in Bloom

My Mother-In-Law is amazing and has this uncanny ability to find the most incredible projects around town.  Of course it helps to live in the crafting capital of the world, Salt Lake City, Utah.  I think it is dangerous to have so many crafty people in such a small inter-mountain crevice.  Or maybe it is the lack of oxygen at such a high altitude that induces extreme craftiness.  I guess the world will never know the exact cause of the creativity, but I must say that I never come home disappointed.

I have never heard of trendy tubes before, and I don't actually think these are "trendy tubes" exactly but that was the name I found for them when I scoured the Internet the other day trying to find some to order.  

Who knew you could make such a fun arrangement from a handful of empty plastic tubes.  

They are 12" long with a sealed end on the bottom and a cap for the top.  This dozen flower arrangement used one pound of green M&M's. 

My Mother-In-Law poured the candy into her hand, then loaded them a few at a time into the tubes.  The vase is filled with clear floral marbles.  

The flower part is made from 3 different sized flowers.  Each petal is creased down the center to create the 3D effect. 

Here is a side view.  Don't you wish you would have known about these for Mother's Day?!?

Now, for the tubes, like I said I searched online and found them at a few locations.  The actual "Trendy Tubes" I found at PaperTreyInk.

They have a metal cap and come in round or square, but they are not the 12" variety.

I found the 12" at SRM Stickers and it was actually called the Magic Wand.

I also found them at Packaging Superstore.  They come in many sizes, but you have to buy in quantities of 200 or something.

They are right about $1 each.  Here are some things I have seen made with them...

Mom and Me Scrapbooking

This 'n That

Poppy Paperie

Inspired By PaperTreyInk - You need to see this whole post to get the full effect-Totally fun project/gift!

Enjoy!

Make-Your-Own 'Mallows!

So my skirts aren't ready to chronicle yet, but my MARSHMALLOWS ARE!!!

Years ago, when I was working as a school bus driver, one of the aids that rode the bus mentioned that she spent the weekend making marshmallows.  I looked at her like she was crazy!  She talked about how much work they were, but how cool it was to make something like that from scratch.  She said they sell them at fancy department stores for millions of dollars.

Fast forwarding to now, I had to try it.  I don't even like eating marshmallows, but somehow I was dazzled by the idea of making my own.  I hit the web.  After finding a couple crazy marshmallow-making people I finally came across Deb at Smitten Kitchen.   Check her out!  The photos are amazing and the instructions she found were so easy to follow. 

I borrowed a stand mixer from a friend and went to town.  They really did turn out just right!  She says we can even roast them :0)  It is just cold enough her we can finally fire up the fire pit out back and not die of heat exhaustion :0)

One more thing...I just got an email tonight for this FABULOUS project, an advent calendar made from a mini-muffin tin!  It is such a great price...I just might order one myself!!!

   It is on sale for $20 at Story Tellers Club-Digital Scrapbooking Site, everything included-even the tin!  Now, I know that tomorrow is Dec. 1st and by the time it comes in the mail and I finally find time to make it Christmas will be here...but I am tempted anyway!!!

The skirts are coming, I promise!  See you soon.

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!

Madison's Cutie Pies

Last week was totally crazy.  I thought that when I finished Super Saturday I would have a nice easy couple of weeks to get caught up on a couple projects.  Man was I wrong!  I canned far too many jars of tomatoes, peaches, and peach jam to count.

(this picture only shows one morning’s work)

I assembled many ingredients for hairbows, but failed to finish a single one.

My etsy order for school days charms spiraled out of control!  What started out as 7 different sets of 8 turned into 20 sets of 8.  Here are the new designs I came up with.  I also did a couple more for myself, but they aren't picture-ready yet: Hello Kitty, a Princess Castle, a Rainbow, Minnie Mouse, Birthday Cake, Cupcakes, and the cutest Ice Cream Cone EVER!!!

Wanting desperately to show you something finished, here are Madison’s Cutie Pies!

  My crazy, darling daughter just decided out of the blue that she wanted to make apple pie.  Last year, yes over 12 months ago, I canned several jars of apple pie filling.  Really, I was just missing Grandma (what usually brings me to canning fruit), and that is why I made the apple pie filling.  Grandma and I always canned it together.

  My family does not like pie.  Those jars of pie filling sat on the shelf an entire year and we did not use a single one!  Madison saw some ramekins at Target, 4 in a pack for $2.50.  They worked perfectly for the mini pies she had in her mind.  I can't believe she made the pie crust completely by herself!  To bad she can't pick the clothes up of her bedroom floor!  *mom moment*   

 She made these pies first, and had filling left over so we went for a second design. 

We saw a blog post many moons ago were someone had baked pies in canning jars for her friends or something (for the life of me I can't find the post-I know I saved it somewhere!)  With that suggestion, away Madison went.   She started out by making pie crust, smooshing a bit in the bottom and smoothing it out with this weird Pampered Chef tool.  Then she added small amounts to the sides and squished it around till it lined the jar. 

In the last jar we tried to roll out the dough and then slide it in for the sides.  That worked rather well.  If you decide to give it a try, start out with the rolling method.  It might work better for you and you won't end up with such a thick crust.  I bet you could even buy store-bought pie crust, cut it into strips the height of the canning jars, and just press it into the jar.  Whatever way you go, it will be delicious!

The pie crusts were baked in the oven first, just to be certain they were fully cooked.  We preheated the oven to the temp specified on the recipe, placed the jars on a cookie sheet, and slid the sheet in the oven.  We baked them for 10 minutes, I think.  Whatever your recipe recommends.

Next, we filled them with filling, topped with a cute top crust, then baked again for 30 min.  WoW!  How cute is that!?!

I absolutely LOVED IT!!! 

Madison got to take a couple to special people in her life.  I got one of my very own!!!  What a treat.  My very own pie.  I didn't even have to share!  Best thing about a pie in a jar, you can take a couple bites, then screw the lid on and save the rest for later! 

As for this week, I think I need to impose a mandatory "MY Project Day"  Then no matter what orders I have out or craziness in my week, I can still get something of my own done!  I am thinking Thursday.  We will see how that goes.  I am thinking sewing, also!  My poor machine has been crying over there in the corner, simply begging to come out and play :0)  Wish me luck!