Cutie Marshmallow Pops for Cool Kids!

These little marshmallow pops are always a big hit with the kids. We take them to church, make them for birthdays and holidays. I use kabob sticks and I cut off the pointy end. You will need white or regular chocolate. I buy chips sometimes and bars other times. I have used the microwave kind in the past. The key is to always use a double broiler. If you do not have a double broiler, you can use any type of pot that is smaller than your bottom pot. In other words, boil water in the larger pot and sit your pot of chocolate down in that water to melt your chocolate. Do not dip your marshmallows. Once you have them on the stick, you will spoon the chocolate on. It may not be beautiful but your marshmallow won't be melted and you will be covering it with sprinkles anyway. While your marshmallows are still wet with chocolate, dip them in whatever you want. Sprinkles, nuts, crushed cookies.....just about anything works. The sky is the limit. My wee one loves doing this. I put the chocolate on and she dips. Once I made these with regular chocolate, crushed peanuts, and then drizzled with caramel. You know that was not good, right? You can package these in a large covered dish but we like to individually wrap them when we use them at parties. Cute! Cute! You can do this!

A Perfect Harry Potter Halloween Costume

Believe it or not, this is my daughter, Itty Bitty. Everyone thought she was a boy. To me this meant that the costume was a success. We bought one of those Harry Potter robes with the crest on the chest off the Internet and of course it was huge since they did not carry her size. I cut it off and hemmed it and sewed up the sides a little. I took some fleece and made the scarf. Simply make it by stitching contrasting colors together, sewing up the sides to make a tube and turn right side out, turn in the edges and stitch closed. We bought a tie and a boys dress shirt. Also bought some black sweat pants and cut them off on the bottom so they would be straight across. I did not even hem them but certainly you could use some hem tape to make it simple. The hair was hard. We could not find any harry potter wigs so we bought a witch wig and cut it shaggy. It turned out o.k. The glasses are readily available on ebay. Gotta have the glasses! Overall this costume came together and was a huge hit. She loves Harry Potter and everyone loved her in this costume. It was a cutie!

Itty Bitty Pizza your kids can make

Itty Bitty will eat better when she actually takes part in the cooking process. We turn our oven on broil and while it warms, she cuts her sandwich/loaf bread into a circle like a pizza. You can do this with a cutter, a can, a glass, scissors, anything really. The key to making it actually seam like real pizza is to lightly toast both sides of the bread . That's the part I get to do....anything involving the oven. After toasing each side, Itty bitty spreads on a canned type pizza sauce, her "pizza mix" cheese and then tops it with honey ham...I know....kinda weird but she loves it. Then she sprinkles with some oregano and a wee bit of salt and pepper. And she likes to top her pizza with shakable parmesan cheese (sprinkles). Stick it back into the oven and broil until the cheese is melted. Let cool a few minutes, cut into miniature pieces of pizza and EAT! She loves it and I know your kids will too. The key is to get them involved and let them dress their own pizza. Go do it!

Bobby Square Pants

Bobby Square pants is the exact same concept as Nellie the ragdoll. (See previous post and tutorial) The only difference is he is much larger, he has square pants and I did not stuff his arms and legs. Once I was done with him, I had a collar off of a Christmas sweater that I added around his neck and stitched on.

Nellie the Ragdoll Tutorial

Nellie is a cutie patootie. I use this pattern that I had in my head for most dolls that I make the wee one. The main difference between this doll and other dolls is that I dress the doll before I sew her up. I attempted to draw out the steps so you could get a general idea of how to make a ragdoll like little Nellie.

Step 1: Get two scrap pieces of fabric. one for the front, one for the back. Remember this will be the color of her skin. She can be whatever size you choose.

Step 2 and Step 3 can be done together in whichever order you choose. Basically you lay out her clothes on her body before or after you cut her out. You can use fusible webbing to iron them on or you can stitch them on with your machine. I usually do a shirt and skirt for the girl dolls and square pants for the boy dolls. Remember to do the back side as well. Lay them out side by side so they will line up later. If you haven't already...cut her out.

Step 4: Cut out the arms and go ahead and apply the sleeves before you stitch them up. After stitching up the sides, stuff the arms with polyfill. I usually cut a hand shape also.
Step 5: Lay the pieces inside out on top of each other. Sandwich the arms in between with the arms pointing in towards her belly button. You want to do them at this angle so they will hang correctly. Stitch the doll beginning at the side bottom all the way around to the other side bottom. All the way around the head and neck. Do not stitch the bottom edge (bottom of skirt). Use this opening to turn the doll back right side out and she will look like Step 6.

Step 6: stuff the doll completely.

Step 7: cut out the legs and stitch them up the sides and stuff. (of course you know to stitch inside out turning it right side out to stitch. Stitch straight across the legs at the knees so she will be jointed. Then insert the legs up into the skirt and stitch across the bottom of the skirt making sure the legs catch in your stitch and are secure. She is now completely stuffed and sewn shut.

Step 8: Yarn....take two or three pieces, stack together and tie them as one in the middle with a knot. Do this long enough to make long hair. You can trim it when done.

Step 9: Turn the doll over. Begin at the nape of the neck and sew the first knot onto the head. Follow all the way up sewing knots on in a line until you reach the front.

Step 10: Do the same technique all the way around the face and around the nape of the neck if you wish. The entire head will not be covered. Just the line, around the face, and the nape if you choose to do the nape of the neck.

Step 11: Smooth out hair and gather on sides and use yarn to tie in ponytails. Trim the hair up and you are done....except for the face and you are on your own on that one. It can be as unique as you wish. I did stitch a little ball nose on nellie.

I love to embellish these little dolls with belts, socks, shoes, necklaces, bracelets. Nellie even has her own purse. I use old clothes, onesies work great...recycle. This way you will already have the necklines and seams on the clothes if you place them correctly.
You can do this! Go do it!

Easy Hair Bands / Ponytail Bands

These Ponytail holders are so easy. You don't have to know how to sew, no glue is involved....what more could you ask for? You could even do this with your child. All you need is Buttons with the loop on the back, some felt or wool felt pieces and one of the older type of hairbands. The newer type is too chunky to fit through the hole. Simply cut a tiny tiny hole in the center of each piece and layer them together to get the look you are trying to achieve. Push the loop button through until the loop is sticking out the backside and thread through your ponytail band. bring the end of your band back through the end that is not yet passing through and pull tight. Instant boutique looking hairbands. Easy, Easy.

A Mermaid Party for your wee one! Take this cake!

I must have searched every site on the web to get ideas for this Ariel Little Mermaid Cake. This was my first attempt at a cake. Cute and Yummy! You can do this!

Items used:

Wilton cake pans, round...6 inch and 9 inch (these pans rock! that's slang for they are really good and make cake baking much easier.)
parchment paper (to line your pans and to roll out fondant)
Wilton pre-made fondant, white, 1 1/2 boxes (why make it? It's already made for you!)
Wilton wire cake slicer thingy (I promise this is not an ad for Wilton....Just go to Walmart or Michaels....they'll probably have it.)
A good icing knife (gotta have one....makes all the difference.)
Gel food coloring (only use a tiny drop...and I mean tiny!)
Any "fake" props from your local pet store (has to look like icing or you lose the effect)
A cake topper (I used a disney little mermaid music box so my wee one would have a keepsake)
Rolling pin (or anything that resembles one. I used a large wooden dowel like you would use to make a curtain rod.)
any type of cookie cutters ( I used Fox Run Craftsmen cutters, various kinds)

and.... A firm dense cake recipe.....like this one!

White Wedding cake

1 box white cake mix
1 cup flour, all purpose
1 cup sugar

tsp. salt
1 & 1/3 cups water
2 tsp. veggie oil
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
a dash of almond flavoring
a dash of vanilla flavoring

preheat to 325
combine all dry ingredients, then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until nice and smooth.
Helpful Hint....always get your eggs and any cold ingredients out of the fridge for a while and bring closer to room temp.
You will babysit this cake until you can stick something in it and it comes out clean. I use kabob sticks.....use whatever! Fork it if you want to.

I made 2- 9 inch layers, and two 6 inch layers. stacked them after icing them and inserted kabob sticks to stabalize. I off centered my cakes so I could put on the "fake" coral (blue in photo...on left side).

cool and then ice using the following recipe:
a very thin layer of Buttercream Icing:
you can half this recipe, and it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks.

2/3 cup water
4 tablespoons powdered meringue
1 & 1/4 cups solid white shortening
11 & 1/2 cups confections sugar
3/4 teapsoon salt
a dash of vanilla
butter flavoring if you have it......

beat water and meringue powder until peaks form, add some of the sugar, salt and flavorings and beat until smooth. altenately add shortening and sugar until all isused. beat till smooth.

where I messed up....I put too much icing on the cakes for my buttercream layer...make it very thin...otherwise it may make your fondant shift....I used the rest of the icing for my cupcakes....it makes a ton so you can half the recipe. put a dab of icing down before your first layer so it will not fall of the platter....like it would.................just do it! Peace of mind...

Fondant:

The night before I made this...I got out a handful of fondant...and separated it, and colored....use this to make your seaweed, your leaves, stars, fish etc. let the fondant dry overnight. to stick it on the finshed cake, you can either use a bit of icing or you can very lightly dampen the back of the decoration and stick it on. Water is like glue with this stuff. Use a little shortening on your hands during the "play-doh" process so you don't stick. Always roll out your fondant with powdered sugar underneath and on top of the fondant. I colored my fondant with a tiny amount of gel food coloring. I did solid on the small cake and a marbled effect on the bottom. You can make it look marbled by not kneading the color as much as you did for the solid cake. Fondant the two cakes separately, then assemble. When rolling out...roll it thin, like 1/8th of an inch and make sure it is rolled large enough to cover the cake. Cut off any excess with a knife. Do not put fondant in the fridge! Condensation is not your friend. Any shiny spots should be dusted with powdered sugar to get that dull fondant look. With Fondant...the norm is dull...but do what you like! Fondant will tear....be careful when lifting. I used a cookie sheet to transfer it on top of the cake...much safer. when you lay it on, you can just start smoothing it down, it is very workable like play-doh...correct mistakes by dampening your finger...smoothing out, and dusting with the sugar. I did not put the music box on top until I was ready to "unveil" the cake....I was afraid the weight would make it shift. You will experiment with the decorations...I used leaf cookie cutters, a knife, and imagination to twist and turn the decorations. If the fondant dries out, put a dab of shortening on your hands and rework it like play-doh. If you use any fake items, mix in some icing or fondant to make them look like you made them. Fondant is not as hard to do as everyone says it is...just cover any mistakes with your decorations.

Store finished cake on counter uncovered.

You can soooo make this. Go do it!