Saturday, November 23, 2013

Christmas plaque and coasters tutorial



Well, I actually do have a TON of tutorials to post, but B has been out of town a lot lately and- as usually is the case - everything goes in the crapper as soon as he leaves.  The doctor put me in the most beautiful boot for a sprained foot and the breaker that controls most of our upstairs went bad :/  Good times to be had by all.  Here's something from last year that really isn't a tutorial per se, but it's super easy.  I'd seen a bunch of these adorable "Mistletoes" tutorials and wanted to give it a shot.  Turns out most of my kids' feet were too big for the small coaster tiles, so we did hands instead.  You gotta work with what ya got ;P

The plaque was a Christmas present for B last year, and the coasters were for the grandmas.  All I did was get a foam brush and some paper plates and LOTS of baby wipes, then painted the kids' feet with green acrylic craft paint and pressed them onto tile I bought at Lowe's.  What's great about this is that if you mess up, you can just wipe it off and try again.  When the green was dry, I had then dip their fingers in white paint and do fingerprint "berries".  I used a red sharpie for the ribbon, but if you have better painting skills than me, you could use paint for that as well.  Let it all dry, then spray with Krylon matte spray sealer.

For the plaque, I printed what I wanted on the bottom as a mirror image (follow the section in this tutorial to flip your image) on plain white paper.  I placed it on the tile, got it damp with a wet paper towel, and used a spoon to burnish it on.  It wasn't a very vibrant transfer, so I used a sharpie to go back over it, but it's not necessary.

Finally, hot glue some felt to the back of the tile, and you're all done :)







Don't forget the sealing step - this makes the coasters functional instead of just decorative :D

Have fun crafting!



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Momma Hack #1 - The Kiss Trick


This here Momma Hack has saved me from more than one awkward and potentially illegal situation.

We've all been there.

Your daughter just bit her tongue.  

Your son just racked himself.

Your 2 year old just stubbed their grubby, smelly toe.

"Momma!!  Kiss it!"

O_o

"I'm sorry, what?"

"KISS IT!  MAKE IT BETTER!!!"

"Uh, I can't."

"Kiss it NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!"

Hmmmm.....thinking.....processing.....

"Well, Sweetheart, I can't."

*tears and wailing and gnashing of teeth*

*!!lightbulb above head!!*

"Here!  Let me kiss my hand and then give you the kiss on your hand to put wherever you need to!"

"mmmmm, okay"

Boom.  Awkward mommy moment solved.  This also works when you've kissed the boo boo 20 times only to be told that you keep missing it ;P





Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Grown-up Dunkaroos

Photo courtesy of Amazon and Betty Crocker

Anyone remember these from when you were a kid?


You can buy them here if you need about 5 million of them.  But if you just want a few, then head on over to your grocery store for this deliciousness that is sure to put you into sugar shock - mainly because you just. can't. stop. eating. them.

Here's what you need:

Cinnamon graham cracker sticks - Kroger has a generic brand that I use, Honey Maid makes some and I think so does Keebler.  If this is for the littles, you could use cinnamon Teddy Grahams.

You can purchase in bulk here if you'd like



Now, make up a batch (or in my case, a 1/4 batch) of this buttercream frosting recipe, courtesy of Billy Reece of Billy's Bakery in NYC.  Seriously...this stuff is amazing.  I've used it on chocolate cupcakes before and it is drool-worthy.  Creamy, light (no crisco!!!  SCORE!), and fluffy.  

For a 1/4 batch, I used:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 cup milk (I just added a little bit in to moisten it
1/8 tsp of vanilla extract (just a few drops)

Beat the butter and sugar together (it will be very dry).  Add in the milk and beat a bit more.  Then add vanilla and mix some more.

And you're done!  Now all that's left is to dip the cinnamon (or honey, or chocolate) sticks into that vanilla buttercream deliciousness and try not to eat the whole thing at once :D

Enjoy!!!


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