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Archive for March, 2011

Tips for making lollipops

posted by cindylouh on March 31st, 2011 | lollipops, recipes |

Making these lollipops have become quite addictive! It is surprising how easy and how few supplies it takes to make such awesome treats! Yesterday was my first go at making suckers with the metal molds. They were beautiful translucent lollipops. Today I made the coolest opaque lollipops.

Making the suckers opaque was easy. Just add a bit of liquid white food color.

Tips for making lollipops

Have your supplies measured and ready to go before you begin!

Spraying the measuring cup with cooking spray will make the corn syrup slide right out.

Pour hot mixture into a glass or ceramic pitcher to fill the molds. It is easier to poor and if the mixture sets up too quickly, just reheat in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

How to make opaque lollipops

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup white (light) corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp flavoring

food coloring

1/2 tsp liquid white food color

sucker sticks

sucker bags

twist ties

hard candy molds

Grease inside of molds with shortening or cooking spray. Place molds on flat greased surface. A marble slab or or new cookie sheet works great. If using the metal molds, place clip over tabs and insert sucker stick between tabs.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a small sauce pan. Stir mixture over medium heat until sugar is dissolved (about three minutes). Raise temperature to medium high and cook without stirring until mixture reaches 300 (hard crack stage). This takes about 10 minutes depending on your stove.

Take a self portrait while you are waiting.

Once the mixture gets to 250 it moves quickly so watch closely. Once at hard crack stage (300 degrees) remove immediately from heat. Add in 1/2 teaspoon flavoring, a drop of food coloring (I used electric yellow) and 1/2 teaspoon white liquid food color to make your suckers opaque. Pour mixture into a glass or ceramic pitcher.

Fill molds.

Once lollipops have cooled enough to set, remove from molds. You have made opaque suckers.


Don't miss these other tutorials on making lollipops

Translucent Suckers

Pencil Pops

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How to make homemade lollipops

posted by cindylouh on March 30th, 2011 | recipes |

Making homemade suckers is really simple and fun!

We just got these new metal hard candy molds in our shop and I couldn't wait to try them!  To make suckers you need some type of molds (or you can drop spoonfuls of the candy on the top of sucker sticks) , flavorings , coloring, sucker sticks and sucker bags. Everything else you should have in your kitchen.

Homemade Lollipop Recipe

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup white (light) corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp flavoring

food coloring

Grease inside of molds with shortening or cooking spray. Place molds on flat greased surface. A marble slab or or new cookie sheet works great. If using the metal molds, place clip over tabs and insert sucker stick between tabs.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a small sauce pan. Stir mixture over medium heat until sugar is dissolved (about three minutes). Raise temperature to medium high and cook without stirring until mixture reaches 300 - 310 (hard crack stage). This takes about 10 minutes depending on your stove. Once the mixture gets to 250 it moves quickly so watch closely. Once at hard crack stage remove immediately from heat.

Carefully stir in coloring (I used a drop of deep pink) and flavoring. Pour mixture into a glass or ceramic pitcher.

Fill molds.

Allow to cool until candy is set. Remove clip from mold then remove mold from lollipop.

Yummy!

Allow to completely cool on a flat surface. Once cooled place in sucker bags, tie shut and share with friends!

You can even make the lollipops opaque. See my Tips For Making Lollipops. You might also like to have your lollipops fit on top of a pencil. See how to with Pencil Pops.

Made By You Monday

posted by cindylouh on March 28th, 2011 | Made By You Mondays |

If you would like to participate you will need to paste the code below at the top or bottom of your post to show you are participating in Made By You Mondays!

Simply copy the code below in the box and paste where you can edit the html in your blog post.

I hope you will join us over at the Memories In Motion Community at BlogFrog for some fun discussions!


How to make chalkboard Easter eggs

posted by cindylouh on March 25th, 2011 | Easter, Flashback Friday |

If you are thinking ahead to Easter, these eggs are fun to make. They would make a cute Easter wreath with the words, "Happy Easter" spelled out on the eggs.

Friday Flashback......

I was totally inspired to see Martha make her own chalkboard paint. This could be the start to limitless crafts. I already loved chalkboard paint, but to have colors---wow. I think these chalkboard painted eggs would be unique place-cards for Easter dinner or just fun for kids to decorate over and over again with chalk. I used wooden eggs but you could also use blown-out real ones. They might be fragile when decorating, so I would probably fill them with plaster to make them more sturdy.

You will need:

Eggs, Acrylic or Latex Paint, Primer, Non-Sanded White Grout, 220-150 Sandpaper, Foam Paint Brushes and something to mix the paint in.

chalkboard-painted-egg-1.jpg

I first gave my eggs a coat of primer

chalkboard-painted-egg-2.jpg

I then mixed 1/4 cup of acrylic paint with 1 1/2 teaspoons of non-sanded grout. Mix well. Paint two generous coats of paint, allowing each layer to dry before adding the next. Once the two layers are dry, LIGHTLY sand the entire egg. Wipe away dust with a damp cloth. I repeated this process until I had 6 coats of paint.

chalkboard-painted-egg-3.jpg

Once the egg was completely dry I was able to draw on the egg with chalk. Most colors rubbed away easily, however a few needed a damp cloth to be removed. Plain black store bought chalkboard paint would also make for dramatic eggs.

chalkboard-painted-egg-5.jpg

I used a miniature grapevine wreath (sold in a bundle at the craft store) and a little bit of wooden green grass to display the eggs.

Easy Ruffle Bottom Onesie Tutorial

posted by cindylouh on March 24th, 2011 | Gifts for Baby, handmade gifts, sewing |

If you need a super quick and simple baby gift this embellished onesie is perfect.  (I really need to borrow a baby to model this cute onesie!)

For this ruffled butt onesie no need to cut strips of fabric and finish edges. I used 1 1/2 inch wide organza ribbon. So grab a onesie (a nicer quality one than I had on hand)  and some ribbon and you are ready to go.

Position the ribbon where you want the ruffle and measure three times the width. Repeat this for each of the three (or more) rows. I had three lengths of ribbon in slightly decreasing size.

Place Fray Check on the end of each ribbon to keep it from unraveling and fraying.

With the longest straight stitch sew down the middle of each length of ribbon. Pull thread to gather.

Pin ribbon to onesie. I started at the top with the longest ribbon and worked down.

Sew gathered ribbon to the onesie by stitching down the middle of the ribbon.

Repeat for next two rows. My rows were spaced just less than an inch apart.

Imagine the possibilities--- hot pink polka dot ribbon with a matching handmade ribbon flower on the front.........Just make sure you choose ribbon that is washable!

I used a piece of 1/2 inch ribbon and a ribbon detail to embellish the front.


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