posted by cindylouh on February 12th, 2010 | kids, kids crafts |
Earlier this week I posted about candy pencil toppers. I received a comment from Diane who mentioned at her school they could not bring in homemade edibles, in fact it is a new state wide law. YIKES. She had a great idea to fill the molds with melted crayon. I think the crayon hearts make really great pencil toppers.
Use the molds for making hard candy, the white ones NOT the clear.
Place a few chopped crayons into molds .
Place mold on cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes at 250 degrees. Watch closely. Wax is highly flammable so extra care must be taken. Remove once crayons have melted. The molds should be about half full.
Allow the crayon to cool just enough to thicken. Place plastic pencil pop in heart mold at a slight angle.
In oven proof container melt more crayon. I used a tin can with the edge bent for easy pouring. Place can on cookie sheet or in pie plate to make it easier to remove from the oven. Also like colors melt best together. We choose blue and purple for the back, but it looks black. It colors fine but didn't make the heart very pretty.
Pour melted crayons filling up the hearts to cover the plastic pencil pop. I first tried melting enough crayon in the molds so the last pour wasn't necessary, however I had too much trouble with the melted crayon running back into the pencil pop reservoir part of the mold.
When completely cool pop out of mold.
Thanks for taking the time to visit me today!
posted by cindylouh on February 11th, 2010 | kids, kids crafts |
If you are looking for some Olympic crafts skip on over to AlphaMom to see how we are celebrating the 2010 Winter Olympics.
posted by cindylouh on January 26th, 2010 | Uncategorized, kids, kids crafts |
My daughter is really into writing letters. She wants to write all by herself and told me that I could just say each letter and then she would be able to write her own thank yous. Well... I worried that process might take a very LONG time so I came up with this...
I found this great font called Quicksand. It can be downloaded for free here.
I printed two thank yous on a page. On the inside she dictated what she wanted to say and I printed the cards again with the messages on the inside and then cut the cards in half and folded.
She was busy and felt so good!
Here is a round-up of printable thank yous from around the web.
posted by cindylouh on January 6th, 2010 | kids, recipes |
Well the boys are back to school and Bella and I are finding plenty to do! Yesterday --- homemade gummi bears!
All we needed was 1 -3 oz box of flavored gelatin and 2 - 1/4 oz packages of unflavored gelatin, water and candy molds. (we used two candy molds)
Place 1/3 cup water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the Jello and unflavored gelatin over the water. Let sit 5 - 10 minutes. (If you like chewier gummi candy add in another packet of unflavored gelatin.)
Place sauce pan over medium heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved, about 2-5 minutes. When mixture is liquid and all gelatin has dissolved, remove from heat. Let cool a minute and then pour into a container that is easy to pour from. I use a small ceramic creamer pitcher.
Fill molds. If you save the inside of the advent calendar for projects like do, it works perfect! The sheet of star molds worked a bit better than the bears because they are a bit deeper. However, I must say we were just needing an activity so our standards were pretty low--- we thought they all turned out great!
Allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes. They may be placed in a refrigerator for about 10 minutes if the kids are eager.
Once cool, the backs can be lightly dusted with corn starch, if desired.
Peel the gummi candy out of the molds. Don't be shy, you won't hurt them when peeling them from the molds. No need to oil the molds!
Enjoy!
Make homemade stickers with the unused unflavored gelatin packets.
Notes: My son felt the blue ones weren't flavorful enough. Next time we will try 2 boxes Jello, 3 packages of unflavored gelatin and 1/2 cup water.
posted by cindylouh on December 28th, 2009 | kids, party decorations, party ideas |
A snowman pinata that is...
Blow up balloons and tape together in desired shape.
Mix up a thick soupy mixture of flour and water.
Cut or tear pieces of newspaper and begin covering balloons. The balloons will need 2-3 layers depending on the strength of the party attendees. Older children might need more layers.
Before final layer add a strong string for hanging the pinata. The string went all the way around the snowman to keep the head from being knocked off. Pieces of tape kept the string in place around the snowman until final layer was put on and dry. When paper is completely dry, cut a hole somewhere on the pinata (we cut the hole in the top of the head). Fill with goodies.
Fold strips of crepe paper in half. Make a slits on the folded sided 1/4" - 1/2" apart.
Glue uncut edges of the strips of crepe paper. spiraling around entire pinata, cutting more strips as needed. Slightly pull crepe paper as gluing to allow the cut edges to pop out.
Allow pinata to dry and then add details. Hot glue construction paper buttons, eyes and a cone shape for the nose to the pinata. The scarf is made of felt (one piece cut in thirds lengthwise, sewn end to end, with slits cut on the outside ends to make fringe).
See the pinata in action at Bella's breakfast with Santa birthday party.
