A few sweet things...

Continuing with the Valentine's Day theme, here are some cute conversation heart soaps from Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom:

Next is some absolutely adorable cupcake wall art from Krafty Kat:

And finally, a challenge to the play kitchen I posted a little while ago: Taylor Made also used a night stand, and I have to say, the result is amazing!

Candy Crafts!

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and those little conversation hearts are everywhere in the stores, but I haven't seen as many crafts with them as I thought. Still, here's a good one: conversation heart wreath from Crafts & Such:

And here's a great cotton candy (fairy floss or candy floss to the Brits) garland from Craft Snob, the perfect sweet and feminine decoration:

Lastly, take a look at these incredible flowers from Creative Jewish Mom - they're made from Fruit Roll-Ups!

Candy Heart Pillows

Love Valentine's Day conversation hearts? Here's a great tutorial on how to make pillows shaped just like them from Sweetie Pie Bakery!

Play kitchen and more felt food

Got an old nightstand? Turn it into a play kitchen with one of the best upcycles I've ever seen! Visit Pie Birds, Buttons, and Muddy Puddles for the tute!

Also, One Pretty Thing has yet another round up of felt food - it's got some great stuff, but some of it looks pretty familiar.

Candyland Birthday Party!

I just stumbled across this insanely cool Candyland-themed birthday party! They turned their whole yard into a giant game board with each of the different "areas" from the game! Go check it out!

Da-who Dor-aze!

For Christmas, I decided to start a new tradition - recreating a famous scene from a Christmas movie in gingerbread. I'll be doing this every year, hopefully. I decided to start with the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! It took me two whole days, and while it's certainly not professional, I'm proud of it. For my first time I think it's pretty good.

 I started off by printing off the characters on photo paper, as per the instructions on University of Cookie.

I used those as a pattern for cutting out the dough (warning: it takes forever!)

It required a lot of baking (I made extras of everything, just in case, which was pretty useful in the end). The project took over the whole kitchen for both days. Sitting on the stove are pans of triangles - I made those to use as bases to get the Whos and buildings to stand up. It worked perfectly!

I used royal icing for the outlines, and then tried to do flood icing inside. It didn't really work - the tips clogged about every 2 centimeters, and I had to keep stopping to try to fix it. It took at least twice as long as it should have. I was using a fairly large tip, too - maybe the icing was just a little too thick?

The Whos getting their clothes. In the end, I only used about 4 or 5 colors for the clothes, just so I wouldn't have to keep coloring new batches of icing.

One of the Whos standing! And Mom said it would never work. The triangle on the back is attached with regular icing.

The finished village! The trees around the back are ice cream cones with green frosting, and the star on the Christmas tree is cut from tin foil (Dad did it). Yes, I know it's not exactly show-stopping, but for my first time, I think it's pretty good.

Close-up. I ran out of icing before I could finish Cindy Lou Who (hence the ornament not being filled in). My problem was tinting too much icing for each color in the beginning - it meant I ran out just before the end.

Another shot of the village with all the singing Whos. I love their hair. All in all, I think it's a success!

Cupcake Crafts

Just a quick post today: All Things Cupcake did a post on cupcake crafts including a cute game for kids and little cupcake washcloths. Go check it out!