Frightfully Tasty! This is just a quick post to give you some ideas for ghoulish goodies. The tree in the Edward Gorey-esque scene above, above was made from spaghetti, soaked briefly in water with black food coloring. I spread it out on waxed paper to dry (it twists and curls up as it dries), and […]
Rope Pot Rest There is something so fascinating about complicated knots. I have a ring that is a Celtic knot, and I love the way the lines double back on themselves and intertwine with the other lines in such mysterious but symmetrical ways. Like M.C. Escher art… Or mathematics brought to life. I ran across a tutorial […]
Cupcake Ornament Made from Recycled Sweaters We had an ornament exchange this year at work, and I wanted my contribution to be handmade. I found directions at the Better Homes and Gardens web site, telling how to make a cute cupcake ornament from recycled wool sweaters. Although I did not follow the directions exactly (I […]
Turn your cookie cutters upside down! As the holiday season approaches, my thoughts always turn to cookies. I have very fond memories of baking and decorating dozens of cookies with my sister, Cindy. (If Cindy reads this, I expect she will astutely point out that she did most of the baking… I mainly did the fun decorating […]
Dishy! Just a quick post to show you the casserole carrier I made. First saw this on the Chica and Jo web site. (Love that web site!) Then dutifully trotted over to 2 Little Hooligans for the tutorial. The only modification I made, was making a round velcro emblem to replace the spoon holder. Yummy!
Shared at Our Family Table I think it must be true of all families, that some of the warmest memories involve cooking (and eating!) Special dinners, birthday cakes, holiday cookies… And perhaps most of all, heartfelt conversations around the kitchen table. At a bookstore several years ago, I remember seeing the book Kitchen Table Wisdom, and […]
Imprinting messages on homemade treats Instead of enclosing a greeting card with your baked goods, how about embossing your message right on the sweets themselves? I love this technique! It produces very professional-looking results, even for those of us whose handwriting is sketchy when using a frosting piping bag. You need to use fondant and […]
Smiles you can count on! I made these Sesame Street cupcakes several years ago for a birthday party. They were such a hit, that I thought I’d post them here. I don’t have a tutorial, but here are some tips: Many of the mouths are Oreo cookies, cut in half. The large eyes are marshmallows, […]
Cute as a button! Just a quick post to show you some button cookies I made recently, using directions and templates I found over at E.A.T. (Emily and Amy’s Treats). Their version is way cuter — the buttons are bright and colorful. I did make a few changes in my version. For one thing, I covered […]
So today, I put away my sewing stuff and craft glue, and decorated a cake. A friend’s daughter is turning 16, and the theme of her “Sweet 16” party is flamingos. So I made a pink flamingo cake. I had intended to take lots of detailed pictures as I went along, to show you the […]
Crochet-topped towel to loop over a handle My grandmother sent me a set of two towels like these many years ago, and they have been used constantly ever since! Because of the button loop at the top, the towels can be attached to an oven handle, a cabinet drawer, a hook, or a towel rack. […]
Courtside cookies! A co-worker asked me to make some cookies for her daughter’s basketball team banquet. She wanted maroon-colored basketballs with white numbers (incorporating the team colors and the individual players’ numbers.) I was more than happy to oblige. I have an embarrassingly vast collection of cookie-decorating paraphernalia, and happened to have a “sports ball” cookie […]
Beverage brand bottlecap magnets I know I already showed you how to make bottlecap magnets where there is a little picture inside the cap. These are a little different, in that they show off the TOP of the bottlecap. Some bottlecaps are stylish, cute or colorful… or even funny/kitschy. Or maybe someone on your gift […]
Embroidered Days of the Week Tea Towels A co-worker of mine married recently, and I thought immediately of a traditional wedding gift in my family, tea towels embroidered with various colorful designs and the names of the days of the week. No one knows how many sets of these my grandmother has made over the years… […]
How to give an egg timer a tri-metal upgrade There is just something magical and enchanting about hourglasses. Can’t you visualize the witch’s giant hourglass with blood-red sand, counting down the minutes to poor Dorothy’s demise in the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz? Or imagine Hermione’s “Time Turner” necklace from the wizarding world depicted in Harry Potter and […]
How to make unique cookie shapes I really, REALLY like to decorate cookies. It combines art and dessert, both of which I adore! Fairly early in my cookie-decorating career, I began to want cookie cutter shapes that were not readily available at shops in my town. Then I discovered some wonderful Internet sources like Foose […]
Need place card holders for a wedding? Or maybe signs for a bake sale? Here is a quick and inexpensive solution: tea light card holders. All you need are tea lights/votive candles, wire (I used 18 gauge), wire cutters, and needle nose pliers. First, measure and cut some lengths of wire. Mine were 4.5 inches […]
A stack of yummy butter cookies, decorated with frosting and topped with hard candy, make a quaint setting for fondant bluebirds.
