Thursday, September 29, 2011

Overcoming my fear of dipping in Chocolate

There are a great many things I feel skilled at, or at least comfortable with. Dipping in chocolate has never worked out for me - ever. I make things dipped in chocolate and never feel like they are presentable. Someone needs to come over and teach me the basics, please. My inability never stops me though, why if I mess up we just eat the evidence! When some giant sized marshmallows were left at my house this summer I had no choice but to dip them in chocolate, in a Halloween theme of course!


I grabbed a bag of Wilton's orange candy melts and microwaved them on the defrost mode for 3 minutes stirring every minute. They came out like thick frosting, so I pulled out my frosting spatula and went to town. First dipping the stick in the chocolate to help set it in the marshmallow then frosting all sides.


My original intent was to use the Wilton food coloring pens, but they didn't work on the chocolate coating. Instead I used black sparkle gel, which made a messier project for the kids.


These were undoubtedly a success and fun to do. Wrap in some cellophane with faces or not and you have a wonderful gift (even if you eat them yourself).

More projects to come!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Boo-tiful Art

This week the totes came down from the attic...my favorite totes of all! 4 glorious totes of Halloween decorations made there trip into the house. The kids were jumping around helping me sort outdoor and indoor decor for an hour before the bus came to cart one off to school.  After all was sorted I had a moment of pure inspiration. Last week I found a canvas and fingerpainting project at *Explantionrequired through Tip Junkie.
Our spin on it looks like this:

We purchased canvas, acrylic paints with the tip that if you get the same analogous colors you don't have to wait for each layer to dry, and Halloween shaped stickers and letters. Roland choose the ghosts stickers with orange and yellow paints.
We attached the stickers on the canvas and let the boys go.



Gabe and I decided on a different route. We painted the canvas black then waited for it to dry before placing the stickers. The purple was placed on next. In the future I would use a lighter purple.

Each piece was finished off with glitter acrylic paint and once dry the stickers were carefully pulled off.



I love the outcome and can see these making gifts and art for every occasion. I look at stickers in the store differently now with visions of this project in mind.

Link Parties:
Tip Junkie handmade projects
Photobucket


Creations by Kara

NightOwlCrafting3 Boys and Dog

Who I am and Why I am blogging

I can be seen moving around the house with my 2 muses, my sons, one 6 and one 2.  I may look like I am cleaning, or preparing a craft project but in my head I am narrating it like a blog.
"Wouldn't this look great if I took a step by step photo of it?"
"Wouldn't people love to see how I did this?"

So here I am officially bit by the blogging bug and taking the plunge.  I am not a writer, or a photographer. What I am is inspired by my family, friends and blogs to create fun in my home. I hope others can take what I publish here and be inspired as well.