Paper Snowflakes - Good for January

Click to enlarge

I love paper snowflakes, but I hate the mess from all of the little bits of paper that get cut out. So, when I found out how to make these beauties years ago, I was so happy. They are absolute stunners and SO SO easy! And they look like advanced paper cutting!

I first made these with my 5th grade students in 1995. The kids loved making them so much that whenever anyone had a spare moment, they cranked out a new one. In no time, we had over 100 snowflakes hanging from our ceiling. As long as you start with a square, you can make these.

I love these best in plain white. I use printer paper. Occasionally, I'll put glitter on the corners which makes my own children very happy. Glitter is always good. I've also spent a bit of money and bought colored foil paper which produced some neat results. But still, I think white is the best. It reminds me of the scene in the movie, ELF, when everyone returns to the store after it has been turned into a white snow wonderland. You could make quite a few of these in one afternoon and have yourself a snowy wonderland as well.

I hope you can read the tutorial I made. Click on the picture and it should enlarge for you. I think it's best to look at photos versus read about each step. In photo 2, I drew the lines where to cut only for the purpose of this tutorial. You won't need to draw lines at all. Just make your cuts. It's all good.

Enjoy! Hope these work for you. Let me know if you have questions.

Birthday Cupcakes: A Last Resort

This year for my daughter's birthday, she declared the cake MUST be a mermaid cake. More specifically, an Ariel cake. Oh brother. I love to bake and I must say, I've made some good ones. But to somehow make an exact mermaid...oh, the task was daunting.

I looked online at various designs and they all seemed decent enough and so I set off to Target to find a mermaid doll that I could tuck down inside the cake. The rest of the tail would be decorated by frosting, as I saw in the example cakes online. I made a delicious 1-2-3-4-cake from the Joy of Cooking book - my "go to" cook book for basic recipes. I always bake birthday cakes in a jellyroll pan so that it turns out large enough to cut up into the shapes I need for the design. This one turned out well and I was ready to shape it, except that my gene that causes me to be practical set in and I asked myself, "why am I ramming this poor doll into the cake, only to draw on a fake tail that is right now tucked inside the cake?"

Sparing you the gory details, an hour later I still had not started decorating, but I had a cake that had been mauled quite a bit and a doll who needed a little bath of sorts. Off to saran wrap and freezer land the cake went. It will make a good bite with cocoa another day. It's almost like pound cake.

The happy ending to this story comes with this: cupcakes were now in order. Red velvet cupcakes to be precise. This was my birthday cake as a child every year. I love how it's so light and chocolatey. More like a chiffon cake since this is made with oil, not butter. So delicious folks. The frosting with red velvet is usually a cream cheese frosting, but I prefer this easy cooked frosting which is so light and incredibly fun to pipe on top with a ziploc bag and a big hole at the bottom. The one trick for the frosting is to cool the ingredients completely before you mix them together. Otherwise, it will curdle, as mine has done many times, and did this time. Ah, well I deserved it. I started these cupcake 2 hours before the party. They were the hit of the party and my daughter seemed to accept them as well, thanks to the mermaid toys on top of each one.

Please do try this recipe. It's wonderful and easy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Whish Together:

3 1/2 C. flour

3 T. cocoa powder

1 1/2 t. EACH baking soda, table salt, and instant espresso powder

Blend; Add:

2 C. sugar

3 eggs

2 C. vegetable oil

2 oz. red food color

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Mix In:

1 1/2 C. buttermilk

1 1/2 t. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside dry, whisked ingredients in a bowl. Blend sugar and eggs on medium until ribbons form, about 5 minutes. While mixer runs, add oil in a slow stream until blended. Add color and vanilla and mix.

Add 1/2 the dry ingredients to the batter, mix on low. Add buttermilk and vinegar, then remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated.

Fill liners (or buttered and floured tins) TO THE TOP. Bake for 20 minutes and check with a toothpick for doneness. May take up to 25 minutes. I cooked my on "aerobake" (convection) at 340 for 17 minutes, so make oven adjustments as needed.

When completely cool, pipe on icing.

TO DIE FOR CLASSIC COOKED ICING

Whisk Together; Cook:

2 1/2 C. whole milk

3/4 C. flour

Cream; Add:

2 1/2 C. sugar

5 sticks unsalted butter (2 1/2 C, yes)
1 t. vanilla extract

Cook milk and flour over medium heat until thick and smooth, about 5 minutes, whisking often. Boil 1 minute to eliminate the starchy taste of flour, whisking constantly. Transfer to a shallow bowl (like a glass pie plate) and cover w/ plastic wrap, pressing it on the surface to prevent a skin from forming; chill until completely cold.

Cream sugar and butter on high for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and chilled milk mixture. Beat until consistency of whipped cream, about 5 minutes. Spoon frosting into a large ziploc and cut a 1/2 inch hole in the bottom corner. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Can sprinkle with cocoa or plastic mermaids as you wish.

Lookie What I Made!!!

Last fall I started following a crafter's blog and it had a "project-a-day" type of format to follow. Well, I'm more of a "project-a-quarter" type of person, so I chose the one best project to take on: the crayon rollie! It's this really cute bundle of fabric with individual slots for a crayon. It's portable and fits in a child's hand when it's rolled up. Just darling, really.

My daughter is currently in a mermaid phase, so I chose seashore fabric with contrasting jumbo red ric-rac and coordinating thread. It was my favorite gift to give her for her 5th birthday. Since she spends many a weekend following along with the family to her older brother's sporting events, I figure it may come in handy with a pad of paper. We'll try it out for the first time this weekend.

Here's the link for the tutorial. It's very easy - a bit of effort to get the ric-rac placed correctly - and it doesn't use much fabric at all. The original pattern called for a ribbon which would be tied for closure. Since tying is so difficult and S-L-O-W, I replaced it with a red hair elastic. Perfect! Enjoy the photos.

A Small Addiction

I'm addicted to glass Christmas balls. Actually, they come in non breakable plastic now, and I love those as well. It doesn't matter. I can't get enough of them, and now that it's (beyond) time to put all traces of Christmas upstairs in my attic, I'm so sad to say goodbye to my round friends.

It started a few years ago when my mom and I were shopping in Seattle at University Village (Go Huskies!). One of the shops where we usually only window shop had amazing wreaths hanging in the windows. They were made solely of colored glass balls. We were both instantly drawn to them. Mind you, these ball wreaths are now mass produced in every store, but at this time, they were new. And they were stunning.

So, we came home and started buying up balls and making wreaths. The crazy part was, one wreath took MANY balls. We had to keep going back to the store to get more. And then, you know how it is when you find a craft you think you love...you decide you need to make one for every person you know. That took many MORE trips to the store. We were calling each other on the phone, "Hey, they restocked the large multicolored balls at Target this morning." Ooh, another trip out. We started to get stocked up on different shaped "balls" as well. Throwing a Santa in there occasionally could be really add a sparkle. More trips out for a new kind of ball.

Before I knew it, I had made 3 wreaths, but had 5 LARGE plastic tubs full of balls. Yipes. And, it was time to put them in the attic for the season. They would speak to me all year. "Start the hot glue gun, we need to be hung."

And then the next Christmas, life interferred with my wreath building love. But that was o.k. I knew I'd get back to it. Except this year, I only made 1 wreath. I started too late and wasn't able to make any as gifts. But the balls are now sitting in tubs in my bedroom, still speaking to me. "Can you at least take me out in July later this year?" I may have to do that, because for now, my love for them has not died in the least, even though I can buy a finished wreath for not much money at all. Doesn't matter. I prefer the homemade kind.

Tomorrow the tubs go back into the attic. I think for now, I'll put a small glass ball in my type tray so that I can see it every day. That will make me very happy. I'm definitely an addict.