Photo Mini Diary Tutorial

Today has nothing to do with cakes, but it is SWEET! And since this is EVERYTHING sweet, it goes.

Today is a little tutorial on how to do these great little photo diaries (I guess that's what you'd call them). I have been doing these for a couple of years now with my little girls and I always get questions from friends on how to do them so I decided to create a little tutorial for anyone who is interested in creating their own. :)

Basically, I take one of my favorite pics of my baby and around her birthday I add a few words to the photo to describe HER...what a couple of her favorite things are, funny things she said, quirky habits, inside jokes, etc.

I created mine in Paint! Its no special app, its free, came with my computer....First step, open your photo...(correction...first step is TAKE a great photo, then turn it into a black and white photo), THEN open the photo in Paint. ;)

When you first open it (if it is a large photo) it will look like that (down below). OOPS! Too big. ;) Zoom out so you can see what you're working with...hit the view button (see arrow) then zoom out.

Zooming out, zooming out, zooming out, until....

Now you can see what you're working with!! ;) Now to start adding your words!

Hit the Home button, then the button with the letter "A", which is the text box button.

Once you've selected the text box option, click on the picture and drag the mouse to create a box as big as you'd like. This was a large photo so for the name and age I chose 300 font size. Make sure to avoid writing ON the subject you're writing about (wouldn't want to cover up that pretty little face) ;) Oh, and choose black or white color font depending on the background. Your background might be lighter in which case you'd want to do a black font, or it could be dark like my photo so choose white font.



Next step is adding the fun descriptions...same formula, select the "A" button and start a new text box, placing it wherever you want on the photo. You'll need to go with a much smaller font size than the title, making sure to change the size of each description to give it a little character. (my font sizes ranged from 120 to 35). The good thing about this project (and what makes it so easy) is that its not supposed to be perfectly lined up, proportioned, etc. The words are all over the place (at least that's how I did it).

Add and add and add all your text until you're done. VOILA!! You have a sweet little photo mini diary of your child's quirky habits, favorite things, funny sayings, etc. :)

Oh, and I have another one...a little different from my sweet Bailey girl. Its Olivia, my other baby...the mischievous one. I love her. Love her, love her, but she is crazy.. Here she is...read up, you'll get a little sense of who Liv is. ;)

Hopefully this helps some of y'all out there to do your own little photo diary.

Have fun!!!! Say cheese. Oh, and eat Cake too!!!!!

Sweetheart Pops

Hi all!! Where have I been you ask?!?

Ping pong tournament with my husband...one on one...in our basement. Despite a lot of trash talking on my part and several "one last, best two out of three's" I have proved myself NOT the ping pong champion I thought I was. lol

That's right Brian, I said it, you're better than me (at ping pong).

Lets move on...

(nobody really cares about ping pong anyway...)

So, a couple of days ago I shared my tutorial for sweetheart cake pops over at the fabulous Skip To My Lou. In case you missed it over there, here it goes a second time.

These cuties are so easy to make! All you need is cake, icing, lollipop sticks, candy melts and a little heart cookie cutter (mine is about 1.5 inches).

First step, mix cake (a baked cake, not cake batter) and icing. If you have never made cake pops before you'll need to play around with the amount of icing you add to the cake. I wish I had an exact measurement, but I don't. I add my icing, little by little, until I reach the consistency of play doh (meaning you can play with it). ;)

I know mom! I'm stopping...

Ok, on to the next step...

Flatten your play doh work of art into a pancake about 3/4 of an inch thick...

and cut out your hearts...

Dip your lollipop stick into melted candy melts and then insert into the heart. (The candy melts help the cake to stay on the stick)

Now pop these suckers into the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up.

30 minutes later...

(walk upstairs from the basement after losing AGAIN at ping pong and...)

Its showtime!!!!
Add a generous dollop of shortening to your candy melts and microwave your candy in 30 second intervals until melted. (the shortening helps thin the chocolate making it easier to cover)

Once your candy and shortening is melted and mixed together its time to dip that sucker!!!






















BEAUTIFUL!!!

Now, set your heart pop on waxed paper to dry. Once dry you can eat them, gift them or just look at them (and even take a few pictures b/c you're so proud of how cute they turned out). :)

These little heart containers (they're found all over the place in the Valentines Day aisle) are the perfect size for these little treats!

DIY Magnet Frame!

Ok, before I get started let me introduce you to my new favorite pen! How great is this guy?! I got him today. Doesn't he just make you want to smile? Everyone needs a pen that makes them giggle while signing all their money away during bill time. :)

Jealous of my new pen? Well, you can have one too! He is at the Dollar Tree where you'll be visiting to get the supplies you need to make my Dollar Tree magnet frame as seen in the tutorial below!!!

Grab your pen (hehe) and take notes!

Ok, so my buddy over at Amanda's Parties to Go has a great new Valentines Day Collection out and it is a must have!! The minute I saw her FREEBIE for Hershey kiss covers (check them out) I immediatly thought about bottle caps. Bottle caps are a great embellishment for hair bows, necklaces charms, embellish any craft, magnets...did someone say MAGNETS! I want to make some bottle cap magnets! (I'm such a loser)

So I did....

Then I needed something to do with all these silly magnets. So I made something else. A little magnetic frame/message board. I made it for a little over a couple dollars kids. You still with me?

Step one: Go to the Dollar Tree and get yourself one of these fancy-smancy “silver” serving platters. I chose the square design. They have oval and rectangle. $1 I used Amanda’s Valentines Day collection for the paper background.
(immaturely giggling)

Once the paint has dried (or before you paint) make yourself a template of the inside. It makes cutting the paper you’ll be using so much easier. Then, using your template as a guide, cut out your paper to fit on the inside of the platter. It already looks cute!
If you want to make your frame/message board a hanging one you’ll need to get a hammer and a screw driver and knock two holes in it to tie ribbon through.

And don’t be hatin’ on my hammer y'all! It may not be much to look at, but it does the job!!) ;)
I want mine to be a desktop frame/message board so I let the long ribbon fall to the back (incase I change my mind) and tied a pretty little ribbon for the front (I tied it first and then hot glued it on). Sit it on a little frame easel (another dollar store find). And look how precious. It needs just one more thing…
I added a little “P” to personalize. (I found the P at Hobby Lobby...50 cent). The magnets are bottle caps. I got the bottle caps and covers here on etsy.

OR you can always get your bottle caps the fun, good old fashioned way. ;)

Either way, you need to paint them with spray paint (I used red and pink), used my one inch hole punch to punch out the insides (design from Amanda’s collection), glued them on the inside of the bottle caps and then put a bottle cap cover over the paper. Then I attached magnets (again, found at Hobby Lobby) to the back of the bottle caps. DONE!

Doesn’t this make the cutest frame!?! Wait! Pause! Bring it in a little closer. Look how sweet and precious that little baby is!?!? Whose children are those?! Oh wait, their mine. ;)



Except that sweet little baby is no longer a sweet little baby anymore. She is 2 going on 3 (in two months) and she is mean as a snake now! ;) (ok, not "mean" just really mischevious...the word hellraiser kinda comes to mind) But doesn’t she look so sweet and unassuming in this picture.

Ahhhh, memories.

By the way this is a 5 by 7 picture. Perfect size for this “frame”.

And don’t forget! This can be used as a message board too. Here it is hanging on my pantry door. Its always good to have a nice little reminder...
Wouldn't it make a great Valentines Day present for your kids' teachers?!

Whaaaaaat's up Mrs Phillips!!!?!?!?

I hope you're not reading this right now b/c this one's for you! ;)

(just kidding...it was going to be, but I have since come up with another idea for you)
It may be early, but at least its not late...here goes anyway... Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Christmas Tree Cupcake Tutorial

Don’t you just love the holiday season!?!?

Every time I turn around there is something special going on, some kind of celebration.

And where there is a celebration there is a need for sweets!

Aren't these cupcakes adorable?!? A tall swirl of icing covered in chocolate. Stick some M&Ms on and dang, you got yourself a cupcake!! :)

As my girls said in the morning when they awoke to these bad boys as their advent surprise, "Are they real!?!? Can we eat them?"

Too good to be true I suppose. ;)

Wanna learn how to make them? :) They're not as difficult as they may look. Head over to Amanda's Parties TO GO. Amanda invited me to do a guest post on her fabulous blog. I created a fun tutorial to show you just how easy they are.

Tipsy Tuesday: Margarita Pop Tutorial

Remember these???

After I posted a pic of these margarita cake pops I recieved a few emails and comments requesting a tutorial, soooooo here it is!!! A quick tutorial to show you how easy these cute desserts are.

First, start off with a little ball of cake ball mixture. (recipe here) WARNING: Bakerella's recipe says to use an entire can of frosting. That is WAAAAYYYY too much! You do that and your cake balls will be mush and slide right off the stick! I use MAYBE 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup of icing...then add more if the mixture is too dry.

So, start off with a cake ball and flatten the top of the ball by pressing it down on a flat surface. At the same time you are making the top flat, go ahead and shape the bottom by kind of pinching it on all sides so that its thinner at the bottom and fatter (and flatter) at the top to resemble a cup.

Dip your popcicle stick into melted chocolate and stick it in the bottom of the "cup".

Put it in the fridge to firm up.

While its "firming" go ahead and get the bottom of the margarita glass ready.

I took a wooden skewer and warmed it up a little by touching it to the hot stove. I wanted the stick to be warm so that it would go through the little round piece of unmelted candy melt easily and not make too big of a hole. You want the hole just smaller than the lolipop stick which is why I used a skewer instead of the lolipop stick.

So here I am...making a hole in a candy melt with my skewer. :)

Now that you've got that done...you can do something else with your time like scrub the toilet or pull the weeds (yeah right!?) while you give your cake pop some alone time in the fridge.

After you've finished all your chores, its time to cover the cake pop and make this baby come to life! I use a large spoon to pour my chocolate over the pop rather than try to dip. And as I pour the chocolate over the pop I don't try at all to avoid the stick. In fact...ya gotta cover part of the stick to make the margarita's stem. Sweet!!! Love being able to be sloppy!! ;)

While the chocolate on the stick is still wet its time to put the base of the margarita glass on. All you have to do is slip it through the bottom of the lolipop stick and bring it up to the "stem".

Since the hole on the candy melt circle is slightly smaller than the width of the lolipop stick it will stay up pretty easily and stick to the melted chocolate on the stem.

Now, let the chocolate on the cake pop completely dry. While its drying you can make your strawberry topper.

Start off with a little ball of red fondant and some little "ropes" of green fondant. Shape the red so that the top is thicker than the bottom (like a strawberry). :)

Stack the green fondant ropes on top of each other in a criss cross pattern.

Add the stem to the red and use a black edible marker to add seeds. (seeds not shown in pic) And this is the point in my little tutorial where things got tricky. My kids needed me so I put the camera and sweet stuff down to play. Sooooo, I neglected my tutorial and didn't take any further pics. :( BAD BLOGGER! (I can see you all pointing and waving your fingers at me) ;)

Stay with me. though..I'll try to explain the last couple of steps which are pretty easy...

Make sure the chocolate on the pop has dried completely. Then put some melted chocolate in a plastic baggie, cut a hole in one of the corners. You will use this baggie to create a "rim" around the top of the margarita glass. Once you've got the rim on the top of the glass sprinkle some pink sugar. The sugar will only stick to the melted chocolate creating a rim for the margarita glass.

At this point add your strawberry and you've got one sweet little toddy.

(to make the lime I cut a candy melt in half and added white frosting for the embellishments)

Cheers@!!

Tipsy Tuesday...Fathers Day Treats!!!

This is a looooong Tipsy Tuesday with two types of Father's Day cake pops! Stick with me b/c we've got some cute dessert ideas for your Dad/Stepdad/Husband/Grandfather/animal owner!

These first cake pops are for the GOLF enthsiast! My dad loves anything golf! ANYTHING golf. So he is going to love these. And even though he is on a no carb/no starch/no sugar diet, he is GOING to eat one of these and he'll LIKE IT! ;)
(some people say my dad has a bossy daughter...not sure how that rumor got started???)

Ok so let me show you how to make these cute little trophy cake pops! First, find some trophies. I found mine at the Dollar Tree. I've also seen them at Party City.

Add a little candy melt to the bottom of the trophy, then press some styrofoam in. Then add more candy melts. You want to add the candy melts to hold the styrofoam in place AND to weigh the trophy down. These trophies may be cute, but surprisingly they aren't solid gold...what CAN you buy with a dollar these days!?!?! SHEESH!


After you have poured the chocolate insert 1/2 of a 6 inch lollipop stick in making sure it goes through the styrofoam as well as the chocolate. You might need to add a little more chocolate once the stick is in place b/c some of it seems go down with the lollipop stick. Also, give it a little tap on the counter to even out the chocolate.



And you're done! Isn't it cute?


Just kidding...


Next step is to put it in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to harden....and then its a waiting game. Wait and wait and wait (which I HATE to do) b/c you want that chocolate to be firm.


I passed the time by folding laundry and feeding the little one lunch (big sister is at gymnastics camp this week!).

OK OK...So I didn't fold the laundry! But I did take a picture of it, and I thought about how great of an idea it was, but then I got distracted.

Instead I took 76 pictures of Olivia being cute, read 5 Mickey Mouse books, did a puzzle, took a phone call and got Olivia busy with her blocks. By the time that was all done the chocolate was ready. I can't be folding laundry if the chocolate is ready!!!!

Now that the waiting game is over, add a little dollop of chocolate on the top of the stick and add your cake ball. Put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes to firm up.

Time to cover the cake pop!! Melt your candy melts in a bowl with a generous dollop of vegetable shortening. (white needs more than the colored candy melts) The shortening helps to thin the candy melts so they don't come out all clumpy! If it ends up being too thin you can always add more candy melts to thicken it.

See how nice and thin that chocolate is?! BEAUTIFUL!!!

Hold your cake pop over the bowl, use a spoon to pour the chocolate over the ball. Once the cake pop is covered, use white sprinkles to give it a resemblance of a golf ball.
























To make the golf "tee" use a triangle piece of fondant (I know it looks like a piece of cheese, but its not) and work it around the exposed lollipop stick, wide end close to the cake ball, the narrow point towards the bottom.

And VOILA, you have a golf ball, trophy #1 Dad cake pop!

The other cake pops were done using the same method, just covering in different color candy melts and topped off with a simple circle piece of fondant, a white Sixlet candy and a tooth pick w/ a paper flag.

Ok, and if the dad to be isn't so much a golfer, just a good all around hard workin' kinda guy then these next cake pops might be for him!

Once again, Amanda of Shindig Parties to Go has created a printable set for Father's Day! I LOVE this collection! Its FREE and its gorgeous, and full of ways to dress up your house, food, and gifts for dad!

I used the little tie cupcake toppers to dress up my Tie-riffic Fathers Day cake pops! Take a look!

Wouldn't these little ties be so cute as toppers for dad's pancakes in bed breakfast?! Hot glue or tape them to a lollipop stick or wooden skewer and stick them in his pancakes before you serve them to him for a little added touch of WE LOVE YOU DAD!!!

Oh look! I actually practiced that very same idea this morning AND took pictures...thats funny. ;)

Don't you love Livie with her mustache straw?! ;)























Back to my pops...these are cute too! :)

I created a quick tutorial to show how simple these little tie cake pop toppers are. All you need is a little fondant and a knife!

And how did I make the cake pop stand you ask?

Well, it was very EASY and CHEAP!


Which by the way, I am not. Just thought I'd clear that up. :)

I used a 2 by 4 piece of wood, 15 inches long. I painted it brown, drilled 6 holes in it (drill bit the same size as lollipop sticks) and covered the top with scrapbook paper.


Like I said, EASY and CHEAP!



WHEW! Ok. I'm done! That was a LONG post. Hopefully you stuck with me, didn't get bored and got some inspiration for the man you're celebrating this weekend!

Happy Fathers Day to all the great Dads out there!!!

Where would the world be without good ole dad??