Funkins, Craft Pumpkins

I discovered craft pumpkins a few years ago when I wanted to keep my pumpkin carving creations forever. They look like the real thing. I use the same tools and carve them exactly how I would with real pumpkins. Joann's sells Funkins, and Michael's sells craft pumpkins. I actually haven't checked Hobby Lobby, but I'm sure they sell them too.

There are a couple differences between the two. First, the price factor - Funkins are more expensive. Second - Funkins have a hole at the bottom of it already cut out (to stick a battery operated light or candle in). Michael's craft pumpkins do not, so I carved one out. Third - both craft pumpkins are already hollow, but the inside of Funkins are orange, and the inside of Michael's craft pumpkins are an off-white/yellowish color.  They are made of low–density polyurethane foam, and it gets messy with all the little pieces flying off as you carve.

In the end, those differences do not have a great impact on the results, especially in the dark.  I got two craft pumpkins from Michael's, and went to work.

Boo requested Princess Tiana and Ariel. I Googled photos for inspiration and found the perfect ones of 1) Tiana and the frog kissing and 2) Ariel on a rock. I printed them out to size, and used them as my templates:








Now that I have a few carving experiences under my belt, I know to carve out the small details first, then move on to the bigger pieces to avoid cracking and breakage. I am so excited to show you my "carvations"!


Here, I just cut out Tiana. Then I'll start to fine tune and smooth the lines:














Pretty cool, right? =)




Good luck!
=)

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
* Put all ingredients in a blender
* Blend until smooth

So easy and yummy!
Good luck.
=)

Jute Wrapped Letter

A while back, my sister in law made a jute wrapped letter "R" to hang on her front door. It turned out so cute, and she kindly sent some supplies my way so I could make my own letter! The materials were all from Amazon, click for the links.

Letter H
Jute - Ordered 2 rolls, and used 1.5 rolls
Burlap Flowers - Here, Here and Here

I already had hot glue and sewing pins on hand.

I didn't take step by step pictures, but it was pretty easily to figure out. I cut and hot glued pieces of jute on the sides. Then I wrapped it around and around, hot gluing on the intersections:

 

 

These burlap flowers are so cute. I thought I could change up the color of the flowers depending on the season, so I didn't want to permanently hot glue them on. I decided to use these little sewing pins I have, and just poked them in. The pin heads just so happen to be the similar to the colors of the flowers!

And done!

Now I just need to figure out how to hang it. I can't decide whether I want to hang it with ribbon or jute. Decisions, decisions...

Good luck!
=)

Dora and Boots Birthday Cake

It's that time again...Boo is 4 YEARS OLD! Where did the time go?
She requested a Dora and Boots cake.

We found a Dora and Boots coloring page online, and printed it out.

This picture is more detailed than any other cakes I have done (you may notice some things like Dora's necklace has been omitted on the cake).  Usually I do a gel transfer of the entire image but with all the small details like the hands and eyes, I decided to transfer just the general outline, and hand draw/pipe the rest with a #1 tip and filled in with a star and #5 tips:

Note to self - Next time, pipe the face first, then the hair:

I was most nervous about Boots, because he is small and very detailed:

I didn't have room to pipe a border on the top of the cake, so I rolled fondant into a rope and wrapped it around:

Stars and more stars:

Boo also requested requested the inside to be chocolate and vanilla swirl with little pieces of bananas: 

Favors - star cookies:

Boo was so happy and excited with how everything turned out (me too)!
=)

XO Baking Co Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

This zucchini bread mix by XO Baking Co. is absolutely DELICIOUS. Usually, when people say "gluten free", I automatically think "Oh, how bland". Wrong!  I do not have Celiac disease but it doesn't matter. This was super easy to make and I am very happy with the result. Not to mention, Boo, who does not typically care for breads and muffins, was wolfing it down like a pro. Double win for us!

I used almonds because I didn't have walnuts:

Just mix it all up and pour it into a prepared {lightly buttered and dusted with flour} loaf pan:

I baked it for an hour and the bread came right out of the pan after cooling for 10 minutes, per instructions:

Do yourself a favor and purchase some mixes...you will not regret it. =)
They are available at Whole Foods, Mother's, Amazon, Gelson's.