Not All Fabrics Are Created Equal

This bracelet from V and CO is super cute and I had to figure out how to make it.  I had a special event to work over the weekend, so I decided to make two bracelets in the organization’s colors.  With a little bit of practice, you’ll be able to make these bracelets in no time. If you get stuck, check out this video for more information.

The biggest takeaway for this bracelet is that you really need jersey fabric to make it work well. I bought two colors thinking they were similar fabric and they couldn’t be different if they tried.  When braiding the yellow bracelet, the fabric fell apart in my hand.  The red bracelet came together very similar to the bracelet in the V and CO example.  The two-fingered bracelet worked best for me. In doing the three or four it proved to be too big.  All in all it was a super cute bracelet. I’m excited to make more for additional outfits.

Red jersey fabric worked well as a bracelet. The yellow fabric felt similar to jersey fabric but was actually swim suit fabric and fell apart when braided.

Red bracelet with two finger braiding.

Red jersey fabric with three finger braiding

Mod Podge Rocks!

I love to celebrate birthdays and holidays, but sometimes picking out the perfect gift is a big challenge for me. My brother-in-law recently celebrated a birthday and to help present a gift card, I decided to make a decorative box.  I’ve heard a lot about Mod Podge and its easy to use as anything you might have read. Decoupage is a perfect craft for me because ripped paper or things cut in odd shapes, work well for my skill set.  After gathering a couple dozen black-and-white photos, I went to work decorating the box. While the process was easy, here are a few tips that made my first venture easier:

• Mod Podge dries quickly. When you put your first layer of glue on the box, be sure to use a thin (but generous) amount of glue on the box. Focus on the area where you are laying the next picture.
• Look for boxes with a separate top and bottom. I had an unfinished box with hinges on it from Michaels and it was a nightmare  to navigate around the edges where the box came together. I thought I was doing the right thing to decoupage the box shut and then I could cut along the seam to get a nice even trim. It doesn’t work…. I didn’t realize how hard Mod Podge dries when the top layer of glue is applied. It doesn’t work. Trust me:)
• Lay the pictures out prior to painting the first layer of glue on the box.  I pre-creased the pictures against the edges of the box to give me a landmark on where to lay the pictures out. It wasn’t perfect 100 percent of the time. (I had a couple of spots where you could see the wood grain behind the pictures. Perhaps that was a reflection on the poor picture choices.)
• If all you have is a hinged box, be sure to add a trim around the edges where the top and bottom of the box meet. The knick-knack box turned out to be a vault when it dried completely. While I could open and close the box, the glue from the Mod Podge was still fairly sticky.

A little bit of Mod Podge goes a  long way, and I am delighted to have a big bottle left to use in other projects. Especially around the holiday season, I really liked this project because its a fun way to dress up a gift card presentation.

~ Until next time, happy crafting from Dessert Doodles!

A Glittery Halloween

Since my birthday is a few days before Halloween, I have  Halloween-inspired birthdays with gross sounding food that tastes delicious and I carve pumpkins. (anyone care for an oozing eyeball – a.k.a. meatballs with cheese topped with olives?)

This year instead of carving a pumpkin, my sister and I made glitter pumpkins, and they could not have been easier to make.

All you need are some small pumpkins, ultra fine glitter in your favorite colors, liquid glue, a paint brush and paper to clean up and contain the glitter.

After liberally painting the pumpkin in glue, pour the glitter over it until you don’t see any more color from the pumpkin. The pumpkins need to set for about an hour before dry brushing the excess glitter off the pumpkins. To finish them off, paint the stems with brown acrylic paint.

While these were super easy to make, the glitter had a harder time adhering to my pumpkins because they had more ridges compared to my sister, who had smooth pumpkins.

Interestingly, my sister’s pumpkins had longer stems to hold onto while decorating, which may have also been a reason why she was more successful. What is great about these pumpkins, is that they will last well into the holiday season before they need to be thrown away.

Happy Holidays from Dessert Doodles!

Recipes Are Optional at Dessert Doodles

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been preparing to move. As I’ve been been condensing and consolidating things in my home, I’ve been trying not to grocery shop, so I don’t have to pack anything new. This means I have had to get creative in the kitchen. I randomly found a bag of cranberries in my freezer. That and a peach in my refrigerator became the source of my inspiration for this dessert. I’m not usually a cranberries fan around the holidays, (sorry mom) but I thought the sweetness in the peach would add a nice balance to this baking adventure. Since the berries were hard, I decided to cook them to make them softer and a little bit sweeter. I had less than a quarter cup of cinnamon sugar in a bag in my pantry, so I added that to the pot with the cranberries and I added some lemon juice and water (use about a half a cup of liquid in total). After about 5 minutes over medium heat, the color in the cranberries became brighter and they started to burst. While the cranberries cooled I mixed the following ingredients together:

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup of oil
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

I used a lighter hand on the liquid because as the peaches and cranberries cook, they will add extra liquid to the the batter. I was impatient and mixed the cranberries into the batter without first draining them and second gently folding them into the batter.As a result, my batter turned red. I topped the dough mixture with a mix of granola and brown sugar to give it a little crunch.

I baked the bread in a 9X9 pan at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The bread is done when you can insert a knife or toothpick into the pan and it comes out clean.

This was good enough to make again, however the cranberries were still a little tart for my tastes. Next time, I’ll probably cook the cranberries on the stove for a few more minutes or add a little more sugar to the batter. The peaches and cranberries were a really nice contrast. This recipe would also be great in the morning as a muffin and has the potential to be a nice dessert you want to make a citrus buttercream frosting.

Happy baking from Dessert Doodles!

Pearls are a Girls Best Friend

I’ve been doing a lot of research on Pintrest lately and the DIY jewelry section has been calling me. I like that I can create a piece of jewelry that no one else owns. I am drawn to the pieces that have contrast (i.e., ribbon and pearl or ribbon and chain pieces). Armed with a bounty of coupons from Joann’s, I purchased a starter kit to begin my latest crafting adventure. Boy was I surprised when I saw all the tiny beads rolling around my table once I started assembling the pieces.  I am glad that I also bought a bead box – everything has a place.

To be successful, jewelry makers need to have great eyes and great light.  I had neither for my first attempt and it was frustrating.  I realized that I was missing the all-important beading needle and attempt number two became a lot easier!  Beading is a lot like sewing.  Midway through making this pearl bracelet, I ended up scrapping the beading needle because the wire I was using was sturdy.

To make this bracelet, measure the length of the ribbon about four times the size of your wrist.Don’t forget to pull the thread tight between each bead.  My bracelet took about 20 pearls.  Once you’ve got the length you want, be sure to cut off the excess length, leaving enough to tie off your bracelet. You’ll want to use a little clear nail polish on the ends of the ribbon to keep the edges from fraying.

All Knotted Up

This Pintrest project intrigued me because I liked the color selection and  it reminded me of making friendship bracelets as a kid. The good news is if you can make a knot, you can do this project.

I work in a very small office so my headphones are always within reach (read: in a knotted mess in my purse).  I didn’t make it with the intension of unknotting my headphones, but it seems to have done the trick and its cute to boot!  All you need is colored floss (3-4 colors works nicely, but you can do with a single color if that is your preference.)

I tied the floss around the plug end of the headphones, and did not fully unwrap the floss. (It makes a knotted mess as I found out later in the process). Don’t forget to tape the headphones down to a hard surface close to you, so you get nice tight knots. Hold two out of three colors and your headphones in one hand and tie knots. I eyeballs the length of each of the color blocks to give me a cue on when to change the colors, but I also changed it when I was bored.  If you want the colors to match evenly, be sure to count the number of knots in each section.

The challenge was when the ear buds split. I thought I could split the colored floss into two sections. The floss is made up of thinner strands. That didn’t work too well, so I just used one color each the ear buds.

All told, it took about three tubes of floss to make the ear buds, and I had some remnants left over. It cost me $1.29 at Joanns and it kept me entertained for a few hours. It was an easy project for a busy crafter who needs to multi-task.

Enjoy your weekend and happy crafting from Dessert Doodles!

Fun with Isomalt

I got to use a blow torch in my latest crafting adventure! For my friends and family who may be concerned, I am pleased to report that all of my fingers are present and accounted for. I had an opportunity to take an Isomalt class from the fabulous Sidney Galpern.

Isomalt is sugar substitute and when it is in liquid form, it can be used to mold and form beautiful sculptures.  I like Isomalt because it is forgiving. If I don’t like what I made, I can melt it down and try again.

Isomalt can burn you badly if you aren’t careful when you work with it. When melted, the Isomalt can reach more than 350 degrees in temperature. We tried a variety of techniques with different molds, cut out shapes in edible sugar sheets and did free-formed sugar.  My favorite shape was a 3D high heel shoe.

While the shoes were definitely a class favorite…

• they took FOREVER to cool.  There is nothing you can really do about it other than just move the mold around on the silicone mat so it doesn’t stay on a hot spot for very long.
• I didn’t get the exact amount of liquid in each mold cavity. While this wasn’t too big of a deal, when I put them together they had a hard time sitting up right.
• The blow torch did help me fix a shoe, but not before melting the heel a little bit. (Good to know for next time!)

My other favorite mold was the bubble flower.  While it is not a mold I’d use for a fancier cake, I liked it because it worked well with sugar sheets. The flowers had a little extra personality.

Introductory class Isomalt creations

Isomalt is a specialized technique, but it is fairly easy to pick up. Consider taking a class before making an investment in the products.

Happy crafting from Dessert Doodles!

Lemon Cupcakes With Rasberry Cream Cheese Icing

My baking buddy came over recently and we can never just hang out without having some sort of baking adventure. Neither one of us had ever tried adding filling to a cupcake that was already baked. We were, also, in the mood to deviate from our normal chocolate (shocking I know!). We came up these babies: lemon cupcakes with a mixed-berry compote topped with a raspberry cream cheese icing garnished with blueberries.

Compote was new to both of us and fortunately it wasn’t as complicated as we thought it might be. Starting with a recipe for mixed berry compote (from yummly.com) as our guide, we added lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries to our mixture.

After gently mashing the berries and cooking the mixture on low for about 20 minutes, we put it into a heat safe bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator for about an hour. The mixture was fairly runny (it may have gotten thicker if we’d cooked it a bit longer).

While the compote cooled, we started on the cupcakes and icing. The cupcakes were from a box mix and the icing was a combination of powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, Crisco and raspberry sauce. While we waited for the compote to cool, we got to work coring the cupcakes. We used circle cookie cutters to make the same size hole in each cupcake and used measuring spoons to make a big enough well for the fruit.

Because the compote was still kind of runny, we were careful not add too much liquid to the cupcakes when we filled them. Otherwise, the cake would have been soggy.

After that was complete, we iced the cakes and added some blueberries on top for a little extra color.

Baking Tips and Hints

• Don’t  forget to keep your cupcakes in the refrigerator if you add milk or cream cheese to your icing. Just use Crisco if you need to store your cupcakes at room temperature.
• Feel free to experiment with the types of fruit you use for the compote. For beginners, I’d recommend using fruit with a similar texture (and size) so the compote cooks evenly.
• Add some more powdered sugar to the left over juice from the compote and use it as a topping on your morning pancakes or waffles.

Happy baking from Dessert Doodles!

Cake Pop Wrecks Still Taste Delicious

I’ve been taking cake decorating classes for about six months and cake pops have always been my Achilles Heel.  I love looking at different cake pop designs.  Pintrest and Bakerella are two of my primary sources of inspirations. You can decorate cake pops in a million ways. Whether it is for a child’s birthday party or used as favors in a wedding, cake pops can fit into any celebration. Who wouldn’t like a tasty treat on a stick? Unfortunately, all of my cake pop attempts have been epic failures. I can’t keep them on the stick and when I try to dip them in chocolate, the pops never come out smooth.

I finally got the opportunity to learn a few tricks at a recent Wilton cake pops class.  While I learned a lot about what I was doing wrong, I’m still pretty far away from mastering the technique.  For the new bakers that have the patience to give cake pops a whirl, consider practicing on Rice Krispie treats before you move on to cake balls. Rice Krispie treats are dense and tend to hold up well in melted chocolate.

In theory, cake pops are not difficult to make. All you have to do is bake a cake according to instructions, crumble it and add some frosting so it sticks together. Roll the dough into balls and put them in the freezer to get cold, but not frozen.  Insert the lollipop sticks into the pops and dip them into the chocolate. Once they are dry, you can decorate them in a variety of ways.

After taking the cake pops class, my success rate dramatically improved. About 2/3rds of the cake pops actually stayed on the stick! Here is what I learned:

• Dip the lollipop stick into a little bit of chocolate to help “glue” the stick into the ball. The diameter of the lollipop sticks seem to make a difference, so consider looking for cookie sticks for your dipped treats. (I’ll let you know how that works for me the next time I make cake pops.)
• When you are tapping the excess chocolate off your pop don’t point the cake pop into the chocolate… You’ll likely tap the pop right off your stick. Instead hold the pop up in the air and use the handle of pop to tap off the excess chocolate.
•  It is really easy to make the dough too moist.  You only need a very small amount of frosting to get the dough to stick together. Start adding the frosting a tablespoon or two at a time.
• Sprinkles, melted chocolate, edible ink pens, jimmies and other candy can hide a lot of design flaws. Have fun decorating and experimenting. At the end of day, how could anything on a stick taste bad?

Have a good cake pops tip to share?  Let me know in the comments section your tricks.

Happy Baking!