Easter DumDum Lollipop Craft

Well hello everyone! I can't believe that I'm posting this before the Easter holiday rolls in! I usually have the tendency to post things after the fact rather than before. I have this easter craft a try and they turned out so cute I might have to say!
These took a little bit of time to make as I had to wait for the paint to dry, then you have your trusty glue gun in hand to put everything together!
These bunnies were for my son's Easter Class party this week, and these were an addition to a pre-made treat bag for them to take home. The kids can either keep it as is or they may end up just tearing everything out and enjoy the candy, which is totally cool.

Let's get to it, here is what you'll need:

(Adapted from SpanglerCandy.com)

• Assorted Dum Dum Pops in springtime colors
• 1" flat wooden hearts
• Wooden beads (Make sure the hole in the bead is big enough to accommodate a Dum Dum stick.) I used beads just slightly smaller than the Dum Dum Pop and I did have a hard time sticking the pipe cleaners into the hole, so make sure you follow the size it needs
• White acrylic pant
• Foam brush
• White pipe cleaners
• Small pink pom poms
• White pom poms (in two sizes)
• Self-adhesive googly eyes ( I did not find these at the Michael's craft store, I ended up hot gluing them, it's fine)
• Hot Glue

How to make them:

1. Paint the wooden hearts and balls with white acrylic paint. These will be the bunny feet and the bunny heads.

2. Once dry, take a spring colored Dum Dum Pop and glue the top of it to a wooden heart. Make sure the top of the heart is showing - these are the "bunny feet."


3. Thread a bead onto Dum Dum Pop - this is the "head."

4. Affix eyes to the head. It's easiest if you use stick-on eyes, but you can also glue them on if you prefer. Also glue on a pink pom pom for the nose and two smaller white pom poms for the teeth.

5. Then glue on two larger white pom poms to either side of the Dum Dum Pop to make bunny arms. (This part I was not able to add as let's just say, I forgot and I did not have time to run to the store!) - but by all means, I think adding the "paws" will complete the look :)

6. Finally, take two 3" lengths of white pipe cleaner. Make a loop with each. These are the ears. We were able to stick the ends inside hole of the bead and secure with a small dab of glue. Then Glue the other pompom's as the bunny Tail.

Well... look at that! And in just a few easy steps (or should we say hops?) you have adorable Easter bunny lollipop creations!

CHOCOLATE cake you say?

Yes, that's right. CHOCOLATE. Not sure how and why I ended up making a Hershey's Chocolate cake with only 3 people in the household on a weekday? Well, as I was cleaning my pantry, I was trying to move away the Hershey's Cocoa Powder to give way for me reaching some cupcake liners, then I somehow held on to the Cocoa Powder container and looked at the back of it and started reading these simple ingredients that I had in my pantry, well close to 2 hours later, a "Perfectly" Hershey's Chocolate cake has been baked w/ Frosting and all from Scratch!

I have to say, it's super moist and just taste good! Followed the instructions to a tee. Highly recommend this cake, it can also be done into a bunt cake, cupcakes and baked in a 13x9 inch baking pan if you wish. I did not alter anything at all.

I apologize in advance as I was trying to condensed some photos and did not have a picture by picture step of how to do this cake, but it's really simple to follow.

As adapted from Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 

FOR THE CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
(2)  9 in pans

FOR THE FROSTING
1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:

CAKE DIRECTIONS: 
Heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and Flour 2 (9) inch pans, I recommend to place parchment paper so that way it won't stick.

Add your DRY ingredients together

Then add your WET ingredients, Egg, Milk, Oil and Vanilla

 Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
 Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin)
 Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round pans.

7. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks and cool completely.

9. Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting. 

Note: This also makes about 30 cupcakes.

FROSTING DIRECTIONS: 
1. Melt butter.
2. Stir in cocoa.
3. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency.
4. Add more milk, if needed.

Now LOOK at this Moist, Rich Chocolate Cake! Hope you try making this one day!

Ciao,
Darlene

Reindeer Candy Canes D.I.Y. (Very late post)

Hi Everyone! and Happy New Year! Yes, this post is super late and I apologize. When it was my turn to "lead" my son's Christmas party this year I had to really research on some fun interesting activities for the class to do for 2 hours before their dismissal. I found some really cool crafts on www.orientaltrading.com and most especially on Pinterest (my go to fave site).

I had a hard time of thinking of give aways for the students to take home, I did not want a goody bag of stuff they will never use, so I stumbled upon these really adorable and festive Candy Cane Reindeer's on www.pinterest.com !

I'm glad I started making these like weeks before the party as these could be time consuming but yet fun to do once you have everything prepared.

Here's what you'll need:

Candy Canes
Yarn (light and dark brown)
Hot Glue
Wiggly Eyes
Mini Pompoms
red satin ribbon (1/8 in x 10 yards)
mini jingle bells
scotch tape

Store: Michael's Arts and Craft Store

1. Take two candy canes and press them together with them facing opposite sides (resembling the antlers), grab the end of the yarn and start wrapping the 2 candy canes together.
As you can see from the picture below. To make it look clean, I scotched tape the bottom of the candy cane so that the extra plastic does not look like the reindeer's have feet!

I recommend to hot glue the ends of the yarn to secure it. I tried Elmer's glue but overnight, the yarn started to lift.
Once you have the body all wrapped up, you can hot glue the Wiggly Eyes! Look, they are coming together.

2. Next, hot glue the Nose (Red pompoms):

3. Next, get an 1/8 in x 10 yd red ribbon and tie it around the reindeer's loosely, BUT before I hot glue, I insert a mini jingle bell (it really jingles! from Michael's Art/Craft store) and then hot glue both ends to make it look like a belt. 

TIP: Do not glue the belt too tight around the reindeer as the mini jingle bell will be awkwardly sticking out, it just doesn't look good. 

4. I wish I had taken a photo of the final product, but I was not able too. I'm sure if you can see it from the picture below (the girls Candy Canes on the Left of the photo).  I've also added the names of each student, divided by the girls (light brown and I added a ribbon) and the dark brown are the boys. 

I actually enjoyed making this craft, I think it turned out pretty cute! You can also use the same concept and buy the pastel colored candy canes for an Easter Class Party or Birthday Party to make it look like a Bunny, just change the color of the yarns and nose! 

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Cheers,

Darlene

Easy Halloween Crafts for Both Parents/Kids

Hi Everyone! Yes, I'm back after a long, long break (at least from blogging). For the spirit of Halloween coming up, I just wished I posted this about a week ago and not the day of the fun holiday!

Shame on me.

I came across a craft about "Ghosts Lollipops", I've heard it's really easy to do, but I wanted something more pizazz on how to present it for my son's classroom Halloween Party. My co-worker Jeanny came up with a very creative idea! As the pics you will see below, the materials are easy to find and one important thing, fun to do with your kids.
This particular project could take about 2 days to complete if you have not prepared or cut things ahead of time. I actually did the "Ghosts Lollipops" while watching T.V. !

Like I mentioned before, I was late in posting this, but definitely something to keep in mind for next years Halloween!

Here are the materials you need for create this..

Dum-Dum Lollipops
White Table napkins (the thick kind)
Strong Glue
toothpicks or lollipop sticks
Design Duct Tape
Halloween Printouts (you can search on the web for these)
Ribbon (orange/black), 1/8 in x 10 yd (or 3 mm x 9.1 m)
Styrofoam block (from any Craft store)
Acrylic Paint - Black
Paint Brush
Sharpie (Black)

1. First, paint your styrofoam and set aside to let dry. Mine actually took overnight to dry. I must've painted too much layers of paint!

2. In the meantime, while you waiting for the styrofoam to dry, you can start on your Ghosts lollipops! I was lucky to find these small thick square napkins at Target, so it worked pretty well. 

 3. Cover the lollipops like so:

 4. Take your ribbons, (both orange/black) and tie them around their "necks". Then take your Black Sharpie and add the Eyes and Mouths to your cute little ghosts!

5. After you've completed the ghosts lollipops, now you can start decorating your styrofoam to be more presentable (that's considering it's totally dry). I choose this design, but you can use any design you want. So, tape the borders and I figured I covered the whole bottom so that when I stick the Ghost Lollipops there will be no chance of it passing the Styrofoam, it will keep it standing.

6. Once your styrofoam is done and looking oh so Halloween"ish", you can start cutting out your Halloween images from the web, if you have a cricut (die cutter) in which I WISH I had one, it will be easier but that's just me though. You do not have to buy one if you will not be using it that often like myself.

7. These cut out images here are to be glued together back to back with a toothpick or lollipop stick in between and let them dry. Unfortunately I do not have a picture to show you. But you probably get what I'm saying, the reason for doing them back to back is so no matter how it's displayed in the classroom or a Halloween party, you get the design in every angle.

8. Next comes the fun part, putting it all together on the Styrofoam! You can totally be creative with this project, can be used for other holidays of the year, same concept, just different theme!

Here's the end product of this craft. My son's class has about 35 students. The TALL Lollipop represents the teacher. You can also add names of the students if you want, I just did not have time.

I hope you try this fun project with your kiddos some day!

If you have any questions, please feel free to add one on the comment section below.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

You want to impress? Well here's an easy one: Apple Dumplings

Hi Everyone,
I'm slowly getting into the groove of things after a much needed vacation, cleaning and back to school stuff. I'm not going to keep typing here, as all I want is for you guys to try my Apple Dumplings recipe. I've given this recipe to my childhood friend when we visited Hawaii just this past July, and it was a big hit I was told, as my childhood friend had 3 in one sitting (Sorry Ed, had to tell).
Anyhow,  here it goes. Oh, and by the way, this recipe is not for someone who is cutting calories, don't tell me that I did not WARN you!

Here's what you need:
Servings: about 16-18 dumplings
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 Grands Crescent (Big & Buttery) Pillsbury Crescent Rolls or the Original kind, either is fine.
1 c sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon (I just eyeballed this one)
1 stick of butter
1 can of Mountain Dew (yes, you read that right)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Peel and slice the apples then cube them, I prefer not too chop it too small, as I prefer to see the apples when I eat.

2. Next, open the canister of the crescent rolls, place apples on the crescent rolls, starting from the tip, and slowly roll it, you will notice that the 2 ends will stick out, don't worry, too seal, just tuck them under. There's no wrong way of rolling this up.

3. Continue rolling until all crescent rolls triangles are used and place them in a 13 x 9 pyrex glass dish.

4. Set the apple dumplings aside. In the meantime, in a large pan, melt the butter.

5. Once the butter is completely melted, add the cinnamon and sugar and let it melt as well until all are combined and becomes this beautiful caramel color. No need for it boil! Just until they are mixed well.

6. Remove from heat. Pour the mixture over the apple dumplings.

7. Now, for the "secret" to this recipe. Add a can of mountain dew! Yes, I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it totally blends well with this recipe. If you have a liter of Mountain Dew at home, just pour 2 cups of it or just until it reaches the top of the pyrex dish.

8. Next, bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Your house will smell so good when you bake these!

9. Remove from oven, Vanilla Ice Cream is a MUST when you eat this. When I have guests for dinner,  I'll prepare the uncooked wrapped apple dumpling and refrigerate, I usually like to bake it while we are eating dinner, so that way, after they are done, I can serve the apple dumplings straight from the oven, it's warm!!

ENJOY!!!

 Cheers,
Darlene

I'm Back and w/ the word NUTELLA

Hi Everyone,
Gosh, it's been quite a while since my last post on here. I do apologize. But now that I'm back, I would like to share with you such a very easy dessert that even your guests for dinner will be amazed by it and (hint: baking no required).
I've always been a fan of this creamy, chocolate spread jar in the grocery stores called Nutella. I would say I'm not a Huge fan of it, but it is very tasty and oh so yummy! I remember first trying it when I visited my cousin in Canada back in the late 80's and had asked what are they spreading over bread? Well, after one bite, I immediately fell in love with the taste of it. I did not know later on that it's a hazelnut spread, thank goodness I had no reaction to it at the time! I always thought it was just plain ol' chocolate spread.. lol

Going back to what I mentioned, it's a dessert that your guests think that you've been in the kitchen the whole day just to do these Mini Nutella Cakes! Did I say it required NO BAKING?
Ok, I bet you want to get started and impress your guests! So here we go:


NUTELLA MINI CAKES (derived from www.thepioneerwoman.com) :

Ingredients:
1 Sara Lee Pound Cake - this particular recipe, I used an all Buttery one (too much butter is good right?)
1 container of Nutella (Hazelnut spread)
Round Cutters
Cool Whip (Optional)

1. Remove the Pound cake from the container and slice it in the middle like so:

 2. Next, take your round cutter, and press down the cake and gently remove it from the cutter

 For this pound cake, I was able to press about 3 rounds.

 3. Next, take the cake that you just pressed and slice again in half like the pic below:

4. By Using a slanted knife, if you don't have one, a spatula or buttered knife will do, spread the Nutella onto the sliced round cake like so:

5. You can stack three on top (pictured below) depending if you want three or 2 stack mini cakes

 6. Now that you've seen these cute mini cakes all stacked up, I know it's tempting, but this needs to go in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so until the Nutella settles.

7. In the meantime, you can either make your own version of "cool whip" or if you want to make things easier for you, you can just visit the grocery store and buy Cool Whip. I personally don't like the taste of Cool Whip, I usually make my own. In this particular recipe, I was experimenting on the TJ's whipping cream. As you can see below, all you do is wait for it to be room temp before taking your hand mixer and beating it for about 10 mins.

Note: I did not like the TJ's brand, one I thought it was too light and the whipping cream was too soft. So again, I recommend you buy Cool Whip or make your own.

 Once the 30 minutes is up, and guests are ready to have dessert, cover the mini cakes with your Cool Whip! See how pretty these turned out? What do you think my fellow Bloggers? Doesn't that look so delicious?
Note: Since the Nutella can be hard after coming from the freezer, I've noticed that before you serve it, let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving that way when your guests slices it, it's not hard, it should be soft.

Enjoy! If you do make these, send me some pictures so I can post it on here, or on my facebook and twitter feed!

Thanks for reading,
Darlene