Happy Bootday!

lWelcome Back fellow crafters!

This post will teach you how to make a cake shaped like a boot! Oh wait! There is no cake involved! This cake is made out of Rice Crispy Treats!

  Here is a little back story on the reasoning for this cake. My "Aunt" Liz is having her birthday this weekend. Liz works for Georgetown law. Now im not 100% clear on what it is she does but it involved construction, architecture, and design. Being the only woman (even the boss lady) she owns and wears a pair of Pink Timberlands to stand out! I thought this would be the perfect cake to make for her but they already had ordered a cake. Mom then told Rose (my "grandma") about my idea and fell in love. They both knew this is something Liz would love to see! So we decided i could do it anyways!

Now i watch Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Ultimate Cake-off, and Food Network Challenge so i thought this was plenty of training to get the job done! Id seen cakes carved out of Rice Crispy Treats so i figured why not try it my self! Here in comes the project!

What you will need:
1 Bag (16oz) Rice Crispy Cereal: I used generic because im broke but you can choose whatever brand you would prefer. I dont think it makes a difference because i dont think anyone is gonna be eating this cake since there will be a real one at the party.
1 Bag (16oz) Marshmallows: Once again brand isnt that important but i use Jet-Puff since Great Value (walmart's brand) didnt have a 16 oz bag.
2 tbsp Butter: I use stick butter because its easy to measure out and melts down quicker than a spread.

Depending on the shape of your cake you can use whatever pan you want. Because i knew i was making a boot i wanted to use something that will eliminate half the trouble for me so i cut the top off a 2 liter soda bottle (plus the bottom kinda looks like a heel of a boot) for the tall part of the boot and a round pan to mold the rest.

Step one: On low heat melt down butter. If the pan is too hot it will burn the butter and marshmallows.

Step two: Add marshmallows. Make sure to stir continuous so that the bottom doesn't burn. Stir till all mallows are melted.

Step three: Remove from stove. Add rice crispys! Stir mixture together until its mixed well.

Step four: CAUTION!!! The mixture will be hot so be careful! Coat the pan you are adding the mixture to with vegetable shortening to avoid having trouble getting it out once its harden up.

Let mixture cool for about 2 hours

Use a knife to cut the bottle off. Be careful not to cut your self! It will be slippery from the shortening.

I thought it was to tall so i cut it up. The next few pictures are that process.

Now i have a starting point. This makes the Ankle part and heel part of the boot.

I cut the round next to start on the foot part of the boot.

The next few pieces are free hand cut based on which piece was gonna fit with which.

This piece serves as the bottom of the boot. I used it as a starting point to build up on. It was cut from the middle part of the circle pan.

I then took the rounded edges from the circle pan and lined them up on the base of the boot. I used spare pieces of treats to help mold the pieces together and make it as symmetrical as possible.

 

Here you will notice i added a lip to the top of the boot to serve as a cuff and i carved an arch into the bottom to look like a real boot.

To cover this cake with fondant i covered the rice crispy boot in butter cream frosting. I already had butter cream left over from a cake i made previously so i used that. Its chocolate mocha flavored.

This serves several purposes. First being that it acts as an adhesive for the fondant. Next it acts as a hole filler. Since the treat is holey the butter cream fills in those little gaps so that when you add the fondant it lays smooth. Its important to try and cover it as smooth as possible. Refrigerate until harden and then you can cover it with your fondant.

I made my own fondant to cover it. You can see how to do that  here. For this project i colored my fondant different shades of purple because Purple is Liz's favorite color. Piecing this cake together takes different techniques so do what works best for you. Here is a brief description of how i did it.

Step one: The inside of the boot. I tried to color the fondant black but its hard to get it the fondant that dark so i used the food coloring and water to paint it.

Step two. The cuff of the boot. This will also act as a place to adhere the ankle piece of the boot.

Step three: The foot of the boot. 

Step four: The ankle of the boot. Used water as an aid to adhere this to the cuff and foot of the boot.

Step five: The laces details. I used a marker lid to cut of the circles of the shoe laces and added them to the boot. I also rolled out "shoe string" and laced up the boot. Again using water as an aid to adhere it to the boot.

Step six: The heel details. I rolled out the heel and added it to the bottom of the boot. Again using water as an aid to adhere it to the boot. I used my shell tip fondant/gumpaste tool to indent the grooves in the heel.

Step seven: The stitching detail. I used my quilt roller tip fondant/gumpaste tool to add stitching. This not only lets it look like a real boot, but i used it where i pieced together the different pieces of fondant to hid the imperfections.

And Now you have a Boot!

How to make Marshmellow Fondant!

Hello fellow crafters! I know its been a while since ive blogged but ive been busy with my new hobby:

CAKE DECORATING!!!

In this post i will walk you through how to make your own fondant to cover cakes to decorate on!

I found the recipe on Cakecentral.com and Wilton.com and went from their inspiration.

Ingredients:
1 Bag Marshmallows (16oz): Depending on the size of the mallows the bags come in either small (10oz) and large (16oz) puffs. Both websites recommend using a high quality marshmallow, I used Jet-Puffed Large Marshmallows (16oz)
2lbs Confectioner Sugar: Or for us plain folk: Powder Sugar. Now both the websites i mentioned above say that 2lbs is close to 8 cups. Depending on the process it can take anywhere from 6-9 cups.
2-5 tbsp water: for convection in the microwave
2 tbsp Flavoring: for this i used CLEAR Vanilla extract, if you want your fondant to stay white use clear!
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening: Give or take, you could need more or less. This is used to coat your tools to avoid sticking and to package and store.

Directions:
Step one: Coat your bowl with shortening! DONT FORGET THIS!!!! You will need two bowls. One microwave safe and one large enough to knead the mixture in. Coat these thoroughly to avoid problems and sticking.

Step two: Add marshmallows into microwave safe dish (already coated in shortening) and add 2tbsp water into the dish. Heat approx. 60 seconds then stir. Its smart to coat your spoon in shortening as well. After stirring heat for 30 seconds more then stir. The websites recommend this interval until melted which they estimate 2 1/2 minutes. I heated mine till it was smooth and it looked like one giant mallow.

Tip: You can add the vanilla in before you start folding in the powder sugar or you can wait till you need water. Make sure you add 2 tbsps so that the fondant has good flavor!

Step three: Take 1/2 (4 cups) powder sugar and place in your other bowl (already coated in shortening). Add mallow mixture in and fold together. For the next 3-5 cups add one at a time and fold. If you add to much powder sugar at a time it will puff up on you and make a mess! Once the mallow has cooled i just used my hands but its VERY IMPORTANT TO COAT YOUR HANDS WITH SHORTENING!!!!! It wont help 100% but it helps way more than if you dont. Its simpler just to work your way up. The way to tell if your getting close to the right consistency is if it looks like a kneaded loaf.

Tip: If it starts to dry out between cup additions add a half tablespoon of water. I say half because if you add to much at a time it gets to wet!

Step four: Once kneaded and all cups have been added take out and place on a well coated mat or counter top to continue kneading until it looks right and is pliable with out being too dry or tearing when played with.

Step five: You'll notice in the above picture the fondant is really shiny. This is because i coated it with shortening for storing and setting up. Once you coat the outside wrap the loaf in plastic wrap. Make sure you get the most air out as possible. Once wrapped up store in a plastic bag.

Now you have fondant!
Both the above websites suggest that if you only need one color then add the coloring before you mix the mallow and powder sugar. If you want many different colors, color as you work!

For the colors i choose look forward to my next blog!

Sugar Flowers

Now if your anything like me, watching the food network channel is one of my favorite things to do. More than that anything related to cake making : Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Ultimate Cake-Off, etc. Id love to make half the stuff they do to decorate cakes. So i tried!

For Christmas i got some great silicone baking sheets and it reminded me of what i saw on several TV episodes. I looked up some recipes for poured sugar and i went for it. Here is a step by step account of how to make sugar flowers. Keep in mind the sugar gets EXTREMELY HOT!!! TAKE CAUTION!! and of course practice makes perfect.

Step One: In a pot over medium to high heat add 1 1/4 cup sugar and about 1/4 cup water, more if needed. I found directions at http://www.ehow.com/how_5651999_make-pulled-sugar.html but for the most part i flew of the hinge. After the sugar starts to boil add in your choice of food coloring. No need to stir the boiling will do it for you.

Use a candy thermometer to determine temperature. Heat the Sugar to exactly 298 degrees F otherwise if its undercooked it will recrystallize and if over cooked burn. This took me 4 tries to get to the right temp but dont give up.

Step Two: Once the sugar as reached 298 degrees F remove from heat and pour on to silicone baking sheet.

Make sure to wear rubber gloves. The sugar is EXTREMELY HOT!!! and you will even feel the heat through the gloves but will help shield some of the heat. I dont know what experts use to handle hot sugar but i found them to work well.

Step Three: The sugar will continue to cool every second it is off the heat so you must work quickly in order to get the sugar to a pliable material. The best way to start this is use your fingers to roll in the edges of the sugar into the center. This should be worked around the circle until the material is now in a ball shape.

The consistency should be similar to playing with gum. It till stick to its self but pull apart. I would caution waiting at least a minute or two before attempting this step to avoid burning yourself.

Step Four: Once pliable you will be able to pull the sugar, much like taffy. From this point you can take pieces of the of the sugar and mold them into the shape you are looking for.

This picture was taken from a previous attempt when i actually pulled the sugar but this is what the sugar looks like when burnt and pulled.

Step Five: Pull sugar pieces into the shape of your petals. In this case i was making a sugar poinsettia flower.

While it may not be perfect i think i did a pretty good job! For the stamen in the middle of the flower i dipped the sugar balls into sprinkles to add the yellow effect.

The task is a long one. Dont give up and be patience while attempting this. After you finish you can try and have a little fun. We tried to blow sugar in to shapes. Now i didnt know what the experts used to do this. From the shows ive watched i assume some type of plastic tubing but in our case i used a baster. I took the pump off and attempted it that way.

Quick Tip: Video

A few weeks ago i told you about a quick tip in getting the wrappers of crayons. Here is a video i made to help in understanding the process better and to get a visual. Be kind it took me at least 8 tries to get it to sound good.

From Blank Canvas to a Piece of Art

Now lets be honest. Art today is pricey. But if you want to spruce up your apartment/house on a budget all you need is a blank canvas. Well, and some paint and inspiration!

Like i've mentioned in previous posts all you need is a idea and you can turn it into anything. One day while shopping at my favorite local arts and craft store (Ben Franklin) i noticed canvas was on sale. Ask any art student and they will tell you this is the pricey fundamental piece for a work of art so when its on sale might as well stock up. So thats what i did. I purchased 4 8x10 pieces and 1 2 1/2"x 3 1/2 " piece. Mind you i bought them over a year ago and it wasnt until i moved again that i finally did something with them. Originally i was going to use them as art for a head board since my bed doesnt have one but when i moved something more crafty came to mind (that will come in a later post).

Back on topic. The small pieces were an early project. For some odd reason i had bought some foam stamps but never used them or gifted them for anything. I thought...these would be cute for decoration..only if it was more apartment friendly. So what did i do....I traced the words on to those handy pieces of canvas and made them cute! With a little puff paint and cute hand writing you can accomplish a lot. Here is the final Project with the inspiration below.

With a little change in color and decorative background swirls, dots, and hearts, i think they turned out adorable. Now i just need to figure out where to put them. Im thinking my room but i already have lots of stuff there so maybe kitchen. Who knows. By the way, theres only three because i messed up on the Dream one on the first try..got a little to artsy fartsy for my own good and it went over board. Always nice to have a back up!

Now for the larger piece. My best friend and I were moving in together and i thought this was perfect to decorate our bare white walls with. First i had spent about 3 hours outlining a beautiful script of our names, filling it in with paint, and fixing the edges. Then when the blackboard project came along, i forgot to move it and some paint spilled on it :( Thats my fault of course...you should always use a drop cloth!!

Anyways...seeing how the blackboard paint was black i threw some black paint on it and painted it all black. Seeing as our living room colors are black, white, and yellow, this was the first place to start. Now it sat like that for at least 2 weeks until i was bored and picked it up. Took some white puff paint and went to town. For some reason i really enjoy painting swirls. They are fun and can look really elegant. I offset the drawings to give it a more art perspective. Let dry and then time to figure out the final piece. We wanted to write a cute saying on one of our walls but could never come up with something. I goggled "home quote" and found one i instantly fell in love with. Find it and the final project below:

"A house is made with walls and beams; A home is made with love and dreams" - Unknown

Another Tip! I didnt have yellow puff paint that matched what i had been using for other projects around the house so i took the exact color i had been using and mixed in with a white puff paint. Came out the same if not better and gets the job done!

I showed dana and she loved it. Simple way to take a blank canvas and turn it into a piece of art!

Glitter, Puff Paint, Ribbon, Oh My!

During my transition from college life to real life, I've also been trying to find my place in my sorority life. I was extremely involved as a collegian and i wouldn't expect less of me as an alumnae. Recruitment happen to be coming up and since crafting has been one of the few things to keep me sane post school, i decided to see what i could do to help out.

Now for those who never gone through formal recruitment or heard of it, ill break it down a little. At my university, Fraternity and Sorority life is not like you see in movies or hear about in the south. We don't have houses so our recruitment process takes place in out student commons. On Bid Day (the last day, when women choose where they will join) all chapters are in one room. Now instead of clapping and yelling each time a women "walks", we use noise makers to show our excitement. Each organization has a different noise maker so when a woman chooses your chapter you shake your noise maker and so on for each org. Our first year we used Tic Tacs, Second Year was kinda like a paddle ball with two beads that you spun to make noise, and this year i was handed empty medicine bottles wrapped in red felt.

Heres what they looked like when i got them:

Now my job, in the words of Tim Gunn, was to Make it work! So i went to my local craft store (Ben Franklin), A sorority woman's favorite place to shop and searched for the answers. I ended up buying some black and white glitter, black and white decorative ribbon, and finding some red and black confetti stars, and puff paint at home in my craft drawer.

The First step was to make them not look like medicine bottles. I made a simple wash of mainly glue with some very little water to attach glitter to the tops. I combined the white and black glitter in a small bowl and sprinkled in the confetti starts. Next you take a paint brush and paint the glue onto the tops. Then you sprinkle the glitter on.

Note: When using glitter make sure you put something under it (Newspaper as you see here) this eliminates the hard process of cleaning it up because it sticks everywhere!!

Close Up of Finished Lids

After i let them all dry i took cute sayings like "Bid Day 2010", "Alpha Omicron Pi", "Rho Beta", "Exceed the Expectation", and wrote them on the side of the lids. Similar sayings relating to our history, chapter, and ideals were written with puff paint on the velvet. The 4 different types of ribbon i got (on sale might i add) was used to add bows and more decoration. Attach ribbon with hot glue for the added touch. Here of some of the final products.

Obviously you can tell that red, black, and white are the colors we use. Cardinal is our true color. The panda is our "unofficial" mascot. You can also see my attempt at a ruby (our jewel) on one.

I wish i would have taken more pictures of the ones that were my individual favorites. I wanted them to be cute but also reminders of what we stand for. My ultimate favorite said "Character, Dignity, Scholarship, and College Loyalty" which you will find in the object of our Fraternity and then in a close second was the one with our founders names.

Its my hopes that as they shake them in excitement to except these new women into our sisterhood that they are reminded of our mission. If they pass them out to our new members i hope as they learn and grow with in the chapter they will see these sayings, names, and people again, and build memories upon that. Once finished decorating and all paint and hot glue is dried, add you noise makers (in this case beans were the loudest) and you have your perfect Bid Day Noise Maker!

 

Quick Tip

Have some old crayons that you dont know what to do with? Taking forever to peal the wrappers off?

Once you have a project in mind the process is quite simple!

Take an exacto blade and run it vertically down the wrapper and it will open right up! No more messing your nails up!

Now if you need something to do with the crayons, Check out the Crayola Crayon Maker. Melt you old crayons into new crayons and color away!

Reminder: Please don't let children use sharp objects! Parental Supervision advised when using knifes and hot ovens.