In case I never mentioned it, the "glue" in my blog's title was supposed to be about my crafty adventures which seemed to have fallen along the way side to be replaced by toddler crafts and games. Sensory bins, painting, play dough, sticky wall art, foam creatures with googly eyes, pom-pom shooters, home made cardboard train tunnels, and on and on. Just to prove my point: here is our homemade multi sensory play dough. Green of course, gold glitter, and scented with peppermint essential oils.
It was about time I took a few minutes to craft and I've missed making jewelry, luckily I had a little pinspiration.
I haven't worn a lot of jewelry lately, and my style has changed a bit. Somewhere along the way I had to protect my ears from little hands wanting to rip out my earrings. Not to mention you might get a few weird looks if you wear any type of chandelier earrings to a mommy/toddler play group.
I love the versatility of this simple necklace. Any ribbon can be used to coordinate with an outfit and paired with any strand of beads, pearls, chain, etc. It only takes 5 minutes to make. I've had my eyes on that fresh mint color for this spring and this was the perfect way to use it. All I had to do was double up the chain and link it with a crimping bead on one end. Then loop the two ends together with ribbon and tie your bow. Ta da! You're done.
It's not a very professional picture, but you'll get the idea.
Everyone has their own "jewelry" in some form. For Johnny it would be his lures and right now for me, my cake sprinkles. I'll share with you a couple of cakes adorned with said sprinkles. I made this cake for Johnny's grandma - some mint colored,very easy, sloppy, rustic frosting with added ruffled fondant flowers. Or in the cake decorating world they would be called "fantasy" flowers as they don't resemble any one particular flower. I've made all sorts of "fantasy" flowers with my great imagination, they're so much easier. You just don't really know what to say when someone asks you what type of flower they are. So, I wanted you to see that this cake wouldn't look quite as pretty without it's "jewelry." Some simple yellow sanding sugar and yellow non-pareils. Custom made yellow non-pareils I might add. Colored sugar and non-pareils are very easy to make yourself with food coloring.
Simple silver sanding sugar and silver non-pareils.
Gold crystals sprinkled on white chocolate leaves and gold luster dust painted onto fondant leaves.
Luster dust, disco dust, pearl dust, sanding sugars, non-pareils, jimmies, anything to add a little sparkle.
This is a tiny sampling out of my bin to show you some of what is available to a cake or cookie decorator. You've probably all heard of the sanding sugars, jimmies (bottom left), non- pareils, and those little fall leaf decorations. In the top right you'll see gold "crystals"; bottom row shows pink luster dust and green disco dust. Luster and pearl dusts can be applied dry with a brush to dried royal icing or fondant/gum paste for a little bit of shimmer. They can also be mixed with a clear alcohol to apply as details for a more opaque concentrated appearance. Disco dust can be applied to royal icing while wet or brushed on a slightly moist fondant for extra shimmer. There is a little disco in this dust...so a little shimmer goes a long way.
It's a good idea to pay attention to the fine print if you choose to adorn your sweets with any of these alluring, tiny sprinkles. Some of them have been rated as FDA approved for consumption and others are labeled simply non-toxic. We all know crayons are non-toxic but most of us don't choose to snack on them. It is a little bewildering that anything labeled non-toxic is marketed to be used on an edible substance. I choose to use non-toxic trimmings in small amounts on items that I know will be removed from the cake or cookie itself, and edible embellishments on those that will be consumed. Unfortunately I don't believe everything approved by the FDA is actually safe for consumption, especially if it sparkles, but I will take my chances for an occasional indulgence.
A couple cute little cookie sandwiches for St. Patrick's day. I made some of the same four leaf clover royal icing transfers as I did last year, paired it with my favorite chocolate cookie recipe and filled them with a fresh mint frosting. I think I was just yearning for a summer garden when I chose this recipe. The fresh mint in a frosting is a bit different than your peppermint flavoring from a bottle, so you have to prepare your tastebuds for it, but I enjoyed it.
Fresh Mint Buttercream Frosting:
1. Process about 20 mint leaves with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar in a food processor until sugar is moist.
2. Cream this sugar mixture in a mixer with 1 stick of unsalted butter. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and beat until creamy.
3. Gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar.
4. Beat for one minute and add up to 1/2 tablespoon of cream if the mixture appears too thick to spread.
I hope you enjoy something green this next Monday!
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