40th birthday cake!

My dad's big 40th birthday was this past july! I was inspired by Kristen's 1st birthday cake! I loved making this cake! It turned out so cool! I used fondant, for both the main part and the polkadots. When I mixed in the food coloring, I didn't entirely mix it in all the way so that it would have a tie-dye effect. The fondant recipe is below... SO easy! Be patient while making it though. When you first start to kneed it all together, it is VERY sticky and is a huge mess. It took me about 15 minutes before it was just barely starting to look a thing like fondant like you see on "Cake Boss" or "Ace of Cakes"!

(I got all of this from this website)

Ingredients:

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Directions:


NOTE: Please be careful, this first stage can get hot.

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler. To microwave, place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total.

Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands. If you have children in the room they will either laugh at you or look at you with a questioning expression. You might even hear a muttered, “What are you doing?”




Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

Prepare the fondant icing for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. This fondant stores for up to 2 weeks.

**Please note, this is not my recipe, click the link right above the recipe for the original copy if you would like**
 

you have to remember this was my first somewhat succesful attempt at making fondant, so yes, there are some cracks and dents in the cake! haha, next time it will look better :)

365 Crafts!

I am going to do a post a day for the next year! Which is 365 crafts for you to do! And I love comments, so be sure to COMMENT on the crafty thoughts link :) It may not be a craft a day, because some days there will be giveaways! Oh and remember to "follow" me!

OH SO CUTE tank

This lovely lady have created an adorable little girls tank out of a plain old women's cami! I HAVE to do this! She cut the bottom so that there is left over fabric for the cute staps and flowers! For the full tutorial, click here.

Headband Giveaway!

I have been really into making these headbands lately, and I have decided to give one away :) there are a few ways to enter (which gives you more entries!) 1st entry: comment on this post. 2nd entry: leave a comment on my main blog. 3rd entry: "follow" this blog, if you have already done so, that is an extra entry for you automatically! On either this blog or my main one, just let me know which of the entries you did! Leave your email in the comment so I can let you know if you have won. If you have any questions, please contact me at teencrafter@gmail.com. This giveaway ends this Wednesday night :)

Watches!

I am going to start selling these darling beaded watches! I wear mine every day! For the watch face and the band together, it is $38. For just the band itself it is $22... The beads I buy are high quality and more expensive, same with the string. below are some that I have made. The bands are interchangeable so you don't have to keep buying the faces. To purchase one, please contact me at paulsonallison@gmail.com and let me know what colors you would like, and what size.

Sizing:
Small (wrist size 4.5 inches - 5.5 inches)

Medium (wrist size 5.5 inches - 6.5 inches)

Large (wrist size 6.5 inches - 7.5)

Please let anyone know about this that is interested! Below are some that I have made.

The one above I had originally bought but it broke and I lost some of the beads so I had to re-make it

Magnets

I made these for the magnet board that I made in my room. I love them! :) the tutorial is below.

For this project you will need clear stones (you will see what they look like... I don't really know what to call them haha), cute paper that you print off/pieces from a magazine to put behind the stone, magnets, super glue, and mod podge. You really do need mod podge for MANY projects, so you should buy it!

First print off the pictures (make sure they are sized right first so they are not too big or too small for the stone) and then place the stone on top and trace around it with a pencil. After you do that, cut on the lines.

Now paint a thin layer of mod podge on the flat side (the picture below has a little too much) and stick the paper onto the back face down and paint on another layer on top of the paper.

Once that dries, super glue a magnet to the back and your done. See? That was quick!

I made WAY more than this. If you want a copy of all the paper I used, just leave a comment so I can email it to you to use for your own magnets!!

I LOVE countdowns so I spelled out c-o-u-n-t-d-o-w-n, printed of some  things I was excited for on microsoft word, and the stones work perfect with dry erase markers so I put some cute paper behing the back and change the dates every day.

Easy and inexpensive ADORABLE journal!

I was in need of a little craft so I went down to albertson's and got just a plain old spiral notebook (about $1) I covered it with scrapbook paper, ribbon, and rhinestones and it is DARLING! I am so excited to write in it. There is an easy step by step tutorial below.

That above is what you will need - notebook, ribbon, Scrapbook paper (If you want some really cute free paper, visit shabby princess and print some off... that is what I did and it worked great!), and mod podge. I use mod podge in almost every craft that I do... I highly recommend buying it (I like the gloss the best) You will also want just a plain piece of white computer paper.

Coat the notebook with a thin layer of mod podge all over.

Trim the white paper to fit on the spiral notebook and stick it on top of the mod podge while smoothing it out so there are no bubbles. You only have to do this if you printed off the scrapbook paper or yours is really thin because you will be able to see the color of the spiral through the scrapbook paper if you don't. When you put the white paper on though it doesn't need to fit exactly.

Trim the scrapbook paper so that it will fit onto the notebook the way you want it to (I would suggest the way I did it above... it seems to work out in the end better this way) Then paint on another layer of mod podge on top of the printer paper and put the scrapbook paper on. Again, smooth it out so there are no

bubbles!

Wait 2 minutes after the step above before doing this one. Now do an extra coat of mod podge on top to give it a shiny glossy look. This also makes it slightly more water resistant!

Wait 5-10 minutes before doing this step. Now outline the ribbon all around the border of the scrapbook paper and inbetween were the separate paper meets and secure it with hot glue. When doing it around the border, leave a little extra on the sides to wrap around to the back to make it look better. I think it is really cute to use to different kinds of ribbon! (see below)

For the last step I just added some sparkle with rhinestones. It would be really cute to use buttons or fake flowers as well!

p.s. if you haven't done so already, make sure to "follow" my blog! :)