Christmas Bulbs

The kids and I decorated Christmas bulbs!

I bought a package of 6 ready to paint glass bulbs at a craft store in Vaughn Mall.  I think they may have been primed because they had a cream matte finish.  So I bought red, white and gold acrylic paint and we went to town.

To start I swirled some gold metallic paint around the bulb with my hands to give the bulb a nice background tone.

Oliver's were easy!  And he loved it... he loves anything to do with getting his hands dirty.  The easiest way I could get most of his hand print on the bulb without smudging was if I let him hold the buld in his palms with both hands.  We practised a few times and then he helped me paint his fingers and palms.  I told him to open his hands then I rested the buld in his hands and let him hold it for a few seconds.  I told him to let go and then I set them out to dry.

Opal's on the other hand... were a very different story.  Foot prints for young ins are not easy as it is... try it on a bulb and it just gets harder... try a hand print on a bulb!  It can't be done!  So we did her foot print.  But not without a few failed attempts.  Once with red paint which I swirled around with my hands to blend in and once with white paint.  Finally Hubby had to step in and we pulled it off!

Once they were dry I used permanent marker to write the year and their names on and tied some bronze coloured ribbon in a bow at the top.  We made 6 bulbs, I kept a set for myself and we gave my parents (Nana & Papa) and Hubby's parents (Grandma & Grandpa) a set for Christmas.

They All Loved Them!

Be inspired...

Get Creative!

Reindeer Foot and Hand Prints

The kids and I were busy today creating!  My Hubby brought home a giant roll of brown paper the other day for our Christmas gifts.  I thought it would be cute to decorate the paper with Christmas themed hand and feet prints of the kids.  So to practise we made reindeer faces with their hands and feet and ended up with a keepsake on canvas.

What we used:

13`` by 21`` white canvas

beige acrylic paint

brown acrylic paint

black acrylic paint

red acrylic paint

paper plates

permanent marker

Their feet are the faces and their hands made the antlers.  Then we used their thumbs to make the eyes and nose.  Using only THEIR hand, foot and thumbs for THEIR individual reindeer ensured that the reindeer features looked proportioned.  Then I just wrote with permanent marker the year and their names beside each face.  Simple right! 

I soon realised that hand prints with young kiddies can be tricky.  I wasn't intentionally planning on writing Reindeer at the bottom but my son got carried away with his finger painting and we ended up with a blob of beige paint at the bottom of the canvas.  So I made it into a large R and wrote eindeer beside it and I think it looks really cute! 

Now we have a super adorable painting keepsake that I can bring out every year and show off too our family and friends! 

I hope you enjoyed this quick post...

Be inspired...

Get Creative!

Christmas Photo Shoot

I'm always looking for different ideas for Christmas cards. 

I saw some pictures on Pinterest with kids playing with Christmas lights so I thought I would try it out with the kiddies!

 

 

Opal as you can see loved the lights and would have sat there for hours

... and hours

Oliver eventually joined in

We eventually moved to the floor because it created a great reflection effect that came across even better then I pictured it would. 

The above picture is the one we ended up using for our card this year. 

I went to Zehrs and printed 4x6's,

I used their kiosk to add Happy Holidays at the bottom left hand side in white script. 

I then bought 4x6 envelopes at Staples and

made awesome photo Christmas cards for under 50 cents each!

And everyone loved them... I heard for weeks after we sent them out how cute they were!

And those are our 2011 Christmas Cards!

Be Inspired...

Get Creative!

Disney Cars Party

My two year old is crazy for Cars so a Cars crazy party is what he got!  I had lots of fun with this... luckily the Cars 2 movie was coming out in theatres in August so there was Cars stuff everywhere in stores.  I got most of my supplies from Dollarama.

First I made the invitations.  I used red folding cards from Dollarama (these are great, they are available in all sorts of colours and come in a pack of 6 for $2!).  I searched all over for a Lighting McQueen stamp but all I could find was a "Ready Set Go" which suited pretty good.  And of course a few weeks later I found the exact stamp I was looking for at Dollarama of all places, but the need for it was long gone.  So I found some pictures on the Internet and printed a bunch of McQueen's and Mater's out on photo paper.  I used some gold metallic rectangles to set it off a bit and then embossed the "Ready Set Go" stamp in glossy black.  For the inside I stamped "Your invited" and printed the party info also on photo paper with another picture of McQueen racing as a watermark.

I didn't go too crazy on the decorating and focused more on things for the kids to do.  I put up red and yellow balloons and just used plain yellow and red plates, silverware, napkins and table cloths.  I got Cars tattoos, Frisbees and beach balls and let the kids go wild.

Oliver showing off some of his funky tattoos!

My dad rented a red "sports" car and offered rides around the block.  Well it wasn't really a sports car but it was red so Oliver couldn't tell.

Oliver pretending to take McQueen for a spin.

I also planned some activities that the kids could do inside in case it was too hot outside and they needed to cool down.  I found these great cardboard canvas pictures with McQueen printed on them.  Instead of goodie bags I got Cars themed paper bags and filled them with Cars stickers, stamps, crayons and markers for each of the kids.  All of which I also found at Dollarama and the kids loved using them all over their Cars pictures.

Oliver colouring his Cars picture.

I also baked some plain sugar cookies in a bunch of car and truck shapes and put out some maple syrup cream cheese icing and a bunch of sprinkles and candies.  The kids had a awesome time decorating their cookies and couldn't get enough!  It was messy but fun and super cute watching the kids put a few sprinkles on their cookie and then a few in their mouth.

Oliver decorating his car shaped sugar cookie.

I made my signature birthday cake with rice flour and maple syrup.  Oliver just loves it and its not packed full of sugar like store bought cake so I feel better about him eating three pieces.  The icing I also made with maple syrup whipped with cream cheese.  Click on the lower right picture for the recipes.  I used green sugar on the top and let it run in order to look like grass and created a road with chocolate cookie crumbs that went across the plate, up the cake and down again.  Yellow gummy bears made the road lines and I used a tiny McQueen from a Kinder Egg and reflective stickers on toothpicks of the other movie characters.

McQueen and Mater Cake Balls

Cars Cake

The cake balls were my favourite part about this party.  I made them chocolate cream flavor with chocolate cake and vanilla icing.  Click the above left picture for the recipe.  I coated half with red chocolate and half with milk chocolate.  I used yellow chocolate on the red ones and wrote "95" on them to signify McQueen and used shaved almonds for Mater's two buck teeth.  I love how the Mater's turned out!  They were almost to cute to eat!

Oliver really taking McQueen for a spin!

All in all the party was a huge success by Oliver.  It was tons of fun and a great memory with the family.  He suitingly got a McQueen car as one of his presents and scooted around the backyard for the rest of the afternoon.  He absolutely loved the entire day!

Be Inspired...

Get Creative!

John Deere Party

It's the little guys first birthday!  What better way to celebrate a little boys 1st birthday who has a half Mennonite Daddy?  John Deere of course!

  

We kept it simple and just decorated with a few bunches of helium balloons.  I could not find any John Deere themed balloons so I got generic yellow and lime green balloons and wrote JOHN DEERE on them with permanent marker and decorated them with tractor stickers!  (this trick works great, I once threw the Hubby a Tom Tom party and wrote TOM TOM, LEFT and RIGHT on the balloons and it made great conversation pieces... a Tom Tom is a GPS by the way!)

 

We bought pre done invites because they were a really good deal.  I still wanted to customise them a bit so I printed a really cute One Year poem on Vellum and pasted it in.  Here it is below, I think it is so adorable!

A year's gone by

Oh how time has flown,

We can't believe

How Oliver has grown!

He's such a joy

And so much fun,

Oh my! Our baby boy

is turning One!

I also printed the info on vellum and layered it on top of the printed prefixes to make it look like it was all printed inside and then I didn't have to hand write them all!

Oliver sporting his Birthday hat!

We lucked out at a party store in Groove City when we were on a weekend trip and found everything we could possibly need for a John Deere themed party, which is also where we got the invitations and thank-you cards.  I think the table looks awesome all Decked Out in John Deere print!

Oliver's cousins also sporting their party hats!

the Dinner Table

Gotta love plastic table cloths!  I know their bad for the environment but just roll them up and gone is the mess!  And look how great the table looks with all those tractors...

the Dessert Table! YUM

Cake for the Adults!

Healthy cake for the Kiddies!

The most important part to any birthday, but especially for a 1st birthday, is the cake!  Of course! 

For Oliver and the kids I made a rice flour cake sweetened with maple syrup.  The frosting was cream cheese also whipped with maple syrup.  Click the above picture for the recipe.  I was going for a muddy tire to tie in with the John Deere theme.  Once I iced the cake I placed a cup in the centre and covered the icing with cocoa.  I used a wooden spoon handle to notch ruts around the edge.  Then I cut the same size circle out of a piece of paper and placed it on top of the cake and sprinkled the hole (in the centre) with yellow sugar sprinkles. 

For the adults I decided to try cake balls!  I did a double chocolate version, click the picture to view the recipe.  I covered them with yellow and green chocolate and drizzled some with the contrasting coloured chocolate and sprinkled the rest with various yellow and green sprinkles.  I was very thrilled with how they turned out and they were fairly easy too. 

Both the cakes were a huge success among the adult and miniature guests.  And Oliver was completely thrilled with digging his hands into a slice.

Oliver ultimately enjoying his 1st Birthday Cake!

Oliver suiting got a John Deere tractor as a birthday present from his Nana and Papa.  So I took him and the tractor to Zehrs (that was an interesting trek) and got some pictures done.  The one I used for the back of the Thank-you card was my favourite!  It really captures his charm!

So Oliver had a fantastic 1st Birthday!  We sent the Thank-you cards out and we have tons of great memories!

Be Inspired...

Get Creative!

Baby's First Birthday Cake

So who says you have to give your One year old a regular cake filled with tons of sugar and whatever else?  No One!  Why not make a healthy cake for your little one!

One of my favourite site that is full of great home made baby food recipes is Wholesome Baby Food by Momtastic.  They also have a great page the has a whole bunch of great healthy First Birthday Cake Recipes and icing ideas.

I prefer to make a Basic Rice Flour Cake.  I've had the recipe for a couple years and don't remember where I found it.  But here's how I make it.

What You Need:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup brown rice flour

1 tsp baking powder 

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C)

2) Grease and flour one 8" cake pan

3) Cream the butter till light

4) Add maple syrup and whip until well blended

5) Beat in egg and vanilla

6) Slowly add flour and baking powder and beat until thoroughly combined

7) Pour into the cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a sharp knife inserted into the middle comes out clean

8) Let cool and remove from pan

And that's how you make a delicious yet healthy birthday cake.  It's wheat free, dairy free and sugar free!  You can make this cake with butter instead of olive oil.  You can also use regular sugar instead of the maple syrup, but it would be much more sweet and dryer as well.  I find this cake very yummy and just sweet enough... I'm not a big fan of super sweet cakes.  The rice flour also makes a very unique texture, almost a bit like a corn meal muffin.  Which I love but some people would prefer finer flour like tapioca flour which would work for this recipe too.

John Deere Themed Cake

Now to decorate!  With a healthy cake you need a health icing.  My favourite is Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.  Here's how you can make it!

What You Need:

1 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1) Take the cream cheese out of the fridge about 1 hour before you start to soften

2) Whisk the cream cheese until light

3) Add the maple syrup and continue to whisk until mixed thoroughly

4) Cool in refrigerator for about 1/2 an hour

5) Ice your cake

This icing is very delicious and goes great with the Rice Cake.  It is very easy to make and super easy to use.  Once you ice the cake you can decorate with anything you like!  This icing provides a great and sticky surface to decorate!

Disney's Cars Themed Cake

I hope you and little ones enjoy this tasty cake!  And have fun decorating it too... that's always my favourite part!

Be Inspired...

Get Creative!

Cake Balls

For all you cake lovers out there here is the best way to make and eat cake ever! It is becoming more and more popular and you can now even buy them in cake shops! But they are fairly easy to make.

What you need:

1 box of cake mix in desired flavor

1 tub of premade icing in desired flavor

Coloured chocolate

Sprinkles or other toppings of choice

John Deere Themed Cake Balls

Double Chocolate

Directions:

1) Bake cake as directed on package

2) Once cake cools crumble into a mixing bowl

3) Gently fold icing into crumbled cake until well blended

4) Form mixture into balls about 2 tbsp. in size each and place on wax paper

5) Freeze formed balls for approximately 15 minutes

(Depending on the consistency of the mixture you may have to freeze for longer)

6) Melt chocolate in a double boiler being careful not to burn

7) Use a fork to dip balls into chocolate and swirl gently until coated

8) Carefully remove from fork and place on fresh wax paper

9) Add sprinkles or other toppings before chocolate sets

10) Let chocolate set at room temperature

11) Drizzle or decorate with additional chocolate if desired

Note: Try not to refrigerate. The cake will cool faster than the chocolate and cause the balls to sweat.

Disney's Cars Themed Cake Balls
Chocolate Vanilla Swirl

I have made them several times now and they are quite easy to make and very satisfying to eat. Everyone raves over them when I make them. There are also very versatile, you can make them in any variation you want and decorate them in anyway imaginable.

Flavor Variations:

Double Chocolate

- Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

Chocolate Swirl

- Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing

Rainbow Vanilla

- Vanilla Cake with coloured sprinkles with Vanilla Icing

French Butter Pecan

- Butter Pecan Cake with French Vanilla Icing

Spiced Cream

- Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing


Three Tiered Cake Pop Cake
Rainbow, Pecan and Carrot

If you’re looking for a bit of a challenge you can try making Cake Pops. The above picture shows three sizes of foam cylinders which I used as the form to make them look like a three tiered cake. I used BBQ spears in order to piers the styro foam, but for better structure I would recommend using the white paper sticks that you can find at your local bulk or baking store. Once you form the cake into balls, place the stick into the center and reshape. You may have to freeze them a bit longer in order for the cake balls not to fall off the stick when dipping into the chocolate. I recommend that you leave a small amount of the cake uncovered by the chocolate near the stick. If the cake it fully covered the thawing cake may crack the chocolate. Place the sticks into something in order for them to stand upright. Then decorate and let set.

And that’s how you can make your very own cake balls! It's fairly easy right? Give them a try and you'll see. You may never want to make a regular cake again!

Be Inspired...

Get Creative!