Heard of Cake Pops?

I hadn't heard of cake pops or cupcake pops, but apparently they are a relatively popular phenomenon invented by Bakerella (google her).  Basically you make a "sucker" out of cake and chocolate candy coating.  Some people are really ingenious and make pigs, or snowmen, or reindeer.  This seems like an appropriate Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday activity, so I am trying my hand at it.  As we speak.  I'm trying out cupcake pops, because my sister has a crush on cupcakes.  If they turn out I'll probably take some to her for a surprise tomorrow (she's going on an LDS mission to Nicaragua on December 15th) and some people are throwing a farewell bash for her.  Anyway.

The idea behind these cupcake pops is to mix a baked cake that has been crushed up and destroyed with an appropriate amount of cream cheese frosting and put them in the freezer to harden.  When they're hard, you can shape them into a cupcake shape with a small cookie cutter and then dip them in candy chocolate, and put them on a stick and decorate them however.

I made my cake with only two eggs instead of three because I forgot to get more eggs at the store.  How important could that last egg really be?  I figured I would pretend I put in three small eggs, instead of two large eggs.  That way, it would be just like I'd put in three eggs... I'll let you know how that reasoning goes.

I found one website that had shortcuts.  I like shortcuts.  So I microwaved the cake.  Who knew you could do that?!!!  It turned out like a normal cake in about 10 minutes.  Now that is crazy.  All the instructions say to use a food processor to blend up your cake, but my cake just sat there in the blender.  I had to just stir it up into crumbles.  I think you can skip the food processor step.  Your cake will turn into dirt when you're stirring frosting up into it.

There are a lot of useful websites and tips, but I liked this one a lot:
http://steamykitchen.com/7343-cupcake-pops-recipe-video.html

And now.... The moment of truth.  Did I succeed?

My First Cupcake Pop

On all of my subsequent cupcakes, I swirled the "frosting" (vanilla candy coating with food coloring) to make the cupcake look more authentic.

Aren't my cupcake pops packaged in a lovely fashion?

An artful shot for you

And here's all the ones I made today.

I actually got some good advice from my old visiting teacher for these.  Thanks, Natalie!  Pretty fun.  I particularly liked her recommendation to freeze whatever cake you don't use (then you don't have to finish it all off if you don't want to).

Bead Making Tutorial

If you have several small beads hanging around, or maybe some lure beads and fishing line, you should try making a cluster bead.  All you need is twelve of your little beads, and some fishing line (or tigertail, beading thread, etc).

First, string four of your beads onto the middle of your string.

Then, take the end of your string and go back through the first bead.

 String three more beads onto your string.

Now take the opposite end and string it back through the last bead you put on your string.

Notice how the string is kind of sitting on top of the bead to the right.  Go ahead and string your beading wire or fishing line through that bead.

String on two more beads!

Take the end to the left and string it back through the last bead you put on the line.

If you pull both ends tight, you'll get something like you see below.  Go ahead and string the line through the bead on the left that it's kind of sitting on top of.

String on two more beads.

Go back through the last one you strung with the opposite end.

 You should only have one bead left.  String it on.

And go back through it with the opposite end.

 To make the bead sturdy and finish it, you have to go back through the last beads.  If you've done everything else right, when you finish at the end every bead should have two lines/strings going through them.  To finish it you take one end of your string and go through the last three beads on top that don't already have two lines through them.  I've marked the beads in the picture.

Now conveniently both ends should be coming out right next to each other.  Go ahead and tie them in a double or triple knot until it feels secure to you.  The beads should feel sturdy and look something like this:

You can make it out of any type or size of bead than you can manage.  You can string it on through the hole pictured above, or you can hook jump rings/wires onto the fishing line.

Enjoy!

Resurrecting My Grandma's Necklace

My grandma let me have one of her old necklaces.  Although it was in several pieces, I thought it was gorgeous.  I knew I could restore it to nearly its former glory.  A lot of the beads were missing.  In a giant stroke of impossible luck, I found the missing beads mixed in with some of her other beads in an old film canister.  After finding the collection of small beads I had enough to finish the three remaining strands...

The broken necklace and the beads to repair it.

The metal had turned black, so I changed out what I could.

You can see how the necklace originally had five strands.

Here's a comparison shot to see the metal I changed vs. the dark, older metal

 These are my progression shots.  Here is the necklace with my first repaired strand. 

The necklace with four strands...

And five strands as the original design.

Wire Wrapped Rings

So I bought a book on wire wrapping, and it taught me how to make a ring.  The first ring I ever made was a very simple, very basic single wire wrapped on both ends and hammered to harden it.  Then you just wire the bead or pearl or whatever onto the middle with a bit of a loop.

My First Ring

I bought a ring mandrel with the intention of making more rings, and it has come in very handy, especially today.  My sister was recently vacationing in Hawaii and her friends bought some rings there.  Someone brought a wire wrapped ring back and she wanted me to make one like it for a friend.  I really only knew how to make the one ring, but I tried to make a couple so that she could pick one she liked.

My Wire Wrapped Design Attempt

Turns out that the rings I made weren't quite what she had in mind.  There was a very specific design (i.e. the one they bought in Hawaii) that she wanted me to make.  So today I made and destroyed several rings before I managed the glorious Hawaiian style ring.  I practiced with 26 gauge nickel wire (REALLY skinny) to try to figure out how they made the ring in the first place.  Then I tried it with 20 gauge nickel wire, but it was too thick.  I didn't have anything in between, so I tried again with the skinny wire, but doubled it up.  Behold, the Hawaiian Ring.

My version of the Hawaiian style ring.

So, when I learn new things, I try to do a lot of repetition so I'll remember it.  Because what good is a skill if you forget it.  Behold, the many Hawaiian style rings.

The extra good news is that the silver side beads are lure beads, which means that these rings include a fishing lure component, which makes them fishing lure jewelry and thus means they count as A Lure Jewelry...  My jewelry line now includes rings.  :)

Origin of The Tin Cup Necklace

The "Tin Cup" necklace is also referred to as a floating pearl or station necklace. This design consists of pearls (or beads) spaced out at regular intervals on a chain/necklace.

The term "Tin Cup" to describe this type of necklace originated from the 1996 film by the same name.  In this movie, the lead actress Renee Russo is seen wearing this design, which is now considered a classic.

The 1996 film that forever dubbed floating pearl necklaces "Tin Cup".

A close-up of the original Tin Cup necklace.

So, for a twist on the original, I have made my own Tin Cup design, featuring fishing lures and pearls...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58929554/tin-cup-pearl-necklace-and-earring-set

Skills from Brazil

I spent this Saturday with my sister-in-law, who happens to be from Brazil.  She doesn't speak much English, and my Portuguese vocabulary is extremely limited (mostly consisting of pickup lines), so we did a lot of activities that don't require much conversation.

One of our first activities was glass bead making.  That required a translator.  It was really fun.  I had one yellowish clear glass rod that apparently turns a pretty, deep red when fired.  Who knew?!  She make four beads and I made two.  I have been trying propane gas instead of MAPP gas this time, because some people say it works as good and it's about half the price.  I've read that it burns "dirtier" and sometimes leaves residue on your glass.  It's true... The irony is that the residue it left on one of my glass beads today actually looks really cool.  Oh, also note the manicure I am sporting, another little gift from Paula.
 

This is the "clear" that turned a lovely blood red.

Here's a closeup to let you see the residue my fuel was leaving, which actually works with the bead.  :)

  Paula also taught me how to crochet/embroider flowers.  This is a skill I have never had, and I felt like an awkward little five year old who doesn't have fine motor skills when I tried to do it.  However, it was great fun.  After she left I tried what she taught me.  My snuggie was lying around, so it got to be the guinea pig.  She also taught me how to crochet flowers.  I was going to try to write instructions, but you'll just have to settle for pictures because I don't think I could explain it.

This is a photo of me beginning the weave.  All you do is weave your yarn under over under, etc, around the little star you made (also say hello to a piece of my hair I was apparently weaving in as well).

My Snuggie, customized.