The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a Cupcake Holder Lampshade

Emma and I did several projects over the summer that ended up being a little bit too difficult for Chloe to fully participate  like:

                   

 turning this

Into this

This is so simple to do.  All you need is a good deal on a lamp, some cupcake holders, and some earring posts and backs (pack of 30 pieces at hobby lobby for $1.99), and spray paint.  We spray painted our thrift store lamp ($1.49) and then turned the cupcake holders inside out and pinned them on the shade..  Easy Peesy... But, since it involved spray paint and sharp things, it was a little bit too old for Chloe.

So, I scouted out a few things that I could gear specifically for Chloe to do in the couple weeks we've had between Emma starting school and Chloe starting.  

And, I came across this oh so cute "Very Hungry Caterpillar" on Pinterest and, after reading the story, I got to work on painting hands... When we finished the handprint caterpillar, Chloe commented that she wanted to make the butterfly too.  And what do you know but the next time I went on Pinterest, a friend had posted a picture of a footprint butterfly... So low and behold

A complete metamorphosis!  

The Second Day--Emma's First

 Well, we got off to a rocky start in more ways than one.  Emma missed her first day because she was running a fever and in the chaos of taking care of her, I forgot to charge my camera battery.  But, we got back on track and staged these pictures after school and that's why they're so bright..  I mainly wanted to capture the smart fashion sense that she's developed.  The outfit that she settled on wearing her first day of school was actually a dress of Chloe's that she wore as a shirt with a pair of capri pants.  I'm not sure if she realizes what this will obligate her to later down the road in the little sister department but it works to her advantage for now.

Anyway, Emma bounced back just fine and absolutely loves the 3rd grade. She will switch classes for Math and Science this year and loves both of her teachers.  She will also be in the gifted and talented program and is so excited to see what that is all about.  She ended up with several of her friends in her class and it appears to be a formula for a great year.  

As far as extra curricular activities go, she talked about doing cheerleading but eventually landed on taking guitar lessons.  I was excited about that decision because Chloe is playing soccer and I wasn't looking forward to spending every day at the Rec. Center.  And, we all know that Taylor Swift was cooler than the cheer captain because of the fact that when she was on the bleachers, she was also holding a guitar.. Emma will also continue to do Jazzercise at school like she did last year.

Here is my age progression storyboard that I like to do every year... It can also serve as an advertisement for True Green Chem lawn and a sprinkler system.  We ditched the lawn service to make room in the budget for Chloe's preschool and our sprinkler system broke.  I'm pretty sure it's a simple fix that Adam's done before.  But he's ended up having to mow the grass less and our water bill has been lower.. So, I think we inadvertently kept pushing it to the bottom of our To Do list...  Even though our yard looks like a brown mess in the middle of all of our neighbors beautiful sea of green and we are "that neighbor", it does have it's positives...

I came across some fun treat ideas to put in her lunch box for the first week of school.. I think it got me major "fun mom" points.  She even said that some kids were saying she was lucky.  Go me :-).  I still remember random little things that my mom did for me to let me know that she thought I was special like baking miniature cakes for tea parties with my dolls so I always look for ways to imprint those kind of memories in my girls.  

Cupcake shaped sucker, "3rd Grade is a piece of cake".

Swedish Fish "You are O-fish-ally a 3rd Grader"

Starbursts "You're a 3rd Grade Super Star"

And my favorite: Rainbow Sour Tracks and Rolos

You're the gold at the end of my rainbow... 

Looking forward to having her home for the weekend and sleeping in!

Initial Rag Wreath

The girls and I had an absolutely marvelous summer.  We crafted and created and swam and played and I just enjoyed them so much.  It was a refreshingly recovery from last summer since much of the past year has been a blur of going through the motions as I tried to get a grasp on the grief that I was experiencing from all the tragedies that our family and friends experienced in the year or so before.  I'm finally beginning to feel like myself again.   

Anyway, I have a lot of catch up posts to do including Emma's "real first day of school".  But, this is what I did on her first day back to school with a little "help" from my little hot mess that I call "My Chloe Girl".  

I had been searching around Pinterest for a cute wreath idea for our front door.  I'm just not your typical flowered wreath kind of girl and I was looking for something that just struck my fancy.  Well, eventually, I decided to compile a couple of ideas together and this is what I came up with.  

I posted a picture of this on my friend Jay's facebook wall and my friend Heather requested a tutorial.  So, I'm going to do my best to give you one..   I always have intentions of taking pictures step by step when I do something like this and then I get in the zone and get in a groove and I forget... But, this was so unbelievably easy that I think it could be done with no picture instructions at all.  But none the less, I do have a couple..

Chloe and I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and we started out with a ball of scrap fabrics in fall, green, browns, yellows and reds and an initial which was on sale for 50% off of 2.99!  Score!  

Side Note:  though I've become a bit of an organizing junky (not by nature but as a coping mechanism to my husband's ADD), you could never tell it by walking in our front door because my dining room is always functioning as either an art or a photography studio and more often than not, looks like this.  

I spray painted the "E" with Krylon spray paint that I used to create the Shrek head pieces for our Christmas play last year.  The color is "Ivy Leaf" but we affectionately call it "Shrek green" and that's a more appropriate description.  I tied a piece of yarn to the "E" before I spray painted it so that it would also get painted and would serve as a way to attach it to the wreath

I was delighted to find a wire hanger after digging through all of the closets.  I'm not sure why I had it but you can usually get them free from the cleaners.  

I sort of shaped the hanger into a circle using wire pliers.  Then I just went to town tying on scraps of fabric.  (This is where I got excited and forgot to take pictures).

Once I got it all together, I decided that the "E" looked too plain so I pulled out the white circle stickers that I used to make everything polka dotted  for Chloe's "Pink Polka Dotted" Birthday Party last year.  

And waa laa, a polka dotted E..  

And there you have it, a wreath that is me and cost about $7.00 to make and is very much my style.  Could be cheaper for you if you actually sew and already have scrap fabric!  

Christmas Card Freebie

I've been making Christmas cards for months.  So I decided I'd make a little something to share.  This template is in Photoshop format.  I left it in simple layers so that there's no messing with clipping masks and it can easily be customized to fit your personal taste.  

You can Download Christmas Card template by clicking:

Free Photoshop Christmas Card Template Download

  Also, if you are using another program, that won't support PS, you can simply enlarge the card, and do a right click, "save as" and paste your picture into the white box.   Merry Christmas!

Nature Hunt

November 2, 2010

My kids get election day off of school.. Our city voted to increase our sales tax by 1% to pay for city improvements.  The extra tax money will go toward park improvements and some other things.  While I do agree that we have amazing parks and I'm very proud to be part of a community that is willing to invest in itself to become better, I would have much preferred a tax increase that supported improvements in education.  Especially at a time when our teachers are being fur lowed.. Anyway, no one asked me so, I decided that I was going to use those taxes for education one way or another.  And since another glorious break is upon us (hooray for no six a.m. alarm clocks!), I thought I would share our little activity in case there is someone else as cheap as I that is looking for a cheap way to entertain their kids during Thanksgiving break.  

taken on the bridge that runs through our neighborhood park

I do believe Chloe was spitting a piece of pine straw out of her mouth..

So, we did our civic duty and voted and then armed with a camera and a plastic bag, we took the girls on a nature hunt at the park.. 

 Our "Autumn Nature Hunt List"

yellow leaf

green leaf

red leaf

3 acorns

piece of moss

animal Hole 

animal tracks 

bird 

blade of grass

berries

feather

hole in a tree 

fungus

pine cone

smooth and shiny rock

pebble

squirrel 

something that doesn't belong in nature

y shaped stick

spider web 

unusual shaped leaf

brightly colored flowers

I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to find most things on our list.  

A FEW PICTURES FROM OUR HUNT
click twice to see it at it's largest

On the itinerary for Thanksgiving break:  A visit from the grandparents, Ribbon Christmas Trees, a trip to Lights of the South and did I mention, NO ALARM CLOCKS?

Blessings, 

Dana

What to Wear Wednesday

The most common question asked about family pictures..  What should we wear?  
One classic option is to dress everyone in matching white, all in black, etc. This option freezes your family in time. It also shows unity.  And, sometimes it's the best choice for a portrait taken when a certain room in the house is in mind with which to hang to portrait in.   If this is what you are going for, look no further, this option is still acceptable!  But, chances are, if you've ever taken a family picture, you already have that "everyone's doing it" white and khaki's on the beach and you're looking for something new and fresh.  

The idea is to coordinate without matching.   And in turn, each family member is given individuality and expression of their own personality without interrupting the flow of the picture.  Lucy can wear her favorite shades of pink while dad can still wear his manly brown.   To help spur you along, I scoured the internet for my favorite combinations.   Most of these ensembles were pulled from Gap and Old Navy's website.   I certainly don’t expect you to run to the store to purchase the items in these pictures. Chances are, there is something in your closets that will work great.   

The easiest way to accomplish the task of color coordination without matching, is to find a print for one family member with a color pallet that you love and then coordinate the other members..  However, this can also be done by layering.. Once, I did a session of a mom and dad and two daughters.  The mom wore a orange shirt with a brown cardigan, the dad wore a brown shirt and the girls wore orange dresses.  They coordinated beautifully.   

Many thanks to the talented photographers that put these ensembles together.  I looked for owners to give credit where credit is due but found them in several different locations with no owners attributed.  If you are the brains behind these wonderful ensembles, please let us know so we can become your newest followers!

   

A Few Tips:

* Most important, choose comfortable styles.  Nothing makes a cute kid grumpy faster than stiff clothes that constantly need to be adjusted.  And for mom and dad, wear whatever it is that makes you feel like you can take on the world!  If you don't feel comfortable in what you're wearing it will surely be reflected in your photos.

*Basic color rules apply.  Wear colors that bring out your eyes and look best with your complexion.  Dark colors make things look smaller, light colors make things look larger..  

*Simple colors and designs work best on adults but sometimes a bold print on a child can bring out a fun or silly personality.

*Choose styles that portray your family's personality.  

*Long sleeves work great pulling the attention to the face.

Blessings,

Dana

Rainy Day Activity-- Bathtub Fun

I'm gonna make this quick as my bottom is not enjoying the hard bathroom floor that it is sitting on.  It's a rainy day here in South Carolina.  And though we desperately need the rain,  rainy days leave me looking for activities that won't have us sitting in front of the TV all day. 

 Solution:  Bathtub paints.. So easy to make and chances are, you already have everything you need at home.

What you need:  

Baby shampoo

food coloring

paint brush

small containers for holding paint

camera to capture your materpiece

Simply put five drops of shampoo and five drops of food coloring in separate containers for each color you want.  When the masterpiece is done, take a picture, then hand your child an old wash cloth (this might stain). Have you child go to town washing the walls.  Finally, rinse child and bathtub and you have a clean artist and a clean bathtub.

Caution: While this washes off quite easily from fiberglass or marble tubs, it does not wash easily from grout.  I learned this lesson the hard way when our non-toxic fun resulted in me resorting to bleach for clean up in my bathtub which is surrounded in tile and grout.    

 

Blessings,

Dana

Emma Sheds the Training Wheels

Since Adam looks to be the hero in these pictures and I'm never in any pictures because he is scared of my camera, I have to tell the real story about Emma learning to ride a bike.  We were feeling the pangs of guilt as we finished up the summer knowing that we hadn't met the goal of Emma learning to ride a bike without training wheels.  It hadn't been for a lack of trying.  I had chuckled under my breath many times as I watched Adam run behind her in the hot South Carolina sun.  I lightly made suggestions.  But secretly, I was wanting to just once, be the cool fun parent.. So, on a Sept. afternoon when the weather broke a tad, I took a break from spelling word and math fact drilling and force feeding vitamins and took it upon myself to settle this matter once and for all.  And, drum roll please:  The kid was riding on her own in thirty minutes.. In case you're curious about the secret of my success, I'll post my recipe for successful bike riding teaching below the picture documentation of Emma's big achievement!

Recipe for teaching a kid to ride a bike without having a heat stroke:

1.  Find a grassy hill with a slight slope.

2.  Lower the bike seat so that the child's feet touch the ground.

3.  Have the child simply coast down the hill while holding their feet up.  This will teach them to balance and give them the security of knowing they can catch themselves if they lose balance.

4.  Once they get a good grasp on balancing while coasting, move them to a flat grassy area.

5.  Hold the bike steady as they get set and then give them a push.  Do not chase behind the bike, the crazy daddy way..

Tuesday's Tips--How to Remove Ink from a Plastic Doll

Before I had children I dreamed of being a mother that would encourage ingenuity in my children by not getting freaked out over things like this:

My six year old wrote the names of her dolls on their foreheads so that she could remember their names while she was playing school with them.   She probably would have gotten off pretty easy as it was really an honest mistake in which she stated that she thought it would wash off easily.  

She would have gotten off easy.... But, the shrug of her shoulders when I told her that ink from an ink pen didn't wash off of dolls landed her owing me the amount of work around the house that it would take to earn the money that these dolls are worth.. My windows have never been so clean!  

When I called my mother exasperated at my daughter's response to ruining over a hundred dollars of dolls.  

This is how that conversation went..

Me:  Mom!  I'm so frustrated with Emma.. She wrote on nine of her dolls with an ink pen! NINE dolls.. She said she was playing school with them and wanted to remember their names. I asked her if she had ever heard of NAME TAGS.. And when I told her that ink doesn't wash off of dolls she just shrugged her shoulders.. DOES SHE THINK MONEY GROWS ON TREES?   She now owes me seventeen hours of work so she will know how much work it took for the people that bought her those dolls to earn the money to do so.. And that really isn't even giving her the real picture because I went with current value, not replacement value..  "How can a kid so smart  do things so dumb"?

Mom: (laughs) I remember a smart kid that did some really dumb things around my house... 

Me: I know, I'm so sorry you had to put up with Denise (my sister) all those years (laugh).  

Mom: But,  it all makes sense now.   That's what Chloe was doing..

Me: What? No, not Chloe, Emma did this.. You know, the six year old that should be past writing on things other than paper!

Mom: No, I wasn't going to tell you this because I didn't want you to be upset but when the girls visited on your anniversary, Chloe drew all over the face of my doll from when I was a kid..

Me: WHAT!!! YOU MEAN THE DOLL THAT'S OVER 50 YEARS OLD? THE DOLL THAT YOU PROTECTED FROM US WHEN WE WERE KIDS?

Mom: Well, it's really my fault, I never should have let them play with it.  It's okay.. Really, it's not a big deal..

Me: You've saved a doll for over 50 years and it's not a big deal that my kids ruined it?  It's a big deal to me!

 I bring you the antique that my mom has cherished for over 50 years.  The ONLY doll my mom had as a child.  The one that her parents really couldn't afford and probably sold a kidney for.. I think I remember a story about someone walking three miles in the snow up hill both ways to get this doll!  

(beware of nightmares that might occur from Chucky recollections)

And so began.. OPERATION SAVE THE DOLLS!!!

 Have you ever tried to remove ink from a doll?  It is a task that I previously thought impossible.. 

CLOROX BLEACH PEN-- NOPE

MAGIC ERASER- NADA

RUBBING ALCOHOL-- NO DICE

FINGER NAIL POLISH REMOVER-- UH-UH

TURPENTINE -- NOT A THING

GRAFFITY REMOVER-- NO MA'AM

But do not be disheartened my friend, I've discovered a miracle!!

How did this miracle occur?  

I have given a many a dolly hairdo but I never anticipated treating a doll with acne cream.  But, lo-and-behold, it worked!

So, the nitty gritty on how to use this:
1.  Pull back the doll's hair and remove any clothing that is near to avoid bleaching it..

2. Liberally apply 10% benzoyl peroxide acne treatment cream to any areas with ink.
Be careful to avoid eyebrows.. We now have a Barbie without eyebrows... So much for Barbie being perfect.    After removing one doll's eyebrows, I began to use a q-tip to make sure I avoided any areas that I didn't want to be bleached.

3. Lay the doll in the sun..
Emma's dolls took two applications to completely remove the ink.  My mom's took four since Chloe had skillfully and repeatedly scribbled in one spot and it had sat on the doll longer.  Just keep reapplying until the ink is completely gone. 

And, just as it did when I was a teenager, Clearasil saved the day and my mother's childhood memories!

Blessings,

Tips for Better Fireworks Photos

 Great Post from Lifehacker

When you snap pictures at the fireworks display on Friday, you'll either wind up with immensely rewarding photos or frustration that makes you wish you'd left your camera at home and just enjoyed the show. The outcome has everything to do with the preparation and knowledge you take to the event. Before you go, arm yourself with a few tips and tricks that will prepare you to capture fireworks in all their brilliant glory. Photo by jonrawlinson.

Stabilize Your Camera

Foremost, when photographing fireworks, stability is key. Like butterflies and lightening strikes, fireworks are fickle subjects. An absolutely stable shooting platform is a must. Whether you use a full fledged tripod or you clamp the camera onto a solid fence with a mount, the camera must be steady. Leaning against a tree or trying to grip the camera on the top of a post just won't cut it. You can further increase the stability of your tripod by hanging weight from the cross brace. Without a stable platform to shoot from you are nearly guaranteed blurry photos. Photo by matter=energy.

Shoot Hands-Free

Right behind stabilizing the camera with a tripod or mount is keeping your hands off the camera while shooting. The most common way to go hands-free is a shutter release cable. Many modern digital cameras have the ability to get triggered by an infrared remote. If you have neither, check the manual of your camera to see if you set a shutter delay. Setting a delay on the shutter will achieve the same vibration-reducing effect as a remote release, but unfortunately it gives you less control over the timing of the exposure since you have to predict the best time to shoot by a few seconds. A cable or remote release is ideal.

Control Your Exposure

The length of the exposure is pivotal to capturing fireworks. Fireworks are large bright distant light sources that "bloom" over the course of several seconds. To capture the the full effect of the firework's burst it is necessary to use a longer exposure. One to four seconds is usually enough to capture the most beautiful moment of the bursts. Shorter than that and you end up with dark partial bursts, longer and you often end up with an over exposed picture without much focal interest. Photo by mandj98.

Location, Location, Location

Firework displays draw large crowds, so it isn't always possible to secure a perfect location to shoot from. Arriving early and scoping out the scene is well worth your time. You want to have as clean and unobstructed a view of the skyline as possible. Make sure to reference the skyline through the viewfinder of the camera to make sure you and the camera are seeing things the same way. Shooting from much higher or lower than the rest of the people watching the show can yield interesting results. If possible select a location that is upwind of the fireworks display. Fireworks generate enormous amounts of smoke and if you're upwind your pictures will have a hazy quality like you were taking them through a fogged up window. The picture at left highlights the effect smoke can have on fireworks photography. Photo by ahisgett.

Don't Flash The Fireworks

Turn off your flash. If you can't turn off the flash, black it out with electrical tape. If you've ever seen photographs taken from the 78th row at a rock concert with the flash left on, you know exactly how poorly low light long distance flash exposures turn out. If your camera doesn't have a manual mode that allows you to turn off the flash, try out Landscape mode which almost universally turns off the flash to avoid washing out the foreground in landscape photography. The only exception to the no flash rule is when you want to expose the foreground to highlight objects or people. In the photo above, the young women in the corner are properly exposed because of a flash. Without the flash they would have been dark blurs against the background. Photo by Jon Åslund.

Focus On Infinity

Pre-focus the camera. Don't let an overzealous auto-focusing system ruin good shots; the brightness of the fireworks and the haze of the smoke confuses many auto focus systems. Set the focus manually on the infinity setting to guarantee that the fireworks bursting on the skyline will be in focus. The only time the focus-to-infinity trick wouldn't work is if you were close enough to the fireworks explosion to have bigger problems to worry about than blurry pictures! If your camera doesn't allow manual focus, set it to landscape mode which will have the same effect. Photo by Shermeee.

How To-- Princess Tulle Chandelier

What is the most important ingredient in a princess party?  Tulle, lots and lots of it!  I have had some requests for a tutorial on how I made the "tulle chandelier" for Emma's par-tay... A tutorial on this one was a bit difficult to do, as it was one of those things that developed as I went. However, since I almost killed myself several times while I was putting this thing together, I took pictures when I took it down, in hopes that we could prevent people from quite literally hanging from the chandelier and thus, prevent bodily injury.

First, underneath the tulle was this big horrible mess that I still haven't taken down.  I feel certain that you could be more neat than this but, since the Christmas lights were an afterthought, after I had the tulle hung, I stuffed them up there however I could get them to stay.  Obviously, I removed the glass globes. 

All of the tulle was tied around a hoola hoop just like it was tied in the tutorial for the princess skirts.  I alternated pink and white, making four, long, white pieces to flow outwards, spaced evenly.  

  

Many shorter pieces were put in and those were brought together in a cone shape to wrap over the light fixture and were tied to the top of the light fixture. The longer pieces were then attached to the four corners of the room with thumb tacks.

And, mine will be staying attached to the hoola hoop so if you live close enough to me for me to get it to you, skip the work and borrow mine!

View more Princess Party Ideas

Blessings,

Dana

Oh So Cute, Princess Party Attire!!

Tonight's the big night and here's our party attire.  In the six months that we were planning this party, Emma decided that princess dress up clothes were too babyish.  I was determined to have a princess birthday party.  Every little girl needs one.  So, I called up Aunt Jan and Aunt Jan and I did a little bit of brain storming and came up with something that we all just love!  The dresses came from Monag and we were able to get them for a great price because we bought six.  Aunt Jan used her mad applique skills to make a dress for each of the party princesses with the first letter of their name in hot pink polka dots, topped with a lime green crown.  We just love them!  And I am so thankful that Jan makes it part of her mission to clothe my children in clothes like these because I have absolutely no desire what-so-ever to learn to sew and my budget certainly doesn't make room for the prices I would pay for this kind of stuff in a boutique.  Thank you Aunt Jan!  The dresses can also double as their sleeping attire as they are oh so soft and comfy.   The skirts are super easy and probably self-explanatory but I'll do a short tutorial just in case.  I made the first one and showed Emma how to do it and she made the rest. 

 

Materials-- 6 inch wide bridal tulle (we got ours at Hobby Lobby)

1.  Tie a ribbon around something that will be secure (we used a chair)

2.  Cut tulle into strips twice the length you want the skirt to be.

3.  fold strips in half, making a loop at the top. 

4.  Put the loop underneath the ribbon and pull the other end of the tulle through the loop. 

And there we have it,  a little more modern, a little more grown up, approach to princess dress up that will also make an adorable summer dress.  Perfect!

And each princess will also get a loot bag with accessories for their makeovers and the adorable sleep masks that Nana sent...

I will try to make a post later today of the party decorations and the Glossy Bands, party activity sponsored by KLUTZ that we will be giving away on The Mom-tage when they launch Glossy Bands on June the 28th! 

Blessings,

Dana

Cake Pops! We Did It!

Emma's birthday is next week.  I gave her the choice of having a birthday at a place around town that does parties or taking just a couple of friends to do something that would be a little more expensive per person.  She elected to have a princess makeover night with just a couple of her closest friends from school. So, my mom (who is a beautician) and sister (who is an elementary school teacher) are loading up and coming over.  Aunt Jan is making some special attire for the makeover attendants, Dad is working on a Disney wishes goodnight film and Nana has some special, princess sleep masks on the way.    Emma and I have been planning her special night for six months and I think I've enjoyed it just as much as she has. 

I've decided that it would be smart to come up with events for us to plan together on a continuing basis.  It has been great at times when we've hit a rough stage, to have this connecting point, separate from everything else, to join back together.  We are heading straight for the tween years and I think it's going to become increasingly important for us to have activities that just the two of us share to keep the communication lines open.  The moments where she thinks I hung the moon and know everything in life there is to know are becoming fewer and further between.  I guess she was bound to figure out the truth at some point.. But,  there was one point in the planning when I was going on and on, talking about tulle and ribbon and about about how I wanted to use real decorations, not birthday party decorations.   Emma looked at me with admiration in her eyes and said, "you're like a designer or something aren't you mom"!!  It was a moment where I felt like I could do anything.. A moment where I wished I could forever stay the person she was thinking I was right then.  A moment where I wished I had a tape recorder.  A moment that I wrote on my heart..   Okay, I'll stop now.  You came here for the cake pops now didn't you.   Well, we were scouting around the internet for cake ideas and we kept running across pictures of  "cake pops".  We fell in love with the idea of "cake pops" and decided that we would give them a try to see if they would meet our fairytale needs. 

We followed these directions from Bakerella

1.  Bake cake in 9x13 cake pan.  After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)

4 .Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)

5. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)

6. Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.

7. Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.

8.  Place in a styrofoam block to dry (I didn't have styrofoam so I punched holes in the bottom of a shallow box.  Styrofoam would be much easier).

We're still trying to figure out how we want to display our culinary art so look for that in pictures from our makeover night!

And where are all of these out of character culinary experiences coming from?  Have I found a new love for cooking?  Ha, not a chance.  It's all a part of my devious plan to make Emma the family cook!

Check out my post over at The Mom-tage about our fun blackberry picking trip along with a super easy, fool proof cobbler recipe!  Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can! 

Blessings,

Dana