Oreo Pops!

Ever since I had my first cake pop at Starbucks last year, I've been obsessed.  (Cake pop tutorial post to come later!)  But let's face it, cake pops are a PAIN to make.  They are so darn tasty and cute, but man do they take a lot of work.  Enter Pinterest and howdoesshe.com's Oreo Cookie Suckers.  They are just as cute and fun as cake pops, but you get to cut out some of the steps!  Don't get me wrong, the process is still very involved, but how can you not love these?

Here's how I made mine.

What you'll need:
1 pkg of Oreos (I used Double Stuffed)
1 bag of white Wilton Candy Melts
1 bag of any other color Wilton Candy Melts
Sprinkles of your choosing
Lollipop sticks and Plastic treat bags (you can buy these at any craft store)
Skinny satin ribbon
Wax Paper

I have found it is easiest to complete all of one step before moving on to the next.  So first, carefully (and I mean carefully) unscrew the tops off of all of the Oreos.  Who knew Oreos were so fragile?  Don't worry if some of the cookies break, you can always glue them back together later with chocolate!

Pour about 1 cup of the white Candy Melts into a microwave safe bowl (glass or ceramic work best), and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until they are mostly melted.  If there are small pieces that are still solid, stir the candy until smooth (they will usually melt on their own).

Use a lollipop stick to scrape away some of the filling and make room for the stick.  Dip the end of the lollipop stick in the melted chocolate.  Make sure you get a decent amount of melted chocolate on the stick -- this is what acts as the glue to hold the stick in place and hold the top on.  Place the chocolate dipped stick in the space you've created by scraping away the filling, and immediately top with the other Oreo half.  Repeat until all of the Oreos have sticks and are ready for dipping.

Now for the dipping...  Cover your work surface with wax paper.  Melt whichever color of Candy Melts you choose for dipping in the microwave using the steps above.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape all of the chocolate to the front of the bowl (as pictured below).  Hold the bowl in one hand and the Oreo pops in the other.

Dip one side of the Oreo pop into the melted chocolate to coat.  Flip over and dip the other side.  Roll the edge of the Oreo to cover the rest.  Tap gently on the side of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate.

Place immediately on wax paper.  If decorating with sprinkles, do so at this point before the chocolate sets.

Since I was making these for a co-worker's baby shower (baby boy, obvi), I dipped half of mine in blue chocolate and decorated with white sprinkles, and the other half I dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with blue chocolate.

To get this drizzle effect, you'll need to use a zip lock bag.  Fold the top down to make the process neater, and pour/scoop in some melted chocolate.  Squeeze all of the chocolate into one corner of the bag, and twist the top (similar to using a pastry bag).  Snip the corner off of the bag (the bigger the snip, the bigger the line of chocolate will be).  Drizzle back and forth over the Oreo pop in one direction, then the opposite direction.

After you've dipped and decorated all of the Oreo pops, let them hang out on the wax paper for a while until the chocolate sets.  Cut enough ribbon for each of the Oreo pops (I'd say about 7 inches long).

Once the chocolate has set, put each Oreo pop into a plastic treat bag.

Tie a cute little bow on each.

And you're done!  How cute are these?

Just imagine the color and decoration combinations.

Wire Wedding Cake Topper

Gorgeous wire cake toppers, like the one below from Allegro Art, are all over Etsy.  Unfortunately, they are expensive!  This one is listed for $25.  I consider myself to be a pretty crafty person, so I pinned it to my Wedding Cake board on Pinterest and thought, "Why couldn't I make that myself?"

After searching Amazon.com for gold aluminum wire, I found some for only $6.81 (with free Amazon Prime shipping, woo hoo!).  So when it came in the mail, I got to work!  I couldn't take pictures because (1) I didn't know what I was doing, and (2) my hands were pretty busy.  Anyways, I'll do my best to give you some tips/instructions on how to make your own!

Here's what you'll need:

• Aluminum craft wire (I used 12 gauge gold, but it comes in many colors!)
• Scissors or wire cutters
• Pliers
• Pictures of script letters that you like

Here are some tips:

Find letters that you like online or by trying out different fonts.  I used wire cake toppers from Etsy as my inspiration for the "M" and the heart, and found a script "Z" (below) to copy from Google images.

When making swirls for the ends of letters, it's best to twist it with your fingers, then use the pliers to bend the middle of the swirl in further (its hard to make that tight of a bend with just your fingers).

For my letters, I left extra wire at the ends as that is what will stick into the cake.

Make sure you are conscious of the way the wire needs to bend when coming out of a loop.  Look at the letters closely and plan ahead before you start bending the wire.  Once it bends one way, it's hard to make it bend the other way and still look nice and straight.

If you want a tight swirl, like you see on the stem of the heart, wrap the wire around your pinky finger a couple of times, then stretch it out a bit.  A pen or pencil would also make a nice even swirl.

I also played around with different ways to write the word "love" using one piece of wire.  I'm going to use the initials for our cake topper, but words like "love" and "i do" are common as well!

For points of letters (like the tops of the "M" and the bottom of the "V"), an easy way to make the wire go the other direction after the point is to make a loop.   You could also just bend the wire the other direction and use your pliers to squeeze the point together.  I liked the look of the loop better, but the "M" in the sample picture from Etsy at the top of this post looks very nice!

Make sure you have extra wire!  I wish I had taken a picture of my pile of reject toppers :/  Trust me, this takes some practice, and mine still aren't perfect!  Thankfully, I had 39 feet of wire to play around with.  I ended up throwing most of it away, but I did end up with some toppers that I'm very happy with!  And who knows, now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, maybe I'll order some more wire :)

diy Gift : Personalized Pyrex

So.... the time has come... my friends have started to get married!  Unfortunately, at this point in my life, I'm unable to spend as much money as I'd like to on wedding gifts.  I have found that if you put some time and work into a gift and make it personal, it tends to be much more appreciated anyways!

When I found a tutorial from Make It and Love It for Glass Etching, I had to give it a try for my lovely friend Sarah and her to-be husband Josh!  I decided to write out my own instructions, because I don't have a Cricut cutter like Make It and Love It used.

Here's what you'll need:

• Pyrex bakeware (I got a 2 piece set from Target)
• Clear contact paper
• Print out of the design you want to etch into the Pyrex (Make sure you print in mirror image, so the reverse of how you want the design to show up on the bakeware.  I had to reprint mine after this picture because I forgot)
• Exacto Knife
• Masking Tape
• Paint brush
• Armor Etch cream (A bit pricey from Michaels' but a little goes a long way!)

Print out your desired design.  It's best to choose a font that is fairly basic so it is easier to cut out with your Exacto knife.  I found a larger leaf pattern and used Photoshop to simplify it and make it easier to cut out, then arranged the text and graphic in Microsoft Word to print.

Make sure you print a mirrored image of your design.  If you're using a Mac, click Print, in the Copies&Pages dropdown, click Layout.

Check the "Flip Horizontally" image to print in reverse.

To make the "stencil," cut a piece of contact paper and affix it to the bottom of the Pyrex dish in the location you want to etch your design.  Make sure there are no bubbles.

Again, make sure you print out your design in reverse so that when you look at the dish from the top, the name reads correctly.  Tape the printed design over the contact paper.

Cut out each individual design/letter with the Exacto knife, being sure to cut through both the paper and the contact paper.  Go slowly and be very careful.  If you make a wrong cut, you'll have to apply a new piece of contact paper and start over on that letter.

After you have cut out the shape, use the Exacto knife to lift the edge of the shape up, and peel it off.  On letters with holes, like "D," be sure to leave the center of the letter in place.

Continue on until you have cut out the entire pattern.

Remove the masking tape and paper, leaving the contact paper "stencil" in place.  Flip the dish over to see what the pattern will look like right side up.  At this point, use your Exacto knife to smooth out any rough cuts.

Use a paint brush to liberally apply the Armor Etch cream to the stencil, being very careful to avoid contact with your skin!  This stuff can eat through glass -- let's not see what it does to skin.  Make sure you keep the cream inside the edges of the contact paper to avoid unwanted etching along the edges.

Apply the cream to the entire stencil and allow to sit for 15 minutes.  The Armor Etch bottle says to wait 5 minutes, but I felt that the longer time produced a better "etch."  As it sits, the cream will tend to goop up in certain places -- so you can move it around with your paint brush if you'd like.

After the 15 minutes is up, rinse off the cream with warm water and admire your new, personalized, Pyrex dish!  A lot of work goes into it, but if you take your time, the results will be fabulous :)

Enjoy, Sarah and Josh!  May you live happily ever after and never lose your Pyrex :)