just helen

Dyeing Doilies

In my early introduction to Pinterest, I came across a picture of some really pretty doilies that had been pinned by my friend Stephanie.  She had gotten the idea from Charlotte's Fancy...who had gotten the idea from a Martha Stewart tutorial.  

(from Martha's website)
Aren't these pretty?  I had to try them for myself.  On Martha's website, she gives directions for using food coloring dye, but I have a bunch of bottles of Glimmer Mist - a spray dye in a bottle that has a touch of shimmer to the dye - why not try that first!

Since it is almost Valentine's Day, I decided to work with pink and red.  I love how they turned out!  I just sprayed them on my Ranger Non-stick Craft Sheet.  Some of the doilies absorbed the spray right up.  Others, I had to spray on both sides.  Super easy.  When spraying these, it was easy to let them dry on the sheet.  It may be a learning curve to work with doilies after they are completely dipped in dyed water, but it was super easy to work with them flat - they dried without needing to disturb them.

The doilies are a great accent touch for packaging or using as an element on a card.

I gave the heart a double dose of chunky glitter...looks like sugar, huh!

The intensity of the color works great with one of my favorites...brown paper bags.  Kind of makes me anxious for Easter colors!

Let me just say that I love the look of these doilies enough to give it a go with the dye next time.  I will just be making a whole bunch of each color at once.  Thanks for sharing the idea, Stephanie...isn't Pinterest a whole lot of fun?  Oh, and by the way, to all my local friends...if you want to get together and do this as a communal project, just let me know.  It would be a shame to let any of that dye get dumped down the drain! 

Our Little Love Shack

A funny thing happened on the way to the Love Shack... 

Okay...it's not horrible, but the combination of the bright colors and the pastels just wasn't doing anything for me...not to mention that the windows and door are just off enough to make it look like a crooked face. 

I liked the idea of the pink, red and white candy corn, but this pattern on the roof was not making me happy.

I even liked the marshmallow straw-like pieces, but I could not force myself to finish it.  I did, however, talk Megan into letting me decorate the second kit, but she told me this one had to be cute...or else!  Tell me what you think!

I separated the red and pink candies from all the other colors.  When I made the royal icing, I put a little more than half of the white into a bag, and tinted the rest with a red paste food coloring.

I piped some pink royal icing onto a sheet of parchment paper in the shape of a flower stem and leaves, added a large pink sugar confetti on top and then I let it dry overnight.  The flowers are delicate, but super cute.

Did you notice something missing?  It's the windows and door.  That pattern imprinted in the gingerbread was not making me happy, so I took the pieces and put them together...inside out!  I kind of like the linear pattern better on the wrong side.

Royal icing piped onto the base adds texture - little mini hearts were sprinkled onto the pink icing.  I loved the pale pink sugar pearls...did you catch the not-so-hidden Minnie?

I know there's a lot of red, pink and white, but I do like this better than the first attempt.  My suggestion?  Don't try this when you're tired.  It's much more fun after a good night's sleep!

 

Valentine Inchies

Oh...what a fun project this has turned out to be!  I can't believe that it's been so long since I last did inchies!  How quickly we get distracted by every new, fun endeavor!  I'm so glad that I found my way back.  Inchies are small in size, but they really pack a lot of punch into that small space.

I was working on cards using the 6"X6" Doodlebug Design Sweet Cakes pad recently and there were plenty of scraps to use and the colors are delicious, so I pulled these out. 

The key to making inchies easy is to start thinking small...everything must be small: small patterns, small stamps, small ribbon and small trim.  So I gathered my smallest Paper Shapers, especially hearts and flowers; square punches 1" and smaller; trim, baker's twine, mini brads and tiny buttons; and don't forget the regular adhesives, inks and some iridescent Stickles.

With my little pile pulled together, I was ready to do the tiny deed.

Four alphabet letters are plenty of design for this card!  But then I couldn't stop, so I just kept making the little inchies, but this time I made some some gift tags and enclosures.

and some cards...

...yes, it's one of those spiral wrapped flowers, starting with a 1 1/2" circle.

And one more tag...

Anyway, these were certainly fun!  I will have to revisit these sooner this time.  Try making some inchies...I think you will find them addicting!

My Heart's Not In It

Once again, I have been missing...but I am definitely still in action!  I never think after a post, "Perhaps I won't post again for a week or two".  I get up in the morning and have the best intentions, but alas - before I know it, its time to start dinner and the daylight is gone!
It is not for lack of material for the blog.  There are times when I have so many ideas rolling around in my head that I start a number of different projects at the same time, just so I don't forget what I want to do!  You should see my work table...maybe that's not a good idea!  The hope is that I will eventually remember the direction I wanted to go when I get back to work.  Yes...its another one of those "life getting in the way" times in my life.  It's not good or bad, just the way it is.  The bad news is that I haven't posted for a while.  The good news?  Now there are lots of things to post about and for.  With that said, on with one of my ideas.

Last week, I stopped by Walmart and came across some Campfire Strawberry and Vanilla flavored heart marshmallows.  I wasn't quite sure what I would do with them, but hey...Valentine's Day is coming.  I just couldn't pass up heart marshmallows!  At least they would look cute in hot chocolate!  But once home, I figured out what to do for a yummy, easy Valentine treat.

Besides the marshmallows, you will need these, or similar supplies:

Candy melts (my choice...Guittard Apeels), candy sprinkles, 6" lollipop sticks, treat bags and baker's twine or ribbon.  I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper to work on. 

First, take a stick and gently push it into the bottom of the heart marshmallow.  Prepare as many of the hearts as you want to dip. 

Next, you will melt the coating.  Do one color/flavor at a time.  I must say that I have really come to love working with Guittard's Apeels.  They taste yummy, melt smoothly and they dry (set-up) quickly. 

Put about 1/2 pound of the candy melt in bowl or wide-mouth jar.  Make sure the bowl is dry and clean.  Put in the microwave and melt for 30 seconds; stir the candy and repeat for 20 seconds, repeating again if neccessary, 10 seconds at a time.  You don't want to overheat the candy melts, but it needs to be fairly runny to coat the marshmallow and have a smooth finish.

Dip the marshmallow into the melted Apeels.  You might need a spoon to drizzle it all over the heart, especially when you get closer to the bottom of the bowl.  Place on the parchment paper to let set.  If the candy starts to set up in the bowl, put it back into the microwave for about 10 seconds, stirring until smooth; keep dipping.  The nice thing is that if you need to walk away from your project, you can remelt the candy later.  Just keep the candy covered.

If you want to add little candies to the top of your dipped heart, sprinkle them right after you dip, otherwise the sprinkles will fall right off. 

You will be able to tell when the candy has set.  If you gently lift the pop up and it comes right off the parchment, it is probably ready to bag.  The bags I had were a little long, so I used my scalloped Fiskars scissors to trim away a bit of the bottom.  Tie up with ribbon or bakers twine.

I thought I would prefer the marshmallow dipped in the dark chocolate Apeels, but the red is vanilla flavored and really delicious.  Make a bunch and they are ready for a party or a bouquet.

Don't these look good enough to eat?  Well, they are!  One bag of marshmallows has 36 plus pieces (Walmart,$1.25).  One pound of the Apeels ($5.00 at my cake decorating shop, but it's cheaper in bulk) will cover at least that many hearts.  I used coupons at Michaels for the lollipop sticks and treat bags, so both were about $5.00 for 100 count; baker's twine isn't too expensive and I have it by the spool...love it! 

I have to admit - these are super easy to make, delicious to the taste and definitely eye candy!  Rush to Walmart asap and get yourself a bag of these marshmallows before they disappear!  But before you go, I have a quick little giveaway.  I have been using a lot of baker's twine, and I have five different colors of reds and pinks. 

I think I should share.  Leave a comment and I will pick a winner Monday night and announce it Tuesday morning.  Good luck and have fun with your "loverly" preparations!

 

Love, Love Me Deux

That's right...part deux... or, er, two!  I'm back to my desktop to finish posting more of the cards from the My Mind's Eye "Love Me" 6"X6" paper pad.  There is still more than half the pad left, so there might be a part three on the horizon!

Pinks, reds and grey, with accents of turquoise compliment the touches of lace and traditional hearts.  The line is not overly feminine, but romantic all the same and I found it was very easy to work with.  I didn't need to do a lot of "mixing" with products from other companies, but when I did, the colors were easy to transition with other palates.

 I love twine.  I have a hard time restraining myself from using it.  Frequently it involves tying it around the card; other times, it's in a bow.  I even got ambitious and crocheted with it.  I think it has taken the place of ribbon on all my cards...next thing you know, I will chopping buttons from the supply list - wait...never!  Anyway, I try to interject different applications simply for the sake of making it different. 

Before you think I cut out all those little pieces, let me just say that I kind of took a shortcut...

I cut right along the top of one of the rows, and then let the cutting begin.  It took a few minutes, but wasn't too bad.  The twine across the top was easy and the message simple.  If you haven't noticed, I've been trying to use up some of my old Making Memories "Tiny Alphas", but alas - or good luck, depending on how you look at it - I still have a ton of letters!

"Love" is a simple saying, but can be directed either to a romantic theme or something more general.  Ranger's Glossy Accents were added to the letters and let dry ( on a sheet of plastic) prior to adhering them to the card.  The hearts were cut out and mounted with foam mounting tape.

The letters curled a little while drying, and when I went to straighten them, they cracked.  It's all good!  I like the distressed look!

I think that the last card today is my favorite, mostly because I added a strong accent color to the palate...and I got to use a "Stickies" from the K&Co. Smash Collection.

I do love the fabric tape - this one by Liantuo.  I keep thinking that  I need to make my own!

Love that Doodlebug Design red flower button and the Mollettine Creative Peg (clothes pin with a heart) from The Container Store.  Don't forget the inside!

I know, it's a corny message...but isn't that a good thing at Valentine's Day?  On to tomorrow's  project.  A little recycling of an old item will make it like new...and fun, too!