United States Flag

This isn't my usual creepy craft, but it was created in the spirit of honoring the dead, so it's not that far off.  I originally did this with my Girl Scout troop to make posters for Memorial Day, but with the 4th coming up it's an easy way to add stars and stripes just about anywhere.

  

The hardest part is making the stars, which isn't difficult, it's just tedious cutting them out by hand.  I  would think you could use a die cutter or a large star punch, but if I had either of those, I wouldn't be showing how to do it by hand. Here is my star template.   

The stars are different sizes for good reason. I know I could spend an hour just trying to get all the stars lined up to look the real thing and some of our girls are like that too.  This way it's abstract from the get-go, so there's no need to stress about perfection. 

 

Here's one of their finished posters to give you an idea. The font used was Tootie Patootie. It's easy to see from a distance, nice block shape for coloring and cutting out, especially if you ignore the smaller white spaces

 

 

 

Continuing on with the making of the stars, first you will need a piece of plastic coated freezer paper.  I think parchment paper or wax paper would work as well, but I like the freezer paper for it's slick coating on one side and matte finish on the other. Print out the star sheet and glue it to the matte side, I prefer using a glue stick for this. 

 

Then flip it over and cover the shiny side with overlapping strips of painters tape. This is optional, but I like to lay another layer of overlapping strips in the opposite direction. The picture shows the second layer half done. I think the added thickness makes it easier to peel the stars off and makes them studier for handling.  They can be used again and again, until they lose their stick.

I don't like cutting things out. I'm left handed and I can't cut with lefty scissors. Sometimes I wonder if others have the same stupid problems I do, or if I'm truly just that "special". I can cut fine with right handed scissors but it isn't comfortable and I find myself having to cut at weird angles to see where I'm cutting. That being said, I found the most efficient way to cut out the stars was to cut from point to point and then cut the triangle that was left.  The stars are lined up so they can be cut into strips and knock out one side on all the stars in one fail swoop. 

After the star is cut, peel it off and stick it onto the shiny side of another piece of freezer. I've got a little tri-fold action going on here with about half the stars.  Folded up it's 5"x8" and easily fits in a folder for later use. 

Now is the best part, lay out the stars and stripes and sponge paint over them. 

Extending the tape over the edges of the paper keeps it secured to the work surface, but isn't necessary.

Use a different sea sponge for each color. They don't have to be very big. Make sure the sponges are thoroughly wet and then squeeze all the excess moisture out before using. Dab the sponge into the paint and dab it a few times on a clean surface (paint tray, paper plate, etc.) to remove the excess.  Then pounce it straight up and down on the surface you want covered.  The straight up and down motion keeps the paint from being pushed under the tape.   

Wait a minute or two for the paint to set and remove the stripes. For the stars wait until the blue paint has completely dried.  Remember you can place the stars back on the freezer paper to use again. 

One more Memorial Day craft while I'm at it.  This is another poster our troop did. We used the instructions from Moms Holiday Craft Ideas to create the poppies, except instead of pipe cleaner stems, we punched out red construction paper 1.5" circles for a base and 1" black circles for the flower centers and glued the tissue flowers in-between the two.  The poem excerpt is from Moina Michael's "We Shall Keep The Faith" which was inspired by John McCrae's poem "We Shall Not Sleep".  Here is a little history on the poppy. The font is called Let Her Go by Kimberly Geswein.

Voodoo Dolls

I would like to thank Girl Scouts for making this Voodoo Doll possible. I'm not in any way implying that they encourage the practice of Voodoo or the making of Voodoo paraphernalia.  I take full responsibility for taking their idea and warping it for my own amusement. I guess I should also apologize to Voodoo for making it cutesy.  

The idea of I speak of is the Role Model Doll project in the aMuse journey books.  For that project dolls are made with pipe cleaner bodies and button heads, wrapped in yarn and decorated with scraps to emulate an admired role model. My brain immediately translated that to Voodoo doll, I can't help it.   

One of my Girl Scout moms created this awesome guy at last year’s craft party and I thought it would be way cooler than a button head.

The wooden beads had been donated to a previous craft party by another troop leader.

Finally I have to thank our troop, for testing my original design (in role model mode) and showing me where it needed improvement.

The following instructions work for both Voodoo and Role Model dolls. Alternatively you could do both, a sort of Jekyll and Hyde doll, by making two faces on opposite sides and just flipping the hair. 


To make these dolls you will need:

one 1 inch wooden bead
4 pipe cleaners
3 yds. yarn for hair
3.5 yds. twine for body
cloth scraps
fine or medium point permanent markers
scissors
glue

How much yarn or twine will depend on its thickness, how long you want the hair or how tightly you wrap the body. The measurements above should give you enough wiggle room that you don't run out. The directions that follow will be given in arm lengths, because it's faster to measure that way and it doesn't have to be exact.  Just note I'm on the short side, so if you're 6' 2" to my 5' 4" not only can you reach stuff on the top shelf, but two arm lengths will give your doll fuller hair than mine. If kids are doing the measuring add on another arm length or two.  I think it's better to have too much than not enough, but it's not the end of the world if you have to add more, just make sure to glue the ends and wrap over them. 

If you use yarn instead of twine for the body, I would recommend using a heavy weight yarn.  When our troop made dolls we used average yarn to wrap the bodies, most of the girls didn't have the patience to wrap them enough to really fill them out, so we had some really skinny dolls. With twine it only takes a pass up and down each limb for a nice thickness.  If you use twine make sure you get the natural kind that hasn't been treated.  Treated twine has a very strong nasty chemical smell. 

Draw a face on your wooden bead and set aside.

Next cut about two arm lengths of yarn for medium length hair. I wrap it around my fingers, for longer hair or for little creatures with smaller hands make a looser wrap. You want about 18-20 loops, to fit snug in the bead.




Keeping the yarn looped together, slide it off and fold your pipe cleaner in half over the loop of yarn and give it a couple of tight twists. then gently twist it almost halfway down for the body and legs. 





Cut the loop at the point opposite your pipe cleaner. Place a dab of glue around the pipe cleaner right before the hair starts and pull the pipe cleaner through the bead just until the top of the pipe cleaner disappears and all you can see is yarn coming out.

At any time you can add a little glue to the back of the bead to keep the under layer of hair down permanently if you'd like.








Cut a 7 inch piece of pipe cleaner, leave a little space for a neck and wrap it around the body twice to make arms.




In my original version, I wrapped some scrap cloth around the body to give it a little more girth.  Later after making these with our troop, I decided it was best to reinforce the entire body.  These dolls got a lot of attention, but even though it was careful, loving attention, there were still a few injuries. The pipe cleaner shoulder joint is especially a weak point since the arms get posed a lot.  

To add a little extra strength, position a pipe cleaner along the side of the body.  Give it a slight bend in the armpit area so that there is an equal amount extending past the arm and the leg. 





Holding the pipe cleaner against the body wrap from the armpit down the body to the end of the leg.  Then wrap from the armpit to the end of the arm. Repeat on the other side. 








Then take three arms length of twine, plan on more if you are using regular yarn and start to wrap. 

Crisscross around the body, up the neck, back down and head on over to the arm. 

Notice with twine your wraps don't have to be right next to each other for this step, but if you are using yarn, you probably want to keep them closer together. When you get a quarter inch from the end, stop and fold the pipe cleaner over.


With our troop we had some arms start to unravel, so put a dab of glue on the fold, wrap over it and work your way back up the arm. This time place the wraps right next to each other to make it look nice. Cross over the body and wrap the other arm. If you used yarn I would make another pass up and down each arm to make them thicker.

Wrap down the body, down one leg, fold and glue, just like the arms and wrap back up the body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrap back down the body and do the other leg.  Wrap back up the body, cut the twine towards the back, tuck the end in and glue. 

Here is a side by side comparison of the two bodies.  The girl on the left obviously does more pull-ups. 

 

Then dress your doll with scraps of cloth.  You can either glue them on or just tie them on with more yarn, ribbons or strips of cloth. I think gluing scraps of fabric in place for makeshift clothes is easier, but most of our girls wanted to be able to change outfits.

This glamorous attire is perfect for a night out at the St. Louis Cemetery and it's made out of a few odd scraps. 

 

 

 

Here are the girl's role model dolls.

 

This is the one I made for my mom, she loves purple, with the reinforced body style. On the subject of moms and dolls, my mother showed me how to make little dolls out of a hollyhocks like these when I was little. Now that I think about it they look a bit alienesque, but to a kid it's pure fairy magic to make dolls out of flower parts.

There is also an interesting read on voodoo dolls at Steampunk Opera.

Salt Dough Bunny Skulls

 

My daughter wanted to make decorations for Easter.  

I thought it would be fun to try our hand at salt dough ornaments again,

and I was itching to try a different medium for sugar skull bunnies. 

 

Quick recap since I've already done this before:

 

The recipe is 1 part water, 1 part salt, 2 parts flour, but don't add the water all at once because you probably won't need it all. You don't want a sticky dough.

 

I prefer to roll it out on wax paper and also wear latex gloves to protect my hands from drying out.

 

Use the end of a straw to make a hole for hanging.

 

Bake at a low temp for a long time or air dry for a really long time. 

 

After drying, rough edges can be smooth out with a small metal file or sandpaper.

 

After this experience this is what I plan to do next time for the drying process:

 

Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for an hour at 200 degrees convection. After an hour bake on wire rack for another hour. If I have time to hang around the house, I'll probably bump that up to two. Then turn the oven off and let them sit as long as I can. I will also put a Post-It note on the oven to remind myself they are still in there. If some of the larger pieces still need to dry more, I'll just let them air dry on a wire rack for another day. 

 

Things I learned this time around:

 

Don't forget and dump in all the water at once because the dough will be too wet.

Don't forget to add holes for hanging before baking.

Don't think "Oh they've only been in oven 2 minutes I can quick add holes."

     They had already formed a thin crust. I didn't get nice clean holes, made a mess of things, and ended up making another batch.

Don't throw in a shrinky dink, just because you can.

Don't increase the oven temp because the shrinky dink isn't working.

     OK, I don't foresee anyone else doing the last two, but for instructional purposes it's worth noting that increasing the oven temp to 300 caused the backs of the ornaments to puff out. 

 

I decorated  my bunnies with a combination of acrylic paints and Sharpies. 

My daughter preferred to stick with the Sharpies, specifically the brush tip ones. 

Not a bad idea if you don't want to wait for paint to dry. 

 

 

Since it was Easter I had to make real sugar cookies too.  I made some regular sized cookies for the kids to decorate and I made a bunch of mini cookies for me to decorate.  I used the Garden Shape Cut-Outs from Wilton, they're supposed to be for fondant, but they are perfect for bite size cookies.   

 

 

Most of the adults I know like the smaller size without all the sprinkles.  I usually only make the round flower with a single star of frosting in the center. Quick and easy, zero skills needed. So I'm really not sure exactly what happened.  I felt fine and I thought I was doing alright, but the next thing I know I've gone all Martha Stewart and I've got like a hundred of these little buggers all decorated to the nines (for my skills, those cookies are ultra fancy). And it didn't stop there. 

 

I thought it would look really pretty to cover some of the salt dough eggs in strips of lace. I had visions of white eggs striped with an assortment of vintage white or off-white lace.  In reality I had one piece of white lace removed from the bottom of a tank top. The yellow flower and frilly ribbon were salvaged from a broken headband.  The rest of the bits were leftovers from various craft kits my daughter had.  

 

It always feels weird when I get inspired to make things that don't appeal to me. I mean I like the way they turned out, but I don't actually like them. This is probably exactly what crafting would feel like if I was cloned by aliens from the planet Stepford.  Best not to think about such things and just concentrate on finding a good home for these ornaments where they'll be appreciated.

We also made some mini salt dough cutouts, I used a toothpick to make a hole in the end before baking.  Here is an easy way to make tulip leaves.

 

2.5 inches from the end bend a pipe cleaner. 

Curve the sides a bit and give the end a twist.

 

 Make another 2.5 inch leaf the same way. 

Fold the rest of the pipe cleaner straight up the middle. 

Bring the leaves up towards the center and give the ends a little curl.

Put a little glue on the stem and stick it in the hole.  That's what she said.

 

 

OK back to Halloween, upside down tulips make cute little ghosts.

As always those leftover bits are perfect for making mini skulls. 

Now that I think about it, one of those would look cute on an egg shape covered in black lace. That's an ornament I could appreciate.   

 

A little bit more on sugar cookies. 30 years ago when I was a kid, sugar cookies sucked.  I don't know if it was just my family, but as far as I could tell cutout cookies were treated like red-headed stepchildren.  The grownups weren't crazy about them, but we had to have them around for the holidays. 

Cookie dough would be rolled paper thin to get as many cookies as possible out of a batch.  I remember watching delicate cutouts being carefully scooped up and gingerly transferred to cookie sheets. Then to make matters worse they were baked until browned ON TOP.  Of course by the time the tops were browning, the sides and bottoms were overcooked, many of the thinner ones working their way towards burnt.  Once cooled they were frosted and that's when we got to the good stuff and us kids got to decorate.  I remember spending forever on a single cookie, getting all the right colored sugar sprinkles in all the right places.  It was copious amounts of sugar mixed with pride and milk to dunk them (especially the burnt ones) that made them edible.

Why am I telling you all this? Because although sugar cookies bring back magical memories, I had never eaten one that tantalized my taste buds, not even from a bakery, that is until I found this recipe at JoyOfBaking.com. 

I do deviate from the recipe and use buttercream frosting instead of royal icing.  I know royal icing looks pretty and hardens nicely, but it doesn't taste the best and I think it's a horrible way to ruin a good cookie.  These cookies even taste really good without icing.

Now that I'm the one making sugar cookies twice a year for Christmas and Easter, I realize why my grandmother's chocolate chip cookies were divine, while her sugar cookies were not.  Making any kind of drop cookie is like joyfully dropping spoonfuls of love on a sheet of happiness.  Sugar cookies on the other hand, well lets just say rolling out dough leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to the dark side.  I find making sure I have plenty of time takes the edge off.  It also helps that you can make the dough a couple days in advance and after baking you can freeze the cookies until you have time to frost.  I also keep them frozen after frosting until I need them. 

My last advice is don't let them brown. It might take a few tries to find that sweet spot.  Once you get a batch that is only slightly browned on the bottom, then cook the next batch one minute less and they should be perfect. That's your sweet spot, write it down for next time. Always let the cookies cool on the sheet for two minutes before gently moving them to a cooling rack. They will be very soft, but once they cool completely they will be firm but chewy.

Here's the buttercream frosting.  I've had it for so long I can't remember where I got it originally.

Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and add vanilla. Beat sugar in gradually at low speed.  Add milk and beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes. 

Update: One last thing I forgot to add, I found some awesomely quirky bunny coloring pages from a Hungarian kids show, Kerek Mese, http://kerekmese.hu/nyomtathato-szinezok-kifestok/ .  Besides Easter (Húsvét) and bunny (nyuszi) pages, they also have a sea monsters, a slug and much much more.

Truffles The Rat

Truffles the Rat is just that, a big rat truffle and uses the same ganache recipe as my peppermint bark brains. 

Ingredients:
5 oz. white chocolate, divided
4 oz. dark chocolate
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 red hots

Special Equipment:
Wilton Rat candy mold

Directions:

Break dark chocolate into small pieces and combine with cream and butter in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for one minute at 50% power, then stir until incorporated. Mixture should be thick and smooth. Stir in vanilla extract and refrigerate. 

This is as good a place as any to talk about tempering chocolate. Even though white chocolate isn’t real chocolate it still needs to be tempered because of the cocoa butter. Candy melts don’t, which is why they are easier to use, but I don’t think they taste as good. I’m sure this method isn’t proper, but it works for me and it’s easy. First, I never melt chocolate all the way in the microwave, always leave a few lumps and then stir until the chocolate is completely smooth and melted. I also always use a glass bowl and stir by smearing the chocolate along the sides with the back of the spoon. Keep stirring or smearing until the chocolate has cooled. I do the wrist test, just like you would with a baby bottle, in fact that’s where I got the idea, but it turns out it’s a legitimate thing. Drizzle a small amount of chocolate on the inside of your wrist and if you don’t feel the heat, it’s good to go. Tempering prevents that chalky look once the chocolate cools, giving it a nice sheen and also makes it nice and solid. Alright let’s get back to the recipe.

Microwave 2 oz. white chocolate, again for one minute at 50% power, add 20 second increments as needed until almost melted. Temper the chocolate and then pour into the mold, smoothing chocolate along the sides and into crevices with the back of a spoon. Once the mold is completely coated keep rotating the mold as the chocolate cools to avoid pooling. Once the chocolate stops moving, refrigerate for one minute. 

The chocolate should now be set enough to push red hots into place as eyes. The eyes don’t have to be perfect, I like the irregular white filmy look, and it adds character. 

Refrigerate for 2 more minutes and the white chocolate should be completely cooled. By now the truffle mixture should be set.  Spoon it into the center of the mold gently tapping to get it level. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Microwave remaining 3 oz. of white chocolate until melted. Again temper, and it will be cooled enough so it doesn’t melt the ganache. Spoon chocolate along the center of the mold, gently tapping it will move the chocolate to edges without going over them. Refrigerate until set. 

To serve just turn over mold onto a plate and gently tap to remove. Allow it to come to room temperature before cutting. 

The kids really like it when I insert a few candy bones, into the ganache. One year I used a gummy brain. Nothing like giving the kids yet another reason to fight over the head. Did anyone else start singing the Pinky and the Brain theme song? No, just me huh?

Eating chocolate rat doesn’t bother me in the least. The thought of biting into artificially fruity flavored gummy candy in the middle of rich chocolaty goodness makes me gag a little. So this year I added a twist that was more to my liking, we’ll call this new twist Gourmet Rat.

Gourmet Rat is almost the same as plain rat but with raspberry blood. Also since Gourmet Rat tastes fancier, he should look fancier. You could add a tiny rhinestone tiara or you could give him a swanky pink tail and ears, which are tastier and less problematic if swallowed. 

Make the ganache as you would with the plain rat, or if you’d like you can get a little fancy with the flavors. If using extracts stick with ½ teaspoon.  Orange extract is one of my favorites, or half vanilla/half orange for just a hint. If you’d like to substitute a liqueur, I would suggest 1/2 – 1 tablespoon since the flavors aren’t as concentrated. 

You are still going to use 2oz of white chocolate to coat the inside of the mold, but start by just melting a quarter ounce of it, with half of a red candy melt, for a perfect shade of lab rat pink. You can use the back of a spoon to push the pink chocolate around the inside of the tail area. For the inside ear area you just need a teeny amount that you can apply with something small like a toothpick.

Refrigerate while you melt the remaining 1.75 oz. of white chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is cool enough to pass the wrist test.  Even then it will still be warm enough to heat the tiny  pink ear bits so quickly apply a thin coat over the pink areas and then don’t muck with them so you don’t disturb the pink chocolate underneath. Coat the rest of the mold and return to the refrigerator. 

For a quick and easy raspberry sauce microwave 2 tablespoons of raspberry jam with 1/2 teaspoon of water for 10 seconds or just enough to warm the jam so you can easily incorporate the water. I’ll be honest here, even with the added water don’t expect it to gush when slicing into Mr. Gourmet. You can experiment with more sauce, or runnier sauce, but it’s pretty darn tasty as is.

I use Rose Cottage raspberry jam. In fact, for all my jam needs, I turn to Rose Cottage products. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, they just happen to make the only jams available at the local grocery stores that remind me of my grandmother’s and that’s the highest praise any jam can have in my opinion. There is not a lot info about them online, but I did find Amish House Market that sells a limited selection of their jams for a reasonable price. I have not had any experience ordering from them. 



Spoon the sauce down the middle of the rat and this time put it in the freezer for a few minutes. The raspberry sauce won’t freeze solid, but it should cool enough that it’s a thick gel.


Since the jam is taking up space in the mold, remove 2 tablespoons from the ganache and set aside to do something tasty with later. Try to quickly get a layer of ganache over the raspberry sauce, pressing along the side edges above the sauce line to get a nice seal between the ganache and white chocolate. You don’t want to put pressure on the center of the mold and squish the raspberry sauce out. Once you have ganache covering all the sauce and sealed along the edges, distribute the rest of it evenly across the mold. 

Return the rat to the refrigerator until firm. Then melt and then temper the remaining white chocolate. Smooth out the chocolate to the edges of the mold.


I got a little sloppy filling this rat, probably because I let the truffle mixture get too firm. Ideally you want a small edge of white chocolate showing all the way around, this will adhere to the last layer of white chocolate creating a nicely sealed chocolate shell. If the filling covers that edge, even just a thin layer it will affect the integrity of the seal.  The raspberry sauce will find its way out and leak. To counter this I stored the rat upside down and maybe that’s good advice for all saucy rats. Bring the rat to room temperature in the upside down position and then right before serving turn it right side up. Of course if you’d like a little blood to ooze from your rat, which is a nice effect, turn it right side up sooner, the sauce is thick and it will be a slow leak. 

When it comes to making rat the flavor combinations are endless and the joyful smiles they bring are priceless. I only wish someone would create a two headed rat mold. And don’t make the mistake of thinking you can only serve rat after Labor Day. Rat is a yummy addition to any special occasion. I’ve even had a request for birthday rat, (I added multicolored jimmies to bottom to be festive).

Andean Condor Gastric Acid

Prior to creating this label, I hadn't really thought about vultures.  They are just fuggly looking birds that eat dead stuff and show up in old westerns, right?

They are so much cooler than that, everything about their design has purpose.  Most of it's disgusting, but it's all very fascinating. I've also decided that vultures can be beautiful, cute even. 

I picked the Andean Condor from the New World vulture family because with it's 10 foot wingspan it's a huge bird, so I figure it should have lots of gastric acid to share.

If you'd like to learn some interesting stuff about vultures, here are a couple of sources that are as entertaining as they are enlightening.

There is some great information on New World Vultures at Real Monstrosities.

And this awesome video about vulture fluids from SciShow.

The label is short and sweet.  MS Office clip art and Freebooter font by GemFonts.

Since my bottle is opaque I didn't have to worry about contents, but if I were in mind to make some gastric acid.  I would mix a little pale yellow acrylic paint, with a touch of olive green and blend that into some floral water and pour it very slowly to get lots of tiny bubbles. 

Here's a label if you'd like to make your own bottle of acid.