Nintendo Mario Paintings

I just finished the Princess Peach (purple) and Venus Fire Trap (orange) paintings, so here it all is. I have step by step instructions for the Mario painting here. Close up of the Latiku painting here. All of the artwork is based off the amazing Grand Star by Lawrence Yang. Splattering paint to create stars was my favorite part of the project. The art has been a perfect fit for our basement where Hubby spends most of his time playing video games.

 I was a little bummed that the fireballs don't stand out on the orange canvas, but I also like that you would see more details the more you looked at the picture. I may end up adding more characters as time goes on so there's more to find.

 I love this cute version of Bullet Bill.

Next Project to Try: Homemade throw pillows

Last weekend online I came across a fun and easy set of pillows for Valentines Day. I cannot, for the life of me, find them again. I need to get better about bookmarking stuff. Anyway, once I finish my gift for my almost 3 year old Rosalie, I will get started on Valentine's felt pillows. Here's some ideas for me to think about before starting.

I also want to add homemade tags to the pillows. GwennyPenny.com has an amazing tutorial on how to make them. The directions are so simple that I'm sure that even my non-sewing self could get it figured out.

Halo Donut Cake Pops

I'll be gone for a women's retreat, so hubby is hosting a Halo guys night. Three TVs set up with three XBOXs in one house so 12 guys can play simultaneously. What can I say?... I'm madly in love with a geek! Truthfully, my Martha Stewart geekiness is just as out of control, so I've decided to make cake pops for the boys. The donut version of cake pops is much easier than the cake version or the oreo version. Oreo cake pops still get the number one vote in taste. Note to self, next time try Krispy Kreme donut holes. King Soopers doesn't cut it for taste, but I refuse to give up on donut holes. Donut holes stay together, unlike cake pops, and donut holes are light and won't fall off the stick when dipping, unlike cake pops. It cut the time needed for this project in half, not even including the extra time needed to bake and cool the cake if you make it from scratch.

Supplies: donut holes, microwavable chocolate, lollipop sticks, foam blocks found in floral section of a craft store, small candy bags to wrap the finished product in.

Dip one end of the lollipop stick in melted chocolate.

Shove stick 1/2 way through donut hole. The melted chocolate on the end of the stick should act as glue.

Repeat with all donut holes, and let them cool right side up in foam blocks.

Dip entire donut hole in melted chocolate. Gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl to get extra chocolate off.

Let dipped doughnut holes cool right side up stuck in foam blocks. Add piping after the chocolate is hardened. I used Wilton black icing for the halo symbol, but melted chocolate in another color would be more stable.

Latiku Painting

Very simple Latiku painting that will go next to the Mario painting in the basement. Painted with acrylic. I didn't make my green splatter paint thick enough or dark enough. It barely shows up. Next painting should be a larger Princess Peach version. Purple background.

Is it at all wrong that I have a cloud floating through space. hmmm... didn't think of that til now.

Kids Egg Drop Experiment

Something fun and messy I did with my afternoon family, Pinky age 7 and Jimmy age 9.

Experiment 1:

Drop raw eggs from up high using parachutes made from trash bags.

We made 4 parachutes instead of 3 so that each of the kids could drop 2 eggs. Before dropping the eggs, Jimmy and Pinky gave them faces and names. They also filled out a chart predicting which egg they thought would be a survivor and which would suffer a miserable death. Terrible I know, but the kids get a kick out of it. The 30x30 parachute egg didn't completely die, but he still cracked. Which was a great lead in to the next day's experiment.

Experiment 2:

Demonstrate shell strength

Let the kids know that you are going to drop eggs from high with no parachute... AND that the egg people should survive. Next let kids each take an egg and crack it against the counter. Or with a nail. Something that puts all of the pressure in one spot of the egg.  Then let the kids each crush and egg in their bare hand. It should be much harder to crush the egg because the pressure is distributed around the egg. Talk about how the eggs in experiment one were at a disadvantage because they were taking all of the pressure from hitting the ground in one spot. Talk about ways to distribute the pressure from impact.

 
Experiment 3:
The famous egg drop!

Now's the time to let the kids go nuts with any materials they can find to build a contraption to drop their precious egg people in. I pulled everything out of the craft closet and let them build. They used combinations of toilet paper, animal stuffing, sand, feathers, water bottles, cardboard boxes, craft foam, salt, shaving cream, corn starch, duct tape, and so much more. While they were building we talked about what they were hoping would take on the impact instead of the egg. A couple of Pinky's egg people died during the building process, but she wasn't too upset so long as there was a substitute to step in. After we dropped the egg capsules (the one filled with sand sounded awful) we took them over the trash can and gently opened them up. Only one of Pinky's survived, and one of Jimmy's. It broke my heart when Pinky was upset that her 3rd egg had died saying "but I worked so hard on that one!" So if I do this again, I will be sure to stress before hand that "all little egg people will be harmed in this experiment... sorry" This comment brought Jimmy to start talking about kamikaze's who attend their own funeral before they leave for the mission. Maybe next time we'll have a kamikaze-like funeral service before the drop.

 

Next week. using toothpicks and mini marshmallows to build a cage around the egg, AND add the 30x30 parachute. I have high hopes.

Recycled Jars for Craft Storage

I love jars as a way for craft storage, but why buy them when I throw them away each month after I use the foods that come in them. The only problem has been that I don't want my craft supplies smelling like spaghetti sauce. At the same time, I love my wallflowers, but when the refill is empty it still smells good. Here is an attempt at "going green".

Start with pasta sauce jars and wallflowers. When empty, wash jar thoroughly and use Goo Gone to get rid of the sauce label.

Hot glue scrap fabric and ribbon on lid and fill it with used wallflower refills. I stick it in the china cabinet for a couple of months. You only need one wallflower refill but my stash is multiplying so right now each of my jars has quite a few refills sitting in it. They don't need to be the same scent.

Take out wallflower refills, use them in another jar. Voila!

PS: Around Christmas every year Bath and Body Works sells the wallflower pack of 2 refills for $5. I always stock up then because the regular price is $12.50. My current favorite scent is Island Margarita

Happy Face Oreo Crunch Pops

I saw these cake pops on Bakerella's site and had to try them. The oreo chocolate crunch ball recipe (Thank you to Nichole's mom Theresa) tasted head over heels better than the cake filled pops though. Plus they were a bit more forgiving when it came time to dip. The cake balls were falling off the sticks like crazy. I used mint oreo cookies instead of the called for regular oreos. They tasted like Thin Mints! 

‎1 pkg mint oreo cookies

1 can cream cheese frosting (original recipe calls for 8oz pkg of cream cheese which tastes even better but you can’t safely keep them at room temp.)
1 pkg yellow melting candy chocolate
Crush oreos and mix with frosting. Form into balls. Dip lollipop stick into melted chocolate and insert into each oreo ball. Refrigerate for a few min to firm up. Dip each ball in yellow melted chocolate and let harden at room temp. Shove the sticks in a block of Styrofoam to keep upright. After dried either pipe faces on with melted dark chocolate or draw on with edible ink. If you refrigerate or freeze these, they will dew when they come back to room temp. Yum!My favorite creative technique today is spacing the eyes way farther than you would expect, and a small mouth placed close underneath. Very Japanese-ish :)