Sea Shell Candy Box


sea shell candy boxThe mold for the candy box I purchased at Kitchen Kraft.com.  To make the shells I used both white and dark chocolate and swirled them around in the mold to make the two-tone effect.  These are a great gift for Mother’s Day or Birthdays.

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4 Post Cat Bed


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My husband built this cat bed using spindles made for a staircase banister and attached them to the bed.  I painted and made a little pillow.  The only thing wrong was that we didn’t make it large enough.  Our cat Mocha had no problem snoozing the time away in his new bed.

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Over-Sized Tea Cup Cake


cup cakeWhen I saw this over-sized teacup planter my first thought was that would be a great gift for my daughter.  Naturally I didn’t even think about putting some plants or silk flowers in it, but a cake.  I baked two six-inch round cakes and cut the bottom layer to fit the cup.  I put a layer of icing then added the second layer and iced the top.  Since this was a dry run I took it to work to see what my friends thought.  It got a lot of attention and I’m going to make a few of these for Mother’s Day gifts.  After the cake was gone it really would be a great planter for any mom.

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Make a sparkly apron for Mother’s Day


apron

This is a fun craft activity for all ages.  The little stones are heat set with the heat device for ten seconds and the glue on the back side of the stone will adhere to the fabric.  This is great to add a little bling to all type of clothing or shoes.  I purchased the device at Michaels.  The apron was already made and I purchased that at JoAnn’s.  It is a fast and easy craft activity for Mother’s Day.

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Mother’s Day Cookbook


Mother's Day Cook Book                    

My daughter had signed up for one of those home book parties and of course I bought a package.  What am I going to do with the four book package I just bought?  With Mother’s Day a couple of months away, I decided to try to make a cookbook for my Mother-in-Law. I scanned in pictures of actual recipe cards she had written out and then started digging up old pictures of the family in the kitchen enjoying all of her favorite dishes.  The company website for the book was easy to use and the book came together in a little over a week.  Once I had finished the book, and submitted it to the website I had her book within couple of weeks.  It came out better that I could ever hoped for.  It looked so good that I order two more so that I could give one to my daughter and sister-in-law for Mother’s Day.  The book was a hit.  There are many companies that do this on the internet.  The company I used for this project was Heritage Makers.   

You can publish your own books using Amazon.com.  My first book with them last year was Gifts Made with Love for Mother’s Day.  I had purchased a kindle and it came with a free book on how to publish a book.  The book was written in Word and the pictures were jpeg images.  It took a little while but I did it.  That was only the start, Amazon also has a division called Create Space  that will publish a hard back or paperback book.

So if you really want to give a gift that is extra special think about writing a  book for your mom.  My mother-in-law carried that little book all over town and cherished it.  Everyone has a story inside of them that could be turned into a book that will be passed down to generation after generation.

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Butterfly Brownie Cake for Mom


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This butterfly would make any mother smile.  The pan is silicone and perfect for this butterfly.  I just mini MM’s for the eyes and pretzel sticks with gum drops for the antennas.

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LV Purse Cake for Mother’s Day


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If you can’t afford a LV Purse for mom this year on her special day then you can make her one.  I used the purse pan and sugar pearls to highlight the LV which was made with candy melts.

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Birthday Party Cupcakes


sports girl cupcakes

I was asked to make some cupcakes for an 11-year-old birthday party.  The little girl’s father brought me a picture of a plate that they were going to use.  I made the picks from the picture and used a zebra striped file folder to glue the toothpicks on first then gluing the picture on top.  Finally I sealed the picture and back with packing tape.

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Bird Feeder/Cat Exerciser


What Bird

My husband and I made some bird feeders which doubled as a cat exerciser for our cat Mocha.  As you can see he was supervising  the drying of the bird feeders.  The  Cats were cut out in a with a scroll saw and then attached to the bird feeder.  The black cat was attached to a post that had a box on the other end as the bird feeder.  The little gray cat was attached directly to the bird feeder box and nailed to the fence.  I did the painting and sealed the cats with before hot gluing feathers.  Mocha kept an eye on the feeder and they were just out of jump range.

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Administrative Professional’s Day Cake


Admin cake

Tomorrow is Administrative Professional’s Day.  It is a day to say thank you for all the people that help us with all those day-to-day task so we can come home each evening with a little sanity left.  I made this cake for the three ladies in our office that do just that every day.  If you don’t bake, you can pick up a flower or take them to lunch to let them know how much they are appreciated.

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Bird House for Mom


bird house

These are fun for all ages.  I purchased the bird houses at Michaels.  After painted I added some flowers at the bottom, some ribbons with just a dab of hot glue to hold it in place and then birds and butterflies.  This is a great project for Mother’s Day or gift to a special friend or teacher.

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Gifts Made With Love for Mother’s Day


Mothers day cover revised

Each year for Mother’s Day we run all over town to get that special gift to show her how much we appreciate her.  Sometimes the home made gifts are cherished more than any store bought gift.  The heart of every home is the kitchen.  Keeping that in mind here are some inexpensive things that you can make or bake to show Mom just how special she is to your family.  This book was originally released on May 2012.  It has been updated and added more projects to make for Mom’s special day.  The Kindle version is available now.  The printed paperback version will be available by the end of the week.

 

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Florial Display for Mom


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I went to the flea market/swap meet they hold at Golden West College on every weekend and found a tea cup mounted on a wine glass stem.  It was so strange looking that I had to buy all of them.  I took them to work and the group of my friends took over a conference room in our lunch hour and we all make floral displays for Mother’s Day.  This was my little floral display.

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Graduation Cupcakes


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You can make your own picks for your graduation cupcakes by rolling up a note of congratulations or print out some pictures and hot glue them on toothpicks.

 

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Candy Box for Mother’s Day


CANDY BOX

Surprise your Mom with a candy box for Mother’s Day.  The molds came from KitchenKraft.com.  If you don’t want to fill them with candy you could always use the candy box as a gift box to hide a surprise inside.

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