February 07, 2017

Valentine Portrait Pops!

February 07, 2017/ jodi levine

These portrait lollipops I made for my husband are inspired by the Funny Face Pops in our book, Candy Aisle Crafts. Making them was some of the most fun that I had working on the book! I was creating all different shapes of lollipops for our hard candy chapter and Amy and I talked about including a page of people portrait lollipops. When she suggested that I try making Bert and Ernie–like faces, I was inspired! Make some for your Valentine...or your favorite couple!

January 14, 2017

Cute Marshmallow Arctic Animals for a Winter Birthday Cake

January 14, 2017/ jodi levine

When Amy and I were working on our book, Candy Aisle Crafts, her nephew was celebrating his first birthday with an arctic-themed party. We made him a cake topped with a marshmallow polar bears and penguin mommas and babies, and a couple of marshmallow seals. The cake itself is chocolate and we used this recipe, a longtime favorite!

December 09, 2016

Gumdrop Nutcracker Ladies to Top Your Cupcakes

December 09, 2016/ jodi levine

These fancy lady cupcakes from our book, Candy Aisle Crafts, would be perfect for a Nutcracker party! I dip-dyed white cupcake papers into food coloring for skirts, but any solid or patterned cupcake paper would work (gold would be pretty too). There are so many fun prints available now online and in party stores—and yes, even at supermarkets!

October 15, 2016

Spooky Sweet Halloween Skull Pops and Treat Toppers

October 15, 2016/ jodi levine

Here are a few spooky Halloween treats made from marshmallows. I love crafting with marshmallows (there is a whole chapter dedicated to marshmallow creations in our book, Candy Aisle Crafts) and I posted last week about some easy-to-make ghosts, great for cake and cupcake-topping.
The skull pops above were inspired by some skulls I made years ago for Martha Stewart Living. For the pops above, I used jumbo and regular sized marshmallows, black M&M's, black shoestring licorice (snipped up as needed), and black large nonpariels (a.k.a. sugar pearls. The trick is cutting the marshmallow to expose it's inner stickiness and adhere cut sides to cut sides. To insert candy or sprinkles as for the facial features, poke a hole with a t

April 06, 2016

Cookie Crafting, Activity and Snack in One!

April 06, 2016/ jodi levine

Winter seems to be lingering here in NY. Because we are still somewhat stuck inside, I thought I'd share some cookie crafts, an indoor project to cheer us up! The following ideas utilize classic supermarket cookies and other edible items that you probably have around the house like candy, peanut butter or chocolate hazelnut spread (like Nutella), fruit, nuts and seeds, and chocolate chips. (By the way, the above image is the chapter opener from our first book, Candy Aisle Crafts. Amy and I shot them with our brilliant designer, Robin Rosenthal.)

March 31, 2016

Fruit Stripe Gum Letter Cake Topper

March 31, 2016/ jodi levine

Many years ago, when Amy and I were working on our first book, Candy Aisle Crafts, we shot a few ideas using Fruit Stripe Gum. We both love the colors (and the stripes)! I remember pining for it as a child! One idea was to use the gum to make letters to top a cake inspired by paper letters in one of my all-time favorite craft books, Creating With Paper. We loved how they came out but then we happened upon these really cool gumpaste letters and thought they looked way too similar so we pulled the idea from the book. Unfortunately I don't see the gumpaste letters for sale anymore but figured that I'd finally share our Fruit Stripe gum letters here.
If you want to try making them, make sure to use fresh gum if possible (not that you can really tell when you buy it)!

July 08, 2015

Our Fun Website Redesign!

July 08, 2015/ jodi levine

We are very excited to share the redesign of our website by brilliant designer and illustrator Robin Rosenthal. Robin, Amy Gropp Forbes (my photographer and book partner), and I collaborated to create this header design. It was so much fun to play with all the materials that we used in our first book and mix in materials used in our second soon-to-be-released book. (More on that soon!)

January 14, 2015

Cold Weather Candy Craft!

January 14, 2015/ jodi levine

My friend Melissa sent me these great shots of her daughter and friend making lollipops, inspired by our book Candy Aisle Crafts. The lollipops are almost as cute as the girls! I love the rainbow and letter pops that they thought up. Lollipop-making is the perfect stuck-indoors winter activity!

November 29, 2014

Parents Magazine Christmas Candy Craft Story

November 29, 2014/ jodi levine

For some fun do-together Christmas candy craft ideas, pick up the December issue of Parents Magazine. I crafted and wrote the story "A Candy Christmas". Above are starlight mint garlands, shot in my studio while I was developing the story. They're super easy to make. Click here for the how-to on the Parents website.

August 26, 2014

On Sale!!!

August 26, 2014/ jodi levine

We are so excited to announce that our book goes on sale TODAY and can be ordered on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Indiebound. Have a great day!!

August 15, 2014

Gummy Candy Chapter

August 15, 2014/ jodi levine

As I mentioned in an earlier post about ourmarshmallow chapter opener, we were so lucky to have Robin Rosenthal design our book. Here is a peek at the gummy candy chapter opener that she designed! This chapter opener photo is composed mostly of spice drops (gumdrops' smaller cousin) with a few cut up gumdrops in there. Size is not their only difference between these two candies. Gumdrops are fruit-flavored and spice drops are, well, spicier with flavors like clove, anise, etc. Both make an excellent crafting material!

July 21, 2014

An Introduction!

July 21, 2014/ jodi levine

I started this blog without really introducing myself, or Amy Forbes, my friend, photographer, and Super Make It partner-in-crime. My name is Jodi Levine and I am a mom of two boys, wife, lifelong crafter and designer-stylist-editor. For over 19 years, I was a craft editor at Martha Stewart Living and the editorial director of Martha Stewart Kids. I met Amy while working for Martha Stewart where she was a food editor. You can read more about her over here or check out her beautiful blog, Eclectic Mom.....

July 07, 2014

Marshmallow Chapter!

July 07, 2014/ jodi levine

We were lucky enough to have the smart and talented Robin Rosenthal design our book. She knew that Amy and I wanted typography created out of the actual materials and crafted projects from the book and she conceived inspired chapter openers that did just that. Above is the shot she art directed for the marshmallow chapter opener.

July 02, 2014

Necco Gumdrop Flowers

July 02, 2014/ jodi levine

Remember Necco Wafers? These retro, flat, round candies make perfect petals on gumdrop flowers, a project in our gummy candy chapter! Use these sugary blooms to decorate the edge of a glass or the top of a cupcake.