Who Wants to Make (Easy) Lollipops?

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Who Wants to Make (Easy) Lollipops?

Many of you probably remember being a kid and making stained-glass cookies where you crush hard candies and melt them inside a cutout cookie frame. That was my entry into the world of (easy) candymaking with store-bought candy…and I was hooked!
When trying this with kids, adults should handle the hot work of candy shaping but kids can have fun arranging the unmelted candies on a cool baking sheet and then seeing what results. You’ll never quite know how your melted candy will turn out, since happy (and, well, not-so-happy) accidents can happen! Flowers are lots of fun to create and organic shapes are forgiving! For this project, over-melting and under-melting yield interesting and pretty surprises!

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Sweet Valentines Project to do With Your Kids: Cookie Houses!

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Sweet Valentines Project to do With Your Kids: Cookie Houses!

Gingerbread houses are fun to bake and build, but these little Valentine cottages, from my book, Candy Aisle Crafts, are made from graham crackers, allowing you to skip the baking and get to the best part -- decorating! They make a pretty Valentine's centerpiece or mantle decoration, too. For a great playdate or snow-day activity, pre-make the house bases, one for each kid, and set out bowls of candy for decorations.

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Easy DIY Heart Lollipops Made From Supermarket Candies

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Easy DIY Heart Lollipops Made From Supermarket Candies

These pops, made by melting supermarket candies, are perfect party favors or school Valentines! You can even use up any leftover peppermints swirl candies you may have from Christmas!

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No-Bake Spooky Halloween Treats on the Today Show!

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No-Bake Spooky Halloween Treats on the Today Show!

On Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of sharing some crafty Halloween treats with Al Roker on the Today Show. (We look very serious here but I promise we had fun!) They're all made using store-bought candy or donuts so no baking required.

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Spooky Sweet Halloween Skull Pops and Treat Toppers

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Spooky Sweet Halloween Skull Pops and Treat Toppers

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

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Pretty and Easy-to-Make Valentines Treats (using leftover Christmas candy!)

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Pretty and Easy-to-Make Valentines Treats (using leftover Christmas candy!)

Have any extra candy canes or peppermint candies leftover from Christmas? Use them to make homemade Valentine treats! Here in New York I find that I am permanently cold so any excuse to huddle around the oven is a good one! These DIY treats are from our book, Candy Aisle Crafts.
Give these candy cane hearts (above) to your Valentine in a little cellophane baggy or use them to top cupcakes.

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Last-Minute Christmas Candy Crafts

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Last-Minute Christmas Candy Crafts

Just a few days until Christmas! I'm sharing some quick ideas from our book, Candy Aisle Crafts, that utilize the candy canes and peppermint candy that we have around at this time of year. This HO HO HO cake topper can also be used on top of frosted brownies or cupcakes. 

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DIY Lollipop Ideas...for Celebrating National Lollipop Day!

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DIY Lollipop Ideas...for Celebrating National Lollipop Day!

This Monday, July 20th, is National Lollipop Day! Yeah! To celebrate, we are sharing a roundup of our easy-to-make lollipops. They all involve melting store-bought candy which means they are easier than "from-scratch" candy-making. 

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Fish Pops for a Summer Party!

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Fish Pops for a Summer Party!

Is it safe to (finally) say that summer has arrived? I'm hoping so! It's time for sprinklers and pool parties! To celebrate, top a cake with these fish pops for an under-the-sea party. Here in Brooklyn we have a blowup pool in our small backyard and my husband and I squeeze right in there with the kids! The lollipops would make great party favors too.

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Fun Cookie Flower Craft!

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Fun Cookie Flower Craft!

We're thinking spring! These cookie flowers are made from store-bought cookies and candy and are an easy and fun party or rainy day activity for younger kids. They're pretty on the side of a frosted cake for Easter, a shower, or any party! The M&M centers are “glued” to the cookie with a dot of vanilla icing that has been tinted pink. 

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Easter Crafts on The Today Show!

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Easter Crafts on The Today Show!

This weekend I shared a few fun and easy edible Easter crafts on the Today Show with Erica Hill and a few adorable kiddos (including her two sweet boys). You can watch the video here on the Today Show's website. Below are the how-to's for the four crafts that I presented!

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Valentines Cookie Cottages on Martha Stewart

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Valentines Cookie Cottages on Martha Stewart

Our little Valentines Cookie Cottages are on Martha Stewart. They make a sweet decoration or fun kid activity. Made from graham crackers, they allow you to skip baking gingerbread and jump quickly to the decorating! Click here for the full tutorial.

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Cold Weather Candy Craft!

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Cold Weather Candy Craft!

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! 

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Dot Flower Pops

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Dot Flower Pops

These simple dot flower pops are from the hard candy chapter in our upcoming book, Candy Aisle Crafts. They are a great starter project for getting used to melting hard candy and would make cute party favors!

Jolly Ranchers are my favorite candies to use for the candy-melting projects I’ve done over the years and have always found that it melts very smoothly.

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