Cookie Crafting, Activity and Snack in One!

Cookie Crafting, Activity and Snack in One!

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 CraftsAmy and I shot them with our brilliant designer, Robin Rosenthal.)

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Fruit Stripe Gum Letter Cake Topper

Fruit Stripe Gum Letter Cake Topper

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)! 

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Tube Letters: An Easy Birthday Garland Alternative!

Tube Letters: An Easy Birthday Garland Alternative!

In our house we have a tradition of leaving birthday messages for each other as a birthday morning surprise. They're usually in the form of garlands or banners, strung across doorways or along the edge of the mantel. These tube letters, from our book, Paper Goods Projects, are a fun way to display a message, no tape or string required! And they marry type and cardboard tubes, two of my favorite things!

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Great Kid Gift!: Easy-to-Assemble Imaginative Play Kits

Great Kid Gift!: Easy-to-Assemble Imaginative Play Kits

One of my favorite gifts to give to kids is a handmade (well, hand-assembled) imaginative play kit. I'm excited to share a fun story that I developed for Parents Magazine about this very topic in the March issue (on newsstands right now) with gorgeous photos by Zoe Berkovic!

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How To Throw the Ultimate Pee-wee Herman Party!

How To Throw the Ultimate Pee-wee Herman Party!

In honor of the soon-to-be-released movie, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, I am sharing my son’s Pee-wee-themed 5th birthday party from a few years ago. We are all BIG Pee-wee fans and very excited for his new movie, which starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, March 18th at 12:01 A.M.!! Use any of these ideas to throw your own Pee-wee viewing party!

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

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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Our New Book!

Our New Book!

Amy and I are thrilled to announce that our second book, Paper Goods Projects, is coming out on August 11th and is available right now for pre-order on AmazonBarnes and Noble, and Indiebound! We are honored that our foreword was written by the brilliant Jordan Ferney, founder of the gorgeous blog Oh Happy Day and her fantastic party shop!

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Comic Book Birthday Party!

Comic Book Birthday Party!

My son requested a comic-themed party for his ninth birthday. He loves Calvin and HobbesBig Nate, and Garfield and came up with his own list of fun activities based on these characters! For his cake, above, we made toppers by printing out some comics we found online, trimming and then taping them to skewers and toothpicks.

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Fish Pops for a Summer Party!

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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How to Throw a Super Fun Science Party!

How to Throw a Super Fun Science Party!

For his sixth birthday, my younger son had a science-themed party. We chose a few easy-to-put-together science projects to demonstrate in a silly science show as well as for hands-on activities. The kids had a blast! Some of the projects required only a few household objects, a few others utilized kits from the fantastic website Steve Spangler Science (not a sponsor of this post :). I didn’t get great pic’s...though it wasn’t very “styled” anyway...it was all I could do to get the science projects together! A lot of research went into planning the activities, sourcing the supplies, and the flow of the party so I hope you will find this guide helpful! 

Read on for detailed description of all the science activities!

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Fun Cookie Flower Craft!

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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Muppet Party!

Muppet Party!

Last year, my younger son requested a Muppet-themed birthday party and, as a  lifelong Muppet fan, I was thrilled! Kermit is one of his favorite characters so the color green became an easy decoration theme. The first items that I bought werethese honeycomb balls, for color, from Target. As I stared at the packaging, I realized with a little snipping, I could make it into a Kermit head! (more photos and how-to below). His balloon body was inspired by some of the crafts in the BALLOON chapter in our next book!!!

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Cold Weather Candy Craft!

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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Book Giveaway on Bloesem Kids!

Book Giveaway on Bloesem Kids!

The gorgeous blog Bloesem Kids is offering a giveaway of our book Candy Aisle Crafts!! Click over to enter and also to see a few tutorials from the book, including this gumdrop sailboat! If you aren't already familiar with Bloesem, make sure to check out Irene Hoof's other inspiring blog, Bloesem Living. Thank you Bloesem!! 

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Oh Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day!

We are thrilled that our Cookie Cakes were featured on one of our absolute favorite blogs, Oh Happy Day! They are even offering a giveaway. If you leave a comment on their post by tomorrow 8/22, you might win a copy of our book Candy Aisle Crafts!

Click over to Oh Happy Day for the full tutorial!

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Planet Cookies!

Planet Cookies!

Our planet cookies were featured on the beautiful blog 100 Layer Cakelet, a great place to go to for kid's birthday and shower ideas and lots of other parent and expectant parent inspiration!

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Triangle Cake Decoration

Triangle Cake Decoration

While melting lots of candy for the book, I experimented with cutting through warm candy with kitchen shears while it was still on parchment. (This is hot work for adults only!) Triangles are an easy shape to cut and they make an pretty and graphic cake decoration. They'd also work as Christmas trees for a holiday cake decoration or lollipops.

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Marshmallow Birds

Marshmallow Birds

These marshmallow birds are one of the projects in the marshmallow chapter in our book. I had created many marshmallow crafts over the years and when I started on the marshmallow chapter I was afraid I had already made everything there was to be made out of marshmallows. After I started playing I realized that the possibilities were endless. I would have been happy to do a whole book of marshmallow crafts!

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