Button Inspired Birthday Candle + Tutorial

Have you ever seen something, and known that you like it, but that it needed some improving to make it what you want? That's the way I felt when thinking about a birthday candle for Baby Starfish. By the way, being that he is fast leaving his baby days behind him and moving full throttle into toddler-dom, I think I may have to start calling him something other than "baby" - any suggestions? Please??? But I digress...

I bought a blue rimmed numeral 1 candle at Spotlight, but in the scheme of what I had hoped for, it was a tad dull. Enter a little post I found on glamming candles up a bit and this is what I came up with. It was so easy, fairly quick (there was a little pause for drying time before I flipped it over and repeated the process on the other side) and I love it. Want to make one too? Has it inspired you to work your own artistry of your own on a candle?

{MAKE IT!}  

Materials needed:

              Numeral candle or something similar
              (there is no reason that you can't use another surface as long as it can lie flat
              while the paint dries.)
              3-D crystal paint (or the coloured version)
             An array of small buttons - the smaller the better!

1. Lie the candle on a flat surface.
2. Fill the inner area of the candle without flooding over the  coloured rim.
3. Carefully lie each button on top of the glitter paint.
4. Wait for the first side to dry before flipping it over and repeating the process on the second side.

Voila! Now go and make some memorable moments. :)

No Bake Oreo Truffles

So recently I decided to try some recipes with oreos. About a week and a half before J's Vintage Picnic party, Nikki posted about Golden Oreo Truffles. On my trip to Woolies, I found THE. ONLY. PACKET. THERE. So I snatched it up and brought it home along with a pack of regular Vanilla Oreos. I made them according to the recipe, and then decided that it was too cheese flavoured for my taste (but hey, if you love the flavour of Philly Cream cheese, grab Nikki's version. :) )

Want to make some too?
They are super easy - only 3 ingredients!
Here's my take on it...

No Bake Golden Oreo Truffles

1/4 block  (approx 62g) Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 packet of Golden Oreo Biscuits
White chocolate for dipping.

Process the Oreo's in your food processor. (At this point you could save a little of the crumbs for topping if you like) Rub in the cream cheese and roll into balls. I made mine about 1" in diameter. Pop them in the fridge for about 30 mins while you go off and do something else (for me that was hang the washing and play with the kids for a little bit).

Melt your chocolate (I used the medium setting on my microwave and stirred it every 40 seconds or so) and after it has cooled slightly, start dipping your truffles. I used a toothpick inserted in each one. I have read of others using a fork to do the same thing. NB. If your truffles warm up too much, they will likely fall off the toothpick!

If you saved some of the crumbs for decorating the top, now it the time to dip the top of your truffle in it.
Set on to baking paper and chill.  Store in an air-tight container in the fridge. Serve cold.

Or if you prefer the original kind of Oreo's... Just use the same recipe with different biscuits.

Enjoy!

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Saturday

Our Mr. Happy Turns 1!

Little Clam's 1st Birthday was last week...

So I made this huge # 1 out of a large sheet of cardboard, and scrunched up squares of tissue paper, to hang above the fireplace. I also made more of these pompoms to decorate inside with - but blue ones to go with the yellow and orange this time.

 Mr. Kelp has always referred to Little Clam as Mr. Happy, so requested a Mr. Happy cake for him. We made this one from a round vanilla cake, almost an entire box of fondant icing, and some styrofoam for the hand an feet.

I made these cute bug & bee biscuits using a recipe that Mr. Kelp's grandmother gave me last Christmas. They were too cute, and rather tasty. Unfortunately for some of the guests, we forgot to put them out during lunch, but they did come out later and buzz around for a while. This picture above was about half of them.

Jelly salad  - for something a little bit different. I'm not sure if the kids or the adults liked it more! (The Jelly had grated carrot and crushed pineapple in it).

Between the pass the parcel, the treasure hunt in the back yard (where we made everyone look for Duplo blocks, which they then redeemed for a prize... chocolates for the grown ups and books of stickers for the kids), the presents, food, and then play time in the big sandpit we built last year, we had a fun but full day. Thank you to all the family who came from near and far for helping us celebrate and making it a wonderful day! :)