DIY Ombre Sugar Hearts

What you’ll need

Two cups sugar (or more, depending on the number of colors you want), divided

4 teaspoons (or more) egg white or liquid meringue (1 teaspoon of meringue powder mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water)

Paste food coloring (found at local craft store)

Large cutting board, baking sheet or other flat surface, lined with Silpat or parchment paper

and

Baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper

Ateco aspic cutters or small cookie cutters

Additional:

Small and medium bowls | spatulas | rolling pin | measuring spoons | measuring cups | ziplock bags | butter | knife

Optional:

3 x 4-inch treat bags | colored ribbon | cake to decorate

Step 1.

Place ½ cup sugar in medium bowl. Add a small amount of paste food coloring (we used a combination of Wilton’s Rose and Violet), and mix thoroughly. This will be your darkest color. (Hint: A little goes a long way and will darken once liquid is added in next step.) Add more if needed until desired color is achieved. Add 1 teaspoon egg white or meringue liquid and mix thoroughly until the mixture resembles wet sand. Be careful not to add too much liquid or you will dissolve the sugar.

Step 2.

Empty contents onto Silpat or parchment lined cutting board or baking sheet. Spread with hand or spatula and pat down, then roll over mixture with rolling pin to compress. Ideally, the flattened mixture should be as compact as possible and level, about ¼”. Press heart cutter into mixture and lift up. Place hearts on lined baking sheet. If cutter will not release heart, gently tap with the back of a butter knife. Repeat 10-20 times or as many as desired. If hearts will not hold their shape, add more egg white or meringue liquid in small increments and mix thoroughly. If sugar builds up in cutter, rinse with warm water and pat dry before continuing. Pour remaining colored sugar back into bowl and proceed to Step 3.

Step 3.

Add ½ cup sugar to colored sugar  from Step 2 to lighten. Mix thoroughly. Add 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue. If desired color is not achieved, continue adding additional ½ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue and mixing thoroughly until desired color is achieved. Repeat Step 2. Continue with Steps 2 and 3 until desired shades and number of sugar hearts are achieved. We recommend at least three to five shades. Leftover sugar can be stored in ziplock bags for future use.

Step 4.

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat hearts in oven for 10 minutes. Allow to harden overnight. Sugar hearts will be the consistency of sugar cubes.

Design Options:

Place 10-20 sugar hearts in treat bag. Staple ribbon to bags. Tie ribbon. Can be given as gifts or used as favors.

For cake: Attach sugar heats to cake using royal icing. Begin with darkest color on smallest tier. Continue with lighter colors.

made by  Erica O’Brien Cake Design

Have a gorgeous day, 

M.

Seriously want to do this!

I saw this amazing idea and so want to do it!! M. & me already had few anniversaries so far since we're together since high school (yep, we're totally rocking high school sweethearts over here :) ) so we need to make this happen soon!!! M. I know you are reading this, so you better be on the same page with me abour that. ;) 


So you're probably guessing what the heck am I talking about, right? 

So every year for your anniversary:  you take a new picture each year holding the previous years.

Pretty cool, ha? Will try to do that ... well at least I hope we will. ;) 

Have a lovely day, 

M.

DIY Vintage Box Centerpieces

With just a minimal amount of elbow grease, you can turn old wooden boxes into rustic, one-of-a-kind centerpieces that will add a ton of charm to your tables!

Step 1: Scour flea markets, antiques stores, eBay, or Etsy for vintage wooden boxes or crates. Boxes will come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and conditions, so give yourself ample time to collect ones that appeal to you and work best for your table sizes. Don't worry if they don't all match - chances are they won't, and that's part of the charm!

Step 2: We used a simple stencil and acrylic craft paint to put the table number on the front of the box. We recommend testing out your stencil technique on a piece of scrap paper first; using too much paint will cause the number to bleed at the edges, so it's important to first get comfortable with the amount of paint that will work best. 

Step 3: Once the stencil is applied to the box and has dried, insert a plastic container inside the box to hold the water for the flowers. Cut a piece of floral foam to fit inside the container, and fill with water. Now you're ready to start filling the box with blooms!

Step 4: We loaded our container with ultra-pretty, cottage-y flowers and arranged them in a relaxed, casual way - a lovely contrast to the simple, rustic wood box.

Whatever you choose, you can be sure that this centerpiece will add something special to your tables!

by: Mary Swenson

Easel card Tutorial

Za vse tiste, ki ste že naleteli na Easel čestitko pa niste bili povsem prepričani kako bi se je lotili je tukaj zelo preprost postopek izdelave. Mere so v inčih in v centimentrih.

I know for sure that a lot of you know how to make an Easel card. But for those who does not … here is quick and simple tutorial. Enjoy. :)

Potrebujete: / What do you need:

♥ Trši papir 5,5” x 12” (14 x 30,5 cm)/ Cardstock 5,5” x 12” (14 x 30,5 cm)

♥ Scor-Pal

♥ Ravnilo / Ruler

♥ Nož ali škarje / (Olfa) Knife or scissors 

♥ Bone folder

♥ Lepilo / Adhesive (I’ve used Glue Glider Pro)

 

  1. Na papirju velikosti 5,5" x 12" (14 x 30,5 cm) naredite “utore” s Scor-Palom. In sicer pri številu 4" (10,2 cm), 6" (15,2 cm) in 8" (20,3 cm).

Score your 5,5" x 12" piece of cardstock at 4", 6" and 8".

 

 

2. Prepognite po “utorih” tako kot je prikazano na zgornji fotografiji.

Fold along score lines as seen above.

3. Dodajte lepilo na prepogib med 2" in 6".

Add your favorite adhesive between fold 2" and 6".

4. Okrasite svojo čestitko kakor želite. :) Če želite, da čestitka stoji pokonci ji morate pri tem še malenkost pomagati. Sama sem nalepila tri gubke, ki ji omogočajo prav to – da lahko stoji pokonci, kar je tudi namenn Easel čestitke.

Decorate your card however you wish! :) You can use anything to hold the card upright. As you can see I used buttons.

Ne pozabite – mere lahko spreminjate kakorkoli želite, pazite pa, da ohranite pravilno razmerje kar je še najbolj pomembno pri prepogibih!

Če naletite na kakšno težavo ali kaj podobnega mi pišite na manuelina.ustvarjanja@gmail.com.

If you will have any questions please send me an email to manuelina dot ustvarjanja at gmail dot com.

Have a nice day!

Lepo se imejte do prihodnjič!

Čajna knjigica - tutorial

Sliši se precej zanimivo, kajne? Pa tudi sama izdelava je precej preprosta, ko jo enkrat vidiš. Primer takšne knjigce sem vam pokazala v začetku januarja (-tukaj-), danes pa vam pokažem tudi samo izdelavo.

 

 

Potrebujete:

♥ Trši enobraven papir velikosti 3 1/2" x 7 3/4" (8,9 x 19,7 cm)

♥ Scrapbook papir velikosti 6 1/2" x 7" (16,5 x 17

♥ Scor-Pal

♥ Lepilo (obojestransko je najboljše v tem primeru)

♥ Škarje ali nož

♥ Okrogli nestiji ali štanca krog

♥ Vrečki čaja po vašem okusu

♥ Trak (svilen ali kakšen drugačen)

♦ Nasvet: Če nimate Scor-Pala in potrebujete pomoč pri pretvorbi mer iz inčev v centimetre uporabite Google. V okence napišete npr.: 2 inch in cm ter pritisnete Enter. Google narediti svoje in vi dobite mere v centimetrih. :)

Korak 1:

Enobarven papir (3 1/2" x 7 3/4")  položite na vaš Scor-Pal in naredite utor na 3 1/2".

 

 

 

 

 

Na istem papirju naredite še en utor na 4 1/4".

 

Korak 2:

 

Prepognite papir na utorih, ki ste jih pravkar naredili.

 

 

 

Korak 3:

 

Scrapbook papir položite s krajšim robom proti vrhu(6 1/2") na vaš Scor-Pal.

Naredite utor na 1/2".

 

 

 

Naredite utor tudi na 3 1/2".

 

 

 

Korak 4:

 

Prepofnite papir na utorih, ki ste jih pravkar naredili in na manjši rob nanesite lepilo.

 

 

 

 

Zalepite oba dela skupaj.

 

 

 

Korak 5:

Poravnajte na vrh Scor-Pala, vendar ne čisto k levemu robu. Od levega roba Scor-Pala mora biti papir odmaknjen za 1/2".

Sedaj naredite utor na 3 5/8".

Zasukajte papir za 180° in ponovno naredite utor na 3 5/8".

Korak 6:

 

Prepognite.

 

 

 

Korak 7:

 

Uporabite okrogel nesti (ali štanco) in z njim izrežite polkrog na obeh robovih papirja.

 

 

 

Polkroga, ki smo ju naredili nam omogočajo lažje izvlečenje čajnih vrečkic, ko jih enkrat vstavimo v notranjost.

 

Korak 8:

 

Dodajte lepilo na zadnjo stran papirja (na prepogib).

 

 

 

 

Prilepite pisan scrapbook papir na sredino enobarvnega papirja.

 

 

Korak 9:

 

Na zunanjo stran knjigice prilepite trak.

 

 

Korak 10:

 

Knjigico nato po želji še okrasite s prve strani in v sredino dodajte vrečke čaja.

 

 

 

 

Še en primer možne okrasitve:  

Upam, da vam bo tutorial v pomoč in, da bo tudi izpod vaših prstov nastala kakšna zanimiva čajna knjigica. :)

 

Še vedno pa vse  tiste, ki tega še niste storili, vabim, da se pridružite tudi moji strani na Facebook-u. :) Hvala!

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Lep pozdrav do prihodnjič.