Cake Pops VS Gravity

I promised my daughter we would try out the cake pop maker from Santa after the sugar induced coma of the holiday season wore off.  And then I promised myself I would keep that promise as soon as our elementary school fundraiser (my full-time volunteer head-ache) had passed.  So, on Feb. 12, I gathered all the necessary supplies- sticks, wrappers, candy melts, sprinkles, and I unpacked the machine.  While she was at school, I prepared our pink rotating cake pop baker for its maiden voyage.

We followed all the tips and directions.  We chilled the cake balls and dipped the sticks in melted coating before inserting them into the well chilled, but not frozen, confections.  We chilled the cake pops again, per instructions.  And still we met with mishaps and misfortune!  The first indicator (besides the unspoken law of the crafting/cooking/building universe- “it’s never as simple as it looks”) that our cake pops would not resemble the perfect sugary spheres in the book appeared when we dipped our very first cake pop into the coffee mug of melted candy coating.  Our first attempt resulted in a coating so thick it fell off in great chunks.  And because our optimism had high-jacked our common sense, we poured our heart shaped sprinkles into the still molten pink lava flow of candy coating.   (The book TOLD us to put the sprinkles on while the coating was still warm.)  Heart shaped boulders slid down the surface of the cake ball gathering more hearts and more coating until the sugary sludge dropped from the cake ball.

We couldn’t be discouraged.  After all, it was only our first cake pop.  Ever the problem solver, I decided we needed shortening in our candy melts.  So, I added more candy melts, some Crisco, popped the mug back into the microwave and prepared to try again.  This seemed to work a little better, though we had to work quickly.  After dipping all the cake balls and placing them in their holders we watched the balls begin to drop.  Just like the New Year’s orb, these round confectionary spheres slithered straight down.  But unlike the celebratory ball drop which always ends in confetti, fireworks, and cheers, our little orbs left only crumb coated sticks rooted firmly in mounds of pink sugared cake and a sigh of resignation from its audience.

We only lost three to gravity- so I guess the experiment succeeded.  The next morning my daughter tied red ribbons on a few and gifted them- proudly.  She claimed that they looked just like the ones we buy at the bakery.  (Thank goodness for cellophane bags and ribbon!)  Did I mention that I found a bowl of forgotten cake balls in the freezer a week later?  Poor things never even had the chance to become beautiful cake pops.  That was Valentines.  I can only imagine what St. Patrick’s Day will bring.  If you have any tips for us before then, we could sure use some along with a little luck.

 Defy gravity!

Headroom

This strange point of view illustrates the varying heights of each block.

It feels great to get back to this space.  I’ve been away for so long.  What’s funny is it’s not a physical space I missed- no matter how hard I try to forge that bond.  No, it’s a hypothetical space and a mental space.  Lately my head has been too full of scrolling to-do lists, a ticker tape of high priorities.  I had no time or energy to pursue creative ventures, not even vicariously.

But, when the din of my event died down and the silence crept back in I began to imagine my space.  I envisioned my desk as a clutter-free surface on which I could place my laptop and mouse as others do.  There I could turn on some tunes and begin tackling some pesky family projects.  And after making headway on those projects I imagined myself stamping and painting and writing at my art table, directly behind my desk.  While dreaming of these utopian moments I tried to imagine my space completed as in the pages of a magazine with attractive furniture, art, and pleasing places for the eyes to rest.  But in reality- my artsy crafty supplies push at their restrictive boundaries and the inept furniture struggles to perform tasks never intended.  And in all honesty, in my best months, I spend very little time in my zone.  It simply exists too far from my true home-office, the kitchen.

So, you see, it’s best that the space I’ve missed so much is not my chair and table, but rather the headroom to ponder color and light, shape and line, layers, and words and pattern.  It’s good to be back!

Here are all the mini masterpieces just waiting for their new home.

 To say I have done NOTHING in the arts realm rings slightly untrue when faced with the proof of these photos.  This is the art project I completed with the third graders at our elementary school.  Each block varies in height and forms the foundation for an original watercolor painting.  Then I mounted the blocks in a custom frame to create a multi-level work of art.  The project turned out beautifully!  I can't take credit for the idea, however.  I mined that gem from Olive and Love.  A great sight you must check out on your next coffee break!

 Have a glorious week! 

Renee

Gear Head Gal

Wow! The holidays have finally left town.  Christmas can seem a bit like a house-guest who has overstayed.  Fun at first, but soon vacation from the normal becomes a chore in itself and you find yourself longing for a quiet moment, permission to skip breakfast altogether, and the freedom to roam the house in whatever you choose. The departure of the holidays, much like the departure of the house-guest,  heralds a longer than normal household to-do list.

There is always a certain amount of housework when a guest leaves because, quite frankly, it feels rude to vacuum in front of him/her or spend hours washing and folding laundry.  And so now that Father Christmas and Baby New Year have finally shuffled out my front door, I am left with the aftermath- a seven foot pile of holiday ornaments to carefully wrap in tissue and box away, garlands and lights, and all those new festive touches that now need summer homes in my attic. But not today!

Today I am digging my inner artist out of the holiday rubble.  She has some new experiences to draw from, new rubber stamps to christen, and new Copics with which to do it all.

My family ushered in the new year with a rumble, not a roar and definitely not a whimper, but a body-vibrating, not-quite deafening- rumble.  We took our son to our first Monster Truck event.   What a truly American event!  Just the concept of the largest loudest vehicles humanly possible, guzzling huge quantities of black-smelling diesel fuel, crushing primer-coated automobile shells all in the name of entertainment screams of American excess.  Some would argue that watching such a spectacle from my cushioned theater seat inside my convention center suite box (thanks to a silent auction) is not the authentic experience.  Others claimed that the lack of dust and mud detracted from the red-neck glory of it all.  I however loved my clean comfortable seat as well as the thrill of watching these incredible machines at play.

Each machine had a personality of its own, a personality carefully and lovingly rendered in paint and sometimes even embellishments, such as the horns on the Toro Loco and the nostrils that actually vented steam.  I think my favorite moment was watching one truck turning donuts so perfectly on the polished cement stage that it literally hovered above the ground.   I don’t think that more than two tires touched the pavement simultaneously.   But in the end it was all the beautiful paint that held my eye.  The finishes shone like mirrors reflecting back images of flames, and poltergeists, and the sheer pleasure of color.  My son and I particularly liked the green and black Monster Energy truck, you know the infamous black can with the green M showing through.

I brought the Monster Truck Jam into this week’s crafty moment.  I knew that one of my new Greeting Farm images would make a perfect tribute to the Monster Truck experience.  And so I dug out the images I had colored while traveling and found the one I was looking for, the girl with attitude and goggles.  I began the project by tearing the black paper and layering it over the green.  Then how’s a girl to create an homage to loud engines without a little diamond plate.  So I used the Cuttlebug diamond plate embossing folder.  I threw in some gears for good measure, but I was still missing one key ingredient- tire marks.  Monster Trucks wouldn’t be Monsters without those massive tires.   Did you know that each one weighs over 1,000 pounds?  So, I set to work carving some tire tread.   While I am not waiting for a job offer from Firestone, I am pleased with the outcome.

Although, at the time of posting I realize that in my haste I have forgotten to finish.  She needs some words-  I am woman; Hear me Roar.  Suggestions?  

Have a Monstrously Great Week!-  Renee

Glitter Goof?

While wrapping Christmas presents today I realized I had made a judgment error of historic proportions – not an error with any lasting social repercussions, just an error that would wink at me for the duration  of my life in this dwelling.

The error in my judgment has humble beginnings in the cavernous boxstore- Sam’s.  So many poor decisions are born there!  Before entering the store I had wound my mental clock tightly knowing the persistent tick would remind my feet to keep moving and remind myself of the task at hand.  Raspberries, that’s all I need-  Just several boxes of raspberries.  Then I would charge onto the next errand at full tilt.

I paused momentarily at the bright shiny aisle promising joy and happiness.  Shelves of ribbon, tinsel, and scotch tape heralded the approaching holiday.  “Just the raspberries….” I reminded myself and then fell into step with the steady ticking of my mental clock.  I hastened to the produce department.

After selecting my berries I had to pass by the Christmas aisle again, and just as Odysseus allowed the siren’s song to lull him to shore, I allowed the bright sparkle of holiday glitter to cast its magic.  Heeding its call, I put 5 rolls of holiday cheer in my buggy.  That’s 250 yards of instant holiday cheer and sophistication.  This year’s packages would be magazine-worthy!

The spell held until I cut the plastic barrier away from the ribbon.  The glitter floated to the floor and dusted the gifts like a powdery snowfall.  Tiny specks embedded themselves in my jeans and attached to my very spores.  The magic of Christmas will certainly linger now.

Perhaps it’s okay if a few hundred specks escape the jaws of my vacuum today.  Maybe the universe is trying to remind me to find the magic every day.

I hope you find the magic in the mundane today.-  Renee