This is how we partied in the early 90's! Of course I entertained with my Hot Lixx guitar while my cat showed everyone her butthole.

When EVILBOY told his teacher his favourite gift was a Minecraft quilt that his mom made for him, my heart grew three sizes.  He picked a homemade gift over every Skylander, Disney Infinity character or Lego guy, so I think it was a success!

One of my favourite holiday decorating themes this year is winter candyland.
I am really digging the pinks, blues and light greens.

 My goal was to have this theme in my very own living room - however financially it just wasn't the right time.  I really wanted a white tree and after researching how to paint an existing tree and finding a few used ones at the thrift store that looked like they had five layers of nicotine on them, I decided to put it off for this year. 

Then my employer announced an office decorating contest.  My competitiveness level rose. My mind ran with the planning the moment I saw another office put up their very first paper snowflake.  Things may have got out of hand, and I may have been called "bossy" once or twice, but our plan is in motion and I spent the entire weekend up to my elbow in paper mache pulp. 

Things kind of get a little crazy when I have a plan in my mind. EVILBOY wanted to help and it was fine until he put the second strip of paper mache on crooked, then it was game over for him.  Like I said, a little cray.

After a weekend of papering, painting, glue gunning and swears, I ended up with candies and cupcakes and lollipops...none of which are actually edible, but they look really sweet!

Cupcakes:

Materials:
Paper mache
Balloon
Disposable flower pot or flower pot covered in saran wrap
Tissue paper
Sparkly nailpolish
Paint


Optional:
Red fabric
Clear coat spray

These were so much fun to make and so easy (and cheap!).  Everything I needed for this project I had on hand which made it even more exciting.

1. Inflate a standard birthday balloon so it fits into the flower pot.

   I forgot to take a picture of the actual balloon in the flower pot...but this is the half finished product  - just so you get an idea!

2. Paper mache the balloon 
3. While the paper mache is still wet, dab tissue paper strips on top.  You want this part to be a little messy so lay the strips any way you'd like.  I swirled mine in some spots and went crazy..  It was kind of fun.  You will want to brush some of the left over paper mache liquid on the tissue paper edges to hold it in place. Put aside on a rack allowing all areas to air dry (mine took about 12 hours).
   
   
   
   
4. Paper mache the small flower pot.  Mine was plastic so once it was dry it was pretty easy to flex it and get the paper off.  You may want to saran wrap your flower pot to make it even easier. 
   
5. Once everything is dry, use a glue gun (my nemesis) to attach the balloon to the cupcake.  You may want to try to pop the balloon inside the paper mache, you don't have to but I find it gives it a little more cupcakey shape if you do.  I even smooshed ours down a little so it wasn't so round to give it more of a frosting appearance.  I also trimmed the top of the flower pot to make it a little less "flower potty". You may also want to add a little weight to the bottom of the pot or your cupcakes will end up a little top heavy. I added two pennies to each cupcake.
   

   Trimmed flower pot lined with hot (very hot-trust me) glue

6. The best part about this tissue paper method is that you don't have to paint the finished product.  However, it did look a little flat to me, and a test post on Instagram and Facebook had people asking what I was making, so I dug around through my drawers to find something that looked like sprinkles. I found a bottle of sparkle nail polish and it worked wonders on the cupcakes! Not only did it look like sprinkles, but it also gave the tissue paper a shimmery appearance which is what I was hoping to achieve in the first place. 
   
7. This step is optional:  I felt that the cupcakes looked a little bare without a "cherry" on top.  I searched Pinterest for an easy pom-pom tutorial and came across this perfect tutorial and I made my very first and very second pom poms for the top of my cupcakes!
8. Then I painted the "liners" of the cupcake on the bottom and allowed to dry.
9. They were finished off with a clear coat spray to give them some protection. 

Now you have beautiful little cupcake decorations that will brighten up the mood of any Scrooge around the office!
 

Wrapped Candy:

Materials:
Cardboard
Bowl/plate/anything round
Paper mache
Tape
Paint
Cellophane
Elastic
Ribbon


When I first imagined this winter candyland theme, these candies were the first thing to come to mind.  I had initially thought of gluing tissue paper to the sides to given them the wrapped candy appearance, but the cellophane looks a lot more realistic - like the little candies you get when you leave Red Lobster.

1. Trace your plate/bowl/circular object onto a piece of cardboard twice.  
2. Cut another strip of cardboard and make 4 little "spacers" that go in between your cardboard pieces and secure it all together with tape.
   
3. Once you have a solid candy structure, you can begin the paper mache process.  One thing I discovered is that you should protect your structure from getting wet by wrapping it in plastic before you paper mache.  My candies got a little warped from the moisture in the paper mache. I still think they are charming though, even if they did turn out a little lop-sided.

   You can see my little warped candies drying on the pot lid holder from my cupboard

4. Allow the candies to dry (mine took approx 24 hours). 
5. Be creative and paint your candies any way you would like.  I went with the typical candy design but spruced it up a bit with fun colours. I'm sure a red/white striped candy would look amazing, but it didn't quite fit the theme I was going for.  ...Next time!
6. Once the paint dries, you can spray with a clear coat for protection, although this is optional as they will be protected by the cellophane. I did clear coat mine because I already had to clear coat my cupcakes so it was no trouble.  
7. Wrap the candy in cellophane.  I rolled mine in cellophane twice. Gather the sides and secure with an elastic. In hindsight, the elastics did break a lot as I was attempting to get them on the gathered edges.  You may want to use scotch tape.  This part will be covered so however is easiest that can be covered over easily is the best way to do this.  
8. Once secure, you then cover the elastic (or fastener of choice) with a fun ribbon that matches your candy. 
   

 I had a lot of fun making these candies and I had most of the supplies on hand so I spent less than $10 (paint, cellophane, tissue paper - all from the dollar store).

 This year for Halloween I am dressing up as one of my childhood heroes. 


She's probably third on my list, but He-Man and Optimus Prime are pretty hard to dress up as. 


I was inspired by a pair of socks and the whole thing went on from there. 


 
Most items came from thrift stores and were modified by me. 
I think in total the costume took about 5 hours to complete.



(keeping in mind that I no longer own a sewing machine so all the stitching had to be done by hand - yikes!)


I also may have cut the skirt a little too "sharp" for my liking.  Let's face it...I no longer have a Rainbow Brite body so it's best to hide as much as I can! 


Here's a more specified description of how to put together your very own Rainbow Brite costume:

1. Blue Dress ($7.99, Goodwill) - I went for a retro blue dress with big old shoulder pads.  I would prefer it to have a little more sheen in it *insert Charlie Sheen joke here* but there really wasn't much to go with and I was kind of in a hurry to get the base of my costume started. I am sure if you keep your eyes out throughout the year you may come across an old shiny blue prom dress that may work a little better. You also want this to be solid blue (no designs). I cut the dress into a point at the bottom and unfortunately I cut a little too high.  Nothing a pair of black shorts underneath can't fix. To make the cut even I folded the dress in half and followed along the line of one side. If you are good at sewing, you probably have a better method of doing this!
2. Striped stockings ($11.99, Talize) - These are what started it all and were the most expensive item in the whole costume.  I recently found a pair at McCullough's for a few dollars cheaper, but I had already purchased these ones.  That's what I get for not shopping around *sigh*
3. 1 metre red sheen fabric ($3.00, Fabricland) - I probably could have gotten away with only buying 1/2 a metre of fabric for this but I didn't know if that was allowed or not so I bought the full metre (fabric n00b).  I cut a wide strip of the fabric, turned it inside out and folded it in half.  I then pinned it and sewed a seam.  Turned it back inside out (or right side in...whatever!) and ironed and there you have it, a super awesome Rainbow Brite sash. I used felt to create the rainbow and star.  You must not forget the star! I have seen way too many Rainbow Brite costumes that forget the star...that's like her powers you fools! I may sparkle this part up with some glitter glue later on.  The star was drawn on paper and then cut out, the rainbow was all freehand.  Have fun with this part, I'm sure you can come up with some really creative designs here!
4. 1 metre white sheen fabric ($3.00, Fabricland) - I definitely could have gotten away with buying 1/2 a metre for this...actually I could have probably just bought one big long strip.  I have so much left over. I managed to cover the bottom of the dress in a white trim.  Don't ask how I did it, it was a messy job.  I basically used some fabric glue and then sewed around it.  I watched 4 episodes of The X-Files while doing this part.   If you have a sewing machine or know someone who sews, I highly recommend getting some help for this part! 
5. 3 red sheen dots  (leftover) - I used some of the leftover red sheen fabric to make these. I just traced a circle onto paper, cut it out and then pinned it to fabric and cut that out.  I had to sew around each one which made them look a little "puffy" which I kind of like. 
6. Rainbow baby pants ($.99, Talize) - These were a hard find!  I wanted to have some kind of rainbow sleeves but I a) didn't want to sew any more by hand! and b) didn't want to add another $11.99 to my budget for another pair of rainbow socks (just cut off sock part).  I was browsing Talize one day and these pants caught my eye.  I cut off the top to make itty baby booty shorts (and donated them back of course - mostly for giggles) and I then had two rainbow sleeves that fit my arms perfectly.  I sewed the "legs" (badly) to the arms of the dress. Actually I think this part of the dress could use a little work - especially since I sewed one of the legs on inside out (dumb!).
7. Wristbands ($1, Dollar Giant) - At this point I was so tired of sewing. I had started making the wrist bands out of the leftover dress cuttings BUT they were so hard to sew and I didn't have Velcro or anything to keep them together.  I was lucky to find these bright blue wrist bands at the dollar store.  I made two stars using leftover felt I had laying around and sewed them on to the wrist bands.  They might not be a great match, but they saved my sanity a little bit. 
8. Sparkly suspenders ($5.99, Value Village) - These were a lucky find in the "clown" section of the Halloween items at Value Village.  I did later find some rainbow suspenders, but I think these ones really add to the costume and the rainbow ones might be taking it a little overboard so these were a great find!
9. Yellow Felt (leftover) - I had this felt laying around from other projects and did it ever come in handy!  The neck of the blue dress was originally a bit of a scoop style so I made the square of felt and sewed it over the scoop so it made a bit more of a boxy neckline.  I really wasn't so sure about the dress until I added this part on!  I sewed the red dots on after I glued and sewed the yellow strip on, although I'm sure it would be easier to sew the dots on before you sew the yellow strip on. 
10. Yellow "celebrity wig" ($6.99, Value Village) - I was looking for a wig that would allow for bangs and a high ponytail.  Unfortunately, this one has the hairline of a zombie woman so putting it in a high ponytail is really not an option. I did manage to get it into a somewhat acceptable ponytail by brushing it (who would have thunk you could brush fake hair - duh!).  Now the problem is keeping my big head in it without showing my dark brown hair.  Might skip the wig and spray paint my hair with those toxic hair paints they have at the dollar store. 

I am a procrastinator.  I had this idea in my head for quite a while and now that there are only two one days left of school, I figure it was time to start making the gift.

You will need:

-Clay flower pot (.50 at Dollarama)
-Paint
-Floral foam ($1 at Dollarama - could make two with this package)
-Felt
-Lollipop and candy sticks ($2.49 and $3 at Bulk Barn)
-Candy lollipop mold ($3.49 at Bulk Barn)
-Different coloured Mercken's wafers .  (Bulk Barn - prices vary)
-Ribbon
-Gift bag wrap
-Microwavable dish to melt wafers (I use this Tupperware soup mug and it works perfectly!)


We decided to make chocolate lollipops for EVILBOY's teacher because I have been making these for his class for each holiday throughout the year and the teacher loves them.  I'm sure you could stick any old thing in the flower pot and make a thoughtful gift,  but the chocolates are really cute and very tasty.


These are the wafers you need to melt into the mold.  They are very yummy (and very fatty!).  They come in many different colours.  Each colour tastes the same as well so you don't have to worry about flavour preferences when decorating with these. 

 This is the mold you need.  As you can see on the packaging, they got pretty fancy with their candies.  I'm more of a simple gal, I like to keep them all one colour.

 These are the lollipop sticks you will need.  They offer two sizes - "candy" sticks and "lollipop" sticks.  For this project I chose Lollipop sticks because I wanted to keep the chocolates away from the floral foam.  You can also mix both stick sizes (or cut these ones down) to make things a little more interesting.

 Normally I would fill this container half-way with wafers.  Because this was such a small project, I decided to purchase only a small scoop of wafers of each colour.  The directions say to put them in the microwave at 30 second intervals.  To be honest, I put mine in for one minute, stir and then add another 30 seconds  (in this case I just put them in for one minute because I wasn't using very much chocolate). 

Important:  Make sure that the wafers do not come in contact with water.  If your container has even a drop of water in it, it will contact the oil-based chocolate and burn in one spot.  I completely forgot and had a little accident with the purple chocolate (sadly). 

 When the chocolate is ready to be poured, it will have a consistency like this.  If there are lumps in it still, you may be able to stir them out. 

 Scoop your chocolate into the mold. It may not completely fill the shape (but we will get to that in a bit...). The good thing about these molds is that they are completely reusable.  I now have a collection for each holiday.  These are always great little gifts to give to friends, classmates, co-workers etc. and are relatively inexpensive.

 Insert your lollipop stick into the mold.  I have pictured the candy stick in the above picture because the lollipop sticks were too long for the mold.  However, I tested and the lollipop sticks will still work if you put them on a bit of an angle over the lip of the mold.

Once the stick is in, give it a little twirl so the chocolate covers the whole stick.  Once this is done, you are going to want to tap the mold against the counter a few times to get the air bubbles out.  This will also cause the chocolate to fill the rest of the mold if you missed any spots in the step above.

 It is very important that you put your chocolate in the fridge right away.  If you leave these out to harden on the counter they will be very dull (a mistake that I have made before..).  Putting them in the fridge allows you to use the mold again quicker and it gives them a nice shine (see above).  The chocolates are usually ready in 10-15 minutes. You will be able to tell because they will come out very easily when they are done.  If there is a bit of a struggle to get them out, put them back in the fridge for a few minutes. 

When you are ready to change colours, just do a quick wash in the sink (the chocolate comes off very easily) and make sure you dry the container and mold completely (see error above).

 Put the floral foam into a decorated flower pot.  For this project EVILBOY painted his teacher's name and some flowers on the pot. I'm sure the Floral foam could be put in a little more neatly than I did but I hate touching that stuff so I just did a quick job on that.

Stick your chocolates into the foam.  Be very careful when you place these because you cannot move them around too much without wearing down the (yucky) foam. 

 I had bought decorative moss to cover the foam in the pot, however when I opened the package of decorative moss I realized it smelled like real moss.  It kind of really grossed me out.  Right away I thought of toads and squirrels rubbing their bodies all over this "decorative" moss and I really wouldn't want to eat chocolate that had come into contact with that kind of crap.

I looked around my apartment, but unfortunately the only things I could find were leftover Fantasia party items and they were pretty inappropriate.  Then I remembered I had some felt in my closet so I cut some felt up and shoved it in the bottom of the pot to cover up that floral foam.  I also do not like the feel of felt, so this was also a messy job (as you can see).

(If you can think of a better way to cover the foam, please let me know!)

I wrapped up the gift (a little terribly) and tied it with a pretty pink ribbon.

Of course you can also add a homemade card from your child or a picture or tag.  Since EVILBOY had given up and went to bed at this point, we will have to save that step for the morning. 

There you have it folks, a fairly simple and inexpensive way to say thank you to a super teacher who has been so wonderful and kind to my family.