rock macarons

this summer on vacation i found some inspiration.

now that summer is practically over, and fall crafts are already here, i decided to make a few more things before i head into pumpkin blogland.

summer heat is still brewing and there's no turning the oven on right now. so how do i get a cookie treat 

without heating up my kitchen?

i'll do this: 

when you use paint markers, you have to pump the marker tip to get the paint out. 

otherwise you'll get a translucent darker color such as the darkest color used for the filling.

to get the feet color, i pumped a white marker on a piece of paper and made a tiny puddle. then i did it for the color and mixed the two of them with the white marker, thus getting my lighter whitish color.

and for the top and bottom layers, 

just pump the marker and use normally.

of course you can skip markers all together and use acrylic paints but markers are just a lot 

easier to use and less mess for me.

and if you've visited me before, 

you know i lovelovelove my paint markers!

they dry with a glossy finish on these rocks.

see?

so in a matter of an hour i made 5 different flavors.

ok so really the flavors can be named whatever but naming these for the purposes of a blog post can also go 

a number of ways.

well whatever they are, hope you make some cuz this recipe requires no eggs, no almond flour and no worries about getting "feet" on the cookies.

apple buttercream mints mini favor boxes

i took a little break last week.

from blogging that is,

 with only making one post instead of the usual 2.

not cuz i wanted to though. 

it's cuz i was knee deep in work and personal stuff and 

yada yada yada, 

let's just see what i made this week ok?

i found those really cute bins at the dollar tree awhile ago that were 10 for a buck (yippee!) but any bin will do i suppose.

the ribbon and stickers are from michael's.

 

these stickers happen to be the perfect match for the lids which made making these extra fun.

so now let's put something in them by using this recipe.

here's a quick pic of how i made them.

i like to stick the dough in a ziploc to color it instead of doing it in a bowl. i smoosh the bag to death til all the food coloring is mixed in. 

it sure saves a lot of food coloring cleanup in the bowl and on your hands!

ok so once you have your red dough,

look it's a mini apple.

ok it looks like a big apple in the pic but it really is small. 

in fact it's about grape size.

so make your apples like grapes that look like apples.

huh?

no worries, you'll see the real size in the next pic.

ok so there are your cute little boxes to give out to all your school friends.

you can tell them you made them on your "break".

:)

crayon box grahams

school supply list? check.

walmart? check.

paper? check.

pencils? check.

notebooks? check.

folders? check.

uniforms.

shirts, shorts, pants, sweaters, 

belt, skirts, socks, shoes. 

check check check check check check check check.

uniform underwear? no check.

notecards, rulers, calculators, pencil sharpeners, tissues, wipes, binders, composition notebooks, erasers, black pens, blue pens, red pens, any kind of pen pen. 

check check check checkity check check check 

check.

next kid.

school supply list? check.

repeat above.

........................

write a check.

for $597.29.

and you went on tax free day?! 

good thing you went to walmart.

i think we need a treat.

check.

set these aside.

set triangles aside.

grab a cracker.

allow to dry.

or instead of the year, write your child's grade.

brownie points for making it for the teacher and the class.

check.

paper & pencil cookie bags

well looks like the sharks are finally swimming away as the week draws to an end.

which only means we are coming into the school season.

not to mention pumpkins, turkeys, and fall leaves at the store already these days...

something i am not quite ready for!

in fact, my head's been kinda spinning getting back into the school schedule again.

i needed something to get me outta my dizziness.

so i made some fun easy peasy treat bags for school. 

check it out.

yes you can make these bags actually or just buy them here.

if you make them, just use a ziploc bag and then gluestick a piece of school paper on top cut to size. 

ok now let's get something else with them. 

we need a pen or pencil or something to go along with the paper right?

what do you think of these?

oh my goodness it was love at first sight.

so yes i guess i really am a kindergartener in an old woman's body.

and hey! not only are they 3-D, 

they write too!

ok ok so i had you going there for a sec, they don't really write! :>P 

but the sharpie gives the bag that illusion. and i used a black sharpie to describe the year.

see, lookie:

i used the best handwriting i could muster up to make these.

my real writing actually looks like spaghetti caught in a lawn mower if you can picture that...

anyway, look!

hey where'd the buses come from?

oh happy smiling buses are just what these bags need.

hey now that's what i call starting a new school year right.

shark and scuba diver truffles

hey how are you enjoying shark week?

i haven't watched one show yet.

i think it's cuz i feel like the guy in the green suit, which you will see in this post soon enough.

it's cuz one of my kids started school this week, the other one is a teen that starts next week, and so we haveta figure out what she's gonna do, and i headed on back to work M-F myself.

sigh. no more sleeping in since my summer is officially gone but i did somehow get to make something.

let's put on our scuba gear and take a look since it's underwater...

oh molds! how do i love thee?

i love thee to the depths and breaths...ok ok so it's no lie i got this thing for silicone molds.

my sis lives in the big apple and they have the coolest stores there, one being a place called paper presentation.

holy cow what an awesome crazy fun craft store that was! i looked online to see if i could direct you to this mold to get it too but it's not sold at their online shop. boohoo!

(so here's another way to get it here if you want but it is kinda pricey online, unlike the price i got it for.)

imagine my heart skipping when i saw these a few weeks before official shark week so hot diggety into the cart they went!

when i got them home, 

i wanted to do something a little different.

next i made some bluish gray colored candy melt.

and yes it was a messy job but someone's gotta do it.

no worries though cuz once the candy firms up, it cleans up super easy cuz it just flakes away with a little nudge.

btw, is your mask getting fuzzy or blurry?

no worries, i promise you won't drown or nothing, it's just the deep water effect.

ok let's see what's next.

hot diggety again these trader joe's truffles are soooo yummy! 

i was gonna make my own truffle filling but the heck with that when these are so good and already made. 

so i did this:

either shake the mold gently or hit the mold on the counter to smooth out the candy and get the air bubbles out. 

i forgot to take a pic of that for you.

then freeze to firm up and pop them babies outta the mold.

i made the divers the same way i made the sharks with more colored candy melts.

 
 

hmmm...what's that shark complaining about?

well it's about time those sharks knew what it felt like to not be them.

wonder if they saw it coming?

well, the green scuba diver dude reminds me of how discombobulated i feel lately but i don't think i would be comforting a shark.

not with a dismembered arm anyway.