Flower Garden Birthday Cake

We just celebrated my sweet Tatum's 4th birthday.

This was the Flower Garden cake to top off her Fancy Four Affair.

Each birthday I try to make a special cake for my kids.  Though I love baking, cake decorating is not  my forte!

I found this fun idea in one of my favorite books, What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.  I love this book because the ideas are fairly simple and the results are so impressive.  Here is how I made it, following the instruction from the book.

Supplies:
Yeah, this one had TONS of items on ingredient list.  However, that is mostly due to the fact that I chose to make a variety of flowers for my flower garden.  Here is basically what you'd need...
- Cupcakes (I'd go with homemade for a firmer cake to stick the flowers into, though not necessary.)
- Green Cupcake Liners (though again, not necessary)
- Tray, for your Flower Garden to sit in
- Pretzels, sticks
- Cookies (sturdy, flat and round work best), one for each flower
- White Chocolate Chips, about 1 cup
- Frosting
- Green Food Coloring
- Assorted Candies for Flowers, I used M&Ms, Mike & Ikes, Jelly Bellies, Gummy Lifesavers
- Assorted Green Candies for Leaves
- Assorted Green Candies to fill in around the cupcakes (optional)
- Marshmallows (for flower petals), I used mini and a medium-sized variety in mine
- Sugar Sprinkles (assorted colors), for the marshmallow flowers

... I added some cute butterfly picks that I found at Hobby Lobby, that I thought were a nice touch.

Directions:
1) Make your marshmallow petals.
Do this by cutting them on the diagonal as shown below.  Set them aside so they can regain their shape.

Choose some colored sugar sprinkles, and place them in a small dish.

Take each of your cut marshmallow petals, and press the cut side into the colored sprinkles until it is nicely coated.  I used two different sizes of marshmallows, and opted to use colored sprinkles to match the color of the marshmallow.  I really liked how the medium-sized marshmallows looked on the finished flowers.

2)  Create your flowers!

Line your cookies up on a try.  I had 20 cupcakes to decorate, so I chose 20 cookies.  I also found it helpful to pre-sort my candies by color so I could quickly grab what I needed before my chocolate had set.  Once I had everything ready....

... I put 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips in a ziplock bag.  Place THE OPEN BAG in the microwave for 10 second intervals, mushing the chocolate in between each, until it is completely melted (may take about a minute).  Remove the air from the bag, and seal it.

Snip about 1/4" from the corner of your bag, and you are ready to pipe your chocolate!

See what I'm doing here?  Not a good idea.  I thought the chocolate would take longer to set than it did.  My recommendation would be to work on 2 or 3 AT THE MOST at a time.  One at a time might be a little too runny to easily decorate without your candies slipping out of place.

Pipe chocolate onto your cookie, and decorate it to your liking with your assorted candies and prepared marshmallow petals.  After a bit my chocolate was getting too "cool" and hard to work with.  I just popped it back in the microwave for 10 seconds, and we were back in business.

Here are my finished flowers.  Perhaps you can select some favorites from mine and copy them rather than experiment until you find one you like.

Note: I made the flowers the night before the party.  Cover them and hide them from the kids... :)

4) Prepare your cupcakes.
I know... I cheated.  I used store-bought frosting and added green food coloring to make it a nice, grassy green.

I frosted each cupcake, added some green sugar sprinkles to the top, and placed them on the tray.

Next, I filled in the gaps with all of the green candies I had stolen from my flower candy supply.

5)  Add your stems to the flowers.
The original instructions didn't call for this, but I happened to have some green candy melts on hand.  I chose to dip my pretzel sticks in the green candy melts.  I did this for two reasons.... 1, because I thought they would look nicer... and 2, because sticking a pretzel in a moist cupcake will cause the pretzel to get all soggy. Ick!

I melted my candy melts as directed on the package, rolled each pretzel stick in each, and let them set on a piece of wax paper.

Next, I melted another 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips in a small glass dish, as directed on the package (in the microwave for 30 second intervals).  I found that it worked best to lay the flowers upside-down, roll the end of the pretzel in the white chocolate, and rest it in place on the back of the flowers.  I then added white chocolate over top of that to make sure it was nice and "glued" into place.  You may have to hold the pretzel in place for a bit to allow it to set... or find a crafty way to rest it in place while you work on the next.

I transferred these to the fridge to allow them to completely set, about 5 minutes.  Set these aside, and add to your cupcakes right before you are ready to display your cake.

6) Arrange your flower garden.
I used green fruit slice candies for the leaves.  They were a little thick, so I cut them in half.  They were a perfect shape, I thought.

Place a flower into each cupcake.  Add a leaf or two to the base.  I rested my leaves in the frosting at an angle on most.  I also added some cute little butterfly picks.  Isn't it pretty?

We added flowers directly onto our extra cupcakes.  Charlotte had fun designing some of these.

And the finished display...

I thought it looked so pretty on the table!

A couple of thoughts...

*   The candy flowers were very heavy.  Little, if any, of the pretzel stem was left showing, as I had to insert them fairly deep to support the weight of the flowers.  I am not sure if there would be a better option.... perhaps a thicker pretzel?

*   Next time I may use green food coloring in the cake as well....

Happy Birthday Tater-Bug!!

Notebook Paper Bag

I am in LOVE with this little bag!

My children and I made these as part of our teacher gifts this year.  Inside, we will include the Summer Checklists they created and a little package of goodies.  I am thrilled with how these turned out!

I'm sharing the tutorial for these cute bags here...

Stop by this awesome blog and be sure to check out the other great things Laura is sharing!

Guest Post - Come Together Kids

Today I have a special treat for you!

I am doing a blog swap with Laura, from Come Together Kids.  Laura and I both started our blogging adventure around the same time.  We have so many things in common, it is just crazy!  I absolutely LOVE her blog and the great ideas she is sharing.  Make sure you stop by and see the fun things Laura is doing with and for her kids!

Hi, I'm Laura, from Come Together Kids and I'm so excited to be guest hosting here at Sun Scholars!  I started my blog as a way to share some of the ways my kids and I have come together through crafts, projects, activities and outings.  I hope you stop by to check it out!

When you stop by Come Together Kids,

be sure to check out my Summer Fun party!  

Be inspired by the great ideas submitted by others 

and share some ideas of your own!

I can't quite remember how I "met" Rachel a couple months ago, but we quickly discovered that our lives were eerily similar.  We both have backgrounds in teaching and education, we both have three young children ( two girls with a boy in the middle!), and we both have very similar tastes in the activities and projects we like to do.  Aside from the fact that I live in Maryland and she lives in Iowa (soon to be China!), it's like we're crafting twins!

Anyway, on to today's project ~ a Beanbag Toss (with a Math twist!)

As a former teacher, I know how easy it is for kids to forget so much of what they've learned when they're out of school for Summer break.  I also know that the best lessons are those when the "learning" is wrapped up in something entertaining.  This fun little beanbag game is a sneaky, yet effective, way to get in a little Math practice while still enjoying your Summer vacation.

The "Equipment"

The game pieces are simple ~ 5 numbered mats and 5 numbered bean bags

How to Play:

( We came up with three versions so far, but there are tons of variations you can play!)

Version One:  Match Up (great number recognition for younger kids)

Spread out your numbered circle mats.  Try to toss each of your numbered beanbags onto the mat with the same number.

Version Two (two or more players):  Add it Up ( fun addition practice)

Players take turns tossing their five beanbags onto the mats, adding up their score as they go.   If the beanbags misses the target, no points. If the beanbag lands pattern side up, you get the number of points on that mat.  If the beanbag lands number side up, you get the points on the mat PLUS the points on the beanbag!  Player with the highest total sum at the end of the round, wins.

Version Three ( one player ):  Race to 50 (awesome mental math practice)

Play with the same point system as Add It Up, but keep playing until you get to 50 ( or 100, 200, or more!)

Trying to hit the target for the most points!

Make Your Own!
(It's really quite easy!)

1.  Cut 10 circles out of felt.  I traced a 9" plate for my circles.

It looks like only 5, but I cut two at a time so there are 10.

2.  Cut 10 five inch squares for your beanbags.  I used felt for one side and a fun fabric on the other.

Oops, the other 4 didn't make it in the picture.  (See, I'm testing your Math already!)

3.  On your computer, find some numbers in a style you like, increase the font to enlarge them, and print them out.

4.  Trace the numbers backwards onto the paper side of some iron-on adhesive ( I like using Heat n Bond Ultra hold for things I'm not going to sew ).  Iron it on the wrong side of the fabric you'll use for your numbers.

You'll want to trace the numbers backwards so they're right side up when you cut them out.

5.  Cut out your numbers and peel off the paper backing.  Iron the smaller numbers onto the bean bag pieces and the larger numbers onto five of the felt circles.

6.  To make the beanbags, put the wrong sides together and sew two seams next to each other around the edges, leaving an opening to fill the bags.

7.   Fill your bean bag with rice.  I found a small paper dixie cup worked even better than a funnel ( Plus my kids took my funnel to play with and never returned it to the drawer!).  You'll want the bean bag full enough to weigh down your bag, but not so full that you can't stitch up the opening.

Filling was much easier with an assistant's help!

8.  Stitch your opening closed, again using two rows of stitches.

See my old sewing machine?  It's as old as I am!

9.  Next, take each pair of felt circles ( one with the number and one plain).  With wrong sides together, simple sew around the outer edge.  ( I suppose you could just use a single layer of felt for your circles if you'll be playing inside, but I found for outdoor use, two layers gives it slightly more weight so it doesn't blow around.)

10.  I decided to make a little storage bag for our game using one of the free little tote bags my husband picks up at conferences and seminars.

11.  Using the iron-on adhesive again, I simply cut a large square of fabric to cover the writing and then made my son's initial since this set is for him ( my girls tend to get all the fun craft projects and my little guy gets left out)

That's it, you're all set!  You have a fun set of beanbags, target mats and a storage bag.   Play a few rounds every once and awhile and you'll be right on target for Math class in the fall.

Summer Checklist (for Teacher)

Tell me this isn't a great gift for any child's teacher!

A Summer Checklist, created by your child, with a pen so your child's teacher can be ready to cross off the items on the list.  What I love most about this, is that my children made it.  They came up with the ideas for the checklist on their own.  They chose the stickers they wanted to decorate it with.  They did (or tried to do most of) the writing.

Ready to make your own?

This is how we did it...

Supplies Needed:

Picture Frame, Paper, Summer Themed Stickers, Markers

Not Pictured:

Ribbon, Hot Glue, Dry Erase Pen

Directions:
1)  We chose to use a two picture frame so we could separate our title from the checklist.  I found some great sparkle scrapbook paper and some yellow card stock.  I cut squares for each side of the frame.  My children wrote "Summer Checklist" on one side.

Yeah, well... let me tell you.

This was my kindergartener.  I was dictating the spelling to him, and said "K, space and check.... c, h..." 'K' as in, "OK, we are finished with the word summer, so we are moving onto the next."  You get it, right?  Well, I couldn't understand for the life of my where he came up with the "k" at the end of summer.  That is, not until I said 'K' after he finished helping him to spell "check" and heard myself again say, "K, next word..."

Secondly.... so I'm thinking 'Checklist' should be one word, not two.

That, I learned from my 2nd grader.  Spelling was never my thing.. ha ha.  Now you know!

2)  Decorate with stickers!

So the extra 'K' was easily hidden with some strategically placed stickers.  No biggy!

3)  Ask your child to create a list of all the things they thing their teacher should do to make the best of their summer vacation.  It is really funny to see what they come up with (especially the littlest ones).

Wesley got tired of writing, so he asked me to do the rest of the writing as he came up with ideas.

4)  Place your title and checklist in your frame.

  

Here are a few of our finished lists...

Tatum (3) on the left, Wesley (6) on the right, and Charlotte (7) below

5)  Attach a dry-erase pen!
I chose to hot glue a ribbon to the frame that would tie to hold the marker.  You could also glue a loop of fabric or ribbon to the side of the frame as a sleeve for the pen to rest in.

  

Make sure you attach a note to explain the purpose of your gift!
Let me add, your teacher will be using the dry-erase pen on the glass, so they will not need to spoil your child's work.  The glass can be cleaned if they every choose to re-use the frame.

I can't wait to share these with the teachers.  We have one more great gift for our teachers we are still working on.  Stop by soon to see what we're doing next!

linking up at Today's Creative Blog, and many of THESE other great link parties.