Kids Craft: A Cute Handprint Apple Tree

After a quick search on easy kid related apple crafts, I came across a version of this apple tree! This is a super simple craft using real apple prints and your child’s handprints. I already had everything on hand that I needed so we had some apple fun today and made this keepsake!

Apple Tree Handprint Keepsake

Now, I am not a big fan of having lots of paper crafts lying around **I’ve got too many kids for that and keep the ones I want to keep in shirt boxes**. So, I thought it would be cute to paint it on this piece of wood. I have literally had this wooden plaque lying around my house for YEARS!! I have finally put it to good use, and it will be nice to hang it in my future schoolroom or in the kitchen during fall/apple season. So grab your tools. You will need acrylic paint, paint brushes, a painter’s cup of water, paper towels, a painting surface **you could use paper, wood, a t-shirt or even a brown paper gift bag**, an apple sliced in half in its upright position, and your child.

During nap time mommy time I painted this tree. I mixed my brown and black paint to get the varying shades of brown. If you have an older child, appoint this task to them. You could even claim it as a nature study, send them outside and have them paint a real tree.

My Painted Tree Trunk

Once the tree dried, I painted each child’s hand with the green acrylic and let them print the tree. Note: Acrylic paint is permanent! Make sure they are wearing paint worthy clothing! We started with the larger/oldest child’s hand in the middle and worked our way to the outside.

Be sure to allow each handprint to dry for ten minutes before moving on to the next one. This will make for a clearer and cleaner print. Once all of the prints have been painted on. Let your child paint their apple half with a color of their choice, and stamp it on the coordinating handprint.

Apple Stamping!

Once this is dry feel free to name and date your apples! I had great luck and more definition with a thin Sharpie marker. Allow to sit overnight and then cover with a clear coat of water based poly. I went to poly mine tonight and realized it hadn’t been open in four years and was full of rust. But knowing me, it will probably be another four years before I get around to buying another can of polyurethane. Once this is finished it will be a treasure and something that everyone can be proud of!

Be sure to allow each handprint to dry for ten minutes before moving on to the next one. This will make for a clearer and cleaner print. Once all of the prints have been painted on. Let your child paint their apple half with a color of their choice, and stamp it on the coordinating handprint.

Make Way for Apples!

When you feel that crisp, cool change in the weather and the whisper of fall is in the leaves. You know it is time for apples! We couldn’t think of a better to way to celebrate this delicious fruit then declaring the last week of September apple week. Our favorite way to relish in all things “apple” is to visit our local apple orchard. We visit Breeden’s Orchard and Country Store in Mt. Juliet, TN.

Kathryn-Grace at Breeden's Orchard fall of 2008

All through the month of September they allow families **Yep, that means kiddos too!** to saddle up a wagon and pick a bushel of this favorite American fruit!

Pickin' apples with Daddy!

Apples provide excellent nutritional benefits. We’ve all heard “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” During recent years this old english saying has proved more true than not. Studies have shown apples can aid in natural prevention of osteoporosis, help prevent asmtha flair ups, assist in the natural treatment of Alzheimer’s, help lower cholesterol, fight multiple types of cancer and much more. True, they are healthy and beautiful. Who doesn’t appreciate a nice apple center piece.

But here in the soup bowl, we just like to eat them.

Liam, taking a bite!

I hope y’all enjoy our upcoming apple week. Feel free to comment and leave us many new, wonderfully applicious ideas for next year. We love to learn from you!

Do Not Worry About Tomorrow…

Winter of 2007/2008 our family moved back to the Nashville area after living in Florida for 18 months. Who doesn’t know about the poor housing market and current financial status of our country. Our family is one of thousands caught in the storm.

Our Florida house has consistently been on and off the market since we moved back. We are coming close to our second anniversary of trying to sell our house and I am amazed at how God continues to see us through. There have been times of plenty and then there are those other times. We are in one of those other times right now.

Obviously God is showing us where we need to rely on Him. I have a small very small inheritance check that comes in the mail every month. We have been waiting on it for almost a week.  A week is not a long time, until you need something…. or at least you think you need something. It is amazing to me how we I have allowed myself to be fooled by our culture. Underwear, I need. A trendy cardigan with a great belt, I don’t. Sure our family needs to eat. But, do we need to eat the American way? The rest of the world doesn’t and they are probably all the better for it.

Every Monday I teach our children a bible verse set to a melody I make up on the spot. This morning’s verse was a no brainer…

Matt 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in a barn, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father know that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Strawberry Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

My girls asked for a pink strawberry frosting underneath their Princess Castle Cake. This is the recipe I came up with, to both echo the coconut in the cake itself and to create a delicious pink color without all of the food dye. It is a decadent addition to any cake!

Ingredients

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 cup of butter

1/4 cup of fresh pureed strawberries

2lbs or 8 cups of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of coconut milk

1/2 cup coconut

(Do not add coconut if you are using this frosting as a crumb coat under fondant)

Preparation

1. Cream cream cheese and butter on medium speed.

2. Add pureed strawberries

3. Sift powdered sugar and add to mixing bowl a cup at a time.

4. Mix well for four minutes scraping the sides and bottom as needed.

5. Add coconut milk until desired consistency is reached.

Note: Cream cheese frosting is not a decorator frosting. To crumb coat smooth under fondant place in fridge for 10 minute increments.

Disney Princess Castle Cake: Day 3

This is the last and final installment of the Disney Princess Castle Cake! This has turned out to be one of my more favorite cakes. I love all things that sparkle or taste delicious and this cake is both!

Disney Princess Castle Cake with Gum Paste Princesses

The cake tiers themselves are two 6in and 10in rounds. It was a butter pound cake with my new Strawberry Coconut Cream Cheese frosting and a custard filling! I covered the stacked and filled cakes with a thin layer of fondant and formed the cobblestone exterior by hand. I didn’t want any plastic on the cake itself, so I used the plastic door and windows that came with the Wilton’s Romantic Castle Cake Set as a fondant mold. I then adhered the pieces to the cake with a brush stroke of water.

Gum Paste Cinderella in front of molded door

Once the cake was covered and the windows attached, I dry dusted the cake with a silk white luster dust to give it a fairytale sparkle. I placed three large plastic hollow dowels, in a triangular shape, in the bottom tier to hold the weight of the top tier. The top 6in tier was placed on a 6in cake board before I crumb coated and covered it in fondant. Place the board directly over the dowels. This cake was stacked a little off center to give it a more realistic look. Once the cakes were stacked I covered the towers in a thin layer of powder blue fondant.

Cutting the fondant to cover the towers

I carefully wrapped each piece around the plastic tower and smoothed the seam with a dab of Crisco. I then dry brushed the towers with the same white silk luster dust I used for the cake. When ever dry dusting a cake, be sure and use a large food only make-up brush. I like to use a blush brush and brush in round strokes for a smooth and even coverage!

Wrapping the tower in fondant

It was my intention to cover the whole turret in fondant. However, I do have five children and time wasn’t on my side. I used a power blue royal icing to trace around the windows on the turrets and the door on the cake. I also gave all three hundred pink flowers yellow and white royal icing center and glued them on to the turrets and cake.

Castle Towers, Windows and the Back of My Gum Paste Belle

I then used royal icing to adhere the tops of the towers to the turrets themselves and also place the turrets on the cake. Due to a poor design plan the turrets have solid bottoms, leaving them much less sturdy than desirable. So my husband happily drilled a 1/4 in hole in the bottom of each turret. My husband is happy anytime he has an excuse to pull out his tools! This enabled me to place a 1/4 in wooden dowel rod in each turret and secure it into the cake. We cut each dowel rod in half leaving us with 3in inside the turret and 3in inside the cake itself. These I also secured with royal icing.

Gum Paste Belle and Sleeping Beauty adorn their Castle

Once assembled, I doused the castle with a nice layer of edible pixie dust and then since it was 4am, I crashed. This was again, another nice reminder of why I only make cakes for special occasions!

Thanks to both family and friends the party was a huge success and we were able to celebrate another God given year with our princesses!

Princess Kathryn-Grace admiring her candy princesses!

Princess Julia, taking in her birthday celebration!

Disney Princess Castle Cake: Day 1

Disney Princess Castle Cake: Day 2

Disney Princess Castle Cake: Day 2

No fairytale castle is complete without its princess. So I molded these three fair maidens, by hand, out of gum paste. Each princess stands approximately 2.5 inches high and is completely edible!

Gum Paste Disney Princesses

This was my third attempt at modeling gum paste figures. The first was Princess Lollipop, for my Candy Land cake and the second was Raggedy Ann and Andy. The key is finding the foundation of your figure; what part of the body is going to hold the most weight. Find it, and then build around it. Think of each part of the body as a separate unit. Because of its size the skirts are the foundation of my princesses. I then added the bodice and chest area to support the arms and head.

Shaping Cinderella's Skirt

Since gum paste, modeling chocolate, and fondant are all sugar based. You can adhere the pieces by brushing on a bit of water with a food only paint brush. This breaks down the sugar just enough to allow it to stick together. I use watercolor brushes and keep them clean in between use with a little bit of Dawn.

Keep cornstarch on hand to prevent the gum paste from sticking to your fingers. Each of the small body parts are made out of a separate piece of gum paste. For example, there are four different colored gum paste parts for the head in the picture below. Ivory for the face, yellow for the hair, and two shades of blue for the hair band and earrings.

Gum paste Cinderella in pieces

Before… and After!

Finished Gum Paste Cinderella

If you are new to modeling gum paste people, then I suggest starting with a modeling chocolate and fondant mix. I prefer equal parts of both. There is a greater drying time allowance. If you don’t need the figure to be extra sturdy go ahead and use fondant. The sky is the limit. Here is a great and easy white modeling chocolate recipe that anyone can make in their own home! Enjoy!

Disney Princess Castle Cake: Day 1

Another birthday, another cake. Finally, after two consecutive years of superheroes I get to make a princess cake. That’s the beauty of having little girls. Not only do I make the cake of their dreams. I get to make the cake of my childhood dreams.

For those of you want to try this at home, I am using Wilton’s Romantic Castle Cake Set. Sure, I could have handmade the turrets using rice crispy treats, dirty iced them and covered them in modeling chocolate…. but I have five kids. So for now I think I will stick to the plastic, covered in fondant of course! The first thing on the agenda is flowers. Three hundred fondant flowers and three hundred leaves. Although painstaking, I find this kind of work somehow meditating and oh so beautiful!

A sea of fondant flowers and leaves

Wash and dry your work station thoroughly, you don’t want your fondant to pick up dust. Start by dusting your work station with a light dusting of corn starch or confectioner’s sugar. I prefer corn starch, it has a better texture to it, but either works fine.  Roll your fondant 1/8 of an inch thick and use a flower cut-out of your choice. I used both a forget me not and a small leaf from Wilton’s Floral Garland Ejector Set. I place each flower on a nice thick piece of foam. I like to be able to make many flowers at a time and have plenty of space, so I use a clean piece of soft packing foam. With my small ball tool, I gently press the center of the flower cut-out and work my way outwards. Do the same with the leaves.

Using my small ball tool to form a fondant flower

Whenever I want to use the same color flower for the whole cake I vary the shades. Naturally for this cake I chose pink. But I hand mixed three shades of a blossom pink and two shades of a leaf green. This will give both dimension and a realistic look to your flowers. Remember there are no two flowers alike, be sure to make each one individual. This is particularly important if you are making more realistic flowers like gum paste roses or carnations. In this case I spent extra time on the leaves, both veining and shaping them.

Veining my leaves

You can give each leaf its own unique shape by twisting, turning, folding, tearing or leaving it flat. I like to see both the front and back sides of my leaf. Think about how things look in nature and try to emulate it.

Twisting a Leaf

Place smaller flowers like these on a parchment covered jelly roll pan and allow at least 24 hours for drying time. When you are finished bask in the rows of finished flowers.

Fondant flowers placed to dry

The sweetest flowers are the kind you can eat. Please be sure to join us for Day 2 where we will be making Disney princess figurines. I can’t wait and hopefully, neither can you!