Retro Tattoo Cakes and Cupcakes

Remember when tattoos just meant you were a sailor or jailbird? Now days so many people have tattoos. They want their celebrations to reflect more of themselves, even down to the details of the cake. I'm probably the only person on the planet that doesn't have any! That's okay though. I'd rather just put the design on a shirt or cake (LOL) instead of permanently on my skin. I wouldn't want something I would later regret. Or what if I did get a tattoo I really liked and just couldn't stop getting more? See, no thanks for me!

Nicola is pretty much the cake maker extraordinaire though! She specializes in tattoo cakes and cupcakes. If you're in the UK, then you are in luck! Fairycakes and Faces are based in the UK, just outside of London. Too bad her cakes can't ship to the US. The good news is that she has custom cake toppers that can be shipped worldwide! They start at £25 per figure and are clay based and non-toxic which are light and suitable for cakes. More Retro Tattoo Cakes and Funky Cupcakes at Poptastic Bride!

Arts & Crafts: Words On A String

photo: King Au

Here's a fun and simple St. Patrick's Day craft that can prevent you from getting pinched!

What you'll need:

• metal edged vellum gift tag (available at craft stores)
• green paint
• thin wire
• letter beads
• safety pin

Directions:

1. Paint the vellum gift tag green.
2. Punch a small hole on both ends of the tag.
3. String the letter beads onto the thin wire. Spelling out "Irish Today".
4. Carefully thread the stringed beads through the holes in the tag.
5. Attach the wire ends to a safety pin on the back of the tag, creating a brooch.

Easy, right?

DIY: Home Spa Treatment

Vanilla Coffee Exfoliating Scrub

What you need:

1/4 cup Vanilla-flavored Coffee, ground
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons almond oil
1 teaspoon orange peel, grated
1/2 cup unscented body lotion, like Aveeno or Lubriderm

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl or reusable jar.
2. Rub slowly onto skin in circular motions during your morning shower.

The coffee and sugar will exfoliate skin and the orange peel revitalizes at the same time. This makes for a nice and yummy smelling wake-up call and it didn't even leave me all jittery!

DIY: Liquid Hand Soap

Here's a fun way to use those skimpy leftover pieces of bar soap!

What You Need:

• A bar of soap (I use Dove unscented)
• A cheese grater
• A sauce pan or pot
• Water
• Empty soap dispensers
• Essential oil (optional)
• Soap coloring (optional)

Difficulty: Easy

Getting started:

1. Grate a bar of soap.
2. If you have a four ounce bar of soap, then you'll need to boil four cups of water. Just use one cup of water for every ounce of soap.
3. Turn off the heat, and add the soap. Stir to melt the soap. Continue stirring until the mixture is fully combined. At this point the mixture will be very liquidy.
4. Let mixture cool for at least 15 minutes. Stir again. The soap should be slightly thicker. Let cool for another several hours or overnight.
5. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too liquidy, reheat and add more soap. If it seems too thick reheat and add more water.*
6. If desired, add a few drops of essential oil and coloring.
7. Pour soap into dispensers* and enjoy!

*Note: For a super-smooth consistency, run the finished soap through a blender before pouring into dispensers.

AFV: Great Christmas Gifts and Epic Fails

Did you get anything for the holidays that you really liked? Or do you want to re-gift your present already?

Christmas Bingo!

You can play this with the family or turn it into a naughty game with your Mr. Claus for later (wink wink)! Whomever you play it with have fun! Just print out these free boards from Crayola. If you don't want to use crayons, you can use buttons or coins as markers on the board (not suggested for younger kids).

 

Funnovation Friday Finds 3

You can completely avoid being the one in the fugly holiday sweater with today's FFF. Just simply adorn yourself with the accessories of warmth as jewelry with the help of Etsy shop blockpartypress! Hey, there's even FREE shipping til the New Year!

I really like all of the items from blockpartypress

Not having to deface a tree
in the name of love can be achieved!

There's even more where that came from, so check it out!

Funnovation Friday Finds 2

That's right, today is FFF! Today's Etsy shop is The Monkey Cannon. I saw this shop on my search for quirky-cute things. They sell 100% handmade beard and mustache hats for boys and men. They are made out of soft yarn. Perfect gift for the father and son duo or even include a Grandpa with a sense of humor to the fun! Or at least have fun mimicking Grandpa!

The Professor

The Full Beard

The Monkey Cannon uses this quote, "He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." -William Shakespeare

Holiday Treats

Photo by SashasMommy

Since my Peppermint Land treasury went so well I decided to celebrate with this recipe. There may be more mint recipes to come throughout this month of blog post! You can say I've taken a umm.. special liking (cough, slight obsession) to peppermints for this holiday season.

Peppermint Candy Cane Bark
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2lbs. White chocolate chips
12 Candy canes, crushed (can be pulverized in a closed Ziploc bag with a hammer)

1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract

Directions:

1. Melt white chocolate either in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water.
2. Stir in crushed candy cane and peppermint extract into melted white chocolate.
3. Line a 11x17" baking pan with wax paper.
4. Pour and spread chocolate mixture onto wax paper.
5. Chill until firm and break into pieces
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Such a simple recipe with a gourmet look! You can use 1lb. baking chocolate chips (bittersweet or dark chocolate) to layer the bottom of the white chocolate. Just let the brown chocolate cool in the fridge while you're melting the white chocolate and layer that on top. You can also reserve the chunkier pieces of crushed candy cane to layer the top of the whole treat as sprinkles.

I also found these:



Head on over to Our Best Bites for

Peppermint Candy Cane Brownies

and even more winter goodnessville!

Funnovation Friday Find(s)

Today is the start of what I call Funnovation Friday Find(s). I don't usually do the cutesy titles for certain days of the week thing, but here you have it (for right now)! This is when I will be posting fun items I find from Etsy shops. It could be one or more items from a shop being showcased. Could be items for kids or right down to a pet, basically, for anyone.

Today's Etsy shop is Oh Dier. This shop makes wood signs, wooden toys and photo prints. Each item is lovingly made by hand.

Here's what I love:



Camera Bots! These robots are made from reclaimed oak.
If you don't have any kids
 this will still be great as home decor.

Yo Gabba Gabba and Money Mark - Robo Dancing
Yo Gabba Gabba and Datarock - Smile for the Camera

De-Tec-Tip

Around these parts we love monkey's, but we really love one in particular, SOCK MONKEY! The Nelson Knitting Mills of Rockford, Illinois, produced the first red heel socks. Crafters were turning the "De-Tec-Tip" socks into stuffed animals. In 1951, the company started putting sock monkey instructions with each pair of socks sold. The Fox River Mills, in Osage, Iowa, took over the Nelson Knitting Mills in 1992. However, they continued the tradition by enclosing instructions for sock elephants. Fox Rivers best seller to date are still the Rockford Red Heels. There's an array of animals, facial expressions, colors and sizes to choose from when making your own creation!


The best sock monkeys I've seen so far are from Etsy sellers, of course!

Etsy shop TerraceHill ,
which also sell vintage inspired aprons!

Personalized tattoo for sock monkey
Etsy shop sewwoman