Happy St. Patrick's Day! Rainbow Cupcakes

I went to a conference yesterday, so missed the joys of St. Patrick's Day with my students (which was okay, since it wasn't REALLY the big day yet) but sent in these treats for their wonderful behavior on Thursday during our practice reading test.

Here is the process, if you'd like to make some yourself. I got the idea off pinterest, but used Ziploc Bags instead of bowls so the mixing/pouring would be easier.

I made cupcakes for all 3 second grade classes, so I mixed up 3 white cake mixes (altogether) and separated them into 5 gallon sized bags. I added about 1/4 tsp gel food coloring into each bag, then mixed.

I set out my foil baking cups, and started with purple. I put a little bit in each cup. Cutting off a small end of the bag made this process SUPER easy. Then I repeated with each color until my cups were 2/3 full and I was all out of mix.

Then I baked two pans at a time following the directions on the packaging. You can see by my mess that I was lazy and just squirted the cake mix into these pans. The others were easier because I used a baking sheet. (Foil baking cups do not need cupcake pans).

 While I let them cool I broke one in half to make sure it had the rainbow effect. Awesome!!

While they were cooling I went to the Y (March challenge: running 4 miles/5x week). When I got home I cut up these AMAZING candies (I think that's what really set the project off!) called Xtremes Rainbow Berry Sour Candy, made by Airheads. They come in long strips, and I needed a little less than half for each cupcake. If they are too long, then the rainbow will slip off. 

I iced half of the cupcakes with green grass and half with blue sky. The clouds are whipped white icing. I added white edible glitter on the blue cupcakes and gold sprinkles on the green ones, to look like bits of gold.

 They were a hit, according to the teachers. I really wished I could've enjoyed seeing my kids' reactions, but oh well. I learned all about Professional Learning Communities instead.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday, so we, like last year, had a ton of activities throughout the day. Our principal read The Lorax to the entire school, then we went outside and each grade level planted a tree (graciously donated by Lowe's). We also had cupcakes, and a visit from the Cat in the Hat, who read us his story. The best part of the day, of course, was the fact that we all got to dress up like Dr. Seuss characters. Even though I had to give up my Friday=Jeans Day, it was a blast and the kids really enjoyed it. I made a no-sew-tutu (like the ones I made for babies before, but of course with a LOT more tulle) and painted a star on my belly to be a Star-Bellied Sneetch from the book, The Sneetches. I also used a marabou boa to make feathered wrists and ankles, since I didn't have anything else yellow, and added feathers to a clip for my hair. It was a fun day!

Cornish Hens

So... completely random... As you may or may not know, each month of 2012 I am doing something to make myself a better person (inside or out). In January I gave up my very favorite Coca-Cola Classic, and February I gave up processed foods. This has been an extremely difficult month for me, and I will be very thankful on Thursday when I sit down to have all of the wonderful meals I have missed. Anyway, as we're wrapping up the month (and finishing up the last of 50 gazillion bags of salad) I decided to try my hand at cooking Cornish Game Hens. Random, yes. I saw them at Wal-Mart (in a two-pack!) and just had to try it! I roasted them tonight for dinner, along with a salad (fresh cucumber and carrots!) and a side of applesauce. This will probably be one of the last dinners I wash down with orange juice for awhile! Anyway... I basically mutilated the poor bird, and thought it to be a little humorous.

Before Valerie eats: 

After Valerie eats: 

Yeah, the salad had gone bad, after all... And my lovely pups thoroughly enjoyed some of the leftover meat I was able to pull bones out of. So, this post is completely not-crafty, but truly the highlight of my day!

PS- My goal for March is to go to the Y (or run on the track at school) for at least an hour a day, 5x a week. Kill me now!!!

More Copic coloring

I spent my snow day/President's Day coloring with my markers. Hopefully with a little more practice I'll start making cards. One of these days I'll have some ready when I need one. 

Anyway, here is a butterfly.

Shady snowman #1

Shady snowman #2

blue-violet tulips in a jar

The only actual project I created today

Here are some pink and yellow tulips

I'm really proud of these red tulips. The colors don't show up nearly as well on camera as they do in real life. 

And all of them together

Copic Classes

This weekend I had the opportunity to take two classes in Richmond on how to use my Copic markers. I got my first 72 for Christmas, and have been adding to my collection for the last couple of months. There are 358 total (sigh) and maybe one day I will have them all! Anyway, they were fabulous classes (especially the Intermediate, as the Beginner was truly a beginner [think "What are the different types of copics?"] and the whole class is like "duh!") and I learned a LOT. The main goal was for me to become a more confident artist, and to learn that I don't need someone else to validate my work- I can be happy with it and like it for no other reason than I like it. We did learn some shading and blending techniques, as well as 9 hours worth of other stuff. 

I drew a tree.

I practiced "feathering" pink and yellow after the beginner class. 

Saturday we learned about shading skin tones. 

I have absolutely NO human stamps/images to practice with.

I did not draw this tree. I colored it, though.

This was my first experience shading with red. And the dog needed spots. 

More skin practice, along with hair. Oddly enough, after I finished I looked over at the lady to my left, and she had colored her girl's hair grey, too. 

Our "final project" we completed from 6-8 Saturday night. 

I didn't like the brightness of the leaves, but she told us what colors to use, so YG03 became my friend.

This evening, after getting home, I colored these violet tulips.

Here is a close-up. I think I'm getting better.

It started snowing on the drive home today, and we're finally getting our first snowstorm of the season. We're supposed to get 5-8 inches tonight... looks like we've already got around 6. 

And lastly, here is my cutie pie Alex wondering why there is no food in his bowl after running around outside tonight. 

"Congrats" Baby Book

One of my co-workers' wife is having a baby girl next month, and each person is to write a prayer/suggestion for Baby Ava. The nurses asked me to make a book for everyone to write their notes in. Here is what I came up with. 

 The biggest difference is that instead of places for pictures to go, the book is filled with white paper for everyone to write their notes on.

 I made one page big, for those who want to write super-small or super-long notes. There aren't quite enough boxes for each member of faculty to write a note, so hopefully this page will get used a lot!

 The last page is a vellum pocket I made to hold any baby cards.

 And the back cover-

New Girl Book

During my sick day today (after I finished being sick), I managed to finish a book I started on that I made using paper I picked up after Thanksgiving on sale. I have no reason to make it, other than the paper was cute and I've been wanting to use Kate's ABC's. 

Another cute view of the front :-)