5 little pumpkins

Terrible quality of pics (I took them on my phone), but we made these for my daughter's class party.

1. Bake: I cheated and bought pre-made choc chip cookie dough which we baked as a big flat piece. 
2. Cut: The pre-made doughs swell more than regular sugar cookie dough so it's best to bake first, and then cut shapes while the dough is still hot. So we cut pumpkin shapes out of the cooked dough.
3. Melt: I bought a packet of orange candy pieces from Walmart, and melted in the microwave for 40 seconds, and stirred. Check your pack for instructions.
4. Ice: I used the melted candy to ice the cookies and then using a knife drew lines in half circles to create the pumpkin effect.
5. Decorate: My daughter then added green m&m's to the top as the stem, by dabbing the back with a little candy. She also decorated some with orange and brown sprinkles, and a few with smiley faces (not pictured).

 Love and pumpkins,
Kerry, the Momster

 

Rockin' babies

Maybe it's because my husband is in a band, or maybe it's because I think rockstars are hotter than normal people ( again, because my husband is in a band :) ), but I adore wee-sized rock attire. Neither of us are huge sports fanatics (gasp!) as we both tend to lean towards the more artistic aspects in life, so it probably stands to reason that "Mommy's little line-backer" would not be my first choice of clothing to dress my baby in. Here are some of the rock wardrobe my baby has acquired already.

Gymboree blazer

Sex Pistol's Shirt (A friend bought this  in NY for us, but I found them online here too)


Gymboree baby blazer (looks super cute with those tie onesies)

Children's place hat (just like daddy's- my husband has so many of this style hat, they are going to look like peas in a pod).


Then of course, there are the amazing Rockabye baby CD's, which I mentioned in an earlier post. They are amazing lullaby renditions of your favorite bands.


And finally, to keep his feet clean on stage, some Silly Souls Rockstar Shoes.

Silly Souls Rock Star 4-Piece Baby Gift Set, Black, 3-6 Months
Soon, I'll be able to post some pictures of my little guy in all his rock gear. :)

Love and babies,
Kerry the Momster

                                 

Fall Art Tutorial

I've been feeling inspired to make some fall art work for my home, and came up with a fun idea, that I also used as a craft with my daughter. Here is a tutorial on how I did it.

1. Use stencil of your choice. I used halloween cookie cutouts.

2. Trace around cutters on cardboard to make your own stencils.

4. Stencils all ready to go.

5. Prepare paints in preferred colors, I  used very watered down acrylics.

6. Place stencil on watercolor paper and using small brush strokes, paint on colors around the edges. Layering colors adds a lovely effect.

7. Completed picture.

8. Two of the pictures I did. For my daughter's picture I traced the stencil with a white crayon and let her paint over it.

Love and art,
Kerry, the Momster



   

Creative Moments

Momsters are strong and artistic. They created life (aka babies) and they create beauty.
Here are some hair-pieces my Momster friend, created for her sis-in-laws teaparty bridal shower. She made approx 15 and each of them uniquely and individually fashioned, bringing a touch of fun and elegance to the party.
Here are the two I got- one for me, one for my daughter.

Then I created this for my little goose to keep her ears warm whilst at ice skating.

Love and creation,
Kerry, the Momster

The Big 5

Today its official! My little baby is a bonafide five year old. One can't even classify her in toddler terms anymore in clothing, and she no longer has a car seat, but a booster! So grown up!

Of course, this rite of passage requires cupcakes at school. So she decided she wanted chocolate. I decided I did not want to make regular cupcakes- as often they are not that chocolate-y, but something more along the line of brownies. Brownies don't make for the same cute,colorful, celebratory indulgences as cupcakes however, and thus I made a new concoction. A hybrid of brownie and cupcake, ingenious!

It was as simple as mixing two recipes together, and the only real talent came in mathematically trying to figure out the bake time, as brownies have a shorter cook time. I was afraid that the cakes wouldn't rise sufficiently, and although they did not rise as much as regular cupcakes, they still came out spongy, but moist and speckled with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. The perfect choco-combo!

We dressed them in blue frosting, sprinkles and colorful toothpicks that I found on sale at Target. And my "big" little girl was off to school, looking all five and alive, leaving me with a whole bowl full of cake mix (I had double because of combining two recipes).But no fear, preggo-mama is here, and will certainly be ingesting the two-layer, choc-chip, brownie cake I was able to bake from the leftovers.

In conclusion, mixing the two recipes worked great and I baked at 325 for the number right in the middle of the two (35 minutes for the cake, and 25 minutes for the cupcakes).

Of course I sampled a few already...And by few I mean 9 ;)


Love and sugar
Kerry, the Momster