the glittered nest

3rd day of art/patisserie camp

 
I couldn't help but post this adorable picture of little Lucy.  Aren't the missing front teeth priceless!  She had a hard time eating this treat...too funny.

On the last day of camp Tricia and I woke up feeling excited for the day's events but also sad because we knew this was the end of our first camp journey together. 

At the end of it all I found this was not just a trip for my girls to learn to bake and paint

but a new journey for me to get to know two amazing ladies: Tricia and Jill:

 
Jill traveled from  vacation in Rosemary beach with her daughter Lucy(above).

At the end of every day we had some amazing talks about life as a mother,

wife and most importantly a christian.  I learned so much from these beautiful women..

Thank you for everything girls!

Ok, so now for the pictures of ice cream cake lollies and beautiful art:

 
I think everyone's favorite treat of the camp were the ice cream cake lollies.

First place mm's in the bottom of a sugar cone

 
 

Second, take your cake ball and dip into melted candy coating

 
Once you have dipped, use a piece of styrofoam to stand your ice creams so they can dry.

Third, when the bottom layer of candy is dry take a scoop of your chocolate melted candy

and add to the top to look like a scoop of sundae sauce.

Fourth, add your sprinkles and a cherry sour or gumball for the cherry on top!

(For recipes and where to buy supplies go to my website: glitterednest.com

 
Does this look like a happy girl?(love the peacock feather in her hair)

Now for the girls' amazing art:

 
This barn picture was made by a 6 year old...how amazingly creative!

 
 
Abby's cupcakes look so yummy. I'm trying to get her to give it to me for my kitchen....not happening!

 

 
 
 
I love the colors Lilliana is using. Who wouldn't want this dress.

I loved watching Tricia take the girls through the painting process. They first draw their design with chalk, paint the background and then paint and embellish the dress. Someday I will be a part of her art class.

We ended the last day with our ice cream lollies in the garden, with hugs, almond sweet tea and I made lavender chocolate truffles for the moms when they picked up their campers. 

The girls also received these bags with pretty cupcake wrappers, sprinkles and recipe cards with Tricia's beautiful art.

 

 
That brings our incredible Birmingham fairyland camp to a close.  It was so hard leaving my new friends and all the wonderful girls I met.

I thank Tricia for allowing my family to stay with her and being such an amazing kindred spirit!

Please visit her blog to see more of this amazing camp: littleredhead.typepad.com

 
Off to the airport...but this won't be the last time you see us spreading the love of our passions and for God with others!

 

2nd day of art/patisserie camp

Beautiful morning in Birmingham.

 
We started our day with worship in the garden and Tricia read this verse to the girls:

 
God made us to be unique and beautiful women. 

 When you find you have a special talent share it with the world. 

Share what you love with a friend just to make their day or to lift their spirits.

The girls learned just by simply placing cookies in a little bag with a special note is a way of sharing  love with one another. 

Hospitality is a beautiful gesture. 

I think we are loosing sight of this art and we need to teach our girls to give to others and love one another unconditionally.

Look at what our girls created today:

 
I taught the girls how to ice a border using a pastry bag and how to flood the center to get a smooth finish.  Didn't they do an amazing job!

 
The girls had homemade eiffel tower cookies to decorate.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart.  My special addition to the icing to make it extra yummy is almond extract!

 

 
 
The set up for the girls is simple: enough pastry bags filled with different colored icings so they can all be busy at the same time, runnier icing for flooding and their cookies to decorate.

 

Look at how gorgeous these colors are.  It was so much fun to see how differently the two different aged camps decorated their cookies.  More detail in the older but more color combinations in the younger.  I loved walking around seeing the girls' faces light up when they masterd the flooding technique..it was like magic to see the border and the center of the cookie connect flawlessly.

I know they are going home to teach their mommas!

I have women ask me all the time to hold some baking classes so they can learn these techniques so sugar cookies are not just for kids!

 

Here's a little peak into Tricia's beautiful house.  Doesn't this just look like a porch waiting for sipping tea and swinging in a porch swing. 
 

 
Now for some bike painting time on the porch.

I was so amazed to see the girls' creations.  They were all so talented.

 
 
Tommorow's art lesson...beautiful dresses(this is one that Tricia painted of a Kate Spade dress)

 
We are creating fun ice cream cake lollies tomorrow!

 Back to the kitchen to prepare:

 

 

 

First Day of Art/Patisserie Camp

 
 
Arriving in Birmingham at Tricia's house was like entering Magical Fairy Land.  Walking up to the house she had this sign to welcome us.  She also placed little yummy soaps on our towels in our rooms.  I knew coming that my girls and I would have a wonderful time painting and baking, but I felt God's prescence was with us throughout.

Welcome to the Patisserie

 

 
When you walk into Tricia's house you immediately feel transported to a magical fairlyland.

She has bright colors, whimsical paintings, faux candy hanging from her chandeleir and a garden with a fish pond and lots of little passageways to get lost in.

For the first day of french fairyland for the girls we made:

cupcake liner flowers

Flower Tartlets

Cranberry Raspberry Spritzers in the Garden for Worship time.

 
The girls are awaiting their group assignments for the first exciting day!

 
Strawberries, kiwi, blueberries and raspberries, premade graham shells, lemon curd, fresh whipped cream and a raspberry glaze made up our little flower tartlets. (Recipes are available to upload on my new website: glitterednest.com

 
Tricia is showing the girls what they will be painting on their first day. A row of delicious cupcakes.

 
 
I love collecting cupcake liners so I snatched up every whimsical liner I could find for this fun camp. We originally made some to pin on our shirts but then my daughter came up with the cutest idea to glue them onto ribbon and wear them as little hats.

 
While one group of girls painted, the others decorated yummies with me. I loved this way of teaching the girls except I wanted to be a student in the art portion too!  We had many moms say they wanted to come to camp.  Maybe one day we will have an grown up version(something is already in the works!)

 
The girls loved making their tartlets look like little flower pastries and adding fresh whipped pink cream.  This was an easy but yummy lesson to start camp off with.

 
 
 
 
 
Here are the girls painting their sweet cupcake canvases.

Tricia had them using acrylics, paper, gel medium and palette knives for adding texture.

 
 Madi is working on her painting.  I'll show you the girls' completed art on the third day post.

Now for worship time in the garden along with our treats and special cranberry drink:

 
Everyone loved these pretty pink paper straws from bakeitpretty.com.

 

 
What a beautiful and creative day full of bright colors, smiles and laughter..not to mention lots of sugar! On the second day of camp we learn how to decorate eiffel tower sugar cookies.

The ribbon garland in the back is a fun way to add color to your room for any party.  Simply tie different shades of a color to a long piece of ribbon and just hang.

Second day of camp: bike paintings:

 

Valentine Cookie Party Part II

 
Cookie Decorating, Eating Treats and Painting little heart shaped boxes....

What a wonderful afternoon for these sweet girls.

Most importantly...

Friend Bonding Time(for the moms too!)

After the girls ate strawberry buttercream cake, strawberry french macarons, nutella brownies

 and

Apple Cider steeped in Cinnamon Red Hots

we

Broke out the Acrylics, Modge Podge, Scrapbook paper, glittery embellishments

and of course heart shaped pretties...

 
I was so impressed with the girls' ability to perfectly add paper with Modge Podge and

make their boxes so beautiful.  I heard later that some of the girls were so proud

they took their boxes to school for their valentine parties!

Materials used:

Heart shaped paper mache' boxes from Hobby lobby(you can also find them on ebay)

various pink patterned flowers from Michaels

Felt Hearts from Hobby Lobby

Acrylics in valentine colors

Modge Podge

Glue

foam paint brushes(michaels) these help spread the color quicker and over a large area

Glitter Letters from Michaels

 

These boxes were perfect for putting the decorated sugar cookies in when the girls went home.

 
 

 Cinnamon Cider

1 bottle Apple Cider

1 bag(8 ounces) cinnamon candy red hots

Put Apple Cider and red hots in a pan on the stove and place on medium low heat.

Heat until Red Hots are melted and serve in pretty china cups.

This drink has the most brilliant red color...very festive for the holidays.

The drink was so yummy, the moms were asking for some!!!!

Coffee Filter Garland

I have had so much fun making this with my girls

I just had to show you how to do it!

I saw something similar at you guessed it....Anthropologie

Theirs wasn't as cutesy but you can really add anything you

want to create the style you are looking for.

Materials:

brown and white coffee filters

cupcake liners

string/ribbon

scrapbook paper/wrapping paper/ledger paper/old patterns...let your imagination run wild!!!

fabric flowers(you can find these at any craft store and they already have a hole punched in the middle to make stringing easy) Easy is Good!

Glitter and Glue

Fabric or food dye

metal skewer for poking holes

 

Steps

1. First you will want to dye the coffee filters.  Add hot water to a bowl and drop in your dye.  I used Americolor's Electric pink to achieve this light pink color.

 
  
2. Put the coffee filters 10 at a time in the hot water with dye for 10 minutes.  Take them out and wring them out over the bowl and place them in the dryer on low for 5 minutes.  They will not leave dye in the dryer and they are incredibly durable.  You will not tear them.  They come out nice and crinkly.

3.  Once you have all of your coffee filters dyed and dry get out all of the items you will use in your garland.  It's great to have it organized in front of you by paper, flowers, glitter, coffee filters etc. 

4.  Get your string or ribbon ready(I used both) and take a piece of tape to cover the end.  This helps guide the ribbon through the holes you create in the paper and filters. Tie a knot near the end so the filters do not fall off the end.

5.  Take your metal skewer and poke a hole through a few coffee filters. 

6.  Do the same with cupcake liners, coffee filters and your paper.  

 
 
7.  String the items on your ribbon and tie a little knot on each end to keep that group of filters/paper in place. 

 8.  Add your flowers or any other decoration.  You can see here I added little tags that I stamped dream on and then glittered. These would be cute in Holiday paper for any occasion and string them up to be festive!  You could even string lights through the filters.

You can hang these pretties on your mantle or your curtains...you can even lay them on tables.  My girls and I made these for a Paris themed luncheon for our teachers.  I laid them on the tables with flowers and candles to add a little whimsy and color.

If you make or have made a coffee filter garland, I would love to see it!!!!

Yes....the crepe paper tree made it to the luncheon!  You can find these fun eiffel tower bottles at World Market.  I filled them with olive oil and fresh rosemary!

 

 

My Little Photographer

 
Do you think this little girl sees her mother take pictures for blogging?

I was doing laundry one day

not paying attention

and my 9 year old

breaks out my camera(expensive camera)

and sets up some things around the house for picture taking!

Good girl...natural light check

Interesting colors and placement...check check

My little artist!  These are the little moments

that make me smile. 

Here are some of her pictures:

She asked when she could have her own blog.....someday!!!!

Happy Days

This painting is a beautiful reminder of where we are going next week!  Rosemary Beach, Florida!

As a family we have the most amazing memories there...the beach, crabbing, swimming, shopping etc...

Tricia Robinson will have her amazing artwork there at the Indes Market and my girls get to have a little art lesson with her!!!! Can't wait to show you those picutres...of course I will be blogging there. This picture is of the little post office in the main shopping square in Rosemary. Tricia Robinson

Fabric Rose Paintings

My daughter and I did some painting this past weekend and it felt so good to get out those paints and canvases again!  I have been baking so much that I have lost touch to my crafty side.  I am so inspired by all of the artists in the Sommerset books that I might just reopen my little etsy shop.  I just love working with mixed media and fabrics. 

 
Roses make me feel so girly!

Roses in the garden

Roses on my clothes and purses

Even on my kids' stuffed animals

 

I'm also excited to make some mixed media journals

and folders for keeping kid's artwork in

all with fabric roses and inspirational words.

I love the shabby look of white and cream roses

but I also love the brightness of crepe paper roses!

These are so much fun to give as wedding rehearsal bouquets.

How about giving each bridesmaid a sweet little pink box with their own wristlet:

The Paint Brush

The Paint Brush

When I watch it paint, my eyes are amazed…. 

Seeing all the beautiful colors and the splendid pictures. 

Paint Brushes make me smile. 

Paint brushes are beautiful things

by Abby Hinojosa(age 8)

 

My little artist Abby wrote this poem.  I love how she sees the world.  We are making a little fabric covered journal to store all of her art.  I will share that project soon!

 

 

Teacher Christmas Gifts

Just wanted to share some pics of the gifts my girls are giving their teachers.  They came up with both of these ideas since this is what they love to do!

Madi my little baker worked hard on fudge and gingersnaps.  I made the macarons for her!

These are in little cupcake liners in cupcake box(we had some left over from our bakesale in October).

Remember the cute tags I had made for Madi's baking birthday party. Now her gift is personalized from her kitchen.  You can find those cute tags here:   doodle pad designs

The striped tags are from target.  We added the label from Rainbow Froggy's Bake Shop!

My daughter Abby loves to paint so she painted little 8x 10 canvases we bought from Walmart for 4 dollars for a pack of three!

 
  She painted her and her teacher!  This proves you don't have to spend a lot to give a great gift.  Just put a little heart and love into and it will turn out wonderfully.  Have a great holiday season.

Find the gingersnap recipe here