Welcome to our new blog where over the coming weeks, months and years we will be bringing you the latest news from inside Faiths Cookies in a more interactive way than was possible before.

We want and need your input to keeps things fresh and funky so you need get involved.

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So check back soon for all the latest.

Happy New Year everyone…..a bit late I know, but seems like forever since I wrote a blog post. I have recently been selling cookies and a few other things at a local market in Downtown Tampa on Sundays and absolutely love meeting new people and furry friends. So many are walking their dogs and enjoying the Florida sunshine. I had a baby shower gift on display last week and a lady asked if the onesies were for dogs and this gave me an idea. With so many people out walking their dogs maybe  I could make something for them. I’ve actually made a few doggie bandanas and bow ties, Franky is ‘sporting’ his Football bow tie at the minute!. I also made him an ‘over the collar’ bandana with a vinyl glow in the dark ‘F”, perfect for night time walks.  I’ll be back at the market on Sunday January 27th so if you’re in the Tampa area, please stop by and say hello. I also made myself a new accessory…..belt bow tie! Dress up a casual look with a little vintage bow tie!, subtle and sweet. Thanks for reading…have a great day.

I found the cutest Frankenstein gift box at the $ spot at Target today and also spotted on my way out the Kellog’s mini rice krispie treats….I immediately thought of Frankenstein rice krispie treats…..here’s a picture of some that I made earlier today with a tutorial below. I decided to add a cute little pencil topper that I had and added them to Halloween pencils. Here’s a photo of the finish Frankenstein toppers, so cute and great for a classroom treat or Halloween party.

Things you’ll need:

Halloween Pencils, Plastic pencil toppers (can be found at Lor Ann oils online), White fondant, Green food coloring gel (I used Wilton Leaf green), Edible sugar eyes, Decorating candy (I used Wilton cherry flavored), small rolling pin, Mini rice krispie treats, knife, parchment/wax paper to roll fondant on.

To color the white fondant, I added a tiny bit of green coloring food gel and kneaded until I got the desired green color.

Using my fondant rolling pin, I rolled out the green fondant and then placed a mini rice krispie treat on the fondant. It’s great as the rice krispie treats are quite sticky anyway so the fondant sticks nicely to it.

Use a sharp knife to cut around the fondant, turn over the Krispie treat and add the edible sugar eyes.

Cut out hair, nose ( I did with nose and without), scar and mouth using the decorating candy.

When Frankenstein looks to your liking, push in the pencil topper and attach to pencil. You can wrap in a cello bag and add ribbon.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy these Frankenstein rice krispie cuties.

 
JACKSON’S CAMP-IN PARTY 

My Son Jackson, just turned 10 years old….still can’t believe he is ‘double digits’, not sure where the past 10 years have gone. For his 10th Birthday party we decided on a ‘Camp-In’ theme. Living in Florida, the weather can be very unpredictable so even though we decided to pitch the tent outdoors, we knew that we could always have the Campers sleep inside if needed. Jackson invited 6 of his friends and his 2 sisters would also be attending the party. The invites were sent and Campers were invited to attend the ‘Camp-In’, bringing their sleeping bags, pillows and toothbrushes!.

I found some great ‘hot cocoa’ flasks and decided to monogram them with each campers first Initial and also create a ‘Camp Survival Kit’ for each camper. I already had the green/brown gable boxes but just added a quick sticker to each one. Each survival kit included:

A Map of Florida, USA, World, or Tampa. (FYI…If you are a AAA member, you can order for free online, up to 12 maps of your choice). Mine arrived about a week after ordering which was great. A flashlight, twinkie, pack of gum, gummy worms in a little container and goldfish crackers. I setup the dinner table with pine cones, a lantern centerpiece and made burlap napkin rings hand stamped with an owl out of IKEA curtains. I also made 2 tablecloths from the same curtains.

I decided to setup the desserts, s’mores table and ‘MESS’ table in our ‘pool table’ room. I placed twinkle lights over the french doors and made a burlap banner to spell out CAMP above the doors. I found some cute vintage camp accessories, such as mini oil lamps, camp stool and a great vintage cake tin at a vintage warehouse in Lakeland and also found a MESS kit at another local shop. I made monogrammed cupcake wrappers with ‘Camp 10′ and ‘J’ and cupcakes with frosting and candy frogs, fish and turtles, peanut butter cookies, swamp trifles, bear paw marshmallow pops and mini double chocolate cookie cakes.

Burlap Banner and twinkle lights

Vintage cake tin

Swamp trifles – Blue berry jelly and cake, vanilla pudding and whipped cream with mini fishing poles with a candy swedish fish attached and peanut butter cookies.

Cupcakes with goldfish, turtle, frog candy toppers and mini chocolate chip cookie cakes with a peanut butter cup baked inside with vanilla frosting.

I baked a double layer cookie cake, the top layer was a double chocolate chip cookie and the bottom layer was a chocolate chip cookie cake. I added mini marshmallows onto pretzel sticks to resemble mini s’mores and made a burlap mini tent and added a candy bear and tree….everyone loved the cake.

Everyone played tackle football outside to burn off some energy. After the pizza and desserts, they played pass the parcel, another favorite game of mine growing up. I wrapped up dollar store items, the ‘whoopie cushions’ were loved by all!!!!. Later on they toasted marshmallows and made s’mores outside on the camp fire. They all drank hot chocolate from their flasks.

Individual s’more kits and telescoping sticks and Camp Ten display with ‘Alligator sighting’ picture and binoculars…..some of the Campers did see a couple in the lake. I added vinyl number ’10′ to white balloons and attached to sticks onto a spray painted wooden pallet.

The next morning I had put together some individual mini cereal boxes in tupperware containers (used as bowls), with a napkin, spoon and apple juice. They also ate fruit and breakfast sandwiches.

Wow….it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post. I’ve been crafting with my new favourite tool – the Cricut, but wanted to try my hand at a free printable. I have created these ‘I survived the first week of school’ free printables for you. I think I’ll cut one out and attach with a ribbon to a glass of wine tomorrow night!!. They would be cute to add to a treat for the kids tomorrow as a surprise in their lunch box or even to print out and give to the Teachers with a sweet treat attached?. Let me know whether you like them.

I survived the first week of School! - free printable download

Have a great day

Faith

If you’re like me you have a few old prints that your children have outgrown.  I originally wanted to use chalkboard paint but Joann’s were out of black paint and I remembered that I had some chalkboard contact paper that I could use.

Here’s what I used: Canvas print, chalkboard contact paper, felt sticky borders, scissors:

 Cut out a piece of your chalkboard contact paper to the size you need. I wanted to cover the giraffe (very cute but a bit too young for my children now).  Carefully peel and stick onto canvas print. You may get a few bubbles underneath the paper so you can easily remove and try again.

Peel and stick felt borders to each side of paper….I chose a light pink and a dark pink as this will be for my daughter. Here you have a simple chalkboard. I’ll probably add some ribbon and hang in her bedroom.

Thanks for reading.

Wow….can’t believe January is nearly over. Happy 2012 to everyone and thanks for supporting my little blog. Just really getting started but wanted to share some cute Valentine treats and crafts that I’ve made. We even had to make a special trip today to ‘Michael’s’ so my children could each get a glue gun! and I’m happy that I finally figured out the sewing machine.

Valentine’s Sweetie Pie Pops – I am a little obsessed with cute little individual desserts so made these ‘strawberry/chocolate’ pie pops. I used store bought pie crust and cut out the heart shapes with a cookie cutter. Slice a strawberry and sprinkle in some chocolate chips and cover with another heart shaped pie cut out. I used alphabet cookie cutters to spell out ‘sweetie’ and baked at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Valentine’s Day….You make my heart ‘pop’ marshmallow pops…..dip marshmallow pop in your choice of chocolate or candy melts, dip into pop rocks candy. I added a candy heart sprinkle.

Chocolate ganache covered shortbread heart cookies

Craft – Pocket Sized hand sanitizer Valentine themed holders. These are extremely popular at my Daughter’s School, they can be clipped onto a lunch box or backpack. I can create in your choice of colours.

 Thanks so much for reading….

Feels like I haven’t written a blog post in ages…..here are a few Halloween treats and crafts I’ve been working on….enjoy:

Spooky Smores:

Needed:

Marshmallows, Edible Pen, Candy Melts, Crushed Graham Crackers and Long Pretzels.

• Draw a ghosty face on the marshmallow with edible pen
• Melt candy melts in microwave
• Dip bottom of  marshmallow into candy melts and crushed graham crackers
• Push pretzel stick into end of marshmallow (melted candy side)
• Leave to dry and then package in clear cellow bag and add ribbon
• Enjoy

 Candy Lollipops

Fabric Craft…..feeling a little ‘Batty’

Mini chocolate chip pumpkin bread

We are on the school count down here….my oldest daughter will be a 7th grader next Thursday….where does the time go?. In keeping with the ‘back to school’ theme, just wanted to share a couple of gift ideas with you, for a special/new Teacher.

I made some cute ‘pencil’ shortbread cookies. Didn’t have a cookie cutter so made my favourite Shortbread recipe and cut a large rectangle, cut them into pencil shapes and then made the pointy tip for the pencil. I used ‘pencil’ coloured sugar sprinkles to mimic a real pencil.

Here’s my apple fabric craft:

Sample gift for Teacher:

Here’s another idea using a little house box that I found at Michael’s: Included are 3 boxes of crayons, 2 packs of glue sticks and an apple shortbread cookie.

Thanks for reading:)

You know that I am a little bit obsessed with fabric crafts, well it turns out that my oldest daughter is too and suggested that we use plastic bags to make a skull pirate and fabric craft. She helped cut out the plastic bags and she glued them into the foam ball…..I’m too lazy to glue and since this is only a trial run just pushed them in with scissors…..

Made a cute fabric bandana and added a skull embellishment from one of my favourite stores (Michael’s)….turned out pretty cute for a first attempt.

Having a baby and want to surprise party guests as to whether you are having a boy or a girl?. Hang one of Faith’s Fabric Bouquets on your front door to let them know!. Faith can also create cute little ‘pink or blue’  Tree ornaments for each party guest.