How to make easy faux ice cream

Making faux ice cream for the craft class I taught, has to be one of my favorite new things to craft. Not only was it simple to make, it was made using Dollar Tree products.  

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Items I used to make the ice cream 

Tool Bench Lightweight Spackle

Dollar Tree White Acrylic Paint

Craft Smart Acyrlic Paint in Brown and Pink Blast 

Decorative Glass Bowl

Good Cook Ice Cream Scoop   (I liked this kind because it made the scoops more uniform in shape) 

I mixed the spackle, and just a teeny bit of water in a plastic container.  As you stir it, it becomes the consistency of ice cream.  

Using an ice cream scoop with a spring handle makes the prettiest ice cream.  If you don't like how one turns out, that's okay, you can put it back in the bowl re-scoop it. The scoop in the bottom left has a little bit more water mixed in, which made it have a softer look. Place the scoops on a piece of wax paper to dry.   I was able to make 3 scoops from one small container of spackle. 

There are two ways you can make the colored ice cream.  You can mix the paint into the spackle, or you can paint them when they are dry which is what I did.  I mixed the brown and the pink with Dollar Tree white acrylic paint until I got the colors I liked to make the strawberry and chocolate ice cream. 

 Just a heads up, it's best to not be hungry when you are making these because they really look like real ice cream. 

When the scoops were dry I put them in a glass dessert bowl.   I think I got these at Dollar Tree awhile back, but since they no longer have the stickers on them, I am not sure.  

If desired you can add faux chocolate syrup, faux whip cream or even faux cherries from Hobby Lobby to your ice cream.   I will be making some more of ice cream treats in the near future, and  posting more faux ice cream DIYS. 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share..

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

How has your week been going?  I have been working on projects for the class I am teaching tomorrow.  I am so happy how they turned out and will be posting them next week.  I did post one of the projects earlier this week.  

We are going to be making Faux Valentine Cakes out of paper mache boxes, adhesive paper, and caulk. Everyone will be bringing different supplies, so I am really excited to see how they all turn out.  

Also this week I wrote about Jurassic Quest in this post here. . It's a fun interactive dinosaur exhibit traveling the country.  My readers are able to save 20% on tickets if they use the code USFAM. 

This year I am trying something new. I have started a newsletter. It has been a little bit of a learning curve trying to figure out a new platform, but it gets easier each time I use it. I am sending out emails 1-2 times a week and would love it if you would join us.  The sign up form is in the upper right hand corner of my blog.  

Well it looks like it is time to get this started.  I would love to see what you have been up to this week.  

Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Love Dinosaurs? Take the kids to Jurassic Quest!

I am have been a member of the US Family Guide family for several years. I love being part of the of this group because I hear about fantastic activities for my family and my reader's families might want to attend. I just heard of another fun event I want so share with you. 

If you have a dinosaur lover in your family you will want to check out Jurassic Quest,and see if it is going to be in an area near you because it looks like a lot of fun.

It will be in Dayton, Ohio, February 3- 5, but if you are not local to Ohio, it will also be visiting Memphis TN, Pittsburgh PA, Des Moines, IA and many more. 

Want to know more about this event?  Jurassic Quest is North America's largest, most popular dino event with unique and exciting experiences for the whole family.

 

Some of the dinosaurs you will see are a Apatosarus, Spinosaurus, a T-Rex, and a 50 ft long Megalodon.   Guests have a chance to interact with trainers, baby dinos, and watch a live Raptor show.  There are dinosaur rides, a giant fossil dig, inflatables, a fossil exhibit and a Triceratots play area for younger kids. 

My readers get an exclusive offer of the price of tickets.  You cand Save 20% off your tickets with the code USFAM

Make sure to get your tickets before they go extinct at www.jurassicquest.com!

We are excited to be going, so watch for a post on our experience in a few weeks. 

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Faux Valentine's Day Cake

 

I am teaching a Dollar Tree crafting class this weekend to a local group of woman, and I am quite excited about it.  As you know if you have followed me for awhile, I love crafting and I also love the Dollar Tree.   Some of my favorite crafts to make are faux food, and with Valentine's Day coming up it seems like the perfect time to make some for the blog and for the crafting class. 

 ** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

I meet the woman who started the crafting group at the Dollar Tree so we could chose which craft to have a the class, we decided on a faux Valentine's cake made from a paper mache heart box.

Here is what I used for this cake 

Paper Mache heart box

a 3 piece glitter paper pack 

Valentine table scatter (it looks like candy) 

felt heart stickers  

Tool Box all purpose caulk , their lightweight spackle will work as well 

I used the smaller 4.5 ounce size of caulk because I already had some on hand, but they now also have a larger 8 ounce version in a different tube. 

This first thing that I did was cover the box in the glitter paper.  I tried to fit it to size as best I could. It worked pretty well. One the top where the paper met it wasn't perfect, but that was okay because it would be covered in caulk.  

While I did have icing tips in my original picture, it did not fit on the smaller caulk tube.  I could have gone downstairs to get a baggie to use with the tip, but I decided to see how using the tube with out a tip.  While it is not a fancy shape, it looks like icing and the tube was easy to use. 

I added one of the table scatter hearts on top with a little bit a caulk. 

I added a few felt heart stickers on the side for a pop of color. I left this particular faux cake on the simple side because it is an example for the class.  I will be making another one during the class.  You can use what ever you want cover or embellish your cake.     Glass beads look great as sprinkles. Foam heart picks look like cupcake picks.  They even have glitter heart stickers in various shapes and sizes.   

I will be sharing the other Valentine  crafts and tell you how the class went soon.  

If you like the looks of faux sweets, Dollar Tree currently has their Sweets Fairy Garden Houses and accessories, as well as their other many themed fairy gardens available in limited quantities online.  

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Dare to Share Saturday Party

 

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday!  I am currently visiting my friend back in Michigan, so the party is going live a bit late.  We went to the dance tonight. It had been a couple of months since we have been there,  so it has been nice seeing my friends again. I plan on visiting with my kids this weekend, and then heading back in time to see the Bengals play in the playoffs on Sunday night. 

This week I did not get a lot of blog posts done, because I have been busy doing other things.  On Monday I went to the grand opening of our new library.  I was checking it out for a possible job, and to see the tutor rooms to start tutoring again. The place looks beautiful, and I have a feeling I will be there often.  On Wednesday, I had coffee with a few local women who are in a newly formed Dollar Tree craft club. We are having our first event soon, and I will be teaching the first group craft to everyone.  I am pretty excited about it. It combines three of my favorite things, teaching, crafting and Dollar Tree. I will be posting the crafts, I am teaching here on the blog. 

I did share a Unicorn Valentine's Card Box on the blog this week.  While it is not a new craft to the blog, it is a timely idea for kids who will be making a box for their class party in the next few weeks.  

New in my shop this week is my Valentine's Day Memory Game Bundle. It has several different matching games that can be played on their own or together.  I am working on classroom Valentine cards that will be live in the next week. 

If you are interested keeping up with what is new, I have started a newsletter.  Right now the plan is to be sending emails a couple of times a week.  The sign up link is at the top right of my main blog page.   

It is getting late, so we need to get this party started.  I would love to hear what things you have been up to.  Link Up and HAVE FUN!! 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Unicorn Valentine Card Box

 

While we still have a month until Valentine's Day, it is time to start thinking of the Valentine's Day class party. One thing that I always enjoyed doing with my kids is making the valentine box. I still use this box, and use it for storage now.  It was not that hard to put together, and almost all of the items came from the Dollar Tree. 

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Here is what I used to make this unicorn box 

A box for the body (shoebox, tissue box, gift box or even a mailbox)

4 cardboard tubes for the legs

2-3 curly bows (multiple bows on each) for the mane and tail.

round container/tumbler with lid (something unicorn head shaped) or floral foam for the head 

craft foam or pre cut glitter hearts for snout

googly eyes

colored wrapping paper  or paint 

cardstock (color of choice for horn) Dollar Tree now sells premade unicorn horns in the party aisle. 

I was lucky enough to find this sturdy shoe box size Valentine card box on clearance at Target a few years ago. It was already white, so I decided to make my unicorn white. You can use whatever box you have on hand.  You can paint it, or cover it in whatever color you decide. 

 

When making the unicorn, I was not sure on which shape I wanted to use for the unicorn's head.  I will show you what they both look like.  

If you would like a rectangle head, find the largest craft or floral foam in the crafting aisle. Leave the plastic on if the foam is in multiple pieces like the one in the photo.  I wrapped it in white wrapping paper that is available in their gift wrap aisle.  

If you prefer a rounder look for the head, I wrapped a cup I found in the dish aisle.  I am not sure if this particular cup is still available, but you should find something similar.  I liked the round look better for my unicorn so this is the one that I decided to use. 

This is the dual temp mini glue gun by Gorilla Glue that I just got. It is very highly rated.  I love that it has the dual settings because I tend to burn myself when using a lower quality glue gun. 

I painted four cardboard tube white to make the legs and then hot glued them to the bottom of the box. I also used hot glue to attach the head to the top of the box. 

The next step is to chose which ribbon you want to use for the mane and the tail.  They have several different types of curly ribbon and various colors that will work well. I went with the curliest ribbon in multiple colors for my unicorn. 

The curly ribbons have multiple bows on each card. Arrange them as big or as small as you would like. To get this extra full look, I used four of the smaller bows for the mane (two bow cards), and two smaller bows (one bow card) for the tail.

Dollar Tree now makes so many pre-cut hearts in various sizes and colors.  They didn't have as many as they do now when I made this box, so I cut out pink hearts from a scrap piece of pink craft foam. 

I used a piece of cardstock to make the horn, but now they have already made unicorn horns in the party aisle.  The last step is to add the eyes. I drew on eyelashes, but if you would prefer real ones, there are a bunch of fake eyelashes to choose from in the beauty aisle. 

UPDATE: I found both the horns and lashes at the Dollar Tree today that you may be interested in using on your unicorn.  

Your unicorn is now ready to collect those Valentines at the class party. 

If you are interested in Valentines you can print and share with your friends, I have several Valentine items in my Etsy Shop.  My biggest seller last year was my Bee Valentines. I am currently making some new styles for this year, including some unicorns.  

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Its Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It's time to Dare to Share!

Welcome to the first party of the new year! 

**This post contains affiliate links

Wow! What a week. In the last week, so many big things happened. As many of you know I am an Ohio State Buckeye. We stayed in to watch the Ohio State - Georgia game. It was an amazing game and a heartbreaker at the same time.  The game ending field goal miss happened right at midnight, so we missed the ball drop and missed the National Championship by only one point.  Then just two days later, we were watching the Bengals-Bills game. I am a  life long Bengal fan. I am so grateful that Damar Hamlin has improved so much in the last few days. Watching what happened was scary!  I'm only about an hour from Cincinnati. It's one of my favorite cities, and how everyone pulled together to pray for Hamlin and support the Bills in their time of distress, makes me love this city even more.  While I would still like the Bengals to make it to the Super Bowl, if we don't make it this year, I will 100% be pulling for the Bills.  

I'm still not back to my regular routine.  We had our last holiday event on Monday.  I recently joined a Dollar Tree crafting group in my area, and I met with a few other members today.  I will be teaching the first craft at our first crafting event in a couple of week.  I am very excited to be sharing some of the crafts I am making for it on the blog in the next couple of weeks. 

I did share a post this week, How to make Valetine Heart Pops. While we still have five weeks until Valentine's Day, you need candy canes to make the hearts, and you might still find some on clearance right now.  

New in my Etsy shop this week, I just listed a Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt. I love making these types of games. They are fun to make and to play. If you have ever thought of making your own printable to sell, I highly recommend the course I took by Gold City Ventures.  I am part of their Facebook group and it's is definitely one of the best groups I have ever been a part of. If you would like to learn more, they offer a free Ebook and a free Workshop on how to earn a passive income making printables.  

Well it is getting late, and I would love to hear what you have been up to this week, so let's get this party started.   

Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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How to Make Valentine Heart Pops

 Happy New Year! 

 It's hard to believe it is 2023.  I started this blog  twelve years ago this month, after blogging on another server for 2 more years before that. I still enjoying blogging after all these years, even though there have been times when I was not able to post much, because of how busy life can be at times.  My kids have grown up on this blog. They  are now young adults, and in a way my blog has become a time capsule of the recipes we made, and the crafts we created.  Todays post is going to be one of those recipes.  I believe my daughter was about 8 or 9 when she wanted to make a treat for her class.  

While Valentine's Day is still over a month away, you will need a few supplies you can still get on clearance right now to make these pops. 

My daughter needed to bring a class treat to their Valentine's Day Party. We had a box of candy canes left over from Christmas, and some melting chocolate on hand.  She decided she wanted to make Valentine Heart Pops to give out to her classmates.  

You will need mini candy canes to make the heart shape of the pops.  You can use larger canes, but the mini canes are perfect size for classroom treats.

 We laid the canes on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. You do not have to place the stick in the heart before adding the chocolate, but this is how they sticks will be placed when you are ready to add them. 

**this post contains an affiliate link

You can use whatever chocolate you have on hand. We decided on Red Wilton Candy Melts. I am linking the candy melts, so you can see what we used.  We normally buy them on sale at craft stores like Michaels or Joann Fabrics, but I have not bought any in awhile. 

To melt the chocolate I use the 30 second method. In a glass bowl place the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate, and then heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and place back in for 30 more seconds. Usually the chocolate is completely melted in about 90 seconds or so.  After 90 seconds you might  only do 15 second intervals. This method melts the chocolate beautifully and it does not burn.  

Once you fill the heart with some chocolate, add the stick and pour on a little more to cover the stick.  Doing it this way, has the stick completely covered in the center of the pop. 

We added a little bit of red sprinkles, before placing them in the freezer for about 10 minutes.  Placing the pops in the freezer hardens the pops, and give them some shine.  

We wrapped the pops in a small red cellophane bag, and tied a curled white ribbon around the bottom of the pop. She wanted to make sure that everyone got a heart pop so she then added their names with a black felt tip marker. She then handed them out with their Valentines.  

They were a huge hit with her class, and a lot of fun for us to make at home. 

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