Candylands' Creative Corner (pg. 7)

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Blues Clues → much more than just a cake!

Contributed by: Lisa Vasquez (Kadena AFB, Okinawa, Japan)

I just wanted to share a few things that I made for my child's 1st birthday. Using the Wilton Blues Clues cake pan that I purchased off of your website, I made the cake ~ which turned out so cute, if I do say so myself! I initially covered the cake with a thin layer of buttercream icing, and then covered the entire cake with rolled fondant. It was a little tricky working with such a large rolled out piece of fondant (this was my 1st attempt with fondant), but I rolled it out on a Silpat sheet so that I could easily pick it up without tearing it, and slide it off easily. Then, I proceeded to decorate the cake with buttercream. I used tinted fondant for the nose, tongue, eyes, bow, and dots. I loved making the cake this way, as the fondant made such a smooth surface to decorate on top of!

The Polka Dotted cake was based on a cake that I saw in the Wilton Yearbook. I chose this design, and the colors, to coordinate with the hat on the Blues Clues Pinata that I made. The cake was 1st covered with buttercream, and then completely covered with white fondant. Using different sized circle things that I found around the kitchen, I cut out circles from the cake and peeled away the white fondant. I then cut the same sizes out of fondant that had been tinted different colors to replace where the holes had been made. Some were stacked on top of each other, and others were just placed on top of the white fondant. Small fondant balls were rolled to make the bottom border. This was a fun and very easy cake to make, and my son loved having his own individual cake to devour.

The Blues Clues Piñata was a big 'hit' at the party - but not literally, as it was a pull string piñata. This was created by me on a whim, and was a LOT of work to finish. I had never made a piñata before, but I had a vision on how I wanted to do it, so after a little research about paper Mache on the internet, I was ready. A few newspapers, a couple bottles of glue, and what seemed like hundreds of hours later (I worked on it just about every day for a month), this was my completed project! I loved how it turned out, and after all that work there was no way that I was going to let anyone come close to it with a bat!!

To make it, I used 3 balloons for the head, 1 for the body, 2 squiggly ones for the ears & 2 for the legs. Blow the balloons up to the correct size, and tape them with masking tape to hold them in place. Use lots of tape to close the gaps, too, as you will need something to build upon with the paper Mache. Once the basic shape is all taped together, paper Mache the whole thing. This is done by tearing strips of newspaper, and dipping them in water/school glue mix (about half glue/half water mixed together). Run the paper through your fingers to remove most of the excess glue, and put the strips on the balloons to completely cover it. Allow it to dry between coats, and then cover it again. It will take at least 3 layers of paper to make it strong enough. Once you have this done, and it feels rigid to the touch (make sure it doesn't dent easily when you push on it - if it does, put on more newspaper), then it's time to cover it with tissue paper. I cut small squares, about an inch big, and wrapped them around the end of a pencil. Place a dot of glue on the paper, and stick it on the piñata. There are other ways to cover it by cutting the tissue paper in strips, and that would've been much faster probably. Before I covered the bottom, I cut out a 'trap door' and cut little holes where I would later put the pull strings (this is a good time to pop & remove the balloons). One string would open the door, the others were taped to the inside of the trap door, so they would just pull out easily when tugged on. Before closing up the trap door, I applied the pull strings (long strands of curly ribbon), and filled the piñata with candy & small toys. I then finished covering the bottom area with the tissue paper, to hide the door & conceal the string that would open it. The nose, tongue, eyes & hat were just made out of paper. This really was a fun project, and very easy to do, even though it took much longer than I initially thought it would. I love how it turned out - it's definitely an original :) My son now has it in his room as a decoration, and he still loves it. It was well worth the effort!!

Please feel free to post any of these ideas on your wonderful website! I enjoy looking at everyone else's creations, and getting inspired by their ideas. Thank you,  Lisa Vasquez

A Cake to be Proud Of!

                                      Contributed by: Monica Nordvik (Norway)
Hello. My name is Monica Nordvik and I come from Norway (Europe). I'm 23 years old, and have not yet made my most beautiful project. but I have made some that I'm very proud off... I've sent picture so you can see:)

                                                                                                           from Monica Nordvik   Norway