The Olympics are now in full swing and talented athletes from all over the world are in Vancouver competing for the gold. Inspired by the Olympics, I decided to make gold medal cookies for all the superstars in my life. I stopped by my new favorite cake store in Seattle a while ago to pick up some gold paint for another project (more on that later) so I had some supplies on hand.


First, I made my sugar cookies and used a straw to punch out the hole that the ribbon will go through.



Next, I tried out edible gold paint and Luster Dust. The expert behind the counter at the cake store gave me lots of tips on what to use and how to use. I think the edible gold paint was too runny and I didn't like the look. I then switched to Luster Dust. I first mixed it with lemon juice to make a paint. I was a lot happier with the gold color, but still not that satisfied with the look. It did not coat my cookie evenly. It could be user error here. I think I will need to practice more.



This is the cookie with just the Luster Dust paint. Please ignore the yucky edges. I frosted it first with one batch of royal icing, but was not happy with the lumpy/too dry consistency so I went back in and tried to cover up the first icing with another batch of smoother, creamier icing.



When the Luster Dust paint dried, I just took a dry brush and painted the dry Luster Dust on the cookie to get a more even gold appearance. I was much happier with the result and thought the cookie looked a lot better. The dry dust stuck to the icing nicely.



Next, I added my ribbon to the cookie. I just used a simple "USA" on my cookies. I am hoping this will send good vibes to Vancouver and the United States will see a lot of gold this year. Also I am very bad at drawing the five circle Olympic symbol. Just ask my son. He yelled at me to come quick because "something was really wrong with my cookies".


Lastly, I put them in a cellophane bag and added a little message to them.

GO WORLD!

What a pleasure it was to meet many of you at the recent Little Birdie Secrets' Blog Party in Lynnwood. Mandy, Jessica & Stacy really know how to throw a great party. The food, decorations and entertainment were fabulous!

We would like to welcome Cap Creations as one of our newest sponsors! It's always good when you really love the products that your sponsor creates and I can honestly say that about Cap Creations. They have such amazing pieces and I think I might be telling husband that I actually NEED some of them.
Like this Simply Ornate Monogram Ring...love it.


And this Beaded Rectangle Initial Pendant, what a beauty!


There are so many more beautiful pieces to gaze longingly at. Cap Creations has a really great blog too. Check it out here. I love the photographs. And the good news is, Cap Creations is generously offering one of our readers the chance to win a $40 gift certificate. Not only that, they are also offering a discount to all of you as well. You can use the code birdie15 at checkout and you will get 15% off of your order. The discount is good till 2/20/10.This giveaway is open to anyone in the U.S. To enter, simply visit Cap Creations and find your favorite item. Then come back and let us know in a comment what it is. The giveaway will end on Wednesday, February 17th at 11:59 pm PST.

There have been several tutorials recently featuring darling felt circle wreaths. I found a smaller, solid Styrofoam heart instead of a wreath and gave it a try. Check out my tutorial here and find out my secret tip to help you create this project go about 600 times faster!

If you couldn't make it to our crafty meet & greet, here is the tutorial for the LOVE garland we made. This would be cute out of so many different papers and colors! We do have one kit available in Mandy's Etsy shop that includes everything you need to make it (except glue).

Love Garland Tutorial

Supplies:
*4 hearts cut from sheet music or patterned paper
*Two 3/4" wide strips cut from a page out of a book
*5" pieces of red tulle or ribbon
*Two 12" pieces of baker's twine, crochet thread, or ribbon
*Crocheted heart
*Die cut or hand cut letters: L, V, E (we used red glitter paper, but any paper would work!)
*2" circle, punched from same paper as letters
*Glue dots
*Liquid craft or scrapbooking glue
*1/4" and 1/16" hole punches
*1 " circle punch
*Stickles red glitter glue or other glitter (optional)

1. Die cut or hand cut four hearts from sheet music. We found a book of vintage-looking sheet music for $1.00 at the thrift store. There are also several lines of scrapbooking paper that looks like pretty sheet music (try October Afternoon or American Craft's new "Deary Lizzy" line--she has pink and white sheet music!). I cut these hearts using the die cut center at my local scrapbook store, Lasting Memories. Punch holes in each near the top so you can tie them together later. We used a 1/4" punch for the inner circles, and a little bitty 1/16" punch for the two outside edges so the hole would be just right for our baker's twine.


2. Cut a page from a book (look for an old book while you're at the thrift store!). Trim off all the margins so you have a full sheet of only text. Cut two strips that are 3/4" wide.


3. Fold your strips accordion-style. I told our crafters to make their first fold at about 1.5 lines of text, but it might depend on how big your text is. Basically you don't want your folds too big or your fan will be too tall.




4. Using liquid glue, glue your accordion strips together, end-to-end, to make a ring.


5. Holding a fold on each side of your ring, use a flat surface to flatten your ring into a little round fan.



6. Punch two 1" circles from the margins of your book page. Apply liquid glue and glue the circle in the middle of your flat fan. Hold 30-60 seconds to make sure it is pretty dry and will hold your shape. Turn the fan over and do the same with another circle on the back.


7. Use glue dots to apply your crocheted heart to the middle of the fan.


8. Punch a 2" circle from the same paper you cut your letters out of. Glue your heart/fan combo on top. This will be your "O".



9. Die cut or hand cut letters L, V, and E. I used the Slice machine and the Vintage Findings design card for our letters.


10. While making this tutorial, Stacy decided she wanted to dress her hearts up a bit. She applied a thin line of red Stickles glitter glue around the edges of her hearts and let them dry. Optional, but super cute!


11. Glue your L, V, and E on your hearts. Spell LOVE and tie your hearts together using your tulle or ribbon. Tie your baker's twine or thread to the outside hearts for hanging.


That's it! Happy Valentine's Day! I hung mine at the top of a mirror in my family room, and it may just stay there all year long!

Gung Hay Fat Choi! February 14th is a big day this year. Not only is it Valentine's Day, it is the Chinese New Year. This year the birdies will be ringing in the year of the Tiger with our own Chinese New Year party.

One of my favorite parts of the Chinese New Year is the Lai See (or in Manderin: Hóng Bāo). Lai See is a small envelope, usually red, that contains crisp, even amounts of money. These envelopes are given to others to symbolize good luck in the upcoming year. I've noticed that the makers of these envelopes are getting more creative. Now you can purchase gold shiny ones or pink Hello Kitty envelopes. Well, we decided to also put a fun spin on the envelope and make our own. Here is a quick tutorial.

Lai See (Chinese Lucky Money Envelope) Tutorial

I scanned in a copy of my template. Sorry it is not the right size, but I am hoping you can use this as a guideline or you can print it and resize it.


Using this pattern, cut your paper out.

Fold up the bottom tab.


Next, fold in the side tab.


Apply a little glue stick and fold the large tab over. You should now have an envelope. Fold down the top tab and fill with money. Seal shut and you are done! Imagine how cute these would be with little tigers on the front or made out of Asian print paper.

What do you get when you take 40 local crafters, a table full of yummy treats, and a fun craft project? Well a Little Birdie Secrets blog party, of course! We had SO much fun at our party last week. Thank you to all those who joined us! It was great to meet so many of our readers and get crafty with them in person. If you missed it, don't worry! We will definitely be doing this again soon.



Amanda and her friends joined us all the way from Ventura, CA!


What a fun girls night out!


Our friend Kayleen manned the sign-in table. What a sweetie!


And then there was the food. . .


Stacy made these cupcakes and frosted them with a non-dairy frosting mix. It was light and airy, so you could still enjoy the cupcake. So yummy!


Sometimes we cheat. These cream puffs are from Costco. But they're delicious and look so pretty with a few strawberries.


I got the idea for these brownie bites from Betty Crocker. Make a pan (or two) of brownies (fudge style, not cake-like), let them cool, and cut them out with a heart cookie cutter. Then melt a scoop of chocolate frosting in the microwave for about 10 seconds (or less--don't let it boil). Spoon it over the hearts. I had mine laid out on wax paper to help with clean-up. Before the frosting sets, add sprinkles. For the pink drizzle, I mixed some red food coloring into some vanilla frosting and warmed it like the chocolate frosting, then drizzled it over with a spoon. Easy-peasy!


We had lots of requests for the punch recipe, so here you go. This is great for parties or showers, but you can also half it for a smaller get together. There are several variations on this recipe, but this is my fave.

Wonderful Punch

1-12 oz. can frozen orange juice
1-12 oz. can frozen lemonade
3 c. sugar
4 c. water
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. almond extract
2-2 liter bottles of lemon-lime soda

Mix all ingredients except soda in a large punch bowl. Stir until frozen juices are melted and sugar is dissolved. Slowly add soda (it will fizz). Serve cold.



Thank you to Lasting Memories for hosting our fun night. Jennifer was so generous to let us take over the store, and Kim and Annette worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. And thank you again to all of you who joined us--we love our new friends!

Love, Jessica, Mandy, & Stacy