Studio 27 - By Jennifer Adams: February 2021

Saturday, February 27, 2021

DIY Easter Decor - Faux Potted Carrot Plant

After seeing that Dollar Tree had these adorable carrots this year, I was determined to come up with a faux potted carrot plant for Easter! Here is how easy it is to complete, check it out:

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Prep Your Pots

Using this spray foam insulation, I filled a few Dollar Tree plastic pots and let them sit overnight to cure. Once the foam was ready I used a serrated knife to carefully trim the tops until I had a nice flat surface to work with.

(The pots, carrots and reindeer moss are all from Dollar Tree.

You can click here to browse their website)

Adding Carrots

Next I used a metal chopstick to poke holes into my foam and inserted my carrots. If you don't have a chopstick, a pencil, screwdriver or similar object will do. After adding the carrots I secured them with a bit of hot glue.

Here are the carrots secured into the foam.

Notice that I didn't place them at perfectly equal heights. Having a bit of variation makes the finished look more realistic, so go ahead and play around here!

Completed Pots

Using more hot glue, I tucked in reindeer moss until all of the foam was covered.

And that's it; potted faux carrot plants ready for the Easter season.

As you can see, I've been working on some 'chocolate' bunnies as well,

post coming soon 😉

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Want more Easter fun from Studio 27? Check out these links:

Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs

Faux Chocolate Easter Bunnies

A Thrifted Outdoor Easter Brunch

Easter On The Porch

Rainbow Easter Eggs

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I hope you enjoyed this Easter decor post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

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This post was added to the following link parties:

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

Craftastic Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays With A Twist

All About Home

Meraki

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Your Whims Wednesday

Party In Your Pjs

Thursday Favorite Things

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Friday Favorites

BFF Open House

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This post was featured at the following link parties:

Wonderful Wednesday

Craftastic Monday

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Kitchen Baking Props

With all of the fake baked goodies that I've been making over the last few months I thought why not make a few baking props as well? I mean, if you are going to go over-the-top crazy into a hobby, why not go all the way, right? 😄

This way not only can I pretend to have lots and lots of yummy treats around, but I can also pretend to be making them....It's ok if that doesn't make any sense- Check out how easy it is to do anyway:

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Supplies

Everything you see here I picked up at my local thrift store for under $10. I love shopping the thrift stores for quality glassware as you can find so many nice pieces. Just take it home, give it a good scrub and you are good to go!

The glass bowls came in a set together, the whisk I found separate and the eggs came in a broken decorative basket that I discarded.

First up: Cake batter. Using some joint compound and acrylic paint...

...I mixed up what looks like chocolate cake batter. I did not mix inside my decorative bowl as I wanted it to have a nice clean look, and used a plastic bucket instead.

This rubber spatula has become my go-to mixing tool when working with joint compound. It's light weight, flexible, sturdy, easy to clean and since I picked it up at Dollar Tree, only $1!

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of cooking supplies)

Once I had the color to my liking, I scooped the mixture into my glass bowl being careful not to make a mess on the sides.

Lastly I inserted the whisk at an angle so it could rest against the side of the bowl, and let it dry.

Tip: You will want to stick your bowl somewhere out of the way as it dries so it doesn't get bumped around and dislodge the whisk.

For the bowl of dough I simply mixed up a batch of salt dough and plopped it in place.

I didn't even bake it! Do make sure to allow the dough to dry completely before storing your props in any air tight containers. If not thoroughly dry they can grow mold or otherwise deteriorate.

You can find my salt dough recipe here.

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And here are the finished results:

Cake Batter

Dough

Farm Fresh Eggs

I want to do a measuring cup with milk too, and have plans to try out candle wax.

Post coming soon!

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I hope you enjoyed this baking prop post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

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This post was added to the following link parties:

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

Craftastic Monday

Tuesdays With A Twist

All About Home

Meraki

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Your Whims Wednesday

Party In Your Pjs

Thursday Favorite Things

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Funtastic Friday

BFF Open House

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Thrift Store Finds: Tiered Tray & Cake Stand Makeover

Since beginning my new 'fake bake' hobby, I've been looking for more ways to display my decorative treats. I thought that cake stands and tiered trays would be an excellent way to go. Check out how I made over these that I found while thrifting:

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Here are the cake stand and tray as I found them, $3.99 and $6.99 respectively at my local thrift store.

And here they are after sprucing them up with a bit of paint!

I used Krylon brand spray paint in a champagne gold and plain white. The most important thing is to make sure that the paint you use is intended for multiple surfaces, including glass. While it went on easily and held well I can't say for sure that the surfaces are still food safe. For that reason I plan on using them for decorative purposes only.

And decorate I did, filling them up with Valentine themed faux treats!

*I'm also careful to clean them gently with a damp cloth instead of putting them in a dishwasher*

You can click here to read about my faux drinks (the dessert cup was made in the same way).

You can click here to read about salt dough decorative cookies.

Want more fake bake fun?

In case you missed it, I also have this valentine village post.

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I hope you enjoyed this Valentine's Day decor post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

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This post was added to the following link parties:

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

Craftastic Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays With A Twist

All About Home

Meraki

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Your Whims Wednesday

Party In Your Pjs

Thursday Favorite Things

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Valentine Candy Box With Faux Treats

I've been wanting to make up some fake Valentine candy boxes for a few years now and since I discovered how to make decorative candies recently, I thought I could give it a go.

Read on to see how easy it is to do yourself:

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I started with these two heart shaped paper boxes from Dollar Tree

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of holiday and craft items)

I painted the boxes in shades of pink (Cranberry and Diva) on the outside and Inca Gold on the interior. While they were drying I used the shade Melted Chocolate to add what looks like a chocolate dip to a couple of faux strawberries.

Appel Barrel paints are from Walmart.

Faux strawberries are from Amazon.

Then it was time to create my fake candies!

Last time that I made Faux Chocolates I used cut up hot glue sticks, but this time I experimented with Crayola Air Dry Clay.

The clay is easy to work with though it is likely to get stuck inside of the molds. I found that popping the molds into the freezer for a bit was the only way that I could remove the shapes without damaging their appearance. Hot Glue settles into the molds much better, but tends to have bubbles in the finished candies. Clay can have cracks when dry, but they are avoidable if you really work the clay before inserting into the molds. One benefit of hot glue sticks is that they dry within minutes and are ready for paint whereas clay needs to dry overnight at least. I think think that working with the clay was easier overall, and less expensive than using hot glue sticks 😉

*All of the silicone molds pictured here were picked up at Walmart. The heart shapes I found in the holiday section with the remaining three located with the Wilton brand cake supplies.

Here you can see the candies as they were drying, after painting with acrylic paint and then embellishing with puffy paint. The shades of paints that I used were Melted Chocolate, Chocolate Bar and Nutmeg. I went with different shades of brown to give my finished candy boxes more of a variety in color.

So yummy looking!

When everything was dry and ready to assemble, I grabbed some cupcake liners to use as lining for my boxes. I found these with the heart molds, also in Walmart's holiday section.

Not worrying about a perfect fit, I smushed in my cupcake liners allowing them to have a ruffled appearance. Once they are filled with the faux chocolates, they look just fine 😍