Friday, August 27, 2021

Fake Bakes - Jellies & Jams

Harvest Decor


Getting in to the spirit of fall decor, I decided to experiment with a batch of faux jellies and jams - perfect for harvest themed tablescapes! And would you believe it's just hair gel and paint???

Here is how easy they are to recreate for yourself:

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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here



Harvest Decor

For this project I was able to pick up my glass jars and hair gel at Dollar Tree
while the paint was from Walmart.

Side Note:  Something to consider when buying your jars is whether or not they close tightly.  Because my children are older and I am also able to store my jars upright, it doesn't matter if the faux preserves can easily open.  But if you have smaller curious friends around, or need to lie your jars flat for storage, I would recommend containers with a good, tight seal.  Because the coloring is coming from acrylic paint, these decorative pieces could create quite the mess if left in the wrong hands, or jumbled around in storage!  I also make sure to keep mine in a sturdy plastic bin, that way if one cracks the spill will be contained 😉



Harvest Decor

Depending upon what type of food you are 'preserving', select an acrylic  paint color and mix with your hair gel.  This jar was going to hold faux apple butter, so I went with chestnut  brown.



Harvest Decor

Once I had my colors mixed, I decided to add bits of 'fruits' to my jars.  For most of my jars I just stuck in plastic fruits that I already had, but in the case of apples I made a few bits out of clay (let them dry fully before adding to the gel/ paint mix).

I then cut circles of scrap fabric to cover my lids, used rubber bands to hold them in place, and then covered the bands with a length of Dollar Tree ribbon.



Harvest Decor

With the jars complete it was on to the fun part - decorating!  I used an assortment of plastic fruits to embellish my jars.

These are the same plastic fruits that I used inside the jars and can be found on Amazon:




Harvest Decor
Harvest Decor
Harvest Decor

Taking a few leaves/ blossoms from my stash of artificial flowers I glued them on with the faux fruits to complete the look.
















 

Friday, August 20, 2021

Fake Bake Ice Cream

 Party Decor


Have you ever wanted a display of ice cream that won't melt or drip all over your countertops?  Well dreams are coming true today, my friends!  
Check out how easy it is to make up your own faux ice cream display:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here



Party Decor

Using air dry clay and silicone molds, I made up several cones and ice cream scoops.  It's really important to put your clay filled molds in the freezer before attempting to remove your shape - solidly frozen clay keeps it's shape no matter how much you pull and tug at the mold 😉

(I found my silicone ice cream molds here and here on Amazon)



Party Decor
Party Decor

Once I had a good collection of cones and scoops made, I painted them with acrylic paint.  I then added spackle 'icing' and a cherry on top of each scoop.  While the scoop, icing and cherries are permanently fixed together, I did not glue the scoops to the cones.  This is so I can have flexibility in how I display the pieces.



Party Decor

Another set of cones I decorated by adding spackle directly on top of the cones and then embellished with faux sprinkles and cherries.  Because I added the topping directly to the cone, it dried in place, but you could certainly make the spackle toppings separate as well.



Party Decor
Party Decor

Lastly, I created a few ice cream bowls as well.  Using a $4 set of thrift store bowls, I made more separate scoops and again painted them in acrylic.  This time I wanted my cherry and whip cream topping to be separate so I could better adjust them in the bowls.  I did this by laying a sheet of parchment paper on my table and squeezing a dollop of spackle on top.  Add your cherry and let dry.  Once hardened, the bits of spackle will pull right up from the parchment.  You could use this method for the spackle topped cones as well, it all depends on preference 😊



Party Decor








Friday, August 13, 2021

DIY Faux Hostess Cupcakes

Kitchen Decor


Who doesn't love a nice, chocolatey Hostess cupcake?
Now you can have an endless supply when you make your own faux set!
Check out how easy it is to do:

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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here


Kitchen Decor

Using Dap brand plaster and an old plastic container, I began mixing according to the directions on the package.

Once my plaster was mixed I poured it into a muffin tin lined with paper cupcake liners.  You could certainly use silicone here (and the plaster would be much easier to remove), but paper liners work just as well.  You can also pour the plaster directly into the muffin tin, then give it a good whack to remove the molds when they are dry.  It just depends on the look you are going for - a plain tin will give a smooth edge while the paper liners create ruffled edges.

Note:  I do have silicone cupcake liners, but I use them for actual food.  It's recommended not to use your molds/ liners/ containers for both food and crafting.  Instead keep them separate so as not to get any unhealthy substances in your kitchenware. 



Kitchen Decor

Here are my plaster cupcakes the next day once dried.  The paper liners can be a bit tricky to remove as they can tear apart and remain stuck to the plaster.  I found that a little bit of water caused the stuck bits of paper to wipe right off.



Kitchen Decor

With all of the paper removed I painted my plaster molds in a chocolate colored acrylic...



Kitchen Decor

...then used joint compound in an icing bag to pipe on the decorative swirls.

And there you have it - easy to make faux Hostess cupcakes!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2021

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This post was added to the following link parties:

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)
Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

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This post was featured at:


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Friday, August 6, 2021

Strawberry Shortcake Fake Bake

Kitchen Decor

I know I've been posting a whole lot of fake bake projects in the past few months, but I promise I've been up to other things too!  With summer wrapping up I'm trying to share a few more fake bake crafts before transitioning into holidays and various other projects...would you believe that I have draft posts for all the way into April?!?!  Crazy!

Anyway, let me show you how I made the faux strawberry shortcakes from the photo above:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here



Kitchen Decor

I started with these small foam rounds that I picked up at Dollar Tree in their floral section.  They are great because they can be used to for all kinds of floral arrangements and crafts.  I've even seen some artists use them inside of cupcake liners to create larger faux cupcakes.

(You can click here to shop Dollar Tree's online selection)



Kitchen Decor

I painted my foam pieces in pink, yellow and chocolate so that they would look like freshly baked sponge cakes...



Kitchen Decor

...and then used light weight joint compound in an icing bag to add faux cream to the tops.
  


Kitchen Decor

A bit of red acrylic paint drizzled on the tops served as strawberry sauce...



Kitchen Decor

...and lastly I topped them with an artificial strawberry.

(You can find these strawberries here)

Side Note:  See the bronze colored mat that my cakes are sitting on?  It's a non-stick grilling mat designed to sit between your grill and the food that you are cooking.  Once your food is prepared any mess slips right off of the mat for easy clean up, without junking up your grill's surface.  Well guess what?  Paint and glue and all kinds of other crafting supplies clear right off them too 😉
I was using parchment paper (that had to be tossed after nearly every project) until I came across these on clearance and decided to give them a try.  I love them!

(You can find similar mats  here.  Just make sure you have separate sets for crafting and cooking)



Kitchen Decor
Kitchen Decor

And there you have it, easy to make faux strawberry shortcake decor!

Like the cake plate?  
You can see how I turned an ordinary glass stand into a stylish white one in this post.