My Share: Cake Decorating Nozzle Set By Kestilos

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20161214_080009I was so excited to learn I was going to have the opportunity to review Russian Cake Decorating Tips. When they came in the mail – let me tell you – I was very surprised. I thought they would be similar to the size of American tips but that was not the case. They are much bigger in size and require special couplings to attach the tip to the bag. When I was unpacking them my daughter Aurora thought they were big shiny plaything she was going to get —NNOOOOOO!

The picture above is the nice little storage box these 23 tips came in. It is especially nice because the box will withstand a lot of wear and tear over the years and keep the tips from getting out of shape with a crushed box which measures 6.3 by 3.1 by 3.5 inches

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The Kestilos Cake Decorating Nozzle set is the ultimate when creating beautiful icing designs on cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or pastries; made of durable stainless steel, the set of 23 Russian Piping Tips includes a Regular 3 Color Coupler, 2 Large Sphere Ball Tips with a 3 Color Coupler, and 5 Disposable Bags plus a downloadable Ebook of instructions and recipes for cake decorating.

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Russian Nozzle Tips allow you to create different designs to create one-of-a-kind icing creations Use the 23 tips to make unique flowers, petals, drops, round or oval shapes, thin and thick lines, or wedges with eye-catching, colorful patterns on cakes, biscuits, cookies, and more; plus the 2 Large Balls offer more icing extravaganzas as accent pieces; with the regular and large 3 color couplers, making unique icing designs is easy.

This set is made of high-quality food-grade 18/8 stainless steel so they are safe to use for adults and children. The two 3 color couplers are made of ABS plastic and are BPA free and non-toxic as are the 5 included disposable pastry bags. All metal and plastic pieces are dishwasher safe and easy to keep clean.

I made cupcakes and made buttercream and fudge frosting to give a marbled look to the project which hopefully you can see well in the pictures. The results were not good. I will need a lot of practice to use these well. I have decorated cakes for almost two decades but was left with a hot mess – all my fault of course. I learned that the icing needed must be much more stiff then a regular buttercream icing. Next time I will thicken it up with powdered sugar so it comes out the way they are supposed to. Here are some pictures of the mess I made – I hope they help you learn about what not to do before you make the same mistake I did. After the holidays I will try this again and see how a better thicker icing comes out and will update this post.

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Christmas Tree Decorating Idea Ladder Display Shelf

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Jeffrey Scott Thomas's avatarCountry & Victorian Times

10847826_10203373172190989_4256777734212661934_nThis is a little different but is such a unique idea. For those with limited space you can create a space to display your Christmas village scene, nutcrackers, music boxes, etc. A simple old ladder will do to give a nice rustic look or use a wooden ladder and paint it to sit your design. Wood planks were cut to width to fit between legs of ladder to rest on foot steps of ladder. Here they covered with lights and lined each shelf with white ‘snow’ to create a village scene.

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Kristin and Paul submitted their great design – guys it turned out really nice – so glad you are continuing to display and collect what was passed on to you. It makes it that much more special!

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Sue and Steve McDonald from Maryland sent in their project that is really beautiful. I love the natural light coming…

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Popsicle Stick Angels

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12189693_865135650272866_440776894171013898_nAren’t these cool. Made from thin and wide popsicle sticks and some miscellaneous you probably already have in your craft stash.

Start with two thin (these will be the feet) and place them side by side – paint the tips of the shoes in gold and skin tone give a light pink.

Now you need two wide popsicle sticks (painted white) and glue them on each side of the two thin. You will want to use your third wide stick to judge distance between the two to make sure you have a glueable surface on each side to the other wide sticks, This provides a bit of dimension to form a ‘body’ and just just be flat.

Now cut one thin stick in half (these will form the arms) paint white with pink hands. Glue into position like shown in picture.

We cut glitter foam for the star her hands are holding and for the wings. We didn’t have a pattern – we just ‘winged’ it.

Now for the head – we used a two inch wood sphere (but you could get by with a wooden circle). We had to take a fine drill and drill a hole in the shere which we then epoxied a unbent paper clip into. This gave us something more to keep the head on. If you are going to use a flat circle then just glue onto the top and skip that step. The unbent paperclip gets glued to the back and reinforced with the head being glue on at the ‘neck’. The sphere/circle should have a hair pattern colored on with marker after you make it pink.

We then used a glittery pipe cleaner to place as a halo. At the top of the head we used a bead that we tied a string hanger to.

Shopping List:

Wide and thin popsicle sticks – school glue, epoxy, pink + gold + white paint, glittery pipe cleaner, silver + gold glittery foam sheets, bead, string

Of course you can mix it up with your own colors and have a wide variety of colors or color scheme to your holiday preference.

We would love to see your pics to share.

 

Buy Or Build A Home? Making Room For A Growing Family

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A growing family is a family that everyone wants. Your spouse and you may have enough space in your studio apartment or a small house, but with the baby on the way, everything changes. Your family will become bigger and you will need significantly more space for your family and all of your things. That is why you should consider moving into a new house. However, there is always a question of whether you should buy it, build it or adjust your existing one.

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Building a Home

Building a new bigger home from scratch seems like a good idea. You can make your own plan and organization of rooms, their number and size, and everything will be as you please. More importantly, it will correspond to the needs of your family. However, this can be a stressful process, since it involves plenty of time and money, and if you are pregnant this will put too much stress on you. Luckily, babies don’t need as much space at the beginning. For a first few months, you can place the crib in your master bedroom, which gives you more time to build your bigger home. Also, if you plan to build your own home and fulfill all the needs of your growing family, it is best to start planning and building much before your family starts growing.

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Buying It

Since building a new home for the big family takes time and is somewhat stressful, sometimes it is better to buy a house. It is faster than building and you can easily make some changes if needed. However, even though this option is faster, it is not as easy as it looks. When searching for a new home to purchase, you should make sure it is close to parks, good schools, family entertainment and, if possible, your relatives. Commuting too far is time and money consuming and it takes away the free time you can spend with your family. Do your research, talk to real estate agents, search websites such as Lifull for your area and find a home that meets your needs. If you can find a house that can satisfy all these requirements and some other that you need, buy it. If not, you can always start planning building a new home, and in the meantime you can rent a house that meets the requirements.

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Making a Few Adjustments

The home you already have may just be enough for a bigger family; it may only need a few adjustments. If there is a baby on the way, you can always consider adding a nursery to your home. However, home additions are not as easy to build. There are plenty of laws to follow, you have to check if your city allows such additions, you should consider your budget as well and it will require hiring a professional. All that can be costly and it will stress you out; and that is not that good for the baby. There is also an option of upgrading your home a bit so it would be safe for the baby. However, all that remodelling will be messy and the comfort of your home will be disturbed for a little while. On the bright side, you don’t have to undergo the troubles of moving to another place.

The decision is entirely up to you. Before making any major decisions about the new home, make sure to consider all the advantages and disadvantages of all the options. Is your budget big enough, do you have time to build a new house, is the new neighborhood friendly and how far is it from your work and school? Having all that in mind, it will be much easier to make a decision; and whatever you do, you do it for the family, so be thorough.

My Share: Deluxe Salt & Pepper Grinder Set

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20161214_080219Chef Express has created a nice little package of a salt and pepper grinder. What makes this set really nice is that the salt grinder is a grinder and not a shaker. A shaker is just a boring and is usually what you find when buying a nice little set like this.

I have to say that I was disappointed when I received the set because one of the grinders was shattered – which is why you only see one in the photo. They are really good quality – really thick glass. But I was the unlucky one to get one busted.

The nice professional design is ideal for grinding all varieties of salts, sea salts, and peppercorns. Using fresh spices has never been easier! This pepper and salt grinder set will allow you to grind your spices to perfection thanks to the adjustable ceramic rotor, which allows you to choose from very coarse to super fine and in between. Stainless steel and glass design makes this an attractive addition to any kitchen – great for gifts!

You can keep spices fresh inside the salt and pepper mills with the sealing lid. Unlike other salt and pepper shakers that allow your spices to be exposed to moisture and dust, this  mill set keeps your spices as fresh as the day you bought them and with no residues on your table!

This nice set has a great design and features that eliminate the hassle of adjustment, cleaning, and refilling. Easy to use means that you will actually use them and the instruction guide inside ensures that you will feel confident doing so.

This sets clean design makes this salt and pepper set one that you will want to display. Other sets have a bulky design or are covered in unattractive logos and branding. This set made sure that this product is top of the line in function and design. The colorful box and packaging makes this a perfect Christmas gift friends and family will love to receive!

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