Painted Popcorn Craft

Indiana is the largest popcorn producer in the United States. Several major brands, including Orville Redenbacher's, originated in Indiana. So it's no surprise that Indiana named popcorn as its official state snack. Illinois is also a major popcorn producer that has named popcorn as its official state snack. I love popcorn and thought it would be fun to design a popcorn craft focused on the 4th graders in Indiana and Illinois studying their state symbols rather than the preschoolers who typically make popcorn crafts. Affiliate links below. 

Painted Popcorn Craft

Materials: 

• cardstock (white and red)
• microtip scissors
• 1" circle punch
• acrylic paint (yellow and white)
• 0.4" paint pouncer
• craft glue
• Flair pen (red)
• colored pencil (brown)

Steps: 

Cut a rectangle from white cardstock, approximately 3" x 4". Cut a square that is about 3.5" then cut a wiggly edge on all sides. The easiest way to do this is to keep the scissors still and move the paper back and forth. Punch a white circle. Cut four strips of red cardstock, each about 3/8" thick and longer than 4". 

Protect your work surface, then dip the paint pouncer in yellow paint. Pounce it randomly on the wiggly cardstock. 

Without cleaning the pouncer or letting the paint dry, dip the pouncer in white paint and continue pouncing randomly until the cardstock is covered. Be sure not to cover up all of the yellow. 

While the paint is drying, glue the red stripes to the white rectangle to make the popcorn box. If you were to glue the popcorn to the box right now, it would look like this. 

Center the words POP and CORN on the punched circle using the red Flair pen. Then color around the outside edge of the circle. Glue it to the popcorn box. 

Use a brown colored pencil to lightly outline some of the popcorn kernels, following the lines created by pouncing. Add little brown triangles between some of the pieces to show where there would be shadows between kernels. Add a few small curves here and there to mimic popcorn hulls. Then use the scissors to refine the shape of the popcorn. Follow the colors, thinking about how popcorn would actually sit. When you are happy with it, glue it to the top of the popcorn box. 

I really enjoyed this project. Paint pouncing is FUN! After making it, you'd better believe that I ate some popcorn!

Cinnamon Spice Caramel Apple Popcorn with Felt Apple Tag

Tis the season for Pumpkin Spice Everything, but personally I don't get it. Pumpkin is fine, but for me fall is all about apples. Apples are sweet, sometimes tart, crisp, and full of flavor. They are delicious on their own, as juice or cider, mashed up as applesauce, baked with savory dishes (like pork), and excellent in desserts of all sorts. I like squash (though pumpkin is not even one of the best squashes), but there's no comparison. Virtually everyone agrees that Apple > Pumpkin. Spices definitely improve pumpkin, but I firmly believe Apple Spice > Pumpkin Spice. Don't even try to argue. 

If you're tempted to argue, make some cinnamon spice caramel apple popcorn first. Then get back to me and tell me that pumpkin spice is better than apple spice. Affiliate links below. 

Cinnamon Spice Caramel Apple Popcorn

  
Ingredients:                                                           

• Bare Dried Apples - Fuji and Reds (1/2 cup)
• brown sugar (2 T)                       
• cinnamon (1 tsp)
• nutmeg (dash)
• buttered popcorn (10 cups)    
• Wilton Salted Caramel Candy Melts (2 oz.)

Steps: 

There is no right or wrong when making your own flavored popcorns. It's not like baking a cake where chemical reactions mean that quantities matter. You can add more or less of any ingredient. I was hesitant to even put quantities above, as I didn't measure when I was making mine. Those are my best guesses. 

Start by crushing some crisp dried apples until about half of the apples are powder and the rest is pea-sized bits. Stir in some brown sugar and cinnamon, then add a dash of nutmeg. Mix thoroughly. 

Pop and generously butter approximately 10 cups of popcorn. Immediately pour the apple mixture over the popcorn and stir well. Some of the apple mixture will remain at the bottom of the bowl instead of stuck to the popcorn, but that's not a problem. 

Follow the directions to melt the Salted Caramel Candy Melts. Drizzle half of the melted candy over the popcorn and immediately stir well. Repeat with the remaining candy. Most of the apple mixture should now be stuck to the popcorn. 

If you eat the popcorn immediately, the tiny apple bits are still crispy. If you let the popcorn sit for a while, or bag it up, the apple bits will soften, but remain equally delicious. 

I made a cute felt apple tag to label my bagged popcorn. It's a quick and easy project. 

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Felt Apple Tag

Materials: 

• felt (red and green)
• scissors (regular and pinking shears) 
• green Stickles
• black embroidery floss
• tacky glue
• googly eyes
• red cardstock

Steps: 

Cut out an apple from the red felt, using pinking sheers. Cut the leaves and stem from green felt with regular scissors. Apply green Stickles to the leaves and set them aside to dry. 

Use two strands of black embroidery floss to backstitch a smile and two eyebrows.

Cut a piece of red cardstock that is slightly smaller than the felt apple. Glue it to the back of the apple, covering the knots from your stitching. Write a message to your recipient. 

Glue the googly eyes and the leaves to the front of the apple. 

Popcorn Cake

When I was a kid, my friends knew that when they came to my birthday party, they'd be served a money cake. My friend Rachael had a similarly-distinctive cake at her birthday parties: her mom always served a popcorn cake. Mrs. Sato made her version of a popcorn cake in a bundt pan. It had colorful mini gumdrops throughout. She served it in thick wedges we ate with our hands, like a popcorn ball. It was delicious. 

I've been thinking about that popcorn cake recently. I've never been served a popcorn cake by anyone but Mrs. Sato, and Steve and Trevor had never had one. I'm not sure of her recipe, but it was basically rice krispie treats with popcorn instead of cereal, so I started from there and did some experimenting. I didn't have gumdrops on hand, but I had M&M's, so I made a chocolate version and added a drizzle of ganache and sprinkles to my popcorn cake. 

While the ganache looks pretty and tastes great, I honestly think the cake doesn't need it. Give it a try and tell me if you think the chocolate adds anything, or if the plain cake is the way to go. 

Popcorn Cake

12 c. popcorn

1-2 c. candy (M&M's, gumdrops, etc)

16 oz. marshmallows 

3/4 c. butter, divided

You will need approximately 12 cups of popcorn to make a cake. If you use microwave popcorn, this is 2 bags. Carefully pick out any unpopped kernels. Pour the popcorn into a springform tube pan. It should fill the pan completely. You may need to add more popcorn. 

Transfer the popcorn to a large bowl. Check again for any unpopped kernels (they like to hide). 

Generously grease the pan with 1/4 c. butter, making sure to cover every surface, including the tube. This will seem like a lot of butter. That is ok. Put any extra butter into a saucepan, along with the remaining 1/2 c. butter. Melt the butter and the marshmallows together over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Remove the marshmallow mix from the stove and pour it over the popcorn. Stir completely until all the popcorn is coated with marshmallows. Stir in the candy. 

Cover your hand with a piece of plastic wrap, then press the popcorn into the buttered tube pan. 

Let it sit for 10 minutes, then release the spring and invert the cake onto a cake stand. Let it cool completely.

This is the way Rachael's mom did (just imagine those M&M's are gumdrops). Feel free to serve it like this, or add the ganache, sprinkles, and candles.  

This cake brought me right back to Rachael's June birthday parties in the 1970's. Good times. 

Bunny Popcorn Cups (Bunny Week, Day 3)

People ask me where I get the ideas for my projects.  Sometimes I don't know - ideas just pop into my head all the time and I don't know why or how.  Other times, I know exactly what inspired an idea.  Such is the case with my Bunny Popcorn Cups.

I saw these adorable Snowman Popcorn Cups at Creative Kid Snacks:

  Source 

.... and I knew right away that I wanted to make a rabbit version.  

Materials: clear plastic cup, white and pink craft foam, googly eyes, pink Jelly Belly, monofilament or white cardstock, a white pom pom, scissors, black craft foam or a Sharpie, and a hot glue gun. And popcorn, of course.

Begin by cutting ears from craft foam.  Make whiskers from thin strips of cardstock (like I did above) or from monofilament (like Trevor did below).  Cut a mouth from black craft foam (like I did above) or draw a mouth with a Sharpie (like Trevor did below).  Heat up the glue gun and attach the ears to the inner rim of the cup, then add the eyes, whiskers, nose, mouth (if using craft foam), and pom pom tail.  Fill with popcorn for a tasty treat.

I should clarify that popcorn is a treat for humans, not for rabbits.  I've seen videos of people giving popcorn to rabbits and they seem to love it, but popcorn is not safe for them.  Appropriate treats for rabbits include tiny amounts of dried fruits (Trouble especially loves raisins and Craisins), fresh fruits (banana, apple, peach, etc), and sweet vegetables (carrots).  Check out the House Rabbit Society's food page for excellent information about exactly what to feed rabbits to keep them healthy and happy. 

Speaking of healthy and happy rabbits, I was working upstairs the other day and heard Trouble doing a Super Run so I grabbed the camera and raced to the stairs to try to catch it on video.  I missed the Super Run and instead got to watch him go from sitting to lounging.  It's pretty cute.  He does it all the time, but I've never managed to record it before.