How to make your own luck {free printable}

Would you like to know how to make your own luck this year?

Sometimes making your own luck can be easier than you think. Have a look here at how the lovely Allisa Jacobs from Quiltish came up with several clever uses for these free printable St. Patrick's Day cupcake toppers. 

Lucky cupcake toppers - photo courtesy of Allisa Jacobs

Here's a sneak peek...

Lucky gold coins - photo courtesy of Allisa Jacobs

Thank you Allisa for sharing your ideas and for allowing me to guest post on your blog.

What would you make with this printable?  Download them for free on Allisa's blog and let me know in the comments!

x Tania

PS: If you're a small business owner like myself I strongly recommend reading the Business Bits on Allisa's blog.  She shares some very valuable information in those posts, it's like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  And of course, while you're there your eyes will undoubtedly be drawn to the elegant clutches Allisa designs.  

This is one of my favorites. Gorgeous, isn't it?

It's all Snails and Ladders here! {From me to you}

Welcome!

You are probably here to join in on the snail trail hunt blog-hop-fun initiated by Laura from Cupcakes for Clara (and if you're not you are of course very welcome too and you should check out this post to join in on the fun).

Well, before you go treasure snail hunting, I have a little something for you too: a free downloadable Snails and Ladders game as a little thank you for stopping by.

Sometimes we just need to unwind and slow down to a snailpace. Take a moment to sit down and play with your children. This easy game takes less than 5 minutes to play (confirmed after a 15 minute test-run with my daughter: she won, I won, she won again).

Click here to download the game. Clara, Macy and Colin will be playing too (as soon as they have caught all the runaway snails).

To play the Snails and Ladders game you will need:

• the above free downloadable Snails and Ladders gameboard
• pawns (2 to 4 players)
• dice

Game instructions:

1. place your snails (or pawns) at the snail gathering site (start)
2. the youngest person gets to throw the dice first
3. if you arrive at the bottom of a ladder you can go all the way up to the top of the ladder
4. if you arrive at the top of a slimy snail trail, you will have to follow the trail back down to the snail
5. first one at the finish wins!

Oh, and don't forget to look for Colin's runaway snail on my blog!

Only one of the snails links back to the Cupcakes for Clara treasure hunt and will reveal an awesome free goodie for you to enjoy. The others link back to my twitter and facebook account and the Cupcakes for Clara shop, so no harm done if you follow those too. It wouldn't be a treasure hunt if the snail were hidden in plain sight, now would it? Besides, Clara told me it's fine to do a little shameless self-promoting today. :)

I'd love for you to let me know you stopped by in the comment section or come and say hi on facebook or twitter.

Thanks & now go hunt some snails,
Tania

Tutorial: how to make your own chocolates {from me to you}

I could eat chocolate everyday (and I probably do), but last month I actually made chocolates myself. If you would like to try and make your own chocolates I've put together a tutorial for you.

I have made chocolates before (read: I melted chocolate and poured it into empty advent calendar moulds), but the most difficult part is to make them shine. Usually by the next day my chocolates - if there were any left - looked spotted.  Apparently the key to making the chocolate shine is all in how you heat your chocolate. The fancy word for it is 'tempering'.

So I did some research on how to temper chocolate and photographed my attempt at mastering the art of making shiny chocolates!

Here's the silicone mould I used for my daughter's Alice in Wonderland birthday party:

And here's how to make your own shiny chocolates:

What you need:

• chocolate in the flavour of your choice (use chocolate bars, not chocolate chips)
  my mould gave me an idea of how much chocolate I would need since it had specifications on the back on how much each chocolate would weigh
  200 grams is a nice amount to start with
• a silicone mould
• a food thermometer
• a saucepan
• a glass bowl that fits within the saucepan (stainless steel will work too)



Two things are very important here:

1. Make sure that NO water gets into your bowl of chocolate. Even just a tiny drop will turn your chocolate in a lumpy mess (if it does happen: make yourself a cup of hot cholate with it and start again).
2. Stir, stir, stir. And when you think you're done stirring, stir a little more.

Short recap: no water, plenty of stirring. Let's begin:

• Add a little water to your saucepan (2 or 3 cm is fine) and put the heat on low. 
• Divide your chocolate into 4 parts: 3 parts to melt and 1 part to add later so you can make the temperature drop. 
• Put your bowl of chopped up chocolate inside the saucepan and when the chocolate starts to melt you can begin stirring.

• Heat your chocolate to about 45°C. This is where the food thermometer comes in :). You can start stirring as soon as about half of the chocolate has melted.
• Once you hit 45°C, take your bowl out of the saucepan. Be careful not to get any water in your chocolate!
• Now add that last part of chocolate to make the temperature drop.
  If you are using milk chocolate your ideal temperature will be 31°C. If you use white chocolate 29°C and for pure, dark chocolate 32°C. Remember to stir.

• This part is optional: I added some white detail to my chocolates. Just dip a wooden skewer into the chocolate and slowly and carefully fill in the parts that you want to emphasize.

Here's a close-up of the detailing I did (my mould seemed to attract a lot of dust. I swear I washed it before I used it!)

• Afterwards, fill in your moulds with your melted chocolate. I used a spoon and let the chocolate simply drip into the mould. The cleaner you work the nicer your chocolate will look once you take them out. Though, you can always break off the excess chocolate after they have hardened.

• Pop them in the fridge for about half an hour.

Mine came out looking like this, not bad for a first attempt at tempering chocolate I would say!

Happy St. Patricks' Day: is it your lucky day?

Well, there can only be one winner... so, randomly drawn from a green tophat (that 'green tophat' part may or may not be true):

Congratulations: Angie!!!

You have won a 25USD gift voucher to my shop! You can expect an e-mail from me in your inbox on Monday with more details. Please acknowledge receipt of my e-mail within 7 days.

To all that entered: thank you for participating! You might want to stay on the lookout for more giveaways in the future...

Happy St. Patricks' Day!

From Me to You: Rocajo Studio Giveaway!

March 17 is St. Patricks Day.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on finding a leprechaun and tricking him into giving me his pot of gold (though, I have to admit that would be awesome). Instead I have decided to make someone else a lucky winner by hosting my very first giveaway on this blog! Can you see those rainbows?! Sorry, no pots of gold.

Are you feeling lucky?

Here's how to enter:

1. Visit the shop and let me know in the comment section herebelow what your favorite item is OR what you would like to see added to the shop

Bonus entries (+ please leave a comment for each letting me know you did):

1. become a follower of this blog ('cuz you never know, there might be more giveaways in the future - wink wink)
2. share this giveaway on your blog and come back + leave the link in the comment area (this way I can come and say hi on your blog)
3. Like Rocajo Studio on facebook or let me know that you already are a fan
4. follow me on twitter + retweet this giveaway -> just copy this link:
   "I just entered a giveaway for a chance to win a 25$ gift certificate @rocajostudio http://tiny.cc/GEnf2b"

This giveaway starts today and ends on March 16th. The lucky winner will be chosen at random and announced here on the blog on St. Patrick's Day. Be sure to check back to see if it's you! The winner must claim the prize within 7 days. Gift voucher will be valid until March 17, 2013.

PS: and the best part: you don't even have to kiss me 'cuz I'm not Irish!