Mini doughnut pan

Posted on July 19, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Here in New York City, we are battling a heat wave. The temperature is above 90 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel like 100 and above. It’s horrible and disgusting. We’re doing our best to entertain ourselves at home with the AC at full blast.

Enter our newest purchase, the Wilton mini doughnut pan, which we got at AC Moore craft store with a 50 percent coupon. My husband fell in love with this pan along with the savings (the current plan is to get a second pan to make it less time consuming). He tried it out first with Jiffy’s chocolate muffin mix, but he forgot to take pictures. When it was my turn, I tried the raspberry muffin mix and it was definitely a learning experience.

I was able to make two batches (24 total). The first batch I put too much batter in the pan so the muffin/doughnuts came out like little bowls (open on one side, which is cool because you can put something inside for example whipped cream and eat/present it like that or just eat it as is). The second batch I put less batter but I still got some that came out like bowls. It’s a trial and error kind of thing. I’m figuring that with more batches I’ll get the right consistency one day. I’m looking forward to making cake doughnuts, that’s next, and of course finding a good doughnut recipe to try. Duh! In the meantime, these muffin doughnuts were delicious and a big hit with my daughters. I also like that they’re small so consumption can be kept under control.

Bon appétit!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY FELT BOW

Posted on June 19, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I’m having fun with Jessica Jones’ paper bow template and this is definitely not the last post in which I feature this bow because I freaking love it and the fact that she made it and offered it to us all. This time around I decided to make a bow out of felt. I couldn’t resist buying this houndstooth pattern at AC Moore craft store. I found it to be a bit sturdier than other felt squares and the reverse side is plain white making it perfect to trace, using the template, and cut it out without any problems. I also used glue dots to secure the bow.

I made this bow for my husband’s father’s day gift (a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey). He loved both, but we all know which one he loves the most. 🙂 Cheers!

With the felt you can make these bows into hair bows by sewing a clip in the back or even attach them onto headbands! The possibilities are endless, which is why this bow template is awesome.

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Father’s Day T-shirt Idea

Posted on June 13, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Since my dad is not computer savvy and I’ve asked my husband not to look at my blog until after Father’s Day, I can share with you a T-shirt that I’ve made for them as a gift. They always wear them so it’s great to come up with new ideas and see their faces light up once they receive this personalized gift.

I took pictures of my daughters making silly faces and smiling. Then I googled for photo strip templates and chose this design. Using Word, I inserted the pictures that I wanted and printed it out on iron on transfer paper.

I love the final result! Just make sure you position the image better than I did, it’s a little lopsided, before ironing it down.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Super Mario and Friends Treat Bags

Posted on June 10, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

This year for my daughter’s birthday we decided to keep things simple. We found a bowling place and invited Olivia’s cousins who live out-of-state. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating making driving dangerous for our out-of-state family (same thing happened last year) so we had to postponed our gathering. We did go bowling ourselves because we wanted to take her somewhere fun, plus we wanted to check out the place, which turned out to be great. I also went ahead and made treat bags for my daughters and their cousins.

Here’s what I did:

I purchased plain red treat bags at Target. Then I searched online for Mario and friends. Print, cut and glued the characters onto the bags.

I found Super Mario and friends mini notepads, erasers, pencils, and pencil sharpeners at partycity.com. I got all the candy and birdie whistle from orientaltrading.com. The fruit snack packs, which come in a great family size box (50) are from Market Pantry available at Target.

I labeled each bag and my daughter, Olivia loved her birthday treat bag.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

To my firstborn

Posted on June 7, 2013 by themercadoproject

To my firstborn,

Every day I walk by your baby picture and

I’m amazed at how much you have grown.

Today, you’re an official 6-year-old.

Time rushes by and before you get any older

please let me describe what I see in this moment.

You’re a magnificent little artist,

who uses her imagination beyond and then some.

You just started learning how to read and

you’re tapping out words left and right.

You’re also writing up a storm, asking us how

you spell this or that or once upon a time.

Your yuk yuk laugh is infectious and a lovely sound to hear.

You love to learn new songs and you sing them at full blast.

Your little sister can belt out “America the beautiful”

because you’re a wonderful big sister/teacher.

I will continue to watch you with amazement

because you are my world, my heart, my firstborn.

Angelica Mercado

___________________________________________________________________

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

My daughter celebrated her 6^th birthday today. She was very excited and the night before I decorated our living room with balloons and banners.

This number 6 balloon is huge and I also had a big butterfly (just because). I ordered the balloon banner when Olivia was about 3 years old so it is a good reusable banner. I made two Super Mario Banners (theme) and came upon the stars at the dollar section at Target. I just drew in the eyes with a sharpie marker. I also put up three tissue paper pom-pom balls (again, just because).

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?vid=1&pid=484345002

I ordered and gave my daughter this T-shirt from Old Navy so she could wear it to school and she loved it. She jumped into my arms and gave me a big ol’ hug. You’re welcome my darling.

At school my daughter handed out little treat bags filled with a small coloring page with the number 6, gummy snacks, a raisin box, pretzels, and mini marshmallows to her classmates and teacher. She later informed me that she had a great day at school. Always great to hear!

While my daughter was at school, I was busy at home baking a cake for her and wrapping her gifts. I purchased the Super Mario and friends figures at Amazon and I found this cute wrapping paper at the dollar section at Target. The bows were made using this great bow tutorial http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html by Jessica Jones.

We had a wonderful dinner followed by singing Happy Birthday to Olivia and eating great cake. She got to open her gifts, which included books, a great Spider-Man T-shirt, and LeapFrog headphones. This little girl was beyond happy and I’m very happy to have given her a great day.

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

It’s School Spirit Week: Monday and Tuesday

Posted on May 21, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

It’s Spirit Week at my daughter’s school and yesterday was rainbow day. All of the Kindergarten classes were asked to wear RED. Today was Disney day. I wanted my daughter to participate so last week we took inventory of what we already had before venturing out and finding the stuff that we needed. Among her clothing, we only found a red tutu. A trip to Target was a bust, but my husband saved the day by suggesting we go to the craft store. At AC Moore we got three T-shirts (1 red and 2 white) and a tie dye happy face bandana (for Decade day on Thursday, more on that later on). 🙂

My daughter Olivia wore a red shirt, tutu, headband, and pony tail holders on her braids.

Today was Disney day. My daughter does own several Disney princess shirts, but I asked her if she wanted me to make her one with all of the princesses together. She said, “Whaaaat?” I explained, she understood, and the excitement started building up. I searched for a picture of each princess on Google, save and pasted along with their names on Word, and printed it out on iron on transfer paper.

The shirt was a HIT and at school the kids were given a huge surprise…

…in the form of people dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

I was able to take a quick pic of Olivia and Minnie.

Afterwards, Olivia said, “It was a great day!” Indeed it was. 🙂

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY PAPER BOWS

Posted on April 26, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

I absolutely love making my own paper bows so when I came across this wonderful DIY tutorial at http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html I knew that I would be sharing it with you immediately. It’s that awesome for all you crafters out there.

There’s a free PDF template at the link posted above. I used several colorful cardstock papers to make my bows, but of course you can always use regular paper or simply print out the template on cardstock, because it’s sturdier, and trace onto any other paper like newspaper, magazine pages, scrapbook paper, etc. The possibilities are endless and here’s a great idea for a one of a kind paper bow: print the template on regular paper, have your child design it (color it in), cut and put it together. They’ll be smiles all around!

Paper cutting frenzy

I decided to use brads at the center to hold my bows together. Then I wrapped and glued the final piece.

I literally squealed with delight.

This project and its end result made me really happy.

I love these bows and can’t wait to make more. Many, many more!

THANKS to Jessica Jones at http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com/ for creating this template and offering it to everyone. I’m a new fan and follower!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Celebration Recap

Posted on April 15, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

My youngest daughter is officially three and we had a birthday week-end celebration with friends and family. We broke things down by celebrating her actual birthday on Friday, just us in the house. I wanted to make a small (I like the Jiffy cake mix), funfetti cake

and it was the perfect time to try out these Bake-Even Cake Strips (Wilton) that I’ve seen online and found on sale at AC Moore craft store.

I didn’t realize I went overboard on the sprinkles until…

…the cake was done and I flipped it out of the baking pan.

As you can see the cake strip (around the pan) worked, but there were noticeable differences other than the cake dome that appears when you don’t use this strip. The cake sticks to the side of the pan more and the bottom was moist when I took it out. I like that it baked even, but I don’t know if I’m going to use the strip again. We’ll see.

I melted a little bit of the Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate frosting (15 seconds in the microwave) in a glass bowl and this made things easy to spread on the cake. I really don’t like when the cake crumbs combine with the frosting. I threw a little bit more of sprinkles, yes more, on the frosting and then…

…the #3 candle. My daughter loved her funfetti cake.

I chose the theme of the cartoon Bubble Guppies featured on Nickelodeon. I decorated with free printables from nickjr.com and purchased a huge #3 balloon. Balloons are always a huge hit.

The banner, poster, and pin the tail game were cute, easy, and fun to put together. Just go to nickjr.com and click on birthdays and you’ll see all of the themes and projects available for each.

The following day was Saturday and we invited friends and family with kids to join us at an indoor playground/arcade (funtopiausa.com). We paid for the kids admission, tokens for them to play the arcade games, and food (pizza, popcorn, and drinks). We stayed for about two hours and when it was time to go I gave each invited guest a goody box filled with candy, toys and stickers.

My aunt had given me these boxes about a year ago and I was so happy to finally have a reason to use them. I glued the images of the Bubble Guppies, which I printed out at nickjr.com, and made the middle image with my daughter’s name. I then took the glitter glue in blue and green and made swirl lines like waves on the boxes. I then filled the boxes with candy (skittles, smarties, Tootsie rolls, lollipop, rose ring pop, candy bracelet, and sixlets) from orientaltrading.com along with little toys like a mushroom spinning top (not shown) and Easter Pop-Ups, which are a lot of fun for children and adults.

We ended the day with my husband’s homemade piñata, which he made with a balloon, scraps of paper, and modge podge.

My husband had fun making this and the kids had a lot more fun whacking the heck out of it.

On our last day of celebration (Sunday), my family came over and we sang happy birthday once again with another cake (Oreo No Bake Dessert), chocolate lollipops (vanilla, dark mint, & peanut butter), and great, homemade food. Thanks Mom and my aunt Aida!

I was pretty happy with this plan of action for celebrating my daughter’s birthday. Many people get really stressed out planning birthdays and end up spending a lot of money. I didn’t want the headaches or the empty wallet. No offense to anyone who goes big, because of course, if I had space and extra money, I would be singing a different tune, but at this moment minimal is the way to go. So one birthday down, one more to go.

Take good care all and thanks for visiting.

Until next time…

Egg-celent Day!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

Today was the first day of my daughter’s Spring Recess and to kick it off, I decided to dye our first eggs at home. Yes, it’s another egg story. 🙂 I took their yellow Little Tikes table to the kitchen because it’s the brightest room in the house plus the cleaning supplies are there too, just kidding, not really. Yesterday, we purchased this kit at Target.

I chose the Marble Magic effect. Inside you’ll find an egg dipper and color tablets. Instructions are on the back of the box.

I chose to add vinegar to the tablets for a more vibrant color per the instructions. I hard-boiled four of the eggs. The other two were emptied out by my husband the day before. I dissolved the tablets and got green, blue, and pink. Then I added ½ cup of water to each.

We dipped the eggs and my oldest daughter decided to use her M & M’s toy fan to speed up the drying process while my youngest was fascinated and kept looking into the cup. I had to watch her closely in case she decided to take a sip.

We dipped some of the eggs into two colors and achieved somewhat of a marble effect. It looks more speckled to me, but the girls were happy with the results and that’s all that matters. The Peter Rabbit egg holders were very handy. Aren’t they adorable?

Olivia took her markers and got even more creative. It’s a girl holding a basket with an egg. Love it!

She also used glitter glue to decorate the eggs.

Here’s the Peter Rabbit basket made out of cardstock. It was super easy to make and absolutely adorable. I glued the characters to the basket, but used masking tape for the basket itself. If you want to make one for your kiddo click here http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/peter-rabbit-egg-basket.jhtml

I had a lot of fun dyeing these eggs with my daughters and we’re going to be making more because my husband was working today and missed out. We Skyped him at his job, once we finished, so he could see the results and he was super happy to see us and our marbled/speckled eggs. This will be my last post on eggs, I promise. I do hope you guys enjoyed our adventure in egg land.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY Easter Decorations

Posted on March 23, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. I love making my own decorations for the holidays, especially when there’s a ton of ideas online. I’m currently decorating for Easter and found a great banner idea as well as adorable DIY paper carrots. I combined those ideas and included some plastic eggs and created this banner for the hallway outside my door.

You can see the instructions and printable template for the easter egg banner here http://www.creationsbykara.com/2012/03/easter-craft-easy-easter-egg-banner.html and pictures of the paper carrots here http://www2.fiskars.com/Crafting/Projects/Holiday/Easter/Easter-Egg-Hunt#.UUiNKlqMHUM

I used card stock to print out the template for the easter egg banner. I then used several decorative papers for the banner and used construction paper for the carrots. To hang these up I used pink and white baker’s twine.

At nickjr.com, there’s a whole bunch of crafting projects and I made the peter rabbit holiday garland (http://www.nickjr.com/printables/peter-rabbit-holiday-garlands.jhtml) because my youngest likes Peter Rabbit. I also printed out egg holders (http://www.nickjr.com/printables/peter-rabbit-easter-eggs.jhtml) and an egg basket (http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/peter-rabbit-egg-basket.jhtml) for when we start dyeing our easter eggs at home. Since my daughter dyed her first eggs at school, she’s super excited to do it again.

When I picked her up from school yesterday I brought her a basket so she could carry home her masterpiece dyed eggs. She’s in love with them and wants to keep them forever. 🙂

There’s definitely more egg stories to come. I’m also planning my youngest daughter’s birthday at a snail’s pace. So far, I only have a theme, Nickelodeon’s Bubble Guppies, and I’m planning on using the free printables on nickjr.com to decorate. Again, I’m leaving everything for the last minute, but isn’t that how it’s really done?

Take good care all.

Until next time…

themercadoproject

A fine WordPress.com site

Category Archives: DIY

Mini doughnut pan

DIY FELT BOW

DIY Father’s Day T-shirt Idea

DIY Super Mario and Friends Treat Bags

To my firstborn

It’s School Spirit Week: Monday and Tuesday

DIY PAPER BOWS

Celebration Recap

Egg-celent Day!

DIY Easter Decorations