Tuesday, February 10, 2009

lollipop, lollipop

for the kids' valentine parties at school, we wanted to do something a little special. we normally love to make these hard candy lollipops for christmas, but i was no where near the kitchen or crafting at that "baby-growing" time of my life. so for v-day, we put a little spin on our usual lollipops. we decided to make pencil pops. we found these great heart molds and pencil pop tops {i put the links below in the recipe}. we tried 3 different flavors: strawberry, watermelon, and lemonade. we normally love strawberry flavored things, but it ended up being our least favorite flavor. after we made the pencil pops, we got out my new valentine stamp set from stampin' up. J & G had tons of fun making their own homemade valentines. we spent a good portion of our day on this project. J wrote his name on all of his valentines, and G did about 10 and then got "way too exhausted" to do any more. J helped her finish. it was so much fun to watch them get so excited about this. i LOVE valentine's day. i have ever since i was a little girl b/c it means my birthday is close by. all my parties as a girl revolved around hearts...and i loved it. i still get giddy inside around this time of year!

Old Fashioned Lollipops

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

¾ cup water

1 tsp candy oils

¼ tsp Liquid Food Coloring

Candy Thermometer

lightly spray heart sheet mold {i used 3 molds to make 15 suckers} with cooking spray and insert pencil pops into your molds. in large saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup and water. stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. bring mixture to a boil without stirring. this syrup gets very hot. hook a candy thermometer on the edge of the saucepan to measure the temperature. children must watch the next steps from afar! when syrup temperature reaches 260°F, add the coloring. DO NOT STIR; boiling will incorporate the coloring into the syrup. remove from heat at 300°. watch closely from 260° to 300°, the temperature will rise quickly. remove from heat. when boiling has stopped, stir in flavoring. then CAREFULLY pour the mixture into a heat proof ceramic pitcher or glass batter bowl. this makes it easy to pour into the molds. It also allows you to be able to slightly reheat the mixture in the microwave if it cools too quickly. immediately pour syrup into the molds. after lollipops have cooled they may be removed from the molds. stick pencil in pencil pop.

here is a cute sample card my stampin' up demonstrator, teri, made with the valentine kit i got...too cute! for all my ohio friends you can have all this cute stuff too b/c i'm having a party on march 26th...so you'll have to come see all the other great stamps and sets you can't live without!!! {he, he}

7 comments:

Carma Lee said...

I used to have fun making suckers. The kids even made and sold them for a while to earn money. The pencil handles are really cute.

Kristi said...

So so cute! I want those!!! I am in love with that bird!!! I see it all over stuff these days! I love it!

Tami Allred said...

You are so clever, what a sweet mom you are too.

Terri said...

Lara. You are so talented. Call me when you can! 216-402-4363.

Terri Holman

Caralee said...

Those are very fun looking!

I wanted to tell you that we got 30 inches in a 24 hour period earlier this week. A record for Flagstaff snow.

Marcus and Jamie Yetter said...

ooh! How fun! I wish we would have had time to come over and learn! We had fun at the zoo Monday! Too bad we skipped another craft day, but we have all been sick! Man, its always one of us! Maybe next week? I cant wait for your stamp party! Looks like super cute stuff!

Miller Family said...

Lara,
You are SO crafty. Wish I had some of those genes...instead I have to copy from creative people like you! :) Love the new Valentine's stamp set....my cousin is the founder of Stampin Up! So funny! :) She has those creative genes too....