Summer Crafts and Recipes

☀Summer Crafts & Recipes 2015☀

By Mia M. Burkholder

Flip Flops, Summer Bangles, and Dessert Pizzas. Read on and be amazed.

FRUIT PIZZA

Maybe this is healthy, maybe this is sugary, I don’t really care- I’m eating this either way!

You will need: 1 package of sugar cookie mix or dough, topping (Cool whip, cream cheese, even frosting would work for this.), and assorted fruit.

STEP 1 Prepare your sugar cookie dough, whether it’s opening the package or grabbing the mixing bowl. STEP 2 Spread the dough out evenly on a pizza pan. 12 in. circular pizza pans work best. STEP 3 Bake your dough in the oven until the package or recipe says that it is ready. STEP 4 Let cool. STEP 6 Spread your topping onto the pizza. You can use my go-to recipe below in “TIPS”STEP 7 Arrange your fruit across your topping until it is covered with the desired amount. STEP 8 Chop up your pizza and serve!  Voila! You’re done. Now just imagine eating a slice outside, underneath the warm, summer sun. Mmmm…

BONUS! Not so into fruit? Or maybe you just want something more, umm, cookie-like- well, then this is for you! Make an easy COOKIE PIZZA by following steps 1-4, but using any kind of cookie dough that you prefer. You can choose to just cut it up and serve it then and there, or you can add some frosting and candies. Done!

Tips: For the frosting recipe that won over my family, follow this recipe:

Mix together one 8-ounce package of cream cheese, a cup of confectioner’s sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Make sure to stir VERY WELL- trust me, I messed up at first, and I got one gigantic spoonful of pure cream cheese, and one so sugary that even my sister wouldn’t like it!

PERSONALIZED FLIP FLOPS

We are magical- making flip flops out of our own bare hands, well, and all of the things below...↓

You will need: 4 sheets of thick foam, a knife or pair of scissors, water-proof paint, hot glue, and a ribbon or rope that can be used as a strap on your flip flop.

STEP 1 With your thick foam, cut out the shapes of your flip flops so that they will fit your feet. You can print out a template online, but it is easier to trace the shapes of the soles of flip flops or sandals that you already own. Then use your scissors to carefully cut out the shapes. STEP 2 With another piece of your thick foam, trace the shapes of your already cut out foam,  and once again carefully cut them out. Sometimes a knife works best. STEP 3 Hot glue 2 pieces of foam together so that your shoe is thicker. Then repeat for the other shoe, but make sure that they’re not both right feet! STEP 4 Texturize the bottom of your shoe with a knife, making thin cuts just so you do not slip. This is optional, but it helps. You can look at any shoe for an example. STEP 5 Paint a design on your flip flops with waterproof paint. It really adds a unique touch, and it’s amazing to think of all the possibilities of what you can make! STEP 6 After the paint has dried, use the same flip flop that you used for your template and locate each plastic circle on the back of it. With your paper template of a flip flop, put it over your real flip flop and trace on the circles, dark enough that you can see it on the other side of the paper. STEP 7 Place the paper on the top of your homemade flip flop’s base. Put a small cut on each hole you drew on the paper. Repeat for the other flip flop. STEP 8 Using whatever you have as a strap, bend it in half and stick it through the top hole. At the bottom of the flip flop, tie the looped ribbon in a knot. Bring each of the other 2 strands to each of their holes, then tie at the bottom as well. Voila!

SUMMER BANGLES

Warning! Warning! These are addicting, so try to control yourself!

You will need: some plain bangle bracelets, Q-tips, strong glue (like E6000) colored string or embroidery floss, jump rings, and assorted charms that you can hook onto the jump ring.

STEP 1 Get a tiny amount of your strong glue on a Q-tip and put it on a small part of your bangle bracelet. STEP 2 Start wrapping the colored embroidery floss or string around the bracelet, only covering the portion with glue. Wrap with no gaps. STEP 3 Put more glue on another small part of the bracelet, continue wrapping, repeat until the entire bracelet is wrapped. STEP 4 Let dry. STEP 5 Place jump hooks with charms on your bangle. In between charmed jump hooks, place plain ones. You do not have to cover the entire bracelet.

You’re finished!

Note: The Saber Tooth Times Crew would love to see the creations you have made from the Arts and Recipes articles! Direct Message them to our instagram account,  or email them to miamcb16@gmail.com  with your name and grade! If you send them in, you have a chance for the picture of your craft or baking creation in the next issue! Happy Summer to everyone!

Lil' Bub

Lil’ Bub

By Mia M. Burkholder

Lil’ Bub has to be the best Space Kitten ever known to this earth, (and the only one, that’s what makes her so unique!)but what makes her so one-of-a-kind? Why is she one of the many favorite internet cats? How did she touch your heart the minute he leaped through your computer screen-and how does she touch other animal’s hearts across America each day? Get ready to learn all about this famous Space Kitty!

Lil’ Bub was born on June 21st, 2011 in Bloomington, Indiana. She was the runt of the litter, and no one wanted to adopt her because of her many genetic mutations, including dwarfism and a short lower jaw that caused  her tongue to hang out. She had to be bottle-fed, and was toothless. Nobody would take her home because they believed that she would be too much work.  Mike Bridavsky didn’t think that way. Once he saw her, he instantly fell in love, despite her slight troubles.

Bub instantly became a star once her owner posted a picture of her on Tumblr in November of 2011, when she was only 5 months old. It was then posted to Reddit and BAM! she was an overnight sensation. Ever since, Bub has been fantastically famous.

In late 2012, Lil’ Bub decided to take a big leap into the acting world when she started to star in a documentary with her owner called “Lil’ Bub & Friendz”. The movie shows Bub and her owner as  they interview lots of “cat-lebrities” & their owners and go to the first Cat Video Film Festival.  The film features many famous kitties, such as Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, and Keyboard Cat, plus an interview with Lil’ Bub’s meme manager, Ben Lashes (yes, meme managers do exist.) You truly feel like you know Bub after you watch it.

The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in early 2013, and won the award for the Tribeca Online Best Feature Film. Although this seems like shooting this movie was easy, it really was a hard time for Bub and her owner. During the filming in 2012, the famous cat came down with osteopetrosis, a bone disease. Now, Bub takes medication for it and is much better but still can’t walk like other cats. Instead, she waddles-but she’s very good at it!

After her movie, Lil’ Bub became very well known, and she started to do much more- and the public loved it! She came out with a book, started an online shop , and even came out with a talk show she does on youtube called “Lil’ Bub’s Big Show!” where she interviews celebrities from her space ship. She has interviewed not only humans, but also animals (such as Little Prince the guinea pig) and sometimes inanimate objects (like bones at the history museum).

“Bub becoming famous was an accident.” Mike Bridavsky explained on Lil’ Bub’s documentary. “ But it was a good one.” Before Mike got Lil’ Bub he was having some trouble. He was behind on his rent for the recording studio he owned, he had to sell lots of equipment and was even living in his studio, along with his other 3 cats. When Bub came along, everything changed. He bought back the things he sold. He moved into an apartment. All of his cats were living great lives, but then he thought about all of the cats and dogs that weren’t.

That’s why Mike and Lil’ Bub decided to start something called Lil’ Bub’s Big Fund For The ASPCA. Bub and her owner created it to help animals with special needs, like Bub.  Mike has been very generous, and so have lots of others. So far they have raised over $125,000 (and counting!) for animals all over the country.

Good job Bub.

Very good job.

Grumpy Cat

Grumpy Cat

By Mia M. Burkholder

Grumpy Cat is one of the most beloved cats in the history of google. Whether it’s just looking up her funny memes or frantically trying to find her real name, this cat has taken the world by storm and people worship her (or else!)

The famous cat was born in April 2012 as “Tardar Sauce” Bundensen, which was adorably misspelled by their six year old daughter. Her first meme (“I had fun once, it was awful”) had over 28,000 views in the first 24 hours and that was what launched Grumpy’s career.

Tardar Sauce is famous because of her grumpy expression due to feline dwarfism and a severe underbite. Grumpy Cat won the Friskies Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, at only 1 year old.

Miss Tardar Sauce was born in Morristown, Arizona. Her owner, Tabatha Bundensen, worked as a waitress. At 29 years old, Tabatha had no idea that soon her kitty would be one of the most famous cats on this earth.

On September 22, 2012, Grumpy being less than a year old, Ms. Bundensen’s brother changed her life. He took a couple of pictures of the soon-to-be-famous cat and posted them on Reddit. It went viral and people across the nation started making memes of Tardar Sauce, the most common one being, “I had fun once, it was awful.” It had more than a million views on Ingur in the first 48 hours. Overnight, Tardar became a star. Her owner was able to quit her job only days after the famous kitty was revealed to the media. “The phone still hasn’t stopped ringing since.” Tabatha said in a magazine interview. The Grumpy Cat family has earned over $100 million in the past two years and they’re doing pretty well, considering Tardar has made more than Britney Spears and Lady Gaga in 2014 and 15. “We always knew she extremely unique, but we didn’t know that she would be this magnitude of special.” Tabatha tells the press at Tardar Sauce’s 2nd birthday.

Now Grumpy Cat gets to travel a lot for the press, but she likes to make separate stops sometimes to see her brother, Pokey, and visit family out of town.

Superstar, meme model, award winner, cat idol, Grumpy Cat basically has taken over the world- what else could she possibly add to this never-ending list? Of course- movie star. In late November of 2014 Tardar Sauce starred in her own movie, “Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever”. She acted alongside the amazing Megan Charpentier, who played Chrystal, Grumpy Cat’s friend in crime. Recently, she also released a book called “A Grumpy Book” (pretty fitting,huh?) and over 1 million copies have been sold. She also released a drink at Starbucks called a “grumpuccino”.

Although Tardar Sauce may look grumpy, and be nicknamed Grumpy Cat, really she is a very happy and cheerful cat who loves to play! Many people think that because of her grumpy expression she might as well be the meanest cat on earth-they are completely wrong! “She is one of the happiest cats I have ever met!” A friend of the Bundensen family said. “I’m sure she would smile so much if she could change that grumpy expression of hers.” another commented.

Besides feline dwarfism and an underbite, Grumpy is very tiny, the size of an older kitten, but tiny is anything but what you can use to describe this kitty’s fame. She has taken the world by storm and I’m pretty sure soon the earth will be ruled by Miss Grumpy Cat herself.  

If Tardar Sauce can take over the world in less than 24 hours then ANYTHING is possible. I guess we should all start preparing for the zombie apocalypse then.

Spring Crafts and Recipes

This is a bit late, but here we go!

Spring Crafts and Recipes

By Mia M. Burkholder

Spring has sprung- and you know what that means… more crafts and recipes!

SPRING YARN ORBS

These orbs aren’t necessarily for JUST spring, but they really reflect the fun spring season.

You will need: Yarn (preferably brightly colored), balloons, and white craft glue, Elmer’s works best.

STEP 1 Blow up balloons for as many orbs you want. Make them sized to your liking, but make sure to keep them small. STEP 2 Make a mixture of the Elmer’s glue and water. Dunk some yarn into the glue mixture, making sure it doesn’t knot 

MINI STRAWBERRY LEMON SHORTBREAD TRIFLE

Although this sounds fancy, it’s really just a cookie with icing and whipped topping that we put in a tiny cup (why?) that we try to make ourselves feel better about eating by adding a minimal amount of fruit. I know it isn’t technically just for spring, but it’s colorful, easy and sweet so-why not?

You will need: shortbread cookies, mini plastic cups, sliced strawberries, whipped topping, and lemon curd or lemon pie filling.

Layer your ingredients like this, starting at the bottom going up:

1 strawberry slice, a squirt of whipped topping, a dollop of lemon curd, 1 small shortbread cookie, crushed, another dollop of lemon curd,  another single strawberry slice, and lastly, another squirt of whipped topping, piped beautifully. Serve immediately.

See? Easy! Done.

TIP: If you want to make it in a regularly sized cup, or if you just want to make your mini one fancier, use pound cake instead of shortbread cookie, and mix strawberry gelatin, made and cooled in the fridge for 15 minutes, with thawed cool whip (it won’t work with whipped cream).

BIRD’S NEST CUPCAKES

These super-cute cupcakes are almost too beautiful to eat, and remember, I said ALMOST.

You will need: a cake mix (and all ingredients needed for it), a pastry bag,  sprinkles, chocolate frosting, and whatever form of candy bird’s eggs you can find.

STEP 1 Follow the instructions on the cupcake mix and bake them. STEP 2 Take out your frosting to soften up slightly.  STEP 3 Let the cupcakes cool. STEP 4 Put the frosting in a pastry bag or put some in a bag and cut off an edge. STEP 5 Make a bird’s nest out of the frosting . You can just make a circle using the pastry bag, or you can just put a spoonful on top and dent it in the middle. Whatever you think is best. STEP 6 Decorate your nest with sprinkles and fill with bird’s eggs! Now they are ready to eat!