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!