The Best Movie Snacks Don't Even Need A Movie- Putting On My #ZoursFace

Momma Told Me: Make the sour moments sweet.

You could say one of our family mottos is 'A family that sweets together, stays together;' after all, did you ever see a baker without any friends? As someone who considers themselves a living rainbow it's no secret my love of sugar stems from the beautifully bright colored candies of my childhood. Show this girl a giant spiral lollipop and she will literally squeal with glee. Unfortunately, as magical as candy is, there is no real Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, so Momma and I were often left creating our own sweet moments with a little twist. The local grocery store confection aisle was never lacking new candy ideas for a tradition we dubbed 'Sour Wednesdays.'

You see, every serious couponer knows the local grocery store ads land in mailboxes on Tuesday, and the weekly sales reset Wednesday morning. And, as soon as I could use a calculator, Momma put me to work subtracting and adding all the week's steals and deals as they went into the cart. As a reward I was allowed to hunt the candy aisle for a new candy- and sour was my poison. Upon arriving home, and unpacking the last bag, Momma an I would sit on the couch and pop a candy, one-by-one, into our mouths. The goal was to see who could tolerate the most candies before their eyes began to water and they cracked a 'sour face.'

Not too long ago one of my favorite candies, Mike and Ike released a new sour variety, called Zours®. In no exaggeration I promptly bought every size package in sight and shipped them up to Momma in Oregon. I like to make care packages for my family members (and a family that sweets together....) I can imagine when Momma opened the package she promptly tore open that yellow bag and popped one of each of the 5 flavors in her mouth (Green Apple always has been her favorite) and puckered her lips in enjoyment. I promptly received a phone call, mid #ZoursFace, telling me how much she loved these new candies, and was instantly brought back to my childhood memories making silly faces and crying over candy with Momma.

Remember how I said candy was a family thing? Well it turns out 3 generations of our family have a thing for sour- Sabrina (11) recently discovered my personal purse stash and popped several of these chewy little candies into her mouth. What promptly followed was a phenomenon known as a #ZoursFace. It's something you can't fake, really- much like  baby getting their first taste of a lemon slice, the reactions are priceless (just check out Sabrina's mother trying all 5 flavors at once in my Instagram video.) We were crafting a graduation gift of candy leis (Pinterest Image Tutorial Below) for Sabrina's 5th grade advancement and she just couldn't help herself!

Unlike some 'other' chewy sour candies that have a harsh gritty (sand paper like) effect when you eat too many, Zours® are the perfect popcorn snacks. You can buy theater size boxes without the theater size price at your local Walmart and enjoy them throughout the film without ruining your taste buds. They have  wonderfully unique sour coating on the outside of the chewy candy that makes the sour then sweet Watermelon and Blue Raspberry candies a unique experience. Not sure where to find my favorite sour candy? Stop by a Walmart Supercenter near you July 3-6th to find exclusive demos and take home samples of Zours®; just hover over the interactive in store photo above to find links to the locations nearest you!

After Sabrina's graduation her younger siblings and her all piled onto our Xorbee (massive memory foam bean bag) and began Summer the right way with a movie marathon. Lego Movie, Monster's University, and Nightmare Before Christmas are all favorites in our home, and they wouldn't be complete without the best movie snacks! While they sprinkled Zours® in their buttered popcorn I found the inspiration to whip up a creamy, and healthy, Zour Apple Smoothie everyone loved. Not only does this green drink have the same vibrant color as Momma's favorite Green Apple candy, but it's chocked full of spinach and avocado (shhhh they'll never know) and has a fun little sour kick.

But enough of my yapping, you really need to just get yourself to a Walmart during one of those demo days and experience this candy yourself! While you're there stop by the produce department (because Supercenters are amazing like that) and grab the ingredients to make my Zour Apple Smoothie- the complete recipe is on the image details so hurry up and Pin it now! Then, grab your friends, family, or even the mailman, pop some of these little rays of flavor in your mouth and snap your best #ZoursFace photo and upload it to Twitter and Instagram for all the world to see. Maybe we can all make our sour family just a little bigger, one Zours® face at a time!

What Daughter Says: Create some priceless moments with your best Zours Face!

Continue after the jump to Pin an exclusive Candy Lei Tutorial Graphic. Click for Printable Zour Apple Smoothie Recipe. #CollectiveBias

Crafting With Candy: Candy Card Poster For Father's Day With Template

Momma Told Me: I'd love it if it were ripped and covered in dirt- but sugar doesn't hurt.

Looking back through the years I've given my parents some pretty questionable gifts for various holidays. And by 'questionable' I mean, even I often couldn't recall what the original intent of the project was when handing it over. Let's face it, most Mother's Day and Father's Day projects originated in school with mass instruction and little oversight by the overwhelmed teacher of 30 who was simply trying to avoid a glitter inhalation incident. While Momma was a very crafty individual, I seldom got to make anything for my father outside of these yearly school projects. In my parent's attic is a box full of misshapen pottery attempts, shedding macaroni art, and 20-year-old food clued to construction paper. However, I clearly recall, every holiday, Pop taking me to buy a box of chocolates to preset with my handmade gift; as Momma told me, she'd love anything I gave her, but a little sugar never hurt!

This week I've been fighting pneumonia, and the past few days it has been unusually dreary for May in Southern California. In our family there are  lot of holidays through the Summer, beginning with Father's Day and the birthdays of my own Pop and Grand Pop. I'll be making two cakes the first week of June, and attending two birthday dinners; so Father's Day is high on my priority list to knock-out now. With the overcast light outside barely enough to make for a decent photo I decided I was going to continue my Crafting With Candy Series and walk Sabrina (11) through a Father's Day Candy Card Poster.

A Rebus is a reference device in which images are used to represent words are parts of words. You like how I just made crafting with candy educational? Rebus tools are used as early as second grade in the U.S. and help build cognition on several planes. In the case if the classic Candy Card Poster idioms can also be involved while playing with the meaning of candy names, or using them literally, for a structurally sound educational lesson turned craft. Or you can always use our template, or one of the many popular ones online, and skip the heavy thinking. In our case I put Sabrina in the car, drove to the dollar store, bought a Sharpie and a large foam posterboard, and made her begin brainstorming right then and there.

When picking candies to represent sentiments and words in your giant semi-edible card, some candies will be immediately obvious in intent. 100 Grand, Air Heads, Butterfinger, and PayDay all flow easily into a car from a child to their father. (Think allowances, possible gifts, and clumsy kids.) When Sabrina thought up the "my PayDay wasn't very Riesen-able" line I was pretty darn proud of her use of wit and understanding. Making our card's text from scratch we found it simplest to place all the candies in the center of a table and separate the ones we had use as we wrote. Once you have your text down the hardest part is figuring our spacing!

The best part about this gift is that the entire family will enjoy devouring the sentiment for days to come- that is if the proud father doesn't insist on mounting it to the wall!

What Daughter Says: Use our template or create your own candy card for extra smiles this Father's Day.

Spring Is Here- Bring Color To Craft-Time And Craft With Candy

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser. No rainbows were harmed in the drafting of this post.

Momma Told Me: Don't play with your food!

Before Willy Wonka ever made his technicolor debut, I was reading Roald Dahl's imagining of the candy filled confectionery and imagining myself an Oompa Loompa in an alternate universe. For much of my childhood I could have very well been Violet Beauregarde or the blueberry imposter Veruca Salt. Okay, so I had much better manors, but I'd also wager a number of good behaviors and chores for a single piece of candy. It's no secret I love sweets, and few candies match my equally vibrant love of color as well as fruity and chewy Starburst or the rainbow delicious #VIPFruitFlavors of Skittles.

In fact, somewhere around age ten I decided that I would amass the world's largest candy wrapper collection (much to Momma's clear chagrin.) For several years I carefully refolded wrappers and candy packaging and tucked them away in an ever-growing box. One school year I noticed a large number of Starburst candy packs being sold, and the tiny individual chew wrappers floating across our campus. It was then I first decided that crafting with candy was not only delicious but practical. Taking a technique from Momma's teenage years, for gum wrapper chains, I soon began collecting leftover wrappers from staff and students. Before long I had a 5 1/2' Starburst wrapper chain that doubled as a jump rope!

As these things tend to go, I eventually grew out of my fascination of crafting with candy, and the subject was long forgotten, until a recent inspiring shopping trip. Sabrina (11) was asking if we could invest in a Skittles & Starburst 30 Pack from Sam's Club. And, by invest, I mean 'devour.' The parent inside me opened it's mouth to blurt "No way kiddo!" but the wrapper folding, color loving, child began to tug on my inner ear. What if I could show Sabrina that playing with your food can not only be fun, but also productive? We had several teacher's appreciation events coming up and, with spring around the corner, I decided Spring Break would be the perfect time to dabble in crafting with candy again.

My first project was one that could double as a Mother's Day gift, or Teacher's Appreciation (May 6th); Skittles Picture Frame Craft. This project could easily be achieved with some 'dollar store' or thrift store picture frames, clear candy (or test) tubing, white paint, scrap fabric, a hot glue gun, and modelling clay.

1.) After painting our black frames white with a few generous coats of acrylic paint, I carefully marked the plastic test tubes for a length that would easily interlock along the outside of the frame's natural grooves. Most plastic candy tubing can be purchased cheap online and easily cut with heavy duty scissors, while plastic 'test tubes' like the ones we had leftover from Summer Science Camp, will require an adult's steady hand and a band saw or box cutter.

2.) Once our tubes were measured, we layered our Skittles in the desired pattern, right up to the top of the tubes. I especially loved that, between the Original and Wild Berry Skittles, we had a complete 'rainbow' of colors. Once our tubes were full we pinched off come modelling clay and capped off the ends by pressing it down and along the edges.

3.) Next it was time to glue the completed candy tubes onto our painted picture frame using a hot glue gun. But don't eat those extra Skittles yet- they can be used for fabric dye to create a few extra accents to dress up your frame!

4.) While you can easily dissolve the colored candy coating off these fruity candies with water alone, I use a vinegar ratio, much like dying eggs, that helps to set the color on a new surface (fabric). Separate your leftover Skittles by color, placing 10-12 of each color desired into a small bowl. Add 3 TBS Water to each color 'pot' and 1 TBS White Vinegar. The color will begin to separate from the candy immediately, and you may even see a few magical white 'S's floating in your new dye concoction!

5.) Making dye with sugar coated candy is a fun and safe craft for the entire family, and can be applied to many different craft projects- However, in this case we used it to dye some scrap fabric to make a tiny bow accent for our frame. Sure, it may not be the most vibrant dye job, but it's certainly effective! We especially enjoyed twisting up the corners of fabric and dipping the tips into different colors to make a 'tie-dyed' effect. Besides, I think it's pretty cool to know there's more than just candy IN the frame, but ON it as well!

By the time I'd magically made the last few Skittles disappear (in my mouth), and tossed the leftover clay, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. But there was a part of me that wanted to make a gift where people could also enjoy eating the candy as well, so I turned to my old friend, Starburst. It was at last time for me to pass on the art of wrapper folding to Sabrina; and I would also teach her the skill of creative presentation as well!

Our first task was to unwrap ALL the Starburst in our 30 Piece Variety Pack. Approximately 1 (12 PC) Starburst pack will yield 4 inches of wrapper chain. Of course we weren't going let all those deliciously juicy and fruity, chewy, candies go to waste! I happened to have every crafter, and bakestress' best friend, the mason jar, on hand. We carefully layered leftover Skittles (for our Purple, Blue, and Green), followed by unwrapped Starburst to create a rainbow effect, then topped with a few gold foil wrapped coins to create a Good Luck Jar display for our soon-to-be candy wrapper jewelry.

To create a successful Starburst Wrapper Chain is actually much simpler than it looks. Once you have gotten a few links under your belt, you're sure to be folding them without even looking, in no time!

1.) Lay a wrapper down on a table, blank side up.

2.) Fold the wrapper in half and crease. Open the wrapper back up and fold the outer edges in to meet the middle crease.

3.) Fold the outer edges in towards the center crease one more time. Fold the wrapper in half, horizontally.

4.) Fold the wrapper in half vertically and crease. Open the wrapper back up and fold the outer edges in towards the crease.

5.) Fold the wrapper in half, vertically. You now have one link!

Making the chain itself is even more intuitive, once you have a few links together, you'll easily assemble a bracelet or lanyard in no time. 

1.) Take the two ends of one wrapper link and insert it into the two ends of another wrapper link.

2.) You will note that one side of a link will have several creases, while the other end will only have one definitive crease along the outer edge. This 'clean crease' edge is the easiest to insert your next link into.

3.) Arrange each link with the bend of the link fold pointing towards incoming ends. Continue weaving the links into one another, between the folds you have created when folding the links.

4.) Closing the chain, to make a continuous bracelet or belt will require opening up the last inserted link and feeding the 'folds' into the loop of your first link to recreate the folding process achieved by weaving the links. This requires a little more advanced skill and is often overcome with a daub of hot glue.
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People use wrapper chains for a variety of crafts and decorations. When I was a young girl my pure intent was to see how long I could make my chain. I've since found a simple beauty in re-purposing the wrappers for colorful jewelry. With a pair of jewelry pliers and some basic chain links and grommets (found at the local craft store) I can easily add clasps, watch faces, earring hooks, and more! We invested $6 in the simple silver finish timepiece above, and used an extra wide lobster clasp to turn two strands of Starburst chains into a wristwatch for Sabrina's teacher. I happen to know this woman also loves fun and funky accessories the kids enjoy, so we put some dangle earrings on a loop and wove it into some spare chains to match the watch.

Crafting with candy is a great way to get children interested in art and project-making, and the perfect guilt-free way to indulge in a little extra fruity goodness. I know we will have several happy teachers in the teacher's lounge thanks to our Good Luck Jars full of #VIPFruitFlavors, and the frames will look adorable on office desks this coming Mother's Day! I'm also looking forward to experimenting with candy fabric dye some more this Summer, when we have the younger kids around to enjoy learning about color combining and primary colors. We might even try making this blogger inspired Skittles candy wreath!  Have you ever made anything with candy before?

What Daughter Says: Bring a little extra color to someone's day with handmade gifts featuring candy!