Sugar n' Spice PART 2

By now you have your flooring down, the kitchen cabiniet assembled and 
trimmed with holly.  You have filled the shelves with an array of gingerbread
treats and are now ready to work on the baking prep section of Sugar n' Spice.
Enjoy!



BAKING PREP

Flour Bag:  Print on bright white paper.  Cut out and fold on lines and between

bag sections.  Glue side over tab.  Fold the bottom section in from the sides until

the edges meet and then fold the peaks formed on the front and back of the

bottom, in and glue in place.  Fill the bag about ¾ full with soft tissue or tp. 

Crease the top section of the bag as was done with the bottom section but do

not glue it shut.  Open it up and slightly distress the top edges for a used look.

Brown Sugar:  Fold in tabs and glue the front over them.  Cover whole bag

with packing tape, trimming off excess evenly.  Stuff lightly with soft facial tissue

or tp and then glue the top edge shut.

Spices:  The spices are best printed on semi-gloss photo paper.  Score on all

lines.  Glue side over tab.  Glue top and bottom tabs to inside.

Baking Powder:  Cut a 7/16”W x 11”L strip of paper and roll up tightly until it

has a ¼” diam.; cut off excess paper and glue to hold.  Glue label around roll,

cutting off excess so ends meet in back.  Punch ¼” round of poster board and

another of silver cardstock.  Glue the two together and then glue to top of roll,

silver side up.

Molasses:  Lite Brite pegs (as pictured) are plastic pegs from a child’s game

that come in assort. translucent colors.  They can be purchased as replacement

parts (check online or in toy stores) and are often found bagged in 2^nd hand

stores.  Using them is a fun and fairly easy way to make a wide assortment of

bottles and jars.  Simply insert the fat end of one into a variable speed drill or

Moto Tool and setting the tool to a medium speed use files, craft knife, and

sandpaper to reshape the peg as desired.  Use a razor saw to cut it to size

desired.  For this project create the bottle shape pictured.  The finished shapes

may be buffed to a sheen or coated with clear nail polish.  For the molasses

bottle chose a yellow peg and when it is done use a brown, permanent-marker

pen or glass stain to color.  Glue label  around bottle.  Punch a 1/8” round lid

from gold cardstock and glue in place on bottle top.

Shortening:  Print label on bright white paper.  Cut three strips of paper

½”W x11”L.  Roll one paper strip up tightly and hold with glue.  Add a 2^nd strip

where the first ended and continue with roll; repeat with the third strip.  Trace

the top of the roll, twice onto white cardstock and twice onto metallic silver

cardstock.  Cut out the circles.  Glue a plain and a silver circle together to

form two double thickness circles.  Glue one each to the top and bottom of the

paper roll, silver sides showing.  Paint the label with one coat of clear nail enamel. 

                                 Click on photo to enlage and then save to your computer.
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Bowl of Dough:  Just about any bowl will do.  I used half of a hollow plastic ball
(just as an aside, every 5^th of July I walk our beach picking up a dozen or so of

these half balls in various bright colors that are some sort of detritus from

fireworks.  And I also find a handful of square bass stripwood…always looking

with miniatures in mind).  Cut a 2” to 2-1/2” circle of gingerbread brown

cardstock.  Lay it in the palm of your hand and “draw” over it, again and again,

in a circular motion with the rounded end of a paintbrush until the paper is

softened, embossed, and malleable.   Gently turn the edges of the paper to

the back side until it is puffed in the middle and will fit into your bowl.  Glue in

place.  Of course you may also choose to fill the bowl with clay of some sort. 

For the wooden spoon, sand the end of a wooden sandwich pick to about half

its thickness and cut it off to a ¾” length.  Make room for it in your dough and

glue in place.

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Rolling Pin: Cut a 7/8” length of 3/16” diam. dowel.  Sand smooth with

finishing sandpaper.  Drill or ream a 1/8” deep hole in the center of each

end of the dowel.  Nip off a bit from the pointed end of a round toothpick

and insert the toothpick into the hole.  Mark on the toothpick where it meets

the dowel.  Remove the toothpick and measure up ¼” from the mark. 

Cut the toothpick at the mark and round off the end with sandpaper. 

Repeat for other side of dowel.  Glue more pointed ends of handles into

prepared holes.  Handles may be painted; red or green being good choices

or the handles along with the roller may be oiled with linseed or olive oil.

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Rolled Dough:  Cut a piece of your gingerbread colored cardstock into an

irregular oval shape of a size that will fit on your bread board.  Lay it, back side

up, on the palm of your hand and “draw” around the edges with the end of a

paint brush or some such tool, until the edges turn up just a bit…this will give

the paper some dimension.  Glue to breadboard.  If desired you may “flour”

the breadboard first by finely stippling some white paint on to it.   Glue a

gingerbread cookie cutter atop the dough.  The 9/16”H x 7/16”W cookie cutter

used here is a classic metal miniature.  It is available thru an online search or

thru brick and mortar stores.

.

Baking Sheet:  Cut a piece of matboard or chipboard 1 ½” x 1”.  Slightly

round off the corners.  This piece will be your form to shape the baking sheet. 

Using pewter color embossing metal (this product is extra soft metal sheets

that usually comes in a roll and can be cut with scissors and has many uses in

miniature work. Art Emboss is one brand found in craft shops.  If you can’t find

it you can substitute a disposable aluminum baking pans etc. Cut a piece

1 ¾” x 1 ¼”.  Slightly round off the corners.  Working on a flat surface, center

your form over the metal rectangle.  Pressing down on the form, use a knife

blade or plastic credit card (great way to put to use junk mail) or such, to lift up

the sides of metal around the form, crimping the rounded corners as you work. 

Don’t bring the sides all the way up; let them flare out just a bit. Remove form

and check baking sheet for even flare of sides etc. and make any corrections. 

Do be careful in the project not to cut your self on the metal.  Add your cookies.

Gingerbread Boys:  The gingerbread boys on the baking sheet were made by tracing the aforementioned metal miniature cookie cutter onto gingerbread

color cardstock and then cutting them out.  Lay the cutouts on the palm of your

hand and with a small ball stylus trace around their outer edge to give them a bit

of dimension.  The tooled side is the down side.  Glue to baking sheet.

                                           Metal Miniature Gingerbread Cookie Cutter

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Spatula: For the handle, nip the tip off of a round toothpick and sand the new

tip smooth.  Measure from the new tip down 3/8” and cut off at this point. 
Sand the cut end smooth.  Paint the handle either red or green and glaze
with an acrylic gloss.  Cut a ½” length of a straight pin, from the head down. 
Glue the head of the pin to the fatter end of the handle using cyanoacrylate
glue…super, crazy, etc.; set aside.    Click on spatula pattern to enlarge;
copy and paste to your computer. Set printer to print image out at .90” x .90”
and then print onto lightweight paper.  Rough cut image from paper and use
glue stick to adhere it  to a piece of thin aluminum, as from a piece of
disposable roaster pan or pull-out inner lids from peanut cans etc.
Use a pointed stylus to make the nine indentations and then carefully cut it out. 
Remove paper from metal.  Use liquid solder to adhere 1/16” of the pin to the
back of the spatula, centered side to side.

                                          Click on photo and copy and save to your computer. 
                                             Set printer to print image at 0.90"H x 0.90"W

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Part 2 of Sugar n’ Spice should keep you busy for a few days, and then I will have

the final segment, Part 3, the table and its contents ready for you. 

If you are working on this project please let us know how it is going for you….

it is fun and interesting to share progress with one another, especially if you have

little hints that made things go smoother for you or have added your own “spice”.

Joann

PS 

“Stay-tuned” because some items from my projects may soon be offered as

kits to make your creating a bit easier.