make: holiday painted spoons

Tutorials for painted and dipped spoons have been floating around the interwebs for the better part of this year. I have always loved them and intended to make my own but had never found the time. Last week as I was getting ready to head to a friends for a holiday party, inspiration struck and I decided to do these but with a holiday twist. These could not be easier and a matching pair work as serving spoons or as salad servers. Here’s what you’ll need:

+ wooden spoons (i bought two three packs of michael graves wooden spoons at target – not available online)
+ craft paint (red: haberno and white: wedding cake satin acrylic paint by martha stewart crafts at michaels)
+ 1 inch thick painters tape (my fave is frog)
+ paint brush
+ food safe shellac (zimmers bullseye)
+ scissors and/or pinking sheers

You want to make sure that you buy spoons that do not have shellac on them already but if you make the mistake and do purchase them, don’t panic, just take some sand paper to them and roughen up the surface so that you can paint it. Then, you want to prep and tape the spoons for the first layer of paint. I choose varying lengths for the painted portion of the spoons, it was about the 1/3 of the spoon and I tried to make them as even as possible by measuring and marking with a pencil before adding the tape.

Once the spoon was taped, I painted the first layer of paint one red and one white for each of the pair of spoons. Paint two coats and allow to dry for an hour or so. Then using your tape and scissors apply the tape for the lines on the paint keeping in mind that the areas under the tape will remain the color of the first layer of paint. Make sure that you press the tape down firmly so that you get as clean as line as possible. Once the tape is in place, paint two coats of the opposite color and set aside to dry. Since I painted both the front and back of the spoons, I found that the best way to allow them to dry was to place the spoons on my counter top with the painted handle hanging over the edge. Allow to dry for an hour and remove the tape.

Do touchups as necessary and when you are happy with the final product, spray with two coats of the shellac and tie the pair in together with a bow

I did a set where I created a zig zag stripe by cutting the tape with my pinking sheers. These were by far the most “homemade” looking of them all but I fell in love and kept them for myself. The others have been set aside to hand out as I head to holiday parties this year. Make sure you let the hostess know that these are not dishwasher safe (but you really shouldn’t wash wooden spoons in the dishwasher anyway).

Katie

whisk: gold rush brownies

Gold Rush Brownies hold a special place in heart — these are somewhere between a cookie and a brownie with a rich caramel and chocolate flavor.  One of my best friends mother’s would make these regularly and I can still remember waiting for her to cut the crusts just so I could have a taste!  These brownies are rich and pack a flavorful punch.  Wait, I haven’t even told you the best part.  This is all from only three ingredients, 5 minutes of prep time and 35 minutes in the oven.

Here are the deets:

1 pack of Graham Crackers

1/2 – 1 full bag of milk chocolate chips

1 15 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Pam and line the bottom of a 8×8 pan.  Set aside.

Then, remove the graham crackers from the wrapping and place in a zipper bag.  Using a rolling pin, can, your hand, etc. crush the crackers.

Place in a bowl, add the entire can of sweetened condensed milk and the desired amount of chocolate chips.  I like these to be on the more chocolate side of the spectrum so I usually put in the whole bag but you should put in at least half of a bag.

Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden on top.

Once finished, remove immediately from pan and set on a rack to cool.  Cut crusts and serve, preferably with a cold glass of milk.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

xxoo

Katie