When American Girl came out with their Spring Releases my daughters and I got very excited over the double boiler and egg decorating set. Making chocolates is a huge activity over any holiday in our home. Good Friday is always reserved for a family egg decorating get together. However, when we started looking at Kit’s double boiler set we were disappointed at the price and the fact that Kit hates pink…why would American Girl make Kit a pink dress? The egg decorating set is very cute, but my daughters wanted something a bit more realistic….and at a cheaper cost. Here is what I surprised them with…
I made two different double boilers. The first one is made out of two coffee scoops stacked on top of each other. I found these scoops at WalMart. The second double boiler has a base that is a glass tea-lite candle holder. I made the handle out of a clear plastic fork. The next step you will need help from an adult: I took a lighter and briefly ran it back and forth under the handle of the fork where I wanted to cut…this only takes a few seconds. Once this handle is soft I cut it with a pair of scissors. Doing this keeps the cut smooth and the utensil from cracking. Then with glass glue I glued the handle to the candle holder; I added a clear pony bead above and below the handle to keep it secure. The top of this double boiler is a small spice dish / condiment bowl. The lids are made out of recycled packaging plastic. I used a silver sharpie on the outer edge for detailing. I stacked pony beads and buttons for handles. I filled each bottom pot with clear resin, once dried a swirled gloss mod-podge on top to give a look of boiling water.
I used oven baked clay for the chocolates. I used a regular candy mold for the chocolates. I brushed each mold with cornstarch before pressing the clay into the mold; doing this will help with the release of the clay from the mold. I baked the clay according to the directions on the package.
I used oven baked clay for the chocolates. I used a regular candy mold for the chocolates. I brushed each mold with cornstarch before pressing the clay into the mold; doing this will help with the release of the clay from the mold. I baked the clay according to the directions on the package. Once cooled, I painted the white clay a shade of vanilla. I then put a layer of matte mod-podge over all the clay. The chocolate melting chips were made out of clay as well. I used a large straw as my cutter. I also took clay and made the “melted chocolate.” I used paint to spread on the spoons to look as if the doll was stirring the chocolate.
The extra treats were so much fun to make too. I found bubble gum eggs at my local dollar store; the containers were perfectly sized for dolls. I removed the gum and made new labels. The little plastic eggs were found at Michaels craft store. The egg cups are lids to bead containers. The food dye containers are jars that contained nail art beads found at the dollar store. I filled the egg cups and mini jars with colored resin. The bottle dye holder is the plastic part of an orange push up. I cut the center pole down and glued a tri-bead on top. I made the red and black wax pencils and white crayon out of shish-kabob skewers cut down and colored in with sharpies. The plastic eggs were decorated with nail stickers and a white marker pen. The egg scoops are made from actual scoops; using wire cutters, I cut the smaller end off and then used needle nose pliers and bent the cut ends over. For even more detail I cut down a paper towel into doll sized ones. I placed a fingertip of resin dye onto the paper towel to resemble the drying eggs. You don’t have to use resin for this craft; you could use any type of paint too.
The Easter cookies were made with Wilton Mini Spring Cutters. I baked the clay according to directions on package. I frosted with puffy fabric paint. The glass bunny was bought as a set at LillianVernon.com.
I love how it all turned out! The dolly baskets are full….and my daughters are ecstatic! Enjoy!
Wow! That’s really neat, Brandy! My Kit would love this. She is very upset that AG would make her a pink set –and charge $64 for it, too. This would be much cheaper and I could use the colors that Kit actually likes 🙂
That is so clever! I love it! Is the teeny tiny egg carton something you bought, or did it come with the Kit set?
Adorable! Great idea Brandy!
This is so creative and cute Brandy! What a good idea, and it turned out even better than Ag’s product!
You have done it again! I have been thinking about the AG set, but it is so expensive and I don’t really care for the dress. Thanks for giving me an alternative!
This is a fabulous set you made! So many great craft ideas! I already have the bubble gum eggs and the mini nail art jars… WIll go hunting for the mini colored eggs at Michael’s… and for the coffee spoons and candy molds!
Wow! Awesome job Brandy! Very creative! Love it better than the AG set! Lucky girls to have such a creative Mom!
Thanks for the fun crafts!! I have those egg cartens at my local store 😀 I cot them last Easter 🙂
I shall try the other ideas!!
Thanks again, Grace
These are truly amazing – am definately going to use with my AG club at school !
Fabulous! You are nothing short of amazing, Brandy! I just bought some Whoppers Robin’s Eggs. These are malt balls that are white and and shaped like eggs and come w/ food color markers. I like these b/c they’re doll sized and I can put some detail on the eggs. (and best of all, I can eat them too!)
That is so awesome! You did a fantabulous job! I have GOT to go buy some of those Bubble Gum Eggs. Were they at Dollar Tree or a local-only store?
That is amazing! I love the eggs and the decorating stuff.
Looks like a really fun project…and realistic looking chocolate!
Brandy – you are truly amazing! I so love how your set turned out. It looks awesome. Your daughters are so lucky to have such a creative mother to make things for them! : )
Brandy, You girls are so talented ! Thank you for sharing your wonderful crafts and ideas with us.
How did you get the labels on the egg cartons down to size to fit the egg cartons? Thanks you.
This is so perfect in each tiny detail!! I think it’s even better than AG’s version.
Thanks so much for figuring this out so I don’t have to. 🙂 Now I can just follow your directions.
Brandy, this is a wonderful idea—you are so creative and also very generous to share your ideas with us.
Sharry, we think alike! My dolls hunt for real chocolate mini eggs—lots of them. And I can guarantee that not a single chocoate egg will be left to spoil. 🙂
I found the bubble eggs/cartons at my local Dollar Store. I found the Egg-Lands best picture from a Google search. I cut and pasted that picture into Microsoft Word. I resized the picture in Word and then printed onto white card stock paper and cut down to size.
Outstanding as always!
SUPER cute craft!
Sweet!
wow! (breathless with amazement)
I think you have outdone yourself! We don’t yet have American Girl in Canada (in May in two locations… Still too far away for us ), and the prices often deter us because we also have to add in exchange rates, taxes and import duty…. Makes an already expensive play set just ridiculous! But that of course doesn’t deter my daughter who adores looking at the catalogs. The crazy part is…. I already bought several of these items! I too found the Easter bubble gum eggs in those great little cartons at the dollar store. I saw the Easter eggs at Michaels, and was actually looking to download the 40% coupon to get some resin. And I bought those great little nail art mini jars as well to make a salt and pepper set… Now I know what to do with the leftover jars! Bravo on a fabulous play kit! I am off to make our version now…. 😉
My daughter also asked why Kit is wearing pink. But, she loved the egg decorating set. Now we can have one. The dolls seem to be slowly turning into Barbie dolls. Thanks for sharing.
So cute
Brandy – you rock! For dye cups, use little clear plastic paint pots (usually several linked together) with the paint-it-yourself crafts. Paint runs out or dries out. Cut the plastic links & use for the dye cups. After Easter, pop the lids on & with the color resin, they’re jello cups for dolls’ lunch boxes. Extras are doll size containers or cover lids with fabric as jam jars.
That is incredible!! I would really like to do this, it would be sooo fun!!!
Brandy – I love the chocolate bunnies. I had been trying to figure out how to make some. I’ve never used oven baked clay but my daughter and I tried it out last night. But I think I messed up because there was some cornstarch on the bunnies after I took them out of the mold and after I baked them it won’t come off. I can’t decide if I should try and paint over them or just start over. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Beyond cool! Thank you for sharing.
Did you spray the chocolate bunnies with a protective coating?
Thanks
This is a really neat idea. I completely agree about Kit’s dress and would purchase the set if it came as jus the accessories. Her summer dress looks more like an Easter dress. I will definitely have to try this.
Thank you for posting this I just bought clay to make chocolate rabbits for my daughter’s dolls and was trying to figure out what to use so the clay wouldn’t stick to the chocolate molds 🙂
I had the same trouble as Christine – the bunnies kept the cornstarch coating (which I did try to get off as much as possible before baking). I would also like to know if there’s any way to avoid this in the future, since I had a hard time getting the clay out of the mold even with a generous dusting of cornstarch (it was impossible to get them out intact with a very light dusting).
I’m not complaining, though – just curious. This set is fantastic, and my kids are going to love it, even if the “chocolates” look like they’re getting a little old and dried out. 🙂