Pastel Rainbow Unicorn Pretzel Rods - Perfect Unicorn Party Favors

I saw a picture of these on Pinterest and I loved them so much!!  I had never worked with candy melt before but I gathered all the recommended supplies and it went very smoothly.  

Supply List:

Pretzel Rods

Bright White Candy Melts (I used two packages - 24 oz.)

Wilton Garden Candy Color Set (pink, green and violet used)

Wilton Gold Stars Edible Accents

Wilton Primary Candy Colors Set (orange, yellow and blue used)

Tall Dipping Containers

Disposable Candy Piping Bags

toothpicks

small mixing bowls

parchment paper

Using one of the disposable "tall" containers, I melted one package of plain white candy melts in the microwave, following the package instructions.

Then I put them in the fridge to harden.  I tried putting them on a cooling rack and directly on parchment paper and they turned out about the same.

I divided the other package of bright white candy melts equally into 6 small microwavable containers.  Then I melted them following package instructions, one at a time and then added drops of candy coloring with a toothpick.  I started with one drop, but almost all the colors, even though I wanted pastel colors, I used quite a few drops.  After I piped each color on, I sprinkled the gold star sprinkles on.

For the purple, I used the violet color and added 1 drop of blue to get the color I wanted.

Pink

Orange (peachy color)

Yellow

Green

It was pretty easy to use the disposable bags.  You just add the colored candy to the bags and cut the tops off.  Then you can throw them away after use.

Blue

I LOVED how pretty and rainbow and pastel and starry they turned out!! (So I took plenty of pictures! LOL)

Tissue Paper Tassel Garland

Tassel garlands have been a thing for several years now - but I've never made one before and I will admit, I never realized they were made out of tissue paper. It's such an affordable way to make a party decoration! (Especially considering Dollar Tree has a pack of several colors for, well, a dollar.) I read a bunch of tutorials and for some reason I had trouble visualizing how to make these, so hopefully I captured each step to help you visualize.

Buy all the colors you want - I got a pack of pastels from Dollar Tree and several other colors from Hobby Lobby.  The one color I couldn't get locally was pastel orange - I bought a normal orange from HL but I decided not to use it because it's too harsh of a color next to the others.  I wish I had planned ahead a little and gotten a pack like this:

Inspiration Pic:

STEP 1:  Pull out one sheet of tissue paper and spread it out in front of you (Mine was 15x20, so that is the numbers I'll reference, but any size will work, the tassels may be fuller or longer with larger sizes) the 15 inch side directly in front of you.

STEP 2: Fold in half, bringing the two 15" edges together.  If your fold is on the bottom (like in my pic below), flip it so that it's at the top now.

STEP 3: Now fold in half the other way, bringing the two 10" sides together.

STEP 4:  Cut off the edge pictured below.  So the top should remain a fold, but the bottom and two edges should be loose sheet edges.

 STEP 5: Measure about 1.5 inches at the top and do not cut through this fold.  I left my ruler in place so I wouldn't cut further than I should.

STEP 6: Cut approximately 1/4 inch strips, starting at the bottom and going up to your ruler (1.5 inches from the top).  I tried using scissors and my rotary cutter and the cutter probably went faster.

 STEP 7: Unfold and spread out tissue paper like below.

 STEP 8: Roll up the center.

 STEP 9: Twist the center tightly.

STEP 10: Bend the twisted part to make a loop.  Some people say you should glue together, some people say wrap a piece of tape or cord around to hold the loop together, but for me, neither was necessary.  I kind of twisted the base of the loop together and it held.

Here is one evening of work!  I think they're so adorable!

Check back in the next few weeks to see the garland in use at my niece's Unicorn Birthday Party!  

Anna Hair Ribbons

My oldest niece Hadley is 5 and throughout the year, when she saw something in a store or on TV that she wanted, her mom said, "let's put it on your Christmas list."  Which led to an adorable Christmas list!  Here are some of the things I found adorable:

safari jungle hat

green Anna ribbon

fancy Kleenexes

binoculars

picnic basket

I decided I wanted to make the "green Anna ribbon" for her stocking.  I knew she meant Anna from Frozen, so I looked up a picture of Anna's hair from the movie.

Once I saw this picture, I went to Hobby Lobby to figure out how to best re-create it.  I found these sparkly bow hair accessories and got several colors of green ribbon.

I cut the ribbon to the appropriate lengths and burned each end with a lighter.  This prevents fraying.

Then I hot glued the ribbons to the back of the bow.

Finally I designed packaging for the gift - a little card to clip it onto.  

And I found this super helpful tutorial for Anna's hairstyle.