AN ORNAMENTAL BLIZZARD

My department at work does an ornament exchange every year for Christmas. The tradition has been going on for over 12 years, and I was really excited to be a part of it this year. I love my coworkers, they are fun, have common sense, they're funny and we all get along really well. It makes my job 10 times better having great people to work with.

In November we posted 5 things that we liked for everyone to see so that, when we drew names, people would have ideas of what to look for in an ornament for their specific person. The girl's name that I drew works a few cubicles over from me, her name is Lanaya and she is hilarious. I don't remember what all was on her list, but the first thing that stood out to me was "cookie dough Blizzards from Dairy Queen". Not only had I found a new best friend to go get ice cream with, but I also immediately knew what I was going to get (actually make) for her ornament.

I wanted her to have a life-size Blizzard that she could hang from her tree! I went to Dairy Queen and asked for an empty Blizzard cup and of course I had to order a cookie dough Blizzard for myself to do some, um....research. Once I got home I used Sculpey clay to make the ice cream part of the Blizzard. If you've never made anything with Sculpey, I highly recommend it: its a plyable clay (like play dough) that stays soft until you bake it. The best thing about it is that you can get pretty detailed with it and if it gets too soft you can just put your piece in the fridge for a little bit to stiffen it back up. Once you bake it, it hardens and becomes paintable. So once I had sculpted and baked by top piece, I coated it with a layer of white, then painted on some cookie dough pieces.

I used a drill to make the hole in the center for the ribbon and this is what the ice cream top looked like:

And once the top part was placed inside the cup...it was finished!

BONUS: Since the cup is held on to the clay by suction, it can be removed. For our ornament exchange party I hid a Blizzard "gift card" inside of the cup so she could go out right after work and get the real thing!

I'd love to host an ice cream party and make a bunch of these as take-home gifts. Who's up for celebrating anything with ice cream?!?!?!