Caramel Apple Tutorial - Halloween Idea-ology Candy Shoppe

I just love all of the 2020 Halloween Idea-ology releases don't you? So much fun! As I looked over all of it I was trying to decide what I wanted to do, and surprise, I found myself again inspired by one of my favorite places, Disneyland.  If you have ever visited Disneyland at Halloween you know that they go all out and decorate everything. One of the most colorful, delightful places of all is Marcelline's candy shop in Downtown Disney followed closely by the Candy Palace on Main Street in Disneyand Park. I visit them often during the season not just to purchase candy, but to get inspiration for my home decor.  So naturally I decided to create my own fun, colorful Halloween Candy Shoppe.

Today I'm going to just do a tutorial on my favorite Disney snack from the candy stores, the caramel apple. I've take one home on almost every trip for the last 15+ years. So let's start there.

I wanted something beautiful to display my pièce de résistance, so I made a little silver tray out of one of the Ideaology Deco Frames and a piece of Ideaology Mirror Sheet. 

 I cut a piece of the Mirrored Sheet to fit the back of the deco frame. Then peeled off the protective plastic sheeting. The back of the Mirrored Sheet has adhesive on it, but you can peel it off and stick it to some cardstock and then trim it before adhering it to the back of the Deco Frame with Distress Collage Medium. I put it face down and then attached four Ideaology Hitch Fasteners to the back corners of the frame with Distress Collage Medium to serve as feet for the tray. Set this aside to dry.

Next take two of the smallest pumpkins. I painted mine green with Peeled Paint Distress Paint and let dry. 

Then I drilled a tiny hole in the center top of the pumpkin with my Dremmel (I was inspired by Zoe Hillman to get a Dremmel for drilling holes in my Idea-ology projects myelf so I don't have to wait for my husband. It was a great decision!)  

Ok, so once the hole was drilled I cut down a toothpick and glued it into the hole with Distress Collage Medium. Let dry.

Once it is dry, hold the pumpkin apple by the stick and dip it into Vintage Collage Medium like it was a tub of yummy caramel! You want to dip it pretty far up the side of the apple.

Edited in 2024 to add: Vintage Collage Medium has been discontinued. However Tim said that you can tint your own by using a few drops of Distress Ink Reinker. Ranger used Antique Linen. I would stick to something close to that if you want caramel color. If you want chocolate covered you could try a darker brown. Or a red if you were making candy apples. Have fun experimenting!!

Slowly pull it out of the Vintage Collage Medium making sure it is well covered.

Set them on a non-stick mat to dry. This takes a long time so you need to be sure this is off to the side somewhere so you don’t bump it, or do this just before you go to bed. 

Once dry, you will notice that the very inside bottom of the caramel is probably still wet when you pick it up. It's ok. You will probably be dipping them a second time to make sure they look nice and caramelly. So repeat the last step and let them dry again.

Once they look the way you want, I tied a piece of the new black twine from the Halloween Trimmings around the top of each. These pieces were already separated from the original cut. If you unwind the twine you can get three thinner pieces. Each of the thinner pieces are made of three threads. Then carefully lift them off the nonstick mat and you will probably find that the bottom is still a little wet. That is ok, just place them on the tray where you want them and let them dry. They will adhere to the tray that way.

 Originally I made three red caramel apples from the medium sized pumpkins. They look cool, but didn't fit with the color scheme of my candy shoppe, so I set them aside and made the green ones. Don't be surprised if you see them make their way into another project sometime.

I thought it would be really fun to show you how a different color and different size looks.

The only thing different here is the size of the pumpkin and the color of the paint I used. The rest of the technique is exactly the same.

Make sure that you dip the apple in far enough that most of the apple is covered.

You can see how the Collage Medium clings to the pumpkin. You might need to scrape some off the bottom as you take it out by scraping it on the inside of the container. Not too much, just a little.

They look awesome wet,  but because the red is dark, as the Collage Medium dries, the caramel turns almost a chocolae color.

I think I dipped the red ones at least three times. They are super cute, but just didn't fit this project. 

I hope that tutorial was clear enough that you can make your own caramel apples for your projects. 

Have fun and please tag me if you make some so I can see yours.

Tami

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