Bejeweled Bottle

Haley’s graduation was almost two weeks ago, but I have now decided to post what I made for her.  I wanted to make a gift that was personal but still was fun.

I bought a Starbucks frappuccino, you know the frappuccinos that come in the bottles, and wanted to make something cute from the bottle.  And, that is where the bejeweled bottle idea came from.

Bottle

After washing the bottle out as many times as possible to get the coffee smell out of it, I was ready to get working on it.  I used the bottle, sticky jewels that you can buy in the scrapbooking section at Michaels, and scissors.  I thought that the easiest way to put the jewels on the bottle was to cut them in rows and stick them on.

Jewels

And then I ran into a small problem.  The jewels didn’t wrap all the way around the bottle like I thought that they would.  They covered about 80% of the bottle, and then had to use other pieces to fill in the rest of the 20%.

bejeweled bottle

After using about six rows of the turquoise color jewels, I decided I wanted to make a ‘H’ out of the white jewels.  I cut out a piece of the white that was 8 jewels across by 16 tall.  I then cut the top and bottom to make a ‘H’ and placed it on the front of the bottle.

H for Haley

H for Haley

My next problem came when I got to the neck of the bottle.  I had to cut the jewels in  single strips to make sure that it didn’t look funny.  But, because the jewels are square and the bottle is round, the jewels stuck up a little.  But from far away, it is hard to tell what the jewels look like on the bottle.

I finally covered the lid of the bottle to complete the bejeweled bottle.  I made a smaller version of the white ‘H’ to place on the top of the lid.

bejeweled bottle 1

And voila!  A bejeweled bottle!

bejeweled bottle

This was very simple and only took me about an hour to complete.  Since the jewels are sticky, it didn’t take long for them to stick to the bottle.  And if you mess up, it is easy to take off and restick.  Let me know if you have tried to use these sticky jewels on a project and how it worked out for you!

sparkle

Starbucks Raspberry Cheesecake Mocha Frappuccino

There are many times where we go into a Starbucks or Jamba Juice and someone orders a drink you had never heard of.  Did you just miss it on the menu?  Or did they just come up with something off the top of their head?

Well…a little bit of both.

These are normally secret menu items.  Items that the restaurant may know how to make, but at the same time, the restaurant may not know how the drink is made.  You can either take a chance on if they know the drink or you can find a recipe online.

Or, I can make it even easier.

Thanks to hackthemenu.com, anyone can see secret items and how they are made.  And I have taken a challenge to try all of these drinks from Starbucks and Jamba Juice and write a review of the drink for you.

This should be fun to see what happens, though it may not be so fun on my wallet.

Raspberry Cheesecake Mocha Frappuccino

raspberry cheescake mocha frapp

Doesn’t this sound absolutely delicious?  Now, I love cheesecake, and I REALLY love raspberry cheesecake, so this drink sounded absolutely perfect for me.

So I walked into my local Starbucks and showed the barista my drink order, and it was made for me.  Now, I give the barista props for actually knowing that my drink was a secret menu item and asking what the name of the drink is.  Thank you for not questioning why I handed you my cell phone saying “I would like to order this”.

This drink not only looked pretty, (because, remember, I’m kind of addicted to pink things) but it tasted good as well.  It was sweet, but not too overpowering where I felt like I needed to take a drink of water to clear my pallet.  But honestly, it wasn’t anything fantastic.

Now, you may be wondering, is this drink based off of the Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino? Couldn’t you just substitute raspberry instead of strawberry and add other flavors like vanilla?”  Um…no.  This drink is actually based off of the White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino.   And to be clear, I didn’t know the White Chocolate Mocha Frapp existed before I ordered this drink.  But I don’t think that you can just substitute raspberry for strawberry…maybe I should try that next time.

So why wasn’t this drink absolutely fantastic like my drinks in past reviews?  I didn’t really get the cheesecake.  I mean, come on.  It’s in the name.  Raspberry Cheesecake Mocha Frappuccino.  I got the raspberry, and I got a little bit of mocha, but I never felt like I was actually drinking the equivalent of eating a raspberry cheesecake while drinking a mocha.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked the drink.  It just was underwhelming.  Would I recommend it?  Yeah, if you want something sweet.  But I wouldn’t order this if you are having a major craving for eating raspberry cheesecake while drinking a mocha.  Just saying.

As I always say, do you have a drink that you have tried from a secret menu?  If so, let me know in the comments.  I would love to try out a secret menu item that I have been recommended.  Check out the other secret menu items that I have reviewed and let me know in the comments if you have tried any of the drinks I have reviewed!

sparkle