Maryland Cupcake Toppers

Tomorrow we are going to the UMD vs. Towson football game. I am a proud Terp alum, but most of the people at the game are going to be from Towson. I offered to bring the cupcakes and clearly I need to represent for my school! Here's how I made the cupcake toppers for these cupcakes (and the ones in the previous post). First, collect your supplies:

1. Candy melts
2. Microwavable mug
3. Pastry bag
4. Silpat (or waxed paper)
5. Your design drawn out on a piece of paper (Or free hand it. Depends on if you want consistency or not.)




Put the pastry bag in the microwavable mug and fill it about halfway with the candy melts. Follow the directions on the bag for melting them - the kind I used said to melt for 30 seconds at a time on half power. After the first 60 seconds, mine were still not completely melty and squeezable, so I put them back in for another 15 seconds. That was perfect.

Once the candy melts are at the right consistency, put your Silpat or waxed paper over your drawing and just start tracing. I started off tracing the Maryland "M," but didn't like how it was turning out so I free handed most of them. They are definitely NOT consistent, but I like them anyway. If you want to do small words, like Terps, make sure your piping is thick - the thicker it is, the less it will break.

Once you have filled your Silpat or paper, let them fully set before you start to remove them. I stuck the first set in the fridge, but let the rest set at room temperature and didn't really find a difference in the two. When they are fully set, they won't be shiny anymore. To remove, carefully lift up the Silpat or waxed paper and peel it away from the design.

No matter how careful I am, I always tend to break some, so make sure to pipe extra of anything you really want!

Once you have your toppers, make your cupcakes, frost them, and show your school spirit!

GO TERPS!

Celebration of Life Cupcakes

My friend Cindy had a Celebration of Life party this past weekend. Two weeks ago she celebrated her Leukemia being in remission for five years and this week she turns 30. I couldn't make the party, but I offered to make cupcakes for her. I made four different flavor combinations of cake and frosting and made different toppers to honor the two different achievements.

To make the toppers, I bought candy melts in purple (one of her favorite colors) and orange (Leukemia color). I put the candy melts in a pastry decorating bag and then microwaved them until they were melty. I free handed the ribbons, some hearts and some 30's. With the hearts and the 30's, I put some squiggly lines under them to stick them into the frosting. Because this was a special occasion, I bought some purple luster dust and orange edible glitter. I mixed the luster dust with some vanilla extract and painted it on once the candy melts had solidified. I sprinkled the glitter on the ribbons while they were still melty.


And yes, melty is totally a word.

To make the cupcakes, I followed a very complicated recipe.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1. Buy a box of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix.
2. Follow the directions for making cupcakes.

I topped the chocolate cupcakes with a Vanilla Buttercream (tinted teal) or a Peanut Butter Buttercream. I just use a basic buttercream recipe that is 2 cups powdered sugar to 1 stick of butter. For the peanut butter buttercream, I used 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup butter, and 2 cups powdered sugar.



Strawberry Cupcakes
1. Buy a box of Betty Crocker white cake mix.
2. Follow directions for making cupcakes with this exception: wash a few strawberries and puree them. I used my Magic Bullet Blender and ended up with about a cup of strawberry puree. The cake mix called for 1 1/4 cups of water so I added water to the puree until I had 1 1/4 cups. Other than that, I followed the directions on the box.

I frosted the strawberry cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream or Lemon Buttercream. To make the Lemon, I added defrosted frozen lemonade concentrate to the basic buttercream recipe and added more powdered sugar until the frosting was the consistency I wanted.

I am so glad to I got to make these cupcakes to celebrate Cindy and her awesomeness.

I am glad she's cancer free.

And I'm glad she's finally old like me. =)


Happy Celebration of Life, Cindy!

Paper Angels

A team of ladies in our church are walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk starting tomorrow. I'm going into DC tomorrow to cheer them on and wanted to give them something to let them know that we are with them while they walk. So I thought these little paper angels might help!

They were simple to make - I actually got to work half an hour early today and did it while I waited for our staff meeting to start. =P

To begin with, I cut a piece of paper into a quarter circle with a radius of about 2 inches. Curl the paper into a cone and tape it together. (Or glue if you have patience, which I do not.) Then I twisted the top of the cone (the pointed part) and stuck a wooden bead on it with some Tacky Glue. To make the wings, cut out a heart and glue it on to the back of the cone. I had pink pipe cleaners on hand so I made halos and stuck them in with a bit of glue. I drew on the faces with permanent markers and then when the glue had dried on the wings, I glued a pin back on.

I am very proud of these ladies and all they are doing. I am especially proud of Amanda, who is a Junior in high school and walking with her mom, a breast cancer survivor and the woman who put the team together. Hopefully the weather clears up and they have a great three days!

Flower Wands

Photo copyright Melissa Arroyo Photography

My husband and I got married this summer and we were lucky enough to have his cousin and my best friend's two daughters as our flower girls. In order to honor both of our faith traditions, we had two ceremonies in one day and neither church allowed us to sprinkle flower petals. I wasn't sure how long small bouquets would last with these girlies (ages 5, 3 1/2, and almost 2!) so I decided "Fairy Princess Wands" would be a cute idea. I spent a year scouring craft fairs, Renaissance Fairs, and toy stores looking for the right wands, but I just didn't find anything I liked. Finally, I decided to just make them myself.

This project was super easy and I think it turned out super cute. I bought everything at AC Moore and I think I spent about $15 total.

Supplies:
-Wooden dowels for wand "stems" (I choose flat balsa wood because I thought it would be easier to glue than round ones)
-Wooden cut outs - I used flowers, but they have all kinds of shapes
-ribbon - our wedding colors were purple and green and I added an iridescent color ribbon for sparkle
-acrylic paint
-glue (I used Gorilla Glue but anything that works with wood and fabric would work)

To start with, I took an old nail file and sanded down the edges of the flat dowels to make sure there would be no splinters. Then I painted the dowels and the flower shapes. (My bridesmaids were carrying carnations that were edged in color, so I tried to paint the flowers to mimic that.) Cut the ribbon to the lengths you want and when everything is dry, you can assemble it. I did it in this order: flower shape, ribbons, dowel, ribbons, flower shape.

My favorite part about these wands is that the girls were able to take them home as both a memory of being in our wedding and a new toy to play with!

First Post

I'm sure most of you have heard of Pintrest. It's my new obsession. I love to look at what other people have found and posted on their DIY or Crafty pin boards. I also love to look at decorated cakes, cupcakes and cookies and drool over both how delicious they look and how beautiful they are.

I have been inspired by so many pins that I've seen and they all make me want to OMG GO OUT AND MAKE ALL THE THINGS!!!

However, I am (1) cheap, (2) financially limited, and (3) not crafty. I started this blog to show my attempts at being crafty in simple and cheap ways and my sad, sad attempts to decorate baked goods half as well as the pros!

I plan on having a lot of fun in all of my attempts and I hope you enjoy it as well!