DIY: Mini Cake Stand

Having a Spring / Easter / ANY party?  Love cake stand DIYs?  Shaken Together's blog has an absolutely adorable mini cake stand that we don't think they could have made easier if they had tried!  We love the simplicity, but the beauty of this project.  

Be sure to head to their blog for more info and more DIY!

I purchased two inexpensive sets of solid colored dishes - one granny smith apple green and one black - inverted the cereal bowls, attached the dinner plates with scrapbooking glue dots (super sticky and easily removed) and my cake plates were born!! 

Here they are in action - sorry, this was the first picture I could find without digging out my CD of hundreds of pictures! 

We made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with home made buttercream and offered chocolate jimmies, green sugar, coconut and mini chocolate chips ... it was a hit!

 

These would be sweet made with thrift store finds for a Mothers' Day tea, heritage dishes for an anniversary party or fun brightly colored mix & match plates and bowls for your kiddo's birthday party ... use the coffee mugs and salad/dessert plates for smaller cake stands with a little more quirky character :)  The best part is that they can be whipped up in a pinch and stored easily!
Hope you were inspired to {try this}!  And hope you want to hang around a while!  There are lots of ways to follow along ... check out my side bar.  I'm hosting a weekly Pinterest link party, too - scroll up to the top to stop by this week's party!  And I'll be sharing the amazing brownie recipe pictured above in the very near future ... you definitely don't want to miss it!

DIY: Eggnog Cupcakes with Spiced Rum

Baker's Royale has made a picture look so delicious we wish we could eat two dimensional objects!!  These look unreal.  We know that our frosting will not look this amazing, but if they taste anything remotely like they look we couldn't be happier...

  

Makes 24 cupcakes | Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffins tins with cupcake liners.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• ¾ cup eggnog
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spice Rum Buttercream:

• 5 large egg whites
• 11/2 cup sugar
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, diced and softened
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup spiced rum

Instructions:

To make cupcake:

1. Measure out flour and set aside.
2. Add sugar and butter in a bowl and cream on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs in 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the eggnog and vanilla to start. Mix after addition until incorporated-do not overbeat.
3. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer cupcakes from tins to cooling rack. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

To make Spice Rum Buttercream:

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed over simmering water. Bring mixture to 160 degrees F while whisking constantly.
2. Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium  high speed (speed 8 on a KitchenAid stand mixer) until mixture cools and doubles in volume and forms stiff peaks; about 10-12 minutes).
3. Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled looking at first-this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again.
4. Add salt and spiced rum and mix to combine.

 

DIY: Folded Cupcake Liner Flower

Muffin Tin Mom has captured our hearts with this tutorial that turns everyday cupcake liners into adorable flowers.  We just can't get enough of paper flowers, and these are right on par with that idea.  She has TONS of other tutorials, so check it out!

After school when she came home, she wanted to make one of her very own folded cupcake liner flower. So, we did. I was very careful to explain how hot glue works. It was definitely a moment I will never forget as I remember the first time I used a hot glue gun with my mom. We worked together to create her flower, folding the muffin liners around a paper circle and adding a button.



Proud of her work.



I attached an alligator clip to the back using hot glue, so she could put it in her hair.




If there was a bonus, it would be that the pack of muffin liners was $1 at Dollar Tree. The clips were around $2.99 at Michaels (without a coupon), so with the items I had on hand, this project was around $2-4.

I cannot take credit for this idea. I was inspired by a several posts:

• I remember seeing the most adorable fabric pinwheel flowers from my friend Karissa at Triple Tasking.
• I also remember seeing how Amy of Living Locurto used muffin liners last year in her Valentine’s Family Craft Challenge.
• To make the leaves for the flowers, I cut them like the petals for my paper flower tutorial.

DIY: Cupcake Ornaments

Keeping with our holiday theme from yesterday - we believe in prepping for the holiday early so there is less stress - we would love to share this tutorial from Goldiloks: Jacktress of all Trades on how to make Cupcake Ornaments.  They are adorable, easy and cheap! You all should know by now that this makes us love it all the more. =)

These adorable cupcake ornaments were partly inspired by the lovelies over at Bake it Pretty & my fave blog Prudent Baby even made some. I tweeked them slightly and used actual miniature ornaments and white paint ( you guys know I can't leave my paint behind!) Also, I opted to use regular hooks instead of twine or ribbon. You could choose which ever you like better. Ready?

what you'll need:

1. mini cupcake liners

2. painted and glittered/ snow flocked ornaments (simply paint "frosting" and dip it into glitter or fake snow while the paint is still wet)

3. berries (you can buy these from Micheals, about .75)

4. glue gun (excuse the grossness lol)

Now this is SUPER EASY. ready? k.

1. glue the bottom of the ornament to the cupcake liner (I like to glue mine at a slight slant)

2. Snip a few of the berries from their branch, set aside. Apply a tinybit of glue next to the top, and place the "cherry" (berry) on the glue. Let set & dry. 

Your all done! You can either at a ribbon to hang it from or simply use a regular ornament hook. Easy right? Now go make hundreds of them to give away or adorn your tree. ;D

DIY: Dollar Store Candle Makeover

We love dollar store shopping, despite its dangerousness since we have ZERO self control in there....

But thanks to Banman Land's blog, we'll have some direction on what we want to buy next time we go!  We love being able to jazz up our dollar store finds, and they've done a wonderful job with these number candles!  So easy, so quick, but so very cute!

Ok, I have revamped a few Dollar Store candles and gotten a lot of questions and comments so I thought I'd talk you all through it.

Here's what Maddie's birthday candle looked like when I bought it.

Kinda predictable.

I grabbed some glittery puff paint

{not to be confused with glitter glue}

I stuck all sorts of cute buttons and tiny rhinestones in the inside of the outline with the puff paint.

{If I hadn't liked the teal outline for my party theme, I would have re-outlined it with my sparkly puff paint)

I let it dry for an hour

{at least}

After it was dry,

I gently stuck a toothpick into the bottom of the candle.

Here's what it looked like when I got finished with it.

{oops, this is BEFORE the toothpick but you can imagine what that would look like, right?}

DIY: Felt Flower Cupcake Toppers

Soooo, we don't really need an excuse to eat cupcakes on the regular, but hey...it doesn't hurt to have an excuse anyways, right?!  It's good to know that The Proper Pinwheel shares our affinity for all things sweet.  This fantastical cupcake tutorial speaks to us in so many ways.

To make your own you’ll need:

• Felt (9 x 11 inches)
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Toothpicks

Cut 3 x 9 inch strips.

Fold the strips in half lengthwise and cut (starting at the folded side!) 3/4 of the way to the edge.

Repeat the whole way down the strip.

Once it’s all cut, pull the top half to the right 1/4 inch.

Start at the right end and roll it up as tight or as loose as you would like. Use small drops of hot glue to secure it along the way.

Put a little drop of hot glue on one end of a toothpick and stick it inside the flower. Pinch the bottom tight until the glue dries, and you’re done! Stick these little flowers in the tops of your cupcakes and admire the cuteness.

Collapsible Cupcake & Cake Carrier 

DIY: Bakers Twine Tea Cakes / Cupcakes

Okay, so I realize that this tutorial from Sweet C's Designs is meant for kids, but I want one for me!  These are so beautiful and simple who wouldn't love them??  They look like they take just a few minutes to whip up and we love things that are cute and time friendly.

First, you’ll need Styrofoam balls, bakers twine, mod podge, appliques, and cupcake liners/cups.

To start your cupcake’s swirl pattern, it is easiest to hold it in your hands, pinching the swirl to stay put as you build it up.

Once it is bigger than a quarter, you can glue your circle of twine to the top of your Styrofoam ball with some mod podge, and continue to wrap the twine in a circular fashion around the ball.

When you’ve wrapped the ball almost all the way down, mod podge the end of the twine to the ball, and add a healthy dollop of mod podge to the bottom of the ball.

Place in cupcake wrapper/cup and let dry.