DIY Cupcake Liner String Lights

Cupcake Liner Lights have been popping up all over different website and blogs; and I was always impressed by how simple, yet awesome they looked.

The other day, while I was getting things together for my booth at Castroville Market Days next month, I decided that a string of cupcake liner lights would be the perfect addition to my table!

All I needed was a string of Christmas lights (I found a small strand with 10 lights on it) and enough cupcake liners to cover each one.

 To get the liners onto to lights, just gently push the bulb through the bottom of the paper.

 And that's it!

In five minutes, I took a string of lights that was going to collect dust until next Christmas, and transformed it into a really neat light fixture, perfect for any baking (or cupcake) enthusiast's kitchen!

DIY Birthday Cupcake Picks & Cake Banner

The upside to the profession I have chosen for my life, (baker, in case you were wondering) is that I get to be creative everyday and make things that are pretty and people can enjoy... the downside is that when you are trying to start your own baking business, things can get pretty expensive.

I have been racking my brain trying to come up with a way to cut down on some costs, without loosing any of the quality of work (and just FYI, I am a perfectionist when it comes to the work I do for other people).

During my search, I have come across numerous websites and examples of people making their own decorations for their cupcakes and cakes; and while I am by no means an expert at crafting, I can pull together a few "crafty" things if I set my mind to it..

To make these Birthday Cupcake Picks and a "Happy Birthday" Cake Banner, I used:

• Wax Paper
• Scissors
• Super Glue
• Scrap-booking Stickers, I got mine from Wal-Mart
• Wooden beads, also from Wal-Mart
• Wooden Skewers
• Toothpicks
• String/twine/ribbon, etc. (pictured is black ribbon, but I didn't like how it was working out so I switched to twine)

The whole process is quick and easy and I did 25 picks and 1 banner in about 15 minutes.

For the picks, I just pulled off the sticker cover and glued the toothpick onto it.  Make sure you do this on top of wax paper because the glue might drip and that would be bad... I used super glue because I liked that when it dries you can't see it at all and because it's such a strong glue, I know the designs wont fall off into the cake!  Let the picks dry complete before you try to pick them up, or the glue may drip down the toothpick and that's how you get fingers glued to things...

For the banner, I measured out how much string/twine/etc. I wanted to use and strung "Happy Birthday" in block letters onto it.  Then I knotted the twine and put a dab of glue to hold it in place.  I left it looking sort of plain that way I could add ribbons, etc. to match whatever theme I was making it for.

And the final product...

So now that I know how easy it is to make my own cupcake toppers, I am really excited to try out more designs!  Hopefully you like what you see and are inspired to try your hand at making your own cupcake and cake toppers!

DIY Crafts: Salt Dough

One of my favorite obsessions, and to be honest I have so many it gets hard to keep track, but one of my favorites is Pinterest!  I've had an account with them for a little while now, but so far I had only "Liked" or "Re-pinned" about a million things and had not even attempted any of the numerous DIY crafts that I had spent so many hours looking at! (I would like to add, that I have tried plenty of recipes so far, but no crafts! Just clarifying)

I knew something needed to been done about that immediately and I also knew that I wanted to blog about it.. in came my first Pinterest inspired craft:  Salt Dough Ornaments

It had everything I liked to blog about: baking, food ingredients, cute stuff.. but it was also a fun, easy to do craft!

If you are bored and you like to bake, this is a neat thing to do that doesn't require a lot of skill (thank goodness!)  You just need three ingredients to get started!

Salt Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

1 cup Salt

1 cup water

For the Supplies:

Rolling Pin

Stamps and Ink

Cookie Cutters

Spatula

Sand Paper

Directions:

In a bowl, add the flour...

the salt and the water.

Knead the mixture together until the dough forms.  It will feels grainy and very different from what you are use to!  It is because of the WHOLE cup of salt!

Roll out your dough to about 1/4 in. thickness.

Cut out your design: I choose a cupcake cookie cutter my husband got me for Christmas...

I also cut out a heart.. just because!

Since this was all just experimental anyway, I decided to try stamping a couple of the "ornaments".

The next step was where I had trouble, after I made, rolled and cut out the dough, I read the rest of the directions.  You are suppose to bake the ornaments at 200 degrees for 6 hours.

 

Well, I decided to try and cut that time down, so I baked them for 1 hour at 200 and then cranked the oven up to 400 degrees for another 2 hours or so.

While the ornaments turned out okay, some of them were a little puffed up in the middle, and I think that was because I cooked them too high.

After you take them out of the oven, let them cool.  Take a piece of sandpaper or a sturdy file and file down the rough edges.

 

So, if you plan on wasting away the afternoon doing something crafty, this project doesn't let you down; just make sure you have enough time to do it right!

I still have to paint the little guys (everyone keeps asking me if they are little houses, so I definitely need to paint them to make them look like cupcakes!), but I still have to go into town to get some pretty paint... 

If I get a chance to do it soon, I'll post the pictures, but I also think with a little clear varnish and a pretty ribbon hanger, they could be neat just the way they are...