Fun Chrismas tree cupcakes!

OMG, I visited Bakerella to see she had the cutest cupcake idea! I'll just stop right there and give the specs: (this is taken straight from the site)

To decorate, you’ll need:

Cupcakes
Sugar Cones
White Candy Melts
White Sugar crystals
Frosting
Pink Sugar crystals
Candy Canes
Fondant
Icing colors (I used Wilton Dusty Rose & )
Snowflake Sprinkles
Confetti Sprinkles

• Cut off ends of the sugar cones, so the tree section is around 3 inches long. Use a serrated knife to carefully saw through without shattering the cone.
• Dip cone sections in melted white candy coating. If you use a tall plastic cup, it will be easier to coat the entire cone.
• Remove and let excess coating fall off.
• Sprinkle white sugar crystals or sanding sugar over entire surface of the cone. Sprinkle over a large bowl and you can reuse the sprinkles.
• Set on wax paper to dry completely. When dry, you can redip the bottoms to make sure the cone is completely coated.
• Use 6 inch long candy canes and break the handles off so you are left with a straight piece that’s around 5 inches.
• Cover cupcakes with tinted pink frosting.
• Fill a small dish with the pink sugar crystals or sanding sugar and press cupcake tops into the dish until the entire surface is covered with sugar cyrstals.
• Dip one end of the candy cane in some of the melted candy coating and insert the other end straight into the cupcake.
• Place a Christmas Tree on top of the candy cane and let the candy coating dry and work like a glue.
• If you want decorations, it would be a good idea to add them before you attach the tree. Just dot a small amount of coating on the surface and attach a colored sprinkle.
• For presents, tint white fondant and shape the fondant into small squares by hand. Then use some of the white fondant, roll it out and use a knife to cut thin strips for ribbon. Attach the white fondant ribbon to the presents with a small dab of water. Then attach the snowflake sprinkles the same way.
• Remember, use dense cupcakes instead of light and fluffy ones so the trees will not want to tip.
• Or skip the candy canes, use the entire sugar cone and make big trees. Then you won’t have to worry.

Either way… enjoy!

P.S. The baking cups are from confectioneryhouse.com in case you’re wondering,

Read More

Ich bin ein Berwyner....Maybe one day I'll mean it!

With the housing market in the dumps, we now have the opportunity to possibly purchase a modest home! Everywhere we look 'round the Chicagoland area, many towns still think they're awesome and can ask for your 1st born in order to reside in a home in their town...except Berwyn...A lovely town surrounded by historic Riverside designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and the over-taxed, but quaint, Oak Park. The other 2 towns arent really worth mentioning. Anyways, Berwyn may one day be our home and in that home I would love to proudly display this awesome print above by unlesssomeonelikeyou to comemmorate the fallen sculpture; The Spindle...whose demise came at the hands of a new Walgreens. Bah! Those are all over - there was only ONE Spindle... Here it was standing in Cermak Plaza

Read More

How To: Glittery Owl Hair Clip Holder

My daughter has a bunch of hair clips that always end up lost since there is no good place for her to store them. I had the idea of making her a cute clip holder out of my glitter vinyl and thought I'd git'r done since X-mas is fast approaching and time is running out. SO ...If you have any girls to make gifts for this Christmas, here is a fun one! This takes about 20 minutes AND no sewing is required!

FIRST, you will need your tools:

• The owl template, all cut out (its best to print it on card stock!)
  
• Scissors (good sharp ones)
  
• Hot glue gun (low heat is what I use)
  
• Glitter Vinyl
  
• Spool of ribbon
  

Now, turn the vinyl to the backside and trace all the pieces on the color you're using for each body part. Cut each one out.

Once you have all your pieces cut out, arrange them however you like. I added a few more things that are not in the template - the scalloped 'feathers' on the belly and 2 more medium sized circles to add on the eyes. Of course you can add whatever other embellishments you like.

Carefully take your hot glue gun - make sure its plugged in ;) and glue the face on first, then 'feathers' if you make them, then wings last. Take about 2 feet of ribbon, cut it in half, flip the owl over (once glue dries) and glue the ribbon to the back and take another 4" of ribbon, make a loop and hot glue it to the back of the top so you have a way to hang it up. Done!

Now to wrap it up or hang and put it to some use!

Read More

Family Trees: The Many Options!

Creating family trees can be a daunting task, especially for me, who has 16 people on my immediate side alone - that's just parents, siblings and kids..then adding my husbands side is easy since its just 5. But hope exists! Its how creative you can get with it. Here are some great ideas I found around the interwebs that look WAY better than those cheesy ones they had you make in school.
I particularly love this Balloon Family tree - well, I guess its not really a tree, but you get the idea. Its fun for a kids room..or any really. but I'm sure mine would want it in their room. I love that its in a shodow box, which makes it easy to add new additions to the family... we have those a lot!

This literal tree is a bit more sophisticated and grown up. Its great if you have a big family or include more than just immediate members. Its a bit of trickery too since at first glance you probably would not notice what it is exactly until you got up close and personal.

Here is another fun one; simple, geometric, colorful. Great for small-ish families or just condensing yours.
Here is a clever tree that has pics of family members - visualizations are always great. This would be a fun one that you and your little one(s) can do together.

Well, I hope to delve into some Family Tree fun now that I have some inspiration!

Read More

You ARE Lucky; Free Holiday Gift Tags

I simply love the designs and blog of Orange You Lucky! ..and lucky we are since she is kind enough to provide some super cute Holiday gift tags...Just go to her Blog and see how to download them all. I think it would be cool to print them on sticker paper and stick them on your gifts...or print them on heavy card stock, punch a hole and use some cute candy striped twine and attach them to your presents that way. Thank You!

Read More

Announcing: The Giveaway winner is....

After much toil in moderating 200+ comments, and generating a random number and counting the number of comments to get to said random number (if there is a better way to do this please let me know!) I have found the winner!
Congratulations, Erin Compton - you have won!

I would like to thank each and everyone of you who participated..I read thru all the comments and I'm flattered by your sweet compliments, following of the blog here and being a fan of my facebook page. I will try not to disappoint!

Tune in for the next giveaway, it will be from:

Read More