Cupcakes

I wanted to make a thank you gift for about 20 people that were volunteering their time for one of our MOPS events. And I needed an excuse to bake and get it out of my house fast so I wouldn't eat it!

That's how this was born:

 These are some of my favorite cupcakes to make. They are from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. White cupcakes with a Strawberry Meringue Buttercream frosting. YUM! Find the reipe for both cake and frosting here.

 To make the toothpick flags you just need toothpicks and cardstock. I, of course, had to stamp mine! I used SP & Company's Ultimate Sentiments II set and Mix 'n Match Sentiments: Friends. I just love these stamps. They have so many possibilites to mix and match! The stamps are small enough to fit on the flag and yet bold enough to stand out.

 One side of the flag said "Thank You" and the other said "You are Super Sweet"!

I cut cardstock into long strips just long and wide enough for the stamps. Sorry, I didn't write down any measurements. After I stamped I cut out the notch and inked the edges in yellow. Then I applied glue and wrapped around the toothpick.

Now came the tricky part. I wanted these all individually wrapped so each volunteer could carry it home and keep it covered in the process. But I wanted a container that was both clear (so the cupcakes could be seen) and that was tall enough to allow for the flag. I didn't have time to custom make 20 boxes. The only premade cupcake boxes in my town were the Wilton ones at Wal-Mart that were neither very cute nor would fit the flags. The only bakery in town is at Safeway and I begged them for ideas. And the brilliant lady there showed me these boxes that they use to sell caramel apples in. Brilliant!! Clear and tall! And only 50 cents each.

So I wrapped each one with a bright spring-colored bow and tucked in a little thank you card containing a small gift card.

 Tada!

These are guaranteed to make them ooh and ahhh. : )

Thanks for stopping by. For more inspiration using SP stamps stop by the blog at http://sp.thescrapmaster.com/.

I have another post there today showing you how to make this pop-up card:

Neighbor gifts...with recipes!

 I finally got around to baking a couple of our new neighbors some welcoming gifts.

Again.

We ate the first batch.
: )

They each got a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and Lemon Poppyseed loaf.

I wrapped each loaf in parchment paper and then wrapped with some patterned papers. The wrappers I made were about 4"x12" and ended up being perfect to go around the loaf. I just taped it on the bottom and then tied some twine to secure it. Oh, and made a little tag so they'd know what they were eating.

I was in such a hurry to finish these so they could be delivered while still fresh and while there was still daylight outside and before we could eat them again! Well, I put the wrappers on before I stamped them. Then I was too lazy to take them off. So... I stamped the sentiment onto the soft bread. Not my best idea! But it mostly worked : )

 Please forgive any smudges!

I stamped the word Welcome from the Ultimate Sentiments II set. It actually says Welcome Baby but I didn't ink up the Baby part.

Then I used Mix 'n Match Sentiments: Basics for the FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS part.

Whew! They also got a cute little card but I didn't get a photo of that.

Here are the recipes in case you're interested!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)

1 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz sour cream

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 1/4 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips, give or take

Cream butter and sugar until blended. Mix in eggs. Add banana, vanilla, and sour cream and mix well. Combine oats, flour, soda, and powder and then slowly add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

1 box of lemon cake mix (standard 18.25 oz size)

1 box instant lemon pudding (3.4 oz)

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, and eggs. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Stir in poppy seeds. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes. Combine lemon juice and sugar. Brush all over warm loaf

ENJOY!

For more inspiration using SP stamps head over to the blog at http://sp.thescrapmaster.com/.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Halloween!

Since I haven't crafted in over a week I've been itcing to post something. So here are some baked crafts we made for my son's preschool Halloween party:

These spiders are covered in dark chocolate frosting and then rolled in a mix of black sprinkles and black edible glitter. We stuck in black twizzler legs and m&m eyes.

For the pumpkins we piped on orange frosting and added pieces of green twizzlers for the stem. The tendrils were made using the same twizzler cut into then strips, coiled and stuck into the frosting.

Mummies! Cupcakes were smoothed in white frosting. We added m&m eyes, piped on black pupils, and added a candy fruit slice for the mouth. Then with a straight tip pipe on the bandages.

Nothing fancy or too much work because they are preschoolers and wouldn't appreciate anything more intricate!

 

And I wanted to share the costume I made for the baby. He was Jack-Jack from The Incredibles!

I took a red sleeper (which is his brother's old one and still way too big for him!). I covered the blue collar and cuffs with black felt that I stitched on. For the logo I drew it out onto paper and cut it out to make a template. I cut out the pieces of yellow felt and glued them onto a black oval. I pulled out my scrapbooking supplies and used chalk to add some orange to fade into the outer yellow pieces, which now that I look at it you can't see it too well in this photo. I sewed on a couple pieces of velcro to attach over the zipper and still be able to get it off. I even made a super cute little black mask. He let me measure it by holding it up to his face several times to make sure it was the right size. But then when it came time to actually wear it he wanted NOTHING to do with it. The little monster. It would have been SOOOO cute. But I was able to spike his hair like Jack-Jack at least. : )