Cinderella Cupcakes

Maggie turned 5.

 

It feels like it should be a crime to grow up so fast.  Am I the only mom that wants to freeze time?

 

Last year all she wanted was Shaun the Sheep cupcakes, but her speech delay has improved so much that this year she actually had several requests for her party.

 

1.  Cinderella themed

2.  A long list of boy and girl guests

3.  Cinderella cupcakes with glass "swippas"

 

All three wishes were granted.  

We ended up having a Cinderella Ball.  With actual dancing and turning our house into a ballroom kind of ball.  It was the real deal.  It was basically kid prom and it was amazing.  I have lots of photos to sort through but while I work on that, how about I show you her third wish?

 

 

Cinderella Cupcakes With Glass Slippers!

 

My dear friend Amy helped me make them.  She's pretty amazing when it comes to cupcakes and cute treats.  She can do anything.  Check out her blog, Indulge With Me when you have time because you will get lost over there for days.  These cupcakes were nothing for her, she tackles much more difficult tasks but they were exactly what Maggie wanted so in my mind these were her best work.

I created the slippers from melted almond bark and a candy shoe mold.  I purchased my mold at a local candy supply store for $1.99.  If you don't have one near you, you can find the same one on Amazon HERE and HERE.  If you've never used a candy mold before the process is simple.

 

First you melt your chocolate, melting candy chips or in this case almond bark.  There are several ways to melt them but I just took a few pieces and placed them in a Ziploc bag.  I then microwaved them in 15 second increments, squishing the bag between each increment, until the almond bark was good and melted.  I then cut off a tip of the baggie and squished the melted bark into the mold.  The chocolate settles nicely into the mold and to get a nice clean back I scrape the mold with the back of a butter knife to get any excess chocolate off.

 

The cupcakes themselves are just boxed white cake.  Amy has tricks to make boxed cake incredible on her blog but for these were were going super simple because the kids are only interested in the frosting anyways.  Amy stirred the heck out the the batter which gave it a really light nice texture.  Much better than how mine usually turn out.  The frosting was made with a combination of butter and cream cheese and the dye was 10 drops of neon blue.  Maggie approved the color as Cinderella's so we stopped there.

 

To frost, Amy used a large star tip and gave each one a nice swirl.  If you have never frosted a cupcake using a pastry bag before you are missing out because it is the simplest, fastes, cleanest and prettiest way to do it.  I got THIS set a long time ago and I use it all the time.

 

Once the frosting was on, we topped the big ones with some glittery sprinkles and a slipper and the mini cupcakes were decorated with sugar pearls.

 

 

 The cupcakes really were SO simple to make and made my little princess' dreams come true.

 

Happy Birthday Maggie!

 

 

Quilted Stationary

Today starts a new week of voting at So You Think You're Crafty.  The theme this week is rpurposed crafts.  So head on over and vote for yours truly {or whichever you like best}.  I can't tell which is mine just know that it's awesome.  Haha! 

Last weeks theme for the competition was scraps so I dug into my scrap hoard and came up with some

Quilted Stationary!

I really love to sew on paper and fabric gives a quality and texture that even the cutest scrapbook paper paper can't.  Before sewing, I secured the fabric to the paper with a gule stick so really this can be a no sew project as well.

Quilt Block Card:  This was an extra quilt block that never got used so I stitched it to a square card.  For the envelope I attached some of the leftover fabric from the block to the inside.  It's complimentary to the card and adds a nice little surprise.

Nautical/Americana:  For these I dug into my fabric, notions and paper scrap bins as well as the recycle.  The anchor card design is made from a fabric background with a fabric anchor appliqued with gold thread.  The flag card is a combination of fabric, red ribbon, white trim and a paper star.  The "freedom" card uses a combination of fabric, trim, paper and even uses the red plastic cover that they use to cover the tray of Cuties oranges at the grocery store.

Bright & Bold Birthday: For the balloon cards I used some black and white gingham fabric and attached it to bright cards by playing around with the different fun and decorative stitches on my machine with hot pink thread.  I then cut out a stencil in vinyl and painted a neon balloon on each one.  For the bunting cards I made teeny tiny flags and attached the tops using a straight stitch and added a birthday greeting.

So there you have it.  A fun and useful way to use up those scraps you've been hoarding!

Shaun the Sheep Cupcakes {tutorial}

Happy Baaaah-lated Leap Day!!

Leap Day is kind of a big deal around here.  HUGE in fact because this year Maggie got to celebrate her 1st birthday!  That's right, she's a Leap Day baby!

In February 2008 we were expecting her.  Her due date was at the beginning of the month but part way through my pregnancy they pushed her due date back two weeks.  Then something happened that I wasn't expecting she was 12 days late.  Not that's not a typo - TWELVE.  I felt like I was pregnant for 11 months. After about a week over due, the doctor wanted to schedule an induction.  I asked if we could do the 29th because heck I've waited this long might as well get the girl a cool birthday while I'm at it.  Well, I checked into the hospital the night before and they were going to induce me at 6 AM.  Turns out I didn't need an induction afterall because I went into labor that night.  It was meant to be!  A unique birthday for a very unique little girl.  She was the only one born in our hospital (which is a big one) that day.  So special!  

Since I get asked this a lot I'll tell you that we celebrate her birthday on non-leap years on February 28th.  Though I tend to get carried away and celebrate all week.  Also, we have so far not had any problems with her birthday being on Leap Day.  On non-leap years she still gets birthday rewards from stores and I've never had paper work or official document problems with it either.  It's just a super fun day to have a birthday!

Okay - now back to the cupcakes.

It's Shaun the Sheep!!!  

For those who don't know Shaun the Sheep is a clay-mation TV show by the same people that do Wallace & Grommit.  You can watch it on Netflix or buy it on Amazon.  It's actually a very funny cute show. 

Shaun the Sheep is Maggie's favorite everything.  This is her getting ready for bed wearing the Shaun hat her Nonie made for her (more on that one later) and holding the little Shaun from her G&G Cutts.  All while watching Shaun the Sheep on the DS.  At night she asks me to sing her the theme song before she goes to sleep.  Spoiled.

This year the only thing she asked for for her birthday was Shaun the Sheep cupcakes.  When your child who has problems with communicating with speech, never asks for anything, and has a birthday only every four years asks for Shaun the Sheep cupcakes you better get that girl Shaun the Sheep cupcakes!

Here's what I came up with.

Want to make your own?  They are a lot easier than they look.  I promise.

Supplies:

Cupcakes

White frosting

Mini-Marshmallows

Mini-chocolate chips

Wax or parchment paper

Piece of paper

Cookie Sheet

Sandwich bags or piping bags

 Step 1: 

Draw the shape of the Shaun head on a piece of paper.  I practiced a couple of times before I settled on one.

Step 2:

Melt about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of chocolate chips in a sandwich bag.  Place chips in bag and place in microwave for 20 seconds.  Take out and lightly squish the chips to mash/mix them.  Continue this process of heating for 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted.  Slice off a tiny corner of the baggie when done.

Step 3:

Place wax or parchment paper on top of drawing.  Pipe chocolate onto wax paper to fill in the shape.  Don't worry if it's lumpy.  The lumpy part is the back of Shaun's head.  You won't be seeing it.

Step 4:

Repeat as many times as you want and place Shaun heads on a baking sheet and place in the fridge or freezer to harden.

Step 5:

Once hardened, peel off the heads and flip them over.  Use the icing to create two dots for eyes.  Inside each white dot place an upside down mini chip for the dark center of the eye.  And you're done with your Shaun head!

Step 6:  

Frost your cupcake.

Step 7:

Cover cupcake in mini-marshmallows.

Step 8:

Use a dollop of frosting to attach the Shaun head to the cupcake body.

These sheep are so cute and so yummy.  The girls loved them but most importantly Maggie loved them.  The joy on her face was priceless.  So happy to make a little girls birthday wish come true!

{P.S.  You can find Season 1 and Season 2 of the show at Amazon.  Along with several short movies that we've never even knew existed.  Also, here is the Shaun the Sheep plushie that she got.}

{Tutorial} Personalized Christmas Card Bookmarks

In January I was visiting over at So You Think You're Crafty, a super fun craft competition blog.  They are in the middle of a season so go on over an follow along.  I'm obsessed with competition so you know I love it.  Missy was kind enough to feature this tutorial - so here it is if you missed it.  Enjoy!

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If you know me at all you know that I absolutely LOVE to re-purpose things.  There is something so satisfying about turning something old into something new.  Nearly everything I do is re-purposed in some way.  It's important to me to use what I have and not be wasteful.  For tips and rules on salvaging items you can read my post HERE.

Today I wanted to show you a personalized gift that you can make using leftover Christmas cards.  I love getting Christmas cards but I hate throwing them away come January.  I really have no need to keep them, so I often like to turn them into a cute bookmark to give back to my friend.  It's a simple little thing you can give as a little birthday gift or even a "thanks for being my friend" token.  The best part is you know they like the picture.  Heck, they're the ones that picked it out!    

There are so many possibilities.  You can even use your own leftover cards or pictures to make gifts for the grandparents or rip through your old magazines.  I mean what tween doesn't want to be staring at Justin Bieber while reading that book for English class?  And yes, I'll admit the super creepy bookmark of Edward Cullen is mine.  What can I say?  I just can't read Twilight without it.

But I digress... let's get back to the Christmas cards.  These not only are great because they are personalized but they are durable, and cute.  I also like that they are large in size so you're not losing it, but not so thick that you warp your book

Want to make your own????

Supplies:

• Card or other picture
• Card stock paper
• Fabric scraps
• Ribbon scraps
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Sewing machine
• Lamination machine OR clear contact paper OR clear packing tape

Step 1:  Cut out picture from card and attach to card stock with glue stick.  Cut the entire piece to be about the size that you want your bookmark to be.

Step 2:  Laminate entire bookmark.**

I have my own lamination machine.  It was very inexpensive {around $25 from Sam's Club} and I use it for everything.  If you don't have a lamination machine and if you don't know a teacher who can hook you up, you can go to a copy store or parent teacher store.  You can also buy laminating pouches that don't require heat.  Or you can just cover the front of your picture with clear packing tape.

**This step can be skipped but I find that protecting the picture keeps smudges off the photo as well as makes it water resistant.

Step 3:  Trim off extra lamination.

Step 4:  Lightly use glue stick to adhere scraps of fabric around the picture on the front of the bookmark.  You just want a small amount of glue to hold the fabric in place long enough to keep it in place for the next step.

Step 5:  Using your sewing machine, sew around the photo to secure the fabric to the bookmark.

Step 6:  Trim up the fabric creating about a 1/4 inch boarder.

Step7:  Attach ribbon to the back of bookmark.

Step 8:  Cover the back of bookmark with another piece of fabric.

Step 9:  Sew around the entire outer edge
.

Ta-da!  

If you put two pictures together you can use ribbon to separate each picture, like I did in the photo below.

This is a super versatile project and you can really get creative and make this your own.  So grab those cards and fabric scraps and get creative!

Ballerina Cupcakes

Maggie finished up her first semester in ballet. There is nothing cuter than a bunch of little 3 year olds dancing their hearts out.  At the end of the semester they had a small program and a little party afterwards.  I knew right away what I wanted to bring.

Ballerina Cupcakes!

I wanted them to be special but I also wanted them to be simple.  I used a box of strawberry cake mix and a jar and a half of strawberry frosting.  Not only were the strawberry cupcakes pink but Southerners love strawberry cupcakes so a win all around.  The easiest way to frost a cupcake is to place it in a piping bag and swirl it up on top.  I then tossed on a few valentines sprinkles and there's your cupcake!

For the topper I used the ballerina dress from the Cricut cartridge Paper Doll Dress Up.  I cut out two dresses for each cupcake.  I taped a mini bamboo skewer to one dress to secure it and then using a glue stick, I sandwiched the skewer with another dress.  Make sense?  Dress, skewer, dress.

This was one happy ballerina!

*** If you are interested in these toppers but are unable to make your own, feel free to send me an e-mail at thecreativevault(at)hotmail(dot)com to inquire about purchasing. 

The Birthday Badge

My baby turned 1 yesterday. I can't believe it.  It was a great day.  We took extra care to make him feel as special as he most surely is.

One thing I've done every year is to create what I call a "birthday badge" for my kids on their birthday.  I like the idea of the birthday shirt but I don't like that it's an entire shirt that you can't wear but one day a year.  No, the birthday badge is a much better solution.

The badge is made from fabric scraps and ric rack.  It has a pin on the back that I can easily attach to his shirt.  My kids love their badges because its makes them feel extra special on their extra special day.

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

Shark Birthday Party

My friend Amy's little boy was turning six and he requested a shark themed birthday party.  How cool is that?  Amy is always helping out at every party, she's the cupcake queen, so I was so glad she let me help out on Ethan's big day.

Amy is a super talented cupcake and cake decorator, you can see for yourself at her blog, Indulge With Me.  Seriously, her skills blow me away.

I just stuck to creating a few decorations for the party.  Amy did the hard work.

 I created this little shark invitation.  I made a template, and Amy and I cut out the pieces and assembled them.  Amy wrote all the party information on the inside and even wrote "Come or be shark bait!"  Haha love it!

 For the front door I made this sign.  I looked on the Internet at several shark warning signs and settled on this one.  I took a 12x12 piece of yellow paper and rounded the edges.  I used my Cricut and my Sure Cuts a Lot Program and cut out the letters and shark from black paper and glued it on.  Super simple.

 Every party needs a birthday banner.  Amy had this great idea to hang a net from her ceiling and I thought it would be fun to hand the fish in this.  I cut the fish out using my Cricut and then glued on the letters (that were also cut from my Cricut).  Since Ethan was the birthday boy he needed to be the shark so I used the same shark image as I did on the door, enlarged it, and hung it using thread.  It looked like it was swimming.  The fish were hung with paper clips to look like hooks in their mouths.

 I don't know where this idea came from but at the last minute (literally) I drew a shark onto a poster board.  If you look closely at the bottom right you'll see all the swimmers.  I cut out stick swimmers and wrote all the boys names on them.  They played pin the swimmer in the sharks mouth.

 For the gift bags, Amy wanted to make a cute tag.  I hand drew a surf board and we cut them out of striped scrapbook paper.  We had to make sure there was a shark bite out of them!  I then made a stencil using my Cricut and we painted on the shark in the middle and wrote the kids names on the board.  I thought that this could be something the boys might want to keep for a little while so we made them more permanent by laminating them and punching a scrap booking eyelet through them.  We strung it using elastic thread so the boys could easily hook it to their backpacks if they wanted to.  Amy did the cute bag.

Now here's where my involvement stops and you get to see the pure genius which is Amy and her husband, Jared.  I'll tell you a little bit about what she did but full details are HERE at Amy's blog.

 She made this cake.  For reals.  When regular people like me would have drawn a shark on a sheet cake, Amy took it to a whole other level.

 Red velvet.  Nothing says shark party like a whole bunch of gore!  This girl thought of everything.

 The day before she made these cupcakes for her sons class at school.  It's basically a twinkie, and a cookie half.  I tell you what these were not easy but come on, those are seriously the coolest cupcakes ever.  EVER.  She has more details HERE.

 There was another party on the street that day so Jared cleverly put a shark fin on the mailbox with cardboard so the guests knew exactly which party they were looking for.

 When the boys walked in they had to walk through sea weed.

 Yes it's a shark watermelon.  Yes those are Swedish fish in his mouth and yes this is amazing!

 Jared made these killer plates.  What a fun and simple detail.  He cut a slit in the plate and stuck the fin through.

I didn't stick around for the party but I heard it was a hit and the boys left with some awesome shark stuff too! 

Thanks Amy for letting me help out and thanks for being so amazing and inspiring!

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