DIY Project: Cupcake Stands

Continuing with the DIY projects....

I turned this cupcake stand from Martha Stewart Celebrate products sold at Walmart

photo from here.

into these for our Sprinkles cupcakes:

The stands are really affordable (only $7.88 each). I didn't use the included paper garland as shown in the photo above. I used my favorite edge punches from Martha Stewart (you sense an obsession with her?) to make mini papel picado banners that I used on the invites, and some ribbon in our colors.

A quick review comment: Don't be fooled by the photo. The edges of the cardboard are not white but rather unfinished brown cardboard. It probably was fine but I thought it was unsightly so I painted the edges white to match.

I also made matching signs to point out the different kinds of cupcakes. I was going to pick the top 3 from the blog quiz I posted for our final flavor selections. I know that the quiz is officially on-going but I needed to get this off the list so went ahead with what currently was in the lead (which also was what we wanted anyway). My choice was Chocolate Marshmallow, Matt's choice was Chocolate Peanut Butter, and the blogosphere's choices were Red Velvet, Coconut, and Vanilla Milk Chocolate.

Yummy!

The signs were simple. I used leftover cardstock from the invitations, the Martha Stewart Crafts edge punches, and the Avery sticker labels.

The stands should hold about 4 dozen and we can reuse for the Nebraska Dessert Reception. But what to do about the 5th dozen? The reception venue has some trays we can use and since I am running out of steam this may be what happens. Normally I would care that I have no idea what they look like and freak out that they probably won't match. But I am in a new zen-bride kinda mood and going to let what happens happen.

Anyone else having cupcakes? What flavors?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't know if it is because it is Valentine's Day or if I am just so in love, but I am obsessed with having all heart shaped desserts at our reception in Nebraska. Here are just a few of my latest inspirations:

All heart shaped maybe just a little overkill. Maybe I will settle for these Conversation Heart Cookies.

all photos from Martha Stewart

Happy Valentine's Day!

More Cool Color Inspiration

I noticed that photos from the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine were on-line today so I thought I would share some of the great ideas in this issue and how I would like to incorporate them. The major color palette presented in this issue is pink, yellow, and orange. Based on this inspiration board I made on Polyvore I am obviously a big fan of these colors:

Fuchsia and Orange Wedding by M and M Wedding

Our color palette takes it a step further by brightening up these shades and adding turquoise, lime, and purple.

Sweet Treats: I am in love with these marshmallows! I have always wanted to try to make homemade marshmallows (my favorite sweet treat). I am hoping they are not time consuming and we can make them for the dessert reception in NE.


Hair Clips: These hair clips are so cute I might just have to make some for everyday use! Wouldn't these be great for flower girls? Next time I am at the craft store I will have to check out the flower section. Perhaps there is some sort of turquoise flower I can make a hair clip with for my ensemble...




Placecards: These simple, yet colorful placecards almost make me want to have seating at our reception. I love paper crafts of all sorts and a board with the seating assignments is the one thing I am not tackling. Hmm... we will see how much time there is to add another DIY project.



Ring Pillow: I love this idea for an easy to sew ring pillow. It gave me an idea to make either a ring pillow or a handkerchief out of an old shirt for my "something old". Stay tuned to see what I made...




Colorful Candles: I am not a big fan of candles- especially the smelly kind. But I absolutely love this table scape. The candles really do look like they are floating. Perhaps I could do this for a party someday...

I'm cheating...

Despite swearing off blogging and blog stalking for a week to make some progress on the wedding, I found some great ideas today. So sue me. I admit it, I'm cheating. But right after I am done posting I am picking up the scissors and getting to work. I promise.

First fabulous idea is from Once Wed. Check out these amazing blooming chocolates. Great idea for the candy buffet and a great way to use more of our colors and our tissue paper. I think that this idea would be fabulous with chipotle truffles.

Instructions and source here.

The second fabulous find is this photo of lamps from Home Infatuation via Something Old Something New. Why is it that everything lately seems to be in our wedding colors of fuchsia, turquoise, lime, and orange? I thought we were being creative but it turns out we are just in style I guess.

Making Progress...

I have decided to take a break from blogging in an effort to actually get some wedding tasks done instead of just talking about them. I am even going to cut down on my regular blog reading. Oh the horror! Believe me this makes me sad. I actually love working on wedding stuff. I just can't seem to get many things finalized and checked off the list. I made progress on several things over the long weekend and want to keep up the momentum. We are just a few days away from the 4 month mark (which is also my b-day!) and I am beginning to panic. So when I return I hope to have the following tasks completed:

1. Order my wedding dress. I hope it looks something like this....

Photos from here.

2. DIY project - a cardbox.

My inspiration is from a great bride blog: With this Ring.

Check out the instructions and more photos here.


3. Finish Fiesta Invitations. Okay let's be honest in 2 weeks I hope that about 3/4 of them are done. I would say I am about 1/5 of the way there. At least I finally decided on the final version and have all the supplies. Still need to finalize the map with directions to the reception site.

4. Address and mail Nebraska Reception STD. This will involve some cooperation from my mom to get me some addresses. I may have to wait until I am at home for Christmas.

5. Purchase the groom's wedding band (or at least a plan for when and where to get it).

6. Test another recipe for Dessert Reception. I am going to try making pates de fruits (a fancy French gummie) for a holiday party.


Photo from Martha Stewart.





7. Finalize Cake decision. Currently we are leaning towards Sprinkles Cupcakes. We had high hopes for a Southwestern Prehistoric Pottery cake to pay tribute to our dissertations but this is looking to be to an expensive option. Since we don't really want a boring white traditional wedding cake we are considering cupcakes to keep with our fun whimsical vibe. Sprinkles even has an option to add a sugar saguaro on top. And I could DIY a cupcake stand I thought about a few weeks ago.


Well I think this list is ambitious to finish over the next week and weekend. But necessary to make some progress. Wish me luck...

Dessert Trial: Brownie Pops

Last weekend I attempted to make some brownie pops as a trial run for the dessert reception in Nebraska. I blogged about these before and was really looking forward to making them and looking forward to eating them even more. Well, unfortunately they were a complete disaster. I never had such a mess. Chocolate and brownie was everywhere - the floor, the counter, my HAIR!

Here is how I started. I baked a brownie (from a box of course. I aspire to be Martha but am more like Sandra Lee). No reason it has to be in a round pan. I just don't have a square one. Other supplies included candy melts and bowls for melting, Popsicle sticks, a cookie scoop, and parchment paper.

The next step involved scooping out some brownie and rolling it up into a ball and placing it on a stick. After finishing this I put them in to the freezer to set up before dipping them in chocolate.

Sounds simple enough but this is more what it looked like:
I had bits of brownie everywhere. Over half of the pops broke in half when dipping them in chocolate and fell of the sticks. I spent so much time cleaning up the mess I didn't have time to add the purple colored chocolate swirls I was planning. I was taking them to a party and was so embarrassed with how they looked I went to the grocery store to buy a package of cookies to make up for them.
Despite how they looked and what a mess I made they tasted fantastic! I suppose with any dessert it is more important that it tastes good rather than look good. My friend Claire called them "Basically Amazing" because they were hard to identify as anything you would want to eat. (Honestly they sort of looked like lumpy brown you-know-what on a stick.) Everyone at the party kept looking for the "Basically Amazing" to try. But since so many fell apart I didn't have enough for everyone. It is good to bring a sought after creation at any party.

I think next time I will try something that will stick together in a ball better - like Cheesecake. Possibly this recipe from Cannelle et Vanille Blog. Don't they just look divine? I think these probably look and taste good. Ahh, the best of both worlds.

Photo from Cannelle et Vanille blog.

DIY List

We are going cake tasting in a couple of weeks so I am all about cakes lately. Or should it be cupcakes?? I found a great DIY tutorial for the cupcake stand pictured below from here that is inspiring me to think cupcakes, at least for the hometown dessert reception. The Cake Journal is a great site and has tutorials, recipes, and amazing cakes.


This stand is a similar shape to expensive ones I have seen in the cake decorating isles at the craft store. But this is so much cuter and can be personalized with the wedding colors and reinvisioned for other parties like showers or even Christmas. I have also seen the design below from the Cupcake Tree. It can be ordered in 2 sizes and can be painted or personalized with ribbon.

I think the Cake Journal stand may be less expensive to recreate and looks a little sturdier and easier to personalize.

Another DIY project to add to the list!

Why didn't I think of that....

I would be rich now if I would have thought of the idea below. Definitely trying these for the dessert reception. I have seen a similar idea using cheesecake cut into triangles and decorated like Christmas Trees. But think the pops lined up on a tray would be divine.


From the Brownie Pops website you can order 11 different flavors of brownie balls on a stick dipped in chocolate. Seriously why didn't I think of that? Maybe here is where I can infuse some chipotle flavors into chocolate for a Mexican spicy kick. Sprinkles or drizzling with a different color of chocolate both look great. They also have some cute ghost and pumpkin designs for Halloween.

Hot New Trend

Mini Caramel Apples must be the hot new trend in desserts. I saw a posting for them on Party Perfect (an entertaining blog) and my mom couldn't wait to tell me about the ones she tried this weekend while antiquing in NE. These seem easy enough so I think we should give them a try for the NE reception. In my research I discovered that the trend started with Cat Cora on Iron Chef America.

Photo Tutorial via flickr.

The following is the recipie from Family Fun.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	4-inch lollipop sticks
	Melon baller
	Granny Smith apples (one apple makes about 8 mini apples)
	Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
	Chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, shredded coconut (optional)
	Small paper candy cups

1. First, cut the lollipop sticks in half at an angle (the pointy end will go into the apple pieces easier). With the melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Each ball should have a section of apple peel. Push half of a lollipop stick into the peel of each ball. Pat the apple pieces dry.




2. Melt the chips according to the package directions. Dip and swirl the mini apples in the melted chips, then roll the apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils, or coconut, if desired. Place the mini apples in paper candy cups to set.

It is interesting that the recipe calls for butterscotch or peanut butter chips. I wonder if these stick to the apple better than caramel. Another recipe I found said to roll the apple in flour to make the melted caramel stick better. Many people complain that the caramel just slides right off the juicy apple. But I say go for milk chocolate chips.

Sweet Treats!!!

Over on the Once Wed blog they have an amazing post about Amy Atlas Events. Oh how I wish our dessert reception could look like these!!!

DIY Cake Stand

I found a great DIY project on one of my favorite blogs, Once Wed (full of great ideas and also posts for designer wedding dresses for less). The project included instructions on how to make a simple inexpensive cake stand.

I think I may try this but will also look for some glazed pots and saucers in addition to painting terracotta.

Cupcake Wrappers

It must be a cupcake kind of week. I found these incredibly cute laser cut cupcake wrappers on the Fancy Flours website which is full of baking goodies. Not really materials for baking but rather materials for decorating your baked goodies. The cutouts fit with our papel picado theme and I was already planning a similar thing for the cake stands. Unfortunately they are over a $1 a piece so a little pricey but they are fabulous! I think the filigree design is my favorite.

Click to enlarge

Lemon Cupcakes for Dessert Reception

We are going to a Labor Day BBQ so I thought I would test out a new dessert recipe for the Dessert Reception in NE and bring it along to try out on our friends. I used a boxed cake mix (Martha quit judging me). I am thinking that we will need shortcuts whenever possible because of all of the preparations. It was a Myer Lemon Cake Mix from Fresh and Easy - my new grocery store obsession. I was going to make a lemon frosting but the cupcakes were really lemony so I decided to do a homemade cream cheese frosting and zest some lemon peal on top for effect. Alternatively I was thinking about using multicolored sprinkles like in the photo from an earlier post about possible dessert options.

Overall they were pretty good but a little dry. I guess that is why cupcake bakers invented frosting. Tomorrow we will see what our friends think and see if they are a contender.

Matt's Dessert Choices

Matt said I didn't include anything he would like in my earlier post about possible desserts for the NE reception. So here is a special collage for him. All images are from Martha Stewart.

Click to enlarge.

Would you eat any of these?

I have been searching for dessert recipes for the Nebraska reception. Do any of these look good? All photos are from the Martha Stewart webpage.

Click to enlarge