Colorful Cupcakes - Great for Spring and Easter!!

Well, I have to admit, this Shenanigan is not my own, but one that I am dying to try!!  Thanks to Kayla and her  Daintysquid Blog for sharing this tutorial!!  (which I swiped this from!!)

 That's right! A tutorial on the cutest cupcakes around! I don't have a "go to" white cake recipe yet so this tutorial is only about coloring your cupcakes. You will need your own recipe or a box of cake mix.  

Supplies needed:
- Food coloring. I used this. It's really bright and doesn't leave a gross taste in your cupcakes!
-Four bowls and four spoons.
-Cake batter. White cake will do best. With yellow cake your colors will look dingy and not so pretty.
(and obviously, your oven, cupcake pan, cupcake papers, ya know cupcake stuff!)

Okay, let's begin!

After you cake batter is all mixed up separate it equally into four bowls (or more if you're doing more colors!)

Now put a dab of food coloring in each. Remember a little bit goes a loooong way with food coloring.  Make sure to stir thoroughly, you don't want to be eating little chunks of unmixed food coloring later and you also don't want to find a section of white cake batter in your bowl when you're scooping it out.
Tip: try mixing colors to get that perfect shade if your brand of food coloring doesn't have it.

Now it's time to scoop the batter into the papers. There are two different ways you could do this. You could do one layer per color, it takes approximately 3/4 of a spoonful per color for four colors. Or take quarter spoon fulls and make lots of layers.

Which ever you choose make sure not to mix the colors when putting them in the paper. I like to let me spoon drip into the paper while shaking it in an up and down motion. When you plop the colors down you may want to flatten it out if just doing the four layers but make sure not to stir! Use your finger to make layers flat even layers.

Above left- quarter spoon fulls in lots of layers. Above right- 3/4 spoon fulls in only four layers.

Tip: White papers work best. You'll be able to see how pretty the cupcake inside looks through white. With other colors it looks kind of gross, trust me!

Super easy right!? Now bake them, frost them and enjoy them!!

 Another tid bit of information:

With these cupcakes I get significantly less cupcakes than if I were to just make white ones. The box says it'll make 24 cupcakes, when I color them I usually get 15 or so. I suppose it's from small amounts of batter getting left in bowls and it just adds up.

Colourful Crayons!!

This Shenanigan is not my own, but one that I really want to try!!  I saw this on Pintrest and I just fell in love with it!!  This would make a stunning picture for any room!! 

Stagette

In 2010 I was in charge of throwing a Stagette for my sister in law.  Again, I just love a good party, so I had a fun time planning the party and the decorations!!

 Jello Shooters AND the male torso cake were the hit of the party for sure!!!

Photo Box

This Shenanigan has definitely been one of my favorites to create.. hand made exploding photo boxes.  These unique creations look just like a little present, and when you open the lid.. surprise.. out pops an accordion style photo album that holds up to 24 photo's.  I have made two of these this past year and I just love them.  If you are interested in learning how to make them, you can contact me, or check out circleofcrafters.com for the full template and tutorial.

 

Rock Star Birthday Party

One of the other parties that I hosted was a Rock Star Themed birthday party for my daughter.  As with all my parties, I had a blast in the planning.  The invitation was the best part!!  I made up little CD's with a VIP ticket.  The CD held all of the details of the party and the entire invitation fit inside a 

clear CD case.

Invitation:

The entry way into our home was designed with a red carpet "Hollywood" style including the Hollywood signs and the walk of fame!!  Each little girl got their name on the walk of fame and they were all treated like the rich and famous!!

 The cake was a very special one indeed!!  I made a guitar shaped cake!!  I am definitely not a baker, but I game this a whurl and it turned out not too bad if I do say so myself!!

 I converted our garage into a theater complete with hair, makeup and a salon in order to get the little girls ready for their big debut.  

Each girl moved from station to station until they were completely all decked out in rock star apparel.

The it was the main stage where when all was complete, all of the girls had an opportunity to sing and dance to their favorite tunes.  They had a great time!!

OPA!! Feeling Greek?

Another Shenanigan from 2011 was our Greek Party!!  A friend of ours was turning 40 and we wanted to celebrate Greek Style!!  I just loved throwing this dinner party!!  I turned out house into a Greek Restaurant, and everyone cam dressed in Toga's!!

 Each person was assigned a Greek God and had to read all about their character and play the part during dinner.  

With a little help from my computer and some Google images, our home was instantly transformed into a blue and white Greek Home.

The white pillars with the ivy was a nice touch to add that little bit of Greek History to the room.

Triangle shaped banners were so easy to make (and cheap too!!) I made all of the decorations myself. Mojito's was the drink of choice for the evening.. although not authentic Greek, it sure was refreshing!!

The Menu consisted of the following:

• Spanakopita
• Greek Salad
•  Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Greek Potatoes
• Mediterranean Stuffed Pork
• Parmesan Baked Asparagus
• Cupcakes

Baby Name Album

One of my other vices is crafting and scrapbooking.  I made an album for our friends little baby Ever.  I loved this book so much, that I actually made several of them for our other friends who have recently had babies.  I love the look of them and it also makes a wonderful keepsake for babies.