DIY Glitter Cupcake Toppers

If you saw my last post on Creating Free Digital Invitations then you know that I recently threw a pink and gold "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" shower for one of my dearest friends.  To add some glitter to her shower, I decided to make these adorable gold glitter cupcake toppers.  They were super easy to make and turned out so cute.  I used my Silhouette Cameo, but if you don't have one you could use a star-shaped craft punch or even trace and cut out stars (it will just be a little more time consuming).

I went to Joann's and picked up a 12 x 24 sheet of gold glitter sticker paper.  I made a star in the Silhouette software and then replicated it to fill the page.  Then I just loaded the sticker paper in and let my Cameo get to work. 

I repeated this process with some white cardstock for the backing.  The only other thing you will need is a box of toothpicks.  Once you have your white cardstock stars cut out, one at a time peel off one of you new glitter star stickers.  Lay a toothpick on the sticker side so that it about 2/3 of it is sticking out. 

Lay a cardstock star on top and press them together. 

That's it!  Just repeat for as many cupcakes as you need.  I love the way these turned out!

They were so adorable on top of our pink frosted cupcakes!  Sorry for the photo, I forgot my regular camera.

Snowman Birthday Banner

Luke's best buddy Calvin recently celebrated his first birthday with a "Winter ONE-derland" theme.  Isn't that such a cute idea!   Since I love crafting and will take pretty much any excuse to use my Silhouette Cameo I helped Calvin's mom make this adorable Snowman Birthday Banner.

To make this banner you will need white cardstock, blue cardstock, scrapbook glue, and ribbon.  I used the Tombow mono scrapbook glue but any brand will do.

I used my Silhouette software to make the snowman outline and cut them out on the blue paper.   Then I used the same outline but added a face and used that with the addition of the letters to make the snowman part.

Once everything was cut out we glued the white snowmen onto the blue bases and we were ready to put the banner together.  I find grosgrain ribbon to be the best choice when making a banner.  It is sturdy enough to hold the weight of the cardstock and since it is textured they don't slide around.  I used grosgrain ribbon on the Superman banner I made last year for Jake's birthday and it was the easy choice here.  We wanted the ribbon to look like the arms of the snowmen so we chose brown like branches.

String the snowmen onto your ribbon and you are ready to hang up your birthday banner.  This banner doesn't take much effort to make, but has a big impact.  It was the perfect backdrop for Calvin's first experience with birthday cake!

If you have a silhouette and want to make your own Snowman Banner, here are the cut files.

I'm linking up with Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Cook It Craft It Share It, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Sweet Bellaroos, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Bakerette, and Pinworhty Projects.

Superman Party Part 2: Party Details & Activities

This was the invite we sent out (once again I've blurred out Jake's face at Josh's request).  I folded it so that when people pulled it out of the envelope only the Daily Planet masthead was showing to make it look more like a newspaper page.

This poster of Jake dressed as Superman was on our front door.  I used my projector at work to project the same photo from the invitation onto a piece of white paper and traced it.  The face was tougher to trace but it looked enough like Jake that people got the idea.  After tracing it, I painted the poster and then outlined with a thin felt-tip marker.  I then cut it out and glued it onto yellow paper along with the letters.  Jake really loved this poster and it is currently hanging in our garage because he wasn't ready to get rid of it.

When our guests first walked in we had these homemade personalized capes hanging from our banister.  I used this template from jollymom to trace the top part of the cape.  Then I cut them out of red felt (I don't sew).  My mother-in-law used her sewing machine to sew velcro on at the neck.  I then cut the yellow felt in the shape of the Superman symbol and used more red felt to cut out each child's first initial.  I used heat n' bond to attach these.  If you wanted to make these completely no sew you could get the adhesive velcro.

Once the kids put on their capes we took pictures of them in front of our telephone booth.  I was worried we wouldn't be able to find a refrigerator box but as luck would have it, a week before the party our neighbors were getting a washer delivered as I drove up.  I saw an empty refrigerator box on the delivery truck and they were happy to let me have it.  Josh and Jake had fun painting the box with a couple of coats of tempera paint.  Once it was dry, Josh cut the door opening and the windows.  Then I used my silhouette to cut out the letters for telephone from black cardstock and glued them onto white construction paper which I glued onto three sides of the box (the fourth was against the wall so I didn't bother).

Remember these comic book letters I made back in September?

I displayed them on the mantel paired with framed photos of Jake dressed as both Clark Kent and Superman.

In my experience 5-year-olds aren't known for their patience so I had Superman stickers, Superman coloring pages, and lots of crayons out on the tables.

The majority of the activities took place in our garage since we don't really have a yard so I wanted to make it more festive.  We have overhead storage in the garage so we decided to make a bunting out of extra comic book pages.  All you need to do to make your own comic book bunting is to take extra comic book pages and cut them into triangles.  Then hole punch the top two corners and string regular curling ribbon through them.  This was something I almost didn't do and I'm so glad I did because it looked really cool.  The picture doesn't do it justice. 

Since we hired Superman I ended up not making most of the games I had planned on, but I did make Pin the S on Superman.  Using the same method I used to make the poster for the front door, I made two posters of Superman.  Then I used my Silhouette to cut out the S symbols for each child with their name written on them.  We split them into two groups to speed the game up.  In case you ever play a game and need a blindfold, we used two of those little ear covering headbands you wear in cold weather.  They were perfect because they didn't need to be tied and they stayed in place.

As far as Jake is concerned, no home party is complete without a pinata so we had to have one.  This was one of those pull pinatas but our kids used their "super strength" and busted it wide open.  You can see our Superman and my super husband in the background.

In addition to the personalized capes we sent the guests home with Superman coloring books with this little thank you tag stuck on the front.

 

This party was a lot of work and we were exhausted when it was over but it was more than worth it.  Jake had such a good time and really appreciated all of the details.  I wish we had gotten more pictures but hopefully this inspired you the way I am so inspired by all of the amazingly talented bloggers out there.  An extra special thanks goes out to my favorite blogger Amy without whom I don't think I could have pulled this party off so close to having a baby.

I'm linking up with Whimsy Wednesday, Wake Up Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Pin It Thursday,  Create It Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Pin Junkie, Thrifty Thursday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Weekend Potluck, Show Stopper Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Craftastic Monday, Monday Funday, Busy Monday, and Mix It Up Monday.

Superman Party - Part 1: The Food & Free Printables

Every other year I do an over-the-top home party for Jake (in the off years we have them at a place).  This year Jake wanted a Superman party and even though Jake's baby brother was 5 weeks old on party day, I didn't want his party to be any less exciting than the Cars party I threw for his 3rd birthday.  You can check out the details of that party here and here.   I did three important things to make that possible.  1) I started working on his party over the summer.  2) I enlisted the help of my husband and my amazing friend Amy (check her out here).  3) I hired Superman.  I had originally planned on making a bunch of games and having the kids complete all of the tasks to earn their capes but then sanity took over and I realized that I would have a newborn and putting someone else in charge of entertaining 20 kids was a really good idea.

Now onto the details.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures of everything and the pictures I do have aren't always the best.  I was nursing Luke right before the party and Josh thought he got pictures of it all, but he didn't.  :(   Hopefully you can forgive me and I will try to describe the things I don't have so you can picture it.

Let's start with the food tables.  I covered both tables with blue and red plastic tablecloths and used binder clips to gather them in the front.  Then I used two Superman symbols I made with my silhouette on the front.  Behind the table I hung red, yellow, and blue streamers from the curtain rod and attached some small Superman emblems to some of the blue streamers.

I really like to make the food thematic and this party was no exception.  I created a little logo for the food labels using the superman symbol but with a J for Jake.  We served Superheroes (deli sandwiches) and Power PB & Js.  To add a superhero touch to the PB & Js, I cut strips out of extra comic book pages and wrapped them around the PB & Js with a little piece of tape to secure them.

I always try to serve healthy foods so I made a veggie plate labeled Veggies of Virtue (oddly this is one thing I'm so bummed we don't have a picture of because it came out so pretty) by putting carrots, broccoli, red peppers, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes in lines on a white tray.   I also made a fruit salad using only green fruits (honeydew, kiwi, green grapes, green apples, and green pears) and called it Kryptonite.  We also served popcorn in little cones I made out of comic book pages stuck into an empty cheerio box wrapped in yellow paper with holes poked into it.

I used the same logo from the food labels to make water bottle labels.  These are so easy to do and add such a customized touch to a party.  It was the first time I've ever done water bottle labels and I will definitely be doing them for all of our parties going forward.

These were super easy to attach.  Just print, cut, wrap around the existing label, and attach with double-sided tape.  In addition to water we served "Super Serum" (lemonade) and we had some sodas in a red ice bucket behind them.

For dessert I made a mini cake for Jake that I frosted with blue and then used Sugar Sheets to make the Superman symbol.  This wasn't my best cake decorating job but Jake was happy with it.  He had these little Superman and Superdog (I didn't realize there was a Superdog) figures that he wanted to stick on top so that's what those are.  I grew up with the tradition of an extra candle "to grow on" in case you are looking at the cake and thinking I can't count.

Then for everyone else I made cupcakes with these adorable cupcake toppers.  I got the idea from several different blogs on pinterest.  I used my silhouette to cut out the little capes.  I haven't quite figured out the print and cut feature of my silhouette yet so I just printed out the symbols and then cut them out by hand.  A couple of days before the party while the boys were asleep Josh and I threaded the capes and superman symbols onto the tootsie pops and then the morning of the party we stuck them into the cupcakes.

If you are interested in a Super J party, here are the printables:
Food Labels 1
Food Labels 2
Waterbottle Label 

I'll be posting the rest of the party details soon so be sure to follow me so you don't miss out.


I'm linking up with Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Made By Me, Create Link Inspire, Mad Skills, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wake Up Wednesdays, Wednesday Whatsits, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Create It Thursday, and Moonlight & Mason Jars, Thrifty Thursday, Pin It Thursday,  Link Party Palooza, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper Saturday, and Strut Your Stuff Saturday.

Superman Birthday Banner & A Free Cut File

Jake's birthday party is coming up this weekend.  As I mentioned when I posted about the comic book letters I made, he decided on a Superman party.  After debating between all of the amazing ideas I found on Pinterest, I finally decided that I wanted to make Jake's birthday banner with letters representative of the Superman symbol.  I was inspired by this banner by Carli at dimpleprints.

I wanted the font to be a little bit different so I set to work.  First I googled and found some fonts that made Superman style letters but the edges were kind of jagged so I realized I was going to have to start from scratch.  I sat down with my Silhouette Studio software and started the tedious process of making each letter.  Basically I made the outline of the emblem, added the letter and then resized and erased edges to make the outline of the red and the letter all one piece.  I also took the outer edge of my letter emblem, separated it out and used that to make the yellow piece.

Then it was time to set my Cameo to work cutting out the letters and yellow pieces from 12 x 12 cardstock.  Once I had everything cut out I carefully glued the red letter pieces on top of the yellow emblems.  I used the Tombow Mono Adhesive for this because I didn't want to risk the rippling you sometimes get with a liquid adhesive.  I wasn't perfectly lined up on all of them so I took my scissors and carefully trimmed any yellow that was showing outside of the red on the edges.

Once I had all of my letters I needed to attach them.  I simply used my hole punch to punch holes on either side of each letter and then threaded a blue grosgrain ribbon through them to connect them all.

Now, because we are friends, I don't want you to spend hours creating this banner like I did, so I'm going to give you my Silhouette files.  I haven't shared Silhouette files before so if this doesn't work, let me know and I will email them directly to you.

Superman Birthday Banner Letters: H A P P Y B
Superman Birthday Banner Letters: I R T H D Y
Superman Birthday Banner Letters: A 5th J A K E (this is the name and age I needed but I included this one anyway since it has another A for birthday and in case you wanted to play around with it)
Superman Birthday Banner Background (for the yellow part of the letters)

I'm linking up with Mad Skills Party, Create Link Inspire, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wake Up Wednesdays, Wonderfully Creative Wednesdays,  Made By Me, Moonlight and Mason Jars, Pin It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Create It Thursday,  Pin Junkie,  Link Party Palooza, Show Stopper Saturday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, and Create, Link, Inspire.

Boston Cream Pie

My birthday was on Monday and Josh's was Tuesday.  Because our birthdays are back to back we take turns picking the cake we will have that year because we definitely don't need two birthday cakes in our house.  This year was Josh's turn and he always picks Boston Cream Pie.  If you aren't familiar with this dessert, it isn't a pie at all.  It is actually a yellow cake with a custard filling and a ganache on top.  Over the years I have tried many different recipes and have been let down by at least one component of each of them.  I finally found one that works and the best part of all is that it is sort of a cheater recipe.

I use a boxed cake mix and doctored vanilla pudding for the custard filling.  The only part that is truly from scratch is the ganache which only has two ingredients.  I was able to make this cake on a day when I was running on hardly any sleep and I had my 5-year-old and my VERY fussy 3-week-old on my own, so don't be intimidated by the number of components.  It is very easy.

I like to use the vanilla cake mix from Trader Joe's.  It has little flecks of vanilla bean throughout and never turns out dry.  It looks and tastes like a from scratch cake even though it is really from a box.  Mix up the batter according to the directions on the box, but then pour them into two springform pans and bake for about 30 minutes.

I was distracted by the previously mentioned fussy baby so I forgot to use my baking strips.  This meant that my cake layers weren't perfectly flat.  Luckily, once you layer on the custard and the ganache, no one cares.  If you haven't seen these bake even strips before, they are amazing!  They are more than worth their price, plus you can use a coupon at Michael's or Joann's to get them for even less.  You soak them in water, wrap them around your cake pans before baking, and voila, perfectly flat cake layers. (Obviously this is an example of a cake baked without them.)

Once the cakes are cooled, put one on the serving plate, then put the springform pan side back around it.  This will keep your custard filling and ganache topping in place while it sets.

While your cakes are cooling, mix up the custard layer.  In a bowl, beat a package of instant vanilla pudding with some milk and some extra vanilla with a hand mixer for a couple of minutes.  Then stick it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Once it is nice and thick spread it over the cake layer inside the springform pan sides. Personally, I would double the custard layer but this wasn't my birthday cake and Josh likes it as is.   *Update: After eating the cake this time, Josh has finally agreed with me that while it is great as is, double custard would be even better.

Then carefully put the second cake layer on top and stick it in the fridge. 

Now for the ganache. Chop up some dark or semisweet chocolate.  I used Trader Joe's dark pound plus bar.  If you want to, you can use chocolate chips but it won't come out as smooth because of the stabilizers in the chocolate chips.

In a small pan, heat some heavy cream over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges.  Don't let it boil.  Once you see those little bubbles, take it off the heat, add in your delicious chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate is melted and completely combined with the cream.

Take your cake out of the fridge and pour the ganache on top, being sure to leave the springform sides on.  Put the whole thing back in the fridge until the ganache has set.

About 20 minutes before you are ready to serve it, take it out of the fridge.  Then carefully remove the springform sides (you may need to use a hot knife around the edges) and you are ready to go.  Cutting the cake with a hot knife will make it cut more smoothly.

This cake is so wonderful because it satisfies so many cravings.  It's the perfect combination of vanilla cake, creamy custard, and rich chocolate ganache.  Delicious!!

Boston Cream Pie
Adapted from Sandra Lee's Boston Creme Cupcakes

For the cake layers:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix and ingredients it calls for; mine needed:
• 1 stick butter melted
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs

For the custard layer: (I recommend doubling the custard layer because it is my favorite part.)

• 1 3.4 oz. box instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 1/4 cups cold milk (whatever you have, I used skim)
• 1 tbls. vanilla paste (can substitute vanilla extract)

For the ganache:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 9 oz. dark chocolate, chopped (you can substitute with semisweet chocolate chips but the ganache won't be as smooth)

1. Mix the cake according to package instructions and pour into 2 springform cake pans sprayed with baking spray.
2. Bake at 350 for about 25-35 minutes (until the cakes come away from the edges of the pan and the top springs back when lightly pressed).
3. Cool cakes completely out of the pans.
4. Place one cake layer on your serving plate, then put the sides of one springform pan back around it.
5. While the cakes cool use a hand mixer to beat the pudding mix, milk, and  vanilla paste for about 2 minutes, or until it is starting to thicken.  Then refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
6. Use a spatula to spread the custard over the bottom cake layer then put it back in the fridge.
7. Put the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles form around the edges.
8. Remove the pan from the heat, add in the chopped chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate is melted and fully incorporated.
9. Remove the cake from the fridge.  Carefully place the second cake layer on top of the custard.  Then pour the ganache over the top, spreading it to the edges with a spatula if needed.
10. Refrigerate until ganache is set (at least an hour).  This can be made the day before.  Once the ganache has cooled cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.
11. Remove from the fridge about 20-30 minutes before serving.  I recommend using a hot knife to cut.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Super Saturday, Show Stopper Saturday, Inspiration Monday, Create Link Inspire, Tasty Tuesdays, Whimsy Wednesday, Wonderfully Creative Wednesdays,  Wake Up Wednesday, Moonlight and Mason Jars,  Pin It Thursday, and Create It Thursday.

Comic Book Letters - DIY

My birthday is December 30th.  Then I married a man whose birthday is on New Year's Eve.  Fast forward to 2009, I had a January baby.   Now this little guy is expected at the beginning of December.  This all means that our life is pretty much crazy from Halloween until mid January.  At the same time, birthdays are a big deal to me.  I know what it is like to have your birthday get lost in the shuffle of holidays and winter break so it is really important to me that my kids' birthdays are amazing.  I also realize that I can't go all out every year because it is a lot of work so I decided that I would do an over the top home party every other year and on the off years our kids can have a party at a place that does it all for us.  This is a good plan except that this coming January, just 5 weeks after our little man is due to arrive, I will be throwing an over the top party.  Yes, I am crazy!

In order to make this all possible, I started working on the party this summer.  Jake decided on a Superman party so I've spent the past few months pinning away and planning.  Now it's time to start working on the details.  Obviously there are some things I won't be able to do in advance, but as much as I can, I plan to.  That is where today's post comes in.  Having never used Mod Podge before I used this great video tutorial by Being Geek Chic.

To make these letters you will need a comic book you don't mind cutting up, paper mache letters (I found mine at Hobby Lobby), scissors, a pencil, a paintbrush, matte Mod Podge for paper (the one with the light blue label), and Golden's medium gel gloss (optional). 

 

I made the J and the S before I started this blog so these pics will focus on the M which I decided to add later.  I only used Mod Podge on those, but then I bought the gel gloss for a project for the baby's nursery and found it less ripply, so I decided to use it for the M.  It's pretty pricey though so I wouldn't buy it just for this.  (I used a 40% off coupon to make it more affordable.)

Start out by picking the images you want to have on the front of your letters.  For the letter J, I decided to use one large image that would cover the whole front.  For the M and S I picked more of a collage style.  Once you have picked your image you will need to trace your letter onto the image and then cut it out with your scissors.  *Elizabeth recommends attaching the full page to your letter and then using an exacto knife to trim it, but when I did that I ended up with a bunch of ragged edges so I pulled it off and redid it by tracing the letter on the comic page and cutting it out with scissors.

Paint a thin layer of gel gloss (or mod podge) directly onto the letter.

Then carefully lay your cut out comic piece on top smoothing it out as well as you can. 

Repeat this process until you have covered all sides of the letter.  The inner parts of the letter are a little tricky (I used my paintbrush handle to help press them down).

Then let it dry for 2 hours.  After 2 hours have passed you will paint another layer, of Mod Podge this time, over the top as a sort of varnish.  If you wanted it to have a glossy finish you can use the gel gloss for the top as well but I wanted matte so I used the Mod Podge.

That's it.  You are done.  If I'm totally honest, I ended up with a few ripples and it drove me crazy but Jake thinks they are the coolest thing ever so I am embracing their imperfection.

I'm linking up at Flashback Friday, Manic Monday,  Marvelous Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Inspiration Monday,  Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, More the Merrier Monday, Mad Skills Party, Whimsy Wednesdays, Lovely Ladies Link Up,  Made By Me,  Wake Up Wednesdays, Project Stash, Pin it Thursday, Less Laundry, More Linking, Real Family Fun, and Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Show Stopper Saturday, Bakerette, and StrutYour Stuff Saturday.