DIY Giant Cupcake Smash Cake

I started my cake smash sessions purchasing small cakes. There weren't a lot of choices and I often feel disappointed with them.... so I was on a mission to learn to do it myself! I absolutely LOVE the giant cupcakes. I still have a lot to learn and hopefully I get to the point where I can create all sort of different kinds of designs (some day!). For now, I'm happy starting to accepted and be okay with what I've got. I use mostly cake mix and canned frosting (I'm still experimenting with different types of homemade frosting).

SUPPLIES:

Cake

2 Boxes of Yellow Cake Mix
6 Eggs
1 Package Jello-O Vanilla Pudding Mix
1 Cup of Oil
2 Cups of Water



Giant Cupcake Pan/Mold



Frosting

2 Cans of Frosting (color of your choice)

Chocolate Cupcake Liner

1 lb Candy Melts (I use a little less than 1 pound.)
Microwavable bowl 



DIRECTIONS:

CAKE:

1) Preheat oven at 325°. Combine cake mix, oil, water , pudding mix & eggs into a large bowl and blend. 

 2) Grease the cupcake pan (I used nonstick spray). According to Wilton's website, fill the cone portion (top) with 2.5 cups of batter & the other part (bottom) of your pan with 3.5 cups of batter. I followed this and it turned out fine.

3) Bake for 60 minutes, turning the pan once halfway (at 30 minutes). It always comes out a little too done in my oven so I bake it at 50-55 minutes. I guess it depends on your oven.

4) Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing onto a wire rack for cooling.

5) Once cooled completely, slice off the raised parts of the cake to level it. Do it for both the pieces. If you are using a cupcake liner, trim off the sides of the bottom piece too. Trimming just the "bumpy" parts works for me. This will allow the cake to fit into the liner.

CHOCOLATE LINER:

1) In a microwaveable bowl, place the candy melts into the bowl (I used a glass measuring cup).

2) Microwave the candy melts for 30 seconds on high. Remove it and stir. Repeat 2 more times or until all chocolate has melted. Mine always take 3 times (3x30 second intervals). Every microwave is not created equal!

3) Spread the chocolate on the bottom portion of the cake pan & up the sides. Just try to spread it as evenly as possible.

4) Refrigerate for at least 40 minutes. This is important. I tried taking it out after 15 minutes the first time and cracked the liner. I was so worried this wasn't going to work. All it took was some time and patience. :) You may be able to stick it in the freezer but I don't have room in my freezer! haha

5) Remove from the refrigerator and turn it upside and and gently tap the pan. It will slide right out (I promise!).

6) Place the bottom part of the cake in the liner.

FROSTING:

1) Dump the cans of frosting into a bowl and use a hand mixer to blend it. 

2) Apply some frosting to the top of the bottom portion of the cake (that should already be in the chocolate liner) and place the cone part on top. The frosting is your "glue".

2) Using a piping bag and a 1M piping tip (for rosettes), pipe Rosettes all around the top portion of the cake (starting at the bottom). I find that piping it lower looks better. Piping each rosette in between the bottom two makes for a prettier design. 

The canned frosting was droopy and looked like it was melting but refrigerating it overnight made a difference. The first time I made it, I thought I was going to have to run to the store the next morning! 

3) Decorate or top with a candle. 

Tissue Paper Tassles

I don't know why I haven't been making these all this time! They're so easy and you don't need a lot of paper! Have you ever tried to make those paper balls or flowers that uses tons of tissue paper???? 

I'm making these for my son's first birthday cake smash and for July 4th!

Since July fourth is around the corner, I'll start with that....

SUPPLIES:

Tissue paper (1 makes 4 tassels)
Scissors
Glue

INSTRUCTIONS:

I'm a visual person. Sometimes I don't understand directions until I see it myself.

So, if you lay the tissue paper with the creases running across, fold in half (down) once. (Update: it actually doesn't matter how you fold it. It all depends on your paper size. Just make sure that each one you make is folded in the same way so they are the same length)

To make it faster, I did TWO sheets at once.

Next, Fold from left to right...

Then one more time...

(Update: Before cutting, I found that if I unfold it and cut the pieces into 4's first, it's much easier. Do what works for you!)
Now, cut from the bottom up leaving about 2 inches of space (do not cut through).

Start unfolding it once... & cut 

The right side will be 2 pieces. You'll have to unfold the left side one once more time & cut. This will give you the 4 pieces.

Open one piece and start rolling... my little man loves to help. (instead of "rolling" it, I just kept folding it in half, then half again... repeat. It was easier than rolling.)

Twist and glue (I didn't glue because I was too lazy and always rushing to beat time)

So Easy!

I only used 1 tissue paper each color and got a total of 12 tassels. 
The red tissue paper has glitter in it. Cute huh!?
I hung it with some twine...

His Stars & Stripes Crochet Hat didn't turn out the way I envisioned it.

Here is my baby's Cake Smash session. I used 3 different colors. If you're interested in a crochet hat pattern, go check out the free Crochet Newsboy Hat Pattern!

DIY Glass Photo Magnets

Okay, I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I found several tutorials on Pinterest and all of them used Mod Podge. I waited for a day for them to dry and they still didn't look right. I ended up peeling them off the pebbles and gluing it with E6000 since I was already going to use that to glue the magnets to pebbles. I'm so glad I decided to do this because it looks so much better!

What I used:

Gem Accents ($1 from the Dollar Tree)
E6000 
Magnets (I would choose a size that is slightly smaller than your pebble)
Photos (or Scrapbook paper for fun designs!)

What I did:

Okay, as I mentioned before, I mod podged the pebbles to the photos first. Then after a day, I cut around the photos and decided I didn't like the way it looks. I ripped it off and glued it back on with just a tiny little dab of E6000. You don't need much. Once you press down, it covers the whole photo. As you can see in the below photo, the Mod Podge wasn't smooth.

So, every time I print photos from Costco, they come with these 4x6 photos that has tiny little prints of the photos I ordered. I always kept them because I thought maybe I'd use them someday. I'm a bit of a hoarder. I hate to throw away things. 

When I was at Walmart, the smallest magnets they had were slightly bigger than my pebbles. These were self adhesive magnets. If you get regular magnets, use the E6000 to glue the magnet to the pebbles. 

I attached a few and really didn't like the way it looked. I had just one little magnet on my fridge that I used on one of the pebbles. It looks nicer because you can't see the magnet from the front. I debated whether or not I wanted to order them from eBay or Amazon but I have no patience to wait for that.... then I remembered we had a pair of scissors that can cut through the magnets! So that's what I did. Although it's not pretty, it will do! haha

From left to right:

• A small magnet I found on my frig that was perfect!
• I cut the magnet so that it's smaller than the pebble. It's ugly but you can't see it from the front!
• The magnet (uncut) slightly bigger than the pebble.
• If you look closely, you can see the magnet from the front on the last pebble.

DIY Gift Bag

It's my little sister's birthday (Okay, it was a couple of days ago) and I made her a Crochet Slouch Beanie. I have tons of gift bags that I've saved to reuse but I wanted to make one just for her. I found a video tutorial here that uses two 12x12 scrapbook papers. Years ago when I thought I'd have time to make scrapbooks, I went a little crazy and bought tons of scrapbook paper. I've actually found good use for them even though I'm not scrap booking. I've used them to make cards, bunting & other crafts. 

I used double sided paper like they did and decided that I would make the edges prettier. I didn't reinforce the bottom of the bag because I know that the hat is very lightweight and it's not necessary.

I used a purple sheer ribbon that I purchased at the Dollar Tree awhile ago and purple tissue paper. The hat fit perfectly in the bag. I printed these cute labels from here. 

Again, the tutorial can be found here.

Upcycled Newborn Hat & Headband (from a sweater)

I recently made a Newborn Pant from this same sweater. A few days later, I was able to make the knotted hat.. and with the scraps, I made a little flower tieback.

I used the front of the sweater for the pants. One sleeve was big enough for the hat. I can make TWO hats out of the sweater with both sleeves. How cool is that?!?!

First, I cut the sleeve into what looks like an upside down funnel.  

Then, I sewed the edges together with the sleeve inside out. I made sure to triple check this time since I failed to put the right sides together for the pants (still kicking myself on the behind for that!).
Now, flip it inside out so the RIGHT side is on the outside. Tie a knot and you're done!

For the tie back, I used a scrap pieces and cut out designs (if that's what you want to call it).

Using a needle and thread, stitch through the inside (opposite of where you just cut).

Glue 3 beads to the top and and elastic band to the bottom side. I used the same yarn I used for the drawstrings on the pants so it matches.