Easy Flower Pot Cupcakes!

These are some of the easiest (but not cheapest!) cupcakes you will ever do. Perfect for bridal shower, garden/spring parties, or girlie girl birthdays, these easy flower pot cupcakes will have everyone super impressed...without you having to do much work at all!

You will need:
*cake mix and ingredients/materials to make it into cupcakes
*chocolate frosting
*small, cupcake-sized flower pots
*Dollar Store flowers and wire cutters
*One package Oreos
*candles (optional)

1. Bake your cupcakes as you normally would.
2. After they've cooled, stick them (paper and all) into washed and dried mini flower pots.
3. Dollop a small bit of chocolate frosting on each one and use the back of a spoon to spread over whole cupcake.
4. Pulse or smash Oreos until dirt-like, then spoon and press into frosting.
5. Cut each flower stem about 3-4 inches and stick one flower in each pot. Can reserve one cupcake for candles if desired.
6. Enjoy! Take out the flower and use a knife to pop out the cupcakes before eating to ensure food safety and that no one digs their fork into the paper! :)

Much easier than pre-treating the pots to bake in or making it all from fondant! And everyone gets a pot and a flower as a keepsake! :)

More Seasonal Bucket Lists!

Since it's not even officially summer yet (I consider the start of summer either the day after school gets out, or Memorial Day, depending on our life circumstances), we haven't started on our summer bucket list.  But I DID put it in a cheap frame on the mantle!

Since the glass in picture frames work GREAT as dry-erase boards, I've just got a dry-erase marker hiding behind it so I can cross off what we've done--that way I can reuse these "bucket lists" year after year after year.  I really want to paint that frame light green, though.  Gold is nice and all, but light green will go with ALL these other seasonal bucket lists I've made up, too!  (I dunno, maybe gold will do...)

Feel free to download anything you want.  They are all 8"x10" prints.  I'll admit, there are one or two things in there that AREN'T as universal--like going to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon in autumn, which is a Lafayette, Indiana, thing.  :)  But, for the most part, they are generic things anyone can do--so you *could* just cross out the one or two things that don't apply and get a head start on finishing up that list!  If you don't want to do that, though, I've made just the backgrounds available for download as well so you can add your own text to them (in image-editing software or even print them off and write them by hand with sharpies, whatever you prefer).

AUTUMN (special thanks to Designs by Megan Turnidge at Scrap Orchard for the wonderful kit "Autumn Thoughts"...the kit couldn't be more stunning!)

Autumn Background Download HERE

Autumn Bucket List (complete) Download HERE

WINTER (using the amazing "December in Thornhill" kit by Sweet Maple Designs)


Winter Background Download HERE

Winter Bucket List Download HERE

(I didn't really like this one--LOVED the kit, but it was too busy for my liking, so I made another one. ) :)

WINTER, TAKE 2 (using "Winter Holiday" by my favorite digiscrap designer ever, Connie Prince)

Winter Bucket List #2 Background Download HERE

Winter Bucket List #2 (Complete) Download HERE

SPRING (thank you to Shabby Princess for the beautiful kit that I see EVERYWHERE, "Spring Promise!")

Spring Background Download HERE

Spring Bucket List (Complete) Download HERE

SUMMER, if you didn't download it before, using Connie Prince once again--the gorgeous kit "Sunbeams and Daydreams".

Summer Background Download HERE

Summer Bucket List (Complete) Download HERE

Enjoy!  I know that if I focus more on making these little, choice life experiences happen every day, I will have fewer regrets as the seasons change.  How often have I thought to myself, "I wish I had done ______ this year," etc.?  Let's not put off for tomorrow what we can do today!  :)  Let's make some memories!

Melted Crayon Art, Take 1

I've loved the melted crayon art floating all over the internet since the first day I saw it, but it quickly became a fad and I wanted to make mine a little more special.  I came up with an idea I'm really excited about, but I wanted to experiment with this whole melting process first...so, once again it was Pinterest to the rescue.  A little pastel inspiration, and here's what I came up with:

 It was a lot of fun to make--I bought a HUGE foam board and cut it down to the size I wanted with an exacto-knife.  Then I just hot glued the crayons down like I wanted, turned them upside down to blowdry (MUCH messier than I had anticipated--even with three trash bags laid down, I will still have to do some SCRUBBING in my bathroom tomorrow!  Next time I will do it outside), and hot glued my giant, bright gerberas.  Voila!  Instant springtime.

I LOVE my new spring decor for the mantle!  Now I just have to figure out what else I want to make to go along with it.  Stay tuned for take 2!

(And if you love that Easter egg button art and/or the felt bunnies, check out the original post HERE...there's a link to the original tutorial from Auntie Lolo Crafts!)

Fairy Garden

I didn't get inspired until, like, yesterday to do this, and fundage is low because of all the birthday goings-on...but still, I think my fairy garden to welcome in spring turned out awfully cute.

The whole thing.  Right out of our patio was a little space that, I assume because of the giant rocks forming a barrier around it, the former tenants used to garden flowers.  So I pulled out almost all the weeds (I liked the little white flowers on the one in front, though, so I let it stay), tilled up the soil (LOTS of worms in there!), and put my pots down...the leftover flowers went on either side.

Check out this adorable park bench and the picket fence!  (Though it looks like I may have to glue them together.)

This cute little bookshelf (only $2.47) came with lots of little books, complete with titles--I stole a few for the bench and tucked the rest on the shelf in another pot...fairies can fly, after all.  ;) 

Just another view.  For reference, those viola flowers are not even the size of my thumb.

I just want to curl up on this bench.

Aerial view.

I went to Dollar Tree for all the pots and dirt and such, and Hobby Lobby for the miniature things (oooooh, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING on that wall!  Next year my fairy will have a tea set in an outdoor dining area.  And she'll do a little gardening herself.  And this park bench will get a streetlamp behind it...), and got a few cheap, small flowers from Walmart.  Next year I'll save up for better stuff, but for this year, I think I welcomed Spring in today just fine.  :)

This is going to be my new Spring tradition! Or you could do this for Earth Day.  Next year I'll have Caida help me.  :)

Spring is here!

I know, it's been here for like a month already.  But it's finally starting to feel like it:

(1) Thunderstorms.  Check.
(2) Several pregnant friends and even several births within the last few weeks.  Check.
(3) The urge to spring clean and open the windows.  Check.  (Well, the urge is there, but I'm still in the process of actually doing it...spring cleaning this year will also involve getting rid of major furniture and selling off whatever we don't want to move to our new apartment, as well as the usual cleaning out of clutter and cleaning the whole place top-to-bottom.)

Next up will be a cookout at my sister's, and starting long walks with Obi again (I just can't bring myself to do it when it's cold!).  Then planting my hanging herb garden.  Then picnicking and buying fresh flowers and getting ready for a big summer!  WOOHOO!

Easter Button Egg and Felt Chocolate Bunnies!

I love following artsy-craftsy blogs, because I find the best inspiration for easy, cheap projects.  I particularly loved this craft because it looked simple and I had all the materials I would need on hand already--which meant a cute, simple, perfect Easter decoration that cost me NOTHING!  Can't get better than that!

My white chocolate bunny.

My milk chocolate bunny.  :)

Anyway, you can find the GORGEOUS original as well as a tutorial (including the bunny pattern!) HERE.  I pretty much did what she did, except I used a slightly less sophisticated color palette since I had all those springy buttons and lots of spring felt.  I also used two different colors of felt instead of the burlap, and hot glued it (after I sewed) right onto the backing of the photo frame.  (Side note: this was even MORE perfect because I had a boring 5" x 7" wood frame that was missing its glass and needed revamped, so this worked out just right!)  Otherwise, I pretty much just followed exactly what she said in the tutorial.  I WILL advise, however, that if you make the bunnies, you stuff as you sew--especially on the smaller size!  Even my pinkie didn't quite fit in the ears or front feet, so stuffing as I sewed made it easy.  Still, it was a SIMPLE, cute project and I would make it again in a heartbeat!

The finished product.

What do you think?  :)

Springtime Button Bouquet

I've seen these button bouquets EVERYWHERE and wanted to try my hand at one.  I decided to make a mini one, but I still have nowhere to put it...maybe I'll make a trip to the Dollar Tree later to find a small white vase or candle holder or teacup or something.  Or maybe I'll put them in salt shakers like the tutorial HERE.  Maybe a perfume bottle?  The bottom of a spray bottle?  Suggestions?  Anyway, they are SO cute and SO easy and SO colorful and fun.  :)  But don't take my word for it...

I used a lot of the package...maybe 400-ish buttons.  (I saved some for another spring project I'm working on.)  But my bouquet is REALLY tightly packed, yours doesn't have to be.  As you can see, I also added a few beads on top of some buttons just to give it a little something different.  If I had vintage buttons around, I'd do something more eclectic, but for now, this is perfect for welcoming spring!  We don't have a lot of places to put decorations, really.  :)

I'm hoping to work my way up to something like this for my sister's tossing bouquet at her aquamarine wedding:

I'm linking up HERE.  :)

Spring has (almost) sprung!

Nice weather this time of year always gets me excited for just a few weeks from now, when springtime starts.  I'm in the middle of a few spring projects, but I thought I'd share what I have so far.  :)

Our kitchen table...it's small, so I used only a quarter of each of 6 different spring-colored bandannas to make the table runner (easy sewing project #1!).  Add a vase of a few springy gerberas, and our table is quite ready for the new season!

(Haha, yes...even my pill box matches.)  Soon enough I will make button-over napkin holders with some of the bandanna scraps.  How cute would THAT be?  :)

I also got to make a few little bead bugs...they're kinda adorable, especially the beatle babies!  (I got the idea from FamilyFun online, although I had to tweak the bugs a little because of the beads I had at home.  SUPER EASY and fun project, even for kids.  :)

I dotted the bugs around the flowers on the table and they keep me company for our breakfasts and lunches.

More to come!  I'm linking up here--go check out everyone's favorite awesome crafts and recipes from the week!