Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #1

Kim over at Newly Woodwards is having a party! Follow along or join in the festivities.

Welcome to Week #1: Dare to be Thankful! In Kim's own words this weeks project is: "Take some time making your own DIY Thanksgiving project. It could be a fun Thanksgiving advent calendar, homemade thank-you cards, a banner or something completely unique."

Frankly this weeks dare was a big, giant fail on my part; I had junk to do all weekend and I completely dropped the ball. So no new project from me. However, I want to be involved and be supportive, so I figured I'd re-post a project from last year. It's not like anybody actually saw it except for Kelly!


My boss receive a book entitled Hello, Cupcake! for Christmas last year and for some reason brought it in to work recently. I was smitten. Everything in the tutorial cookbook is ADORABLE! And very simple, too.
At my grandmothers, for Holidays, the grandkids are not expected to act like adults. We are not asked to bring a dish, or help out in the kitchen. While this can be a relief at times, sometimes it is also nice to be treated as a grown-up. Especially when you have a house, a fiance, a big girl job, and two fur-"babies". So I decided this year that I would make cupcakes! Yay! Only problem is, I've never made cupcakes before. Well, not really a "problem", as I am a fairly good cook, so the baking part was no trouble, but I completely underestimated the time and financial commitment that fancy cupcakes take. I chose to make the "T.V. Dinner" cupcakes and the " Larry the Turkey" cupcakes.

 

I went to Schnucks on my lunch break to buy the supplies. It took forever since I don't bake much and I wasn't sure exactly what I needed. I had decided that instead of the Peas and Carrots cupcake you see in the first picture, I would make a Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows one. So I needed lots of orange Starburst, but I didn't know how many... And I also decided that instead of Chocolate Pudding, I would make Stuffing. That was easily accomplished with Betty Crocker Ice Cream Praline topping. So I got most of my stuff at the grocer, but I still had to stop at a cake decorating specialty store for the rest, Karen Ann's. She was really nice and incredibly helpful.  Anyway, after 5 hours of baking and decorating, here are the results.

I think they all turned out really great, but it was definitely hard work. You'll notice there are no Larry's and there are also two random "Pudding" cupcakes. I ran out of time and the will to live. Just kidding. But it was 11 pm, I had run out of orange Starburst, and I was tired. So, I deemed it "good enough". I am the queen of "good enough", BTW. But they were a big hit (especially the mashed potato ones), so I was happy.

So what do think of my recycled DIY project? Have you checked out the other links at Kim's?