Cupcake Necklaces

We have a shop in Incline Village called The Potlatch and it has an eclectic mix of clothing, dishes, jewelry, candles, picture frames, rugs, and all kinds of other goodness.  I went in there yesterday and found these Sweet Life necklaces ($8.99). The necklaces come attached to paper cupcakes with a recipe inside! 

 BTW....Sweet Life also makes bracelets. 

Recipe of the Week: Garden Party Cupcakes

These garden cupcakes are perfect for a summer party...and the recipe is an easy one from Duncan Hines (my favorite cake mix).  Follow the link under the photo for the recipe!

Duncan Hines Garden Party Cupcakes

Yoga Cupcakes

My niece Payton is here visiting this week and we took a yoga class today....stretching and getting into poses and positions that the human body was not meant to be in.  A good time was had by all.  Maybe rubbing a cupcake on my sore legs will help.

from the Flickr  photostream of doreenseng 

Cupcake Scarf (free pattern)

I know it's the middle of summer, but if you get started now, you will have a cute cupcake scarf by the time the first snowflakes fall.  The pattern for this scarf is available free from Craftbits.com.

Craftbits.com

Martha Stewart Cupcake Punch

You can use this cupcake punch for many things, but I bought it to make cupcake confetti to scatter on a table at a birthday party.  I got mine at Michael's but it is also available at craft stores, Borders and Amazon.  If you are into scrapbooking, there is also a cupcake corner punch.

Martha Stewart cupcake punch

$12.99

Cupcake Ear Buds

These cupcake earbuds will make music on your iPod (or whatever device you use) sound even better!

available from Amazon

$16.95

Giant Hostess Cupcake

This is really a cake...but it is a cake that is supposed to be a hostess cupcake.  Sweet! 

Leah Reich

Cupcake Costume

This is my halloween costume this year...except I must change the hat and the shoes!  It is available from many sources, but Amazon has the best price.

available from Amazon

$33.90

Recipe of the Week: Lemon Curd-Filled Angel Food Cupcakes

The inspiration for this week's recipe comes from a giant lemon I found at Wal-Mart.  I don't usually buy Wal-Mart produce, but this lemon was huge...so I took it home.  I also have the same cupcake wrappers used in the photo. I love these wrappers, but I had to buy 2000 of them for a wedding cupcake display.  That was the minimum order so I now have a lifetime supply.

Lemon Curd-Filled Angel Food Cupcakes

Southern Living Recipes

(original photo by Beth Dreiling Hontzas)

Last Space Shuttle Launch

Today is a little sad for me because I just watched the last space shuttle launch. I started thinking about all the launches I have seen.  On July 20, 1969 I watched the first moon landing while looking out the window at the moon and thinking "there are men walking around up there right now."  I was at a nursing conference in Nashville, TN when the first shuttle landed.  The person giving the lecture stopped and asked the audio-visual guy to switch to the broadcast of the first shuttle landing....amazing to watch the shuttle Columbia on a huge screen.  My heart was beating out of my chest as the shuttle touched down and the astronauts got out. 

Over the years, I have been fortunate to watch most of the shuttle launches and landings.  I was driving at the time of the shuttle Challenger disaster but was listening to the launch on the radio and remembering the knot in my stomach as the announcer's voice said "something is wrong."

I got to see the shuttle flying piggyback on a 747 as it returned to Florida after a landing at Edwards Air Force Base.  That was impressive. 

I was presenting my dissertation data at a conference in Orlando and was flying home very early in the morning.  I knew there would be a shuttle launch that morning so I got up at 3 am to be at the airport and past security before the launch.  I remember running to the large windows just in time to see the shuttle clear the trees.  It was a clear day so I watched until the booster rockets were released and fell to earth. 

So...as I sat watching the shuttle Atlantis leave Kennedy Space Center for the last time ever, I was a little sad.  I don't know what NASA has in store for the future, but I feel privileged to have seen so much in my lifetime. 

A cupcake toast to the space shuttles!

Enterprise (test flights only), Columbia, Discovery, Challenger, Atlantis, Endeavor

clevercupcakes

A Balanced Diet

A t-shirt is worth a thousand words...

birdarts

via Etsy

Cupcake Sandwiches

I have never been a big fan of sandwiches - just never thought of them as real food.  However, a cupcake sandwich is a whole 'nuther animal...give me a platter of these!

bittycakes

TheBusinessMakers

Heavenlycakedreamer

Cupcake Treasures from World Market

World Market has an abundance of cupcake treasures!  I was there yesterday and bought cupcake tissue paper to put in a gift bag.  They also have cupcake baking kits, plates, napkins....and more. 

World Market cupcake kit

$19.95

World Market cupcake napkins

$5.98 (32 napkins)

World Market cupcake purse gift bags

$11.97 (for 3)

 

Happy July 4th!

Celebrate our Independence Day with a cupcake!

Cupcake Collars

from Chica and Jo

Recipe of the Week: Red, White & Blue Cupcakes

Millions of Americans will pack picnic baskets tomorrow to celebrate the Fourth of July Independence Day and many of those baskets will contain cupcakes.  This week's recipe is a variation of the one I used for tie-dyed cupcakes....just with red, white and blue colors.

Red, White & Blue Cupcakes

Make a French Vanilla cupcake mix according to package directions.  Divide the batter into three bowls.  Color one bowl red, one bowl blue and leave the other bowl plain.  Prepare your cupcake pan with liners.  Add one tablespoon of batter to each liner...experiment with batter placement!  Bake as directed on the mix and cool completely.

Frost the cupcakes with your favorite vanilla buttercream or use premade Fluffy White frosting.  For toppers, I made red and blue gum paste stars, but you can also use patriotic sprinkles or July 4th cupcake picks!

from the photostream of TidyMom

via Flickr

Crow Cupcakes

I was outside watering flowers today and there were two crows in a tree just behind me.  Our crows here at Lake Tahoe are HUGE...and I think these guys were up to something.  I never could figure out what they were doing, but there was an unusual amount of crowing and flying back and forth between trees. Not being blessed with extensive experience in crow behavoir, I will have to wait and see what happens next. 

toriejayne

via Flickr

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door

"Tis some visitor, " I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door.

Only this, and nothing more."

The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe (1845)

Carpe Cupcakes! (the second anniversary)

Two years ago I started this blog to explore the cupcake universe.  It has been a lot of fun and I learn something new every day.  As the third year begins....thanks to all who are regular readers and to those who discover the cupcake universe on the way to somewhere else.  Thank you!

the first wedding cupcake I made

(and still my favorite)