DIY Cupcake Tower

Today I wanted to share with you all my tutorial that shows you how to make these adorable and SUPER easy cupcake towers that you can customize to fit your party style.

Materials:

Hat Boxes (or any other sturdy and smooth cardboard box) - Michaels, Joann, Hobby Lobby, or most craft stores.

Decorative Paper to fit your design/style/theme

Decorative Edge Scissors

Tape

Tips: I found a jumbo roll of wrapping paper that matched our invites that we used and wrapping paper is usually pretty inexpensive.  Also various box sizes are great to add height and variety.

Step One: Line the top side of your box (it is now going to be the bottom side of your stand) on the edge of the paper and mark  how tall it is.

Continue drawing your line for the length of paper you will need to wrap around the box.

Tip: Some styles of wrapping paper now have grids on the back (mine didn't) which makes it super easy for cutting straight lines.

Step Two: Take your decorative edge scissors and cut about a half inch to an inch above your line to give it a little bit of a lip above the edge of where your box will be.

Step Three: Wrap your box. Remember to keep the open part of your box at the base of the paper. Tape one end of the paper to the box to hold in place. Then roll/wrap.

The other end should overlap just slightly to cover the whole thing and tape together.

Step Four: Stand your box (open side down....) and you are done with one. Repeat and stack!

You can stack as many as you like to achieve the look you want. I went with a taller box for the base to give it some height, and then a slightly shorter box on top to give it some variety.

Step Five: Fill with cupcakes!

Tip: For standard size cupcakes, you will want a 4" difference in box sizes for each tier to fit cupcakes all the way around (ex: for a 3 tier cupcake stand:  bottom tier - 14" box, middle tier - 10" box, top tier - 6" box). For mini size cupcakes a 2" difference in box sizes for each tier will work.

Now that your stand is all filled with cupcakes you can take a step back and enjoy your hard work, and eat a cupcake!

Thanks for checking out our hat box cupcake tower tutorial. Another great thing about this is you can take the paper off and re-wrap for another theme, the versatility is really endless! Also be sure to check out other fun details from this baby shower that I styled filled with DIY projects and more tips on uses with wrapping paper for parties on my here! Thanks again and please feel free to comment or share!

Push-up Pops Package Giveaway!

Giveaway closed...

Scroll to the bottom to see who won!

Winners need to contact me via facebook or etsy to claim you prize.

Are you ready for this! The very first giveaway on my blog!!!! I am so excited!

I wanted to share something fun and that I would be happy winning myself!  I am sure that most of you have seen these in one place or another...

Push-up Pops have been quit the rage for a while now, and I must say that I am a fan. I used them recently for a party and just fell madly in love! So I put together this fun little package to celebrate my readers...

The winner will receive a copy of the uber popular Push-Up Pops book!

This  book is so amazing! The fabulous Courtney form Pizzazzerie shares so many fun ideas for push-up pop containers to take them from ordinary to extraordinary! 

She shows that the versatility is really endless! Inside you will find over 40 different recipes from puddings and cupcakes to popsicles!  Plus a variety of ways to display and dress them up for any occasion.  

Now that you have the instruction, let's put it to use... 

the winner will also receive 1 dozen Push-up Pop containers!

And last but not least, you will need a way to display your fabulous treats once you have used Courtney's book to make something delicious right!?! 

So I am throwing in a 12ct Push-Pop Cake stand!

Now you have a complete Push-up Pop package to create a delicious and beautiful dessert display that will amaze your guests! 

Oh, but wait! 

Since this is my first giveaway let's go ahead and giveaway a 2nd set of Push-up Pops! Yup, that's right! A bonus person will receive 1 dozen pops! So you have 2 chances to be a winner. This giveaway ends on May 8th 12pm, and the winner(s) will be announced the following day. Good luck! 

Now here is how you enter:

DIY Candlestick Jars

Some of you may know that I am one of the new contributors over at A Blissful Nest! I will mainly be focusing on party/entertaining crafts and tutorials.I have been brainstorming lots of fun things to share with you to help inspire your own exciting parties and events. Today I am finally going to share with you this fun and easy tutorial to create your own candlestick apothecary jars that I made for my Easter Peeps Party found here.
Materials:Candlesticks (various sizes) – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or wood/craft store
Wooden knobs – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or craft store
Glass containers – Hobby Lobby
Wooden plaques – Hobby Lobby
Gorilla glue – any craft store
Paint and brushes – craft stores
I was able to get most of the supplies on sale and the total cost was under $15!
Step One: Gorilla Glue your candlesticks to wood plaques, and wood knobs to lids.I wanted to add a little more texture to the lids, so as I was browsing Hobby Lobby and found these little wood painted Earth’s and figured they would work since I was just going to paint over them.
Step Two: PAINT! Mine took a couple coats since it was a lighter color.
Step Three: When your paint is dry, pipe a ring of Gorilla glue around the top of your candlesticks and center base of jars onto them. Hold firmly into place for a few minutes while the glue sets.
Step Four: Once glue has fully dried, screw on lids to enjoy the finished product!
I just love them!
Step Five: Fill jars... I filled mine with jelly beans, M&M's, and Robin Eggs for Easter.

You can fill your jars with pretty much anything your heart desires! Fancy them up with bows too. They are great for entertaining or home decor! You can paint them any color to match your kitchen or home and leave them up all year. Fill them at each holiday with special treats : Valentines Day – conversation hearts, Halloween – candy corn, and so on. I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and please feel free to comment or share! Also be sure to check back at A Blissful Nest soon for more great tips, parties, and giveaways!

DIY Peeps Activities

Here are just a few ideas for Peep themed things you can do and create for your own party...
Painting with my Peeps I got my peeps pre-cut, but if you have a scroll saw you can totally cut them out yourself. Here is a template you can use (same one for the bunting tutorial). If not take the template in to a local wood crafting shop and see what they can do, it is usually pretty inexpensive. We used sponge brushes to paint, and jewel stickers for the eyes. They turned out really cute, and the kids had so much fun painting.
Peeps T-shirts All you need for this project is some plain shirts, your own printer, Fabric Transfer Sheets (got mine at walmart), iron, and your image. I found these free peeps images online here, but be sure to reverse the image when you print them so they will be facing the right direction when you iron them on! Then you just follow the directions in your transfer sheets, some vary. This project was so easy, you will just have to give it a try!

That is all my tips for this little party we had. I hope it has helped and inspired some of you and thanks again for checking us out! Hope you all have a great Easter holiday!

DIY Peeps Decorations

Here are just a couple quick and easy DIY peep decoration tips that I used for our party...
Bunny Peep Centerpiece I found this idea and tutorial at Celebrations At Home and fell in love. The use of putting the bunnies on skewers to double as treat and decoration, genius! Their full tutorial is available here, but I got my products mostly at Hobby Lobby for under $15 total!

Peep Bunting I am not a super seamstress and RARELY sew, but this was such a fun and easy project! Seriously something that beginners can easily do. The full tutorial with the pattern and step by step instructions is available here from the fabulous Dana from MADE.

Candle Stick Jars I just loved how these turned out! Unfortunately I am not going to be posting this full tutorial just yet... I am saving it for special guest post on another blog, but then will post it here again too for all of you in a week. I am so sorry to disappoint any one!
I hope you enjoyed those as well. Tomorrow I will be posting a just few more tutorials for the activities. Thanks for stopping by and checking us out!

DIY Peeps Food

Here are some fun and easy treat tutorials that I used for our party yesterday....

Peep drinks I saw these chocolate dipped peeps at the grocery store and the idea just came to me! So I picked up some blue juice and clear cups. Pretty simple! I am sure that you could dip the bases of your own peeps if you cannot find the packaged ones. They worked out perfect and kept them afloat without sinking or flipping on their sides.

Peep bird nests
This was probably the easiest treat I have ever made! Chow Mien noodles, chocolate, Cadburry eggs and peeps! If you have never made these before, you can find the instructions online everywhere! Here is an easy one for example.
Peep Sugar Cookies
My dear friend from Lil G's Cookies made these for me, but she followed the full tutorial that is available here from the amazing Sweet Sugar Belle
Hatch a baby Peep
For this project you will need a bag of chocolate melts ( you can use Wilton, or semi sweet baking chips), peepe, edible grass, mini eggs, chocolate egg mold, clear cupcake boxes, Easter grass, ribbon, and a disposable decorating bag (or ziplock bag will work too).
You can find molds online, craft stores, or restaurant supply stores. I got a 4" size egg so I could fit a whole peep without cutting or smashing it. First melt your chocolate according to package directions. Fill both sides of the mold completely. Tap lightly on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Then pour out the excess chocolate, but be sure to make sure all sides of the mold are completely covered with chocolate and place in freezer to firm up. While chocolate is setting, brake up pieces of edible grass and break apart peeps. When chocolate has set up, gently turn out on counter top. Fill your decorating bag with extra chocolate and snip off the end Fill the bottom half of the egg with grass, a peep, and some mini eggs Then using your chocolate filled bag pipe chocolate around the edges and place top half on. Hold together firmly for about 30 seconds. Wipe off excess chocolate. You may have to use a knife to smooth out larger chunks. Fill your cupcake box (I got mine online here) with some grass (I also put in some smaller candies to add color), tie with ribbon and top with free printable tag found here. Kids get a fun little surprise when they break open their eggs!

I hope that this gives you all some fun ideas and help. Please feel free to comment with any thoughts or questions. Tomorrow I will be posting tutorials for the decorations so be sure to check back then. Thanks for stopping by!