Star Trek Blog Hop: Cupcakes!

I'm so excited to be participating in Katie's Star Trek blog hop today! There are many other bloggers with great projects. To find the whole list, scroll to the bottom of this post. I'm happy to share with you my project, Star Trek-themed cupcakes! I've included a tutorial for several designs below!

Star Trek Uniform:

1. Ice in red, blue, or gold (eat the redshirts first!) The easiest was to get a smooth cupcake is to ice a very thick layer on first, making sure you go all the way to the edges, and then hold your spatula vertically against the cupcake and scrape off excess icing from the sides. Then, hold your spatula level horizontally with the top of the cupcake and very lightly skim across it for a smooth finish. 

2. The uniform details are quite easy, just a black triangle for the top and pipe on the insignia!

Star Trek Enterprise:

1. This cupcake is more show than tell, so ice the cupcake (as discussed in the previous tutorial), and then, using grey icing, pipe on the general outline of the enterprise. Fill in the shape.

2. Using black icing, add teeny details on the various parts of the ship.

Star Trek Faces:

1. Ice in skin-colored icing. Then pipe on the facial details. I found it easiest to pipe in this order: hair, face, eyebrows. Easy-peasy!

TIPS:

1. You can use a toothpick to mark out a pattern for piping. I did this with Kirk and Spock's hair and found it very helpful.

2. Get crafty and make speech bubbles! Our quotes are from the new series and were a cute addition to the Starfleet uniform cupcakes.

Thanks for reading! 

-Taylor

Bloggers Participating in the blog hop:
• Katie- Punk Projects
• Taylor- This Memorable Life
• Megan- The Nerd Nest
• Mandy- Chocolate and Cream Cake
• Kam- Campfire Chic
• Regena- The Distracted Domestic
• Melissa- Scrappy Jedi
• Emily- Oh! Emily Made That

Sugared Lime Spring Wreath DIY

I found this website, Design Seeds, through my sister Katie. Anyway, I need I wanted to make a spring wreath, and when I saw this beautiful color scheme of various limes on Design Seeds that I had my inspiration. I love how bright lime can be, yet in this color scheme, the lime is subtle and serene. Enjoy my wreath tutorial below and my take on these beautiful shades of spring green.

Supplies:

Paper Flowers

Ribbon Scraps in different shades of lime green

Plain Straw Wreath

Muslin or Canvas Scrap 12" long (to hang the wreath with)

White Acrylic Paint

Lace Paper Doilies

1. Paint on polka dots first. I used a cosmetic sponge to make my dots, but if you don't already have a circular sponge, you could easily cut one from a regular sponge.

2. Tie your muslin scrap onto the top of the wreath. Layer your ribbons on one side of the wreath and pin in place. 

3. Hot glue ribbons in place at the top of each ribbon. Add a lace paper doily on top of the ribbons.

4. Glue paper flowers on top of lace doily. Arrange the flowers in an odd number for the most aesthetic appeal. Three or five flowers will look best. 

5. Enjoy your wreath, hang it in the sunshine to greet your spring visitors and enjoy your spring!

Bunny Garden Rocks

Katie and I whipped up this project a few weeks ago. Toss these cute little rocks into your garden. They're easy on your supplies too, you only need white and black paint pens and small rocks or stones.

Draw on white bunnies first, then use a finer black pen to add on details. With other colors, you could easily make chicks, ducks, Easter eggs, flowers, or other spring-y designs.

What do you think? Have any decorated rocks in your garden?

Thanks Katie, for sharing this DIY!

Quick and Easy Painted Bunnies

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile. Sometimes I just need to step back. Take a break, breathe, have some "think" time. I've been extremely busy teaching this semester, and doing lots of my own writing as well. For a few weeks, I kept thinking, "I just can't do this blog thing anymore, it's just too much." Now, I think, for the moment, I want to continue. But my posts will be a little less frequent for the time being. Sanity throughout the semester is important. 

This project was a wild goose chase. I had this great idea that I would paint plastic bunnies shiny and gold and use them for crafts this spring. So I go looking for plastic bunnies and couldn't find them anywhere. I checked Target, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc, and couldn't find small plastic ones, only plus bunnies. Finally, I found some at Wal-mart, who knew, right? Then I went to paint them with my favorite gold paint, Liquid Leaf, but the bottle had self-sealed and I couldn't open it. I was about to give up on the bunnies when my sister suggested nail polish. Genius! So, the DIY was still on. Enjoy the pics! These cute little bunnies have so many possible projects waiting on them! I decorated a candle (see pic above), but there are so many more DIYs just waiting to happen!

1. Prep: I used white polish to paint over the bright pink and black details.

2. Painting the bunnies took about 2 coats each. I painted them neon yellow, pink, gold, and mint. (My current favorite colors!)

 3. Let them dry between coats!

Kitty Key Chain DIY

Hey you guys, Katie here. As you probably know, Taylor has a kitten named Sisko. (If you didn't know, she's blogged about the joy of crafting with a cat here.) I made this EASY key chain with a little doodle of Sisko on it, and I'm going to show you how I made it.

Supplies: Chipboard Charm, Acrylic Paint, Sharpies, Key Ring, Jump Rings

1. Attach 4-6 jump rings in a chain and attach one end to the key ring.

2. Paint your charm a solid color. (guitars aren't what I wanted.) I chose white.

3. Using your sharpies doodle a kitty (or puppy if you're a dog person!) and a cute word.

4. Coat with mod podge to seal and attach to key ring with a jump ring.

That was probably the easiest key chain you've ever made! ;)

Want more DIY's? Hop over to my blog, Punk Projects!

Pintastic Things This Week

Check out this super cool galaxy shirt by How to Own It. I really want to make one of these!

Love these tea towels from Censational Girl. Beautiful!

I found this tutorial for shrinky plastic rings and it blew me away! So original! By Planet June.

And this is the absolutely prettiest possible way to store plastic bags! I love how bright it is! By Creative Home Making with Constanca Cabral.

This DIY calls to my love of the feather trend! Check it out at The Crafted Sparrow.

And last but not least, this brilliantly-hipster scarf from Sea Lo Que Sea. 

That's it for today! In case you didn't notice, today's round up was kind of a hodge podge without any particular theme because I stumbled upon so many different kinds of interesting DIY's this week on Pinterest. 

Want to repin or blog about some of these awesome projects? Be sure to link to the original source so that the artist/author gets credit. It's really easy for something to get pinned or linked so many times that it no longer traces back to its original source and the artist receives no feedback for his or her work...so use the original source and share these lovely posts!

-Taylor

Kitty Ravioli Toy DIY

Supplies:

Catnip

Fabric Scraps

Sewing Machine

Cotton or Polyester Stuffing

1. Cut 2 x 2 inch squares out of fabric scraps. 

2. Putting the wrong sides of two of the fabric squares together, sew around three sides of each set of squares. Don't sew on the very edge-sew about 1/4 inch in to make the ravioli shape.

3. Stuff with a small pinch of cotton stuffing and then sprinkle in about a teaspoon of catnip.

4. Sew up remaining side and you're done!

I whipped up a dozen of these cat toys in about fifteen minutes. My kitten loves them! His reaction to catnip is hilarious-first he plays and gets hyper and then his eyes get glazed over and he's totally mellow. It's really funny.

5 Minute DIY: Color Blocked Feather Bookmarks

This morning I was browsing pretty things on Anthropologie's website. My relationship with Anthropologie is like this: You know that super cool, super impressive person that you think is so far above you, they'll never look down and see you exist? Well, Anthropologie's that person and I'd like to think some day we'll be friends (when they drop their prices dramatically). Anyway, This DIY is inspired by some of the cute little charms they have in their shop.

Supplies:
Neutral-color scrapbook paper (beige, white on white, gray, etc.)
Colored paper scraps
adhesive, doodling pens

1. Hand cut 6-7 inch feathers from neutral-color paper. Shoot for whimsical-no need to cut each feather exactly the same!

2. On the bottom third of each feather, glue on a colored scrap and trim to fit the feather.

3. Doodle on cute messages and mark your place in your favorite books!

Valentines DIY: Jar O Dates

Need a quick, last-minute gift idea for valentines? I've got one for you today! Whip up a jar of dates to last a whole year! See the tutorial below.

Supplies:

Popsicle sticks (I bought my pre-printed at Michael's).

Ribbon Scraps

Empty Jar

Stickers (for decoration)

1. Tie all your ribbon scraps around the rim of the jar. This is a super fast way to decorate!

2. Write fun date ideas on your Popsicle sticks. I had five different kinds of sticks, so I made these types into categories, weekend dates that require planning, stay at home dates, etc.

3. Decorate your jar and you're done!

4. Take pictures...get photo-bombed.... (this is obviously not a step, but, my cat frequently does this so I thought I would share a photo).