tutorial: pinwheel cupcake toppers

 

I was recently asked by a friend to make a cake for her cousin's baby shower that she was hosting. After going back and forth with ideas, she decided to have cupcakes for the shower, and we had the idea to decorate them with tiny pinwheels! It was a fun process trying to make tiny pinwheels, and I wanted to share how I did it with y'all!

1. First, pick out some sheets of pretty, coordinating paper. Scrapbook "paper packs" are GREAT for this. You won't need a lot of paper, so you can pick just a few prints, but I say the more the merrier! My friend Eryn picked this paper pack from Joann's to match the purple and green color scheme of the shower.

2. Cut the paper into even squares. For these tiny cupcake toppers I did 2" squares. Play around with the size for whatever project you have in mind. I also made a few giant 12" pinwheels for shower decor (but sadly don't have a picture).

3. Cut slits at each corner, going 2/3 of the way in towards the center of your square.

4. Put a dab of hot glue in the center of the square.

5. Carefully fold every other point into the middle of the square at glue it in place.

6. Like this...

7. I stuck a straight pin through the center of each pinwheel to help make a path for the brads I was using as centers, but if you have very pointy brads or just use a rhinestone or something as your pinwheel's centers, you don't need this step.

8. Insert a cute brad, rhinstone, button, etc to make your pinwheel's center.

 9. For cupcake toppers, make a bunch!

10. Glue lolly pop sticks to the back of each pinwheel.

 11. Get some plain jane cupcakes ready. This would be a great way to spruce up store bought cupcakes if you're not the baking type.

12. Another shot of the sea of pinwheels before being sunk into cupcakes.

13. LOVE IT!

These would be too sweet for a kid's birthday party as well! Have fun making your own!

P.S. I also made 12" pinwheels for decor at my wedding! Possibilities are endless!

-Beth

Easter 2012

Another successful holiday with the twins in tow. High five to Dan and me. Their last major holiday of their first year of life...wow. I'll save the sap for their first birthday post (which is too close for comfort! 30 more days!)

Back to Easter : we celebrated as we always do - at my grandparents' house. Pocking Easter eggs, eating amazing food, with family to love at every turn. When we arrived we made time for a group family photo with my grandparents. So, so sweet: check out my grandma pocking eggs with my cousin Jaret while my nephew Mason looks on. Love it.

Then I whisked the babies to the backyard for a few photos in their *white* outfits which I knew would get destroyed pretty soon!

They just look like little spring chickens here haha!

Darlin's

What a HAM!

Aunt Mary with her "nephie-poos"

Sweet Grandma pocking eggs with Eli 

"Papa-corn" being silly with Asher! 

 Mawmaw Ellen with a squirmy Asher

 Sweet boys playing in the backyard at home after all the Easter visiting

 

Asher

 Eli 

Our family's first Easter with the boys!

Hope you and your family had a great Easter 2012!

-The Hembree's

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."
-Matthew 28:6

New Craft! Magnetic Dry-erase Memo Boards!

I'm very excited to share this new craft with you today! Well, it's not exactly a "new" craft. I made one of these dry erase boards a few months ago, but it's always overflowing with memos, so I decided to add more to my "collection" so that I have a way to better organize the info and keep it neat!

I started with old frames that I was no longer using. Since we moved a few months ago I have frames that just don't "fit" anywhere in the new house, so they were perfect for this job! I removed the glass, backing, and also any hardware on the back that would keep the frames from lying flat (I am adding magnets to these for use on a fridge but if you want them just hanging on your wall, leave the hardware intact!)

The frames:

Spray paint them a funky color! You can coordinate them all or mix it up! (Note to self: don't leave the frames out to dry when there's a 40% chance of rain.... Yes, I did that and had to sand down the little water drop spots and re-spray them. And you can still kind of see spots. Boo!)

Here are the spray colors I chose if you'd like to copy ;) I also used an apple green for the third frame but that was a few months back, like I explained earlier!

Get some heavy duty magnets from Home Depot or somewhere like that, and hot glue them to the back. I used 6 magnets for my smaller frame and 10 for this multi-frame piece.

Insert pretty scrapbook paper into the frames and replace the glass and backing. I used paper left over from previous projects, including our engagement party invitations!

Snap your new memo boards onto your fridge and add reminders, calendars, chore lists, menus, grocery lists, phone numbers, inspiring quotes....anything!

Cute, right?

You can store your dry erase markers by resting them on the tops of the frames.

Have fun creating this project yourself and making it all your own! It can be funky, modern, traditional. Match it to your decor...or not! As always, if you like what you see but don't want to create this project yourself, email me at bhiggi5@tigers.lsu.edu and I'll glady create a custom piece for you!

Thanks for reading!!!

-Beth