Friday, June 10, 2011

Frugally Fabulous Cupcake Flower Pot Teacher Gift Tutorial

This is the Guest Blog Post I did for Mama Cheaps on June 8th. Enjoy!

The school year is coming to a close and this year I dragged the kids into helping create a gift for their teachers. It's inexpensive, pretty, and tasty! And I'm going to show you step by step how to make your own. Use them for teachers, the bus driver, Mother's Day, Birthday's, or any other special occasion when you want to give a gift from the heart that makes the tummy smile. The best part is that I put these gifts together for less than $5.00 each!





First you'll need to assemble your supplies:

1. Flower Pot
2. Scrapbook Paper or Construction Paper
3. Narrow Ribbon
4. Wax Paper
5. Lollipops (DumDums or small Charms)
6. Supplies for making Cupcakes (see recipe below)
7. Icing
8. Fill for your Flower Pot. (Easter Basket Grass, Shredded Craft Paper, Tissue Paper, etc.)
9. Large Cellophane Candy/Cookie Bags from the Candy Aisle at the Craft Store and either ribbon to tie shut or a twist tie.

We made three gifts so I picked up these three flower pots at my local craft store. Each pot cost less than $3.00. You want to stick with smaller pots that a standard size cupcake can fit inside.


Print out this pattern page. (Click to open it in a new window for printing). Then use the patterns to trace your flowers onto construction paper, scrapbooking paper, or poster paper. Cut your flowers out, curl the flower petals around your finger as seen below, and punch holes in the centers.



Once your petals are curled and your holes punched, you are ready to start assembling. Take your lollipop, unwrap, and slide the center, small petals, medium petals, and large petals onto the stick.


Then you can take your narrow ribbon and tie a small bow to secure your flower petals. They might slide a bit but that's okay because when you put the flower down into the cupcake, it won't go anywhere.


You'll also need to bake some cupcakes. And despite what many people think, it's okay to use a box mix. As long as you know how to tweak it, you'll get great results every time. Ignore the directions on the box and add the following ingredients instead.

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 standard package of pudding (flavor to match cake mix)
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Bake as directed on box. You will end up with deliciously moist cupcakes. If you don't have time to bake or you are a disaster in the kitchen, pick up a 6 pack of cupcakes from your favorite bakery. (We won't tell!)


Prepare your icing by putting it into either a piping bag with a tip or a zipper bag and cut the corner out. Swirl some icing onto the top of the cupcake. This doesn't have to be perfect because you're going to hide the icing when you place the flower. If you don't like icing bags, just use a spatula.


Now you'll need to cut a small disc of wax paper to put at the base of your flower. This will just protect your flower from the icing and protect the icing from the dyes in the paper.


Slide your flower down into your cupcake.


Now that your Lollipop Cupcake Flower is finished, you need to package it up to give it away. I like using the larger cellophane candy/cookie bags that you can purchase in the Cake Decorating/Candy Making Aisle of your local Craft Store. Just set your flower pot down into the bag and either tie a ribbon at the top to seal it or use a twist tie.




For more recipes and tutorials, find us at http://www.trulycustomcakery.com
Find us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/trulycustom
Visit our blog at http://www.StaceysSweetShop.com

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2 comments:

Misbah said...

what a nice idea.

Harrry said...

Hi,
WoW ! that's really a great work and superb idea thanks for sharing. I think we can decorate with flowers to look natural.

Thanks&Regards,.
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