Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

We do Friday Treats at work and last week it was my pod's turn... I brought Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I'll be honest, I cheated a bit on this one. The cinnamon rolls are store bought, but the icing is still homemade!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes Recipe:

Place individual cinnamon rolls (NOT jumbo size) into cupcake liners in muffin tins. I bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (3 packages of 8 rolls) and they fit perfectly. Bake according to instructions on the package (about 8 minutes), remove from oven, and let cool. Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla. Makes more than enough to ice 24 cinnamon roll cupcakes.

Happy baking!

Birthday Tu-Tu

As I mentioned yesterday, it's my cousin's birthday. Meet Alex...

She's modeling the black Birthday Tu-Tu I made her for her birthday. She's required to wear it at least one night in Vegas. And if you look closely, she's wearing a Birthday Pin, too. (I could have made a pun joke there, but I didn't... now you know I was thinking it, though.)

I hope people buy her drinks! And wish her a happy birthday!

To make the tu-tu, I cut and tied elastic to Alex's waist/pant size. I then cut strips of black tool and tied each strip in a knot on the elastic. That's it! So quick and easy!

Happy crafting!

Cheers to Alex!

Alex, my cousin, is turning 21. Happy 21st Birthday, Alex! I still remember when she was born... And now she's 21 years old. I can't believe it! You see, I'm the oldest of the "California Cousins"and Alex is the youngest. Although we're only 5 years apart, I liked to pretend that I was much older growing up. I liked to play "mom"... go figure. I also used to play dress up with Alex's school uniforms... Yep. I was that crazy kid that wanted school uniforms. Weird. I know. So Alex is a junior at Biola University and she's awesome. And she's 21. Below is her birthday card... I'll post her birthday present later.


Happy crafting!

Tangerine Tango

Just a quick post... Below is the card I made for the few April birthdays. I love the Tangerine Tango on Black. It pops, yet it's subtle. Happy April Birthdays!

Happy crafting!

Thin Mint Hamburgers

Apparently in 3rd grade, I did a presentation on how to make thin mint hamburgers. The idea of course came from my very creative mother (that's where my creative genes come from). Below are the thin mint hamburgers that she created recently... nilla wafer buns (with sesame seeds stuck with sugar icing), green colored coconut lettuce, red frosting ketchup, and a thin mint patty... she even got hamburger wrappers from McDonald's (cut in fourths). So cute, right?!

Happy crafting!

Fun and Fast Notes

I bought the Fun and Fast Notes stamp set from Stampin' Up! not too long ago and have been meaning to use it... It's just like it says! Fun and Fast! The stamp set has 8 super cute images with phrases for pretty much every occasion... I made some fast birthday cards and while I was at it, made a fast love note for Daniel. Like I said before, he's amazing and I like to remind him of that. How cute did that porcupine turn out?!

I think this may have to be my new go-to style of card... At least when I'm in a pinch. Again, super fast! Like under a couple of minutes fast! (I often take an hour or more to create and make just one card.)

Happy crafting ya'll!

Happy Anni'fish'ary

I know. Lame title. So Daniel took me to Yosemite over Spring Break. It was absolutely gorgeous! Naturally, I gave him a card. He's amazing and I like to remind him of that sometimes. (It was also our half-year anniversary about a week ago.) So I wanted to make fish with heart shaped lips about to kiss and that turned into heart shaped fins, heart shaped tails, and even heart shaped bubbles! I know. It's Valentine's Day all over again! I still think it's cute, though.

To Make: Layer Kraft, Real Red, Baja Breeze, and White cardstock. Use a 1 1/2" circle punch to cut two fish. Use a small heart shaped punch to punch hearts (5 Real Red, 5 Kraft, 2 Baja Breeze). Use a hole punch to punch 2 White eyes and a small hole punch to punch 2 brown eyes. Glue everything down!

I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Breaks! Happy crafting!

Girly Giraffe

I mentioned in my last post that I have a baby card and clothes addiction... Here's why! I purchased the baby clothes below. Super cute, right?! Then I made the baby card to match. Even cuter, right?! (There are polka dotted ruffles on the butt of the onesie.)

So Miss Kindergarten thinks I should start selling these baby cards (or any others for that matter). What do you all think? Do I finally start selling my crafty creations? Etsy shop? I would love to hear your thoughts (please comment below).

Yellow Giraffe

I love baby clothes! I may actually have an addiction to baby clothes... Is it bad that I have to walk through the baby clothes section of Target EVERY time I go and squeal at EVERY cute outfit I see?

Good news! I have friends and coworkers who are pregnant, so I can fullfil my need to purchase baby clothes and make incredibly cute cards to match! YAY! Below is the latest product of my baby cards and clothes addiction...

See?!?! Who wouldn't squeal at the sight of a grey striped sleeper with a yellow polka dotted giraffe! And the card to match?!?! Why more people don't share my addiction, I am not quite sure!

Happy crafting!

Oreo Cupcakes

So as a middle school teacher, I often struggle to convince my students to turn in their homework (as if the idea of learning or failing isn't enough motivation?!). One of my fellow teachers had the same problem and she came up with a Homework Competition. Genius! So of course I totally copied her idea (she said it was okay). Each of my 5 classes competes against each other each week to see which class has the highest percentage of homework completed and turned in on time (I also struggle to convince my students to turn in on time). The winning class gets to pick their prize. So far, some of the choices have been Late Homework Passes, Bring a Snack to Class, One Extra Day for a Project, and of course, Cupcakes! I made the cupcakes below for period 5. They have won the Homework Completion Competition more than any other period and even got 100% one week! They deserved cupcakes...

Oreo Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Start with your favorite Chocolate Cupcake. Any chocolate cupcake will do, I normally use HERSHEY'S "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake. (It goes well with my cream cheese frosting.)

Oreo Frosting

Make your favorite Buttercream Frosting. Again, any buttercream frosting will do. Once your frosting is made, ground up a bunch of oreo cookies (I used a few handfuls of oreos and threw them in the food processor), and add them to your frosting. Taste your frosting as you add the oreos in order to find the flavor you're looking for. It won't be a very strong oreo flavor, more subtle.

Garnish

Top off your Oreo Cupcakes with a whole oreo. Yum!

My students loved them, and were very impressed... They saw there was an extra (mine!) and began to persuade me to give it to them... A bunch of lawyers, they'll be!

Happy baking! And happy crafting!

Bunny Cupcakes

I realize that I am now a couple of days late (meant to post this ON Easter), but still worth a post. This year I made Easter Bunny Cupckakes... vanilla cupcakes, vanilla buttercream frosting, sugar cookie ears with white fondant, and cotton ball tails. Cute, right? I have to admit, I don't think they are nearly as cute (or nearly as tasty) as last year's carrot patch cupcakes.

What would I change? 1. I would use paper cupcake liners (as originally planned) in order for the cotton ball tails to stick better. 2. I would replace the butter in the frosting with shortening to get pure white instead of off-white. 3. I would have (as my mom suggested) baked the cookie ears with a toothpick or stick in them to help them stay on the cupcakes a little better.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Student Project Display

So one of my goals this year was to put student work up on the walls in my classroom. You see, with 200+ students, how do I put all students' work up? Well that's just it... I don't. I was already collecting sample work from students (you know, keeping the REALLY good ones to show next year's students what their final product should look like), but wasn't doing anything with those samples aside from keeping them in a drawer until the following year. That's when I decided that it was time to put those samples up on the wall. I realized that I don't have to put up samples from EVERY student... meaning, I don't have to put up the eye-sores non-sample work. Below are pictures of what now adorns my very colorful and educational wall. I have already referenced projects on the wall several times... And my 8th graders are reminded of the science they forget from learned in 7th grade.

Fun, right? And after receiving numerous emails requesting templates to make some of the foldables shown above, I decided to make a few tutorial posts. You see, my students are AMAZING artists and therefore none of the above projects required templates. Just instructions. So here they are.

Organization of Life Foldable Tutorial
Cells Foldable Tutorial
Cell Cycle Foldable Tutorial

Happy Projecting! (I know, I totally made that word up.)

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Today is my Grandma's 90th Birthday! Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma Pauline! The family went down to visit Grandma today and celebrate this milestone. There were balloons, karaoke, and of course, cupcakes! I whipped together some vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting for the occasion...

Yum, right?! I found both recipes at marthastewart.com... I have yet to find a bad recipe from her. The cupcakes were a tad sweet, but a really good sweet. Here are the links... Old-Fashioned Vanilla Icebox Cake and Vanilla Bean Buttercream. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

So I've never actually liked white chocolate macadamia nut cookies because I don't like white chocolate... Or at least I thought I didn't like white chocolate... You see, all my life I had been trying Nestle's white chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Nestle. However, I HATE their white chocolate chips! They taste fake to me. But this weekend, I had my heart set on making white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for a hawaiian themed memorial service. I therefore decided to try Ghirardelli's white chocolate chips... If they cost more, they should test better, right? RIGHT!! I like Ghirardelli's white chocolate chips! And since their chips were so good, I figured their cookies would be good, too... I followed the recepie right on the back of the bag! YUM!

GHIRARDELLI MACADAMIA WHITE CHIP COOKIES

(actually does yield about 5 dozen cookies)

1 c butter, softened

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 c. brown sugar, packed

2 eggs, room temp

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 c. flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 c. (one 11 oz bag) Ghirardelli Classic White Chips

1 1/2 c. Macadamia nuts, chopped (I definitely used 2 c.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Blend in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in white chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Seriously! YUM! And for the nut-free folks... These are still amazing without the macadamia nuts!

Happy baking!

Baby Onesies!

Seriously. I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any cuter than this baby onesie card! I absolutely love that I have friends having babies... That way I can buy cute outfits, make cute cards, and play with cute babies without having to do all the dirty work... Stinky diaper? Back to mommy you go!

Happy crafting!