Stay Tuned!

I am taking a break from blogging to focus on an amazing 12-week opportunity. I will be in Gatlinburg, TN taking various workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts for 3 months. I am very excited to continue my education although I have graduated. I am already focusing on taking my work to the next level. I have a ton of ideas for my Etsy shop and the things I want to create for it, so get stoked! And keep checking back for updates in the following workshops:

May 29-4:  Extreme Papermaking

June 5-11: Book-o-rama: Book Basics & the Artist’s Book

July 10-16: Embroidery: An Exploration of the Stitch

July 17-23: Encaustic Collage

July 31-6: Pop-Up Books and Sculptural Bookbinding

August 14-20: Surface Design & Collage Technique with Paper & Fabric

Until I’m back, you can get timely updates about the blog (and other silly things) here.

ConGRADulations: Hats Off Cupcakes!

On Saturday, I became the first person in my family to graduate college. I made these adorable cupcakes for the post-ceremony snack party. They are very simple, and extremely charming when lined up in little rows. These are strawberry cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting, but you can use whatever flavors and coordinating school colors you like.

Ingredients:  

• 18 strawberry cupcakes
• 9 graham crackers
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (+ additional water)
• 2 strawberry fruit roll ups
• 1/2 batch lemon frosting

1. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture will be thick. Add one tablespoon of warm water at a time to create a smooth lemon glaze. Add food coloring until desired look is achieved. Break the graham cracker in half, creating 18 squares. Dip one side of  the cracker in the glaze and then place on a cooling rack to set.

2. Unwrap a cupcake, turn it upside down, and place it back in the wrapper. Repeat 17 times. Spread a small amount of lemon frosting on each one. I piped this frosting using a Wilton #23 tip because I wanted to put little buttons on the top of each hat later.

3. Place one lemon glazed graham cracker on each cupcake. Cut the fruit roll up into approximately 3 inch lengths for the tassels. Cut the end of each piece into strips before rolling it to create fringed tassels.

4.  Place one tassel on each cupcake. If the tassel is too long, just eat some of it! Then pipe a round little button in the center of each.

5. If your glaze has not set, allow them to chill in the fridge over night. They are best served within a day.

DIY Graduation Invitation

When deciding how I wanted to announce my big day, I knew I wanted something more updated than traditional style invitations. Plus, those things can get expensive and don’t really say much about who I am. I needed something updated, colorful, and minimal. Since my partner is very DIY-oriented and super tech savvy, I asked for his help. After a few tries, we came up with a colorful, modern twist on the old way of doing things:

I printed the invites at Office Depot and mailed them off with a photo my friend took of me and a small note to each recipient on coordinating stationary. I was also lucky enough to find about a million envelopes at my favorite thrift store for fifty cents, so I was pretty happy to use those. This little project was a lot cheaper and a lot more fun than buying standard ones. No point in buying when you can do a little DIY-ing!

Now that I’m free from the grasps of higher education, I will use this blog to document my journey to becoming a self-sufficient business owner, a more proficient baker, a more dedicated artist, and an all around better person. Join me and together we’ll see what the next few chapters bring!