New Facebook Group!

Quick post! Just wanted to tell you about my new Facebook page :)

CLICK HERE and press 'Like' for updates about my jewellery business, The Little Treasure Box.

Spread the word :D

♥
Caitlin

P.S. Will start selling properly over the summer, email thelittletreasurebox@hotmail.co.uk if you want to ask me something, or request something in particular!

Sesame Street Cupcakes and Corset Update!

Hello, everyone!

It's half term so I thought I'd do another post to tell you what I've been up to :)

Firstly, I have discovered a rather amazing cooking/crafting/cupcake decorating channel (is that the right name?) on Youtube... anyways, she's called Yoyomax12 and has done some amazing videos on how to decorate cupcakes, one of my favourites being the Sesame Street cupcakes video. So, I decided to make some of my own for a French lesson... here are some photos:





Ok so I'm just gonna explain how I made the cupcakes... it's very easy :)

< These are the ingredients... I make a few extra cupcakes so there's more there, but the original recipe is 2 eggs, 100g self-raising flour, 100g soft butter/margerine and 100g caster sugar.

Oh yeah, and this recipe makes 12 cupcakes so you need a cupcake tray and 12 cases, silicone or just plain paper ones (as I said, I decided to make extra).

At this point, it's a good idea to turn on the oven to 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F, gas mark 4.

First, put all the ingredients into a bowl (make sure the butter is soft by the way, it makes it much easier). 

Then, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer, mix the ingredients together until they're smooth like this.

 Using a teaspoon, scoop up some of the cake mixture and scrape it into a case. I usually use another teaspoon to scrape the mixture off the first spoon, but you can use your finger.

They should be filled up just over half way, maybe about 2/3 of the way... each case should have around 3 teaspoons of mixture in. You could smooth the mixture down in each case so that it rises more evenly, which is especially useful if you're decorating the cakes.

Bake the cakes in the oven for around 20-25 minutes, until they're golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed. You can also tell if they're cooked by putting a clean metal skewer in them. If the skewer has no cake mixture on it when it comes out, the cakes are done.

Now for the icing, I think it's about 100g butter and 125g icing sugar (called powdered sugar in some places I believe). I could be wrong, but to be honest, it's not vital that you get this right, just vary the amounts depending on how creamy you want the icing to be. For example, if you're just spreading icing on the cupcakes, it can be quite soft, so you can add more butter, however, if you're piping feathers for Big Bird, etc., I'd add more sugar because it makes it stiffer and therefore holds its shape better.

Anyway, cream the butter in a bowl and gradually add the sugar, mixing slowly at first so the sugar doesn't go eveywhere (which is easily done haha). Once you've added all the icing sugar, keep mixing until it's smooth. You might want to sift the icing sugar into the bowl, but you don't have to. 

For the Sesame Street cupcakes, divide the icing into four bowls and colour the icing yellow, blue, red and green. You can use liquid or paste food colouring. I used liquid, but it easier to get a more vibrant colour with paste food colouring.

For the rest of the decorations, I used mini cookies, smarties (or you can use M&Ms), giant milky bar buttons, black writing icing and decorating icing (the ones that come with different types of tips).

For the rest of the decorating instructions, look on Youtube for Yoyomax12's video... I might be uploading a short video soon as well because I made the Big Bird cupcake slightly differently (with yellow fondant icing for the beak). Anyway, this is Big Bird.  

Oscar the Grouch.  

Elmo ♥ (my personal favourite)

The Cookie Monster (if I was a Sesame Street character, I would definitely be him.)

All of them!

Here's my second attempt. These were the ones I made for my French lesson (you can probably see a bit of a French essay in the background of the photos haha!) Anyway, I made these ones slightly differently... I decided to use normal sized milky bar buttons for these, as I thought the giant ones were a bit big on cupcakes and would have worked better on muffins. For the Oscar cupcakes, I changed the icing colour by adding a bit of black food colouring to make his fur look slightly 'dirty'. I also made his mouth more of a half-moon shape.

I also made the Big Bird cupcakes differently. Last time, I couldn't be bothered to pipe the icing the way it said on the video, but this time I had a go. They look so much better! As I said earlier, though, I'd recommend putting a bit more icing sugar in the icing if you're doing this so the feathers keep their shape. I also made my own black icing for the eyes, mouths and Oscar's eyebrows because I thought the writing icing wasn't thick enough.

Let me know what you think of these cupcakes, and have a look at the video on Youtube, it's really easy to find!

Moving on, the corset is coming along very nicely... I've almost finished the edging and then I'll just need to put the eyelets and the lacing on. I think I MIGHT finish it today if I'm lucky. Having said that, I've just realised that it's half four... Well, I'll do my best. It should be finished in the next few weeks at most. I'll upload pictures and instructions as soon as I can after it's finished (would post some pictures now but I don't want to spoil it!)

LOVEyou ;)

Caitlin

P.S. Anyone watch Doctor Who?!

P.P.S. Thanks to Kalyani (or "Kawani" heehee) for taking photos of the most recent cupcakes!

Long Time No See...

Hey guys....

So I feel kinda guilty. I haven't posted since October. How ridiculous.

Anyway, I shouldn't really make excuses, but I'll blame A-levels. Seriously, I have no time anymore...

So, an update... I'm hoping to post again later about something more specific but here's just a general update of what I've been up to since October...

Hallowe'en was great- I've got into the habbit of making my own costumes for Hallowe'en and last year, I adapted my birthday Alice in Wonderland costume to make it an Undead Alice in Wonderland costume... I was inspired to do this by some pictures I found on the Internet a while ago- of 'twisted' Disney princesses. The artist did one of Alice in Wonderland, and I love it. Just looking at it makes me feel evil...


The top half of my costume... I slashed the dress, added fake blood, and wore in over a red vest... spooky ;) I also backcombed my hair, and pinned in playing cards that I had smeared with fake blood. I made my face pale with some white face paint, then shaded in my eyes with black eyeshadow ^_^


Here are a few more pictures...

My whole costume (oh, and I turned out I was the only one who bothered to dress up properly ¬_¬)

Christmas was also good- as it always is- and I was given a vampire-inspired knitting book (I'm making something from it at the moment, if I ever finish, I'll post pictures)...

Otherwise, I have a confession to make... I have recently become obsessed with underwear. Well, I was always in love with it, but I think my obsession has grown in the past few months...

Anyways, about a month ago, I attempted to make a pair of knickers... didn't really work, but I was quite proud of my efforts seeing as I made up the pattern completely.... anyway, they turned out like elephant-pants for some reason... seriously, they were enourmous.

But, what I think is the most exciting news is that I have recently started to (attempt to) make a corset. I must be mad, but hey ho, welcome to my crazy world. As I said earlier, I'm hoping to post again today with more details (and pictures) of my 'corset'... watch this space :)

Last little thing... I've been watching a lot of Disney Classics recently, and they've really inspired me... so I wouldn't be surprised if I start a new Disney project in the next few weeks.

Best go now, homework calls...

Lots of love ^_^
Caitlin
xxx

P.S. Visit my facebook group. Do it. Now.

P.P.S. Rafiki from The Lion King is pretty cool. He's the baboon, by the way.