|
Charmayne's Quilling and Curly Cues |
the cupcake project
Quilled Creations has a cupcake kit. I purchased it and got busy making little containers. I had decided it would be sweet for my 2 granddaughters' upcoming birthday.
| I made my first bottom exactly as
directed using the mint green 1/4" wide paper. It looked like a flower
pot more than a cupcake, even after making the top for it. My first top
is in the photo above, the dark chocolate one with sprinkles and candle. Bob did not like the top either as he thought it was too pointed. I think it is OK but disguised the point a little with the sprinkles. Depending on how you frost a real cupcake, they can have quite a point or be rather flat. I added the candle later after making the other 3 tiny birthday candles and being simply enchanted with them! I tried again and ended up with another flower pot, even though I exactly followed the directions. Time to re-think cupcake making. There are not dimensions in the instructions which I seemed to need! The kit did not come with an unlimited amount of paper, of course, so I searched for other 1/4" wide paper to practice with. Not finding any 1/4" wide paper except bright red and white in the closet, I used 3/8" pale parchment paper by Lake City Crafts. It was the right color for the bottoms plus easier to shape with the extra width. I made mine with 8 to 11 strips, each 25" long. I rolled the 8 strips, measured and sometimes added more strips until I had about a 3.5 to 3.6 cm tight roll before forming. The number of strips you will use depends on the weight of the paper and how tight you are rolling. Even with the same paper, sometimes I needed an extra strip on a different day. I formed them so that my base is 3 cm in diameter and about 2.5 cm tall. These are shorter and fatter than the kit cupcake bottoms. Please note that these are the dimensions I liked. You may want a smaller cupcake, you may like more angled sides to the bottom, taller sides, whatever. You will want the top (lid) to stay in place. That first top I made from the dark chocolate would not stay on top of any base I made since the shape at the outer edge is too steep. After you have your bottom made and glued and dried, make a top for it and try it carefully on the bottom. Does it fit? Is it large enough to go over the base a bit? Does it stay on even with a gentle bump? Does it look good? Keep reforming it until you can answer yes to all four questions. Then carefully glue inside it, just like the base. I used normal Elmer's white glue on the insides to make the bottom and tops hard. After the glue was dry on the inside, I used matte Perfect Paper Adhesive to coat the outsides to make them more resistant to little fingers. (I have not tried it, but I figured little fingers and real frosting may just come together with the quilled cupcakes and a damp towel may have to be used on both fingers and cupcakes.) When the PPA is dry on the outside, time to decorate. I love the sprinkles! Fun to make (I used lots of short leftover lengths of many colors) and easy, too. Since I discovered I could use the 3/8" wide paper strips I already had for bottoms, I saved the kit's strips for my tops. Lots more cupcakes! I read some complaints in reviews for the quilled cupcake kit regarding the size of these lovely little containers. Maybe mine are just a bit bigger, not sure, but a Hershey's Kiss will easily fit inside. When we stopped in the candy aisle at the grocery store to get a bag of Kisses, Bob suggested Lindor Truffles instead. Why not get our granddaughters used to the very best? Ha ha! I was so disappointed when they were too big. The chocolates fit, just not the wrapped chocolate. Always my problem solver, Bob cut down the wrapper ends and taped around it to secure. Maybe not perfect, but a good solution. Now the Lindor wrapped balls fit perfect in my cupcakes. I saw a blog post (Rachelle's Crafting Zone) for quilled cupcakes. Her cupcakes were quite large in comparison to mine. So I guess if the kit cupcakes are not big enough, just make them the size you need. Scale them up with more strips! After all, paper is cheap and the boxes are adorable. Below are photos of my current cupcakes. I have ordered more strips to make the others I need. (They are now done, too. See below.) This project seemed to be a great way to say happy birthday to several people and say thank you to several more. Also below, mixed in with the photos, are several more tips pertaining to specific cupcakes. |
 For birthday girls Gwen and Riley |
 Yummy filled cupcake, of course! |
 Diane's birthday cupcake |
 Mocha icing |
 more mocha icing |
 cherry, vanilla, and mocha |
| The picture to the right shows the first top I made which ended up not staying on ANY bottom I made. The reason is the steepness at the outer edge. You need to make a bit of a lip to help the lid stay in place. |
 |
Rather than throwing it away or being frustrated with it the rest of my life, I put a lip inside the base, at the top edge. Now the lid sits lower over the base and doesn't fall off. It is a fix but I will keep this one as I would not want to give it to anyone. |
| I decided I wanted strawberry frosting, too. I used the 3/8" pinkish parchment strips, cutting my final strip down lengthwise to make it look right. Cutting strips in half evenly or cutting 1/8" off a strip is not something I am good at doing so I only cut the final strip. I used the holes made with Bob's Japanese book tool (a screw punch) to make my dots. |
 |
 A dot on the top and bottom line up the seams in the back. |
 I did not have enough cream strips so I added a couple green ones, rolling a green and a cream at the same time to avoid dark bands of color. |
 This photo shows definite bands of color in contrast to shades of bands. |
|
| My second "batch" of cupcakes is done now, too. I needed 3 more to complete the project. I made another mocha frosting cherry-topped cupcake... |
 |
 |
| a vanilla iced top with a flower and a heart for decorations... |
 |
 |
|
and finally, a chocolate mint cupcake. With sprinkles! Yum. |
 |
 |