HANDMADE CUPCAKE ORNAMENT TUTORIAL

As promised, I have the tutorial for the cupcake decorations I made. If anyone has any further questions about what I did or used, please ask me and I will be happy to help you. But I think you will find that these are super easy. Please note that I made the mini sized ones, you could easily do this with regular size cupcake cups and regular size ornament balls.

ITEMS NEEDED:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Candy (Mini Cupcake) Cups
• Mini Ornament Balls
• Gel Medium - Extra Heavy Gel (semi-gloss)
• Enamel Acrylic Paint (whatever color you want your frosting to be)
• Beads (if sprinkles are desired)
• Glitter (if desired)
• Holly Floral Stem
  

STEP 1
Hot glue your ball into the cup. I put glue on the bottom and sides of the ball, all the way around. The sides of the cup will expand and not look right if you don't use enough glue on the sides. (Learned that after about 6 balls)





STEP 2
You are ready to mix your frosting. I scooped out the gel medium into two zip lock bags. I squirted the paint into the bags to make a vanilla and chocolate frosting. I mixed the paint into the gel by squishing the bag until it was thoroughly mixed. Get the Enamel acrylic paint so that when it dries it will be nice and glossy.



The gel medium was the most expensive item purchased. I got this little tub on clearance and with a 20% off coupon and it still came to $9.00. And as you can see I used almost all of it to make 20 mini ornaments.



STEP 3
After I had the icing mixed in the baggies, I snipped off a small corner of the bag to squeeze the icing out of. When applying the frosting, you need to make sure you cover the whole top of the ornament, except the hook. Make sure none of the gold or silver top of the ball is visible. I squeezed the frosting out and then used a kitchen knife to spread the icing on the ball, just like you would with real icing.


STEP 4
Now you need to add your toppings. You will need to cut your cherries off the floral stem and have them ready before you start frosting your "cupcakes".


I also had my beads on a plate for me to easily grab and sprinkle on after the frosting was applied.



You can add glitter if you want. Just sprinkle it on over the wet frosting.


Replace back in the little ornament holder that they came in to dry. These will take a full day to dry completely, depending on how thick you frost them.


That's it! It really is that easy. I got all my supplies from Michael's (a craft store) and they came to around $30 including some items on sale and clearance, and with a 20% off entire order coupon. I made 20 mini balls and still have lots of my supplies left, with the gel medium (and ornament balls obviously) being the exception.

One last thing, if making the mini cupcakes. Make sure you check the size of ball to see it will fit and look nicely in the candy cup. I have some across two sizes on the mini ornament balls.

There are a ton of different ways to make and customize your own little cupcake ornaments. I would love to see pics of anyone's cupcakes that does this. I would love to post them up, so please send pics to my email address, getchanailsdid@yahoo.com.