Stop and Smell the Roses

So it has been a long time since I posted last. I have not been very good at taking the time to write things out. I've been side tracked with health, dogs, vacations, work, and baking -- basically life... and well, just haven't stopped to sit and type. However, I've decided I should start to get back to it...

I have a few things that I should take time to write out and take pictures again... so give me some time and I'll work on being back more regularly.

For now, I just figured I'd show you a little bit of my baking craziness. It all started with a request from a friend's mom. She found a photo in a magazine and asked if I could make it for her. It seemed simple enough - so I said sure. What would result from that - was shocking.

I did a practice one, hers, a new practice one with an idea I had to make it look more real... and from there it was order after order.

It was a potted cupcake bouquet - pretty and fun. A pot of cupcakes, iced like roses... yes, totally possible. I headed to the store and got a pot, foam ball, tissue paper, and some green cupcake liners. 

My first alignment was a bit too spaced and required way too much green tissue to look even remotely right... 

My second attempt was much closer...

After this one I decided I was pretty good to go. Just had to make a few different tissue leaves - so I had different sizes to use. 

The finished product was way cute! It looked great in pink and her decorations to go with it were absolutely adorable!!

The complete view:

I enjoyed making these and they were so cute. It was a fun idea and something a little different. After seeing this photo my mom showed me a cupcake bouquet she had seen online... this one was AMAZING! I wish I knew where it came from so I could give credit where it is due - sadly I just have the picture.

It looked so real and so pretty I could hardly believe it was cupcakes. Which got me thinking about how it would look with greenery instead of tissue... and with additional flowers. I made some cupcakes (only enough for the front half) and built my test... 

I thought it was neat - but didn't like the pot. I showed some pictures to my co-workers, and next thing I knew I had 3 requests for 4 pots. Sadly I do not have pictures of them all :(

I did two more pink and yellows like what's pictured above and a teal and yellow (which I sent deconstructed as it was going for a long drive)... sadly, no picture of the built one. The other request was for a mini one... the original pot holds 20 cupcakes, and that was just too much for her. So it was time to try a mini version. I was surprised to find I wanted the same icing tip as the big ones - truly thought I'd want smaller ones for smaller cupcakes, but it just didn't look right without the bigger tip.

You can't really tell it's a mini from the picture - but here it is:

Next it was time to try my hand and two toned roses. This one I think came out adorable! Though the pot was really cute too :)

On this one, I even added centers to the hydrangeas - and I think it was a nice touch

And then lastly a multi-colored all rose one:

These were all fun and pretty simple all in all. During this I had other cakes and cupcakes I worked on as well - but no reason to bore you more than I already have :)

If you like these and would want to make one of your own -- the main thing (aside from your cupcakes and greenery) is to have a pot with the same size foam ball. I also put some foam in the pot and then used a dowel rod to connect the ball to the foam inside the pot - this just makes it more stable. Next -- lots and lots of toothpicks :) for the bottom row, angle the toothpicks up to help prevent the cupcakes from falling. For the icing, personally I like 1M for the roses the most. From there I think it's pretty much trial and error :)

Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful weekend! And I'll do my best to be back soon.