Come see me!

Come see me over at my new website! It's up and running and beautiful!

Happy Halloween!

88 if you're counting! This isn't the best picture, but at this point I was exhausted and didn't feel like 'staging' a picture! Luckily my very talented friend Emily Ley is my neighbor! She stopped in the middle of her busy shipping day to snap some good photos for me. The lighting at her house is better than mine! And how A-mazing are these boxes? I am in love with them!

Boo! How stunning are these ghosts!

Freshly dipped and vulnerable! Mmmmm......

Arggghhh!

How fun are these! Birthday girl was super excited!

Pretty Pretty Princess!

So happy with how these turned out! I most love the details for each princess. The apple for Snow White and the rose for Belle. So fun!

Cuteness Alert!

I love this guy! And I had a hard time putting him on a cupcake and sending him off.

Walking Dead

I will admit I had to look up the images for these. I don't do scary!

Minecraft

I don't get it....I really don't! But boy are these popular! 

New Website is up and running!

It's fantastical! #excited

www.cupcakesbydusty.com

New things....

I'm starting a new venture...shipping cupcake toppers! So if you're not in my delivery area, you can still have fabulous cupcakes! You can make your favorite cupcake recipe, or buy them from a local baker, then pop the toppers on top. Easy Peezy! Check out my etsy shop for ordering details. Custom orders are always welcome.

Gettin' all fancy!

I have a dear friend, Emily Ley, who is amazing at everything she does. She has an incredible eye for design and has created a line of Simplified Planners and Date Books and iphone cases and 'Great Day' Plates and just about anything cutesy a busy Mom needs to be fashionable. So....when she offered up her eye and photography skills, I jumped on it! I take all of my pictures with my iphone, she broke out the big camera! Here's a sneak peek of some of the going's on over there today! These were taken with my phone, the pretty, gussied up ones will be ready after editing.

Stay tuned...... #happyme

Vroom Vroom....

A simple Thank You!

A simple thank you goes a long way. A dear friend of mine who has an amazing line of beautiful planners and coffee mugs and just all kinds of fun things that all girls need and want had a little hiccup on a very big mail day. This was her way of saying Thank You to them. I heard all went well! 

Fancy

All fancied up and ready for a Stella and Dot party!

Go ahead punk....make my day...

Okay so that one Clint Eastwood line was the only Western that came to mind!

I love working on new cupcake themes, but when I got this order I was slightly terrified. The Browning heads I knew right away I would use sugar sheets, but the bandana's and the pattern on them would be a challenge no doubt...so I thought. They were actually easier than I feared. So easy, a 9 year old can do it! Really...no kidding....my 9 year old sat down and made 3 herself while 'playing' and if ever in a pinch, I could use them. Which gives me a great blog post idea hmmmm.....
Anyhow, check out the 'how to' tutorial on the bandana's here and if you're on Instagram, there's a short video on how to make the silver/white dot pattern here.

I love how they turned out! How fun to have your birthday on the 4th of July!

Friday Favorites!

Posting yesterday about my favorite tool, got me to thinking about all the other odd things that I use when working with fondant that weren't purchased for the purpose of cupcake decorating. So, since sharing is caring...I thought I'd roll out a 'Friday Favorite's' and share weekly the oddities that I call tools!

So today, I am featuring my absolute must have, all time favorite!
It's a 'pick up stick'! Yes from the childhood game pick up stix!

It's so useful, here are a few pics that I've used it in:

Unicorn noses, eyes and horseshoes

See the topper with the 'B' and that pretty detailing around the outside? Pick up Stix!

Band-Aid Centers

Horseshoes

Ice Skate laces

Movie Reel Centers

Dots for bandanas

Eyes for Bodie

Favorite Tool!

Bandana Makin!

To say I was intimidated by the thought of making bandana's is an understatement! Not the forming of it, but the notorious pattern. It has to be pretty spot on to not look a hot mess!

Starts with a basic square

Smooth your edges then gently take one corner to the opposite corner leaving the underneath corner showing a bit.  

Tuck your corners back. At this point, I let the fondant harden for about an hour. I find it easier to draw on firmer fondant than fresh.

With a black food decorator pen, make your designs.

Mix together a tiny amount of water and luster dust, white or silver will work. 

And now I'm revealing my most favorite tool! I use this in every single fondant piece I make...scouts honor! It is in fact a 'pick up stick'! I can write an entire blog post on how useful that silly thing is! But a toothpick would work just fine.

Just be sure to not have too much on the tip when making your dots.

Then viola! They're done. I'll allow these to dry for a few more days, then steam them just before delivery. Read about how and why I steam my fondant pieces here.

YeeHaw! Stay tuned for the completed order!

Get Steamed! It's all for a good cause!

As a self taught cupcaker, any hints and helpful how to's I've always appreciated. Whether it be from reading online, asking a fellow baker (the ones that would share anyhow) or seeing a step on tv. This little tid-bit I saw one day on that Cake Boss show. I don't regularly watch it because, well...I don't do cakes, but in this episode, he had one of those stand up steamers...the kind you'd use for curtains or clothing. I saw him 'steaming' his cakes and they looked shiny, and plastic almost. I broke out the ol' teapot and what do ya know! MAGIC! The purpose is to rid the cakes, or cupcake toppers in my case, of the cornstarch or powdered sugar that we use to work with the fondant....and it makes them all pretty and shiny like! I look back now at past orders and remember how frustrating it was to have to be so careful to keep the powder from being on the top! Silly me! I've also read that people lightly brush vodka to get the same effect, but being that most of my toppers are for kids, I haven't tried that. It could all evaporate for all I know, but didn't want to risk it! Talk about a party! Or Crisco can be lightly applied for a glossy none powdery finish. Is there any other methods that I don't know about?

Before Steaming

After

A few pointers though....

1. Let your fondant pieces dry for at least 12-24 hours. Otherwise they'll get goopey in the steam.
2. They only need a couple passes over the steam, just until your fingertips sting (for real, that's my method.)
3. I'd say do the steaming on the day of delivery/party/event because they do look their best!

Hope this helps!

American Girl-Art Party

American Girl + Art + Girly glittery blue and purple fun was my instructions for this set. I have an aspiring cupcake maker on my hands! My 9 year old helped to make the paint brushes, she did a fantastic job!

Sweet 16!