Have you really pushed the limits with your Cricut Maker yet? Making custom cake stands out of wood or custom cake stands out of chipboard is easier than ever. Utilize the Cricut Knife Blade in a way you never thought before.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
I, like many other mothers, enjoy making a birthday party better than ever. I don’t like to spend that much money buying custom things that will most likely never get used again. Creating this custom cake stand using my Cricut Maker was one of the most genius things my friend could have ever thought of.
When you’re making your own custom cake stand with the Cricut, you have to look at the dimensions of everything. Your cake, the width of the shape, your cut allowance on the material, and the thickness of the material.
Begin by pulling up the shape that you want to cut. Look for a shape that has a wide bottom and straight line for stability.
The top doesn’t have to be as wide because we’ll square it off to make a flat surface for the tray. To do that, move your object to the latitude and longitude of 0.
Click on the shapes on the left-hand side and add a square. Click on the lower left lock and then set your square to about 2” tall and an inch or two wider than your shape.
This will create a flat surface on the top of your shape and then you’ll duplicate it.
Measure the thickness of your material. Some will already be labeled for you on the box or use a ruler. Select the shape icon again and add another square to your canvas.
Click on the lock to unlock your square and size it so that it is wide enough that both pieces will interlock.
When using the chipboard and some My Minds Eye cardstock, I used the width of .1”. You want the height of your small line to be a smidgen over half. This custom cake stand was 10” high so my squares were .1×5.3”. Duplicate that square.
The thickness of the Cricut Chipboard is 2mm or.08″
Now use one shape and have one square centered towards the bottom of the shape and the other square centered on the other shape on the upper portion. Use your slice function again like when we made our shape originally flat.
There are additional clouds on this cake stand because it would be pretty wobbly without it. Just adhere two to each portion of the base to create a squared up leg of the DIY cake stand.
Adhere your material to your Strong Grip Cricut by using some painters tape or masking tape. Just whatever you have around that will also peel easily off your material. Move your star wheels all the way to the right before you load your mat into your Cricut Maker.
After you’ve hit your load button, make sure your Knife Blade is in the Adaptive Tool System and hit Go!
This certain cut took me about 3 hours. This rocket ship cake stand does not have a bunch of weird angles, they’re all pretty straight. When you cut the cake plate area, that cut will maybe be 4 minutes because it is just a simple circle.
How so I glue Cricut Chipboard?
I’ve gone over this a few times and have learned that you cannot mix dry adhesive with a wet adhesive. I ran all of my cardstock through my Xyron Creative Station and then adhered it on top of my chipboard.
To adhere to the smaller peg pieces to the larger chipboard cake stand, use some hot glue and use it on the edges and then adhere the edges to the corners of the base.
My Knife Blade cut through my Cricut Maker!
Yes, this can happen. You need to pay attention to your cuts because some cuts may not need all the 20 passes. The Cricut Maker has had instances where it started cutting into the mat and then into the machine.
This is not normal but I also don’t know how Cricut will warranty the machine in those cases. Just watch your shape throughout the cut and even closer as the cut comes towards to the end.
Can you modify the Cricut Knife Blade settings?
No. Cricut Knife Blade material settings are not yet modifiable. This is because Cricut does a lot of research on the back end of the Makers materials and these are the settings they’ve used and tested.
National S’Mores Day is a thing, really! Create this easy sleepover gift basket complete with a free S’Mores printable to personalize for each camper.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
Craft Lightning starts this week and we’re so excited to have all these talented bloggers contributing to our week of quick, obscure holidays. Grab this free s’mores printable to make your campout epic.
National S’Mores Day is August 10th every year. That is prime camping season and I can’t think of a better or more fun way to go camping than with your own personal s’more pack.
I don’t know where the actual word S’More comes from but I do know that it was a leader for a Girl Scout troop who was originally credited for the recipe. I love s’mores and I love even more different kinds of candy to include in your custom s’more.
A great idea is to find out ahead of time and grab your guests’ favorite candy and include that as well as a standard Hershey Chocolate Bar. Yummy!
This free s’more printable is super easy to personalize. Just print and write. I’ve left the back of the s’mores bag topper blank so you can write whatever you need in that space.
I love the tiny LePen markers but this year at Creativation, we all got to try their new brush pens and I’m hooked. A lot of brush pens are bulky and these are thin just like the original and I think that’s why I like them.
How to attach bag toppers to cellophane bags
I don’t mind using a stapler but I hate how they show on the edges. If you’re not a nitpick like I am, staples on the outer edges work great. Just be sure to staple the bag and the free s’more printable together.
Another great way is a stapler and some double-sided tape. Throw all your s’more ingredients into the bag and then staple the top.
Next, grab some double sided tape and put it on the back of both sides of your s’more printable bag topper.
Fold the bag topper over the bag and attach. It’s an easy way to get clean lines when you’re making a bunch of these.
That’s it! So easy and such a fun way to personalize a campout.
Check out the other bloggers joining us for Craft Lightning and what holidays they chose for their obscure holiday.
I love creating party decor and so when Cricut released the Knife Blade, I knew I had to make myself a Cricut cake topper. We put together an Outer Space Party to celebrate my nephew turning 11. See how easy it is to make your own cake topper with Cricut.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
I have loved the versatility that my Cricut Maker has given me and I especially love creating things that I normally would buy but wasn’t the aesthetic I was looking for. I’m able to make my own pretty fast and to me, it’s more practical because I have everything I need here at home.
You’re going to, first of all, need a Cricut Maker. Cricut released their Maker’s in August 2017 at a party that was beyond all parties. They have since been released in a few different colors like blush and blue but my trusty champagne color is perfect and gets the job done.
Begin by securing your 3/32″ basswood to a strong grip mat. I use some painters tape or masking tape to hold it on there securely. When you use the Cricut Knife Blade, you want to be sure that your project will not shift as your cutting. The tape helps prevent that. Next, load in your Cricut mat into the Cricut Maker.
Send your Cricut Design Space file to cut and choose basswood from the menu of materials and then it’ll show you to load your Knife Blade and select go.
Can I use Bluetooth with the Cricut Knife Blade
Yes, but it’s a little tricky. Cricut recommends using the USB cable to hook from a desktop to your Cricut Maker to avoid a call that can interrupt or even a game that can interrupt your cut. This is why the Knife Blade is not available on their mobile app.
I use Bluetooth to my Cricut Maker because my desktop computer is in the hallway and my Maker is in my bedroom and a hassle to move each time. I have only had one issue where it thought my Cricut was done but it was just a long pause so I had unloaded it and it wasn’t cut all the way through.
Don’t think that you cannot ever use Bluetooth with your Cricut Knife Blade, you can but there are risks involved so be aware of that.
What kind of adhesive can I use with Cricut Chipboard and Wood?
You have two choices but you cannot mix the two. You can use a dry adhesive like a Xyron Creative Station or a wet adhesive like Mod Podge. This method is mainly for the Cricut Chipboard but it’s a rule I follow so I don’t ruin other projects.
I prefer to use my Xyron Creative Station with Cricut Chipboard or with any wood cutouts. It won’t leave a sheen or brushstrokes on my project and keep my Cricut cake topper clean.
This really depends on your design. I can cut a circle in a matter of 3 minutes because it has that one line to follow and it doesn’t need to lift up and rotate the blade. My spaceship Cricut cake topper and stars took about 65 minutes.
Because it can take up to 5-6 hours to cut something, this is also why Cricut tells you to use the USB cord. Believe it or not, this cut was pretty fast and so I didn’t need to lug my Maker near my computer to be sure it wouldn’t cancel or shut down on me.
After I cut all the pieces for my wooden Cricut cake topper, I cut the same images out of cute outer space cardstock from My Minds Eye along with some glitter cardstock and orange cardstock for the mini window. Run them through my Xyron Creative Station and began adhering them to the wood.
I used this same method of making the window float as I did on these 3D rockets. Lay the thread on the back of the silver glitter cardstock and then adhered that as my first layer of the wooden Cricut cake topper. Then lay the second layer of the printed cardstock.
For my wooden stars, I did the same thing. Just lay the glitter cardstock over the wooden Cricut cake topper and set it aside.
How to make an Outer Space Cake
You’re going to need an 8″ hemisphere cake pan and any cake mix you like. Bake the cake according to package instructions and then allow it to cool completely.
I then took some black gel food coloring and added a small amount to my white frosting. Frost your cake and then you’re going to want to stick some black candy melts to resemble the craters on the moon.
Place your Cricut Cake Toppers into the cake and serve. What child isn’t going to love this space party?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.
Create the coolest 3D Paper Spaceships for your next Outer Space Party. It’s the perfect addition to your tablescape and really easy to put together. And find out why I love my Xyron Creative Station.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
I have had the honor of being on Xyron’s Design Team the last 9 months and today is my last project of the year for them. I’m going to be having a space party next week and so I wanted to add some space decor to the table to coordinate everything. These 3D paper spaceships are perfect!
What is a Xyron Creative Station?
A Xyron Creative Station is a crafting adhesive that turns your paper into an automatic sticker. It comes in a 5″ size where you can use the 3″ and 5″ refills or a 9″ size which you can use the 5″ and 9″ refills. There are several kinds of cartridges you can find from permanent to removable adhesive or create somelaminated magnets or just laminate without heat.
Xyron is one of my favorite companies to use when I have small pieces I need to adhere to something. Usually, I will cut an item that is really detailed and a liquid glue just can’t seem to work very well and often times it soaks the fine cardstock and then you lose the details in your project.
This is by far the most versatile Xyron item but it well worth the investment. If you’re really just looking to make tiny pieces into stickers, the 1″ sticker maker is perfect for that. I found, though, that after I purchased my 1″, I moved to a 3″ and then to a 5″ and now I just use my 9″ Creative Station for everything.
Give your past crafts a look and see what Xyron product would be most beneficial to you.
How to make your 3D Paper Rockets
I used my Cricut Maker and created a file in Cricut Design Space. For these paper spaceships, I used my Cricut Knife Blade and some 2mm thick chipboard. Begin by opening the file and getting your paper set out.
I used this “Blast Off” line paper by My Minds Eye and it has the perfect holographic pattern and a minimalistic space theme. I’ve got the matching napkins and a little moon cake that I cannot wait to show you!
So I began by cutting out my 3D spaceships with the chipboard. I created this file in Cricut Design Space and created a slit that was .1″ wide so that it was wide enough to have the chipboard snug with the scrapbook paper adhered. After I cut matching pieces out of cardstock and my stars, I ran them through my Xyron Creative Station.
How do I make a piece of paper float on a craft?
Begin with the stars. Cut a piece of twine or fishing wire about 3.5″ long. Lay your string on the back of the star and adhere the other side over it. You’ll have two halves put together with a string in the middle. This will help create a floating look on your 3D paper spaceships. Place the star in the middle of your chipboard spaceship piece and then lay the cardstock over the chipboard. This will secure the star so that it is actually “floating” on your paper spaceships. Place the other cardstock over the coordinating pieces of chipboard and then place the two slits together so it is standing straight.
New Years Eve Cupcakes have never looked more delicious and festive. Make these cupcakes for your next New Years Party and add some flair to your dessert table.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
When we celebrate New Years, we love celebrating in Tonga. They’re right on the International Dateline so they’re the first ones to count down and celebrate the new year. I wanted to make something that would be a fun New Year’s Eve dessert so I made these New Years Eve Cupcakes.
Supplies and Ingredients for your New Year Cupcakes
A dozen of your favorite cupcakes (cooked and cooled)
Begin by cutting your rolled fondant into circles. Use a biscuit cutter to cut a circle just smaller than your cupcake top.
Use your edible marker to draw your roman numerals on the 3, 6, 9, and 12 areas and then place silver dragees in between. I used two dragees in-between each roman numeral.
How to make Grey Buttercream
To make grey buttercream you need to start with a standard American buttercream recipe. Mix your room temperature butter until it’s nice and fluffy and then add your sifted icing sugar. You want to sift your powdered sugar to avoid lumps in your buttercream. Add a splash of milk to loosen up the buttercream and then add about 1/2 teaspoon of black gel food coloring to get your perfect grey buttercream.
The longer your icing sits, the darker it becomes so just keep that in mind when you’re adding in your black gel food coloring.
Put your grey buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a star tip, Ateco #9 is perfect to get a good rosette.
I like to place my piping bag in a cup, fold over the top onto the rim and then add my frosting so that I avoid getting the top of the piping bag dirty.
Place your clock toppers on your New Years Eve Cupcakes and serve. I’ve said before that I don’t like the taste of pure fondant so this decoration is a perfect size for people just to lift off and set it aside.
Create these amazing cupcakes for your New Years Eve Party. Make a fondant clock topper to count down at the stroke of midnight.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cupcake, cupcake recipe, cupcakes, new years dessert, new years party food
Servings: 12cupcakes
Author: Lindsay
Ingredients
12of your favorite chocolate cupcakes
1stick buttersoftened
2cupsicing sugar
2-3tbspmilk
Black gel food coloring
4-5oz.White Fondant
Black Edible Marker
Silver Dragees
Instructions
Cool your cupcakes on a wire rack. In a medium sized bowl, beat butter, icing sugar and milk using an electric mixer. Beat on medium and gradually increase to high.
Once the ingredients start combining, add a small amount of black gel food coloring. Continue beating until completely tinted.
Scoop your buttercream into a frosting bag and frost each cupcake.
Roll out your white fondant so that it’s about ¼ of an inch thick. With a small, circular cookie cutter (about 1 ½ inches in size), cut out 12 fondant circles.
Start decorating your fondant clock: add silver sprinkles where the 12, 3, 6, and 9 should be. Draw out two lines in between each silver sprinkle with your food black marker. Use decorating frosting to draw out the clock’s “hands.”
Place one fondant clock on each cupcake and serve.
Turn store-bought sugar cookie dough into adorable Christmas Wreath Cookies. Make baking during the holiday season easy on yourself and turn these cookies into a holiday tradition.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
Sugar cookies for me are the quintessential cookie. Rich, buttery, and crispy – it’s perfect in every way. These Christmas Wreath Cookies are perfect for the holidays. They’re festive and they can taste absolutely delicious with the buttercream frosting.
There are a few tricks to getting your sugar cookie to hold its shape while you’re baking it. After you’ve mixed it, put it back in the fridge for another 30 minutes to rest. Then you’re going to roll it out, use your cutters and then pop it back in the fridge for 10 minutes to have the butter solidify again.
Chilling your sugar cookie dough before you bake it will keep the cookie cutter shape and makes icing cookies easier because it’s going to hold its shape and not look like a disaster.
Prepare your sugar cookie dough according to recipe instructions. If you’ve used store-bought dough, just start rolling it out on a floured surface. I like to roll my cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper. This just makes for easy cleanup.
Dip your cookie cutter into some flour and then punch out your shapes. Transfer those onto a lined baking sheet and bake according to the recipe instructions. Allow them to cool completely on a wired rack while you make your buttercream frosting.
How to make American Buttercream Frosting
Use room temperature unsalted butter and use a whisk attachment on a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer and whip your butter until it is airy and creamy. Add in your icing sugar one cup at a time until it is fully incorporated. Add in your gel food coloring and continue to whip for an additional 5 minutes to incorporate as much air as possible.
Add your frosting into your piping bag and begin piping leaves on your Christmas Wreath Cookies. You want to press down the piping tip on the cookies and squeeze then release and pull straight up.
Oh man! That is some confusing directions! Place your Nerds candies around the wreath cookies to make it look like ornaments or lights.
Your favorite recipe for sugar cookiesenough to make 12
Buttercream Frosting
1stick buttersoftened
2cupsicing sugar
4-5tbspmilk
¼tspKelly green gel food coloring
Multicolored candies
Instructions
Once you prepare your cookie dough, roll it on a floured surface so that it’s about ¼ of an inch thick. With a cookie cutter, cut out a wreath shape – we had a cookie cutter that also cut out a circle on the inside. If you don’t have one, you’ll use two different-sized circular cookie cutters to achieve the look.
Bake and allow to cool completely.
With an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and milk on medium speed. Gradually increase to high. Once the ingredients start mixing, add food coloring. Mix until buttercream is smooth and forms semi-stiff peaks.
Using a frosting bag and Wilton tip #32, frost each cookie then add multicolored candies (they will act as the Christmas lights for your wreath!).
With Christmas being next week, I am baking my heart out! These Christmas cupcakes are perfect to have at your next holiday party. Make these easy fondant Christmas Tree cupcakes and be the star of the party.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
I’ve been a Christmas cupcake machine lately with my buttercream Santa Hat Cupcakes, Reindeer Cupcakes and now a fondant Christmas Tree cupcake recipe to top it all off.
With easy to find ingredients, what better way to show off to others with these easy Christmas cupcakes.
I don’t have time to make homemade cupcakes but I do have time to take store-bought cupcakes and jazz them up into the cutest cupcakes you’ve ever seen.
Tip: Head to your grocery store bakery and ask to buy non-frosted cupcakes. Or ask for plain frosted cupcakes and add the Christmas fondant tree topper yourself.
How to make fondant Christmas trees
Start by rolling your fondant into 2″ spheres. You’re now going to take the top and form it into a triangle. Take your kitchen shears and start cutting small pieces in the tree shape and these will act as your pine leaves.
Making the buttercream is really easy. Just cream together the butter and icing sugar adding milk to make it looser. I like to whip my buttercream in a stand mixer for a good 5 minutes to get all that air inside.
Use a knife or offset spatula to frost your cupcakes and then add your coconut flakes to the top. Take the remaining frosting and use the get food coloring colors of your choice and mix those together.
You can use a piping bag but a small Ziploc bag is good enough to make the small dots for the ornaments.
I used yellow gel food coloring to decorate the top of the tree as the star. I like how the blue and red are almost pastel colored so that they really shine on the Christmas Tree Cupcakes.
Place your tree on your “snow” covered cupcakes and serve.
I particularly don’t like to eat a big chunk on fondant so I like these because they’re easy enough to just take off and set it aside while I scarf down my Christmas Tree Cupcakes!
Ensure that your cupcakes are cool before decorating.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper and roll out a dozen 2-inch fondant spheres.
Start shaping each fondant spheres into cones so that they take the shape of Christmas trees. Use scissors to cut little indents all around the fondant tree (this will give it texture). Set lightly on a lined baking sheet.
To make the buttercream, use an electric mixer and beat butter, icing sugar and milk on medium speed. Gradually increase speed to high and beat until completely smooth.
Frost each cupcake with an offset spatula and add shredded coconut on top.
Add some buttercream on the bottom of each tree and place on in the center of each cupcake.
Separate the remainder of your frosting in three different bowls. Color each one with your gel food coloring.
Add each buttercream color into a sandwich bag, cut a small hole in one and corner and pipe out little dots on your fondant Christmas trees. We kept the yellow for the top part of the tree – this will act as your fondant tree’s “star.” Enjoy!
These Christmas Santa Hat Cupcakes are perfect for any celebration during the winter holiday season. Learn how to make your own and make your guests (or you) as happy as can be.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
Custom Christmas cupcakes are all the rage for holiday parties. Why not impress your friends or loved ones with these super cute with this Santa Hat Cupcake Recipe.
I was always the one who had to have a tag attached to everything or customize our treats. I feel like I spent my time doing things that other people don’t really appreciate. Santa cupcakes are super easy and you’re putting buttercream on top of your cupcakes anyways.
I use the non-taste red food coloring gel and it does make a difference in the end. Your buttercream is still sugary and you don’t have the metallic taste that you’d get from other red food colorings.
Tip: Go to your local grocery bakery and ask to buy non-iced cupcakes.
Begin by whipping together your room temperature butter. I like using salted butter but you can have control over your salt intake by using unsalted butter and adding in a bit at a time – just to offset some sweetness.
Use an electric mixer to whip up your butter and then slowly add the icing sugar. Add a splash of milk to make it smoother and then at the end, split the icing 80/20.
Color the 80% portion with your red food coloring and cocoa powder and mix it really well. Put your red frosting in an icing bag or a Ziploc will work just as well and cut off the corner. Use a knife or offset spatula to ice the base of the cupcake in white.
You’re going to want to start at the bottom and press a large amount at the base and then pull up slowly to get a triangular shape of frosting. Cut the mini marshmallows in half and place it on top. Voila, you’re done!
This free s’more printable is super easy to personalize. Just print and write. I’ve left the back of the s’mores bag topper blank so you can write whatever you need in that space.
How to make a cake topper with your Cricut
After I cut matching pieces out of cardstock and my stars, I ran them through my Xyron Creative Station.
Place the star in the middle of your chipboard spaceship piece and then lay the cardstock over the chipboard. This will secure the star so that it is actually “floating” on your paper spaceships. Place the other cardstock over the coordinating pieces of chipboard and then place the two slits together so it is standing straight.
Place your Nerds candies around the wreath cookies to make it look like ornaments or lights.
Supplies for your custom Santa Claus Cupcakes
j uyrfddd