Gumpaste Flowers {Guest Post from Mandy at Sugar Bee Crafts}

Today's guest is a blogging wonder woman: Mandy from Sugar Bee Crafts!  She has a fun idea for cupcakes at a baby shower to share.

Hi everyone!! I'm Mandy, from over at Sugar Bee Crafts:

Here's the whole gang on our recent vacation:

I enjoy all things crafty and have lots of DIY and tutorials on my blog. I even have a link party on Tuesdays so I can see your craftiness - then I show off a bunch of you on Wednesdays. You might know me from a few of my fabulously popular posts (click picture to check them out!):

I was able to make cupcakes for a baby shower a few weeks ago - happy day! I have seen so many cute cupcakes out there - aren't cupcakes all the rage right now?? - and I've been wanting an excuse to make some. The theme for the shower was pink and flowers, so I made plain cupcakes topped with flowers made out of Gum Paste.

I made some of my flowers curved out and some flat - but I loved the curved ones most. I didn't have a "molding cup" and I'm cheap so instead of buying one I put the flowers out over my measuring spoons. By the end I had every spoon I could find on the counter with gumpaste flowers drying on them.

By drying the gumpaste on curved surfaces, they get a more dimensional shape. That's why you need to use gumpaste - it dries hard and holds it shape, unlike fondant. See the ones that are curved up:

Then to put them on the cupcakes I used a dot of icing as "glue" - some flowers I stacked, some were plain. I liked the variety:

The cupcakes were lemon with a raspberry filling - the cake was a mix (with extra oil added) and I made the raspberry filling by blending the raspberries and heating it and stirring in sugar and cornstarch. I found a tutorial on filling cupcakes, but of course I can't find the link now. Basically I cut a cone-shape out of the cupcake and put in filling, then cut a piece off the cone so it was then a lid and put the lid back over the hole in the cupcake. I thought they were pretty yummy. And I made those cupcake liners too - cute, right?

Gumpaste is easier to work with than you think - don't let it scare you! Just roll it out like playdoh and cut the shapes you want - it was fun to try something new.

Hope to see you over at Sugar Bee Crafts!!

Thanks Mandy! Gumpaste is very fun to use for decoration. Mandy is a blogger whom I admire; she often posts multiple times a day! I can't even keep up with posting once a day, so I am in awe of someone who can post more than once daily. This past week Mandy has been sharing about Grandma's Day Camp, which looks like great fun! She also posts lots of quick sewing tutorials (how cute is that ghost dress!?!). One of my favorite posts is her lazy susan.

If you don't already follow Sugar Bee Crafts, take a minute today to stop by and say "hi" to Mandy.