Kid Made Ornaments: Cupcakes

It’s time for the Kid-Made Ornament series hosted by Mama Miss, and we’re excited to be participating for the second year. Last year my boys made beaded snowflake ornaments, and this year all of the ornaments in the series are inspired by children’s literature.

Our ornaments are inspired by the book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff. If you’re not familiar with the “If You Give a…” series, it goes something like this: If you give a cat a cupcake, he’ll ask for some sprinkles to go with it. When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor. Cleaning up will make him hot, so you’ll give him a bathing suit . . . and that’s just the beginning! We love all of the funny books in this series!

To go along with the book, we made cupcake ornaments, naturally!

What We Used:

• 2″ Styrofoam Balls
• Cupcake Liners
• Smooth Finish
• Glitter
• Wooden Bead (painted red)
• Embroidery Floss
• Glue
• Shaving Cream

We started by placing the styrofoam balls inside of the cupcake liners to hold them steady and to see how much of the ball would stick up out of the top of the liner.

The boys used a small knife to spread Smooth Finish over the exposed top half of the styrofoam balls. Allow to dry for several hours. The Smooth Finish can be sanded after it has dried to smooth out the lumps and bumps in the texture, or you can keep the rustic look like the boys did here.

Before adding the cupcake’s “frosting,” we swapped out the cupcake liners for new ones since the first set of liners had stretched out a bit in the previous steps. We used a dab of glue to adhere the cupcakes inside the liners. My original idea was to use a piping bag full of Smooth Finish to add a decorative layer of frosting, but the boys found it to be a little too thick and difficult to pipe.

Instead, we whipped up a batch of snow paint (1 part shaving cream to 1 part white glue), piped it on top of the cupcakes, and sprinkled on iridescent glitter “sprinkles.” To make the cherry hanger, simply glue a large red bead to the top of the frosting, and thread it with a length of embroidery floss for hanging.

Their ornaments turned out so cute that I just had to make one, too! I used a silver ball ornament inside of a paper cupcake cup and topped with the snow paint “frosting.” SO fun and easy!

For even more great kid-made ornaments, be sure to visit these great posts by some of my friends:

Monday December 1st

• Mama Miss
• Glittering Muffins
• Play Trains!
• Adventure in a Box
• Something 2 Offer
• Mum in The Mad House

Tuesday December 2nd

• Powerful Mothering
• The Pleasantest Thing
• Nothing if Not Intentional
• Lalymom
• Hand Made Kids Art
• Art Bar Blog
• The Eyes of a Boy

Wednesday December 3rd

• Sugar Aunts
• My Little 3 and Me
• Mama.Papa.Bubba.
• In The Playroom
• Craft Ideas For Kids
• I Heart Crafty Things
• Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes
• Preschool Powol Packets

Thursday December 4th

• Living Montessori Now
• Here Come the Girls
• Crystal’s Tiny Treasures
• Kid World Citizen
• The Fairy and The Frog
• The Educators’ Spin On It
• Lemon Lime Adventures
• WillowDay

Friday December 5th

• Happiness is Homemade
• Tutus & Tea Parties
• Inspired by Familia
• Nouveau Soccer Mom
• Living Life and Learning
• Creekside Learning
• Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
• Coffee Cups and Crayons

Monday December 8th

• Rainy Day Mum
• The Life of Jennifer Dawn
• My Bright Firefly
• Preschool Inspirations
• Left Brain Craft Brain
• Sunshine Whispers
• Totschooling
• Meri Cherry Blog

Tuesday December 9th

• The Educators’ Spin On It
• Happy Brown House
• Made with Happy
• Simply Vicki
• Growing Book by Book
• One Time Through
• Adventures of Adam

Wednesday December 10th

• True Aim
• A Little Pinch of Perfect
• The Library Adventure
• The Connection We Share
• Peace But Not Quiet
• Adventures in Mommydom

Thursday December 11th

• What Do We Do All Day
• ALLterNATIVElearning
• Artsy Momma
• The Natural Homeschool
• Heart of Deborah
• Bambini Travel
• Babble Dabble Do

Friday December 12th

• Lovely Commotion
• Great Googa Moogas
• Mosswood Connections
• Mommy Loves Trees
• Mom Inspired Life
• My Nearest and Dearest
• Fireflies and Mud Pies