Indian Corn Cupcakes

I hope that you all have LOVED your new FREE Kids Thanksgiving Table Printables! I have had an absolutely wonderful response to the collection, and I am so very happy that lots of children out there will be enjoying their little boats and coloring page this Thanksgiving. Thanks to everyone who has become a FAN on Facebook of Shindig Parties TO GO -- I truly feel blessed!

Today I wanted to introduce you to a fellow "party girl" friend of mine, Nicole from The Party Animal. Nicole has a shop full of all kinds of party supplies, and she is an amazingly creative baker and crafter as well. I love all of the holiday creations I've seen on her blog for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for Christmas!!

I thought I would share her tutorial for Indian Corn Cupcakes -- this was her version of some she saw in Woman's World magazine. These are just the cutest things! What wonderful presentation! Just take a look......

This is Nicole's Step-by-Step Instructions from her blog on how to make these cuties:

"I have seen many Corn Cupcakes made, but I had never seen them with the Husks and I thought that was so cool. Being I live in the country and I am surrounded with Corn I decided I really needed to give these festive fall treats a try. So let me show you how it is done.

Here is What you will need to create your Indian Corn Cupcakes:

■Cupcakes of course – I used Vanilla
■Vanilla or White Frosting – I used Vanilla
■Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
■Phyllo Dough – Thawed if Frozen
■Jelly Beans in Fall Colors
■Tin Foil

Here are my Ingredients. For the Jelly Beans I went to my local Candy store and picked out a mix of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans in Fall Colors. Now the recipe said to pick flavors that went with Fall like Toasted Marshmallow, Cappuccino, Banana, Chocolate Pudding etc…. I may have gotten some of those flavors, but mainly I went for the colors like the Oranges, Browns, Gold, Cream, Yellows and some Red. I am not a Jelly Bean Fan myself, but I know the kids would have fun tasting them and if not they can just scrape them off. You also need Phyllo Dough which can be found in the Freezer section of your grocery store. I had never worked with this before so it was all new to me.

To make your Corn Husks this is where the Phyllo Dough comes in. Now make sure you defrost the dough ahead of time, unlike me who did not read the directions – lol. I ended up defrosting it in the microwave and although this worked I would do it the way they said next time – I get too excited and forget to read a lot!!! Now Phyllo Dough is very thin and to me it felt like Latex Gloves, but it tasted good raw cause I had to try it. I have eaten it in the Greek Restaurant cooked of course, but never raw. Anyway, open up the dough about 1/2 way and with a few sheets high and cut a leaf shape.




Then cover a cookie sheet with some foil. Then with a few more pieces of foil crumble them into like a Canoe shape so they are as long or if not longer than 3 cupcakes lined up. Lightly Spray with Cooking Oil. Then take your Phyllo Dough Leaves and lay over each one – this will help give your dough the Husk Shapes when baked. I think after they were baked I got about 12 Husks from one batch. I was only making 9 Cupcakes so if you are doing more then you will need to do it a couple times.

Now stick that in the oven at 350 for maybe 4-5 minutes – just keep checking them. When they are done they are VERY fragile due to being so thin so Be Careful. The dough tastes good cooked too, but now it tasted like thin paper. Not sure if anyone will eat the Husks, but they look good.




Once the Husks are done set them aside and get frosting. Take your Vanilla Frosting and a small amount of the Cocoa Powder and mix up well – this is just so your frosting is more of a natural color vs. white. Then go ahead and Frost your Cupcakes.




Now for the tedious part – adding all those Jelly Beans to the Cupcakes. This part probably tool the longest. Just have fun lining then up alternating colors so they resemble Indian Corn. Lucky for me I only made 9 Cupcakes, but if you are doing more – get the kids involved and turn up the music!!!



When all done with adding your Jelly Beans you can then set the scene. Make sure to have a large flat surface or plate to do so. Also remember the Phyllo Husks are thin and fragile so some make break when plating and that is ok – Corn Husks are not all perfect. Have Fun and watch as your Friends and Family are amazed by your creation. I think mine came out pretty cool for my first try at it.

You can also do this same thing making Regular Corn Cupcakes using just Yellow Jelly Beans and adding the Husks for your next Summer BBQ."


Thanks, Nicole, for that awesome tutorial! You are the best!

Be sure to go check out Nicole at The Party Animal to see other fun crafts, recipes and favors like these Turkey M&M Treat Bags..... ADORABLE!

And while you're there, make sure to take a look at Nicole's 27 Turkey Cupcake Ideas. Talk about creativity!! Wow!

I hope you all enjoyed a little of Nicole's magic today and get started real soon on creating some of your own Indian Corn Cupcakes!

Tutorial: Indian Corn Treat Bag

Today I have another little tutorial from the FREE Shindig Kid's Thanksgiving Table Printable set.

If you don't have your FREE printables yet, click HERE for the details.

We're going to make the Indian Corn Treat bags seen above. These would be terrific on the table as a fun little treat or even for a sweet favor for classroom friends next week. So grab your materials, and let's get started. This one is super, super easy!

Materials:

Skittles
Raffia
2" circle or scallop circle craft punch (if you don't have one, no biggie. Just cut the favor tag out in a square shape instead)
4"x6" jewelry bag (ziploc)
Scotch tape
Hole punch & scissors
Printable sheet of 2" Thanksgiving logos

Take your printed 2" logo sheet and punch out one of logos to make a favor tag

Now cut off the top of the jewelry bag ziploc -- you won't need the closure part. Fill your bag with Skittles -- not too full though. We don't want sugar-crazed kids at Thanksgiving!

Next, fold over one corner of the back of the jewelry bag and tape it down to create a point at the bottom of the bag to resemble corn.




Your next step is to take about 10+ strands of raffia cut to maybe 8"-10" long and wrap it around the top of the jewelry bag. Tie it in a knot to resemble the corn husk.


After tying off the bag, cut your raffia to get it even. And then attach your favor tag by punching a hole in it with a hole punch and stringing a piece of raffia through and tying it to the favor bag.

Isn't it cute? And so easy!! Yay, mom!!

I hope you are all getting your kids' Thanksgiving tables ready! They are going to LOVE their fun little "Mayflower with a Citrus Twist" table!

Tutorial: Mayflower Muffin Wrap and Pinecone Turkey Crayon Holder Craft

Here's that sweet little kids' Thanksgiving table again. Are you ready to make some crafts??

Today I'm going to show you how to make the "Mayflower" cupcake or muffin boat from the Shindig Parties TO GO FREE Kid's Table printable set. It's easy and cute and the kids will LOVE it. My own little boy loves this boat so much he even asked me to put one on his dinner last night!

Here's your first step....





Step 1: Print your printables out. Print the two sheets above from the Thanksgiving printables free set. Now cut out your ship sails and the brown and white stripe boat bottoms. You will need two boat bottoms for each boat you are making.

Step 2: Glue boat bottoms together.Using hot glue, (or regular glue if you don't have hot glue), place a bead of glue along each short side of the boat bottom. Now place a matching boat bottom on top (blank sides together) of the one with glue and press them together.

Step 3: Open your boat bottom and place around a cupcake or muffin.

Step 4: Making your sail - Using a hole punch, punch one hole on the top and one on the bottom of each sail. Now thread an approximately 6" long skewer or lollipop stick through the holes. Stick the skewer with it's sail in your muffin and wah-lah..... a sweet little boat!



Now for the pinecone turkey crayon holder craft.....





Step 1: Find some medium to large size pinecones.

Step 2: Cut out your turkey parts. Using the sheet you printed above with the boat bottoms on it, cut out the turkey bodies and the hearts -- you'll use those for feet. Hot glue a turkey body to the wider side (bottom)of the pinecone. Turn it on it's side and then hot glue a heart to the pinecone for feet.

Step 3: Add your crayons. Next take 5 crayons and arrange in the pinecone to resemble colorful turkey feathers.

(HINT: if the crayons don't coorperate and don't want to stay in your pinecone, add a tiny bit of hot glue to the end of the crayon and then stick it in the pinecone. Don't add so much that it's hard to remove the crayon though -- the kids will need those crayons so that they won't bother you can color with them during the Thanksgiving meal.

See.... you've made a little coloring activity for them with a cute crayon holder to match -- they're gonna love this one, Mom! (Don't forget to print out the coloring sheets, too.)

I hope you enjoyed making today's litte craft. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on how to make the "indian corn" treat bag. It's super easy, too!

Linked to: Skip to my Lou, Tater Tots and Jello, CRAFT, Just a Girl

Decor Mamma, Craft-o-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Kid's Table Ship Centerpiece

Thanksgiving is only a week away -- time to get those menus together and decorate that pretty Thanksgiving dinner table. And we all know who usually gets the raw end of the deal at Thanksgiving -- the KIDS! While the adults are laughing it up at the "big people" table, the kids are relegated to some lonely, small, old beat up card table in a dark corner somewhere WAY away from the everyone else. Poor little things!

How are we ever going to instill that "attitude of gratitude" in them if we don't make Thanksgiving fun? Well, now we can!! I'm on a mission to change the dreaded "kids table" and make it something really special -- a place even the adults would like to sit!




How about this? Cute, don't you think? With a FREE Thanksgiving Kids' Table printable set, you can whip up a table like this for the kids this Thanksgiving in no time at all. And this week, I'll be showing you how. Today, we'll work on the centerpiece -- a little twist on the Mayflower. (Keep this one handy for a pirate party, too!)



First, the materials. Here's what you'll need to gather up. And, by the way, I didn't even go to the store before doing this table. I looked around, used what I had and just made it work. You can do the same -- be creative!

Materials:

-- 1 or 2 woven placemats from the Dollar Tree
-- Hot glue and hot glue gun
-- scissors
-- 3 small diameter dowel rods
-- 3 large ship sails from Shindig's FREE Thanksgiving Printables set
-- hole punch
-- small pieces of styrofoam or florist foam
-- small containers like terra cotta pots, pails, or boxes
-- shredded paper gift bag filler

Step 1: Making the ship base. Take a placemat and cut your 2 ship pieces from it across its length. Make the ends approximately 2 inches higher than the middle, which should be about 5 1/2" in the center, 7 1/2" high on the ends. (Ignore that pink box.... that was my first idea for what to anchor the sails on -- I changed my mind later.... I do that sometimes.)

Step 2: Glue ship pieces together. Take one ship piece and add hot glue all the way down one of it's sides. Now take your other ship piece and put it on top of the ship piece with glue. Press the pieces together to secure. (Only use the hot glue on the sides of the ship pieces)

Repeat on the other side of the ship pieces.

Step 3: Securing your ship sails. Now that your ship is glued on each side, open the ship pieces and place any small containers like pots, pails or boxes inside as shown above. Now cut a small piece of styofoam or florist foam to place inside of the pots. These will be anchors for your ship sail dowels. (If you don't have styrofoam or florist foam, playdough or clay make work as anchors, too.)

Cut 3 dowels to 20" in length. Next, print and cut 3 large ship sails from the FREE Thanksgiving kids' table set. Punch a hole in each in the center of the top and the bottom and thread a small dowel through. Insert the dowel into your styrofoam, and repeat for the other 2 ship sails.

Step 4: Making it pretty. It's coming together now...... you're almost done! One last little step..... take some shredded gift bag filler (I used yellow) and cover up all of the messy looking stuff on the inside of your boat. That's it -- wasn't that easy??

And this is what you get! Aren't you proud of yourself?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's tutorial on how to make the small ship cupcake or muffin wraps and sails. And I'll also tell you how to make that cute little pinecone turkey crayon holder.

Have a great day today!

FREE Thanksgiving Kid's Table Printables

Yes, that's right! In a collaboration with A Few of My Favorite Things (a fantastic website for all of you moms out there), Shindig Parties TO GO has designed an adorable set of Thanksgiving printables for kids and we're giving them to you..... drumroll please.........

FREE!!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Aren't they the cutest?? I couldn't wait to design something fun for my own kiddos and their cousins this year as we'll be entertaining my husband's entire family for Thanksgiving. It all started with the idea of a ship sail as a fun, kid-friendly feature, and somehow by the end, became a "Mayflower with a Citrus Twist." Fun! Fun!

The collection includes lots of extras not even pictured above:

• 2" Thanksgiving logos in 4 different designs (They say "Happy Thanksgiving," "Give Thanks," "Thankful for You," and the other has an adorable polka dot turkey on it) - Perfect for favor tags
• 8" centerpiece sign (not pictured) featuring a polka dot turkey -- glue it to a dowel stick, add some ribbon, and you have an adorable and easy centerpiece
• Orange polka dot napkin or cup wraps
• Green polka dot ship sails for sandwiches, cupcakes or muffins
• Turkey coloring page
• Turkey parts to make a turkey pinecone crayon holder craft
• Brown & white stripe ship hull for a cupcake wrap
• Large orange polka dot ship sails for the table centerpiece
• "I am Thankful For" cards for the kids to fill out and make a banner or a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree
• 2 full sheets of papers to coordinate with all of the other elements in the collection

And this is all you have to do to receive your Free printable collection:

1. Become a FAN of Shindig Parties TO GO on Facebook (just click the "Like" button)
2. Look for the Discussions tab at the top of my Facebook page and click to find the SECRET CODE word
3. Email me at shindigparties@gmail.com with the SECRET CODE and I'll send the printables right to you!!

That's it! It's really easy, and your kids will be so excited to finally have a special Thanksgiving table of their own.

Stay tuned this week on my blog for some How-To's on how to make the centerpiece ship, the pinecone turkey crayon holder and the adorable "indian corn" treat bag. All are super easy and quick, too!

Linked to: Skip to my Lou, Tater Tots and Jello, CRAFT, Just a Girl

Decor Mamma, Craft-o-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming

Thanksgiving Desserts - Yummy!

It's about that time to start planning your Thanksgiving meal -- I already feel like I'm running a little behind with my own Thanksgiving menu. And what do I do instead of gathering roast turkey and vegetable sides recipes? I research DESSERTS! Say what you want about the turkey and sweet potatoes, but really, we all know the dessert is our favorite part of the meal! There are some gorgeous ones out there on the internet.... look at all of these yummies I found.

Yum Sugar has a fabulous looking pecan pie, always a classic and my little girl's favorite, so I know I'll be making at least two of these for Thanksgiving at our house.




Sunset has this Pumpkin Ice Cream Torte with Ginger Crust that seriously looks to die for!! The store-bought ice cream, caramel and chocolate toppings make this one quick to make and the gingersnap crust adds that little something special.




Change things up this year and instead of that whole apple pie on the dessert buffet, why not have a platter of individual servings of baked apples with a yummy pecan and brown sugar topping. This one is from My Recipes and looks fabulous paired with the sugared pie crust strips.



Trifles are so pretty -- why not make a trifle this year and place it front and center on your dessert buffet? This Chocolate- Caramel trifle with raspberries from My Recipes is a show stopper. The recipes make the chocolate cake pieces from scratch, but I'm thinking as busy as I'll be cooking at Thanksgiving, maybe I could buy a package of two-bite brownies and use those instead. I'll do just about anything to buy a pack of two-bite brownies!!



And another superb looking trifle is this Pumpkin Mousse Trifle from Country Living



This looks like the perfect ending to a wonderful Thanksgiving meal to me. Pumpkin Cream Tarts with Candied Raspberries from Country Living -- these individual portions would look so pretty on a dessert table!


Here are two scrumptious looking desserts from At Home with Kim Vallee. On the left is a caramel-apple crostada from Sweets. And on the right, a pear and dried apricot tart from Real Simple.

I hope these gorgeous desserts give you some great ideas for your own Thanksgiving dessert table this year. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Burlap & Corn Husk Table Runner

Remember this little table runner from my Shindig Thanksgiving dinner table featured earlier this week? Well, today I'm back with a little tutorial on how to make it.

But first, I wanted to remind everyone about the FREE Thanksgiving Kids' Table Printables deal I've got going on.
Aren't they cute? And there are lots of files in the collection, too -- FREE!

Just become a FAN of Shindig Parties TO GO on Facebook by clicking the "like" button, send me your email with the SECRET CODE (found on my Facebook page by clicking the "Discussions" tab at the top of the screen).

Now.... back to the corn husk runner..... I've had quite a few people asking to purchase it, but it's so simple to make that I think I'll just show you how and help you make your own. Just think of how proud you'll be to make it yourself!

Start with getting your materials together. I made mine with a sewing machine, but it would be possible to make a similar version with a no-sew method. You just have to get a little creative -- I'll tell you about that later in the post.

You'll need the following for an 8-9 foot runner:

• 3 yards of natural colored burlap


• sewing thread to match


• 2 bags of corn husks (I bought mine at Walmart in the Mexican food section)


• scissors


• dental floss


• sewing machine and iron

FIRST: The cutting -- Cut your burlap into 8-9 foot long lengths by 13" widths. You'll need two pieces, one for the top of the runner, one for the liner. Now for the burlap ruffle on top of the runner, you'll cut strips of burlap from your remaining original 3 yard piece that are 2" x the length of the runner pieces that you previously cut. Cut 4 strips out (they will be 2" x 8-9 feet each).

Go to your sewing machine and sew 2 strips together, end to end, to make one very long strip to be used for your burlap ruffle. Now repeat with your other 2 strips. You'll end up with two long strips 2" x 8-9 feet each.

STEP 2: Sewing the Corn Husks on --Now that everything is cut, you'll start working on the main part of the runner and sewing your corn husks on. Take the 2 big pieces of burlap for the top and bottom of your runner and your corn husks (separate them into individual pieces) over to your machine. Line your burlap pieces up one on top of the other and place a corn husk in between. Begin sewing these 3 pieces together.

STEP 3: Repeat Step 2 over and over again. Add a corn husk in between your fabric pieces and sew down. Repeat all the way until the end of the burlap runner strip.



STEP 4: Finishing off the end of your runner -- When you get to the end of your burlap strip, just roll the burlap two times to covered the frayed end of the fabric. Now cut your threads and take your runner to the ironing board. Continue to roll the fabric at the end of the runner over twice to hide the frayed end and iron it down. Go back to the sewing machine and topstitch over the end of the runner to create a nice, finished edge to your runner. Now go and do the same thing to the other end of the runner, finishing the edge of both ends.





Next it's time to sew the corn husks to the other side of your runner. Turn the runner around to repeat sewing the corn husks in between the two layers of burlap. When you're done with this step, you'll have a burlap runner with corn husks going down each side.


STEP 5: Making your burlap ruffle -- Take your small burlap strip pieces for your ruffle and using a wide zig-zag stitch, sew back and forth over a piece of dental floss (excellent to use for making a quick and easy ruffle). Zig zag all the way to the end of the strip, being careful not to actually sew onto your string. Once your done, cut your threads, leaving a longer piece of dental floss at each of the strip. Carefully pull on your dental floss to start creating small ruffles along your burlap strip.

STEP 6: Attaching your ruffle - Get your ruffle approximately the same length as your runner by pulling on your dental floss and adjusting your fabric. Once they are about the same length you can begin to sew the ruffle down. Turn the end of the ruffle strip under the back side of the runner to begin sewing. Now just top stitch the ruffle all the way down to the end of your runner. Finish off the ruffle ends like you did before and you are done, my friend.

It's actually really easy to make. Somehow writing all the steps down makes it seem a little more complicated, but it's really not. Don't be afraid -- just do it, girls!

And in the end, this is what you'll have. Yay, you! You did it!!

And now you'll have quite the conversation piece for your family Thanksgiving meal.

Isn't it pretty??

And if you like those pretty cards and candle wraps on the table, make sure to check out my Thanksgiving Printable Collection -- a huge set of everything you need to set a beautiful, personalized Thanksgiving table this year -- it's on SALE NOW over 50% OFF!

FOR A NO-SEW METHOD: I think it's possible to make a similar version of this runner by using hot glue instead of a sewing machine if you don't sew. Follow all the same steps in cutting out your main pieces of the fabric runner and glue the corn husks in between the two pieces of burlap instead of sewing them. Then you may want to buy some ribbon, may brown grograin, and glue it on top of the burlap at the seam with the corn husks. It will add a little decorative touch -- not a ruffle necessarily, but I think it would still be pretty cute.

Linked to: Some What Simple, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, Life as Lori, Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket, Domestically Speaking, Just a GirlSkip to my Lou, Tater Tots and Jello, CRAFT