Receiving Blanket Cupcakes

My husband's co-worker and his wife just had their second child and first little girl. We wanted to congratulate them with a little gift. Now I'm definitely all about giving homemade gifts. I think it says something when someone is willing to put in the time to make something for you. And since I do believe time is sometimes money, in my mind homemade should almost always be less expensive. This project is no exception! I got this idea from Little Birdie Secrets.

Supplies:

4 Receiving Blankets

4 Clothing items, toys, or washcloths

4 Large Coffee Filters (8 if you want to double them)

4 Rubber Bands

4 12 inch pieces of ribbon (may be all one color or all different)

1 Windowed Cupcake Bakery Box

Directions:

1. Fold each receiving blanket so that it is about 3 inches wide.

2. If you are using a toy you may skip this step. If you are using clothing or a washcloth place it over a fist and fold the edges into the center. You may also lay it on a flat surface and fold the outsides inward. Be sure to make sure all elastic, buttons, or sleeves are folded to the inside to give the cupcakes a neater look.

3. Wrap the receiving blanket around the toy, washcloth, or piece of clothing starting at the highest point you would like the cupcake and wrapping around and down to create a peaked top.

4. Once the cupcake is wrapped tie it with a rubber band.

5. Place the cupcakes into coffee filters. I used 2 filters per cupcake because they are thin.

6. Tie a piece of ribbon around each cupcake. You may use one color for all the cupcakes or multiple colors. Since my cupcakes were fairly neutral colored, I wanted to add a little more color so I went with 4 different colored pieces of ribbon.

7. Place your finished cupcakes in the bakery box. The smallest box available at the store where I purchased my cupcake box was 12"x12". This was too large for 4 cupcakes so I used tape at the bottom of the coffee filters to secure the cupcakes to the box and keep them from shifting in transit. You could also make more than 4 cupcakes to fill up the box if you'd like.

Cost Breakdown:

Pack of 5 receiving blankets - $2 clearance

Onesie & short outfit (separated to make 2 cupcakes) - $1 clearance

Pair of shorts - $1 clearance

Windowed Cupcake Box - $2

All other supplies came from my crafting supplies.

Total: $6

Boiled Peanuts and a First Post

To say I am severely less than computer literate would be an understatement. I can type and email and that is about the extent of it, but recently I started a blog which you can find here. <-- One of the many things I have learned in my blogging adventures.

So why am I starting this blog? For a few reasons, but the main ones are

. . . to get a feel for different host sites

. . . possibly start to brand my work

I realize multiple blogs are usually done by more experienced bloggers, but my ultimate goal isn't to have 2 blogs. It's to figure out which ONE I want to maintain. Do not let my ambition fool you. I work full time, am busy raising a family, and am trying to figure out which direction God is leading my life all the while. So now that I've bored you with all that . . .

On to the boiled peanuts!

I don't know what made me decide I needed to make these, but they were as easy as can be.

Boil water - I'd fill up any size pot you choose, because you'll need to refill the water as it evaporates the longer the nuts boil.

Add about 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water

Add raw peanuts and boil for a few hours - I boiled the first batch I made for 1 1/2 hours and the second for 4 hours. The second batch was far better!

My husband and brother-in-law, who believe they are experts of southern food, ate them up in a matter of minutes.