DIY Coke Lights

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Coborns

www.cobornsblog.com - Crafty Creations with Lynell — Lynell

If you know me, then you know I love to go camping. Well, not camping in tents, we have a RV that we do our camping in! We park our camper and decorate it and make it festive and fun! So this year since everyone is having so much fun finding their names on a Coke Bottles I thought it would be fun to make some lights to decorate the camper with! Have fun!

What you will need

Plastic Coke Bottles
Indoor/Outdoor White Lights 100 Count
Wire Cutter
Flat Head Screwdriver

This is so easy!

I took the empty Coke bottles and rinsed them out with soap & water; rinsing them again with plain water and letting them air dry. I then cut a V in the side of the bottle cap and also the opposite side of the cap with another V. I did the same on the bottles, avoiding where there is extra plastic. After poking 10 lights into a bottle using a flat head screwdriver to push the lights down into the bottle, the cap is then snapped on making sure the stringed part of the lights go thru the V area. Two lights are used for spacing between each bottle.

I used a set of 100 lights and 8 bottles. I made a second set of lights and plugged into the first set. Two sets of lights fit on one side (10’) of my pop up canopy tent. What an exciting & bright way to light up your summer fun! We are sure to be the hit of the RV Park this 4th!

Pink Polka Dot Cake

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Coborns

www.cobornsblog.com - Practical Party Planning with Holly — Holly

Well, my oldest daughter is now a three year old. Of course, as a Mom, I want to give her whatever she wants and this year, for her birthday, she wanted to have a pink bowling party. So we went bowling and ordered pizzas, pretty simple. But, I couldn’t just let it end with that. So we went back to our house and had cake, ice cream and presents!

Pink Party

When I asked Grace what kind of party she wanted, because if you know me you know there must be a theme, she said “pink”. Well we did PINK! For decoration we had pink tissue paper balls, pink balloons, pink crepe paper streamers, pink plates, pink polka dot treat bags, pink polka dot napkins, pink cups and pink polka dot straws. I served pink lemonade, pink ice cream and pink cake with pink icing. It was pretty cute and Grace loved it all. Planning any kind of get together can get really stressful, but as I was icing the cake and Grace looked and me and said “I really like my pink cake Mom!” it made all the fuss worth it.

With all of my pink decorations and white polka dots on the napkins, straws and crepe paper, I decided to make a polka dot cake to match. It turned out super cute and was really easy. So I want to share with you how I made it so you can do it too!

Icing the Cake and Cupcakes

First off, I made two 9” round cakes and 24 cupcakes with two strawberry box cake mixes. After they cooled I began to ice the cakes. We love the buttercream icing from the Coborn’s Bakery, so I went over to the bakery and got the “Good Stuff”. They sell it in the cases by the cupcakes and they typically have white and a couple other random colors to choose from. I bought two and a half pounds, but I should have just bought three because I ran out before all 24 cupcakes were iced. I put A LOT of icing on the cake. So you may be able to get away with only two pounds. I colored the icing myself at home to make the best color match, however if you wanted a certain color, I would think the nice people in the bakery would dye some for you. Long story short, I iced my two round cakes together to make a higher cake with an icing layer in the middle. I did that with just a butter knife. I then did a simple icing of the cupcakes with a pastry bag and round tip. Click here for more ways to ice a cupcake.

Decorating the cakes

The next steps are really easy. I bought Over The Top Party Pink Sanding Sugar from the cake aisle along with Over The Top White Sugar Beads. I simply sprinkled the top of the cake with the Sanding Sugar. Then I took the White Sugar Beads and created a polka dot pattern on the top of the cake to match the décor. I used the rest of the beads to make a border against the plate and the bottom of the cake and voila, the cake is now decorated. For the cupcakes, I sprinkled the Party Pink Sanding Sugar on half of the cupcakes and did one White Sugar Bead on the top of the other half of cupcakes, this way they all coordinated with the cake, but were a little different.

Making the Cake Topper

Now on to the cake topper. I had purchased polka dot pink straws from the party store when I purchased my tableware, but who really uses a straw? So I knew I would have leftovers to use for my cake. I took three straws to use for my cake topper. Next I took three pink paper plates to cut out circles for my saying. My Mom has a Cricut™ cutting machine that we used to cut out white vinyl letters to write out “Grace is three”. I then placed the vinyl on the round circles. Next I simply hot glued the straws to the back of the circles. The last thing I had to do was to arrange the straws and stick them into the cake. I also placed a pink number three candle and my cake was complete.

Making the Cake Topper at home

I realize that you may not all have a Cricut™ cutting machine at home, so I made Free Printables for you so you can make these at home. Obviously I do not know the name of the person for whom you are making the cake, so the printables read “Happy 3^rd Birthday”. Each printable has four sheets. Sheet one has the Happy, Birthday and 1^st – 5^th circles. Sheet two has 6^th – 14^th circles, sheet 3 has 15^th – 21^st circles and the fourth sheet has 30^th – 100^th, by decade. Click the links below for different colors. I made a pink version, green version, blue version and one white version with just black text so you can print on whatever color you wish. I would just suggest using a heavy/thick card stock so that the circle stand up nicely against the straws, if you do not have a heavy/thick card stock, you can just glue the circle a little farther down the straw to add a little stability.

This cake and these cupcakes are cute and fun for any birthday party. I hope you can use some of the ideas I gave you here to make your own!

Party On,
Holly
Coborn’s, Inc. Consumer Content Manager

Click Here for more articles written by Holly

How To Decorate with the Leaf Tip

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Coborns

Hello, again! Welcome back for another exciting adventure into the world of cake decorating. If not exciting, I hope you at least find it mildly interesting. This time around, we are going to be having fun with leaf tips!

Leaf Tip Basics

I’ll be using two shapes of leaf tip. One tip is shaped like a “V” at the end; one is shaped like an “M.” For today’s demonstrations I will be using pink frosting with the M-shaped leaf tip and blue with the V-shaped tip.

You may be familiar with the classic use of the leaf tip already. With a little squeeze and pull, you can make a perfect little bit foliage. With your V-shaped tip, you want to make sure you are holding it like a bird beak to get the leaf to come out right. With the other tip, you want to turn the tip 90 degrees and hold it so you can see the M shape from the top.

Both do the job well, as you can see, but I usually use the V-shaped tip because the pointy tips of the leaves turn out nicer, with less fuss.

Leaf Tip Ruffles

So, what is there beyond making leaves for these little tips? How about ruffles! We can do swag-style ruffles or thick frilly ruffles. To make the classic swag shape, you just load up that leaf tip and draw some “C” shapes. I tend to do swag ruffles with the M-shaped tip. It’s not a huge difference, but I think the edges are a little thinner and lighter looking. What’s that you ask, why not use a rose tip? Well, sure, you could, but when you use a leaf tip, you get a little frilly edge to both sides of your ruffle. Wow! Now with extra prettiness!

To do the wide ruffle band, you hold the tip like you would if you were going to make a leaf and then make small, side-to-side motions. Pretend you are scribbling with a crayon. The wider your side-to-side motions, the wider and frillier your ruffles with be.

Leaf Tip Cupcake Ruffle

Now that we’ve talked about some ways to pipe, let’s talk about how to use these ideas for projects. To create a ruffle look on a cupcake, use your side-to-side squiggle to add a ruffled edge. Once you get all the way around, do it again, this time making a slightly smaller circle. Repeat the process once more to cover the top of your cupcake. Now you have a cupcake fit for a princess. Wouldn’t it look nice finished with a few candy pearls?

Leaf Tip VS. Rose Tip

But, why not use a rose tip? Well, yes, you could… check out that photo. It’s not a huge difference, but the rose tip has a more even, flower-petal appearance, whereas the leaf tip is more irregular and frilled.

Leaf Tip Carnation Cupcake

Let’s do another cupcake project. If you turn you tip 90 degrees and use it sideways, you can create a whole new look. Just wave the tip back and forth, making lots of little folds. Try not to go in circles or in a straight line. Make small clusters here and there as you work your way across the cupcakes. The end result has a carnation look. Imagine a bouquet of these in lots of pretty colors!

Leaf Tip Flower

Speaking of carnations… let’s make a flower! Get out that flower nail for this one. Start with just making a base like you would when making a rose. Start in the middle. On top of your frosting base, make small concentric circle like you would when making a rose. Give your hand a tiny bit of shake to get the edges frilled. You can stop and start at any point. The frilliness with hide any parts where the ruffles aren’t connected. Keep working your way out in the same way as making a rose.

Leaf Tip Flowers and Border

I placed my flowers onto a cake that I had already piped leaf tip swag borders onto. This cake reminded me of an arts and crafts project, more specifically sewing. I finished it off with some “stitching” vines to give it that artsy look.

Leaf Tip Feather Boa Boarder

Well, let’s give the pink a rest, shall we? Let’s get out that V-shaped tip. I wanted to do something a little more wild this time. I have a cake I’ve prepared with a cheetah print in blue. Girl’s night out, anyone? For this cake, a leaf tip will make a terrific feather boa border. Pick pretty much any color (I would avoid green, as it might look like a wreath) and start piping. Make lots of leaves going in lots of directions. You want them to go up, down, left, right. Think fluffy feathers! It might start out strange in the beginning but stick with it. Once you get all the way around, you’ll be rewarded. Try doing this with different shades of the same color to give it real pizzazz.

Leaf Tip Ruffle Cake

For our last project let’s make one more cake. Load up a bag with frosting and an M-shaped leaf tip. You’ll want to ice your cake first, in a color that matches your outside color for best results. Making these ruffles, it will be hard to completely hide what color is underneath. Using the technique for making those flat ruffles, start at the bottom of your cake and pipe a squiggly line up to the top. Make sure you go all the way up and past the top edge a bit. In the photo, I’ve made some ruffles with a tight wiggle pattern and some less wiggly. As you can see, the amount of shake you put into your piping really affects the look of your ruffle. Continue piping ruffles around the entire cake. Once you are all the way around, you can go back and knock all those points down toward the center if they aren’t already. The next step is to finish the top with ruffles. It works in the same manner as the cupcake we did earlier. Simply pipe a circle of ruffles on the outside edge. Then repeat again and again in overlapping circles. And now you have a super ruffle cake! Add a flower or two, or a tiara! It’s so easy – just let the leaf tip do all the work.

www.cobornsblog.com The art of Cakes with Amanda — Amanda

I hope you have fun and find ways to expand on the ideas we talked about. And I hope that lonely little leaf tip makes it out of the tool kit more often. With a little imagination, it’ll be a MVP in no time.

Amanda
Cake Designer
Coborn’s, Sartell, MN on Pine Cone Road

Click Here for more articles written by Amanda

5 Simple Ways To Ice A Cupcake

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Coborns

Are you in search of a new look for your cupcakes? Bored with the same old star tip swirl? You are in luck; I have 5 easy cupcake makeovers!

Ice Cream Sundae

For these cupcakes you’ll need an ice cream scoop. I prefer to use whipped icing with this one, it comes out of the scoop nicely and has a good ice cream look to it. As far as simplicity goes, it really is just a scoop and plop. For an extra bonus finish it off with some ice cream toppings such as hot fudge, sprinkles, a cherry, cookies, candies… go nuts! These would be great cupcakes for a birthday party.

Bulls Eye

Once again, not a lot of fancy equipment needed. With large round tips, size 10 or larger, or even just the coupler, you can create a colorful cupcake. If you can draw a circle, you can handle this one. Just pipe your big circle on the bottom, don’t worry about filling in the center all the way. Pipe a smaller circle on top with your next color. Finish with your third color, filling in the hole and making a nice little swirl on top. Imagine a pile of these colorful cupcakes on your party table.

Sprinkle Supreme

Again, this one is so simple. All you need is frosting and a bowl of sprinkles. You won’t need a fancy tip for this one. Just ice the top with any round tip or even just a coupler from your decorating supplies. Put as much frosting on as you want. Next, dunk it and roll it! It helps if you chill your cupcakes first, then frost and dunk. Sometimes fresh cupcakes are so soft and the tops will fall off in the dunking phase. These are great for those sprinkle lovers.

Pretty Petals

You’ll need a standard sized rose tip for this cupcake. It’s easy, but takes a little more time than other methods. Starting from the outside, pipe ruffles around the edge. Make sure the thin side of the tip is on the outside of your cupcake and you are holding the tip horizontal. Make small “U” shapes or waves to create the petals. Once you get all the way around, repeat, but in a smaller circle so you don’t cover the petals you just made. Keep piping until you’ve covered your cupcake top. How cute would these be at a bridal shower?

Rippling Ruffles

This one is similar to the petal cupcake, but instead of holding the rose tip in a horizontal position, you’ll hold it vertical with the thin edge up. Next, move the tip left and right with a small waving motion. The trick is to do small clumps of ruffles going in different directions. Keep turning your cupcake and adding random bits of ruffles. They are a bit unusual looking, but a nice change from the expected. Good for someone looking for a trendy look.

Good luck in all of your icing endeavors. I would love to see your creations, so comment on my blog with a photo!

Amanda
Cake Decorator
Coborn’s, Sauk Rapids, MN

Click Here for more articles written by Amanda

Thanksgiving Table Decor with Free Printable Name Tags

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Coborns

I absolutely love this time of year. It seems that everyone is in a humble and grateful mood. Facebook and Twitter are full of people sharing what they are thankful for, my home is decorated in gorgeous burnt orange, golden yellow and earthy brown colors and the Vikings are on the TV. It is time to start planning for a festive family get together, Thanksgiving.

I will obviously have my table decorated with the colors of the season and have a delicious turkey roasting in the oven. I thought it would be fun to add a personal touch this year to my table setting with personalized name tags. Not only are these name tags crafty, rustic and oh-so-autumn, but they will make your guests feel special, too. It’s such a simple touch to tell someone that you’re thankful for them. Simply add them to the napkin decorations that adorn your table. The nice thing about these decorations is that you can make them weeks in advance in preparation for your Thanksgiving feast.

It’s easy, click here and print the tags on kraft paper. If you don’t have kraft paper, white paper will work just fine, I would suggest you use a thicker paper. Print and cut out as many tags as you will have guests and write their names on each tag. You can take it a step further and write a simple note to each tag as well to tell them why you are thankful to have them in your life. Attach the name tags to your napkins and add festive décor. You can add these to your place settings around the table or place them all in a basket at the end of your buffet line.

You could also leave these tags blank and when each person sits down at their place setting, they would fill out what they are thankful for. After everyone has written what they are thankful for, simply place all the tags in a hat and pick them out one by one during your meal and share them with all.

I hope that you have an amazing Thanksgiving with your family and don’t forget to tell them why you are thankful for them.

Holly
Coborn’s, Inc. Social Media / Creative Specialist

Click Here for more blog articles written by Holly

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