DIY Baby Shower Cupcakes

Yesterday I attended a baby shower for a very dear friend of mine. It was a LOT of fun. Oh my gosh I had the best time even though I only knew 3 people there.

When I walked in and saw the cupcake display I just assumed they were from a professional bakery.... Wouldn't you have assumed the same? They were so cute and there were so many... I'm so used to attending industry events where professionals make the most adorable cupcakes... But guess what? They were made by my friend's sister. Who had never made gum paste flowers before in her life!

Here are the bakers. I asked them to pose for this picture and told them I was going to call them the "Crazy Baking Sisters." Which I think is pretty spot on. But crazy in a good way. That's Miss Cupcake Decorator on the right. She has a passion for applying the finishing touches as evidenced by the dozens of flowers she adorned the cupcakes with! I really admire her DIY gumption!

Together they also made all of these cookies to give as take home favors. They loaded up a cute, hand stamped, ribbon adorned bag with a thank you for coming label, just for me on my way out. It included a brownie, an oatmeal raisin cookie, a classic chocolate chip, a white chocolate chip with macadamia nuts and a rice krispy treat! *Gasp, gasp, thud* I ate all of them for breakfast this morning!

And this was a happy accident. They dyed some of the centerpiece flowers a gorgeous snow-cone blue. When they cut them and put them in the floating vases the blue color ran into the water just a bit tinting the water blue. It looked great! We all thought they had done it on purpose!

I have to give them serious kudos for being such great bakers and hostesses!