Here is my coffee filter Peony Tutorial! I think they are fun and easy! My 10 yr old daughter is thrilled with them!

STEP 1

Fill a bowl with water and set it in your sink. Pour a whole bunch of red food coloring into it. Make it a rich dark red. 

STEP 2

Get your coffee filters ready. 

You'll need 5 filters cut down to 3inches 

And 5 filters at 3 & 1/4th inches

Trim about an inch off of the edge of the coffee filters.

Step 3

Soak the filters 2 at a time in the red water. Just leave them in for 30 seconds to a minute.

STEP 4

Then place them on paper towels to dry. Again you can stack them 2 at a time. And you can do layers. A paper towel, 2 filter, a paper towel, 2 filters etc.

Just let them on the paper towels till most of the extra water is soaked up. Them move them to a glass surface (or something that won't stain - unless you don't mind bleaching your counters after you are done) to dry out the rest of the way.

 Once they are dry they will look like this.

 Then you begin the folding process.

 Fold in half

  Then in half again

Then in half again

 

Then in half again . ..  so a total of 4 times.

Next you will trim the top edges into a nice rounded form.

Then trim just a tiny bit of tip off

Then snip at the top edge that you rounded previously. Snip in V shaped patterns making it look ragged. If you would prefer a smooth look you can skip this step.

This is what it will look like once you are done with the trimming and you lay it out flat.

Next you will take a piece of floral wire and cut it about 11 inches long. Then bend a little hook at the end. You will also want some floral tape. Or you can also use regular scotch tape. 

Slide the hooked end of the floral wire up through the center of the filter.

Squirt a small dot of Wood Glue onto the end of the wire. 

Then take the filter and fold it around the glue dot. Twist and fold and make it all mushed together at the glue dot. 

Next slide the next filter on over top of the first one. Do not quite and go do something else and hope to come back to it. The glue needs to be wet as you work. 

Continue to add layers

See it's beginning to take shape! This is exciting!! 

About half way through I used scotch tape and secured everything. 

Then I continued adding layers. 

I ended by securing it with floral tape. 

A close up. 

 

 Here is the finished product!

I put them in a  cake stand on my daughters dresser. 

Aren't they just charmingly elegant!

You can also use them in tin. I put them in this tin tub, but I didn't think it looked quite as good in her room so they went back into the cake stand. But I still like both looks. 

And since it was so easy to do the pink ones I decided that the white ones would be even easier. So I did several white ones to mix with the pink. They have such a refreshing pristine look!

 It's that simple! Go and have fun!

Here is what you will need:
1. Sharp Scissors
2. Coffee filters
3. Red dye
4. Floral wire
5. Floral tape/Scotch tape
6. Wood glue
7. About 30 min of your time.

Birthday cake boy - horse

 And here is a boy version of the girly horse I did in March. :) Jace wanted one too. :) So follow the same recipe and pattern that I used for the pink horse. And I discovered (duh, you probably already know this) that putting black icing dye into chocolate icing (rather than white) really takes a LOT less of the icing dye! :)

Birthday cake for girls - horse cake

I baked one recipe of our favorite moist chocolate cake and poured it into a large jelly roll pan and baked it. this made a very thin cake so I baked a second one and stacked them on top of each other. Then using someone else's design from this website I drew the shape of the cake. Then I cut it out. I then put a layer of pink buttercream icing on the top part of the cake but not the sides (there were too many loose crumbs that kept mixing with the icing and it wasn't working). So I froze the whole cake overnight 12 + hours. Then I pulled it out and finished icing (I had chilled the leftover icing in the fridge) the edges of the cake and then I was also able to sculpt the frozen icing on the top shaping the nostril, the eye socket, the jaw bone curves etc.

Grape Twizzlers - halter
lime Menthos - halter buttons and around the edge of the cake
smashed Rolos for the nostril and eye.
a dab of white icing for the white spot on the eye.
leftover whoopie pie icing for the white trim around the bottom of the cake, and all the detailing
edible Easter grass for the mane
silk daisy for then flower necklace

this cake is easy and a lot of fun and I think it was "the icing on the cake" for her 10th birthday. :D

A Pirate Birthday Cake

Bake 3, 8 1/2 x 11 chocolate cakes. 

Layer them one at a time and trim any humps off if they bake unevenly. 

Put a layer of icing between each layer of cake. 

Then frost the cake with Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

1/2 c. butter softened

1/2 c. shortening

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups 10x sugar

2 TBS of milk

For chocolate add:

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1-2 TBS milk

Beat the butter and shortening till smooth. Add vanilla. Add one cup of sugar at a time beating the whole time and scrapping the sides of the bowl down as you add. When stiff and sugar is combined then add the milk. Whip until smooth and creamy. Add chocolate ingredients for Chocolate if you are making Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting. If you let this icing set it needs to be covered with a damp cloth or it will dry out. You may add more milk if it's too thick for your liking. 

To decorate the cake:

Take a piece of cardboard and cover it with aluminum foil. Place the cakes on it one layer at a time. To make the lid cut a piece of cardboard and cut it to the size of the cake. Then cover with aluminum foil and icing the lid. Place in freezer for 10 min to make it stiff so you can handle it later. 

Icing the main cake with chocolate icing. Then use candy necklaces, ring pops, Menthos, fancy beads, lollipops, Gobstoppers, Fruit by the Foot (for handles and leather straps and keyhole), gold coins, green coins (leftover Mardi Gras decorations) a Pirate telescope (Dollar Tree), Sea Creature gummies etc - use your imagination. 

Then to place the lid on and brace it with Kabob sticks (shorten them by about 3 inches and save the shorter pieces). Use the longer part of the stick as supports in the front. Then in the back use the two shorter pieces to stab into the cake so the lid doesn't slide off the back. 

Enjoy! Watch your children be amazed!