Philly Phanatic Cupcake Tutorial

This year I made baseball themed cupcakes for Hubby’s birthday.  He’s a big Phillies fan so I knew I had to make a Philly Phanatic cupcake.  If you’re not familiar with the Phanatic, he is the fuzzy green mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies:

The Phanatic has bright green fur, big colorful eyelashes, and a megaphone shaped mouth:



I searched online for a tutorial on how to make Philly Phanatic cupcakes, but couldn’t find anything.  So I did some thinking and came up with my own Philly Phanatic cupcake design.

Check out how I made and decorated this Phanatic cupcake.  First I started with a chocolate cupcake:


And covered it with white Coolwhip frosting (with my Coolwhip and confectioner's sugar icing concoction).  Then to make the Phanatic’s mouth, I cut a marshmallow in half and placed it a little more than half way down the cupcake:



Next, I colored the cupcake green using Wilton Color Mist food color spray.  The spray worked pretty well and was like spray painting with flavorless food coloring.  Basically it's artificial coloring in a can, probably not the healthiest thing to eat, but it got the job done.



Next, I made two eyes out of marshmallows.  If I had mini marshmallows, I could have cut them in half and used them as eyes.  But since I didn’t have any mini marshmallows on hand, I had to finagle a large marshmallow to cut round eyes from it.



To make the pupils, I cut the tips off two chocolate chips and rolled them a bit to make them look round. Next, I made eyelashes using red icing.  If you read yesterday's post, you know I had a lot of difficulty using the icing I bought and don’t recommend it.  I had a lot of trouble with the icing, but managed to make something that resembled eyelashes.



Finally, I finished the Phanatic cupcake by adding a bright red tongue like he’s sometimes seen with.



And here’s the finished Philly Phanatic cupcake!



I know I won’t be on Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss anytime soon, but considering this was my first attempt to decorate cupcakes and I made up this design myself, I think the Philly Phanatic cupcakes turned out pretty well!  What do you think?  Have you ever came up with your own cupcake design?

This project is featured on Fireflies and Jellybeans, Pony Tails and Fish Scales, Beyond the Picket Fence, stop by to see the other great projects featured!

Phillies Baseball Cupcake Decorating

Happy birthday to my dear hubby Rob!  Although today is his actual birthday, we celebrated Rob’s birthday this past weekend.  And because I think you’re never too old for a theme party, I decorated the house with Phillies baseball decorations.  I even made my first ever attempt at cake decorating!

Rob doesn’t like traditional birthday cakes (weird I know!), so I made him cupcakes instead.  First I made chocolate brownie cupcakes from this Woman’s Day recipe (I substituted the eggs with “Better’n Eggs”).  I also made chocolate cheesecake cupcakes from this BakeSpace recipe (I substituted the cream cheese with low-fat cream cheese).  I enjoyed both types of cupcakes, but Rob preferred the cheesecake ones.
However, since I planned to decorate the cupcakes, I didn’t make either of the frostings included in the recipes.  Instead, I made my own frosting by just mixing a little confectioner's sugar into light Coolwhip.  I prefer this frosting because it’s healthier and not super sweet like traditional frosting.

I decorated the cupcakes with Phillies and baseball designs using Betty Crocker Decorating Icing and Wilton Color Mist food color spray.  I must say that although the Betty Crocker icing was very tasty, the decorating tips it came with were nearly impossible to use.  I had a lot of difficulty controlling the icing as it came out and wouldn’t use this icing again.


I was pretty disappointed I couldn’t design the cupcakes how I had hoped because of all the difficulty I had with the icing, but I managed to make a few baseball cupcakes,  Phillies “P” cupcakes, red sugar cupcakes with “All Star” flags, and even Philly Phanatic cupcakes!




My favorite cupcake was the Philly Phanatic cupcake I invented.  Check back tomorrow if you’re interested to see how I made it.


Despite my decorating mishaps, the baseball cupcakes were still a hit and Rob loved them!  Here’s all of the cupcakes at the party:


This post is shared on Blue Cricket, stop by and check out some of the other great projects featured.

Garage Sale Cabinet Restoration

A few weekends ago I went to some garage sales yet again.  And boy did I find a project for myself!
First, I found this wooden tray that with some sprucing up and a new coat of paint would look pretty cute.

But then I really found a project!  I spotted this beauty at a garage sale and had to ask how much it was.  When the seller told me it was only $2 I couldn’t resist and had to buy it!

Sure, she’s dirty, dusty, and is no beauty now but cleaned up I think this white wood cabinet could be gorgeous:

I love the details of the raised panel doors, even the original handles and hinges are pretty:

How could I resist such a gorgeous wood cabinet for just $2?  Looks like I have a lot of sanding and painting to get started on!