Honeycomb & Bumble Bee Cupcakes

I LOVE baking!  I made these from the "What's New, Cupcake" book by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  What a great book- so many idea for cupcakes for any party or season.  

These are vanilla cupcakes with sugar cookies on top that, when put next to eachother, look a lot like a honeycomb.  The book said to put some honey inside each hexagon.  That would have looked nice, but I thought that would make them too sweet (and too messy- I was bringing them to work!).  

The most difficult and time intensive part was cutting out the hexagons from the cookie dough.  Those were made separate and then placed on top of the cupcakes after lightly frosting them.  There was a template to use, but in the end after baking the sugar cookies the lines were not totally straight.  Maybe it gives them character :P




Instead of using black jelly beans to make the bees (as the book instructed), I used yellow and brown peanut M&Ms.  More people like the flavor of chocolate than black licorice, I've found.

I'm not sure if I'd make these again, but they were well received by the people who ate them.  They definitely go with our Etsy Shop name, though!

Homemaker on a Dime: Market Your Biz and Giveaways #53

A big thanks to SJ from the Homemaker on a Dime Blog for featuring our shop this week!

Homemaker on a Dime: Market Your Biz and Giveaways #53: Happy Tuesday, my dear friends! Our featured biz today is Two Bees Creations, specializing in Handmade Fabric Purses, Tea Wallets, Jewelry...

Before and After: Frames into Jewelry Organizers

I upcycled two pieces of art into jewelry organizers.  I got the idea from some sellers on Etsy who use old picture frames and replace the backing of the frames with screen or lace  to hang earrings on (like these: jeanettikonfetti or GardenCricket).  When I found these frames, it was difficult to remove the backing, so I changed my plan a little.

They started out looking like this: art pieces that had a price tag of $200 each!  I felt a little bad ruining someones artwork, but they were a great deal!  I purchased them at the Goodwill for $7 each.




The first one I painted purple with a free sample cup of paint I had.  It has cup hooks and eyes from ACE hardware ($4 total) which I screwed right into the backboard.  I left the middle panel as it was with the original collage artwork.  I'm hanging all my earrings, bracelets, and rings on here.  It holds more than 40 pairs of earrings!

For the second one I stretched magenta/hot pink vintage velvet inside where the glass would be (my other idea was to use cork, but this was cheaper!).  I used colored push pins instead of hooks to hang my necklaces (I have 35 necklaces on there now).

My plan was to hang them on the wall next to each other, but my 100-year-old adobe walls make that pretty tough (these things are heavy!).  One is on top of my dresser, and the other is on a bookshelf in my hallway.

It turns out I have a TON of costume jewelry when you add it all up- and now it is neatly displayed instead of all zipped up in pouches or hidden in jewelry boxes.  It makes picking out something to wear a lot easier when you can see it all at once!