pinwheels spinwheels. . .

Happy almost-Easter!!!!  This past weekend, we had an un-birthday party (it's a long story) at The Little Gym, where the boys have both taken gymnastics classes for pretty much their whole little lives!  I was trying to decide what fun thing I could decorate cupcakes with, since we didn't really have a theme, and there would be boys and girls of all ages there.  I decided on these cute little SUPER easy pinwheels.  I used Animal Crackers paper (which we are all sad isn't available anymore) but you could use any of Close To My Heart's two sided papers to create this fun project.

Simply cut a 3x3 square. Gently crease the paper from corner to corner on both sides, to find the center point.  Then cut from each corner to ALMOST the middle, being careful not to cut the whole thing up into triangles! Then pull one side of each section down towards the center.  Use your piercing tool to poke a hole (make sure to go through each layer) and stick a brad in the center.  I hot glued the pinwheels to short kabob sticks, and stuck them in the cupcakes.  I really should have done a tutorial to share with you, but if you google it. . .I promise you'll find a lot of them, if you need more help.

Totally un-paper related but equally fun, are the rainbow cupcakes.  These are quickly becoming a kid-party tradition in our household.  Use yellow or white cake mix, prepare it as directed.  Then divide it into separate bowls - however many colors you want, and just add food coloring to each dish.  Blend it until you have the colors as you like them.  Then just spoon each color into your cake pan.  If you're doing a regular size cake, just distribute the spoonfuls evenly.  If doing cupcakes, just do a small (really small) scoop of each color.  After they bake, they look sort of tie-died.  You can try to smooth out the layers and make them truly rainbow-like, but I sort of like the splotchiness of it!

 I also used a new-to-me frosting recipe for these cupcakes.  Wilton's Fluffy Boiled Frosting.  It came out pretty nice! Not as super-sweet as buttercream, and there's no butter or shortening in it. (So it's fat free! Does that count as healthy??? Perhaps not so much!)  It is the consistency of marshmallow fluff.  Pretty fun stuff!

I totally forgot to take a picture, but we also made favors.  We made rice krispie treats with Froot Loops in them.  (Here's the recipe I used!) I wrapped each individually in plastic wrap, and then wrapped a 1 inch band of patterned paper around it, finishing it off with some baker's twine.  It coordinated with the pinwheels, and it was pretty adorable!

The pinwheel cupcake toppers would be perfect for Easter!!!  I bet a tray of pinwheel cupcakes would be a fabulous centerpiece!

HAPPY EASTER!