Hi everyone! It has been way too long since I’ve written a blog, a year to be exact. It has been a crazy but exciting year. I meant to write this before Christmas since it goes in my yard for candy land but Christmas snuck up on me this year and I didn’t get nearly as much done as I wanted to. I didn’t even get all my outdoor decorations up since the weather was so crappy. We lost a few decorations to high winds but overall, all of them have continued to hold up well, these cupcakes included. I got the inspiration for these in a Christmas crafting group on Facebook where someone used these bowls and dollar store balls to create a cupcake, I just decided to add all the sparkles and the lights. These are some of my favorite decorations because they use battery operated lights and can be put anywhere in the yard. This is also year two of using them and they still seem to be doing well. I didn’t even secure the lids this year and they did blow off in 50 mph winds, but they still work.

Supplies

• Dollar Tree Bowls (I can’t find the link for them but they had a wavy lip to them. I got a mix of blue and white, but wish I just got all white)
• Plastic planters (I searched forever for one that would look most like a cupcake wrapper and these were the best I could find)
• Red or Pink ornament for the cherry
• Spray paint for the planters in whatever color you would like
• Battery operated colored lights
• Sparkle Mod Podge
• Glitter (I used the same ones I used for my Christmas gum drops)
• Outdoor protectant spray
• Drill
• Hot Glue
• Rocks to put in the planter to anchor it down
• Fishing wire to secure the lids

How to Make the Cupcakes

So just a warning, these are not fast to make but they aren’t difficult. The first thing I did was drill holes randomly on the lid. It’s been a couple of years so I don’t remember what size drill bit I used, but it was one where the light just fit through the hole. Be careful with this step and go slow so you don’t crack the bowl! This also makes a huge mess, so do it somewhere that’s easy to clean.

Next, I covered the bowls with sparkle mod podge and the glitter to give it a shimmery look. It definitely looks better on the white bowls than the blue ones which is why I wish I bought all white bowls. This has started to crack off after the second year, but overall it still looks ok. This is just because I love sparkles but you can definitely skip this step if you don’t want to mess with it! The picture really doesn’t do the sparkles justice.

I let the glitter and mod podge dry and then sprayed it a few times outside the with the outdoor protectant coat so it would hold up in the snow, wind, and rain. While I was spraying those, I also spray painted the planters with spray paint I had laying around the house from other projects. You can use any color here and they don’t all have to be the same. Get creative!

Next, I glued the lights into the holes. This step was time consuming, but necessary to hold the lights in. I used gorilla glue hot glue to make sure it stayed. I put a generous amount in each hole and held each light until it was dry. I repeated this process until all the lights were secured in place. I didn’t use all the lights on the strand, but enough that it looked like sprinkles on the top of the cupcake. I then hot glued the ornament to the top of the bowl to look like a cherry.

Once that’s finished, I put rocks into the planter to weigh it down so it didn’t blow away.

When it got dark, I turned the lights on and set them to the light effect I wanted (make sure you wait until the time you want these to turn on everyday, because once it’s secured, it’s not coming off until the end of the season). I like to have different effects on the cupcakes to make the yard a little more exciting. These are on timers so you can set it and forget it for the season! I then used fishing wire and tied it through the ornament hole for the cherry and then around the planter to hold the lid on in the wind. There is probably a better way to do this but I haven’t figured it out yet. It held up great the first year! The second year, I didn’t secure the lids and they did blow off but it didn’t blow away. There you go! Now you have beautiful cupcakes for your yard or house.

At the end of the season, make sure you take the batteries out so you don’t get any corrosion and then have to remove all the lights and start over. I can’t wait to see the cupcakes you create!