Category Archives: candy

Fat-free and calorie-free cupcakes!

I know what you’re thinking… “Haven’t I seen this before on sweetsimplestuff.com?” The answer is totally yah, but some people haven’t yet so here it is yet again, a free pattern for some really quick and easy Crocheted Cupcake Coasters (I sure to love alliterations).

These cupcakes are for sale in my Etsy store here!

 Here are some photo’s:

Materials:
(basically any 100% cotton works)
Needle to sew in ends with

Abbreviations:
-SL.ST = Slip Stitch
-SC = Single Crochet
-HDC = Half Double Crochet
-DC = Double Crochet
-Ch = Chain
-Rnd = Round

In color A (brown) Ch 10
Rnd 1: Sc 8, turn.
Rnd 2: ch 1, sc 8 in back stitches
Rnd 3 – 14: Repeat x 12 (14 total)
Change to color B
Rnd 15: ch 1, Sc 1 in the sides of each row 14, turn. [Don’t cut, Leave color B attached] (14)
Change to color C
Rnd 16: ch 1, sc 2 in first, sc 1 in next 12, sc 2 in next, turn. (16)
Rnd 17: Don’t ch, skip first st, sc 1 in next 14, stop one early, turn. (14)
Rnd 18: ch 1, sc 1 in each, turn. (14)
Rnd 19: Don’t ch, skip first st, sc 1 in next 12, stop one early, turn. (12)
Rnd 20: ch 1, sc 1 in each, turn. (12)
Rnd 21: Repeat (12)
Rnd 22: Don’t ch, skip first st, sc 1 in each, turn. (11)
Rnd 23: Repeat (10)
Rnd 24: Repeat, cut and tie off. (9)
*For Cherry, count in three stitches from top, pull through in the fourth st from end on Rnd 24…
Rnd 25: sc 1 in fourth from the end and next two, turn. (3)
Rnd 26: Don’t ch,  skip first st, sc 1 in next 2, turn. (2)
Rnd 27: Don’t ch, skip first st, sc 1 in the last st, cut and tie off. (1)
*For lining
Rnd 28: Using the color B left off and uncut from Rnd 15, pull one through the end of Rnd 15 and sc 1 in each Rnd and st around the piece, cut and tie off, sew the remainders into the piece. (≈59)

Thanks again to Brenda from Sweet Simple Stuff! You’ll be seeing a lot more blog swaps soon I hope! 🙂

Your grandma never made squares this sweet! (Blog Swap!)


Do you remember granny squares? I learned to crochet about 1975 … granny squares were very popular … I made afghans, ponchos and even a doggie sweater. Now in 2012 … I can’t believe that I am making granny square cupcakes! This project looks like many of my needlecraft projects … unfinished!

This is my first blog swap with Brenda at sweetsimplestuff.com! Check out my post here!

This is what you will need:

– Brownie mix (or your own recipe that fits in a 9” x 13” pan) + ingredients that are called for (eggs, water, oil)
– Square cupcake pan
– Cupcake paper liners
– 2 cups your favorite frosting (your choice of color) in a pastry bag with a #17 tip
– ¼ cup melted chocolate/candy melts with a # 9 tip
– Nu Silver Luster Dust

Prepare your brownie batter and line the cupcake pan with the papers.  It is sometimes difficult to find square liners … so I just use the regular round ones and they work!  Also, if you don’t have a square cupcake pan … just bake in a rectangular or square pan and cut squares!

Fill with batter and bake (about 25 minutes) …

Look how they turned out …

Now the fun part … decorating with frosting … start in the center … just like crocheting a real granny square …

Of course you will need a crochet hook … how about a chocolate one?  I used real hooks for reference.  Work on wax paper … simply draw a hook using melted chocolate (or candy melts) … pop in the fridge for a few minutes to harden up …

I used “Nu Silver Luster Dust” and a dry brush to give the hook a bit of a metallic sheen …

Now you can lift the chocolate hook and place it with your “sweet” granny squares …

P. S.  I did find directions and charts for “real crocheted granny squares”  at http://www.knitting-n-crochet.com/granny-square.html 

This is a guest post by my friend Brenda at sweetsimplestuff.com! She offers all kinds of sweet treats that are simply awesome!! I did a guest post on her site too including a new FREE pattern for some crocheted cupcake coasters that you can check out here: http://sweetsimplestuff.com/2012/07/26/cupcakes-fat-free-and-calorie-free. Let me know what you guys think in the comments, and expect a lot more guest posts coming soon!! 🙂

Halloween Cupcakes

So today we’re having family and friends over for a Halloween dinner, and for desert my mom made these neat cupcakes with witch hats on them. So I thought this would be a good time to tell you guys about a lady I met named Brenda Vanover! Brenda created the idea for the cupcakes and make really need things with candy and sweets. Seriously, she has the “eye” for all things candy and makes things that are truly impressive, but still simple to make! She runs sweetsimplestuff.com where she shares her creations! I strongly recommend you guys check her out.

So for the hats, Brenda uses York Peppermints, but the ones my mom bought were shaped like pumpkins for Halloween so they didn’t work and she had to improvise and use the cookie parts from Oreo’s. They’re made with a Hershey’s Kiss, some frosting, and a York Peppermint. You can find the instructions at Brenda’s site here.

Here’s one of the great things she uses the hats in.

Keep an eye out for this one!