PAPER DOLL

I'm Gonna Buy A Paper Doll That I Can Call My Own

Here are those party favors I mentioned in the last post. I made them for Jenny's bridal shower. If you look close, you'll see that's Jenny in the bridal dress. I took her engagement picture, color copied it, cut out her face and placed it over a paper doll and then under a bride's gown. I duplicated them onto a card stock for stability and cut them out. I adhered some pink and white paper roses on top of the bouquet the bride was holding for added dimension. I also glued on an oval label that had "Jenny's Bridal Shower" and the date printed on it. These paper dolls were attached to an adorned paper nut/candy cup. The first step to making these was ruffling two colors of crepe paper streamers (I chose light pink and white). I did this on the sewing machine using a large basting stitch. If you adjust the tension so that it's tighter, it will ruffle up all by itself just by sewing down the center of the streamer (this is a really "neat" trick). Now you might think you could save yourself a step and put the two streamers together and stitch them up together, but you don't get the right effect. It's not as "poofy". It's best to ruffle each streamer separately and then put one on top of the other and stitch together. I've made lots of things with these crepe paper ruffles and you get a lot of bang for your buck! They make great flowers too. Now measure off a section and cut using your paper nut/candy cup as a guide. Get the trusty hot glue gun fired up and attach to the outside of the cup. Find a nice trim to go over your stitching line and glue in place. Attach to the paper doll with some hot glue, put in some paper or cellophane filler and VOILA, a great, personalized party favor. Fill with your choice of goodies. I opted for those cake pops that I read about over a Bakerella. I've made them before and everyone loves them. I used an ice cream scoop for the shape, dipped them in light pink candy melts, topped them off with a candy sugar flower, placed in a white cupcake paper instead of using a lollipop stick, wrapped them in a small, clear cellophane bag and placed them in the party favor cup. They're not only pretty, they taste great too! You can get the recipe for the cake pops at Bakerella or use my version:

1 Box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (my personal favorite)
1 Box Instant Chocolate Pudding
3 Large Eggs
1-1/3 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (I use canola)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan. Blend dry cake mix, instant pudding mix, water, oil and eggs in large blowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into pan and bake approx. 35-38 minutes. Cool completely. Now take the cake and crumble it all up into a large bowl. Mix in your favorite cream cheese frosting (that's right - the frosting goes into the cake - not on top of it). Here's my favorite recipe:

1 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temp)
8 Ounces Cream Cheese (room temp - the block kind - not spreadable or whipped)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Box Powdered Sugar

In large bowl mix together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and gradually mix in powdered sugar. The more you beat it the fluffier it gets. I usually put in about half of my frosting - you don't want the cake mix to get too soft. Now put this cake mixture into the fridge to chill until firm (if you're in a hurry, put it in the freezer for a while). When it's ready, you can scoop out tiny balls of mixture (or any size you want). Melt some candy wafers (you can get them at the craft store in lots of different colors). Dip and place on waxed paper to set. If using sprinkles, put them on while they are still wet. Return them to the fridge to set up faster.

Scrumptuous!

S.W.A.K.