Shamrock Tutorial

Hi all you fabulous A to Zebra fans!!!  

My name is Heather and I am so thrilled that Nancy has asked me to help contribute to her blog!  I have a little blog called, Pirates-n-Princesses, where I like to blog about yummy cupcakes and super cute party ideas. 

Here I am with my sweet little family.  

So, a little about me before we get started...

I am an elementary school teacher turned stay at home mommy to two sweet little kiddos, Brock who's 4 and Jillian who's 3.  They keep me super busy!!!  I've been married to my amazing husband, TJ, for 7 years and after living in Texas for six years, we moved back home to Illinois to raise our kids and be closer to our families.  I've recently discovered a LOVE for baking and decorating cupcakes and have been trying to bake my way through Martha Stewart's Cupcake Cookbook.  It's going to be a LONG journey!  I hope you can follow along over on Pirates-n-Princesses.  :)

So, can you believe St. Patrick's Day is TOMORROW? 

Where is the time going these days??

I've been lucky enough that I get to do monthly news features on our local evening news and last night I got to do a St. Patrick's Day segment where I featured some yummy Stout Cupcakes with a Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream frosting.  Yum.

How cute are these little shamrock clovers?  Super easy!

Now, a little disclosure... I am NOT a professional photographer.  I love to take pictures, but I have basically no clue what I'm doing.  {I like to think I do.}  So, just go with it...

First you're going to need some basic supplies:

*rolling pin

*spearmint leaves -I found mine in the candy aisle at our local grocery store for $1

*cutting board

*heart cookie cutter - I got mine at Michael's in a package of three.  (They are actually made for fondant.)

*kitchen knife (not shown...I forgot, sorry!)

*kitchen scissors (optional)

Using your rolling pin, roll out and flatten a spearmint leaf on your cutting board.

Then using your cookie cutter, cut out 4 hearts.

 Your cookie cutter may get a little sticky and you will probably need to use a kitchen knife to pop the spearmint leaf out of the cookie cutter.  

Then using your scraps, either tear apart a little for the stem, or cut a stem using your kitchen scissors.

Then place it on top of your cupcake and wa-lah, a cute cupcake just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

If you want to see more goodies from my news segment and get the recipe for the Stout Cupcakes, please go check out my blog! 

I look forward to sharing more goodies with you here on A to Zebra Celebrations!!