Gettin' Creative - On A Budget

So here's the deal. I love baking. I do not love what it does to my hips. And butt. And stomach. Mainly because I bake things loaded with carbs, smothered with cheese, with a side of chocolate-y fat -- especially when B. is in town. Hello, saddlebags. Nice to see you muffin top.

And being creative with cupcake flavors is something that I'd totally love to do -- but it busts the bank! BIG TIME. And since I live alone, it doesn't make sense for me (or my waist) to mix up a dozen cupcakes that may or may not work out.

AT LAST. A reasonable solution. Here is a recipe for cupcakes for two people! Just imagine all the customizing you could do with these basic ingredients to get the desired fancy gourmet cupcakes you want!

And, here is a Buttercream Frosting recipe to match those 2 cupcakes:

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting for Two
Adapted from Sweet Peony
1/4 cup (1/2) stick unsalted butter, softened
1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I have to thank the all of blogland for presenting these awesome finds. I am so excited to make these for dinner for B.'s first night. He raved about my strawberry cupcakes I made, so I will try my hand at it again and post the recipe later on in the week.

Anyway. 

I recently moved into my new place -- I got my parents' old bedroom furniture, which is still in near-mint condition from the day my dad bought it nearly 30 years ago. However, the king-sized headboard didn't fit my queen-sized bed. Bummer.

So, I looked around on Pinterest (I can hear my mother snickering about how much I'm on there), and decided to go cheap.

On one of my many trips to the Home Depot during my move, I went and snatched up paint samples. One of each shade in blues and greens that I wanted. (My mom had a little freak out session -- "They're going to think you're stealing those!" Sweet, Mom. You're never going to be a partner in crime with me.)

I ended up with probably 20 of them.

Then I cut them up into large and small trapezoids, triangles, rectangles -- lots of angles. I chose those because they were the easiest to do. Just straight lines. I started off with some circles, but decided it looked just too uneven.

After all this, I bought 2 navy blue foam boards (like for science projects) at the local teacher supply store, and some rubber cement. $14 net, and the paint samples were free.

Then I began arranging. I knew I wanted these two boards to be my sub-in headboards, and I wanted it to be... well, pretty. Something I could potentially hang on to.


Once I got a design I liked, I glued everything down. These are great materials for making mosaics!

Here is the finished product (on the floor of my room). (Sorry about the purse... I just kinda chunked it when I got back from the store). 

I think it's awesome. And the WHOLE THING was $14? Can't beat that.