Guest Desserts: DIY Sailboat Cupcake Toppers

Today's Guest Dessertst feature was submitted by Melissa of Faux Martha. She sent me this adorable sailboat cupcake topper tutorial. She made the toppers to coordinate with this sailboat baby shower invite that she designed and is offering for free download. Check out Melissa's step-by-step handiwork, and get the how-to for this cute project.

Thank you so much for submitting this great tutorial, Melissa! I love how the sailboat theme is carried throughout the event. It's so cute, and not a theme you see very often for baby showers. Very clever.

Want to give this simple DIY a try? You'll only need a few supplies. And, if you have a recipe, project, or giveaway to share, check out the Submissions page to see yourself featured on Sweet Tooth.


Supplies:


• Plaid Cupcake Liners from Bake it Pretty
• White Cupcake Liners (Always double up your liners so you can actually see the pretty liner. If you use one liner, when the cupcake bakes, the color of the cupcake will bleed into the liner thus losing its pretty pattern.)
• Wooden Skewers
• Wire Cutters
• FauxMartha Cupcake Sail Pattern
• Printer
• Textured, cardstock weight paper
• Scissors
• Exacto Knife
• Cutting Board
• Colored Duck Tape (or colored masking tape)


Instructions:
1. Make and bake your cupcakes, using a recipe of your choice. Remember to use 2 liners. Place the white liner inside the plaid liner. Allow cupcakes to fully cool before icing and decorating.

2. Meanwhile, cut wooden skewers about 5″ long using wire cutters or some other cutting utensil. Keep the side with the pointed end. Don’t worry if the wood begins to fray where you made the cut. We will cover that up shortly.

3. Print out the FauxMartha Cupcake Sail Pattern on textured cardstock. Cut out each sail. Using the longest side of the triangle (not the angle), cut an “x” at the top and bottom on a cutting board. Insert pointed end of wooden skewer into the top “x” on the printed side. Continue to insert the skewer through the second “x”.

4. Cut thin 1/2″ strips of duck tape. Place tape on the top of skewer where you made your original cut. Evenly fold over. Make 2 diagonal cuts to achieve a flag. Push sail up to give it that curved wind blown look.

5. Ice your cupcakes with the frosting of your choice. I use the Wilton Dessert Decorator Pro to ice my cupcakes. In order to get the thick swirls, I don’t use a tip. Place pointed end of the sail into cupcake and you’ve got yourself a cute sailboat cupcake!