DIY Life

My birthday is a week from yesterday, and although there's not much to celebrate about getting older, I'll take any excuse for a healthy dose of cupcake treats. Luckily, our friends at Holidash are making it quite easy on my friends and family this year -- I'll take one of each, guys!

I love the lemon-flavored cupcake pictured, as it's just the right touch of handmade goodness. A sweet little flag tops a lovely and modern-looking cupcake, perfect for any occasion. You can find a plethora of flags to re-create the look right here, or download your own cuties from How About Orange right here.

For a cupcake-inspired decoration, why not create a garland out of cupcake liners? Or take a cue from Petunia and use your banner year-round for a sweet and feminine personal touch.

And while we're talking banners, don't forget to check out Holidash's lovely tutorial for creating a birthday banner that's sure to win over any crowd.

Here at DIY Life, posts about weddings are always popular, but often, posts about knit and crochet patterns come in a close second.

I thought it might be interesting to combine the two, by looking at a few free patterns for wedding cakes made from yarn. (Hey, they don't have to be frozen, and they never get stale!)

• Crochet Today's Crochet Confection cake pattern (PDF download) is, at 4"x8", life-sized. It's an easy, single-tier cake that you can display on a stand over a form.
• Berroco's Buttercream is also life-sized, but this one is a tiered cake with flowers; it can be used to store dishes. It's made in their Ultra Alpaca, but any other worsted-weight yarn should work just as well.
• On the miniature side, there are the Norma Lynn Cake Sachets. Several of the designs here, like the Two-Tier Cake and the Clumsy Cake, seem wedding-appropriate, though they're part of a collection of desserts. The second page of cake sachet patterns has a triple-tier wedding cake with flower toppers and ruffled trim.

Suggested uses? The sachets would make great giveaways at a bridal shower; they'd also make nice package decorations for gifts. Some of the projects might make cute gifts for attendants, in the right kind of wedding. They would be fun commemorations of a special anniversary, or whimsical decor in the right kind of room. Professional wedding planners could also probably appreciate them.

Outside of the wedding framework, you can always choose different colors, changing the "wedding cake" into a "birthday cake" -- or merely making a cute trinket for a friend who loves sweet desserts.

And if you're looking for more patterns like this, check out an older post of mine -- Amigurumi-o-rama: Crocheted Food.

I adopted my son just after his 10th birthday so we decided to have a belated party. I asked him what shape of cake he wanted He thought about it and answered "rectangle... I'd like a rectangle cake."

When I was a kid my mom always baked up something fabulous every birthday. (My favorite was a Big Bird cake that used a frosted sugar cone for the beak.) So I explained to my son that he had more options besides round, square, and rectangular. He was really excited, but didn't quite know what to do.

After some searching on the internet, we settled on this snake cake. It was right up my son's alley, yet easy enough that I knew I could pull it off. It turned out terribly cute, if I say so myself! Want another creative cake idea? Check out this sushi cake.

Who doesn't love personalized goods? (I'm sure that some people will respond, "Anyone over the age of eleven," but that doesn't explain the appeal of vanity plates on cars.) Customizing an item just for the intended recipient is likely to make them feel special no matter what their age is... particularly if it's their birthday.

Sure, if you have something to say, and you want to eat your words, you can buy sugar letters for birthday cakes at almost any store that sells baking supplies. There are more creative ways to personalize treats, though: Craftster user Jsully03 made cookies that use American Sign Language manual alphabet letters to spell out a message to her young daughter, who was born deaf.

To duplicate her creation, all you need is a sugar cookie recipe (premade cookie dough is just fine), a hand-shaped cookie cutter with relatively well-defined fingers (you'll be shaping them into different positions; try local stores for the Wilton version), knowledge of the ASL manual alphabet, and, of course, an oven and a baking pan.

More impish bakers may be unable to resist using this idea to show the world how they feel about rock 'n roll; I certainly wouldn't blame them for doing so.

For (insert event here, such as Christmas), you received gift cards for books, electronics, coffee shops, etc., and while you did use most of them, you are still wondering what to do with the other 50 cards you were lucky enough to receive, right? Whatever you do, don't throw them away, cause remember; one man's trash is another man's treasure!

Wisebread has a wonderful article telling us what to do with our accumulated, unwanted gift cards that we know we will never use. Gift your unwanted cards to people that you know can use them. You can sell them online or donate them to charitable organizations.

I try to use the gift cards I receive right away, but I must admit that I still carry cards from years ago that I know are no longer valid. For that time period, I only keep them for sentimental value, otherwise I was just throwing my unwanted cards away. Leave us a comment, and let us know what you do with your unwanted gift cards.