Domestic Diva Dishes All: Sock Cupcakes

Need a fun and unique gift idea, that is inexpensive? Try making a sock cupcake! They are quick and easy to make, and SO much fun!

You will need the following materials:

One pair of fuzzy socks, (I bought mine at Walmart, they came in a pack of two for $1.97)

rubber bands

glue gun

One 12x12 piece of scrapbooking paper

1 straight pin

ruler

scissors or paper trimmer

Paper crimper (optional)

ribbons, flowers, pom poms, candle or a leaf for decorating the top.

Instructions:

To begin, simply lay out your socks one staggered slightly over the other.

Now, roll the socks into a roll, begin at the toes, and try to keep the stagger, working from the toe up to the top of the sock. The stagger creates an extra layer of "icing" the toe of the sock is going to be the heap of icing at the top of the cupcake so this is the part that needs to look pretty.

Continue rolling till you get to the end. Then secure with a rubber band. Keep the bottom (the top of the sock) the tightest, and give the toe a little more give. You can squish and mold the sock to look perfect later on.

I like to use at least two rubber bands.

The tighter you can keep the base, the better. Having a smaller base, and fuller icing gives the proportion a more romanticized feel.

Now, cut a 2 inch strip of paper from off your 12x12 sheet. I have found most tutorials recommend a 4 inch strip, but 2 inches allows for a more classic, romanticized looking cupcake. It's all about proportion. If you want you can run the paper through a crimper, to really give it the cupcake feel!

I found my paper crimper at Joanne's for 20 dollars, I splurged since I planned to make a cupcake for all my friend's birthday gifts this year, and I made a big batch to sell at a local gift shop. But this is certainly a preference, not a necessity.

Now, roll the paper around the base of the cupcake and tape at the seam. This is your adorable cupcake liner! If you want you can cut the excess paper off, or just roll it all around, but you want it tight. The base needs to be smaller than the top. I keep stressing this, because like all good design, proportion is so IMPORTANT or it just looks "off" and you don't know why.

Note, as you can see, this cupcake needs a little tucking, once your paper is secure, tuck whatever sock might be spilling out the bottom, and smoosh the top to shape it with the cup of your hand to round it out a bit. Tuck in little corners, or unroll a little as you need to, in order to make it look more like a fluffy frosting.

Okay, now that you have your cupcake all tucked into the perfect shape, you get to do the fun part! Decorating! There are so many ways to top a cupcake, I really suggest you just sift through your craft stash and pick out a few of those odds and ends to throw together and turn into a topper. Here are a few of the ideas I came up with from some things I had on hand.

You can just browse through the pictures if you want, or read through my little "how to's" for toppers but remember, this TRICK- glue a pin to the bottom of your topper to stick on the top of the cupcake, that way you don't have to tape, or glue or ruin the sock. Okay, so here we go, a few pictures of my favorite toppings!!!!

CANDLE TOPPERS

CHERRY TOPPER

SPRINKLES! (I used fake snow for decorating little Christmas villages, displays, or window sills!)

This one, I topped with rhinestones and placed the flower on the base of the cupcake with ribbon. It was my first cupcake however, and the proportions were still in the works so this has a 4 inch liner, and I really prefer the 2 inch, but you can experiment and find what works best for you!

Now, for some topper ideas and instructions!

layer a few flowers together, with a drop of hot glue between each flower. I like to buy flowers on sale at Michaels and pull them apart then mix and match different hues to create greater visual interest.

I used a rose petal as a back drop to the piece here. Just add a drop of glue to attach.

Next, I added a candle and a leaf.

Then comes the rosette-oh this is so fun! And SO cute! I love making these, writing this tutorial makes me want to go make more of these!

Finally, glue the straight pin at the bottom of the entire piece, note that if you want to include ribbons, curly or fabric it works best to glue this to the underside of the flower piece as well, I add it before the straight pin.

While I LOVE the flower toppers, nothing say "cucake" like a cherry on top! For this, all you need are your flowers a leaf and a red pom pom.