Gran's No Fat, No Calorie Valentine Cupcakes

When my sister-in-law Susie (Gran) sent pictures of her Valentine cupcakes, I knew I had to share them on Laurie's Valentine Blog Party. Susie says that they're easy to make, especially when you're watching TV all night, and she was kind enough to provide instructions.

"I do my most productive work after a disaster," she said. "I made about 30 felt sewn hearts with button designs after the tsunami. These were a result of Haiti coverage."

If you want to make some of your own, you'll need to gather felt, buttons, beads, embroidery thread, pompoms, cupcake papers, polyfil and a glue gun. Susie glued two cupcake holders together to make a sturdier base and then added polyfil, securing it with the glue gun.

For the topper, she cut two circles of felt and stitched them together with embroidery thread in a contrasting color, leaving a small opening so that they could be stuffed with polyfil. Once they were stuffed, she closed the opening and glued the topper to the top of the cupcake.

Susie said that she cut the icing freehand in an irregular shape. She added embellishments, using buttons, pompoms, buttons, beads and French knots and glued the icing to the top of the cupcake.

If you've never used a glue gun before, Susie offered a word of advice.

"I must warn crafters about the dangers of a hot glue gun," she cautioned. "I took an inch of top skin off my pointer finger when I peeled the hot glue off immediately. You are to run it under cold water for five minutes, then see if it will peel without the skin layer."

Here are Susie's granddaughters Molly and Morgan showing off their "baked" goods.

Be sure to head over to Laurie's place for more Valentine Party fun. You are certain to be not only entertained but to find all sorts of great ideas for you file.