Blog

Now is the time to place your Holiday orders!

Posted by Amy Miller on 02 December, 2013

Just a quick reminder to all my international customers it's time to place your orders now so they arrive to you by Christmas!  Customers in the USA, you can place your orders now too! ; )

Cupcake Ornament Orders

I make a variety of cupcake ornaments with many fun patterns to fit everyone on your list.  Some can be personalized for a child, teacher, a first couples Christmas and baby's first Christmas.  Check out all these plus many more cute cupcake ornaments in my shop here!

Cupcake Ornaments by Amy Miller Designs

Is Black Thursday the New Black Friday?

Posted by Amy Miller on 22 November, 2013

Is anyone else tired and confused on all the Pre Black Friday / Black Thursday / Black Friday / Etc. sales?  I sure am.  It makes me start to think if anything is really a good deal at all on these sales or is it just hype.

Black Friday Confusion

 I don't participate in the whole Black Friday sales thing as much as I use to.  I do sometimes shop a little online that day if I'm not busy filling orders for my shop.  I think the last time I went out on Black Friday was a couple years ago and I went to Target at 5:00 am or so.  I found most of the items I was looking for and then went to check out and it was absolute chaos.  The shopping part of it wasn't that bad (except all the carts were gone and I had to carry everything I wanted in my hands) but the check out line was a mess!  People were cutting in lines, lines were wrapping around all over the store...just crazy.  I think I stood in line for about 45 minutes to 1 hour to pay and debated was this really worth my time and the anger it's causing me.  The older I get the more annoyed I get with large crowds.  Anyone else feel that way?  I think that's why I enjoy shopping online more and more...no stupid people in my way! ; ) So are you going to brave the crowds on Black Thursday/Friday?  I'm not going to say I'll never go out on that day again, but that so called "deal" better be a good deal to get me out there!

Gingerbread Themed Cookie Exchange Party Kit

Posted by Amy Miller on 22 November, 2013

Planning a Cookie Exchange / Cookie Swap?  I've got an adorable DIY Printable Cookie Exchange Party kit available for you in my shop.  This kit comes with all the printables you see below!  It's a lot of items all done in a gingerbread woman theme.  All the artwork is original created by myself, you will not find these designs anywhere else.

Cookie Exchange Gingerbread Woman Thememed Printables by Amy Miller Designs

Let's go in for a closer look.  Below is the custom invitation.  You send me all your party details and I'll make you a custom invitation.

Cookie Exchange Gingerbread Woman Printable Invitations by Amy Miller Designs

Next up is a cute circle banner that spells "Cookies" to hang at your cookie station.

Cookie Swap Printable Banner by Amy Miller Designs

Let's zoom in a little more on that banner.  The letters on the banner are made to look like frosted sugar cookies with sprinkles.

Cookie Exchange Printable Banner by Amy Miller Designs

Also in the kit is a Welcome sign to tape on your door or put in a frame in your entry way.  There are blank tent style food label cards to use to label all the variety of yummies that everyone will bring.

Cookie Exchange Printable Food Labels by Amy Miller Designs

Three different favor tag designs are included.  You can use them to label everyone's cookie boxes or plates and attach them to party favors.  The 3 designs are a gingerbread woman, Thank you! (with the "o" being the gingerbread woman's face) and a fill in the blank style with sprinkles around the edge.  You can use these for the box/plate labels and write the person's name on them.  The tags can be cut square (like the one on the plate) or cut into circles with a 2" circle punch.

Cookie Exchange Printable Favor Tags by Amy Miller Designs

Matching recipe cards print 4 to a page.  You can use these as a little party favor and include a cookie cutter and package them in a cellophane bag and attach with a matching favor tag.

Cookie Swap Gingerbread Woman Themed Printables by Amy Miller Designs

Let's zoom in a little more on the favor tag, recipe card, food label and peppermint whoopie pies!  FYI those whoopie pies are so yummy, I'll share the recipe soon!

Cookie Exchange Printable Recipe Cards by Amy Miller Designs

One more close up!

Cookie Exchange Gingerbread Woman Themed Printables by Amy Miller Designs

I told you it was a lot of cute designs!  Get a jump on your cookie party and get your printable kit here. If you don't need the whole kit you can also buy some of the items individually but the kit is a better value.  Here are the direct links to the individual items:  Invitation, Cookie Banner and Favor Tags.  All the individual items except for the invitation are all instant downloads.  What's an instant download?  Once you purchase the item/design the PDF file will be sent to your e-mail address right away. FYI, I get many requests from customers that want the Cookie Banner to say different things like "Cookie Swap", "Welcome", "Cookie Exchange" and other wording.  I am able to make the banner say different things (for an additional fee) for your needs, just let me know! In a few more days I'll share some pictures of this cute kit in action at a real cookie exchange party. Are you hosting a Cookie Exchange this year?  If yes, I'd like an invite!  ha ha ; )

Hanukkah Decorations and Ornaments

Posted by Amy Miller on 13 November, 2013

For those that celebrate Hanukkah I wanted to share a few Hanukkah themed cupcake decorations I have created. Hanukkah Cupcake Notecard / Photo Holder:

Hanukkah Cupcake Notecard and Photo Holder

Happy Hanukkah Cupcake Ornament with circle topper:

Hanukkah Cupcake Ornament Decoration

Hanukkah Cupcake Ornament:

Hanukkah Cupcake Ornament

To purchase any of the above Hanukkah decorations please go to my shop.  For other cupcake ornament styles go here.

Thanksgiving Subway Art Print

Posted by Amy Miller on 06 November, 2013

It's so hard to believe it's already November.  Where I live (Phoenix, AZ) it just finally started to cool down the last couple weeks so I feel like Fall is just starting for us here.  I grew up in the Midwest with all 4 seasons of weather so I'm always a little confused what time of the year it is here.  So my season clock says it's September but the calendar tells me otherwise. I wanted to share that my 8" x 10" Thanksgiving subway art print is 50% off until November 20th.  You can go purchase it here.

Thanksgiving Subway Artwork Print - Amy Miller Designs

It's printed with Epson archival inks on Ultra Premium Matte paper. The print will be cut to 8" x 10" with no additional space on the sides. Once you receive your order you'll be able to pop it right into a frame with no trimming involved.  This is NOT a printable digital file, it's an actual print that will be mailed to you. Hope your November is going well!

Fall Harvest Bars

Posted by Amy Miller on 18 October, 2013

Looking for a pretty Fall recipe to use those candy corns in instead of throwing them directly into your mouth or with a few peanuts that make up a pretend PayDay candy bar?  ; )  This bar has all the goods in it:  candy corn, marshmallows, peanut butter and peanuts!  Get the recipe from Dulce Dough here.

Fall Harvest Bars

Happy Baking!! What's Baking is a section on my blog where I share various items I've been making and baking!  I've loved to bake since I was little!  Some recipes or creations I've made up myself and some are things I've made from my way too many Pinterest boards and from way too many bloggers I follow.  To take a look at some other things I've been baking go here!

Halloween Cupcake Note Card Holder

Posted by Amy Miller on 03 October, 2013

Earlier this week I shared some of my Halloween Cupcake Ornaments and today I'm going to share with you some of my note card/photo holders.

Halloween Cupcake Note Holders by Amy Miller Designs

To purchase the cupcakes below just click here.

Halloween Cupcake Note Card Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Cupcake Note Card Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Cupcake Note Card Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Faux Cupcake Note Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Faux Cupcake Note Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Faux Cupcake Note Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Cupcake Note Card Holder by Amy Miller Designs

Happy Decorating!

Halloween Tree Cupcake Ornaments

Posted by Amy Miller on 02 October, 2013

Have you started decorating for Halloween yet??  I'm going to this weekend.  I would have started last weekend but I've been battling a cold and just didn't feel like it.  If you are looking for something sweet and cute to decorate with this year I've got you covered!  Below you will find some of my mini faux cupcake decorations you can find in my shop.

Halloween Cupcake Ornaments by Amy Miller Designs

Happy Halloween Polka Dot Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Polka Dot Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Stripe Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Black Polka Dot Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Orange Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

Halloween Dots Cupcake Ornament by Amy Miller Designs

You can use these cupcakes as table top decorations or hang them from a Halloween tree!  If you would like the cupcake not to have a string just leave me a note at check out that you would like the string removed.

Halloween Cupcake Ornaments by Amy Miller Designs

Have fun decorating for Halloween!

A Face to a Name

Posted by Amy Miller on 29 September, 2013

Hi I'm Amy!  Some of you kind of know me but most likely have no clue what I look like.  That's kind of been on purpose and kind of been just plain laziness.  I'm one of those people who HATE having my photo taken and runs away from a camera.  I'm usually the one behind the camera.  I've read many times that when you run a business and blog you should have a photo of yourself so people can feel a connection to you.  I totally get that and agree but for someone who doesn't like to have their photo taken that's kind of a big deal.  On my to do list I have "get professional photo taken".  Let's just say that always seems to slip to the bottom of the list! ; ) Why share my photo now?  Well, I got approached by a UK craft magazine a few months ago and they wanted to feature one of my cupcake ornaments in their magazine (exciting) and needed me to send in a few photos of my cupcakes (cool, no problem) and a photo of myself (eek, what?, no!).  I only had a few days to get this accomplished so there was no time to go about finding a professional photographer to get that done.  I panicked a little and told my husband he would have to put his photographers hat on (he's not a photographer, he's a math wizard) and do a little photo shoot.  I always knew this photo thing would never get done until I was forced to do so! ; ) The woman from the magazine said she would need a good-quality image with no sunglasses or silly faces.  When I read that I started to laugh a little because I wouldn't think anyone would send in a photo of yourself to be put in a magazine wearing sun glasses or a funny candid shot.  Then I got to thinking, pretty much 88% of all the photos of myself are me in a T-shirt, hat, ponytail, sunglasses and in the middle of a forest. Enter the many faces of Amy Miller:

Amy Miller

Photo details: 1.  On a hike in Kauai, HI - this hike was so beautiful and green foliage as far as the eye could see.  2.  Also in Kauai - went to a farmers market and tried some new fruit and also got a coconut, mainly for a photo opp!  The coconut milk/water whatever you call it was horrible and went into the garbage about 4.2 seconds after this photo.  3.  Hike in Glacier National Park (sorry, forgot the sunglasses) - we are obsessed with finding moose on our nature vacations.  We asked a park ranger if there were any good moose spotting areas and he shared one that we had to take a ferry and hike to reach it and sure enough we found a moose to watch most of the afternoon!  4.  Again at Glacier National Park - on one of our hikes we came across a bunch of mountain goats and posed with them!  I'll have to share some other photos of this trip sometime.  It was like wildlife palooza there.  We saw our first bear (on a hike!) and many other animals.  5.  Hike in Flagstaff, AZ (sunglasses not on but hanging on my shirt) - I'm not pretending to shoot a leaf, not sure why I'm making a gun sign, I'm so gangsta...ha ha.  I'm playing our made up game called "When it's Windy in a Forest Try to Catch a Leaf While they are Blowing Around".  The first one to catch a leaf wins!  Yes, sometimes it gets a little boring in the middle of a forest and you have to make up games! ; )  6.  Albuquerque, NM Hot Air Balloon Festival -  not sure how this photo got in here, my hair is down, no hat or sunglasses.  I am sporting an awesome ear band though!  Ok, I had to sneak this photo in because I love those two bumble bee hot air balloons behind me!  I need to share more photos of this festival too, it was so beautiful.  7. Hike somewhere in NM - My husband and I are doing our best Posh Spice/Victoria Beckham poses.  You know her famous "smile" of lips slightly pouty and look like you are pissed at the world and loath living with the very unattractive David Beckham. ; )  I think at this time the Beckhams were moving to the US for David to play soccer here so they were in the press a lot which started to affect how we pose for photos! ; )  8.  Hike in Glacier National Park - sporting my pom pom stocking hat that is probably meant to be worn by teenagers but I'm rocking it anyway!  This is a rare photo that was taken by someone else.  Most of our photos are the good old husband holds the camera in front of us selfie style, like photos 7 and 1 (cropped my husband out of that one).  9.  Hike somewhere between Dolores and Telluride, CO - See, most of all our photos are in the middle of the forest!  10.  Around Lake City, CO - lying on a bridge watching the clouds roll by.  Do you ever stare at the clouds and find that they look like things.  I did it when I was little and still do it today.  I'll never forget when I was little I saw the shape of big bird in the clouds! Bonus Footage:

Amy Head Shot Background

Here's how the whole photo shoot with my husband went down.  A floor lamp, milk crate, white foam core and a large clip were our friends for a background that day.  I knew I wanted just a plain and simple photo with a white background.  The only white walls in my house are in my office. My office is completely surrounded by furniture so I can't even really stand by a wall in there, so a piece of white foam core to the rescue!  We had to drag the floor lamp around the room to find the best lighting.  I originally wanted to do this outside on our covered patio for better lighting but it was about 180 degrees outside that day (ok, maybe only 108) and didn't feel like having beads of sweat rolling down my forehead for my debut!

The photo I chose to use was the last shot my husband took.  Off to the right of the photo I'm holding another piece of white foam core to bounce some light back on me.  White foam core is your best friend when taking photos!  I pulled the photo above into photoshop, cropped it, did a couple tweaks and the photo you see at the top was the end result.  I still would like to have a professional photo shoot done someday (probably 10 years from now) but I think this will work for now. So there you have it!  A face to a name!  One more thing scratched off the to do list.  It's now time for me to go back underground and design more things! If you would like to know a little more about me head on over here. P.S.  I'll share more about the UK magazine article when it's out.  I think it's suppose to be out sometime in October.

What's Baking: Rose Decorated Cupcakes

Posted by Amy Miller on 19 August, 2013

I've had a Pillsbury pink lemonade cake mix and frosting that's been sitting in my pantry since the beginning of this summer and needed to put it to use!  Since the frosting was pink I thought I'd try out a rose frosting technique that I've always wanted to do.

Rose Cupcakes by Amy Miller Designs

These cupcakes are mini size.  Most of the time when I make cupcakes I make them mini size.  Why?  Well there are a few reasons:  Making minis doubles the batch of 24 regular cupcakes to 48 mini ones so you get double the quantity out of the mix.  I feel more people are likely to grab a mini one being served at a function because its a smaller portion and less calories than a regular sized one.  They're just a little cuter in mini form and I'm personally a little partial to mini ones!  : )

Rose Cupcakes by Amy Miller Designs

So how do you do this technique?  I turned to a video online from Created by Diane.  Diane shows how to do this rose technique in 20 seconds, YES 20 seconds.  It's that easy!  Check out the video here.  I wasn't sure if this technique would turn out on a mini cupcake since there isn't as much square footage to work with as a regular sized one.  I think they turned out pretty good though.  I'm not sure if mine look like roses but it looks like some kind of flower and pretties up the cupcakes a little more than just frosting with a knife.  These really are super easy to do after you watch the video, I swear.

Rose Cupcakes by Amy Miller Designs

Tips for the rose frosting technique to be a success: 1. You'll need a 2D icing tip like this (left side of pict. below) and an icing bag. 2. Sometimes it's a little hard to hold the icing bag and scoop your frosting in it at the same time, you sometimes feel like you need a third hand.  Enter your third hand...use a tall glass and put your empty icing bag with the 2D tip in a glass and fold down the top of the bag over the glass and begin to put your frosting in it (right side of pict. below).  This is one of the best tips I've learned over the years to fill an icing bag and not create a mess!  3. You need a fairly stiff but squeezable frosting when doing this technique so the rose will keep it's shape while you are piping it on the cupcake.  If you are making homemade frosting just add a little more powdered sugar to your frosting to thicken it up.  I used a can frosting for these and I feel most of the canned frostings are a little soft to work with when piping on frosting for the shape to hold up.  To help the frosting hold it's shape better while piping put the frosting filled icing bag in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so to firm it up.  You can also mix in a little powdered sugar to the canned frosting to thicken it up too. 4. When working with an icing bag the heat of your hand will kind of "melt" your frosting.  If you notice the frosting isn't holding it's shape as well as when you started put your filled icing bag in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to stiffen up again. 5. It took 1 1/2 cans of frosting to frost these (48) mini ones.  I think piping frosting on vs. using a knife uses up a little more frosting.  If you're making homemade frosting you might want to make 1 1/2 batches and if you're using canned frosting pick 2 up so you don't have to go back to the grocery store...like I did!  FYI if you have some leftover frosting it tastes awesome on graham crackers...just sayin'! ; ) 6. Loosely cover your cupcakes up after you frost them.  If you store and seal up your cupcakes in an air tight container the moisture of the cake will start to loosen up your frosting and the beautiful work you did will start to lose shape and your frosting will kind of look like it's melting.  I just put the cover on kind of crooked so a little air can get in the container and help the frosting keep it's shape. 7. Don't get too critical of your work.  I wasn't sure if the first ones I frosted looked very good.  I can become a little critical of myself...anyone else have that issue?  Anyways when I looked at them individually I wasn't sure if they looked very good, but when they were all placed together they looked fine.  (I think tip 7 is mainly a tip for myself in general! #selftherapy ha ha) 8. Now go try this technique and WOW all your friends!

Rose Cupcake Tips by Amy Miller Designs

Below is what rose frosted cupcakes look like when your husband takes them to work and brings the leftover ones back home! Oops!!  ha ha

Cupcake Mishap by Amy Miller Designs

Happy Baking!! What's Baking is a section on my blog where I share various items I've been making and baking!  I've loved to bake since I was little!  Some recipes or creations I've made up myself and some are things I've made from my way too many Pinterest boards and from way too many bloggers I follow.  To take a look at some other things I've been baking go here!