Offbeat Homies Weekend Challenge: nerdy cupcakes or unicorn heads!?

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#Do It Yourself#challenge#unicorn

We’re heading into a three-day holiday weekend here in the States, and I figured that after the success of Megan’s hilarious cooking challenge, it would be fun to try a little READER challenge, wherein we challenge Homies to take on a DIY project of our choosing, and then we can all compare results.

How to accept the Offbeat Homies Weekend Challenge:

  1. Pick from one of our two DIY projects
  2. Complete the project this weekend (meaning by the end of the day on Monday May 28, since it’s a holiday)
  3. Submit your photos to us via Flickr or email.

So, what are you doing this weekend: Cupcakes or a unicorn head?

HOMIE CHALLENGE OPTION #1: Make nerdy cupcakes with sanding sugar.

Let's make some dragon cupcakes!

Ok, so Liz just told you how to make rainbow sanding sugar just this morning. For this weekend’s challenge, I’d love to see how Homies can apply that sanding sugar to some super nerdy cupcakes. TARDIS blue? Jar Jar Pinx? Captain Hammer Cakes? WE WANT TO SEE. You can make the cupcakes from a mix, but we want to see your rainbow sugar on top in your nerdiest stylings.

HOMIE CHALLENGE OPTION #2: Make a paper maché unicorn head

Source: lilblueboo.com via Ariel on Pinterest

Related Post Weekend challenge results: Team Cupcake vs. Team Unicorn

Last Thursday, we posted the first of what we hope will be many Offbeat Homies Weekend Challenges. We gave readers a choice of two DIY... Read more


Follow Lil Blue Boo’s tutorial on how to make this sweet-ass unicorn head for your wall. It doesn’t have to be a unicorn, even. We just want to see you make some paper mache taxidermy.

Remember, it’s not about how AWESOME your project turns out. Think of poor Megan and her cooking challenge: the best videos she made were the ones where she was fucking struggling. At the Offbeat Empire, your DIY disasters aren’t failures — they’re entertainment! We love vomit-ball cake pops! There’s a whole category on Offbeat Mama for Stephanie’s ugly DIY. The joy is in trying and sharing, not in making something pretty and perfect that you can sell on Etsy. (Although sure: that’d be a nice result too.)

So let’s do this:

  1. Pick from one of our two DIY projects (and post a comment here!)
  2. Complete the project this weekend (meaning by the end of the day on Monday May 28, since it’s a holiday)
  3. Submit your photos to us via Flickr or email by Tuesday May 29th.

So which are you: Team Cupcake or Team Unicorn?!

About the Author: Ariel

@findyourafterglow

Author of three editions of the Offbeat Bride book and its sequel (From Shitshow To Afterglow, the ultimate offbeat breakup book) Ariel Meadow Stallings is the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire web properties. She lives in Seattle with her son. To read her latest work, follow @arielist.

Comments on Offbeat Homies Weekend Challenge: nerdy cupcakes or unicorn heads!?

  1. Team Cupcake. Definitely Team Cupcake.

    I’m resisting the urge to replicate the blueberry snack cake that glowed an eerie green through its mud-like topping, as I’m not sure the effect can be recreated without turning the sugar into a streusel. The first time was not on purpose.

  2. I was recently “tagged” in a post by a friend on FB. The link led me here. If I’ve got an extra second, or three to spare, I would definitely join in taking challenge #2, the paper mâché unicorn. Hope to join the fun but between all the other projects I’ve got going on, I may not make it. Last ordeal was to make “Hello Kitty” Cake pops for my daughters party…….never made a cake pop anything before…..too bad I didn’t record that. Though in the end I at least got a few pops that looked “kitty-ish”.

  3. I love this idea! My work week does not coincide with the regular monday thru friday schedule, as I’m sure many other on here are the same way. Next time maybe we could make it a ‘week-long’ challenge instead of just the weekend so more people can spend time making awesome stuff =)

    I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

    • I would totally have partaken, but my schedule is wonky too! A week for future challenges is a great idea – although I’m tempted to make the unicorn head anyways! Just to see what my husband says when he comes home to see it on the wall!

  6. Hah I run a little cupcake business on the side and still have around 40 left over in my house from filling an order for six dozen last weekend so I may have to modify these a bit for some nerdy cupcakes. I’m already making gluten free Queen Regency cupcakes this Sunday for a Jane Austen themed tea party anyways, lol, might as well bring out a few other references.
    And then I might make a unicorn too because unicorns rock. 🙂

    • Ooh, be sure you capture a “before” picture so that we can see the “after” of your magical creature over the bed!

  14. OK, so because Ariel told me that crafting was more important than zzzzzzs to my sleep deprived brain I am TEAM UNICORN.
    well TEAM OCTOPUS actually – because everything is better when you put a tentacle on it!

  19. So didn’t have time to do the papermache (though I want to because I’m 27 and have NEVER done it) but I did make some yummy honey almond mini cupcakes Friday night. The cake it self is an almond cake and the frosting is this to die for honey butter. Kids loved it, adults loved it and now the recipe goes into my secret formula! mwhahaha (there is only 2 in that file as I share most everything). I did take a few minutes to make some colored sugar, and at first made it a nice pretty light blue forgetting that it needs to be NERDY! so half a bottle of blue food dye later I get it as close to TARDIS blue as I can with out being grossed out at the amount of dye needed and voila! http://www.flickr.com/photos/79539204@N03/7289997262/

  20. Today’s life lessons:
    1. Pistachio cupcakes do not turn out green.
    2. I am not coordinated enough to make designs with sanding sugar, unless amorphous blobs count.
    3. While I ordinarily hate frostings and glazes, make the glaze with orange flower water, and I’m likely to lick the bowl to the point of getting it stuck on my head, like cats with yogurt containers.
    4. Neon food coloring makes everything better.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/emuisemo/7291382150/
    (My nerdiness is my music obsession. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

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