I posted this craft over at Paper Crave recently, but I was so happy with how it turned out that I wanted to share it over here, too. My inspiration for these cupcake liner trees came from the cover of Martha Stewart Weddings’ 15th anniversary issue, which featured a gorgeous sugar flower cake by Sylvia Weinstock on the cover. I thought that the ridged flower petals looked a little like cupcake liners, and that planted the idea for this craft in my head.

When I first attempted to make a tree, I used full size cupcake liners, but I felt that they were too large for the look that I was going for. Then I remembered this great cupcake liner flower tutorial from Intimate Weddings, which used mini cupcake liners, and I used this as a jumping off point to create the flowers on the cupcake liner tree. The mini liners worked out perfectly!

The cupcake liner trees are versatile decorations and would be at home as an embellishment on a reception dessert table or on display for any holiday, and you can use different colors and patterns for different looks. Red and white striped liners would be great for circus or retro themed parties, and I’m already planning on making a Halloween tree using black liners. Here’s a shop with lots of mini cupcake liner choices to inspire you.

You can easily change the look of the tree by adding decorative embellishments, too. Using a wire cutter, I disassembled a holiday berry pick from the craft store and used the berries to create a Christmas version of the tree:

I used one full mega pack (350 count) of the mini white baking cups (1 1/4″) from Wilton to cover one tree form, but I think that the 1 3/8″ size would work also work very well since there’s not much of a size difference. It took me a little less than two hours to put together my first tree, and since I had most of the supplies on hand already, the only thing I really needed to purchase for the craft was the baking cups, which were about $4 (less with a Jo-Ann coupon). If you had to purchase everything to make the trees, then I think you’d spend around $20, but the pins, glue gun, and glue sticks would last for several trees.

Okay, are you ready for some scrunching action?

DIY Cupcake Liner Flower Trees

Supplies you’ll need:

a styrofoam tree form (I used a 9” tall form)
mini cupcake liners (1 1/4” to 1 3/8” size)
straight pins, preferably with a ball head
a hot glue gun and glue sticks
accessories for decorating (ribbon, decorative picks, etc.)

Directions

1. Separate cupcake liners into groups of five. Flatten the liners, and poke a straight pin through the center of each group.

2. Gently “scrunch” the top cupcake liner around the pin head, taking care not to rip the paper.

3. Repeat the scrunching action for the remaining liners. When you’re finished, you’ll have a flower.

4. Using your thumb and forefinger, grab the flower at the bottom and press the liners together and away from the length of the pin. Add a bit of hot glue to the pin, and immediately insert into the styrofoam tree form.

5. Fold two or three layers of the liners over the pin head, taking care not to burn yourself on any hot glue that may have found its way toward the pin head, and press the pin head in until it’s flush with the tree form. Hold in place for five to ten seconds, until the glue starts to cool and the pin is firmly attached. Fluff and adjust the flower “petals”, if needed. Continue adding cupcake liner flowers, starting at the bottom of the form and working your way around and up, until the entire form is covered. Add embellishments and decorations to the tree to coordinate with your occasion, if desired.

images by Kristen Magee

I’m excited to let all of you know about a guest post that I did for Cottage Industrialist recently. The post is all about hosting your own canning party, and I designed free canning party printables, including invitations and envelope liners, recipe cards, and jar tags and labels, so you’ll have all of the paper goods that you’ll need to throw a shindig.

The tags in the canning party set may also be of interest to those of you have asked about tags beyond the designs that I included in my first set of jam jar tags. Since the canning party labels and tags are completely blank, you can print them out and write in whatever you’d like. Or, if you have access to a graphics program, you can open the files and use them as a background for a text layer containing your information.

If you’re looking for packaging ideas for small Father’s Day gifts, then you’ll want to head over to Paper Crave, where I share a Father’s Day packaging project that you can put together in a snap. These shirt and tie gift boxes will hold things like fishing lure, small electronic or kitchen gadgets, watches, gift cards, and more. Download templates for a necktie, a bow tie, and for the gift box, too!

Do you remember the secret project that I hinted about a while ago as my excuse for being absent from this place for a while? Well, I realized that I never did tell you about the project. Yeah, my memory’s not what it used to be.

My new (or new-ish, at this point) project, a collaboration with Maddy Hague of The Inspired Bride, is a wedding-centric online magazine called Nonpareil. The magazine focuses on the DIY details of weddings, though many of the projects found in the magazine can be used for all different types of occasions, not just weddings. So far, we’ve featured everything from felt flower boutonnieres to budget centerpieces, and we also share many free printables that can be used to recreate the projects shown in the magazine.

We just launched the second issue this week, and I’m super excited about all of the cool projects from the awesome contributors that worked with us in both this issue and the premiere issue. My feature from the current issue is a “dessert table” that features bath and body products instead of food, and it was so much fun to put together. I also loved working with Lisa Rigby, who perfectly captured the mood that I was going for in her photographs.

You can get directions for making all of the bath and body products that I used in the feature, and you can download all of the labels, signs, and other printables if you’d like to make your own dessert table with a twist. And be sure to check out all of the other pretty tutorials and downloads while you’re visiting!

Irish or not, everyone deserves some love on St. Patrick’s Day! Be sure and get a kiss when you give these mini “Kiss Me, I Might Be Irish” cards, which can also be used as gift tags. I designed the cards to fit my favorite little envelopes at Paper Source, but envelopes aren’t necessary. Happy St. Patty’s Day, and hope you get lots of smooches, preferably not the slobbery, drunken kind (unless you like that sort of thing).

Download the St. Patrick’s Day Mini Cards (141 Kb PDF)

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use this file. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

I’ve been meaning to post a little roundup of the crafts that I made over the holidays. Hey, it may almost be Valentine’s Day, but at least I know that no one on my gift list is going to have their Christmas surprise foiled by seeing what I made for them.

From top to bottom:

* Snow Babies project by Jenn Docherty, from  Holiday Crafts by Better Homes and Gardens. This special interest mag had a lot of great crafts this past holiday season, and as soon as I saw these snowpeople I knew I had to make them for my mum for Christmas. I turned them into ornaments so she can hang them on her tree. Next year, I definitely have to make some for myself. So cute!

* Peppermint Swirl Pincushion project, from Moda Bake Shop. I made these for all of the seamstresses in my life, and I think that they turned out really well, especially since I’m not a pro with the sewing machine. The result of my first attempt was not good, but after that I got the hang of it.

* I broke out the candle making supplies for the first time in a while and whipped up lots of candles and scent melts. Our apartment smelled fantastic, like a mix of Christmas trees, roasted chestnuts, and pumpkin bread. Yum!

I hope to be back with more recipes and crafts soon, and I’ll let you know when the new project launches!