Crafts n' Things Magazine

One of my most prized crafty possessions are my collection of vintage craft books and magazines. Among that stash I have a hearty supply of old issues of Crafts n’ Things Magazine. How excited was I to be included in the modern day version of the magazine so that one day in 30 years another crafter can have me in their collection! There is a fun section in the magazine called My Craft Space busting with pictures of various crafters studios and storage solutions. Naughty Secretary Club headquarters are among the pictures! Later in the same issue I have a Quick Creation called The Birds of Spring Necklace that might tickle your fancy. The whole magazine has everything from card making and jewelry to crochet and embroidery. Perfect for an ADD crafter like myself.

Crafty Carnival

CraftyPod
Learn how to turn an old paperback book into a cool picture frame.

About Family Crafts
Discover how you can create an entire fairy village using items from nature.

Aileen's Musings
Check out which names won for Aileen's Color Mist Sorbet Collection and help BREAK THE TIE by voting once more! An additional winner will be chosen once the tie is broken.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Swelldesigner gives new life to a plain paper lantern with tissue paper!

Blisstree
Mixing two of Cyndi's favorite things: fibers and books!

Cathie Filian
Blythe and Barbie can now have their cake and eat it too! Cathie whips up some mini cakes and pies perfectly sized for fashion dolls with sponges and seed beads.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week there is an Andy Warhol inspired scrapbook page and ATC's, an interview with Lisa Kettell author of Altered Art Circus!, a super cute clay pot hedge hog how-to, and a link to two free bottle cap graphics.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Expose yourself....in a good way that is...Tammy tells her thoughts on the process of creative exposure.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Would You Stitch With Scented Floss? Vote in the poll and be sure to read the comments and add your own.

Naughty Secretary Club
Get felt up with Jen and her customized felt baby booties how-to.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
With inspiration from Cathi Milligan's new book Mod Knots a soda bottle goes under the knife and becomes a mod cuff.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares one final project from her new book Beyond the Bead! Plus she's giving away a free copy of the book and a crystal stash!

The Bad Tiger Lieutenant - New Art by Hot Pink Pistol

Wednesday Chris and I took Tallulah to her first art viewing. Actually it was her first outing in public other than the pediatrician’s office. It was not just any art show it was to see her Aunt Hope’s art at The Hideout in Austin. That sister of mine has once again blown me away with her artistic awesomeness. This collection of tigers and taxidermy may be my favorite yet. If you hurry you can still see the art until the end of March. Don’t forget she still has pieces hanging at The Longbranch too!













Feeling arty? Take a stroll through some of our past blog posts that remind me of these paintings: Upcycling Taxidermy, Telephone Cording Trends and Two Heads are Better Than One.

I Love to Create: Felt Baby Booties

What kind of new mother would I be if I didn’t make a pair of baby booties for my new bundle of joy? Some people take the more traditional route and knit up a pair, I on the other hand having no knitting skills needed to look for another option. I’m more of a glue kind of gal. This week on I Love to Create we are putting our own spin on baby booties.

First up let me start by saying that when you are pregnant you have a pet name for your baby. Some people call it peanut, we called it Little Whip. We didn’t know until February 22nd when baby was born if we were having a boy or a girl so everything I made was gender neutral and if it was personalized Lil’ Whip was the name. Same goes for my customized felt baby booties.

I love easy and quick crafts and I only had to be a felt cobbler for a single afternoon to get these shoes all glued and stitched up!



SUPPLIES
Embroidery Thread
Embroidery Needle
Craft Felt
Aleene's® Fabric Fusion™ Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive
Simplicity Vintage Baby Booties Pattern
Sewing Pins
Scissors
Fabric Marker
Making Memories Grommet Kit

HOW TO
Choose your felt. I opted for a teal shoe, zebra print sole and green monogram. What colors and patterns you choose is totally a matter of preference. Using the Simplicity pattern, pins, marker and scissors cut out your pattern in the felt. I free handed the letters L and W for Lil’ Whip to put on each shoe and cut out.



Using Aleene's Fabric Fusion Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive I adhered my L and W to the toe of each of the booties.



After gluing my letters in place I went back with yellow embroidery thread and added a simple stitch for a pop of contrasting color.



For extra strength in case Lil’ Whip wants to do any marathon running in her new booties I reinforced the seams with Fabric Fusion before embroidering with yellow floss.



Following the pattern instructions the next step was to attach the sole to the bootie with embroidery thread.



Using a kit intended for scrap booking I added 2 grommets to each bootie to thread the shoe laces. Laces are made by braiding 3 strands of embroidery floss.



It will be awhile before Lil’ Whip will actually be able to fit these booties so in the meantime they sit proudly on a shelf in the nursery waiting patiently to be grown into.

Craft Talk

Book Bonanza Giveaway: Canvas Remix

I hate picking favorites from the guests I have had through the years on Craft Lab, but I must say that Alisa Burke was one of those guests that blew me away. Some guests I have more in common with stylistically than others and Alisa was one of those people who’s style I was immediately drawn to. What’s not to love about upholstering a chair with canvas using graffiti techniques? Before I met Alisa I thought canvas was something you painted a picture of a fruit bowl on, stretched over some boards and hung on a wall to be admired. I walked away from the episode inspired and excited about her technique and full of ideas about how I could incorporate canvas into my own designs.

Fast forward a bit and a package arrives at my door from Alisa. The package was a handmade purse with a ton of colors, graffiti stylings, stenciled geisha girls – everything I could ever want in a purse and I had to fight my friends off to keep them from stealing it from me. The purse got me even more excited thinking that these techniques could be incorporated into jewelry which is always the way to my heart. Then a copy of Alisa Burke’s book Canvas Remix came across my desk and I about squealed with excitement. Not just one copy, two copies, one to give away to a lucky winner right here on the blog so you should be squealing with excitement too.



Canvas Remix: Techniques for Creating Mixed Media Accessories is available from North Light Books. The eye catching book has over 20 projects using Alisa’s signature graffiti style on everything from jewelry and purses to art dolls and ornaments. I’m of course partial to the projects like the Scrapped and Wrapped Bracelet and the Graffiti Drops Earrings, but after seeing Alisa reupholster a chair up close and personal the projects in the Home Remix chapter also caught my attention.

After my 3 day crafting spree with Traci Bautista last year where we made collage style paper, jewelry and art I feel like I have a good foundation under my belt for several of the collage techniques Alisa discusses in Canvas Remix. With this experience and a copy of Canvas Remix all that was holding me back was getting my hot little hands on some canvas that could run through my computer printer and Claudine Hellmuth and her Sticky- Back Canvas solved that problem quick enough! Art dolls here I come. Now I just have to decide if I want to try Anna's Heart-Art Doll or the Messy Monsters.



Canvas Remix tells you everything you need to know to get the hipster urban chic look of graffiti without touching a can of spray paint or leaving your craft studio. Almost 40 pages of techniques covering everything from making your own stencils to transferring images will have you remixing canvas into your own designs in a jiffy. So add this book to your wish list fer sure, but be sure to leave us a comment right here for your chance to win a copy of Canvas Remix: Techniques for Creating Mixed Media Accessories by Alisa Burke. Tell me something about graffiti to win the book. Have you tried your hand at these techniques before? What did you make? Is there a graffiti artist in your town who paints smiling candy corn everywhere like we have in Austin? Did you once read something hilarious on the wall of a truck stop bathroom? I'm looking for graffiti stories of any kind and next Monday we will announce the lucky winner.

What's On Crafty TV This Week With Jen?

If you are awake at the butt crack of dawn this week and feeling kinda crafty might I suggest tuning into to DIY Network for Stylelicious and HGTV for Craft Lab. You can see me whip up some custom panties and trying my hand at mosaics.

CRAFT LAB
Garden Sphere Mosaic - Episode DCLB-154
HGTV
Monday March 23rd 5:30 AM Central

Mosaic artist Laurel True demonstrates how to create a one-of-a-kind garden sphere sculpture (a colorful mosaic sphere-shaped form about 18" high and round). Laurel covers a ball with a concrete-like papier-mâché, draws a design on the base and begins cutting glass and breaking tile. Next, Laurel sets the mosaic by mixing and applying mortar to the base and setting the tile and glass. Finally, Laurel demonstrates how to grout, seal and buff the sculpture completing this amazing piece of garden art.

STYLELICIOUS
Spice it Up - Episode DSTY-113
DIY Network
Tuesday March 24th 3:30 AM Central

Stylelicious has the remedy for plain wardrobe pieces. Host Vickie Howell jazzes up a skirt and tank with a touch of tulle. Host Jesse Kelly-Landes adds some sass to some simple slippers. Host Jennifer Perkins has an idea to put some personality into your underwear.

Episode Trivia: on the pair of panties with a pirate theme that say Arrrrgh they originally said booty, but the network decided that was too racy. "Professor, what's another word for pirate treasure?" "Well I think it's booty" "booty" "booty that's what it is". Quick what are those lyrics from? No cheating and looking on Google either!

STYLELICIOUS
Time for Change - Episode DSTY-313
DIY Network
Saturday March 28th 3:30 AM Central

When wardrobe pieces get old and tiresome, give them a new lease on life! Vickie Howell revamps an old sweater with a cool needle-felting design. Jennifer Perkins makes a hilarious handbag with girl's training pants. A tired skirt gets a makeover with fishing line and a serger.

Crafty Carnival

About Family Crafts
Discover some ways you can save money on your crafting without stifling your creativity!

Blisstree
Don't miss out on the second annual Collage Mania event !

Crafty Princess Diaries
The Crafty Princess catches you up on her various crafting projects and asks, "What's on your crafing plate?"

Cathie Filian
Cathie has a dollar store do over! With a scrap of paper and a little flirty flower you can make this easy headband in under 1-hour.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge is hooked on Drew Emborsky's new book The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys! Check out her book review!

Aileen's Musings
Looking for a new spin on store bought plastic easter eggs....Aileen offer's you a Glitzy Easter Egg Project!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a how-to for making a Chinese Knot from Kenneth King's new book Cool Couture, a Scribble Lace scarf pattern, a woven lampshade made from scrap yarn, and 4 upcycled necklace designs.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Swelldesigner upcycles some old tins with Collage Pauge and scrapbook paper!

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen asks the question: Would you wear an apron out on the town as a fashion accessory? According to some trendsters it’s all the rage. Join in the discussion about Apron-ology.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Sweater Surgery meets Sublime Stitching with a fun gun embroidered altered sweater.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Use the free Street and Traffic Sign Motifs to decorate a cake, a child's jacket, or whatever your imagination can come up with.

Rock-n-Roll Home Decor

Jewelry from vinyl records is so 2004, we already covered jewelry displays made from records on the blog and purses made from them on the Naughty Secretary Club website. So where do we go from here? What about delving into the world of home decor? I wanted to do a quick round up of some of the most rockin' home decor I have seen to celebrate the final weekend of SXSW here in Austin.


This blue beauty by The Grateful Thread takes the record wall clock to a whole new level. The attention to detail with the clock hands is what sets this clock apart from the others for me. The plastic clock hands are custom cut in the shape of a record needle adding to the authenticity of the whole thing and making me love it that much more.


Sure we have all seen room dividers made with vinyl records, but when you paint those records you can hardly tell what they are. Take this retro inspired wall adornment from Quick and Easy Decorating Magazine. With a couple of coats of paint it would take an outsider a couple of double takes to realize that these circles were in fact records. Remember at the Half Price Book Store you can get a big box of random records for $10, perfect for a project like this.


IKC original (re)design has come up with something clever. Just when I thought I had seen everything a vinyl record could ever be transformed into they come out with Bookends! Makes me want to warm up my oven and sharpen my paper cutter to try my hand at a pair of my own.


Haven’t you heard me gush enough about the book Pad at this point that you have already rushed out and scored yourself a copy. At the height of melted record bowl popularity I saw this project about making boxes out of record covers and all was right in the world. Finally I knew what to do with not only the records, but their jackets. I even re-created both projects on my old blog if you wanna check it out!


Another book I gush about often here on the blog is The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties by Leah Kramer. This fun book is chocked full of odd crafty goodness and this vinyl record napkin holder is no exception. I think it would be awesome to make one out of Weird Al Yankovick’s “I’m Fat” to keep it in theme.

Do you have any vinyl records hanging around your house living a second life as a home décor item? We would love to hear all about it.

I Love to Create: Apron-ology

Today for I Love to Create it is all about Apron-ology. I subscribe to several different trend spotting newsletters and one recently popped into my inbox chatting about the resurgence of aprons as a fashion accessory rather than the utilitarian smock we typically think of. Trend Central says: From cook-offs and farmers markets to The Food Network and foodie blogs, all things culinary are cool at the moment, with the latest entry being kitchen fashion: One of our trend reporters recently picked up on a new hipster movement of aprons being worn over dresses. American Apparel strikes again, now selling solid-colored ones, while those of the more retro variety can be picked up at stores like Anthropologie or vintage boutiques. Or you could just make your own like I did.



Summer 2008 I was crafting up a storm in the Duncan booth at CHA. The Liquid Fusion was flowing at my work station where we made pins out of vintage Crafty Curios. That being the case I decided to whip myself up an apron for the event. There I am deciding where to place my pocket at local Austin crafting store Craft-o-Rama where I crafted my Naughty Secretary apron using the Casual Friday Necklace from my book The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry. When my apron was all done I packed er’ up in my suitcase and headed for Chicago.



Here I am posing with some crafty friends like Sonya Nimiri, Margot Potter, Traci Bautista, my sister Hope Perkins and the Crafty Chica herself Kathy Cano Murillo. All of us in the Duncan booth had custom aprons. Some were sewn, others embellished and a few were hand painted – all were adorable. So adorable in fact they made the pages of Apron-ology Magazine! Sommerset Studios has a whole new magazine out devoted to aprons!



My Naughty Secretary Apron made the cut and can be seen on pages 118-119 complete with how-to instructions. The entire magazine is crammed with cuteness. There are several how-to projects, tons of pictures and oodles of inspiring ideas. Some of my favorite ideas and projects include the free form crochet apron which reminds me of our post: Not Your Grandmothers Doilies. There are several aprons made from vintage hankies that are especially sweet. I have a soft spot for Barkcloth so the Barkcloth Beauties caught my eye. Here Comes the Bride is a hilarious way to reuse an old wedding or prom dress. My collection of vintage men’s neckties could go to good use whipping up the Tie One on Apron. A few of my partners in crime at the Duncan booth were also featured in Apron-ology. Look for Kathy Cano-Murillo's Crafty Chica Stress Buster Apron and Traci Bautista’s Apron Unleashed.



As an added bonus there is also a review of my book in Apron-ology – check it out!



So it looks like those trend spotters hit the nail on the head again. Several of these aprons I would wear out on the town and not just around my kitchen. What do you think about the apron trend? Do you have any favorites that you might venture out of the house and into club wearing?

I f'd SXSW 2009

I’ll be the first to admit that some of my friends were more excited than others that I was having a baby. Some expected it and others seemed downright resentful that their playmate was taken away. Remember when I had the onesie making baby shower? One of my best friends made me this onesie which I thought was downright hilarious.

The onsie is like a scarlet letter for the poor baby. Sure I’m sad I can’t be at SXSW with my friends, but I’d much rather be home with my new baby wearing this onesie. Poor little thing didn’t F’ up South by South West for anyone. I’m sure this will be the most interesting March in my life and after attending SXSW for the last 10+ years I have had some pretty interesting months of March in my time.

Hope my ladies are out there hitting all the day parties, getting their fill of free drinks (don't forget the Twang) and enjoying some awesome music. I like to think it won’t be the same without me there, but I’m sure they will all pull through. In the meantime baby and I are at home keeping it real, reading the Tweets about SXSW and having our own grand ole' time.

Practicing Proper Pinch Prevention

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! I hope that you are practicing proper pinch prevention today and wearing plenty of green. If you forgot and are getting pinched black and blue we have rounded up our favorite green goodies on Naughty Secretary Club so that you can plan ahead for next year.

Book Giveaway Bonanza: The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success

There are so many business books out these days and so little time to read them all. Afterall, between crafting, listing things in your Etsy store and shipping out packages when are you supposed to read about business? Well you should try and find the time because currently there are tons of great books on the market not just about running a small business, but specifically geared at running a crafty business. I'm gonna give you the run down on 4 that have come across my desk in the last year and also we are giving away a copy of the The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success: Turn Your Crafts Into a Career.

The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business
By: Emira Mears & Lauren Bacon

Did you know that Female entrepreneurs start businesses at twice the rate of their male counterparts? That is exactly why you need to get your hot little hands on a copy of The Boss of You. 15 chapters chocked full of useful information in easy to digest terms is exactly what you will get and exactly what I want with a business book. Skip the bells and whistles and explain to me about developing marketing materials and hiring assistants. This book with a woman run business angle is very informative and thorough, not to mention realistic. Some books can bog you down with so much information it seems too scary and daunting to ever get your business started in the first place. This book strikes the fine balance between telling you what you need to know to get started but not overloading you with too much information. I also love small informative blurbs and this book is peppered with several of them. Another added bonus: look for suggestions and stories from women who already are the boss throughout the book.

The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real
By: Lisa Sonora Beam

A quick flip through The Creative Entrepreneur and you might be confused as to whether you are looking at a book about business or about art journaling. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Author Lisa Sonora Beam is a business and marketing strategist as well as a visual artist so she knows a lot about both. The book is filled with instructional advice about running a business but more than anything it seems to be series of exercises to help you brainstorm about your business in journal form. The book reminds me of after school tutoring I took in high school weekly for ADD. One of the skills I learned was to incorporate colors into my study habits to help make it more interesting and eye catching for me. The Creative Entrepreneur seems to take a similar approach. Artists struggling to turn their passion into a business might find this more colorful approach to business helpful, I just worry that some will get to caught up in the journaling and not focus enough on the business side of things. If you are looking for information about starting your business, marketing your business and taking your business to the next level this book will help you artistically brainstorm ideas on the topic, but another book might be a better fit if you are looking for a more straightforward business guide.

Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business
By: Meg Mateo IIasco

Usually when people ask me questions about running a business I send them over to the Austin Craft Mafia website and suggest they read our individual profile interviews. We answer a lot of questions there. Another more recent suggestion is that they pick up a copy of Craft, Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco from Chronicle Books. The book claims to be the ultimate guide to turning what you do for fun into what you do for money. You bet your sweet toosh you could be making a living off of your Etsy store, just read the book to figure out how. There are tips on how to handle your first craft fair, wholesale versus consignment, trade show 101 plus interviews with companies like Wool and Hoop, Jonathan Adler, Poppi Jewelry and more. Sure there are tons of books on how to run your small crafty business, but this book has an Indie slant and a layout so pretty it would make the gals over at Decor8 proud! The one downfall is that the book can make the prospect of starting a business seem a bit daunting. Sure there is paperwork to fill out and incorporation structures to ponder, but don’t get so caught up in the minutia that you never get your business off the ground. All the advice is pertinent and important, just take it with a grain of salt and remember you don’t always have to have all your ducks in a row before you take the plunge. I didn’t.

The Savvy Crafters Guide to Success: Turn Your Crafts into a Career
By: Sandra McCall

I’m a sucker for picture books. Even when the pictures are not exactly relevant to the topics at hand. Sandra McCall’s Savvy Crafters Guide to Success is just as pretty to look at as it is interesting to read. The pages are peppered with pictures from some of your favorite mixed media artists like Claudine Hellmuth, Traci Bautista, Sarah Hodson and more. There is also snippets, blurbs and studio pictures of many of these well known artists. This colorful book approaches business in a visually stimulating way which is sometimes exactly what a right brained person needs to be tricked into learning some valuable left brained information. The book is chocked full of information about teaching classes, approaching galleries, what a purchase order looks like and many more useful suggestions and ideas.

Remember this is just 4 books in a sea of a bazillion. There is nothing that says general business and marketing books not geared specifically at craft businesses would not also be useful reads. I love Jay Conrad Levinson's whole Guerilla Guide series, Santa brought me Punk Marketing last year which I have enjoyed and never underestimate the Dummies and Idiots guides to running small businesses. What are some of your favorite business books? I'm always looking for new ones to add to my collection and as I have mentioned on the blog before I am working on a proposal for a marketing book of my own for crafters. Let me know some of the most helpful things you have read or done for you business whether it be taking class, joining a group of like minded entrepreneurs like an Etsy group or a blog you read regularly and you could win a copy of The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success: Turn Your Crafts Into a Career from North Light Books. We will post the winners next Monday!

Pssst Austin, Parts and Labour moved.

Crafty Carnival

Cathie Filian
Recycle your junk mail and old papers into beautiful handmade designs with Cathie's easy tutorial

About Family Crafts
Find out how you can make your own cards, party invitations, favors bags, place cards, napkin rings, gift tags, and much more to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Aileen's Musings
Come help Aileen name her new Color Mists' Sorbet Collection and earn a chance to win a free Sorbet set!

Naughty Secretary Club
Customized wearable cupcake toppers that look as good on your cupcake as they do around your neck!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Are you using Google Image Search to its fullest? Swelldesigner shows you how to find better images and information and save time while doing so.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there are 2 fun "J" ATC's made with free downloadable graphics, tons of info about the June session at the Squam Art Workshops, a minijournal made from a recycled card, a cool creative exercise and some interesting quilting folklore.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Jewelry Validation! Nothing gives you validation, no matter what your craft of choice is, like having someone actually purchase one of your creations.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Stefanie folds up some cool envelopes with the help of Karen Elaine Thomas' new book Origami Card Craft.

Layers Upon Layers
Cyndi shares the simple steps she's used to create a collage with monoprinted papers

Cross Stitch at About.com
Guest writer Lori Fellows presents another fun and easy Cross Stitch project. Learn to make an Easy No-Sew Vase Cover using your choice of free patterns.

I Love to Create: Customized Cupcake Toppers

I love cupcakes as much as the next guy, just take a look at the picture. No that big tummy is not from too many cupcakes it’s from 9 months of baby cooking! The only thing I love more than a tasty cupcake is a pretty one. Somehow pretty little cupcakes just taste better. When you hand make your own cupcake toppers they taste the best. This week on I Love to Create we have a sweet tooth!

Making your own cupcake toppers is as easy as another of my favorite sweet treats pie. All you need is a theme, a few choice craft supplies and a wee little bit of time. You will never again host a party with naked cupcakes or worse yet ones with store bought toppers after this quickie tutorial.

I have made custom cupcake toppers for several different occasions in my time because they are just that easy.



From The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry book signing party to my Baby Shower the cupcakes have been adorned with custom festive goodness.



SUPPLIES
Aleene’s Tacky Glue
Heavy Colored Paper
Computer
Printer
Tooth Picks
Foam Board
Ruler
Scissors
Photo Quality Printer Paper



HOW-TO
Find the pictures you want and get them onto your computer. Crop the pictures in a photo editing software to the size you want. Print as many pictures as you are going to have cupcakes on shiny photo quality paper. Cut your pictures out and set aside. Using your ruler measure out as many colored paper squares as you have cupcakes and cut out with scissors. Using Aleene's Original Tacky Glue attach your colorful pictures to your heavy paper squares and allow to dry. Using your ruler and scissors measure and cut out small squares of foam board. When your cupcake toppers are dry attach foam board squares to back of paper using Aleene’s Tacky Glue and allow to dry. If you want to get really fancy you can also glue another set of colored heavy paper squares to the opposite side so that your foam board is sandwiched in-between and not showing. After everything is completely dry stick toothpicks into foam board and then into your cupcakes for quick and easy adorableness!

My husband’s band Beta Valentine had their final show on appropriately enough, Valentines Day and he and I decided to whip up some custom cupcakes for the event. We even made 3 special wearable cupcake toppers for the 2 wives and 1 girlfriend of the band.



SUPPLIES: Paper Cupcake Toppers
Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue Stick
Computer
Photo Quality Printer Paper
Heavy Red Card Stock Paper
Sponge Brush
Short wooden popsicle sticks
Liquid Fusion Glue
Pen
Heart Shaped Template
Scissors



For the cupcake toppers we used an illustrated image of the band by our friend Jeff Conway. We printed up as many of the images on photo quality printer paper as there were cupcakes. Using a heart shaped template we traced hearts around the boy’s heads and cut them out. Using a slightly larger heart template we cut out the same amount of red hearts from heavy card stock. Using Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue Sticks we adhered the white hearts to the red hearts and allowed them to dry. Later we came back in and using Liquid Fusion glue we attached short popsicle sticks to the backs of the hearts allowing those to dry overnight. The next day we stuck them into each of the cupcakes and served.



SUPPLIES: Cupcake Topper Necklaces
Computer
Photo Quality Printer Paper
3 wooden craft hearts
Crafty Chica Red Paint
Pen
Heart Shaped Template
Dremel
Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Glossy
18” gold chain necklace
6 gold jump rings
Tape
Aleene’s Paper Glaze
Flat Nosed Pliers
Sponge Brush
Wire Clippers
3 Wooden popsicle sticks



HOW-TO NECKLACE CUPCAKE TOPPERS
Find the pictures you want and get them onto your computer. Crop the pictures in a photo editing software to the size you want. Print as many pictures as you are going to make special necklace style cupcake toppers. Cut images out in the shape of hearts, slightly smaller than the wooden hearts. Using Crafty Chica paint in red paint your hearts with a sponge brush applying two coats to each side and allowing to dry thoroughly. Once your hearts are completely dry adhere the small heart shaped images to the inside of your red heart leaving a small border of red around the edges using Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage. Allow to dry completely. Next apply Aleene’s Paper Glaze as a protective top coat and sealer and allow this to dry completely. When everything is dry using your Dremel drill with a small bit two holes in either side of the top of your heart. Using your wire clippers snip the very center link of chain in your necklace to make two strands of equal length attached by the clasp. Using your flat nosed pliers and jump rings attach each side of chain to one side of your wooden heart pendant. Presto your necklaces are born!



To make the necklace into a cupcake topper use tape to coil up necklace chain and secure to back side of wooden heart & wooden popsicle stick so that it does not get into the frosting. I used packing tape to accomplish this. It’s not that pretty from the back, but you obviously can’t use something permanent like glue or it would ruin the necklace.

The ladies were all pleased as punch with their new necklaces, the boys were excited to see their faces on cupcakes and the whole show went off without a hitch. Though everyone was a little somber since it was Beta Valentine’s last show cupcakes with customized toppers can help ease any amount of pain!