10 Things to Make with Cupcake Liners (other than cupcakes)

If you're like me, you have a lot of extra cupcake liners around. I always use them for one set of cupcakes and then have just a few leftover. Or, I will use them for one occasion and need another style for a different occasion.  Either way, I've ended up with a lot of cupcake liners.  I've had a lot of parties lately and that means even more than the usual amount of extra cupcake liners are lying around.  I searched Pinterest for what to do with them, and here are 10 good ideas I found.  Hope it helps you find something to do with all of your cupcake liner "leftovers"!

Image source: A Pretty Cool Life

1. Make party hat cupcake toppers like these from A Pretty Cool Life.

Source: Family Chic

2. Pretty up your gifts with a colorful gift topper. This idea is from Family Chic who says "10 cupcake liners, a stapler, a pair of scissors and a few minutes are all you need to make this simple gift topper." Sounds like a great way to make something look special in a short amount of time!

Photo Source: Spoonful

3. Make these fortune cookies and put them in the kids' lunch boxes for a special lunch time fortune.

Photo Source: Saved by Love Creations

4. Take an old frame and make it fresh again by adding cupcake liner rosettes. Gorgeous! Get the tutorial at Saved by Love Creations.

Photo Source: Real Simple

5. Get creative and make a lei with all of your extra cupcake liners.  This is a great idea not only for Halloween but for all of those summer parties coming up! Get the tutorial from Real Simple.

Photo Source: Muffin Tin Mom

6. Make a handmade card for Father's Day or to send to a loved one.  Such a great idea from Muffin Tin Mom!

Photo Source: The Craft Train

7. Use this cupcake liner flower garland to decorate a room.  So pretty and fresh.  Plus it will last a long time! Get the tutorial from The Craft Train.

Photo Source: Project Nursery

8. If you don't want to have a garland of flowers, make them to put in a vase like these from Project Nursery.

Image Source: Confetti Sunshine

9. I love these DIY award ribbons.  This would be perfect for a horse party or give them to the winners of your birthday party games.  I'm sure the kids would love to wear one of these and say "I won!". Get the tutorial over at Confetti Sunshine.

Image Source: Martha Stewart

10. And last but not least, use them to cover your drinks at your next BBQ or anytime you dine al fresco.  It helps to keep the bugs out of your drinks and looks cute too!


Of course, you could just save the liners for your next party. But then you can't buy new ones ;-)

8 Great Advent Calendar Ideas

It's that time of the year again.  Time to get your advent calendars ready! I am just working on the ones for my kids and thought I would share some of the great ideas I found. I like to fill my kids' calendars myself instead of purchasing the pre-made ones.  That way, I can put in notes, some family activities for us to do, and a few special presents. Many of you probably have them finished already, but if you're like me and December 1st is sneaking up on you, here are a few ideas to help you get started:

1. This is such a cute advent calendar and it's made out of cardboard toilet paper rolls! The idea comes from Pysselbolaget.se and if you go to their site, you can download the Santa templates for free.

2. Who wouldn't love to open up a pinata every day until Christmas?  I know I think it's fun! You can find the tutorial, and even a cool animated picture to see how they work at HandmadeCharlotte.com.

3.  This is an advent calendar decorated with plastic animals that are spray painted white and then a red pom pom is glued to their noses.  This is perfect if your child is crazy about animals.  They get a Christmas animal plus a treat every day! Visit ABubblyLife.com for the full tutorial.

4. I love these cone trees and they are so easy to make.  All you need is some green paper, form them into cones, glue them, and add a number on them.  Place your treats under the cones and you have a great advent calendar that looks like a Christmas tree forest.  This idea comes from Spoonful.com

5. This punch-out advent calendar is so creative.  Kelly, who blogs at StudioDIY.com, always has really great ideas.  I'm sure the kids would love to have this one.

6. This adorable advent calendar is perfect for the robot lover in your life.  Get the printables and the instructions on NextToNicx.com

7.  Make your own scratch-off calendar with a new activity for your family to do together every day. I love this idea! You can get the printables for this with pre-filled-in activities or blank ones for you to fill in yourself. Get the printables and the instructions on how to make the scratch-off part using contact paper and a mix of silver paint and dish soap here.

8.  This one is an adult version and involves a bottle of wine a day. I don't know about you, but I could not drink one whole bottle every day for 24 days straight. Perhaps instead of drinking a bottle every day until Christmas, you can look at it as a way to build your wine collection! There isn't a tutorial or printables for this one, but you can simply tie a gift tag around each bottle of wine or print out labels on sticker paper.

I hope a few of those ideas can help you.  Happy advent calendar creating!

Picture sources: 1. Pysselbolaget | 2. HandmadeCharlotte.com | 3. ABubblyLife.com | 4. Spoonful.com | 5. Studio DIY | 6. Next to Nicx | 7. Julep | 8. Style Me Pretty

Striped Paper Straws :: Not Just For Drinking

I love the look of these paper straws. They come in all kinds of different colors and are perfect for parties.  But did you know they are as versatile as they are cute? There are so many uses for them other than drinking. Here are a few ideas:

Use them instead of a lollipop stick for cake pops

Use them to hold up your photo booth props

Make a magic wand with them, or use them to make cupcake toppers

Add a printable flag to the straw to make your drinks a bit more special. OK, this one is related to drinking, but it's still something a bit different!

Can you tell we're getting ready for Christmas over here? ;-)

Do you have any other ideas?  I'd love to hear them!

P.S. If you want to purchase some of these straws, we have lots of colors in our shop!

Valentine's Day Ideas

Valentine's Day is two days away, but it's not too late to put together something meaningful for your loved ones.  I've rounded up a few of my favorite ideas from around the web for you.  These ideas are so sweet and will add a special touch to someone's day! Click through the links to get the instructions on how to make these.

First up is this heart backdrop from Hank & Hunt.  Gorgeous! This is used as a photo booth backdrop, but I can imagine making it and hanging it in front of my daughters' bedroom doors.  It would be great to have them wake up and have to go through a wall of hearts on Valentine's Day.

Image Source: Hank & Hunt

Next is this giant letter valentine from Oh Happy Day!  What a great idea and it's something that the kids can help you make.  All you'll need is some butcher paper.  It's now too late to send each letter through the mail one by one, but perhaps you can make the letters and hide them around the house for your loved ones to find throughout the day.  At the end of the day, they'll have a lovely (and large!) message from you.

Image Source: Oh Happy Day

I love this idea from Studio DIY.  It's a balloon surprise in a box.  The balloons float up out of the box when you open it. Don't worry, they won't fly away...the balloons are taped to the bottom of the box! It would be so much fun to receive this at your door.  I can imagine it with heart shaped balloons for Valentine's Day.  Great idea for birthdays too!

Image Source: Studio DIY

Finally, this idea from A Subtle Revelry adds a special touch to milk for Valentine's day.  These heart ice cubes made from milk and food coloring slowly turn your milk pink as they melt.  I love pink milk!

Image Source: A Subtle Revelry

I love how these things can all be easily handmade. It's often the little things like these that can show that you care about someone. Do you have any other ideas for things you can make for your family and friends? I would love to hear them!