Homemade Cupcake Birthday Card

It was my bestests birthday yesterday and this is the card I made for her. She’s a big baker so I settled on “cupcakes” for the theme and it turned out quite purdy. It was fairly easy to make, the hardest part is measuring everything to perfection because you only get one shot at cutting it so you better be sure! Excuse the dark pictures -one of these days I’ll rustle me up one of them fancy fan-dangled picture takers but for now I’ll have to make do with with what I have and continue speaking with an unaffiliated hillbilly inflection. Here’s the step-by-step how to:

The tools I used for this project are a circle cutter, craft knife, a cutting board, fabric ribbon, stickers and double-sided card stock or your favorite scrapbook paper cut to size.

Decide how big of a circle you want based on what size sticker you will be putting in the center. I went with a three inch circle. I think the closer to the size of the sticker the better, if the hole is over-sized then it looks out of place like a bath mat in a ballroom.

Next, measure out the number of equal spaces along the fold of the card for slitting and weaving ribbon through. This is the trickiest part so measure a few times and don’t be afraid to make pencil marks on the paper, that’s what erasers are for. I measured for making five ribbon weaves including the bow. You may want to change that number to have more or less weaves if your card is a different size or you can do the same amount but have larger or smaller weaves.

Once you’ve made your cuts take your measured ribbon and very gently weave it through the slits. A good tip for making it easier on yourself is to use a slightly longer piece of ribbon than you need and wrap one tip of the ribbon in scotch tape to make it firmer for sliding through the narrow holes. After you have weaved it through and are happy with it make sure the taped tip is slightly longer than your other tip and snip off the taped bit. If you just remove the tape it can leave behind a sticky residue so it’s well worth the bit of waste to snip it and move on. To tie your bow can get time consuming if you are a perfectionist like me and have to have both sides equal but once you get it just right then you see it’s worth the frustration and time. I stacked some heavy books on my ribbon overnight to ensure that the bow would sit flat and stay tied. Another option is to throw a tea towel over the card and run and iron over it quick.

Then simply place your pretty stickers in place and you’re ready for the party!

Do you have the crafty eye in you or do you leave your cards up to the good people at Hallmark?