Cupcake Birthday Party - DCC & Little B™ Blog Hop

“Little B™” Cupcake Birthday Party 

This month the Designer Craft Connection is having a blog hop featuring products from Little B™ LLC.  Each participating Designer got a big box full of creative products to work with - dies, punches, dimensional stickers, Washi tape, paper flowers, and more!  It was like Christmas in September!    The themes of the boxes varied with each Designer so there are sure to be a great assortment of projects to inspire you.  

My box was primarily Birthday themed - with lots of fabulous cupcakes.  So I decided to create a variety of party projects for a Cupcake Birthday Party.  A table display, treat holders, a jar to hold plastic utensils, and cupcake decorations.

Little B™ is also sponsoring an amazing give-away as part of this hop!  $150 worth of product!  Enter using the Rafflecopter link below.

To enter, you must "like" the Little B™ FB page and comment on the blog posts. It's 2 pts for each comment, so the more comments the better the chance you have to win!   Enter until  10/29/15 at 12:00 AM CDT.

Rafflecopter - Little B Giveaway

Be sure to click on the link in the column on the right to find out what the other Designers are sharing too! 

Materials:

These are the Little B™ products used to create these projects

Little B™ Dimensional Stickers 

                - 100144 Cupcakes 

                - 100157 Birthday  Cupcakes 

                - 100167 Birthday 

Little B™ 100600 Happy Birthday Cutting Dies 

Little B™ 100407 Perfect Positioned

Little B™ 100357 Silver Foil Diagonal Stripes Washi Tape - Specialty Foil Tape 

Little B™ 100369 Scallop Circle Punch

DCWV Solstice Stack Patterned Cardstock

Westcott® Scissors 

Toner Fun Wire™ - Marshmallow 

Sizzix® Big Shot™ Machine

White Duck® Tape                  Beacon® 3-in-1 Adhesive 

Instructions:

Table Decoration  

Note:  This die is meant to cut a single piece which is folded to form a card.  Because I wanted to attach several together and create a tabletop decoration instead, I cut the card stock into squares, and placed the first and last pieces face down, and the center piece face up so the words would all be readable on the colored side of the patterned card stock.  If you are using card stock which is colored on both sides, you can cut them as a single piece and cut apart afterwards.  Use Sizzix® Big Shot™ machine and Little B™ Happy Birthday cutting die to cut four different colors of each word. (Little B™ dies come in a fantastic magnetic storage folder - this thing is genius and all of these type of dies should come packaged this way!  No more hunting through a box or bag of dies that have fallen out of the paper packet they come in!)  The Little B™ Perfect Positioner made it easier to die cut because it made it simple to align the die straightly for a perfect cut.   

Attach the words to spell out two sets of Happy Birthday To You.  I placed a small piece of white Duck® tape on the back of each set to hold the words together. (I used Duck® tape because it is a bit sturdier than regular tape would be for holding the pieces in place.)  Repeat with second two sets.  Add Little B™ Silver Foil Diagonal Stripes Washi Tape along bottom edge of both sets of words. 

Add medium sized cupcake from Little B™ Birthday dimensional sticker set to each set of words as shown.  

Cut rectangular piece of 4 1/4" x 3" piece of coordinating patterned card stock and strip of another card stock about 1” wide x 4 1/4".  Mount strip to rectangle as shown using Beacon® 3-in-1 Adhesive.  Mount large cake from Little B™ Birthday set of dimensional stickers.

Attach a set words to each side of rectangle with cake.   Fold, using mountain and valley fold technique, to create table decoration.

Treat Holders 

The size of these treat holders can be adjusted accordingly.  These were made to hold a small bracelet which was made for each guest.  

Cut pieces of coordinating patterned card stocks for however many party goers you expect.

I cut mine 3 1/2” x 9”, then ended up trimming them back a bit afterwards.  

Use Little B™ Scallop Circle punch to punch each piece of card stock on one 3 1/2” end.  Save punched circles for later.

Cut squares of plastic sheet from sticker packaging and use 3-in-1 Adhesive to mount on back side of each piece over punched out area.  

Create two scored lines about 1/4” apart approximately 3 1/2" from edge with punched circle.  Fold and glue together on

sides, letting the scored lines form a bottom for each holder (these will be a small gap - this did not matter for my treats as they would not fall through the gaps).  (This is where I cut the extra from the top - as I said - adjust your size according to the treat that will be given out - my finished holders are about 3 1/2" top to bottom.)

Add a Little B™ cupcake sticker from the Cupcakes set to each window on the treat holders.  Add a piece of the Silver Foil Diagonal Stripes Washi Tape to the top and bottom of each holder.  Place bracelets inside.

Utensil Holder 

Even though cupcakes were the focus, a side of ice cream was still on the menu, so we offered forks or spoons to our guests.  This decorated jar was a fun way to hold them.

Place large cupcake from Little B™ Birthday Cupcakes large dimensional sticker set on the front of the glass jar.  

Add a strip of Silver Foil Diagonal Stripes Washi Tape to the top and bottom of jar.  The tape and the sticker will easily remove from the glass after the party. 

Insert coordinating color of tissue paper an add forks & spoons. 

Cupcake Decorations  

This is an easy and fun way to add some pizazz to the birthday cupcakes without purchasing expensive pre-made decorations.  There's even a special cupcake for the birthday girl.

Cut 14, 6” pieces of Marshmallow/white Toner Fun Wire™.  About 1/2” from one end, coil around straw or pencil ending about 1/4" from opposite end.

Cut apart Birthday Party banner from Birthday dimensional sticker set to create individual letter pennants.  

Use 3-in-1 Adhesive to mount each pennant letter to the 1/4” straight end of wires. 

From punched scalloped circles cut apart and mount together to make one multi-colored circle as shown.  Insert coiled wire without a pennant letter through center.   This will hold a birthday candle for the birthday girl to blow out on her cupcake.

Add each embellishment to the center of a cupcake.  Arrange on table or serving tray to spell out Birthday Party.  

Tip:  If your party goers can’t agree on where to sit at the table - arrange them in order according to which letter cupcake they chose to spell out Birthday Party!

Dress Details - A Closer Look at CHA Crafty Couture Gown

Roses in the Garden was the theme I chose for my gown this year.   From there I challenged myself to create a gown that was primarily made from repurposed materials, at a minimal cost, with hand made embellishments.   Little did I know that "challenge" would end up being a key word throughout this adventure.  From creating the dress without a true dressmaker's dummy to ensure it would fit the needed measurements (hey, I got creative  - meet "Beatrice" my personal mannequin), to transporting the gown to Chicago, to attempting to repair the extensive damage that occurred in transit on the hotel room floor, I persevered.  The result was this gown and coordinating pieces I think Mother Nature would be proud to have her daughter wear to the prom or a special event. 

A perfect color match!

The bodice was made from newspaper panels, layered with Plaid Mod Podge to seal and add structure.  The inside was lined with pink Duck Tape to add sturdiness.  After a layer of white paint was added, I began hand painting the freestyle climbing roses using blended shades of Plaid’s acrylic paints.  The colors of the roses themselves perfectly matched the colors of the actual climbing roses I have in my own garden.    When I was finished layering the roses, I enhanced each rose and leaf with Jacquard Lumiere 3-D Metallic Dimensional Paint & Adhesive for added shimmer and depth.   A light coat of Plaid Martha Stewart Sugar Cube paint added a tiny bit of sparkle all over to the finished painted bodice.   Makin’s Clay leaves were made with a push mold and added to the top and bottom edges.   The bodice was closed in the back and held in place on the mannequin using Velcro Brand Adhesive strips.

For the trellis skirt, individual strips of layered newspaper were Mod Podged, then woven to create the desired effect.   The trellis was spray painted with white paint.   The skirt liner was created from an old repurposed white sheet, and green floral organza material from a clearance rack at a fabric store.   The skirt was held closed, and held on the mannequin, with Velcro.

The vines for the climbing roses were made with jute rope and jute string painted with Krylon spray paint.    The vines were woven through the trellis skirt and hot glued in place.  Push molded Makin’s Clay leaves were mounted using Beacon Adhesives Felt Glue.   The individual roses were created from custom mixed shades of Makin’s Clay.  Each rose and rose bud is made from numerous tiny hand made petals, layered to create a cluster to mimic the actual tiny climbing roses in my garden.  Once dry, each rose was lightly accented with Lumiere 3-D paint for a bit of shimmer.  The complete roses were mounted to the vines and stems using Beacon Adhesive. 

Rubber stamped butterflies, embossed on vellum, were painted with USArtquest Pearl-Ex watercolor paints, then embellished with Darice beads using Judikins Diamond Glaze as an adhesive and sealant.   Diamond Glaze was also used to lightly coat the wings of each butterfly.  The butterflies were added as accents to the front of the top of the bodice, and on the trellis. 

The small clutch purse was also made from Mod Podged newspaper, lined with pink Duck Tape.  It was painted in the same manner as the bodice and has the same clay leaf accents.



The coordinating shoes began with an old pair of silver shoes.  Several coats of white paint altered them to a more subtle background for painted rose accents and clay rose accents.  In the trend of colorful soles, the bottoms were painted with the same yellow as the roses on the gown. The painted shoes were also given a coat of the Plaid Martha Stewart Sugar Cube paint for a tiny bit of sparkle. 

Laslty, here's a shot of the gown before I disassembled it into pieces for transportation to Chicago..... luckily I packed a fully stocked repair kit so I was able to apply some triage techniques before it hit the CHA Showroom floor!

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes information on what went into the creation of my gown.  I can tell you first hand that all the gowns on display were amazing - I can only imagine the time and effort that went into each one and would love to hear the stories behind each creation in the Summer 2012 Crafty Couture display!

Until next time, happy crafting and remember to "Dare to be Different!"
- Cindi