Category Archives: Paper Crafts

DIY: Fall Sunflower Cupcake Wraps for $1

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There is something about the cooler temperatures of fall that make me think of sunflowers and jewel tone colors.  Maybe it’s all the colors that nature surrounds us with this time of year.  So when I found these fun little yellow sunflower doilies at my local Dollar Tree, I dropped them in my cart not really knowing what I would do with them.  A few weeks later I needed to take muffins & mini muffins to a gathering and decided it was the perfect time to give those little doilies a new home.

Sunflower Muffin Wraps from Dill Pickle Picnic
This is the part where I admit this all happened last fall…but as I was running through the Dollar Tree in search of clear treat bags last week I once again saw these packages of cute little sunflower doilies and made a note to finally put this post together.  These are the types of craft projects I really enjoy….quick, easy, and quite a bit of fun for the buck.

It’s easy to make your own sunflower muffin or cupcake wraps:DPP-Fall-2013-01

Supplies Needed:  

  • Package of Sunflower (or any rounded shape doilies)
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Clear Tape

To Make Mini Size Muffin Wraps:

  1. Fold your doily in half
  2. Measure down from the outside 1.25 inches in several places and make a slight mark.
  3. Cut along the marked lines with your scissors.  On the sunflower doilies it was easy since the 1.25 inch mark ended up being in line with one of the rows of cutouts, so I could just cut along that row of details without needing to measure all the way across.
    DPP-Fall-2013-03
  4. Cut the doilies along the folded lines on both ends.
    DPP-Fall-2013-05

To Make Standard or Jumbo Size Cupcake Wraps:

  1. Lay your doilies out flat.
  2. Measure down from the outside 1.75 inches for standard or 2.5 inches for jumbo from the outer edge and make a slight mark. Do this around the entire circle.
  3. Using your scissors make a straight cut from the outside to the marked location for one of your marks.
    DPP-Fall-2013-06
  4. Cut along the marked lines with your scissors.  On the sunflower doilies it was easy since the 1.75 inch mark ended up being in line with one of the rows of cutouts, so I could just cut along that row of details without needing to measure all the way across.
    DPP-Fall-2013-07
  5. Wrap around the base of your cupcake/muffin and cut to size using a small piece of clear tape to adhere them together in the back.
  6. Serve & Enjoy!

With these smaller sunflower size doilies I was able to make 2 mini wraps per doily or 1 standard or jumbo wrap. Which means for $1.07 I could make 64 mini wraps or 32 standard or jumbo wraps.  I call that a fabulous fall deal 🙂

DPP-Fall-2013-08

What does fall make you think of?  Do you look for quick ways dress up your fall treats?  If so, please share….I’d love to hear how you quickly add a little fall to your goodies!

DIY: Easter Napkin Wrap Round-Up

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Since Easter is just around the corner, I decided to create a one-stop post featuring all my previous year’s related napkin wraps!  Also, I’ll be adding links to the new ones I plan to post here later this week.  To access the post with printable template simply click on the napkin wrap images below:

All templates above use Monterey BT font which is free to download from SoFontes.  New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!

Semi-DIY: Valentines in a Snap for under $1

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It’s been way too long since I posted a fun crafty treat and I’ve really missed it (and you guys)! Today’s Semi-DIY project is a quick and cheap way to dress up a simple box of candy.  It would be great for adults and the kiddos alike.  See…cute right?
DPP-2011ValSwap18

Supplies Needed:

  • Boxes of Conversation Hearts Candy – I picked mine up at the local Dollar Tree
  • Double Sided Tape
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Stickers or other decorative items

Instructions:

  1. Cut your scrapbook paper to the height and circumference of your candy boxes.  For the boxes I used the dimensions of the paper should be 3.5 inches wide by 7.5 inches long.
  2. Add a piece of double-sided tape to one end of the paper, and attach it to the back of your box.
    DPP-2011ValSwap25
  3. Next, you will wrap the paper around the box and attach to the box with an additional piece of double-sided tape.  Do this underneath the overlaid section of the paper.
    DPP-2011ValSwap28
  4. Decorate with stickers and other assorted goodies.DPP-2011ValSwap30
  5. Give to someone special!

Costs:

One of the great things about this project is that in additon to be simple, it’s also quite thrifty.  If you have a stash of scrapbook paper & stickers like I do then it’s virtually free since you just need to buy the candy.  My boxes of candy were purchased from the Dollar Tree in a package of 4 for $1 and you could also pick up fun Valentines stickers there as well.

$1.07 for 4, so 26 cents each!  Can’t beat that!

DPP-2011ValSwap21

DIY: Are you ready for some football…straws?

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Today I would like to dedicate some craftiness to one of my all-time favorite fall activities…football!  While I tend to gravitate towards college football, this craft could just as easily apply for the pros.  Regardless of what your favorite tailgate beverage might be, I can assure you it will look much more festive when sipped casually through one of these cuties. 😉

DPPhelmetstraw3
Ready to make some of your very own?

Supplies Needed:

  • Cardstock in your favorite team’s colors
  • Straws, also in your favorite team’s colors
  • Glue or Glue Stick
  • Helmet Punch (or die cuts from your favorite machine, you will need two helmets for each straw)

DPPhelmetstraw9

Instructions:

  1. Punch out your helmets.  For this version of this process I used my Silhouette to quickly cut out my helmets using some cardstock I had left over from another project.   You will need two helmets for each straw you want to make.
  2. Using your glue cover the back of one helmet. I use a glue stick when I want to whip these up really quickly, but choose to use paper glue for the ones I sell in my store).

    3. DPPhelmetstraw10

  3. Carefully layer the second helmet onto the first, taking care to line up the edges all the way around. Make sure you press to seal the pieces together around the straw.DPPhelmetstraw11

    4. DPPhelmetstraw12

  4. Repeat for the remainder of your straws

Wouldn’t these look fun for a sport themed birthday party as well?

DPPhelmetstraw13

Total Cost: $1 and up

See quick, easy…and cute! Will you decorate for your tailgate area this year? Can you guess who my team of choice is based on these colors?

War Eagle!

Like these but have no time to make your own?
Check out my shop and message me about creating a set custom for you!

DIY: Pumpkin Ale Labels

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One last project going on in our household this week is the labeling of my hubby’s home-brewed pumpkin ale.  However these fun labels could look fun over your favorite pumpkin brew or any other fun Halloween beverage.  This could even be fun for other fall festivities or Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Ale Labels
I printed these out on standard paper and then ran them through my Xyron machine, so these labels won’t stand-up to being iced down.  Then I setup a cut file on my Silhouette (which I’m still learning how to use) and cut them out.  The labels were quickly thrown together, but overall I’m happy with how they turned out.

Don’t have all the fun toys above?  That’s ok too!  You can easily make your own by downloading the printable PDF from below and printing it out onto full sheets of labels and then trimming around them!

Click to Download Printable PDF

Pumpkin Ale Labels

Now that the pumpkin ale labels are finally all attached and ready for a Halloween party this weekend…it’s time to start thinking about fun ideas for the Holiday Ale coming up next!

I hope each of you has a safe & spooky weekend, Happy Halloween Y’all!!

DIY: Batty Cupcake & Food Flags

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Well hello there! I’ve missed you guys while I’ve been toiling away on a huge work project that I wish I was able to share. It ended up being almost 100% DIY and has really tested my abilities to be both crafty, economical, and yet still extremely professional. Now I’m creatively tired. Does that make sense?

So, today lets talk about Halloween and how bats can be cute.
DPPbatstraw17Ready to make some of your very own?

Supplies Needed:

  • Black Paper or Cardstock
  • Glue or Glue Stick
  • Toothpicks
  • Bat Punch (or die cuts from your favorite machine)

DPPbatpicks-1

Instructions:

  1. Punch out your bats. I used a punch I picked up at JoAnn’s with a 50% off coupon. You could also cut them using your favorite die cut machine. You will need two bats for each flag you want to make. (Hint: with this punch I could get roughly 20 individual bats from one 8.5×11 piece of cardstock).DPPbatpicks-2
  2. Using your glue cover the back of one bat. I use a glue stick when I want to whip these up really quickly, but choose to use paper glue for the ones I sell in my store).DPPbatpicks-4
  3. Place your toothpick on the glued bat.

    4. DPPbatpicks-5

  4. Carefully layer the second bat onto the first, taking care to line up the edges all the way around. Make sure you press to seal the pieces together around the toothpick.

    5. DPPbatpicks-6

  5. Repeat & Add to Cupcakes or Other Spooky Snacks

    6. DPPbatstraw15

Want to jazz up your Halloween party a bit more? Repeat this process using straws to use when you serve up your “witches brew”.

DPPbatstraw3

Total Cost: $1 and up

See quick, easy…and cute! How will you decorate for your Halloween festivities this year? And, after you finish a big DIY project do you too find yourself creatively fried?

(Like these but have no time to make your own? Check out my shop for limited quantities available for sale!)


Using Envelope templates…of doom!

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I love paper and I love office supplies.  There, I admitted it, so when I found a fun piece of paper in my envelope of doom I figured what better than to turn it into paper office supplies.  If you’ve followed my blog for a while you already know I love both lining envelopes and making my own envelopes, and some of my favorite tools are the templates you can purchase from Paper-Source.  I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth out of the ones I own, so when I was in the store a few weeks back taking a little class and saw the new baby sized envelope template I had to try it out.

This is the template kit I choose, the other option had pink paper selection but looking around here should explain how much I love blue and green so naturally I selected the “pool” color selection.

And this is the paper I found folded up in my envelope of doom!

Using their envelope templates is super-simple.

  1. Trace around the template on the reverse side of the paper.
  2. Cut out along the lines
  3. Score where the inner opening of the template are (I use a scoring board from Martha & love it)
  4. Glue the edges
  5. Put those babies to use, these just happen to be the perfect size for a business card!

So basically I used contents from my “Envelope of Doom” to create “Baby Envelopes of Doom” 😉  In keeping with the rules of the game, the items were to be gifted to someone else…and these just so happened to be included in a swap package I was sending out!  I love it when things work out like that!

** I have been in no way compensated for my options or the products referenced above.  These are purely my unsolicited options of crafty products I use and adore! **

DIY: Simple Napkin Wrap

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I received an email over the weekend from a bride-to-be working on ways to keep costs down for her upcoming 400 person wedding.  Her request was a simple napkin wrap template…no graphics, just elegant text.  So, Meredith this one is for you, and the possibilities of ways to use this wrap are endless!


Click to Download:  picklepicnic_textonlywrap

The template above use the Monterey BT font which is free to download from Sofontes.  New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!

DIY: Mother’s Day Napkin Wraps II

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I can’t believe in my haste to finish up all my April Stash Busting projects (which I will begin to post this weekend) I almost forgot to post the second round of Mother’s Day Napkin Wraps!  Hope you enjoy Part II which we’ll call the “Mother’s Day Floral Set”


Click to Download: Pink Roses Napkin Wrap


Click to Download: Pink Daisy Napkin Wrap

All templates use the Monterey BT font which is free to download from Sofontes.  New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!What do you have planned for the mothers in your life to celebrate Mother’s Day this year?

ReUse: TP Roll Candy Bunting

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In honor of Earth Day & my April Stash Bust endeavors I decided to try my luck at reusing several TP(toilet paper) rolls because I’m not sure about your household but we seem to have an abundance of empty cardboard rolls.  I’m really loving bunting right now, so I set out to make some sweet candy bunting from my trash & stash…and this is what I ended up with:


What do you think?  I’m thinking it’s quite cute…and so easy to make that you could even have you kids help you with this project.  It could be fun for a child’s birthday party or even dressed up a bit more to hang behind a candy buffet.

Supplies Needed:

  • Toilet or Paper Towel cardboard rolls (1 TP roll averages 9 pieces of candy, or 4 feet)
  • Tissue Paper (you could also use fabric)
  • Curling Ribbon
  • Twine (Ribbon or Yarn would also work)
  • Hole Punch
  • Rickrack Scissors
  • Craft Knife or Scissors
  • Double-Sided Tape (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Using your craft knife or scissors carefully cut your cardboard rolls into 1/2 inch pieces.  (If you are doing this project with small children this is a step an adult should complete ahead of time.)
  2. Using a standard hand-held hole punch punch two holes across the tube from each other.  Repeat this process for each of your 1/2 inch pieces.
  3. Cut bunting twine to your desired finished length.
  4. Cut your tissue paper (or fabric) into 5 inch square pieces using pinking sheers. (If doing this project with children this is another step that could be completed by an adult ahead of time.)
  5. Carefully thread one piece of cardboard onto the twine. (hint: To make this easier I actually taped one end of the twine to my table.  This helped keep one end stationary while I was threading from the opposite end.)
  6. Take a piece of tissue paper and place it under your threaded circle and fold it over to overlap in the front.  (hint:  You might find using a small piece of double-sided tape helpful to hold everything in place, but it isn’t necessary.)
  7. Using 4 inch pieces of curling ribbon, tie off each side of your “candy” with a hard knot.
  8. Using scissors curl the ribbons to make a decorative tie.  (If you are doing this project with small children this is a step an adult should complete once the stringing process is completed.)
  9. Repeat the length of your twine.
  10. You can move the pieces slightly along the finished product to help evenly space them.
  11. Hang and Enjoy!


See…quick, easy, and a fun way to turn a common household trash item into something fun & decorative!

And if you have extra “pieces of candy” left over you could always glue them to place cards or signage for a sweet look.

Price Breakdown: Free from my trash & craft stash!
However, if you wanted to create these with no supplies on hand you could do so entirely from your local dollar store!

What crafty fun will you reuse trash & stash items for this week?