First up the quick gift idea. I found out by chance that a sweet lady at church was due a birthday and needed a gift in a hurry - as in I had little or no time to make a card or anything. Solution: pretty up a store bought cupcake and make a tag come birthday greeting all in one - no need to worry so much about a card then. It is the thought that counts right?
So here we have one pretty purchased cupcake. If I have just enough time to get to Waitrose then I prefer to buy my cupcakes from their bakery counter. First up they have some lovely flavours and they're all so pretty and secondly they're just 99p each as opposed to some £1.50 plus cupcakes you see around. Besides I only ever bought a cupcake from a specialised shop once for a friend and she was honest enough to tell me it was not so good. Needless to say I've been 'burned' once already and I can see why the shop wasn't in business for very long. At least Waitrose is a name you can count on.
I keep a small supply of cupcake boxes around, some store bought like the one above. I picked this one up in Palmers and they sell them in singles both the individual box and the multi box. Red is one of my favourite colours and I have a passion for polka dots - hence my choice but they sometimes have other designs too.
Next up was some simple stamping and die cutting to create a decorative tag and a birthday message tag. Remember I only had about 10 or 15 minutes to throw this together. I like to have more than one tag when I'm decorating things up. These were made with scraps I had on hand and with the colour of the box in mind. The strawberry was already stamped and cut out and sitting on my desktop, the flower was one I'd stamped and cut out earlier and the rest was a matter of a couple of runs through my big shot and a quick stamp - done!
Finally I grabbed a length of green ribbon which I would've preferred if it was a wider one but it did the job. I chose to tie it off centre so my tags would sit nicely on top of the box.
And the view full on shows that pretty little cupcake all neatly tucked in place and ready to be opened. These boxes also come with an insert to keep your cupcake neatly in place and while it's not my lightest, fluffiest frosting - Waitrose use a frosting that is substantial enough not to be too damaged if it did get rolled around slightly.
So one quick, pretty birthday gift in a hurry. Nobody says it always has to be home made huh?
Okay on to the freebie. Claire over at Waltzingmouse stamps posted a really sweet basket of strawberries she made yesterday and today she is sharing the freebie download so you can make one of your own.
Pop on over to her blog and check it out here. Summer is the perfect time for a sweet little gift like this - isn't it adorable! And it's just like her to share it as a freebie so enjoy!
Blessings
Suezie
