A little something for you with the Pick of the Petals template from My Time Made Easy!

It's my special day to share a template with you for My Time Made Easy. I decided I really wanted to use the Pick of the Petals template but i was PETRIFIED! The top, while stunning, look complicated! And here I am, a design team member (still a little dumbfounded on that one) for My Time Made Easy and I'm supposed to be one of the ones showing people what it's supposed to look like! What if it didnt look right? Or at least didn't look good! How could i think of a fun way to use it other than a stunning box. Well, I cam up with an idea to use it as a cupcake holder, but still needed to put it together. It came together SO easy! And it was adorable! And now, i'm going to show my little project, and how YOU can turn it into a cupcake holder too! :)

Let's start with the template... First i use out my base pieces using Couture Cardstock in Brandenburg... a deliciously beautiful pink that isnt too bright, but isnt too muted either. A truly fabulous color. The base came together in literally like a minute and a half. SO easy. I printed some of the Pretty Printables digi paper from the Fresh Fabric, collection 2 pack.

Quick FYI, there are 3 packs of the Fresh Fabric paper that coordinates PERFECTLY with couture cardstock colors. You can buy 1 or buy them all and then head over to couturecardstock.com to get your matchy matchy cardstock! They have great shipping prices too!

After printing off the fresh fabric paper, i decided i wanted just a smidgen more punch. So i took one of the flowers from the Take Time stamp set and stamped out some flowers in Melon mambo ink from Stampin Up. I stamped the flower multiple times before reinking so it appears that i've used 3 different ink colors, when i've really just used one. I then added a little pearl to the center of each flower. The edges were sponged with Distress ink in Victorian Velvet.

Now came the top.... the part that was scaring the life out of me. And i was desperately wanting to get it finished before the baby woke up! Well guess what, i was unsuccessful since i FORGOT to cut the top piece 2 times. Remember to read the directions! :) As i had gone back into the SCAL program (yep, i had closed it all down) to cut another one, the gabe-n-ator woke up and was not very happy i was just leaving him in is crib. So the fact that the top came together so easy with a baby on my lap means that anyone can do this! The top is a little more pushed in on one side, thanks to gabe "helping" with the glue. if thats all the damage that is done, then you know you've got an easy template!!!

Speaking of the top....

Look at that top! I just think that it's so fun and different! and it really is easy to do! My helpful advice is i was having trouble getting it to stay popped in. And my button on top wasnt giving it enough pressure to push off of. So before pushing it all the way in, i added a bit of fabritac glue and then pushed it in and added my button. This was enough to hold it fine! Too bad this was the point that gabe had already seen me push and poke the top to get it to stay and thought it needed another bap. Well this glue decided to hold the bap in too. hahahahaha.

I sponged the edges of the top (after it was assembled) with distress ink in Spun Sugar.

Now let's move on to the INSIDE of the holder...

First let me say that i visited a little local cupcake cafe (thats what the sign called it!) called Iced. They have lots of cutie patootie cupcakes in there. You can have decorating parties. Oh, how it made me want to have a little girl! hahah! But the boys did have fun picking out cupcakes and Jack actually picked out the one with the cherry for my "pwojet". He said it was pink, and girls like pink. Smart boy.

Now i wanted to get this cupcake home in 1 piece! And i know myself, and could see the catastrophe waiting to happen. So i asked if they had a little box. Well, they did, but it would cost me .75¢. FOR A BOX?! That wasnt even decorated cute?! I was going to make a WAY cuter box at home, and i probably would have less than 75¢ worth of paper in it. But, i did want to get the cupcake HOME, so yes, i'd take the box.

So i looked at this box to see what made it so stinkin' special. Inside the box, there was a little holder. Just made out of the same cardboard, but it held the cupcake in place so that it would fall over and get the frosting all smushed. Smart thinkin' i thought! It was just a circle cut out of the center with extra little cut outs where your fingers could gently lift the cupcake out without harming it. Well, i thought, i can TOTALLY make that! So i did!

There is actually another little cutout like the one you can clearly see in the picture directly across from it on the other side, but that yummy frosting is in the way of the picture. :)

So what did i do? I cut out the base part of the template that had the bottom on it. And then I cut that separate from the template leaving about a 1 inch extra flap that would have folded up to be the side of the holder. Then i took a circle nestie (a large circle punch would work too if you had one large enough, this ended up being about 2 inches in diameter) which i then just cut the circle right smack dab out of the center of the hexagon.

Now it was time for those little "finger holes". Well that was an easy fix too. I took a circle punch (i think the size was 1 1/8th that i grabbed, but somewhere around that size works fine, it doesnt need to be exact) and then punched not quite a half circle coming out of the already cut hole in the center and then did that same thing to the other side. Try to get them as directly across from each other as you can. Think if you were reaching in with your index finger and thumb to lift the cupcake out. :)

You can then either adhere the center piece to the inside of the holder or just let that extra flap (folded down) just help to leave some space from the bottom of the holder. In a more perfect world, you might have the same size flap on the other side, but this worked out fine.

So how easy was that! And WAY cuter than the plain box i had to pay 75¢ for!

Now as you already saw in the very first picture, I used a stamp from the Just for You stamp set. I kept the sentiment "generic" on the holder because the recipient might want to reuse the box and this way it would suit many purposes. But the card i decided to make more specific for the cause (people dont reuse cards.. or at least they shouldnt! haha!)

My card is very simple and matches the overall feel of the cupcake box. I used the same Brandenburg Fresh Fabric paper and stamped on top of it with one of the Take Time flowers.

And then i added basic grey opaline pearls to the center of the flowers for a little pop.

The edges of the paper were sponged again with Distress ink in Victorian Velvet. And i tied the same Melon Mambo ribbon around my card that I had tied around my cupcake box lid.

My sentiment for the card is also from the Just For You set. I used the long rectangle nestabilities (on both the card and cupcake box front) to cut out my sentiment. Ink used for the sentiment is Melon Mambo by Stampin Up and the edges were sponged with Distress ink in Spun Sugar. My final addition to the card was to add Plum Pearls by kaisercraft to the upper left hand corner and lower right hand corner.

WHEW! That took a whole heck of a lot longer to type than it did to actually create! Isnt that the way it always goes! I swear i spend more time saying what i do than i actually do! hahaha! Perhaps i should learn to tell less stories. kinda like my mom always telling me as a kid, "stay focused, get to the point of your story". Ahhhh, some things never change.

Be sure to check out Lauren's blog today as well as you has new treats for you every day this week! Thanks so much for stopping by everyone! It means the world to me!