Sweet Treats - Cupcake Gift Card Holder & BLOG CANDY

I made this for my sweet sweet sister for her birthday last week.

One of my favorite paper crafting projects is to create different styles of gift card holders. This one is really innovative. Just pull the cherry and "whipped cream":

I first saw this tutorial last summer and I knew I wanted to make it for someone special. When I was visiting my best girlfriends last August, I saw some crinkly ribbon in orange, lime green, aqua, and purple. I knew it would be perfect for this project! I split the package with my girlfriend, Kaye. I used all the orange on the base of my cupcake, and just a little bit of the green near the top.

I posted the link for this easy-to-follow video tutorial by Tresa Black at Betty Bee's Buzz. This took me a total of 2 hours to make.

Time saving tips:

Cut your 2 @ 1"x12" chocolate chip card stock strips and 1 @ 1"x12" strip of white card stock (whipped cream) FIRST. Wet and scrunch so that it will be dry by the time you are ready to hot glue it to the styrofoam ball.

If you have that really cool SU circle cutter to cut your 6" circle from chipboard, that may be ideal! I don't own that, so I cut a 6" circle from card stock on my cricut, then traced the card stock circle on my chipboard and cut by hand. Being a former secondary math teacher, I could have used my compass to draw on my chipboard, then cut it out, but I was too lazy to go upstairs and get it :)

Funny story: On my way to see my sister, I stopped by Macy's to purchase the gift card. When the lady tried to hand me an envelope to hold the gift card, I said, "No, thank you. I don't need one." I pulled out the cupcake to insert the gift card and she gasped :) The customer in line behind me said, "Well, you're the person to know! How did you do that?"

I'll bet you have some really great treat ideas to share this week, too! Just post your blog, SCS, or gallery link at Betty Bee's Buzz here! All entries will be entered into our February Blog Candy give away ....

BONUS!!!! In honor of the HoneyBee Retreat that is happening in just a few days, IF we have over 25 entries, those entries will be entered into a drawing, and FIVE will be winners of a very special gift being custom made just for the HoneyBees!!! I promise you'll like it! So, post your projects, tell your friends, link about it, and generally help spread the word, if you can! It'll BEE fun! I am off to pack now; once per year we take our girls to FL to see their Autism specialist. We will be on the train to sunny Florida tomorrow to visit my grandmother, my aunt, and my great aunt for the weekend. Monday morning dh & I will take the girls to their Autism specialist, and that afternoon Betty Bee will whisk me off to the HoneyBee reTREAT in Orlando while dh & my girls return home on the train :)