This is a super cute and very easy tutorial for all of you who love Vintage Easter collectibles and cupcakes! I'm thinking I just roped in a sizable audience with that opener.
Homemade toppers are great, because even if you're not a baker, you can take a handful of bakery bought cupcakes and make them all your own by popping these in. Me and Aaron made these in an afternoon with very few supplies. We modeled them after some of our favorite collectibles.
And these here are just some of my favorite vintage toppers. They were a gift from a dear friend. I love the packaging! And yes, they were never opened.
These right here are what we modeled ours after. The chicks crack me up. They actually have bangs! They look like surfers or skaters.
We were so thrilled to find these spun cotton balls. They're exactly what we needed. They're from a great company called Spunnys. And I can't say enough about Nicolas at Spunnys...what great customer service, and fast shipping, and great prices too. I know we will be using Spunnys for lots of projects in the future. And the mullberry paper flowers are from Mullberry Bear, which has a great selection!
Here is what you will need:
Spun cotton balls (30mm)
Mullberry paper flowers (1 3/4")
party picks or toothpicks
assorted patterned papers
heavy duty crepe paper (or patterned paper)
all purpose glue
acrylic paint
ultra fine tip sharpie
pencil
scissors
xacto knife
paint brushes
circle paper punch
1 white or yellow feather
We had a styrofoam food tray that worked perfectly as a place to keep our toppers while working. We just turned it upside down, and poked holes. First thing we did was to paint our balls with acryclic paint. We chose a pale yellow for the chicks and a creamy white for the bunnies. Once they were dry we drew the faces. First with pencil so that there would be guidelines for our sharpie. Tip: drawing on flat acrylic paint will dry up the tip of the sharpie, so keep a piece of scrap paper handy so that you can periodically scribble to get the ink flowing again.
Next we drew some ears on crepe paper, and some beaks on chipboard. (notice the beaks have two points...one of the points will stick into the spun cotton ball). We used the chipboard as is, no need to paint it. The ears we drew as one shape, rather than two separate ears. The part where the two ears meet will fit into a slot on the spun cotton ball. Cut out your ears and beaks and set aside.
Next, using a sharp xacto knife we made slices for our ears and beaks. Be very careful here...you just want to poke the blade in and gently wiggle it to give enough space for the ears and beaks to slide in.
Now slide your ears and beaks into their respective slots. It takes a little work to get them in just right. Once they're in, using a detail brush, add a thin line of glue along the front and back to secure them. We love Aleene's because it dries fast, and clear!
Next up are the little "outfits". For your chick hats, cut out circles, then cut the circle in half, roll into a hat shape and glue the end to keep it in place.
For the collars, punch circles from patterned papers and pair them with contrasting colored paper flowers. And if you are giving your chicks the funny bangs you will need a white or yellow feather.
Cut a tiny bundle of feather and glue it inside the front of your hat. Then glue the hats onto the chicks.
Now poke holes in the centers of your flowers and paper circles and glue them together. Then push the doubled collar up the pick and glue to the ball.
And you are finished!
Since we wanted a forever spot for these toppers we made some faux cupcakes from air dry clay. They're painted pink and creamy white, and the tops are sprinkled with clear crystal glitter.
We hope you enjoyed this little tutorial! Now tht we've made these you can bet we will be making little characters for all seasons and holidays! If you make some of your own, we'd love to see pics! Thanks for joining us!
If you enjoyed this tutorial you may love our book!
Happy Spring & Easter!
xo Jenny & Aaron
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