- Birthdays. Lots of them lately. Apparently I am drawn to Pisces. Who knew?
- Dahlias. Specifically THIS story on Design*Sponge on the glory of dahlias, courtesy of Studio Choo. Gahhhh, aren’t they gorgeous?! What would I would give to live in a floral studio like that…
- Buttermints. Do you know about buttermints? I think they might be a Southern thing. Or maybe an old lady thing. They aren’t so popular anymore…
Buttermints are those powdery, pastel colored candies that melt in your mouth. You used to see in a big bowl on the hostess table at restaurants, or, if you came over to Grandnana’s house, you would see little piles of them in cupcake liners all over the place…the coffee table, the end tables, the dining table, the breakfast table, the ledge in the hall, by the front door…even on the back of the toilet tank.
Help Me Rhonda, how that woman loved her buttermints.
She thought keeping them in a single candy bowl would breed germs, so she used little disposable cups instead. Not a bad idea, only problem was, Grandnanna was obsessive about everything matching. It would be a cold day in July before a blue cupcake liner made it into her pink kitchen. The woman refused to serve food with ketchup at the kitchen table because it clashed with the décor. I’m not even kidding.
Needless to say, she always kept a variety of cupcake liners on hand. They didn’t make a lot of color/pattern options back then, so if you saw something nifty you just picked them up and saved them until Grandnanna’s birthday. She would get mad if you bought her a real gift, but simple indulgences like cupcake liners and heavy duty aluminum foil were greatly appreciated.
Ramble Ramble Ramble…because I inherited every breed of crazy from Grandnanna, it’s only natural I also inhereted some of her cupcake liners and started a collection on my own. Eventually the collection got so big I had to curb it by setting a $1.00 a packet limit on all new acquisitions. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the fancy department store down the street, the one with the great kitchenware departments where I’m always buying registry gifts, is always selling cupcake liners on clearance and they are always priced 89cents. Polka dots, checks, and stripes…it’s different every time. I can never pass them up. One time, I passed up on buying some Laura Ashley style pink pansy print cupcake liners, and I swear to you, an hour later I was craving buttermints so bad I had to take two buses to get to a greasy-spoon diner where they keep them at the hostess stand.
It was totally worth it.
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| Making these is so easy. Just grab a lunch sac, some twine, hot glue, and of course, cupcake liners! I make bag handles just by gluing the twine to the inside of the bag. This is gift wrap y’all, no need for long term quality here. |
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| If you want to be thorough about things, use an existing shopping bag like the white one above. Whatever you do, don’t just go out and buy a gift bag! True Craftmeisters never buy bags or ribbon. It’s the law, y’all. |
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| Ruffles work wonders! Just pinch a cupcake liner or two and hot glue to end of some rustic old twine. Ta Da! |
I love Grandnana! (I know a couple of her…) I am knocked out by these cool bags and especially by those utterly nifty ruffley-dangly-tassely thingies. Love the pictures of your collected towers of liners.
You go girl! You go Grandnana!
I am so gluing cupcake wrappers on every gift bag I ever use in the future. I hate gift bags. Hello, lazy gift-wrapper! However, by some cruel twist of fate, I am physically incapable of throwing them away. So when I receive gifts in gift bags (which I always do, since apparently everyone in the world loves them but me) I wind up saving them, and because I have them, I feel compelled to use them. Clearly there is something wrong with me, but it may be something that could be cured by the gluing on of cupcake wrappers. Just maybe.
i remember the old people and their mints. i haven’t seen those mints in FOREVER. melt in your mouth, they were… good ol’ times… ADORATION for the stacks of cupcake liners and the happy concoctions you’ve made with them!!! what a joyful post! thanks Peaches!
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My Grammie always had buttermints(the kind w/ the extra little strip of green gel mint in the middle) for bridge club!
I Love Your Ideas! Thank You So Much For Sharing! : *** Kisses from Portugal
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Peaches, you rock! I get your RSS feed and it lightens my day to read your backstory on what you are doing. LOVE the feathered headdresses – I like anything with feathers/sequins/sparkle. I have 2 small boys, so no girl to dress up. May have to get a cat….
How amazingly creative and original ! i can totally see the dahlia inspiration in your finished bags. Just beautiful.
I am totally in awe of your cupcake liner collection….and your amazing idea of making these fab gift bags, ever thought of covering say a car in cupcake liners? You know the street “graffiti” that’s being done around the world with granny squares? Well you could do it with cupcake liners…okay maybe not in the winter! Thanks again for a great contribution to Craft Schooling Sunday, love ya Peaches xoxoxoSara
wow they are so pretty and smells of goodies these bags. great for birthday parties .Thanks for sharing such an innovative yet simple work of art