In the United States, the 4th of July is a widely observed holiday. It’s a day meant to celebrate independence and patriotism, but it’s also an extremely popular day for grilling and having cookouts. One of my favorite parts of a cookout is dessert: and while I love fruit salad, and should probably eat more of it, I tend to head straight for the cupcakes every time.
Today, I wanted to share with you a tutorial on how to make custom 4th of July cupcake wrappers and toppers for your cookout. Custom wrappers and toppers are a great added touch to your cupcakes, no matter the occasion. While it’s great if you’re able to bake your own cupcakes, it’s okay if you can’t – and these custom wrappers and toppers would be the perfect added touch to cupcakes from your favorite bakery.
(As a side note, if you are from a different country, this is still a great tutorial on how to make your own Print Then Cut cupcake wrappers and toppers. You can customize this project using a graphic with colors from your own country to celebrate your national holidays.)
For this project, we’ll be utilizing the Print Then Cut feature of Cricut’s Design Space.
Materials needed
- Cricut Explore, Explore II or Cricut Maker
- A printer & ink
- Design Space software on a compatible device (Print Then Cut is currently not supported on Android devices, but can be used via desktop or laptop computer, as well as the Apple iPad)
- White cardstock
- Paper craft glue & a permanent tape runner
- Toothpicks
The Wrappers
For the cupcake wrappers, I chose to use a cupcake wrapper base from Cricut Access, but you can use your own or purchase a cupcake wrapper SVG to use. I set the size of the cupcake wrapper at about 9 inches wide on Cricut Design Space, which fits most standard sized cupcakes. If you’re making smaller or larger cupcakes, you’d want to adjust your size accordingly. Next, I uploaded the 4th of July graphic I selected – you can find this in a bundle for FREE on Creative Fabrica.
I placed the striped graphic over top of the cupcake wrapper design so I could position where the stripes would be. Next, I selected both the graphic and the cupcake wrapper on the Layers panel and clicked “Slice”. What this does is merge the two items together, creating 3 layers: one is the graphic with a cupcake wrapper shaped cutout, one is the original cupcake wrapper cutout, and the third one (which is the one we want) is a Print Then Cut cupcake wrapper with our graphic on it. Go ahead and delete the other two layers, as we won’t be using them today.
See video of the instructions above here:
The Toppers
For the cupcake topper, I selected a 4th of July design from Cricut Access. For this particular design, I duplicated the bottom layer so I would have a back for the topper. Then I changed the operation for the 4th of July design to Print Then Cut and hit “Flatten” to flatten the two images together. I sized the cupcake toppers at about 2 inches wide, which seems to be the perfect size for a standard cupcake.
Let’s Print!
Click “Make It” and follow the instructions on your screen. You’ll print the first page, which will contain the cupcake wrapper and topper front. Place it on your mat and follow the prompts to cut it out. Next, you’ll use a sheet of white cardstock to cut out the back of your cupcake topper. Now, it’s time to assemble our project!
Crafters…assemble!
For the cupcake wrapper, assembling is super easy: insert the tab into the slot and then place a cupcake in the wrapper. For the topper, we have a little bit more assembly. Using the permanent tape runner, you’ll apply adhesive to the topper back on the left, top and right sides, leaving the bottom free of adhesive. This will create a little pocket for us to place our toothpick in. Next, place the printed cupcake topper front over the back and line it up, pressing down to glue it together. You’ll want to add a little bit of paper craft glue to the top of your toothpick and then insert it in the little “pocket” that we’ve created on the topper. I’d suggest making sure it dries completely before you use it, at least 15-20 minutes. And that’s it!
See video on how to assemble the cupcake wrappers as described above:
Other Options
Using the basic instructions of this tutorial, you can make cupcake wrappers & toppers for any occasion. Simply change your graphic and your topper design! Here are some suggestions:
- Do you have a birthday boy that loves dinosaurs? Choose a dinosaur patterned graphic for the cupcake wrapper and use the number that corresponds to the age of the birthday boy as your topper.
- Using a blue, glittery graphic and a snowflake shape would be a great way to make a winter themed cupcake wrapper and topper set.
- Are you celebrating a special someone? Use a graphic of your loved one’s favorite thing for the wrapper and upload a picture of their face for the topper. For instance, if I were making this for my husband, I would pick a football pattern for the wrapper, because Alex is a big football fan. For the topper, I would create a circle shape in Design Space, and then upload a picture of him. Selecting both the circle and the image I wanted, I would follow the above instructions for slicing, or I could click “flatten” to attach the images together into one Print Then Cut image.
The combinations are endless, and custom wrappers & toppers are a great way to add a personalized touch to any celebration.
What did you think of this tutorial? Have you made customized cupcake wrappers and toppers before? And, finally, what’s your favorite flavor of cupcake? (Mine is a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting) Let me know in the comments section!
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