Yesterday, I showed you how to trim out and assemble a printable banner. Today, we’re going to talk about how to trim printables and assemble cupcake toppers. The printables are all from Love the Day.

How to Trim Printable Labels, Cards and Tags

Any printable that has straight edges, like food labels, water bottle labels, place cards, thank you tags (or in this case, a Detective Checklist) is easiest to cut with a paper trimmer. Trim the outside edges first so you’ll be able to cut out multiple tags with one pass.

If your cut is not exact, it’s easiest to correct with scissors.

One of my favorite party tools is Glue Dots, especially the pop up dots. I’ve used them here to attach thank you tags to ribbon. You know when you see apothecary jars with ribbon and a label? Glue Dots, baby.

How to Trim and Assemble Cupcake Toppers

Cupcake toppers present so many options for customization that they are a ton of fun. You also may see cupcake toppers called “party circles” because they certainly can do more than top cupcakes.

1 – Print your toppers on 110 lb. cardstock. I like to print at Office Depot. You’ll need to trim your toppers close to the edge to punch them out later. Here’s why.

Your punch just can’t reach the topper unless you cut away the border. I like to use my paper trimmer for this. Again, trim around the outer edges first, and then cut the toppers into rows or columns.

2 – Now you’re ready to punch out each topper. In any case, you will usually want a 2″ punch for this job. Here’s a circle punch by Fiskars. The handles make for easy squeezing.

But wait … there’s more! Why limit yourself to circles when there are squares and scallops and flourishes, oh my? My favorite punches are the flat ones on the right by EK Success. They make it easy to hold the toppers without them slipping in the punch. You also can turn the punches over so you can see what you’re punching. And, they lock flat for storage. That’s a huge improvement over my big pink punch.

3 – I do think it’s nice to match your punch shape to your design. Here’s the flourish punch on two different backgrounds. I much prefer the flourish with the solid background as opposed to the sharp angles of the argyle.

4 – Now it’s time to attach your lollipop stick. You can find lollipop sticks in the baking aisle of your craft store. They come in two lengths and I prefer the longer sticks. You can push them more deeply into your cupcake, so you know they aren’t going anywhere. Just a thin bead of Aleene’s Thick Tacky Glue on about 1/2″ of your stick is all you need to attach the stick to the back of the topper.

Now turn your cupcake topper face down while the stick dries. This only takes about 10 minutes.

Ta-da! Here’s your finished topper. If you make these assembly line-style, you’ll finish this project in about 30 minutes for 12 toppers.

5 – One way to dress up your toppers is to add a slightly larger backer. I used a 2 1/4″ scallop punch and a 2 1/2″ punch would be even better.

Put glue on two sides of your lollipop stick. Adhere the stick to the backer.

Then center the cupcake topper on the backer and add it on top of the lollipop stick. This gives you a nice, 3-D look and hides the stick, giving the back of your topper a more finished appearance.

Here you can see four different looks for your toppers. Quick, easy, inexpensive ways to dress up your party.