Make these DIY Valentine cupcake toppers for your Valentine’s Day tea party! This tutorial will show you how to make creative Valentine cupcake toppers with just a few, easy to find materials.
It’s hard to say what I enjoy more, making & decorating cupcakes or eating them. With this tutorial, you get the best of both worlds. To make these Valentine cupcake toppers, I knew I wanted something sturdy and simple but also fun and original. A sheet of watercolor paper and several shades of dry watercolor paint sheets fit the bill perfectly. The Peerless dry sheets I used in this tutorial are so vibrant and easy to use, I highly recommend! Of course any kind of watercolor paints will work just fine.
Cute food just tastes better (pretty sure that’s a proven fact…), so let’s get to the DIY!
Gather Your Materials
- Watercolor paper, 1 sheet
- Watercolor paints – I love the Peerless Dry Sheets
- Large watercolor brush
- Paper trimmer*
- Tacky glue*
- Glue stick*
- Small scissors*
- Ruler*
- Cardstock (pink & white or your colors of choice)
- Wooden skewers (the thin ones from Dollar Tree work great)
- Pom poms
- Vintage book pages
- Paper punches: heart, circle (1 1/4″), scalloped circle (1 1/2″)
- Pencil
- Water & water cup
*See my favorite tools here: My Top 10 Go-To Tools for Crafting
Optional:
- Bone folder
- Paper scoring board
- Tissue paper
- Fringe scissors
How To Make Valentine Cupcake Toppers
Create the Flags
Using a large watercolor brush dipped in water, fill a sheet of heavy watercolor paper with different shades of watercolor paints. I used shades of red and pink and made sure to overlap and blend my colors.
While your watercolor paint is drying, you can punch out the circle and scalloped circle pieces for each topper. I used white for the plain circle and a shade of pink for the scalloped circle.
Once your watercolors are dry, use your heart punch to punch out as many hearts as you have circles. Using a glue stick, glue the heart onto the plain circle and then the plain circle onto the scalloped circle. This makes the centerpiece for each cupcake topper.
Next cut out the pennants. I made mine 3.5″ long by 1″ high.
I like to cut out a V shape at the end of my pennants. You can freehand or get a bit more precise by marking a dot in pencil on the back of the flag about 1/2″ in from the end and 1/2″ from the top. Use small scissors to cut in at an angle from each corner.
On the uncut end of the watercolor pennant, fold the end of the paper under about a 1/2″ to create a little flap. If you have a paper scoring board and a bone folder, this is a great time to use them.
Glue the heart stacks on the watercolored side of the pennants using tacky glue.
Use a glue stick and add your sentiment cut out from your stash of thrifted vintage books. I chose a simple XO to repeat on all of my cupcake toppers.
Make It A Topper
Next, gather your wooden bamboo skewers. You can get at least two cupcake topper “sticks” from each skewer. They are easy to snap in half using your hand and then just trim any stray pieces. I like to vary the height of my cupcake toppers, for these I did between 5-7″.
Place a good amount of tacky glue inside the flap of the pennant flag. Place the skewer inside and hold down the flap firmly for about 30 seconds until the watercolor paper stays attached.
Glue on a pom pom and these adorable Valentine cupcake toppers are ready to go!
Note: you can glue a length of fringed tissue or crepe paper underneath the pennant flag for a little extra floof & flair
Decorate Your Cupcakes
Stick the completed watercolor heart toppers into decorated cupcakes and admire the adorableness!
Enjoy!
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