By Laura Bray

I have strong childhood memories of learning how to embroider. I loved sitting in the living room, stitching a small piece and occasionally looking up and checking on my mom’s progress on her embroidery work. The peace and quiet it brought me was soothing and I felt very close to my mom during those moments. As junior high and high school and boys and fun took over my life, I put my needle, floss, and hoop down and I didn’t return to it until about three years ago. Now, my five year old daughter hovers near me as I stitch. She so wants to join in the fun, a real needle is still a bit of danger for someone so young, yet I still want to encourage her interest. We bought some blunt, plastic needles and some plastic grids for her “embroider” on, but I think she’s happiest when she plays with the cupcake embroidery cards I made her. When I first gave them to her, about two years ago, she proclaimed it was “like sewing with the angels”. Here’s how I made them:

Supplies:

• Cupcake Embroidery Card TemplateCardboard
• Scrapbook paper-one design for "frosting" and one design for the "wrapper"
• Mod Podge®
• 1 yard of cording per cupcake (long shoelaces work too!)
• Tools:
• Scissors
• Crop-A-Dile™

Instructions:

1. Using the Cupcake Embroidery Card Template, cut-out and trace the cupcake wrapper and frosting onto scrapbook paper. You can overlap the frosting a bit over the wrapper, but if you allow too much overlap, you risk the paper peeling up. If you want to cover the back of the embroidery card, be sure to cut-out the entire shape of the cupcake template on another sheet paper.
   
2. Using the cupcake template again, cut-out the entire shape of the cupcake from a piece of cardboard.
   
3. Glue frosting, wrapper and back paper to the cardboard shape. Use a thin layer of Mod Podge® and be sure to coat the entire surface with the Mod Podge®. Gently press down and smooth out the paper. For added durability, you may want to add a light coat of Mod Podge® over the entire surface of the front of the cupcake. Allow the glue to dry. Overnight is best. 
   
4. Once all the glue is dry, mark holes around the entire outside of the cupcake. The template I'm giving you has the holes marked, but you can add the holes as you see fit. Using a Crop-A-Dile™ or other sturdy hole punch tool, punch the holes out. With two layers of paper and cardboard, you need a tool that can hole punch through a fairly large thickness. Again, if you want the toy to be durable, you could also place brads or grommets in the holes.
   
5. Take cording and tie a large knot in one end. On the other end, wrap tape around the end of the cord to form a "needle" that won't fray. Or use shoelaces.
   
6. Hand-over the card to your favorite child, then pull out your own stitching project and enjoy your quiet time together.