Valentine Chocolate Box

This is the "chocolate" box that I created for my husband as a (belated) Valentine. Lift up the lid to reveal six pieces of Valentine candy, with secret sentiments hidden beneath. It's fat-free, sugar-free, but still oh-so-sweet!

For the box base, I altered a pair of heart-shaped containers that had held some handmade sticker embellishments from Michaels' $1 bins. I added scalloped cardstock to both the front and back of my heart box. I also adhered heart-shaped mulberry paper to the inside of both to cover up the raw cardboard, and an additional strip of mulberry paper to act as a lip for my box. I covered the sides with brown satin ribbon, added a ribbon loop for hanging my project, and accented the front with paper flowers and a custom tag.

On the inside, I adhered six sets of mini baking cups to the bottom - one normal cup and one turned inside out and placed inside the other cup. I did this so that you could see the heart pattern from both the sides and top of each cup. I created six sentiments, punched them out with my circle punch, and accented each of them with a paper flower and silver snap. I then glued one to the bottom of each of my mini baking cups.

For my "chocolate," I chose felt stickers for the tops. Then began the search for something to use as the bases for my candy pieces. I thought mini wooden spools, or checker pieces, or those foam marshmallows would be perfect, except for the fact that I didn't have any of these lying around the house. I tried slicing off rings from a cardboard wrapping paper tube, but that was too wide and flimsy. I thought about stacking buttons, but discarded that idea also. Finally, EUREKA! Plastic bottle caps! They're the right size, lightweight, and available! (Well, if by "available" you mean emptying out a couple of half-filled soda bottles, ransacking the recycling bin, and swapping out blue caps for the white caps on my milk containers...) Voilà! My project is complete!

Finished Size Approx 5.5" x 5.25" x 1.75", exclusive of ribbon.
Lots more pics in my online portfolio!