Holiday Gift Card/Treat Box

Hi - It's Jeanne here and welcome to the all new Holiday 2009 version of Joli Paquet! I'm so excited to be the first to share with you my tutorial for the festive Holiday Gift Card/Treat Box box shown above.

This project includes a template for making both a large and small size of the box. The larger one will hold a gift card or bracelet. The smaller box will hold a pair of earrings or candies. It's a tradition in our family to have a little treat by each place setting for Christmas dinner. The smaller box is the perfect size for this and it can do double-duty as a placecard as well.

~ Supply List ~

One - 8.5" x 11" sheet of cardstock - any color

One - 6" x 8" sheet of decorative paper - scrapbook paper, wallpaper, gift wrap

One - 1" x 6" strip of coordinating decorative paper

One 3" x 3" sheet of another coordinating decorative paper

12" strip of crepe paper in a complimentary color

2" diameter scallop edged circle punch

Large snowflake punch

Silver glitter

Medium sized Button

Thread

Embroidery Floss & Baker's Twine (optional)

Small tag

Heavy Duty Double-sided Tape

Glue Stick & White Craft Glue

Scissors

Pinking Shears (optional)

Embossing Stylus or Bone Folder

OK, now let's get started!

Step 1 - Double click on the template above to enlarge and then print out on plain paper.

Step 2 - Cut out the template for the size box you wish to make. (I am going to show you how to make the large size in this tutorial.) Using a pencil, trace the template onto plain cardstock.

Step 3 - Following the lines you traced, cut out the box from the cardstock. Using an embossing stylus (or bone folder), trace over all the dotted lines. Press down fairly hard to make folding and constructing the box easier.

Step 4 - Cover the entire back of the box with a glue stick and adhere in to the back of the 6"x8" piece of decorative paper. Cut off excess paper. (Gluing first and cutting second assures that you will have a perfect fit.)

Step 5 - Apply heavy duty double-sided tape to the right side of the entire tab. (I think this tape was originally called Wonder Tape. It is available at Michael's and various scrapbook stores.) Fold box on creases made with stylus. Peel off tape backing. Fold tab over and adhere to the inside of the other end of the box (see last picture in the photo above).

Step 6 - Fold end flaps on creases made with stylus. Attach the 1"x6" strip of decorative paper, as shown, and trim ends to fit box. (Both of these papers are from My Mind's Eye)

Step 7 - Punch a large snowflake from white cardstock. (I used Martha Stewart's Himalayan Snowflake punch available at Michael's.) Punch a 2" circle from coordinating paper. (I used a scallop edged circle punch.)

Step 8 - Glue the snowflake to the center of the scallop edged circle. Apply white craft glue to snowflake and sprinkle with silver glitter. (I used German glass glitter, but any glitter will do. You can even use Stickles Glitter Glue if you'd like.)

Step 9 - Gather one edge of approximately 12" of crepe paper (use the full width of crepe paper) by stitching a basting stitch with thread. As you pull the thread the crepe paper strip will form a rosette. Tack down center with thread to hold in place. Glue snowflake circle on top of crepe paper rosette.

Step 10 - Thread embroidery floss through button holes and secure with a knot on top of the button. Glue button to center of snowflake.

Step 11 - Decorate a small tag with your choice of paper. I added a vintage red label to write the recipient's name. Tie a bow through the hole with a length of baker's twine and attach to the front of the box with a little craft glue.

Now you're ready to fill your pillow box with a small gift, sweet treats, or a gift card. You can decorate these little boxes as simply or extravagantly as you desire. Either way, the recipient is sure to be delighted by their little gift! As the saying goes. . . . . Good things come is small packages!

Happy Holidays!!!

xxoo

Jeanne

Simply Divine Chocolate Almond Truffles

G0od morning everyone - it's Jeanne here! I hope you have been able to take advantage of all the fabulous kits the gals are selling in their Etsy shops and web boutiques. I must say I am amazed by the superb talents of the artists here at Joli Paquet. If you haven't had a chance to check them out yet be sure to do it soon before all the kits sell out and are gone forever!

Today is my turn to share something wonderful and yummy with you all, so let's get started! This is an easy recipe, but it tastes like a million bucks. I made hundreds of these a few weeks ago for my daughter's wedding and they were such a big hit that I'm thinking of making more of them for the holidays. Maybe you would like to try them too! They make wonderful hostess gifts as well as stocking stuffers. I'll even show you how you can package them for the holidays!

First lets, make the truffles - Start with 1/2 cup evaporated milk. Pour into a heavy saucepan.
Combine with 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and stir in one 11.5 oz package of milk chocolate morsels. Stir vigorously and quickly so that the morsels melt completely and you don't end up with a lumpy mess!

Once melted, the chocolate should look smooth like the picture below:

Now it's time to stir in 3/4 teaspoon pure almond extract. Mix well to combine.

Transfer chocolate mixture to a small bowl and refrigerate for 1.5 - 2 hours.

While chocolate is chilling, finely chop 1 cup sliced almonds in a food processor. When chocolate is finished chilling, use the large side of a melon baller and scoop up chocolate.

Roll into a smooth ball in your hands.

Then roll the ball of chocolate into the chopped almonds.

Place on waxed paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate until set.After the truffles are sufficiently chilled, you can place them into paper candy cups. These come in a wide variety of colors and patterns and are available practically everywhere from grocery stores to craft stores to specialty kitchen supply stores. I like the ones pictured below from Sur la Table. You also may want to wrap the individual truffles in foil to keep them fresh. Sur la Table sells some made especially for candy and Michael's also sells packages of gold and silver wrappers in the cake decorating aisle.

Now it's time to package these goodies to give as gifts. This is the part that I love to do! I have a "thing" for detail in packaging. You can buy 2-inch square truffle or favor boxes at party stores or paper supply stores. I got mine at a wedding supply company online. Believe me after planning a wedding, I am an expert on these kinds of things! The boxes usually come in packages of 25. I prefer the 2-piece type with separate lids, as they are less flimsy than the one piece type.

To fill the boxes and cushion the truffles, you can use regular paper shredd that you can buy in craft stores. I painstakingly shredded vintage sheet music by hand using a paper cutter for my filling. If you happen to have an electric paper shredder that still shreds in strips (many of them are cross-cut types now) you can use that and save yourself hours of work, but I found many of those to cut the paper too wide for my taste. I have purchased this type of paper shred in the past at a couple different shops on Etsy, like this one here. Whatever you choose to fill your boxes with is fine.

To decorate the top of the truffle boxes, I used a 2-in scalloped edge circle punch to cut circles out of red holiday paper and adhered it to the box top with a glue stick. Then I layered an eyelet seal on top of the paper circle. These particular seals are from the Martha Stewart Craft line and were purchased at Walmart.

Using an old piece of millinery or silk flowers or a glittery floral pick like the one below, snip off some small leaves.

If the leaves are too big, just use your scissors to cut smaller leaves out of the big ones. It doesn't have to be perfect! Then hot glue the leaves to the center of the box.

Next add a tiny bow in a coordinating color.

And after that, glue on a small charm, vintage earring, discarded bead or old button like I used below. Finish off with some dots made with Platinum Stickles (or German glass glitter, if you prefer) to add some sparkle!

And Voila! You have party/hostess gifts or favors to give throughout the entire holiday season along with a delicious treat hidden inside!

I hope you are enjoying all the tutorials and tips on the Joli Pacquet blog. It's so much fun to have a place to come all month long for holiday inspiration. Remember, we're only halfway through the month ~ we've got lots more to share with you! And don't forget to go check out all those wonderful KITS available for sale by clicking here.

xoxo Jeanne