Bright Creme Egg Box

My family looks forward to the weeks approaching Easter because I wind up buying candy especially for these boxes. Then they get to eat them after the photo is taken!

This box is my Cadbury Creme set, it will hold 4 eggs. I do recommend gluing the bottom tab as well as the side tabs because of the weight of the eggs.

Click on the images for larger versions, print 2 pages of the egg boxes, and one of the base. Cut out, score folds, fold and glue!

You can buy the blank template to decorate yourself at my Etsy store.

Cookie and Milk Chocolate Candies

Aren't those pretty with their strata of cookie crumbs? The Amazing Turnip Girl made them for her grandfather keeping in mind his tastes the entire time. Dad's a chocolate with more chocolate sort of person, so these were perfect. He also prefers milk chocolate to dark chocolate, so these instructions use that. You can absolutely use dark chocolate.

You will need:

• 7-8 ounces of good quality chocolate*
• 8-10 Oreos- crushed
• Coconut oil

You will also need:

• Double boiler or a heat-proof bowl (I use a glass mixing bowl) and a sauce pan
• spoons!
• knife
• silicone candy mold
• cookie sheet
• wax paper

*I've said this before- but good chocolate is one that's only a few ingredients. If you see a bunch of kinds of oils, or see any chemical names other than lecithin- put it down and pick a different chocolate. I don't know how those types of chocolate, or chocolate candy will work in my recipes. We used Godiva because it was on sale and I know my Dad likes Godiva chocolate. 

You can crush the Oreos in a food processor, in a heavy duty zipper type freezer bag or just using a spoon and some muscle in a good mixing bowl. The second 2 methods are fun for kids. 

Put 2 inches of water in the bottom pan of the double boiler or your improvised version of one, and then set the top or bowl on top of it. Cut chocolate bars into small chunks using a sharp knife. Bring water to a simmer over low heat, and add chocolate and 1 tsp. of coconut oil to the top bowl. Melt chocolate. As it starts to melt, stir it to incorporate unmelted pieces and just keep stirring, it melts pretty quickly. Using the coconut oil makes for shiny chocolates without having to temper the chocolate (which is another skill set and a bit more work with more tools) but the chocolate WILL have to be kept chilled because it hasn't been properly tempered and milk chocolate likes to melt.

Get your clean and completely dry mold set on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. This helps keep any accidents off your counter tops! 

Spoon a small amount of chocolate into each mold, and then a small amount of cookie crumbs using separate spoons, after you've done that in the mold cavities, fill each cavity with more chocolate.  

Then you just set it in the freezer or fridge to chill until hardened, and unmold the chocolates. The reason I like silicone molds is that you can pop them out from the bottom by pushing up on the bottom of the mold and they come unmolded beautifully. If you want to, you can put them in candy papers or mini-cupcake papers, and chill until you're ready to serve them or give them as a gift.

The flavor is wonderful, since they used a good chocolate as a base and the cookies add a nice crunch. Her Grandpa will probably love them since they combine 2 of his favorite things. Chocolate candy and chocolate cookies. You can use different cookies in them if you prefer. Ginger, vanilla, even graham crackers.

T

New template! Fancy Pinstripes 5 colors

I made a new template! However, the photo leaves something to be desired. Still getting used to my new camera.
For it's debut, I decided to make matches for the 2x2x2 Fancy Pinstripes set. 5 colors, the base is 2 inches, the top is 3 inches and it's an inch deep with overlapping semi-circles to close. The photo above shows it with 2 mini cupcake wrappers set in the diagonal and candies in those (recipe to follow)
Click on the images for bigger versions. Cut, score, fold, glue!

Cream cheese mints are really popular, but TG is pretty convinced chocolate improves almost any dessert. Here's the recipe:
Chocolate cream cheese mints

• 8oz cream cheese softened
• 1 Tbs butter softened
• 1 tsp. mint extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 lb bag of powdered sugar

Prepare 3 cookie sheets by covering them with waxed paper or parchment paper- this is a no-cook recipe so either will work.
With an electric beater, cream together the cream cheese, butter, extracts and cocoa powder, then start adding the powdered sugar a cup at a time for 6 cups. After that, a half cup at a time. You'll need nearly the whole bag or if it's a humid there as it is here, the whole bag. After you can't use the beater anymore, knead in the rest by hand.

Make small balls and flatten them on the waxed paper, they can be close as long as they don't touch. After you get done with a sheet, cross hatch the candies with the tines of a fork.
Let air dry for 8 hours, flipping them over every 2 hours.

These *can* be frozen after they've dried then thawed as needed. I took a small part of the dough and kneaded in some sea salt and topped with Cypress flake salt. Those are my favorites. I think if we skipped the mint and used almond instead with the salt, chocolate and vanilla, it would be amazing.

Spring Color Slide Box- Ghirardelli Squares

A new template! A slide box that will fit 3 Ghirardelli squares, and prints 2 boxes to a page. To make these, you, click on the larger image, print at 8x10 inches, cut, score, fold. The inner box, you glue the tabs to the inside to make an open topped box. The outer slide, you glue the tab to the inside. Click on the image for a larger version.The blank template is available in my Etsy shop.

Two Thousand and Sweet! (with a coloring page)

My friend Liza from Brazil told me-

"Do you know what people have been calling the New Year here? Dois mil e doce (two thousand and sweet), because doze (twelve) sounds similar to doce (sweet). So a very very sweet year for you, too!"

I hope the year is sweet for all of you. Click on the candy mandala for a larger version. Transparent PNG as usual!

 Last year was the first time I started drawing mandalas on a regular basis, and it's a habit that I plan to keep.

My resolutions for this year are:

• Get an F.A.Q. written!
• Write the e-book about how to draw different radially symmetrical designs
• make lots and lots of things and write tutorials for them!
• Make a list of nearly painless ways to help out local charities
• Work out more regularly

The last one is easy. I've been going to the gym with an old friend regularly for water aerobics, which is a lot of fun because it's easy on my arthritis and I get to chat with her while we work out. My husband wants us to start lifting weights again as well. 

For the list of nearly painless ways to help out local charities, I'd love suggestions! I'd like to post that in the next few days. If you want me to link to your page, include it in comments or email. You can email me at shala (at) donteatthepaste (.) com.

The F.A.Q.- well.. honestly it's something I've meant to do for the last couple of months. So hopefully it gets done soon.

Tutorials- Working on one now for bird cage veils!

The e-book will take a bit more time.

I hope it truly is two thousand and sweet for all of you!
Comments locked. 

Little Christmas Chocolate Box

Who doesn't love Christmas? The smiles and good cheer, the music, the fantastic deals on pajama bottoms and it's just the most wonderful time of the year. And oh yeah. Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark. My poor darling put upon husband. All this chocolate I buy seasonally for the site, then tell him he can't touch it until I get photos. About 3 minutes after I took this photo, he was happily snacking on one.
Since according to the bag, 3 squares is one serving, this box fits 3 squares, and 2 boxes fit to one sheet of card stock. There are approximately 15 squares per bag, so enough for 4 boxes and the leftovers are yours.
Print on card stock, cut out, score folds, fold, and glue. If you don't print it at 8x10 inches, it might not precisely fit 3 chocolates. Click on the image for a larger version.

Kiss Boxes! 5 colors

Nothing is sweeter for Valentine's Day than a kiss from someone you love right?

Because of the detail of this design, it's in 300 ppi. Be careful with your score lines. The labels on the bottom of the kisses were printed on sticker paper and punched with a 3/4 inch hole punch*. 80 fits on a page, so you can use them on the bottom of kisses for 20 boxes if you wanted to. 2 boxes print out on a page. So if you were feeling very very ambitious, 2 sheets of sticker paper and 20 sheets of card stock would be enough for a class of 40 kids. Or you can use the little 3/4 inch circles to close things up like I did on the box on the right. Click on the images for the full sized versions.

The Uchida 3/4 inch circle punch is the one I used. The link is an Amazon.com affiliate link which helps support my craft and book addiction.

Candy twist box and gift tags- Christmas

Printable box and gift tags. The box is my twist box template, and I printed the gift tags out on a blank sheet of sticker paper. 

They are at 100 ppi. Click on the images for the full sized versions.

In other news, I posted instructions for knitting markers here, and a Hamsa pattern for beading here.

You can still buy any of the templates or bead patterns using coupon code Thanks2010 at my Etsy shop for 20% off.

Christmas set and Black Friday coupon

These are all made from templates that I have available in my Etsy shop, most of them at 300 and 100 ppi. I hope you enjoy this set, and if you'd like to buy the blank templates to make your own, I'm offering this coupon code from now until Friday December 3,2010 for 20% off the cost of my templates or bead patterns.

Enter this code at check out for 20% off Thanks2010  EDIT: Coupon extended until Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Thank you, everyone who encouraged me and read this blog. You all make it a joy to come up with new designs.

These printables are in 100 ppi format, click on the images for the full sized versions. The slide box is sized to hold 4 miniature Hershey bars.

Halloween Bats- slide boxes!

'Tis the season to be spooky!
Little slide boxes, like the ones for the Andes mint boxes, except these are sized for Hershey's miniatures.
Click on the images for the full sized 100 ppi versions. The boxes are printed on card stock, and the wrappers are printed on paper.

Check the labels for more bats and other Halloween printables.

You can get the blank template from my Etsy shop. There is also a slide box template for Andes Mints available there.

Candy Box- pink and brown

Since Valentine's Day is coming, it's time to put up some some heart stuff right? This is a template I made last night. It's fussy to cut and fold so scoring and pre-folding is really necessary. I used double sided tape to assemble it, and a craft knife for the inner cuts. After you tape the tabs for the middle and the ends, if you pre-folded it, you can press down lightly on the end and it kind of collapses in the right shape to tie the ribbons, twine or yarn to close it up.

I posted the blank template in my Etsy shop. Later I'll put together another collection of templates.

I hope you enjoy this project! Click on the image for the full sized printable.

 

ETA: The link for my Etsy shop was messed up, I should have double checked when it didn't autosave correctly. It's fixed now!