HOW TO : Valentine's Day Treat Boxes / Countdown

Celebrate the Love by using these little treat boxes to Count Down to Valentine's Day!

Another Countdown idea for you! Today its using these darling little treat boxes!! The boxes come premade, you just fold them and they're ready decorate - you'll love them! ;-)

Stampin' Up! Supplies for Valentines Countdown Boxes

I'm using these Stampin' Up! products today:
For more details or to purchase these, please see the links at the bottom of this post.

• Tiny Treat Boxes
• You Plus Me Stamp Set
• Project Life by Stampin' Up! Day to Day stamp set
• Stacked with Love Paper Stack
• Stacked with Love Washi Tape
• Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Calypso Coral Cardstock
• Heart Punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack
• Stampin' Dimensionals and Glue Dots

Tiny Treat Boxes make great Party Favors too!! 

For these boxes I'm CASE'ing the samples in the Occasions Catalog. (Copy And Share Everything - a great way to get really cute stuff by copying a design you like, or take the inspiration and add your own twist).

To Shop the Occasions Catalog Click HERE 

I started by decorating the boxes. These boxes are about 2" square and come in a pack of 25!! Great for Class Treats because you can make 50 or more with just one pack of the Stacked With Love paper stack and Washi Tape set! Fill them with candy or what-not. They are the perfect size for Party Favors, gifts for neighbors or coworker. They're pretty enough to decorate with too, fill up a mantle or shelf, or use as a centerpiece.

The You Plus Me stamp set is great for decorating for Valentines Day.
TIP: When Using Clear Stamps I like to line a straight edge up through my clear block when I adhere the stamp. I have a much better chance of stamping it straight if its at least squared up to the edges of my block!! I like to line up the block on my Stampin' Grid Paper, then add my stamp, lining it up with one of the lines I can see through my block.

TIP - Line up stamp on grid through the clear block

To get just the Be Mine part of this stamp, I'm going to ink it up with my Stampin' Write Marker in Real Red. TIP: when you are inking up a stamp with the marker, and you've got a larger area to cover, be sure you're using the sides of your brush tip so you don't damage the pen, and so you can speed through the coloring! For smaller areas or details, carefully use the tip.

Inking part of the stamp with my Stampin' Write Marker

Clear stamps make lining up images easier than traditional wood block stamps.

While I do love the ease of clear stamps - storage space, lining up images for stamping, etc. - I was frustrated with their 'clinginess' to the blocks. TIP: What I've found works best for me, is to warm the block up in my hand, and warm the stamp up in my other hand, for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. When they are both warm they seem to have better attraction. For larger stamps I like to also breathe onto the clear block, causing a little fogging of the block and providing a little moisture to aid the stickability. For smaller stamps, or stamps I will need to use for a while, maybe cleaning and changing colors, I add a little glue dot and stick the stamp to that on the block. Definite stickiness, but requires a little more cleaning, and care in removing your stamp. Not a big sacrifice for clear, sure stamping.

Decorated Treat Box - easy peasy!!

I added the washi tape and ended up adding some punched hearts instead of the stamped and fussy cut ones like the catalog used. If you have the old small heart punch, it works OK with the stamps in this set, but the current heart from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack has a little swoosh to it that doesn't match. If I want to do these for favors or class treats, I'm not going to stamp and hand-cut umpteen hearts. I'll punch and stick and be done with it! #lazystamper For comparison - see the image below:

Punched Cardstock - Stamped and Punched - Stamped and Fussy Cut

Once you have your boxes decorated, you can start filling them for gifting!
If you'd like to use them for a Countdown to Valentines Day, here is an easy way to number them for the countdown:

Using the Project Life by Stampin' Up! Day to Day stamp set, I added a February tag, and then tags for each day. Stapled to a strip of cardstock, a few punched hearts, and Voila!! A Special Countdown! Simple! This set is pretty darn useful outside of Project Life! ;-) Use it to make anniversary / shower / wedding / party favors with a special date, save the date cards for a wedding or other special event, use it in your planner or Filofax... Useful! #JustSayin ;-)

The Stampin' Up! items used for this project are shown below, 

Click on any image to view more info 

 or to purchase them in my online store. 

February will be here before you know it - start your countdowns now!!
Happy Crafting!
-Angie

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