Candy!

A few months back I showed you how to use mailing labels to make cute little wrapped Hershey's Nuggets. Well, I'm making party favors for my new catalog premiere party this Sunday (each person gets a goodie bag full of handmade items as my thank you) and I wanted to make those candy wrappers again and also a little bag topper too. So, let's review how to make the wrappers first. You need some blank mailing labels, I recommend the ones that are 1" by 4". Shorter than 4 inches and the label just barely makes it around the nugget. It's better to have a bit too long than too short.

I used the new stamp set Many Thanks. I started with one of the larger stamps but not too large or half your stamp will disappear off from the label. With this type of random stamping, the rule of threes doesn't matter as much. Simply stamp around the page of labels leaving space for the smaller stamps. I used autumn terracotta.

Next I took the next smallest stamp and used outdoor denim ink. Stamp it in between the other leaves.

Fill in the spaces again with another stamp and honey ink. It's okay if the leaves overlap a bit.

I went ahead with a 4th stamp and used autumn terracotta again, slipping the leaf in the smaller spaces.

Lastly I took a small acorn stamp and the outdoor denim ink and stamped anywhere that need another splash of the darker color.

Once done, peel off a label.

Start your label on the side of the candy, wrap it around keeping the edges flush.

I bought Wilton clear mini treat bags and they just barely fit 4 candies. The bag is too tall for only four candies so you can either trim the top of the bag or fold it over twice. Staple it to hold it steady for your topper.

Here's two options for a topper. You can randomly stamp on a piece of white cardstock just like you did on the labels. Cut out 3" by 4" rectangles, score so that the piece folds down 1 1/2". Distress with outdoor denim ink.

Attach to your bag with a staple on each side. Add a 1" by 1 1/2" piece of white cardstock that you distressed with outdoor denim. Stamp the "many thanks" sentiment in autumn terracotta and add to the topper.

Here's the finished look, cute, huh?

The other option is to cut a 3" by 4" piece of white cardstock, distress with outdoor denim ink and fold. Use one of your leftover labels and stick it right on the middle of the topper then add the "many thanks" label like you did above. Both looks work great! So, do you think my customers will like these Sunday?



If you like this you might also like Candy Time, Part Two.

One pattern - Three Looks - Card Three

Alright, this is the third card I made from the same pattern. This time I'm using random stamping. Cut a 6" by 6" card front using colonial white paper and cut a 6" by 12" piece of colonial white, score it at 6" and fold to make the card base.

I used the Gear Up set to randomly stamp the 5 3/4" by 5 3/4" paper but I haven't taken you through it step by step for a good reason. This very set and random stamping are taught on our Close to my Heart Art and Soul online tv show this month!! You can see exactly how to do it here!

Now that you've followed the random stamping tutorial on the Art and Soul program, attach it to a 6" by 6" piece of juniper cardstock.

We're using some of the Key to my Heart paper on this card again. Cut a piece of patterned paper from the set, 5 1/4" by 3". You will also need a piece of tulip cardstock cut 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" and three long strips of paper (sorbet) 11 1/2" by 2 1/4", (juniper) 11 1/2" by 1 1/2", and (tulip) 11 1/2" by 1/2". Cut a colonial white piece of cardstock 3 inches in diameter and a tulip piece of cardstock, 3 1/4 inches in diameter (not shown).

Take a border punch of any type and cut along the sorbet strip and distress all pieces.

Using your dry embossing tool and trimmer lay your juniper strip down so that you can press the paper down lightly into the groove on the trimmer, do it every half inch then turn the piece over and sand to make the white core of our cardstock show. Attach it to the sorbet paper letting the fancy edge show on the top.

Glue the tulip strip on the juniper on the opposite end of where you have the ruffle.

Put the larger patterned piece 1/4" from the left hand side and 1/4" from the top of your random stamped paper.

Glue the tulip paper square piece about and inch and a half from left side, two inches from the top of the random stamped paper.

Fold your long strip around the back of the card with the ends on the front (you'll notice I turned the card this time so the strip is vertical). Glue it about 1/2 inch from the right hand side. Glue your white circle to the tulip circle and stamp a set of the "gears" from the Gear Up stamp set in the middle, you can use any of the matching colors, tulip, juniper, creme brulee or sorbet. Attach circle where the strip meets in front of the card.

Add a window charm to the middle of your circle to really make it pop! Take the "gear up to party" stamp and stamp on the polka dot paper and you're finished. Now see how three cards can look so different even with the same pattern, it's really amazing and we even used the same color and paper set on all of them and they still each look unique. There is no excuse that you need to buy a ton of stamps, paper and inks to make great cards. A few stamp sets, a set of good ink colors, papers of your choice and the Wishes book are all you need. In the next few days I'm going to recommend my favorites if you are just beginning to make cards. Tomorrow I will give you the top ten stamps I can't live without to get you started!

Candy Time, Part Two!

Now yesterday I showed you how to decorate York Peppermint Patties, today it's going to be Hershey's nuggets and this is the easiest thing ever. I'm going with the same color scheme as yesterday because I want them to all match with the candy box. I used citrus leaf, bubblegum and Dutch blue inks, the Tickled Pink stamp set, white mailing labels that you put in your computer, I recommend you get the longer ones that run about 4 1/2" I believe. You can find them at Staples and Best Buy, stamp blocks, a sponge, scrubber pad, and the nuggets. You won't need adhesive but somehow my Tombow snuck into the picture!

Lay out your page of labels, no need to separate them yet. We'll be doing a little random stamping. Stamp several flowers around your page remembering the triangle method I've been discussing (see previous random stamping posts). Here's the bubblegum flowers.

Do it again in another color, this was Dutch Blue. Fill in between the bubblegum flowers.

Add the third flower in Citrus Leaf and again fill in the white spaces.

Now do the middles, mix up the colors and the middle stamps too if you like.

Add the leaves, I am so not looking for perfection on something like this especially because most of this will be wrapped around a candy bar and ripped off so that someone can have a treat! Do this whole page quickly!

Once you are finished, peel off the labels, they should look like this, isn't it neat?
Wrap them around the nugget right over the foil that's already on them, the gold ends will show and it's so pretty. Since you are using self-adhesive labels, there's no gluing.

Here's the finished product, beautiful candies wrapped in summer colors. Tomorrow, we make the holder for them. I've already finished it and I love it! For any of the inks or other products shown here, please check out my website or feel free to email me and place an order.

Just one last thing here, if you end up with extra labels when decorating your candy, use them on an empty can to make another decorative holder!