Sweets to Share

(This post originally appeared on the Everyday Cricut blog where I was the Guest Designer for the week of January 10-14, 2011)

Hello and a very happy 1-11-11 to you all!  It's Diane again - back to show you how to make a sweet little treat today.  Thanks for all of the comments yesterday - I hope you can all find the fuzzy contact paper!  At the end of this post I have tried to answer the questions from yesterday's comments - let me know if I missed yours.

Today I have some treat bags to share.  These are nice for friends, classmates and co-workers when you want to give  "just a little something."  There are lots of different ways to make treat bags and I'll be posting more on my blog, Capadia Designs, as we get closer to Valentine's Day.

I thought I would show you how to design one of these bags to get your own custom look for your treats.  I will give directions for the project I did which you can easily work from to make your own bags and toppers from different elements.

I started with the Hershey Nuggets mini candy bars.  These are a cute size and can easily be wrapped with decorative paper to make them look more special.  Just cut strips of paper at one by three inches.

 Add some adhesive to the back of the paper on one side.

Center the candy on the strip and wrap the paper around it tightly.

You can bend the paper to work it into the shape needed for the candy bar and then adhere the ends of the strip.

The candy looks so much cuter once it is wrapped!  These papers are from the K & Company Brenda Walton "Sweet Talk" Specialty Paper Pad.

I designed the bag topper using the Reminisce Accents Cricut Cartridge.  This cartridge has a lot of nice borders that you can work with to make a bag topper. The border I used has a heart design.  The topper and heart layers are cut from the same  K and Company paper that I used to wrap the candy bars.  This paper works extremely well in the Cricut and I cut this intricate design with blade depth at 6, high pressure and multi-cut turned off.

I folded the topper in half - it is a little tricky to find the center to score the fold but the paper is medium weight and will fold nicely enough without a score.

I use Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive for this type of cut.  I let it dry to clear and then I have better luck with repositioning the layer if it is a bit off center.

Here is the topper with the layer added.  I wanted to close this treat bag with a ribbon so I needed to punch a couple of holes.

I created a punch guide to make it easier to align the holes and to duplicate the holder many times for a group.

I centered the topper on the zipper bag with the candy inside and held it in place with the binder clip.

After the holes are punched, fold back the guide but keep the clip in place to be sure the bag and topper don't slide around.

Once the ribbon is inserted you can take off the clip to tie the bow.  I used a piece of ribbon about 12 inches long.

Here is the little treat ready to be given away.  The candy wrappers and topper coordinate perfectly.

I also made another style of treat bag which holds the same amount of candy.

For this bag I embossed a piece of cardstock just smaller than the plastic ziplock bag.  For this type of bag, which measure 3 x 4 inches, I cut a piece of cardstock at 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches.

The Heart Blocks folder is one of the older Cuttlebug folders and perfect for Valentine's projects.

I folded the topper and added some adhesive from my ATG gun.

Once one side is placed, the other side will just fold down neatly.  The drawback to this type of closure is that you will probably destroy it when you open the bag.

Here is a view from the back.

The stamp I used on the second treat bag is a dollar stamp from Michael's current bins.

I have some screen shots along with step by step directions on how to make this topper on my blog at THIS POST.  The same general principles apply to any design or cartridge that you choose to use.

Here is another type of candy holder - directions and the file for this holder can be found at THIS POST on my blog.

Answers to a few more questions and comments from yesterday's posts...

You do not need the deep cut blade to cut vinyl or contact paper.  I cut the fuzzy contact paper with a regular blade.

We have a fabulous old style five and dime (5 & 10) in West Concord.  They have pretty much anything you need and if they don't have it in the store they will get it in a day or two.  I will try to find out more information about the contact paper I bought there so I can give better information for those of you who are looking to find some for your projects.

I think the contact paper I used might be meant to be applied to the bottom of bookends and vases to keep them from scratching table tops  - I was surprised that it is red since that sort of adhesive paper is usually green.

The "Conversation" Cuttlebug folder I used was part of a bundle of six folders I got last year from HSN - I checked and found it on the Cricut.com site HERE, Creative Express HERE, Custom Crops HERE, and many others.


I checked today and the Wedding cartridge is available on the Cricut.com site - here is a LINK to the page.  I also found it on the Oh My Crafts site HERE, Custom Crops HERE, Creative Express HERE, Hallmark Scrapbook HERE, and many others when I searched online.  I think it must be "discontinued" but not gone yet!

A "card guideline" is simply a rectangle sized at the size of your card that you can use to plan the sizing and placement of your design elements.  You can do this even if you only have the trial version of Design Studio and you will save a lot of time and paper.  I'll be posting a video in the next day or so which will take you through the process step by step. Be sure to check back to my blog to see when it is posted.  You can also subscribe or follow so you won't miss a post.

One more note - The Reminisce Accents cartridge is sold exclusively through independent Creative Memories consultants.  I am a consultant and, if you do not have a local consultant, I would be happy to help you.  Here is a LINK to the page on my personal website where you will find the Cricut cartridges (Reminisce Accents and Cheerful Seasons).  You can order from the website and have your items delivered directly to you anywhere in the US.

We are expecting a storm - lots more crafting time (as long as the power stays on)!


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