Valentine's Day Treat Bag!

Love You Much Stamp Set Item #113756

(image copyright Stampin' Up!)

Hi Everyone! I know this might be a little late for ideas for Valentine's Day...but it's a quick project you could do...and you could apply the idea to a birthday party, Christmas treat bag, or party favors! I wanted to create a treat bag that my daughter could give away to her classmates on Valentine's Day. We did a mini 3x3 card last year...but wanted to do CANDY this time!


The bags had about 4 pieces of candy each: mini M&M's, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, and my ALL TIME favorite candy Bottle Caps! If you wanted to put less candy or smaller pieces in the bag, just fold the top flap in half!
I actually used some old neon paper I had (I'm not a fan of neon colors at all so jumped at this chance to use them up!). I used regular printer type paper...not cardstock. Other options would be to use construction paper or scrap pieces of cardstock.

I will be posting a video on my YouTube Channel. If you subscribe to this blog, you get ideas more often than subscribing to my YouTube videos only....I blog way more than I make videos!!!!

This project would be awesome to do with children. My daughter Isabel LOVED it!!!! She got to color, put candy in bags, glue on hearts, use a stapler....she did most of the work! Here's what it looked like:
Now, since we had to make a total of 23, the use of punches REALLY allowed us to make them VERY QUICKLY! Here are all the items we used:

1) 4x4 pieces of paper or cardstock.

2) Scallop Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!)

3) Heart to Heart Punch (Stampin' Up!)

4) craft glue

5) 1/16" Handheld Punch (Stampin' Up!)

6) Stapler

7) Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

8) Blender Pen

9) Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad

10) 4 x 6 inch Plastic Baggie (got it at Mitchael's in the candy making section)

11) Love You Much Stamp Set by Stampin' Up!

(Photos of some of these items can be found at the end of this post. Those photos are copyright Stampin' Up!)


My 6 year old did the stamping and coloring (as you can see from the image...he he)...she did such a great job.....SHE'S SO CRAFTY! I punched out the circle scallops and hearts since her hands are so small...they couldn't manage the punches as easily. Maybe if we chose a less complicated shape to punch out, she would have done fine on her own.

I folded the 4x4 pieces in half, placed it at the top of the bag, then stapled it. You then glue on the scallop circle OVER the staple so that you can't see it! If you have the time, add pop dots or foam adhesive to give some dimension to the scallops and the hearts!!!! We had to go quickly to allow enough time in the day to do some "girl time" stuff at the mall and run errands! We had TONS of fun by the way!! Here's a side note....if you like bread pudding.....ya gotta stop over at the Nordstrom Bistro (in Lynnwood Nordstrom) and try their bread pudding.......YUMMMMMMMMMMM!




Let's get back on track.....On the back of bag, I had her put "from Isabel". Since they would be passing SO MANY of these out, I thought it easiest to NOT put her classmates names on them.
At the end of the day, Isabel said she had SO MUCH FUN making these Valentine's Day Treat Bags and spending time with her Mommy on our little "Girls Only Day" together. We're gonna make this "Girls Only Day" a monthly thing!!!!! NO BOYS ALLOWED!!!!
HAPPY HEARTS DAY!!!!

Scallop Circle Punch

Heart to Heart Punch

1/16" Handheld Punch

Dinosaur Birthday Invitations and Favors!

My son is turning 2! My how time flies!

I took this photo the other day....had to share it!

I have been thinking about a theme since September for Gabriel's 2nd birthday party. I have finally settled on a design for the invitations! I wanted to go fairly fast as far as putting together the inviations....since I knew I'd be making about 20-30 (we have a huge family). I searched the internet but it wasn't so easy to find ideas as far as handmade cards.....I probably wasn't searching right. Anyway, I think I REALLY just needed a reason to buy a Cricut! Heee Heee! So I got one!!!!!


I decided on dinosaurs because we have a nickname for my son....Pterodactyl....because of this squealing-shout he does.....it's weird. He's a funny little guy!

Here is a look at the invitations. I'm not sure if my mom wants me to plaster her address over the internet, so on Saturday I'll have to make a SPECIAL one to post online. Check back and I'll add all the other dinosaur stuff I'm planning....it's still in the works!

The invitations measured 4.25" x 5.5".....standard size so I didn't have to buy specially sized envelopes....I already had a ton! I used two cartridges.....


1) Paper Doll Dress Up


2) Tags Bags Boxes & More


(Note: Many images are now shown on the back of the box for the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge....like the dinosaurs! This cartridge has TONS of images that are not shown! You would have to peek at all the images through the Cricut website to see them all.)


And if you are trying to decide between the standard Cricut or the Cricut Expression, I've got some tips. If you are going to want something that can cut a bunch of images at the same time, you might want to invest in the Expression. I had to do a lot of standing by because the machine could only cut out 2 dinosaur images from one 6" x 11" sheet (I cut down an 8.5" x 11" paper and set the height to 3" to fit on my invitation. ) And then when I made the bags, I could only cut 1 bag out at a time (height dial was set to 5") I acqtually wanted to make the bag bigger but the machine couldn't cut it out any bigger. Oh well, I'm still satisfied....I won't be doing this much! I will just be using my machine for scrapbooking and making cards...stuff I don't plan to mass produce!





The dinosaur images themselves didn't need a whole lot of embellishing. By just adding googly eyes and drawing with opaque gel pens, you can make a pretty cute dino! I drew in the dinosaur mouth, nostrils, and toes (which al already cut into the image) with Souffle 3-D opague Puffy Ink pens by Sakura. You could also draw in spots with different color pens to add character to your dinosaurs! Don't want to invest in a set of gel pens? A Signo Gel Pen looks great! If you're looking to get a little more fancy with the dinosaurs, Jessica Tolbird gives you instructions on the Cricut website (click here).

I used the Tags Bags Boxes & More cartridge to make this bag and one of the extra dinosaurs I cut for the invitations! Simple but cute! I stuffed it with Gabriel's favorite candies....M & Ms, dum dums, and twix....and a dinosaur!

I'll be posting more photos so check back! Having a toddler means doing things a little bit at a time!!!!!!!! A very challenging thing for me! I'm just happy he's not glued to the TV!!!