Easy Valentine Chocolate Boxes and Dessert Cups

 Above is a little preview of what's to come. These may look rather difficult, but they are so fun that you might find yourself coming up with all sorts of ways to use chocolate.

 First you need to find your mold. They must be somewhat flexible as these pans are, without being squishy. Oil them very lightly and wipe to make sure there's no excess otherwise the chocolate slides back down the sides.

 Melt in a double boiler over low heat 1 bag of semi-sweet and 1 of milk chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of shortening.

 Once melted take a spoon or somewhat stiff rubber spatula and spread the chocolate around your molds, covering all the inside surface. Don't worry if it doesn't seem thick enough at this point.

 See? Chill this in refrigerator.

 Now take a piece of paper and trace the bottom of your mold. If you trace the top, the lid to the box may be too big.

 With a pen or marker make curliques all over the design, trying to have an even look on both sides, which forgive me but this one is a hurried example as time was of the essence.

 Spoon into a squeeze bottle some of your melted chocolate and add more chips if necessary. This means you should probably buy 3 bags...lol. Keep your bottle in a cup of very hot water to keep the chocolate squeezeable.

 Lay a piece of wax paper down on the design sheet and tape to table or counter.

 Now cover your design with chocolate piping, going double over the outside lines and inside if necessary. Let harden.

 Add more of the chocolate in the double boiler to the sides and bottom of your box as needed for strength. At this point you can put this in the freezer to make this easy to pop out. Take the pan out of the freezer and gently flex it to loosen the chocolate from the sides. Turn over and it should pop out easily. Be careful as the chocolate will melt in your hands so handle lightly. Peel the top of the box off the wax paper gentley and ......

TaaDaa! Now you can fill it with any treat your sweetheart desires. So 3 bags of chocolate chips, some shortening and filler treats to put in your box are all you need. Oh, the photo at the top of this post? I thought I had a post on that! Well, now I need to find a chocolate mousse recipe to share for that which will be forth coming.  Happy Valentines Day!

A 2011 Handmade Christmas....

 

Girls love to communicate, whether it's chatting your ear off in person, texting, on the phone, or writing, they love to keep the conversation going.  My granddaughters are no different, so I  thought I would capitalize on that fact and give them a Christmas present that I can replenish on occasion using my own art, and give them a way to keep in touch that exercises their writing and penmanship skills.  I took some photos I already had on my computer and used them to make cover sheets for their letters, and then added plain lined sheets using the colors I already used for their cover sheets. So they have one sheet with a nice graphic, and two plain lined sheets for each letter they might like to send. I also found pretty half size envelopes in colors to match each theme at the UPS store.

 

I found packs of colored pens for each, and marked each set with their first name initial on each pen so there wouldn't be confusion. Luckily these have a soft grip where you can permanently mark the pens. I then took pretty stickers and labeled each box, which are shoe box size Sterilite tubs with locking handles. They are a perfect size for the stationery sheets, which are half size of regular copy paper.  I threw in a role of giant Smarties and whaalaa! An inexpensive gift with a touch of home made and grandma's art to boot. All total each gift cost about $7 to put together, including paper, envelopes and candy. Not bad for a gift that keeps on giving, and one I can build on in the future by replenishing their supplies.