Thursday, January 20, 2011

Not Just A Mommy! {Tasty Treats Thursday}

 I am completely thrilled to have Dawn from Not Just a Mommy! on board today as my guest blogger. She always shares such great party ideas, and today's treat/tutorial is no exception!! 
Give a warm Party Starters welcome to Dawn!! 
 Hugs, 
Pam

Hello dear Party Starters readers, my name is Dawn from Not Just A Mommy! and I'm so honored that Pam let me heist her blog for the day. Today I'm sharing a fun treat with a twist from traditional Valentine's Day ideas with my latest obsession, a playing card candy mold. playing card candy moldI scored mine from a local cake decorating store, but the great Bake It Pretty carries a similar mold.
I had no idea what I was ever going to use it for (that can be said for many of my party purchases) until I discovered this playing card box template from Mirkwood Designs and the wheels started turning. A quick trip to my craft store for scrapbook paper (Reminisce Vegas Icons) and I went to work. I trimmed my paper down to letter size to fit through my printer, printed out the template on the white size and cut and folded according to the directions.

chocolate playing card ValentineI love to use Wilton candy melts because I can use coupons at my craft store, but any brand will do. Just melt according to directions. Note to self, it's painstakingly slow to make this mold, you have to paint in the details with a toothpick. I can't see myself making a classroom's worth of Valentines, but for teachers, office ladies, special friends, it's totally worth it!
I still haven't figured out how to melt candy over existing candy, i.e. the white candy over the red candy, without the bleed-over. I worked so hard to get the red inside it's boundaries, and I let the white cool down as much as possible before pouring over it, but to no avail, I still get blurry edges. I'll keep working on that.
I have tons of different sizes of treat bags; the candy playing cards measure about 2.5 by 3.5 inches so the closest size I could find was my 3 by 4.75 inch bags by Darice to package each candy card before adding to the box. With a bit of wiggling (the plastic bag overlap took up some space), I could fit all 4 candy playing cards in the box.
playing card chocolate Valentine box
chocolate playing card Valentine box I trimmed down black cardstock to layer behind the wrap-around label that I just typed up in Word. Feel free to be as clever as you like; 'You're a real ace, Valentine', 'You’re an ace in my book', etc., etc.
If you don't get a chance to make this treat, get yourself to a dollar store for a pack or two of playing cards. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve. Check out Martha Stewart's playing card valentines; I'm starting to get into glassine envelopes now that I'm finally able to find them locally.
Martha Stewart playing card ValentineA little glitter, a doily or two and voila! Eddie Ross's glittered Heart Of Hearts valentines.

Have mini cards handy? Check out Udandi's version inspired by aforementioned Martha.
Looking for more kid-friendly options? FamilyFun's Ace Of Hearts valentines lets you personalize your card to (pun intended) your heart's content.

16 comments:

  1. Such a cute idea! This is definitely going in the idea bank for Valentine's day gifts this year!

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  2. LOVE DAWN! She gets me everytime with the projects she comes up with and this is no different...genius and cute : )

    Paula

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  3. great idea/tutorial! I am so getting into molds too! Luv you both!

    hugs! Kim @ Party Frosting!

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  4. Can just see these playing card greetings with the wording tweaked a bit to suit a fun bridal shower! Thanks for the great ideas.

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  5. Love your ideas, Dawn! I honestly didn't know about playing card molds!!! thanks!!! (ok..heading back under my rock now :)

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  6. Great tutorial Dawn!!
    Super ideas too...
    We are celebrating our 7th Anniversary next month & these playing card ideas will fit right into 'our Lucky 7th'

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  7. I am in LOVE with how cute these turned out! I saw your cry for help the the other day when you said you are addicted to candy molds, LOL. I say if you are going to create fabulous things like this let the addiction live on!!

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  8. LOVE IT DAWN! I'm doing another casino party in a few weeks and this is great inspiration!

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  9. Very cute but you spelled "suit" wrong.

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  10. I love it! Such a great idea...it would also work for a Alice inspired tea party :)

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  11. After taking a look around at your lovely spot I am following you to see what's next :)
    Tish
    http://lotsoffunwithmyfamily.blogspot.com

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  12. Thanks for all the lovely comments, and Pamela, for having me!

    Thanks Anonymous for pointing out my error, good thing I wasn't giving this to anyone!

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  13. sorry I missed this at the appropriate time, but thanks for linking to my cards - they're so fun and easy to make I repeat them for the nursing home residents.

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  14. These are adorable! Thanks for linking up to the 14 Days of LOVE event!

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  15. Thanks for your great information, the contents are quiet interesting.I will be waiting for your next post. Manufacturer of Playing Cards

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  16. It seems I'm on the right track, I hope I can do well. The result was something I did and was doing to implement it.
    www.clickjogosclick.com

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