Easter: Creative DIY Idea #2

We're searching our stores and scouring the web for great Easter ideas! Here's the second one we found, and we wanted to share with you!

It's so easy. Here are the instructions: 

1. Fill one clear container ½ way with kraft basket shred

2. Fill cone bags with cheddar gold fish, tied with green ribbon

3. Placed the cone bags in the bowl with shred

4. Attach a gift tag tied with ribbon

If you have an idea, email it to creativepkg@gmail.com and we will share it with the world!

Easter: Creative DIY Idea #1

We're searching our stores and scouring the web for great Easter ideas! Here's the first one we found, and we wanted to share with you! 

It's so easy. Here are the instructions: 

1. Purchase store bought donut holes. 

2. Cut a party straw in half. Insert one half of the party straw into each donut hole.

4. Wrap the donut hole in a decorative, Easter-themed cello bag. 

5. Tie a matching ribbon around the straw to secure the cello bag.

6. Give them as gifts at your Easter gathering! 

If you have an idea, email it to creativepkg@gmail.com and we will share it with the world!

DIY: Paper lanterns

Paper Lanterns from SOS coloured bags (inspired by www.landeeseelandeedo.com)

This tutorial shows you how to make these lovely decorations - perfect for Easter!

1. Fold the bottom of your paper bag back onto itself.

2. Cut along the crease to remove bottom of bag. Now is also the time to even out the top of the bag if needed.

3. On each side of the bag, fold the sides in on themselves.

4. Continue to crease all along the sides of the bag. Your bag should look like this when you are done folding.

5. Now for hole punching. Grab a fold and punch it out, leaving some room between the top of the bag and the holes punched. Continue along the top and bottom of the bag.

6. You will now want to fold the bag in half. Fold both ways. This will create a crease that gives the lantern its shape.

7. Ribbon or twine time! Weave it through the holes punched in the top of the bag. You can tie it off in a knot, making sure not to pull too tightly – or tie a bow or two, like we did here.

8. Reach into the bag and pop out the centre crease. Play with the creases until they look the way you want them to.

9. Now to cinch up the bottom of the bag. Remember not to pull too tightly on your ribbon, or you may rip the bag. You could tie the ribbon into a bow again, but for the bottom, we just tied a knot.

10. Ta da! You now have a paper lantern! These look fantastic hanging or standing. Other ideas for the lanterns include filling them with LED candles for flameproof lighting effects, or cutting out patterns for a lace effect. Have fun!

Valentines from Calgary!

Step 1: Find  a cute coloured bag (pink or red preferred).

Step 2: Get some candies. Hershey's kisses and hugs work well.

Step 3: Get a cute cellophane candy bag and matching ribbon from Creative Packaging.

Step 4: Divide your kisses and hugs up - put them in your candy bags and tie with ribbon.

Step 5: Drop all your goodies in the big red bag.

Step 6: Give out your bags of love - how easy is that!

DIY: Large Cupcake!

Instructions:

1. Cut out two circles.  One will be the base.  The second one should be about 1 to 2 inches larger in diameter and will be used as the top of the shape.  If you think of the shape a cupcake liner would make, you have a section from a cone with a larger circle at the top and the smaller at the bottom.
2. Then cut out a whole bunch of strips of cardboard. Anything wider than 1 inch would probably be a pain to work with, so don’t go larger than that.  The height of the strip will determine how high your cup will be.  We used pieces that were around 5 inches long.
3. The strips will be the sides that connect the two round pieces together.  This seemed easier when a glob of hot glue was placed on the smaller circle’s edge and then a few strips are placed along the edge at an angle.  Remember it will have to go from a smaller diameter to a larger one but don’t be too concerned about getting the angle exact.
4. Once the edge of the small circle is covered, take the larger circle and place it inside of the strips.  Fiddle around with it to make sure it is fairly center and level in relation to the smaller circle it is suspended above.
5. Glue each strip to the second circle.  That is your basic shape and will help keep everything together.
6. For the outside, use white wrapping paper that will measure out to be about twice the diameter of the larger circle (ex: if the outside rim measures 10 inches all the way around you want to use about 20 inches wrapping paper).  It is always a good thing to add a few extra inches just in case.
7. Our cupcake liner was made by taking the piece of wrapping paper and folding it three times (along the dotted lines in the little diagram below).  This gave an inch of extra paper above the inside cardboard base.
8. Take the narrow piece of wrapping paper and fold like a fan.  The smaller the distance between the folds the more you will make and the smaller the creases will be on your giant cupcake liner.  The larger the distance the less folds but the larger the creases will be.
9. When the whole piece of paper is folded open it up and make a circle.  Take the cardboard base and make sure it fits inside.  Not too lose but you also don’t want it too tight because that will just make it more difficult for you.  Trim and glue or tape the two ends of the fan after you have found the fit.
10. Place the cardboard base inside the wrapping paper. Make sure the creases are evenly spaced (they won’t just do this on their own unfortunately).  Then start gluing the paper to the cardboard so it won’t fall apart if you need to move it.
11. The bow on the front of our cupcake does not go all the way around.  If you try you’ll notice the shape will force it to an angle.  If you have a solution for this other than ours go for it.  We simply started in the middle of our cupcake and worked back until the angle of the ribbon was too drastic then made a nice cut.  At this point it was far enough back that you can’t tell.  You will need to do this twice for each side of the knot.
12. The frosting topping was made by using scrap/left over/damaged pieces of wrap film and tissue and then wrapped it with a piece of wrap film.  The shape was sculpted at this step with tape so that it had a more domed look.  Squish it and pinch it, whatever you can to make it into the shape you think it should be.
13. Then cover that shape with the colour you want the icing to be.  **Keep checking to make sure this piece fits into the cupcake liner you just built for yourself.  If it is too small you can twist some similar coloured tissue to place around the bottom but you can’t easily fix it if it is too large.
14. Glue both pieces together and place a cute bow on top.

How to make those Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes!

Here are the instructions for how to make the cupcakes we told you about in the last post:

You'll need: Your gifted cone bag, eggs, water, vegetable oil, peanut butter, chocolate icing and water

1. Empty mix into medium mixing bowl. 

2. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup water & 4 tbsp. of vegetable oil. 

3. Blend well until smooth. 

4. Pour into greased muffin tins. 

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Peanut Butter Glaze (topping):
1. Mix 1 cup of chocolate icing, 2 tbsp of peanut butter and 3 tsp of water. 
2. Spread over cupcakes. 
3. Enjoy!

Just Wrap It: Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

This week is "Just Wrap It" week where we're excited to bring you a taste of the sorts of recipes you'll find in Just Wrap It - D.I.Y. gift mixes from your kitchen. We'll give you directions on how to package the gift mix to give away for the holidays. You'll be giving the gift of a mix from your very own kitchen! So feel free to mix it up and add ingredients you like! All of the packaging you'll need for these gifts can be found at Creative Packaging!

Here's our recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes!

You'll need: A tall glass, a cone bag, chocolate cupcake mix, Reese's Pieces candies, a rubberband, a ribbon and a tag. 

1. Set the cone bag upright as shown in a tall glass (**Tip: Blow in the bag to reduce static and make it stand up). 

2. Add 2 cups of cake mix to bag. 

3. Top the cake mix with the Reese's Pieces candies. 

4. Tie the bag off with a colorful rubberband. 

5. Write a tag with the following instructions for baking the cupcakes and a message: 

- Empty mix into medium mixing bowl. 
- Add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup water & 4 tbsp. of vegetable oil
- Pour into greased muffin tins
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes

Enjoy with love from:
(Your name here)______________

6. Attach tag to the cone with a ribbon and an accessory and give as a gift!


















Coming up next: We show you how to make the cupcakes!