Pails of Hearts & Kisses

Valentine's Day is officially one week away! We've tried our best to inspire you with tons of fun and crafty Valentine ideas so you are prepped for the day ahead. We've showed you tips on how to create adorable Valentine cards with tiny envelopes, showed you the ins and outs of creating your own embellishments with Fimo Dough, made pink paper pinwheel toppers, and taught you how to make your own paper flower bouquet. This past weekend, I made these fun little Valentine gifts for my friends - and so far - they've been a hit with everyone, so I figured I'd share the idea with all of you!

I've been eyeing these clear pails for awhile and love the idea of filling them with little Valentine treats and goodies. We showed them a while back filled with cookies (also a great Valentine's Day idea), but I kept it simple by buying little heart shaped chocolates and kisses to fill mine. To decorate my tin, I gathered some of my favorite things ~ rhinestone and pearl embellishments, red glitter paper and some oh-so cute Martha Stewart Valentine ribbon.

Step 1. Decorate the lid with the glitter paper, simply trace around the lid, cut out your circle and adhere to the top.


Step 2. Wrap a ribbon around the tin (put adhesive on the ends of the ribbon to attach). I placed little rhinestones and pearls on the ribbon, they come with adhesive on the back so this part is super quick and easy.


Step 3. For the handle decor, I cut a bunch of 2" pieces of ribbon and just tied them on, varying the colors. I filled it with yummy chocolate hearts and kisses, and put a cute little Valentine gift tag on the handle.

There you have it, a sweet little homemade gift to give to your special Valentine{s}. And, trust me, people adore getting these - I already started giving these to my friends and they just love them.

♥ Happy {early} Valentine's Day! ♥ --Lauren

5 More "Love Inspired" Ideas

There have been so many gems of inspiration coming from the stores that I picked 5 more easy ideas that can help you create a lasting memory this Valentines Day.

1. Paper Lanterns. Planning a romantic dinner? How about you light the room with candles and paper lanterns? This lantern is truly so easy! Instructions on how to make it are here. Put your candles in glass votives so that you don't have firemen joining your dinner.

2: Pails in Comparison: These cute little pails almost look like a wedding cake! Clear pails can be lined with any design of paper and embellishments to personalize your gift. Fill them with homemade cookies, candies or love notes. A past post featuring a cookie recipe is a great inspiration for a unique, heartfelt gift.

3. Fimo! We love what Christina has done with Fimo. So versatile you can make Valentine ornaments (why not?!?) or this gorgeous card. Click the links for instructions. And how brilliantly easy is it to use pieces of decorative tape as a background?? love it! P.S. Be sure to sign up for our email list if you want to hear about a free upcoming Fimo demo in our Seattle store!

4. Buckle up your love. Easy as using a paper punch and some ribbon and you have a wonderful little embellishment to add some love to your wrapped gifts.

5. Message in a Bottle: Give your sweety a vial filled with sand from where you got married; dirt from a hike that made your day; a note telling them all the qualities you love about them; or something whimsical like fairy dust (glitter). The possibilities are endless.

Create something special in your life! --Kim

Pails in Comparison

Have you checked out the clear pails in our stores? These fun little pails give way to many creative ideas, great for all-occasion gifts, party favors, wedding favors, or...just because. And they are available in four sizes! Who doesn't love a fun little blank canvas like this? Just in time for the holidays - we have an amazing cookie tin idea for you, and it makes a perfect holiday gift (it's a great hostess gift too!)


We are loving this cookie pail idea - fill the container with your favorite cookies, include an embellished recipe card, and decorate as you wish. This mini cookie stamp was carved by an associate at the Portland PZ (we sell little kits to carve your own stamps so you can customize your stamp just how you want them!)

How do you get the ribbon pull top?
The tin top is fairly malleable and making a hole can be done in various ways:

Idea #1: Use a wide nail and hammer to create an indent.
-or-
Idea #2: The 6" indented Crop 'o' Dile eyelet setter can punch though thin metal such as this creating a clean hole.

Once your hole is made, simply slip about 6" of ribbon through and knot on the inside & trim any excess tails.


Ingredients:
Medium Clear Tin Pail
Any Ribbon of your Liking
Various metallic paper (pictured: Stardream Bronze & Curious Metallics Gold Leaf)
Your favorite sweet cookie recipe! Find the Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies seen here from Martha Stewart!

What clever things could you make with these tin pails? --Portland PZ

Creative Giving

Hello Everyone, Kim here. I recently took a tour of the Seattle area stores and I fell in love with Paper Zone all over again. We have an endless amount of fun product and our Associates are so creative I'm continually amazed at the things they come up with.

When I was at the Shoreline store I was able to test the new Shimmer Spray which was pretty darn cool. I almost want to put some in my purse to jazz up random paper I come across ("here you can have your menu back, it shimmers now"). And while we were there, the store received loads of new goodies from Stampendous. There were all sorts of colors of Fun Flock and a line of stickers that have a felt texture and a sophisticated design that had me oohing and ahhing as they were coming out of the box.

I have to say the one thing that mystified me were the clear pails. The Associates were SO excited to get them and I just kind of scratched my head and said "huh". But over the last couple of days, I have been yet again amazed by how fun and creative our product can be. The Tacoma store created these two gift ideas using the clear pails and I have to say they are fabulous. Personally when I receive a gift, I'd rather have something from the heart than something that is expensive and I always love giving more than receiving. Putting together some gift baskets like the two shown looks equally fun for the giver as for the receiver. I had challenged the stores to show me that pails can be fun and creative and they came through. You also MUST check out Portland's creation on their blog: http://pdxpaperzone.blogspot.com/2010/04/pails-in-comparision.html

So, now I challenge you: how can you make a pail fun and creative? Maybe a special mother in your life would like a gift, from the heart, and in an interesting new "wrap". Have fun, be creative and enjoy! --Kim