Stamped Cookie Boxes!

The holidays are a great time to give gifts of baking - who wouldn't appreciate a beautiful box of home baked yummies. right? Here's an easy way to spruce up your cookie boxes so they're ready for filling and giving!

For our samples, we used our 4" x 4" x 4" folding gift boxes in natural kraft and red, baker's twine in assorted colours to co-ordinate with our boxes (boxes and twine are available at the Essential Packaging Store), snowflake stamps and ink pad (we used Stampin' Up products but you can use any brand of stamps and ink).

For something a little different, we chose to stamp the inside of the gift box lid. We also lined the gift box with parchment paper to help prevent stains from the butter in the cookies. We then placed our delicious homemade cookies (or they can be store bought, we won't judge!) into the gift box.

For a simple finish to our cookie box, we wrapped the baker's twine around the the box a few times and added a small gift tag to the front.

Here's the natural kraft cookie box - for this one, we chose to stamp the outside as well as the inside lid. Once again, we wrapped the baker's twine around the cookie box and added the gift tag.

This is a really easy way to stylishly present your holiday gifts of baking! These would make great gifts for friends, neighbors, teachers and coaches.

Remember to visit our website for more holiday projects and ideas!

Thanks and we hope to see you again soon!

Tissue Paper Poinsettia Flowers!

Hello friends! It's time again for another seasonal project and since we all love the versatility of tissue paper, we decided to do a festive variation of our tissue paper flowers - the poinsettia! This super easy project is quick to do and can really dress up your holiday gifts. The size of the flower we made is quite ideal for most boxes but you can easily adjust the size bigger or smaller to suit your needs.

We used red, burgundy and green tissue paper for the poinsettias.

Cut your tissue paper into 7" x 10" pieces; for our sample, we stacked 4 sheets of red (for the flower) and 1 sheet of green (for the leaves).

Accordian fold the pieces of paper, making 1/2" folds; tie the middle of the folded tissue with a length of tinsel cord.

Trim the ends of the folded tissue paper by cutting the ends into points.

Gently pull all the tissue layers apart to form the poinsettia flower.

Now use a small piece of gold tissue paper (about 5" x 5" square) to make the berries for the center of the poinsettia; gently roll them in your hands to form a ball.

We made 3 balls per flower; this also helps to hide the center seam of the flower. Attach the gold balls to the middle of the poisettia using hot glue or double sided tape.

Ta-da... the finished poinsettia flower is ready to top off your gifts! The flower in this sample is attached to the lid so that your recipient can easily remove the lid without damaging the wrapping.

Here are a couple of samples where you can use the tissue poinsettia flowers in your holiday gift wrapping - they're beautiful on just a single box but even more spectacular when placed on a stack of gift boxes. You can also make the poinsettias much smaller so they could go on a small favor or jewellery box.

We hope you've enjoyed our latest project - for more projects, ideas and new products, sign up for our newsletter or visit our website at http://www.essentialpackagingstore.com/

Thanks and we'll see you again soon!

Holiday Table Blings!

Hi again! Last month I did a Wedding Wednesdays post about table bling. But with the holidays fast approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to think about the bling again! Really, what holiday table couldn't use a little more sparkle, right? The "diamonds" above are the original blings that we got in a couple of months ago. They've been flying out the door, mostly being used for winter weddings.

But now we have more table decor options - maybe ice "crystals" are more your style?

Or maybe you like the "big bling"? These gems are beautiful! They even have a tiny little hole in the point so you can string them up with some tinsel cord or fishing line and hang them in a window or on your tree.

No matter which ones you like (or even if you like all 3!) you can use them to compliment your holiday decor in many ways, not just on the dinner table. Try them in a small glass vase, around a collection of pillar candles or sprinkled along a mantle or shelf.

Thanks for taking some time to see what's new at the Essential Packaging Store! Enjoy!

Snowman Soup Video Tutorial!

Advent Calendar - the Latest Version!

Hi again! It's about that time when we need to start thinking about the upcoming holidays - they're not as far away as you think! So, I thought this would be a good time to show you the latest version of last year's advent calendar. And since you need to have the calendar ready to go for December 1st, now is the time!!

This year's version is quite similar with just a few little tweaks. To refresh your memory, here's the link for the instructions on how to put it the advent calendar together. All the supplies we used (the gift boxes, gift wrap, ribbon and double-sided tape) are available at the Essential Packaging Store.

You can chose which way you'd like your boxes to open - I happened to chose (accidentally!) that mine would have the "doors" open down. A customer that was in our Store the other day said she was going to put her boxes on their sides so her doors would open just like an actual door, from left to right - good idea!

The biggest improvement on this year's version is that I used the Sookwang, super sticky, double-sided tape that we now carry in the Store. It's fantastic and it really helps to keep the boxes and paper in place. We have it available in 3 different widths at the Store. You'll love using it... on everything!!

The other change was because of a pet peeve - the advent calendar that I made last year for my little son, Matthew, would sit on the end table in our living room. Every time I walked past it, I could see the back of the of the boxes and it just didn't look that finished (you'll see what I mean if you look at the link above for last year's calendar) So, this year I decided to wrap it so that the gift wrap covered the back - I think it looks a lot better!

Then I added a bit of a fancier bow; cute but still "manly", right? Matthew's seen this newest one and can't wait to start opening it up! Now is the fun part of filling it all up!

Hope you've enjoyed our latest project - you can find many more fun and seasonal projects on the "Projects" page at the Essential Packaging Store website.

See you soon!


We're also at these linky parties-

Passionately Artistic

Snowman Soup To Go Kits!

Yes, it's that time of year again...Snowman Soup season! We've been carrying the cellophane cone bags (for packaging up Snowman Soup) for more years than we can remember! And every year, it gets more and more popular; it's such an easy project that small kids can help with and it's a nice gift to receive, especially for teachers and co-workers.

This year, we've introduced a brand new kit, the Snowman Soup To Go Kit - complete packaging supplies to make 10 Snowman Soup Cone Bags, all in a handy takeout container! Each kit contains: 20 cellophane cone bags (you need to use 2 bags per each completed Snowman Soup cone bag), 5 yards of 5/8" satin ribbon, 4 1/2 yards of tinsel cord and a website link for complete instructions on how to put it together. All you need to add are the ingredients: hot cocoa mix, chocolate chips / crushed candy canes and marshmallows.

The Snowman Soup To Go Kits come with different holiday colored ribbons like red, burgandy, bright green and lime greeen.

Snowman Soup To Go Kits, which are only available at the Essential Packaging Store, retail for $10.95 Canadian (plus applicable taxes and shipping).

Snowman Soup To Go Kits - they're great to have on hand, especially in case of a Snowman Soup emergency!

Of course, winning a free kit would be fabulous, right? Check out our newest contest at the link below-

SNOWMAN SOUP SEARCH AND WIN CONTEST!

And the Winner Is....

...LULU! Congrats to our follower, LULU, who is our BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY WINNER!!! A huge thanks to all our you who left us wonderful comments and became followers of our blog! LULU, please contact us at the Store to claim your yummy prize!!