Valentine Take Out Box & Fortune Cookies

Fortune Cookies


I'll admit...I've got a thing for them. And not so much the cookie although I eat them. I enjoy the suprise of the message that awaits inside the cookie.


I've even saved some of the messages and keep them on my desk..I liked this one:


Past experience. He who never makes mistakes never did anything that's worthy!


Your love of life can carry you through any circumstance.


and my fave...


Treasure what you have!
For my craft I made for the St. Louis Post I really wanted to make a fortune cookie box with messages. I really liked this one...although it did take a bit of playing to figure out the cookies and how to get them to sit just right without opening too much! And the new Papertrey Ink stamps were PERFECT for the messages!! I hope you agree!!








Here's a link to the online article


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/homedecor/story/65D3EBD05BCD5FA1862576C700578941?OpenDocument


PaperTrey Ink Simple Valentine Papers (available at www.papertreyink.com)
PaperTrey Ink Tiny Treats: Valentine Acrylic Stamps
Paper Trey Ink Simple Valentine Acrylic Stamps
Paper Trey Stamper’s Select White Cardstock
PaperTrey Ink Sweet Blush Ribbon
Red Chinese Take Out Box & Red Stripe Ribbon from Michael’s
Heidi Grace Heart Accent
Fiskars Heart Punch and Scallop Border Punch
Marvy Mega Scallop Circle Punch
Colorbox Chalk Inks (available at your local Michael’s Craft Stores)
Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro Adhesive & Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive
Making Memories Slice Die Cut System Basics 1 Cartridge

Box 
1) Select papers to decorate the outside of the box. Cut to fit side. Adhere to box. Stitch by hand or by machine down the middle of a length of a 8 inch length of ribbon. Pull on the end strings to softly gather the ribbon.
2) Next stamp the sweet background stamp from the Tiny Treats and add the heart and sentiment stamps. Punch out the stamped image using the Mega Scallop Circle Punch. Ink edges and add Heidi Grace heart embellishment.
3) Use Ribbon Adhesive to add gathered ribbon to box. This will make a soft stem. Then add foam pop dots to the backside of punched piece and adhere to box side. Add additional heart punches and pop with foam adhesive.

Paper Fortune Cookies 
1) First select the papers that you would like to use for the cookies. Then hand cut or use a die cut machine to cut several 3 ½ inch to 4 inch circles. The size you chose for the circle will determine the size of the cookie.
2) Next fold the circle in half. Do not make a hard crease along the middle but leave this as a soft fold pressing the circle together at the outer edge. Apply a small strip of adhesive to the inside of the circle at the outer edge. Press edges together to adhere.
3) Grasp the middle of the center of the fold and push this inward toward the outer edge of the circle. It can help to place your finger inside the soft fold to help guide the circle to fold and crease like a cookie.
4) If you prefer the cookie to stay tightly pressed together…you will need to add some adhesive to the inner pressed fold to make it hold. Otherwise they look fine with a fold and not tightly closed. Practice with a piece of play paper before you begin to see how much you need to crease and fold to get the look you like.

Fortunes 
5) Next select the stamps and messages you like. Work with a printer style paper that is light weight. Stamp the messages and hearts onto the paper working across the straight edge of the paper repeating your stamps. Then cut long strips of the stamped fortunes.
6) Once you have your fortunes stamped and cut, slide them into the cookies. It’s fun to leave an edge peeking out of the end for the recipient to pull. Stamp some extra fortunes to tuck into the box!
7) Add a little paper shred or additional fortunes and tuck the cookies into the box! Consider adding some real fortune cookies to the box along with the paper cookies!
Tips: If you’re not a stamper, you can handwrite the messages or even type them on your computer and print out strips.


Make larger cookies and attach small treats or gifts to the end of the fortune to be pulled out for a fun surprise.


This is a great gift for your sweetheart and children too! Just change up the messages and look to fit whom the gift is for!