Saturday, January 12, 2008

Faux Chocolate Valentine Log Gift Basket: For the Man in Your Life



This was such a fun project, it looks like a burning chocolate log. I made it full of the anticipation that comes from hoping it will please your loved one. It is for my husband for Valentine's Day.

It was made out of things on hand and you may already have these items or something that will work equally well.

Do it now; fill it later. My son suggested his and his Dad's be filled with chocolate covered almonds, chocolate pretzels, lots of beef jerky (the expensive kind, Mom) , lots of good cheese, and a bottle of wine. (Not! Son will receive grape juice )


Supply List: You will need fluted cardboard; two large jar lids, silver bubble wrap for insulation (optional); red cellophane; crumpled brown paper; masking tape, brown liquid shoe polish or brown paint; Optional: spray adhesive or glue, a Valentine tag with ties, and clear spray sealer of your choice.

Tools: Scissors, hole punch


Your jar lids will be the end pieces and will determine how wide your cardboard fluting needs to be. You will want to fit it around the lids (ends) leaving a little over a 1/3 of it open to fill. Just remember to make it longer than it is wide so that it will look like a log.
Optional: I used a quick spray of adhesive to secure the silver insulation to the flat side of the fluted cardboard. I thought the insulation might help keep the the food products fresh; however, I don't think it was really necessary. The insulation did add strength. You might want to double the fluting for strength instead.



With the masking tape, tape the cardboard fluting to the end pieces, fluted side out. Really crumple the masking tape as you do this, going right over the top of the lid. You want it to be really lumpy like icing. Then finish off the cut edges that are open by crumpling masking tape over the edges. It should now look like this.



Once it is taped, stain tape and cardboard with dark brown liquid shoe polish or craft paint. It should look like a chocolate frosted log. Let it dry and seal it with a quick spray of clear sealer. Once dry, use the hole punch and ties to attach your tag to the center front I backed my heart tag with a heart I cut out of fluted cardboard. It looks like a cookie. Line the log with a fluff of crumpled brown paper and red cellophane . Done!

Click on any photo to enlarge.



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