Love Sacks

Why is it that holidays tend to sneak up on me?  I try to stay on top of things and then all of a sudden I discover that a holiday is coming up in a week or so and I have to step up my pace...or stay up late.  Usually, it's the latter.  Valentine's Day was just one such time so I had to quickly throw what I had together and get it in the mail in the morning.

 

I stopped by the grocery store and grabbed some Valentine candy and just dumped it all into a big bowl and gave it a good mix.  I happened to have these cute red and white paper sacks from another project.  You can get them at the craft store or online (if you're more prepared than I am, they are less expensive online!) Throw in some candy or other treats (you could go healthy if you want...but it's Valentine's Day...so why?) and fold down the top.  I tied it with some red and white bakers twine and added a tag to each bag.  Decorate the tags with a strip of coordinating Washi Tape (came in a Christmas pack) or stickers or stamps (I used a tiny heart) or whatever you have lying around in your stash then write their name and a short message on the back of the tag.  You can purchase the twine, tags and Washi tape from the craft store if you don't have any...I think I purchase all three at different times from Pick Your Plum which lately seems to have a lot of clothing but sometimes has some pretty cool package containers and craft items.

 

One of the great things about something simple like this is the fact that it didn't cost me a mint to put together or to mail.  I have a lot of missionaries that I send to and need to send one to their companion as well so I need to keep the cost down where I can.  I could fit two Love Sacks into a small Flat Rate box and mail for about $5 a box within the United States.  Just the right amount of sweet without being too much.

 

 

Hugs & Kisses

My friend, Kristen is a new missionary mom.  In fact, her son just arrived in Finland a few days ago. She put together an awesome Valentine's Day package for him when he was in the MTC and was kind enough to 'share the love' with us other missionary moms.   She made this adorable 'Hugs & Kisses' printable to fit inside a regular snack size reclosable baggie filled with Hershey Hugs & Kisses...of course.  So cute!

One is missionary specific...
(click here to download)

...and one is for all the other people that you love!
(click here to download)

Here's Kristen's finished product...Isn't it adorable?!  I absolutely LOVE the doily on the outside of the box.  So cute!  I love the polka dot cookie canisters (to find out how to create your own, click here; don't want to send quite that many cookies?  Click here and scroll almost to the bottom of the post).  Kristen used wrapping paper instead of scrapbook paper on her canisters.  Lots cheaper especially if it's some that you already have laying around.

Check out the blog of this amazingly, talented mom at Birthday Blueprint (birthdayblueprint.blogspot.com). She has a million creative ideas! Thanks for sharing, Kristen!

God's Conversation Hearts

This idea came from Julia Bettencourt at Creative Ladies Ministry (www.juliabettencourt.com) via Pinterest, of course.  All I did was cutsie it up a bit with things that I already had, added some Valentine cards from the family and popped them in the post.  Quick, inexpensive and CUTE!  

Supplies:

cellophane bags

ribbon or tulle 

Conversation heart candy

(1 large bag = 3 cups of candy)

french fry boxes

coordinating paper

decorative elements, if desired

My cellophane bags were 3" x 11" and I think are designed for chocolate/caramel dipped pretzel rods. They were the perfect width for my french fry boxes so I just cut them down a bit after filling them.Each large bag of conversation hearts will do three boxes.  Put one cup of candy into each cellophane bag.  Allow a bit of head room so they don't all settle down to the bottom and make your box bulge. No one likes a bulgy bottom!

Tie with ribbon or tulle or jute or whatever you choose then cut off the excess cellophane.

Print out the free printable from Creative Ladies Ministry (www.juliabettencourt.com) by clicking here or on the image above.  Each copy will have six images (see above).  I printed mine onto pale pink paper, mounted it onto white card stock, then cut around the outside edge with decorative scissors.  Easy.  You could just attach these as a tag around your baggie of candy if you wanted to.  I had purchased these adorable French fry containers from Pick Your Plum* (www.pickyourplum.com) quite a while ago.  I buy a lot of containers for my missionaries through them...sometimes I get my inspiration for a package from the container.  Strange, I know.  I found the exact ones that you can purchase from ETSY by clicking here or you could Google 'French fry box template' (images) and there were about three million to choose from...or you could treat yourself to some French fries and then take apart the container to use as a pattern but you'll have to treat yourself to at least a medium size to get a box instead of a little sack.  Yeah...I'd go buy some fries if I were you.  Oh, the sacrifices we make for our missionaries!  They're worth it though, don't you think?

Attach the tag to your container using double sided tape.  You could use glue...but...it might not stay 'stuck' because the boxes are so slick. Embellish if desired.  I used a flower punch and coordinating paper with a 'pop' of bright yellow for the center.   If you 'crimp' each petal with your fingernail (see arrow at left) you can make your flower look three dimensional.  Cool huh?  Julia also has directions for a cute cover for the boxes of conversation hearts. You can see it by clicking here. Adorable!


You can fit two of these little treasures into the small Flat Rate box from the post office.  One for your missionary and one for their companion. Because these were so inexpensive to make AND mail, I called our local mission and asked for the names of some missionaries that don't receive mail and we're sending a package to them as well. Makes me smile and I hope it brightens their day!


And...just in case you want to 'man it up' a little...here's one that I did with red tulle and washi tape.  How did I make the bow?  Just tie a regular bow and then cut the loops and 'fluff'.  Even easier than the above tutorial.  Love it!

Every missionary loves letters from home, right?  I found this free Valentine Card download from MUFN Inc. (www.mufninc.blogspot.com) in coordinating colors - I just love it when things work out like that! You can find it by clicking here or on the image on the left.  We cut them apart and had the whole family write little 'love notes' on the back of the cards and included them in our care package.  Your missionary will love it!

*What is Pick Your Plum?  It's like a way cool, deal of the day site.  Every day at 7 a.m. MST a new deal will be delivered to your email.  The deals will be available until the item is gone and sometimes they're gone super FAST!!  They have a little bit of everything from well...French fry containers to maxi skirts (just bought two last week, thank you very much).  You really should check them out.  Way fun. Way inexpensive.  Way cool.  Promise.

Fancy Candy

My friend, Cindi at work brought in some candy bars for Halloween.  She had wrapped them in cute chevron wrapping paper and decorated them with ribbons and bows and they were absolutely adorable and incredibly fast, easy and inexpensive (which my husband always loves).  I had already sent Matt's Halloween package but I thought this would be fun to include in his Thanksgiving package.  My thoughts were thus:  There can never be quite enough chocolate.  I realize that not everyone has the same feelings towards chocolate that I do and I also realize that missionary's get lots of treats so should they decide that they don't want to partake, I thought that Matt and his companion could use them as little gifts for those family's that invite them over on Thanksgiving day for dinner. 

 

Supplies needed:

wrapping paper or scrapbook paper

coordinating ribbons and embellishments

clear tape

scissors

large candy bars

These are really simple and pretty self-explanatory...just make a sleeve out of scrapbook paper or wrapping paper and tape it around your wrapped candy bar.  Add any embellishments that you would like i.e. ribbons, bows, stickers, etc.  Then attach a cute tag. I made mine out of coordinating paper and added a sticker to the front and back along with a 'thought'.  I didn't sign our names because I didn't know if they would be giving them away. 

Click here to download the Thanksgiving 'thoughts' for the back of your gift tags.

Click here to download the Christmas 'thoughts' for the back of your gift tags.

Here's another look at the finished product.  This would be so easy to make for any holiday - Christmas 'thoughts' for your gift tags are already available to download by clicking the link above.  These would even be fun to give out to your Visiting Teaching or Home Teaching families or for a your missionary's birthday.  Happy Holidays!!

PS:  Thanks, Lynnae for helping me

create these little gems. 

Whatever would I do without you?





Peanut Blossom Cookies with HEART

We love Peanut Blossoms around here.  They are just plain YUM!!  Peanut butter.  Chocolate.  What's NOT to love?  Instead of topping your Peanut Blossom with a Hershey's Kiss, celebrate the season of love by using a heart shaped chocolate candy instead. 

 

This is Grandma Brown's recipe so it's tried and true and oh, so loved by everyone.  From our house to yours, we hope you and your missionary enjoy!

 

 

Peanut Blossom Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 Tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 3/4 cup flour

48 chocolate candies, unwrapped

(like Hershey's kisses or hearts)

 

 



Combine all ingredients except the candy in a large bowl. (Yup, you heard right.  This is a 'dump and mix' recipe.  Love those!)  Mix on lowest speed of mixer until dough forms.  Shape dough into balls using a rounded teaspoon full for each. (I use a small scoop - Crestware 18/8.   It's about 1 1/4" across the bowl of the scoop.  Makes them the absolute perfect size for mailing in a can.)  Roll balls in white sugar to coat.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet (I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper so I don't have to wash it...I'm lazy like that).  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  Top each cookie immediately with a candy kiss or other chocolate candy.  Press down firmly so the cookie cracks around the edges.

Never mailed cookies to your missionary before? 

You should really read 'A Word About Mailing Cookies' prior to baking. 

 



 



 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching so I thought I'd share what we sent to our missionaries and their companions last year.  (I had to save a FEW things so I'd have something to blog about after Mason came home, right?)

 

I had everything on hand for the "letter/craft" so I only needed to purchase the food items I was sending.  Overall a pretty inexpensive project and something a little different from a normal letter or email. The "letter/craft" was a little labor intensive but only because I was doing everything x4.  If you're only doing one for your missionary, you should be able to whip it up in a jiffy no problem.  If you're anything like me - time is totally an issue.

 

I found something similar to this last year on Pinterest, alas it is no longer there.  Have any of you ever lost multiple items that you've pinned.  Strange.  I would love to give credit where credit is due so if anyone has the link pinned somewhere, please drop me a line and let me know.  OK...hang onto your pants and jacket...here we GO!

 

 

Items needed:

lunch sacks

scissors

decorative scissors (optional)

glue stick or tape runner

cardstock (to match your project)

ribbon - wide (about 1" x 5")

ribbon - narrow (for pull tabs)

embellishments (optional)



 

 

Using an ordinary lunch sack, fold the bottom flap down.

 

 

Cut off the bottom flap along your fold line.  This will make your bag 'open' on both ends and when the sack is folded in half will give you "pockets" for your letters.

 

 

Trim the bottom and the top edge of the sack with decorative scissors if desired.  I desired 'cause I'm kind of a dork that way...God is in the details, right?

 

 

Fold the bag in half and glue along the two edges that weren't trimmed

thus creating your "pocket."

 

 

Now you're going to have to do a bit of math.  It's OK.  You're big.  You can handle it. 

Each sack will make at least three "pockets."  If you need space for more than three letters, then you will need an additional sack(s) which will actually give you four more "pockets" per extra sack - because the back side of the first sack and the front side of the second sack can now be glued along the edges becoming a fourth "pocket".  Still with me?

 

Once you've figured out how many sacks you need, stack them all neatly together and stitch them together using your sewing machine.  Don't worry...I needed 10 "pockets" (3 sacks) and my wimpy little sewing machine handled it just fine.

 

 

Now use a scrap of decorative ribbon and fold it over the seam edge and stitch in place.

 

Decorate.  Remember those details? 

 I just cut out a simple felt heart and used letter stamps to spell out L O V E.  Easy.

I'm sure yours will look much more beautiful.

 



 

Using white cardstock, cut to the size of the pocket. 

My lunch sacks were just the average, run-of-the-mill size.  I cut my note cards 3.75" x 4".

Using scraps of ribbon, staple "pull tabs" to the edge of each notecard.  Make sure that you gradate them so they are staggered as shown.  Embelish.

 

 

All done!  There, that wasn't too bad was it?  Way cute!



Heart Attack!

My current ward calling is Primary Chorister...it is also my all-time FAVORITE calling.  My Primary Pianist is currently serving a mission in Finland and the Primary kiddos have had so much fun sending "our" missionary bits of LOVE to show our support.

For Valentine's Day we sent her a "Heart Attack!"  So much fun and SO incredibly EASY.  I went to my local craft store and used their die-cut machine to cut out tons and TONS of hearts.  This is usually a free service but sometimes you have to buy the paper through the craft store in order to get it for "free" so you might want to check first.  When scrapbooking was all the rage, you used to have to sign up for a time slot but that hasn't been a requirement at my craft store for quite some time now.  Better safe than sorry...a few minutes on the phone could save you some pennies/dollars as well as time driving back and forth.  The paper that I brought with me was in a pad that had a variety of Valentine paper to choose from.  I just cut as many hearts as I could from each sheet of paper.  You can usually load the die-cut machine with 2-3 sheets at a time depending on how old (sharp) the die is.  Make sure that the paper is only one-sided so that you and the kiddos can write personal messages to your missionary on the other side.

In Primary* I passed out the hearts to the teachers and they used the very end of class-time to write letters or draw pictures to our cute Sister Luedtke.  At home I lined a small box (VHS size available at the Post Office) with tissue paper, put in our "Love Notes," filled in the spaces with loose Valentine candy, folded the tissue over and topped it all off with a cute note card.  See?  Told 'ya it was easy!

(click here to download the "Heart Attack" note card

with a slightly different font 'cause the original was having "issues")

*NOTE:  You don't have to be in Primary to make this care package be a huge hit.  Just take hearts to neighbors, friends and extended family and have them write personal messages to your missionary.