Going Postal: When one Valentine is not enough.

If your sweetheart lives far away; if you don't have the time to see them on Valentine's Day... or if you are like me and happen to think that, when it comes to tokens of affection, more is better... then this is the project for you.

Instead of one Valentine, surprise your sweetie with a whole week's worth of Valentines without breaking the bank!

DIY Week-long Valentine's Envelope Project

Materials:

• colored paper (7 pieces)
• hole punch
• ribbon
• glue stick
• envelope contents (ex: cards, mix CD, handwritten poem, love coupons, etc.) 

Helpful skills:

• eye-balling measurements
• folding straight lines

Step-by-step:

1. Look at your colored paper and decide how deep you would like each pocket to be. Make sure you have an idea of the things you will put inside so that everything will fit. Fold one piece first as a template.

2. Fold the other 6 pieces the exact same size as your first piece. Punch 3 holes in each side of the pocket and tie them shut with small pieces of ribbon.

3. Fold the flaps of each envelope both ways so it is flexible. Glue the inside of the flap to the bottom back of another pocket, creating an accordion. The end result will be able to fold up in a zigzag fashion.

4. Punch a hole in the center of the very top flap (it should be the only flap left unglued). I reinforced the flap with packaging tape first but this step is optional. Tie a long ribbon through the hole so you will be able to tie the entire package shut.

5. Now it's time to get creative! Label each pocket with the day of the week or the specific date. Fill each pocket with fun Valentines and tie it up when it's filled to satisfaction!

The end result can be as cheap or lavish as you like, but all your Valentine will see is how thoughtful you are for extending the holiday!

Here's to celebrating something every day!

Going Postal: the best way to send cookies.

We all have friends and family who live far away, and although today's world is one of instant gratification and technology-assisted "hello's", it's always fun and much more personal to get mail!

One of an old favorite, the chocolate chip cookie, is wonderful to receive via mail if you're at school, going through training, or just hit a rough patch in your week and need a pick-me-up. Delicious for the send-ee, easy to make for the sender. Probably the most difficult part of sending cookies, though, is the packaging!

That is, until my mom let me in on a little secret: popcorn! It's the perfect insulation for your delicate baked goods, and it's just as yummy as the sweets you send along! And the fact that it's more environmentally-friendly than styrofoam doesn't hurt. Here's the process I use:

To start, bake your cookies. If you really want to make your pen pal smile, melt some chocolate for 'glue' and attach a candy face to the top.

Pop your popcorn. It will definitely take more popcorn than you think to fill the bag! I thought 1 batch would be fine and ended up making 3, so better to err on the side of leftovers, right?

 Use a medium to large plastic bag to line the inside of your box. Another nice touch you can do to make your package special and unique is to decorate the inside with stickers, glitter, tissue paper, and anything else you can think of. Definitely a smile-bringer.

Once your cookies are baked and cooled, package them in small batches and put them in plastic zip bags. Fill the large plastic bag (which, remember, is inside the box now) with a shallow layer of popcorn first. Next, add a bag of cookies, and then more popcorn. Continue this layering process until you have the cookies insulated comfortably on all sides with popcorn (including on top!). 

Close up the bag. You can even use pipe cleaners for a little more fun.


Close it up and ship it off! Your pen pal now has a package with completely edible contents and you don't have to worry about broken cookies!

Until next time, cheers!