Ghirardelli® Chocolate Square Holder Tutorial

As promised, here are the instructions for making the Halloween Ghirardelli Treat Holder pictured below. If you don't see them in your local store, you can find Ghirardelli® Chocolates online HERE.

Cut a sheet of card stock to 3"x8" for the base. Because of the round numbers, Textured 12"x12" card stock is ideal to use for this project. You can get four 3"x8" treat holder bases from each 12"x12" sheet. If you order an assortment of In Color 12"x12" Textured card stock, you can use the Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango sheets together. Simply cut the 3"x8" bases from each sheet, then use the leftover scraps of each sheet to layer onto the front of the opposite color base!

Okay, back to where I started--cut a sheet of card stock to 3"x8". Then score the card stock at 3-7/8" and at 4-1/8". [Remember, you can click on any picture to view it at full size.]

Optional: If you want to use a Stampin' Around wheel to decorate the base, you should do that now. Just be mindful of your placement with any words or images on your wheel which have a definite "right side up" pattern, as shown in the picture below. Use plain paper to cover and mask off areas on which you don't want the wheeled pattern. Be aware that about 2-1/8" of the top front of your holder will be taken up with the slot for the chocolate, and with a ribbon closure.

From one end of the card stock (choose either, it doesn't matter), slide your Word Window Punch as far into the card stock as it will go, and punch. You will be punching over it on each edge, so just do it somewhere in the middle for placement, as shown below.

Then slide your Word Window Punch over until the side of the punch casing is even with one edge of the card stock. Punch, then repeat this process on the opposite edge of the card stock. See the pictures below for more notes.

You will end up with an extended Word Window Punch shape across one end of your holder, as pictured below. This will be the front of your holder.

Decorate the front of your holder as desired. The area you'll have to work with runs from just below your Word Window punched hole, to the score line, and is approximately 2-1/4". The bottom decorative card stock layer on my treat holder is 2-3/4" x 1-3/4", and the top white layer is 2-1/2" x 1-1/2".

I used Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, and Eggplant Envy for this project, as I really like that combination for Halloween. The Eggplant Envy card stock I used is not Textured, because I'm layering over it, and it seems a waste to me to have most of the Textured card stock covered up! I also used the Halloween Frights stamp set, and the Frightful Fence wheel (shown on the Optional sample), both available for you to order now from the Holiday Mini Catalog.

After you have decorated your holder, punch two holes in the top front above the Word Window punched hole, with the Rectangle Punch, for a ribbon bow. Fold the holder closed with the edges flush at the top and hold firmly in place, then punch through your rectangle holes on the front, to create holes in the back of the holder at the same place. See pictures of theses steps below:

HORIZONTAL SLOT PUNCH METHOD: This is a great alternative to the Rectangle Punch shown above. Simply slide your card stock into the Horizontal Slot Punch as far as it will go, then line up the corner of your card stock with the bottom piece of metal on the punch, and squeeze. No measuring, no worrying if it's straight or not. I recommend punching each of the 4 corners separately, because it's not good for your punch to punch through more than one layer at a time. (See pictures below for visual--click images to see them larger.)

Thread ribbon through rectangle holes and tie in a bow or knot at the front of your holder. Slide your Ghirardelli Chocolate Square into the Word Window punched slot, and you're ready to share a treat with your favorite ghouls and gargoyles!

On the Frightful Fence sample below, I used brads to close the treat holder, then cut out some shapes from the Halloween Frights stamp set and adhered them over the brads, and in other decorative positions. I also used a Blender Pen in Close to Cocoa ink to go back over the fence and fill in some of the spots which were omitted due to the texture of the card stock. And as a final highlight, I went over the cobwebs in the fence with a Basic Black Stampin' Write® marker.

These Ghirardelli Chocolate Square treat holders can be made even more quickly and easily by using the Ghostly Greetings Designer Series Paper, and you can even include greetings without doing any stamping, if you use the Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons! These treat holders are also versatile throughout the year when decorated seasonally appropriate--consider making them as placecard favors on your Thanksgiving table, as stocking stuffers or treats for co-workers for Christmas, or for Valentine's Day treats. With chocolate, and sharing your creativity, at the heart of this project, you can't go wrong!