Mini Christmas Bon-Bons

Hi all!

The Christmas bon-bons are a recent project, made over the weekend for the Christmas celebrations with my family. 

So we're all on the same page, when I say "bon-bons," this is what I mean: 

There's 20 mini bon-bons in total. Thank goodness I had my sister to help!

Because we made so many, we ran the process like a production line. Here are the steps we followed:

1. Cut the plain coloured card stock to size for the Candy Wrapper die (see important note below). The size we found to work best was 13 cm by 17 cm. 
2. Run all your card through the Big Shot with the Candy Wrapper die. The Big Shot sandwich we used is: standard cutting platform, the CW die, and the crease pad. I highly recommend using the crease pad with the CW die as it makes it much easier to fold the card into shape. 
3. Crease along all the score lines.
4. There is one end that is marked with a narrow score line. This is the end that you will place your adhesive on. I've found that SU! Sticky Strip works well to hold the bon-bon together. 
5. Once you have adhered the short ends of the die together it is time to assemble the bon-bons! Keep the bon-bon flat so you can re-crease all the corner folds (re-creasing makes it much easier to twist the end together). 
6. Twist only one end closed. Initially this can be a little tricky to get the hang of. Here is a great YouTube video from Mary Fish that demonstrates how to twist the ends closed.
7. Decorate your bon-bons however you would like or need for what you are using them for. 
8. Almost there now! Fill with a treat (we used chocolates, yum!) and twist closed the second end. 

Here's a close-up of the finished product:

We used a mixture of old Christmas craft supplies I had and SU! stock. See below for details. See Supplies and Tools list below for products and extra items used to decorate the bon-bons.

Just above the bon-bons you can see that we've added tags. This is an optional step. If you wish to add a tag the best time to do it is between steps seven and eight above. Here's how:

Step 7 and half: 
Use a piece of SU! Baker's Twine to thread through a hole in the top of your tag, and then thread one end of the Twine though a  diamond cut-out on the Candy Wrapper (it doesn't particularly matter which one). Proceed with Step 8 as written above. 

We made tags with the Merry Embosslits (see important note below). You run the Embosslit through the Big Shot with a standard sandwich (standard platform, standard cutting plate, the Embosslit, standard cutting plate) and the Merry Embosslit will cut the tag shape with rounded corners, a circle for threading ribbon, and embosses 'merry' across the bottom of the tag. It's really quite a cool little Embosslit! Here's what they look like:

I love how quick and easy it is to make a cute Christmas gift tag with the Merry Embosslit!

I know this project is a bit long-winded and tricky! It does take a bit of time. To simplify the process you could use SU! Designer Series Paper patterns so you would not need to decorate your Candy Wrapper boxes. It is also not necessary to create a separate gift tag; if you need to write names, you could do so straight onto the box itself. 

Have you ever used the Candy Wrapper die? If so, what did you use if for? I'd love to hear about your projects and ideas! Leave a comment below to tell me all about them. 

Thanks for reading, and congratulations if you made it this far! I promise the next two Christmas projects will be much easier!
Ruth

Important Note on the Candy Wrapper Die and the Merry Embosslit:
These are both retired SU! products. However, they have been re-released into the Clearance Rack. If you like these products and are interested in purchasing them, my advice would be to get them as soon as you possibly can, because once they are sold out from the Clearance Rack they will not be back. You can purchase them from my online store here.


Mini Christmas Bon-Bons Supplies and Tools
Paper
Own various card stock 
Adhesives
SU! Sticky Strip
Tools
Big Shot with one standard cutting pad and crease pad
Candy Wrapper Die (see note above)
Merry Embosslit (see note above)
Other
Season of Style Designer Washi Tape (from Holiday Catalog, only available to Feb 1st)
Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine
Island Indigo Baker's Twine
Gold Baker's Twine (NEW product from the Occasions Catalog, available Jan 28)
Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon (also a Clearance Rack product, see note above)
Other various Christmas stickers, glitter tapes, and ribbons I've collected over the years