My Hand-dipped Chocolate Truffles Ornaments Photo Tutorial

Mmmm, 

Hand-dipped chocolate truffles!!!!

It's always fun to guess what

the center filling will be....

vanilla buttercreme, chocolate buttercreme,

raspberry, caramel

but, these are nothing like that

they are fake!

just decorative ornaments,

and here's how I made them...

Begin with a styrofoam ball

and spread with drywall joint compound.

You really don't even need to coat  

the lower 1/3 if you intend to 

set your truffle in a candy cup as I did.

Let it dry a few hours

then lightly sand off any imperfections

(you may want to wear a dust mask).

Leave any swirls that

would lend give the appearance of the hand-dipped effect.

Wipe gently with a slight damp paper towel 

to remove loose dust.

Then for the fun creative part.

Paint with acrylic craft paints.

I used burnt umber for dark chocolate

and nutmeg for milk chocolate

Decorate each the top of each one

so as to reflect what the center

may hold.

I even sprinkled a little gold glitter on one.

Let dry and hot glue into a 

small pleated foil paper cupcake liner style cup.

Because I wanted to make my ornaments

to hang on a tree  (see that post here)

I bent a small piece of

wire and pushed it into the top of

the truffle with a dab of hot glue to hold it in place.

If you enjoyed this tutorial,

please leave a comment.

If you make any of these I'd love to see

them.  Just contact me,
I'd love to give you a Guest Post.

Warm Hugs,

Decorated Valentine's Day Tree

With the extreme cold and snow we've been having

this winter, I've pretty much just been hibernating and
trying to stay warm.

But I do continue to go to work at my office job each day

and as you may know I

decorate our office tree for each holiday.

So of course I wanted to share 

the Valentine Tree.

For this tree I wanted all things love and romantic 
that one envisions for Valentine's Day...

 that famous heart-shaped box of chocolates
hearts 
cupids
hugs, kisses
bouquets of roses

gifts of jewelry

all with a bit of a "vintage" because

I love the victorian style Valentine images that are available on line. 

 I found some free printables here and 
at the Graphics Fairy here.

I mounted them on poster board,

 added some glitter and sparkly tinsel style pipe cleaners
and a little red satin bow at the top. 

I cut cupids, Xs and Os (hugs & kisses) 
from glittered foam sheets

I had a few small candy boxes that I 

 would hang on the tree.

Then I made a few more non-functioning candy boxes 

(they don't actually open). 

To make these I cut two hearts from poster board

and glued them together with a 1 inch strip in between;

then decorated the tops with silk roses, ribbon

and Christmas tinsel.

As you scroll down you will see 

two more candy boxes...

this one hangs next to a candy bonbon ornament

(styrofoam ball wrapped in decorative

tissue and clear cellophane, twisted at the ends)

this one one hangs next to another handmade

fake candy truffle

See my tutorial on how to make

these truffle ornaments here.

I found these gold glittered gift boxes at a

dollar store and knew they'd be

perfect for this tree....

I imagined they were for gifting jewelry

so I found a template here  from minieco.co

for a 3D folded paper diamond and glued it onto

a ball mason type canning jar ring lid.

I tucked a few bouquets of roses (silk)

between the tree branches
wrapped with the same tissue paper
as the candy bonbons.

See more Valentine related posts

at the  Sew Darn Crafty  link party

or click the button to go there

Wishing you and your special 

Valentine a wonderful day!!!