Add Some Flavor to Your Coffee!! Tutorial/Weekend Project

I have begun to post some gift giving items. It's never too early to start making your gifts for those special people in your life.

Here's a fun tube that you can use for MANY things. You can add candies, small gifts, money, etc. You can also hang this from the Christmas tree too!!! I will explain how you can do that later in the instructions.

Here is what you need for this project:

Acetate at least 6-1/2" x 3"
Sticky Strip tape
Card stock

Decorative paper
Rhinestones (optional)
Die cut base from the Stampin' Up! Basket die
Tacky glue
15" of thread, fabric or ribbon

I used the Big Shot and the Basket die. I only cut out the bottom of the basket piece. You will need two of them for this project.

Then I cut a piece of acetate 6-1/2" x 3". You can make it as tall as you want. I only needed mine to be 3". Ok, you can only make it as tall as the acetate piece you have will allow you. But keep in mind the taller it is the more flimsy it will be.

Glue one of the base pieces to the taped acetate piece, which is now a tube. The tabs from the base piece will be glued to the outside of the tube. It looks ugly but you will be decorating that area later. Gluing those tabs down is not easy. They don't want to stick right away. I laid the tube down on it's side and used the end of a pencil to push the tab against the outside of the tube. If you want to use this to hang on the Christmas tree then BEFORE you glue you will want to find the center of the basket base and make a hole. The size hole will have to be as big as you need for the piece of string, ribbon or fabric you will be using as the hanger.

Now if you are using a hanger you will need to attach it now. You will want to make at least a 1" circle punch in matching or contrasting card stock. This circle will need to have a hole punched in it as well. Punch your hole first and then line up the circle punch and punch it out. Tape or glue the circle in place on the bottom of the tube over the hole you already punched. Fold your ribbon, thread or fabric in half. You can use a needle to do this if you wish, insert the folded end in the bottom of the base and pull it through the tube. Tie a knot at the end, leaving about a 1/2" tail.

Fill the tube with what ever you'd like. Don't make it too heavy though the base can not support much at this point. And when picking it up be sure to support the base until the entire project is finished. I filled mine with these FABULOUS Hot Cocoa Hershey Kisses. I'd never heard of them before and I'm REALLY sorry I found them. I'm not big on chocolate but these little buggers are REALLY good!!! I put 13 of them in my tube.

For those of you who used the hanger you will need to take your top piece and repeat the hole process, including the 1" circle which will go on the top of the piece. Insert the hanger through the holes and you may now glue the top part in place. This one will be a bit more difficult to glue because you can't insert a pencil for support. SO you will just need to hold it and work with it as you go around. The glue will finally set up enough to take and then you can move on!!!

The last thing that must be done is to add a band around the tabs from the cap and base. Once this is done you can decorate the rest of it as you wish.

I used the Ski Slope Decorative paper for my bands. I used the scallop edge punch and added the scallop to the decorative paper which I layered on top of a piece of Close to Cocoa card stock that I used the scallop punch on as well. When you tape the bands on make sure you put the seams at the back where the seam of the acetate is. I used a pony tail binder around the card stock to hold it in place while it dried. I needed my hands free to work on the bottom and to decorate the rest of the tube.

On the top of mine I added a couple of the flowers from the basket die cut. I put tow together and moved the top one over just a little to give the flower a double look. I added a rhinestone in the center. You can add some glitter if you'd like to. I chose not to since it gets all over your hands, even when it is set and the one opening the candies won't appreciate eating bits of glitter!!!

Another idea with this is to make the tube shorter. Use red on each end and add gold brads. String some gold cording from the top brads to the bottom brads all the way around and make it look like a drum. I don't have time to make it but if any of you out there do please email me a picture of it. I'd love to see it.

Thanks SO much for visiting today,
Wanda