A chocolate lover lives here

Here's a (pardon the pun) a half-hearted attempt at a tutorial for a chocolate wreath. I started this a few days before Hubby's had his own heart issues.

By the way thank you all for the well wishes and concern. He is doing very well. His tests didn't show any underlying health issues that would have caused the A-Fib. He still has a stress test scheduled for next month.  He plans on going, despite the fact I'm perfectly capable of providing him with plenty of stress ;0) In fact, the day of his release they said he could go back to his normal routine, including exercise! We feel happy. blessed, and aware of how much he means to all of us!


Now, lets make a mess. The finished heart is about 20"x 18"
You'll need...

•  5 (2 1/2") styrofoam balls cut in half (10 total).
•  1" sheet of styrofoam cut in to 2" squares, some of those are cut into rectangles. I ended up with 14 pieces out of the sheet. You don't have to be precise with how many you make, I'll explain further down.
• 1/8" foamcore board
• a scrap of cardboard
• paper cupcake or candy cups
• pink crepe paper roll
• red tissue paper
• craft paint in dark, milk and white chocolate colors (I used a pink as well). You need to purchase a box of assorted real chocolates for comparing the colors..yes, it's essential ;0) your welcome.
• piece of ribbon for hanging
• paint brushes, glue gun, tooth picks and a scrap of foam

It takes about three coats of paint to cover the texture of the styrofoam. I used toothpicks and stuck the "chocolate pieces" into a larger piece of foam to dry faster.

I tried out a few practice drizzles. The opening on my craft paint was too large, amounting to a glop (far right) rather then a controlled line. I transfered my paint to a bottle with a finer tip.

Once your pieces are dry, lay them out, roughly into a heart shape, and trace around them. This is why don't have to the exact amount of pieces that I made. How many pieces you have made will dictate the finished size.

If look closely you can see my paper template. I used the template and traced it 2" larger onto a piece of foamcore and cut with an x-acto knife.

Here is where things started getting crazy in my life. a few days away from this project and I lost concentration and forgot to take anymore photos. Told it was half-hearted tutorial! Hopefully, I can talk you through to the end.

• I glued two layers of crepe on the edge, scrunching and ruffling as I went around.
• I used a piece of castoff cardboard, cut, scored and notched so that the edge would be the same height as the "chocolates". I scrunched and glued tissue around the cardboard band
• I used candy cups and glued four to each chocolate piece...only because I didn't have any cupcake cups. Then hot glued each piece into the box. 
• A ribbon to hang by

This was inspired by a wreath I saw at the Dallas Gift Market. I was ready to buy two, until, I saw the price...300.00 each, that was wholesale, people! That wreath had a fabric edge detail, instead of crepe paper. I assure you, it wasn't more then 10.00 worth of fabric. 

Now that I'm feeling so clever, I was going to make this heart again for my son's school party. I was going make brownies and decorate them to look like chocolate pieces. However, school is canceled today and most likely tomorrow. Not sure if I want 30 brownies staring me down over the weekend...we'll see. Until I can decide to bake or not to bake, I'll just enjoy the wreath.

Yummy and guilt free :0)

Linking up at Today's Creative Blog. Today's post is about The Funky Junk Sisters, with a photo of a yellow camper to swoon over, promise!

And The DIY Showoff lots of creative ideas to get the juices flowing. 

I love being linky, a great way to meet new blogs!