Valentine’s Day Chocolate DIY

As promised, a petite Valentine’s Day DIY. My original plan was to make the “Sweet Sensations” from the Winter 2009 Martha Stewart Weddings:

{Directions here and template here}

I wasn’t too impressed with how my version came out, however, mainly because I was using Ghiradelli squares instead of Martha’s fancy tasting squares.

{In retrospect, the heart cut-out should have been bigger. Much bigger.}

After I added my own twist to the project, here’s what I ended up with:

And here are the instructions:

{Click to enlarge!}

1) Assemble your supplies: ruler, pencil, clear tape, glue {I swear by the Tombow permanent runner}, scissors, decorative paper, ribbon, and chocolate {I chose two Ghiradelli flavors: dark chocolate with raspberry filling and milk chocolate with vanilla caramel.}

2) Begin by folding back the edges of the wrapper so the package is as neatly square as possible.

3 & 4) Using clear tape rounds in between layers, stack the squares on top of each other in {again} as neat a formation as possible. This may take several tries.

5 & 6) Cut your paper in a long, thin strip, making sure it’s long enough to go around the chocolate with some overlap. Glue in place. Choose a coordinating ribbon {or ribbons} and tie in a bow or knot.

Repeat for as many valentines as you’re lucky to have!

What are you doing for your valentines this year? I’d love to hear some more ideas!