Editor’s Note: Good morning. Vanessa Falle is back with us in time for Valentine’s Day. Today she leads us through a fabulous paper craft. Here she is:

I don’t know about you, but I love to make special things for my kids. They know how much time and thought I put into each one of their handmade gifts. I think that even at the tender age of five and 11, they know that these gifts are way better than Bionicles or Pokemon!

Of course, Valentine’s Day is all about showering our special people with treasures and treats that symbolize their place in our hearts. So, in honor of St. Valentine, we’re going to make these super cute treat cones that can be filled with just about anything that will fit!

Let’s get started. First gather up the following supplies:

-one or two sheets of printed Valentine’s Day themed paper,

-one sheet of card stock,

-a tab punch,

-scalloped circle punch,

-banner stamp,

-gold glitter embossing powder and versamark ink,

-heat gun,

-stapler,

-standard hole punch,

-liquid adhesive,

-ruler, pencil and Xacto blade,

-scissors, tape and craft mat,

-letter stickers,

-faux bird (not shown),

-ribbon or tulle for handle,

-tassel, and

-assorted embellishments that you love (tickets, ribbon, beads, glitter shapes).

Wow. Okay, that only looks like a lot of stuff but really it’s not that bad. Now that we’ve rounded up all our supplies, let’s get crackin’!

First, begin by tracing a large circle onto the wrong side of your card stock. Cut out the circle shape and get your Xacto blade, craft mat, pencil and ruler. Find the center of your circle and mark lines indicating where to cut away 1/4 of the circle. Cut along those lines so that you have 3/4 of your circle (Steps One and Two).

Next, securely adhere the tassel to the center of the circle (Step Three). Then apply adhesive to the INSIDE edge of the left side of one of the straight (not curved) edges and to the OUTSIDE of the opposite side.

If this step is confusing, try this next step without adhesive to make sense of the adhesive placement. Next, you’ll wrap the paper around itself making a cone shape. Take care to close up the bottom so that it comes to a tidy point without any gap. Approximately 1/4 of the paper will overlap. Press securely together.

Next, using scrap from the 1/4 of the circle that you cut away, grab your versamark and glitter embossing powder (or regular ink for traditional stamping if embossing isn’t your thing). Stamp the banner shape, apply embossing powder, heat to set and cut out. If you’re just stamping with ink, do so and cut out your banner. Set aside.

With your scallop circle punch, punch out one circle. Adhere circle to cone using foam squares at the top and bottom only, allowing sides to come away from the cone. Stick the banner onto the circle and apply letter stickers over the banner, customizing it for the recipient.

Grab your tab punch or cut freehand two tabs for each cone you’re making (Step Four).

Staple these to the sides of the cone, trying your best to get them evenly placed so that the cone doesn’t droop forward or backward (Step Five). Once you’re happy with where the tabs are, punch holes in them going far enough down, so that you’re also punching through the card stock that makes up the actual cone (Step Six). This makes the holes a lot stronger and less prone to rip when the cone is filled with goodies! Tie a length of tulle or ribbon to make the handle (Step Seven).

Now we’re ready to create a perch for our faux bird! This is my favorite part of this entire thing! Grab any old scrap of paper measuring roughly 1×4″. Fold into three sections leaving about a 3/4″ flat spot near the middle (Step Eight).

Apply adhesive along one of the ends, this is where we’re going to stick this triangular folded piece of card stock onto the cone, near the top edge. Stick it in place (Step Nine). Unfold the piece of card stock outward and apply a little adhesive near the bottom edge (Step Ten), where you are going to stick it onto the bottom edge of the piece already stuck down, creating a triangle. This does not have to be perfect (Step Eleven). Using your strong liquid adhesive, squeeze out a small pool of glue and set your bird in place (Step Twelve).

Allow to dry fully. I did this by sitting the cone inside an empty drinking glass.

Now you’re all set to fill it with red and white shredded paper in the bottom with some special treasures like candies, bath goodies, small toys, books and a Valentine’s Day card. Enjoy!