Looking for a quick, last-minute Valentine’s Day project? You may already have the supplies for this Valentine’s matchbox sitting around your house, in which case you can just print, cut, fold, and glue. The bottle version is a little bit more involved, because you need to find a bottle of the right size. I searched and searched for the perfect bottle, and then I ended up finding one at a thrift shop. Before I found it, though, I was trolling my local grocery store for small condiment or spice bottles that would work. So you may be able to find the perfect bottle filled with mustard or spices.

If you want to get extra fancy, make a gift set with the matches, beeswax candles, and marble and copper candle holders. For your romantic, candle-lit Valentine’s dinner over heart pizza, of course.

I found the vintage match Valentine in this great set of vintage cards, and I couldn’t resist turning it into a matchbox cover. It’s so corny, but I love it. Vintage Valentines are the best.

Materials

Labels:

Light my fire box label, perfect match box label, light my fire bottle label, perfect match bottle label
For the matchbox:
Printout of the label you want to use
Glue
Matchbox
Scissors
Toothpick or skewer

For the match bottle:
Printout of the label you want to use
Small bottle
Matches
Glue
Matchbook
Scissors
Toothpick or skewer
Rubber bands (optional)

Steps

For the matchbox:

1. Cut out the label template, and wrap it around your matchbox so that one of the small sides with the striking surface is exposed. Fold the label to fit the box, and trim the excess paper.

2. Use a skewer or toothpick to evenly cover three sides of the matchbox with glue, then smooth the paper label around it. Put something heavy on top and let it dry.

For the match bottle:
1. Cut out the label and trim it to fit the surface of your bottle.
2. Cut the striking surface off of a matchbook. If you have strike-anywhere matches, you can skip this part.

3. Glue the strike surface onto the label.

4. Glue the label onto your bottle. It helps to wrap rubber bands around the bottle to help hold it in place while the glue is drying.

However you celebrate, have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!