Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

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Valentine Crafts

Here are a few last minute valentine crafts to add some Valentine cheer for your special day.

These handmade valentines are originally from a Paper Crafts magazine.  Scrapbook Girl made these adorable hearts with scrapbook papers, buttons and beads.  Step by step instructions are available  here.

These fans made of scrapbooking paper look great hanging in windows or from chandeliers … or tucked between decorative items on a fireplace mantel or bookshelf.  Pictures are from EAB Designs.

This adorable heart wreath by Craftberry Bush makes for a cute display with the simple candles and jars of sand.

And this beautiful newspaper heart wreath, also by Craftberry Bush.

These adorable valentine vases and votive holders from Rhonna Designs are made from mason jars, decorative papers, lace and ribbons.

These cute bon-bon filled hearts are easy to make.  Instructions by Martha Stewart can be found here.

Happy decorating!

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Valentine Apothecary Jars

If you’ve visited here before, you may know that I love using apothecary jars in my home.  It’s a great way to add seasonal or holiday touches.  Or, to simply display collections of small items that you love.

This post is devoted to Valentine themed apothecary jars.  There are all kinds of fillers you can use for Valentine’s Day …

• Candy – one of my favorites for Valentines!  Any thing that’s a shade of red, pink and/or white will do.  Or turquoise or lavender …

Conversation Hearts, Gumballs, Candy-coated Pretzels…

Cotton Candy, Marshmellows, M&Ms, Salt Water Taffy, Chocolate Kisses, Jelly Beans, Cinnamon Hearts … 

Hot Tamales, Licorice, Good & Plenty, Red Licorice, Butter Mints, Dutch Mints …  You get the idea!

• Old Valentine Cards or Vintage Postcards – start saving your valentine cards each year and soon you’ll have enough for a display.

Years ago, I bought several vintage Valentine postcards at an antique flee market.  One is postmarked from 1908.  I always find a place to display them for Valentine’s Day.

• Sugar Cookies or other Valentine Treats

• Red and white ribbons
• Rose Petals — fresh (although you’ll need to replenish every few days) or artificial flower petals
• Christmas Ornaments — in red, silver or heart-shapes

I don’t pack away my red mercury ornaments after Christmas.  I use them for Valentine’s Day — along with my red and silver heart ornaments.

Sources:  Style Me Pretty, OurNiftyNotebook.blogspot.com,  HouseofSmiths.blogspot.com, Anders Ruff Custom Designs, andBeeinourBonnet.com.

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Valentine Sugar Cookies

I made sugar cookies for our Valentine Card-Making party.  I used my mom’s recipe, which is my all-time favorite sugar cookie recipe.  I haven’t posted it on my blog before, because the dough is a little tricky to work with, as it’s a bit sticky.  But after trying four different sugar cookie recipes, my family and I think this makes the best tasting sugar cookies.

Usually I have my great helper and baker, Natalie, to help make sugar cookies for our card-making party.  But, she spent the night at a friends’ house so I had to frost them all myself!   (If you’re like me, you probably enjoy decorating the first 8 cookies or so … then you’re ready for them all to be frosted!)

I made hearts, lips and cupcakes … perfect for a party of 12-13 year olds and their moms, right?

Back to the recipe.  The dough needs to be refrigerated before rolling and cutting the cookies.  And, the dough tends to be sticky, so you have to use a well-flowered board.  You end up working in a bit of extra flour into the dough as you’re getting it ready to roll out.  But again, the cookies taste oh so good!

I think sugar cookies taste best when frosted with butter cream frosting  (instead of royal icing or fondant).   You don’t get the smooth surface, but the cookies taste so much better.  I use the Butter Cream Frosting recipe on the back of the Powdered Sugar box.  Sometimes I use royal icing to outline the cookies and add decorative lines and squiggles.  I just ran out of time to pipe/outline the cookies this time.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups Flour

1  cup Sugar

1  tsp. Baking Soda

2 tsp.  Cream of Tartar

1  cup Salted Butter, softened

2 Eggs, slightly beaten

3 Tbs. Milk

1  tsp. Vanilla

Directions:

1.  Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar.  (If I don’t feel like getting out the sifter, I just whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl).

2.  Add the butter and cut it in as you would for a pie crust (using a pastry blender).

3.  Add the eggs, milk and vanilla to the flour mixture.  Mix with a wooden spoon.  Dough will be sticky.

4.  Wrap dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 1  1/2 hours.

5.  Flour pastry board and rolling pin.  Roll out dough, sprinkling with flour as you go.  Roll dough out to desired thickness.  Cut into shapes, dipping cookie cutters in flour before cutting.

6.  Bake cookies at 400 for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on dough thickness and your oven temp).

I use Silpat Baking liners, which makes it easy to remove sugar cookies from cookie sheet.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 lb. Powdered Sugar

1/2 cup Salted Butter, softened

1/4 cup Milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

In a medium to large-sized bowl, add powdered sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Use a hand mixer to beat the frosting until completely mixed.  Separate portions of the frosting and add food coloring for desired colors.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Valentine’s Day Treats

Are you looking for cute Valentine’s Day treats to make for your kids, friends or neighbors?  Check out these adorable treats …

Fill a cute basket, tin pail, or other container with Valentine’s candy.  (Target is always a great source for cute holiday containers.)  M&Ms always make a great filler — and you can get them in red, pink and white!  Decorate the container with your scrap booking supplies and embellishments.    -Making Memories

Or, fill a glass jar with your favorite candy.  Decorate the jar with ribbon, and create a cute wrapper and label using scrapbooking paper, punches and stamps.  So cute!     -My Chic ‘n Scratch blog

Cupcakes are always a hit!  You can start simple … decorating with red hots or red M&Ms … making Xs and Os.

Or get fancy with Red Velvet Cupcakes decorated with chocolate valentine cookies.    -With Style & Grace

Presentation is the key!  Don’t you just love these pedestals of cupcakes?   -I Am Baker (on the left) and Sweetopia (on the right)

If you are really brave, you can follow Amanda’s instructions to make this adorable Heart Cake. This is something I probably wouldn’t attempt.  I leave baking to my step daughter and sister.

But, I do LOVE all of the beautifully decorated baked goods that are featured on the I am Baker website.     -I am Baker

Decorate homemade cookies (sugar, chocolate, gingerbread) with royal icing and fun Valentine’s decorations.  My friend Jennifer at CookieInspirations showed us how to make these cookies at her Valentine Cookie class last week.

Or, you can go the somewhat healthy route, and dip strawberries in dark chocolate and roll in chopped pistachios.   -Martha Stewart

Have a great Valentine’s Weekend!

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A Heart-felt Welcome

Adding a wreath to your front door is a great way to welcome family and friends to your home.  With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s nice to add a heart-felt welcome.

Annicole’s berry wreath – the same wreath on the same door (with a coat of paint) and a different ribbon.    -OurSuburbanCottage.blogspot.com

This double heart wreath really pops on the teal door.  -StraightStitches.blogspot.com

Isn’t this red wreath on the red door striking?  Directions on how to make the wreath can be found on Ann’s website.  -OnSuttonPlace.blogspot.com

This wreath is made of natural materials (roses and myrtle).  -Organic Bouquets.com

You can create your own wreath using strips of fabric on a wire or grapevine wreath frame.  Above is the Raggmuffin Heart Wreath.  -Cindis.blogspot.com

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Handmade Valentine Gifts

If you’re looking for some cute ideas for Valentine’s gifts — for you or your kids to make — here are some ideas from Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens and me.

These Starter Seed Packets are adorable!  Simply buy plain envelopes at the craft store and seeds at the garden center.  Embellish with inked rubber stamps and markers.  Sweat Peas, Sugar Snap Peas, Daisies (“She loves me” Daisy), and Sweet William make cute Valentine’s gifts for your gardening friends.

Embellish Tea Bags with red and pink hearts (or in colors like Conversation Hearts.)  A great, simple, inexpensive gift for those that love tea.

Make decorative containers for flower pots using paper lunch bags, embellished with ribbons and heart cut outs.  Your garden centers and even Trader Joe’s have potted cyclamin, primrose (pictured above) and tulips.

For chocolate lovers, wrap specialty chocolate bars and candy in beautiful wrapping papers or scrapbooking papers.  Embellish with ribbons and Valentine stickers.  These “Wrapped in Love” gifts make a pretty Valentine’s display.

Valentine Coupons are a great way to express your love.  Handmade coupons have become a hit with our kids at Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter.  Breakfast with Dad, An afternoon at the Movies, An Extra Long Back Scratch, Carwash by Hand … the ideas are endless!  A great way to do something kind for someone else!

Baked Goods are always a nice treat.  Large heart-shaped cookies wrapped in cellophane bags and tied off with ribbon make a sweet treat.  (I just learned to make these cookies at a class this week.  So fun!)

Or make small heart cookies and decorate them in a rainbow of colors like Conversation Hearts.

At our local Antique Flea Market, there is a vendor that sells Scrabble Letters and Old Keys.  There are numerous crafts you can make with these fun items.

Happy Crafting!

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A Valentine Card-Making Party

Each year, Natalie and I host a Valentine Card-Making Party.  We invite our girlfriends (and their moms or daughters).  We socialize, eat (of course) and make Valentine cards.  It’s a nice tradition we’ve created — as step mom and step daughter.  And it makes for a fun evening with our friends!

I shop for card supplies all year round — taking advantage of sales for scrapbook papers, ribbons, punches, rubber stamps, embellishments (rhinestones, stickers) and more.  I always check online to see if there are coupons — as Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics (our local craft stores) often have 40% or 50% off One Item coupons.

Our house turns into the “Valentine Bomb“.   We set up tables in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and family room — to make sure that everyone has a place to “craft”.

We set each place setting with several different blank cards (or pre-cut, folded cardstock) in white, reds, pinks and purple.  We usually start everyone with three blank cards — although I plan for at least 8 to 10 cards per person.

I keep the envelopes and extra cards in a separate basket at one of the crafting stations, as the work areas get quite messy making it easy to loose the matching envelopes.

We also put containers of ribbons, stickers and embellishments on each table, along with several glue sticks and Elmer’s Glue.  (In our party invitation, we ask everyone to bring their own scissors and scrapbooking adhesive.)

And, we set up tables for craft stations — specifically for paper cutting and paper punches.  It’s best to have several large paper cutters — as this can be an area that gets bogged down during the party.

This year, I pre-stamped Valentine Greetings for our guests to use.  (We had 28 girls — and I thought the rubber stamping could get a bit out of control.)  With smaller parties, we have had a rubber stamping station — although with young girls (under age 8), I would suggest using only one color of ink.

We serve simple appetizers and desserts for our party.   Sparkling Pink Lemonade (from Trader Joe’s) for the young girls and wine (and sometimes a signature pink drink) for the moms.

We set up the food and drinks on our kitchen island (all red, white and pink).  Natalie made her famous Lemon Cupcakes (using her BabyCake Maker).  And our neighbor brought delicious and beautiful Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I forgot to take a picture!

Now I wish our spread had looked like this!  Isn’t this a beautiful display?  Laura Winslow Photography and The TomCat Studio.  They both do such beautiful work!!!

Happy Valentine Crafting!

P.S.  If you’re planning on hosting a Valentine Card party, send me a note.  I have a party checklist that I can send you.

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Simple Valentine Crafts

Looking for some fun ways to add some Valentine touches to your home?  All of these simple craft decor ideas are from Better Homes & Gardens.

Create a Heart Banner using scrapbook papers, fabric and/or felt.  Thread the hearts using ribbon.  The banner looks adorable draped from a headboard.  It would also look great hung from a mirror or hearth.

Make a wreath of hearts using heart cutouts or punches.  Glue the paper hearts to a cardboard circle or heart cutout.  Hang with festive ribbon from a chair, a mirror, a door.

Decorate a simple candle with paper heart cut-outs.  Wire the hearts together to form a circle around the candle.  Instant Valentine’s candle makeover!  Just remove the ring of hearts once Valentine’s Day is over.

Create beautiful heart pouches of paper or fabric to hold Valentine goodies.  String with beautiful ribbons.

Happy Crafting!

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